File photo for representational purpose only.

New Delhi, October 9

Bringing cheers to 50 lakh central government employees and 65 lakh pensioners ahead of Diwali, the Cabinet on Wednesday announced an increase of 5 percentage points to 17 per cent in dearness and relief allowances, envisaging an additional annual outgo of Rs 16,000 crore.

The Cabinet approved releasing an additional instalment of Dearness Allowance (DA) to central government employees and Dearness Relief (DR) to pensioners with effect from July 1, 2019, representing an increase of 5 percentage points over the existing rate of 12 per cent of the basic pay/pension, to compensate for price rise, an official statement said.

This increase is in accordance with the accepted formula based on the recommendations of the 7^th Central Pay Commission.

“This is the highest-ever 5 percentage points increase in DA in one go by the central government,” Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar said while briefing media on the decisions taken by the Cabinet, adding this will bring cheers to the government employees on the eve of Diwali.

The Cabinet meeting was chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Beginning January 2019, the government had raised the DA/DR to 12 per cent from 9 per cent earlier.

The government said the combined impact on the exchequer on account of both DA and DR would be Rs 15,909.35 crore per annum and Rs 10,606.20 crore in financial year 2019-20 (for a period of eight months from July 2019 to February 2020).

This will benefit about 49.93 lakh central government employees and 65.26 lakh pensioners.

The additional financial implication on account of this increase in DA is estimated at Rs 8,590.20 crore per year; and Rs 5,726.80 crore in the current financial year (from July 2019 to February 2020).

The additional financial implication on account of the DR to pensioners is estimated to be Rs 7,319.15 crore per annum and Rs 4,870 crore in the current fiscal.

DA/DR is paid to central government employees/pensioners to adjust the cost of living and to protect their basic pay/pension from erosion in the real value.

These are revised twice a year from January 1 and July 1. PTI

Tilak Devasher
Member, national security advisory board

The 74th session of the UNGA is done and dusted. Playing to the domestic gallery, Imran Khan had his moment of glory during his maiden address. However, in the realistic and practical international arena, it is not the words spoken but the results produced that matter. By the standard of convincing the international community of Pakistan’s narrative on Kashmir, the trip did not measure up to expectations.

In fact, midway through the six-day trip, Imran Khan was forced to admit in New York ‘to be absolutely frank, I am a bit disappointed by the international community. There is no pressure on Narendra Modi to lift the siege’. At the Islamabad airport on his return, he declared that Pakistan would stand by the Kashmiris even if the world didn’t. This was clearly an admission that his hard sell had not worked. No country talked about reversing the changes in Kashmir.

One immediate fallout of his UN/US performance was that the point person who organised all the interactions, Maleeha Lodhi — the Pak Permanent Representative — was shunted out a day after Imran Khan returned to Pakistan. This spoke volumes of the failure of the trip. Quite possibly, she became the scapegoat for his aggressive sabre-rattling at the UNGA that was frowned upon internationally. The UNGA is not really a bull-fighting arena that he made it out to be, thus violating its sanctity.

In Pakistan, the realisation is beginning to sink in that beyond the rhetoric, the speech did not impact the ground realities. There continues to be a wide gulf between Pakistan’s expectations and international realities. Not even Pakistan’s close ‘allies’ were ready to push the Kashmir issue at the international level. Most, including the ummah, have asked Pakistan to resolve it bilaterally. The phrase now being used is that this is going to be a long-drawn struggle.

Imran Khan ascribed lack of support for Pakistan to the fact that India was a 1.2 billion-strong market. Actually, he got it only partially right. What he missed out was that this market was also economically vibrant and the people had purchasing power. In contrast, Pakistan’s economy is in shambles.

To mask the lack of substantive achievement, Pakistan spin-doctors have launched a two-pronged offensive. One, this was the best speech ever by a Pakistani leader in the UN, even better than the ones by ZA Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto in the past. One commentator even called it ‘the speech of the century…which will be a reference used in posterity’. The second is that the speech heralded his arrival on the world stage as a statesman and a charismatic leader. Some have even talked about Imran Khan emerging as the true leader of the Muslim ummah.

Going ahead, Pakistan has two options. One is the continuation of the diplomatic campaign by engaging with the international community to pressure India to reverse the August 5 changes and implement the UN resolutions on Kashmir, focusing on alleged human rights violations and the restrictions. Apart from engaging with the five permanent members of the UNSC, other important countries, the EU and the OIC, it will also zero in on organisations like the UNHRC,  Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch as well as sections of the international media to raise a hue and cry about the situation in Kashmir.

The other option is the more muscular one that is being justified on the spurious grounds of preventing a potential genocide in Kashmir. This option includes the use of terror assets that have been carefully nurtured over the decades. Statements have been made about shedding the last drop of blood for the sake of Kashmir. Even diplomats like the former High Commissioner to India, Ashraf Jehangir Qazi, have argued that ‘Pakistan must use all legitimate means (and international law provides them) to ensure that the Kashmiri freedom struggle, including armed struggle is not snuffed out by the illegitimate use of overwhelming force, including atrocities amounting to genocide’.

When diplomats start talking about armed struggle, the level of failure and helplessness can well be imagined. Moreover, such bravado suffers from the infirmities of the Pakistan state and the multiple domestic crises that it faces. The economic and military realities of Pakistan are such that any misadventure would risk jeopardising its very survival.

In between these two options is a third option that is dependent on the ground situation in Kashmir. What Pakistan is hoping for is that when the restrictions are lifted, Kashmiris will take to the streets in hundreds, if not thousands, and, in the words of Imran Khan, there will be a ‘bloodbath’ leading to another Indo-Pak confrontation forcing international intervention. In reality, by talking about a bloodbath, Imran Khan is actually inciting the Kashmiris to become cannon fodder for the sake of Pakistan. It is his incitement, rather than anything that India would do, that has the potential to destabilise the situation.

However, some sane voices in Pakistan have started cautioning that it would be unwise to get too carried away with the current policy of antagonism towards India. As Lt Gen Talat Masood (retd) put it: ‘Such a policy cannot be followed forever and somewhere down the line, Pakistan will need to see how it can strike a balance in order to have some influence on India.’

The bottom line is that Imran Khan’s much-hyped efforts at the UNGA to get the international community to pressure India have failed. Going forward, the sane option for Pakistan would be to realise the futility of trying to aggravate the situation, and instead, accept the new reality in Kashmir. However, Pakistan is not known to be sane when it comes to India. So while hoping for the best, India needs to prepare for the worst.

A passport is a must for devotees from India visiting Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara, where Guru Nanak Dev breathed his last, in Pakistan to pay obeisance.However, a visa will not be required. But the visitors need to get them themselves registered online at least a month ahead of their visit.These facts came to light at a high-level review meeting chaired by Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh here on Tuesday to assess the progress of the corridor project with a team of officers from the Centre.A $20 service charge will be levied by Pakistan from each visitor on passage through the Kartarpur corridor.A state government functionary, who was present at the meeting, told IANS that Amarinder Singh had suggested any other government document like Aadhaar must be used in place of passports for identification.He said at the meeting the Chief Minister asked the Regional Passport Officer in Chandigarh to ensure a fast-track and accessible mechanism to deliver passport services to pilgrims on top priority.He also asked the Ministry of External Affairs to immediately start organising passport camps across the state to help the devotees.Punjab minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, who attended the meeting, told the media on Wednesday that to facilitate pilgrims to apply online regarding their visit to Pakistan via the Kartarpur corridor a website would be launched on October 4.He said special arrangements have also been made for people who don’t have passports.

They could apply for passports by paying a fee of Rs 1,500 at convenience centres or post offices near them and the whole process will be completed within one or two days after which they will get their passports.The Chief Minister will lead an all-party delegation across the border to Kartarpur Sahib on the opening day of the  on November 9.

The delegation that will accompany the Chief Minister to the historic gurudwara would comprise all the 117 state legislators, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha MPs from Punjab, Shriomani Gurudwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) members, as well as members of the Sant Samaj and representatives of each recognised political party in the state.

Thereafter, 5,000 pilgrims will be able to visit the gurduwara every day.Construction of the 4.2 km-long corridor is targeted to be completed by October 31, a week before the celebrations to mark the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev.The gurudwara is located in Narowal district of Pakistan’s Punjab province. It is near Dera Baba Nanak town in Punjab’s Gurdaspur district.It is a highly revered Sikh shrine where Sikhism founder Guru Nanak Dev spent 18 years of his life and is his final resting place.–IANS

Seven months after the unfortunate incident, Indian Air Force (IAF) on Friday admitted that its air defence missile shot down IAF’s own Mi-17 V5 helicopter near Srinagar on February 27, killing six IAF personnel on-board and a civilian. “The court o…Read more at: https://www.deccanherald.com/national/shooting-down-mi-17-on-feb-27-big-mistake-iaf-chief-766167.html

Tribune Web Desk
Chandigarh, October 3

Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh in a heartfelt post on Thursday wished his better half Preneet Kaur all the best on her 75th birthday.

Sharing a black and white picture, in a tweet, Amarinder remembered the “life-time of beautiful memories” they share.

He celebrated her being a “loving mother, compassionate leader, and strong woman.”

He wrote: “Remembering a life-time of beautiful memories today as we celebrate my wife, Preneet’s, birthday. On your day today, we celebrate the loving mother, compassionate leader, and strong woman that you are. Wish you the best of health & happiness. Happy Birthday @preneet_kaur!.”

File image only for representational purposes.

Balasore, September 30

India on Monday successfully test fired a land-attack version of Brahmos supersonic missile from Chandipur coast in Odisha’s Balasore district.

The test met all flight parameters, said a source in the Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO).

The missile, with a strike range of 290km, can be fired from land as well as sea-based platforms, he said.

On March 11, 2017 the first extended version of the missile, which had strike range of 450 km, was successfully tested, the source added.

BrahMos is a joint venture between the DRDO and the NPOM of Russia.

Sandwiched between Iran, China, India and Afghanistan, Pakistan lives in a complicated neighborhood with a variety of security issues. One of the nine known states known to have nuclear weapons, Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal and doctrine are continually evolving to match perceived threats. A nuclear power for decades, Pakistan is now attempting to construct a nuclear triad of its own, making its nuclear arsenal resilient and capable of devastating retaliatory strikes.

Pakistan’s nuclear program goes back to the 1950s, during the early days of its rivalry with India. President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto famously said in 1965, “If India builds the bomb, we will eat grass or leaves, even go hungry, but we will get one of our own.”

The program became a higher priority after the country’s 1971 defeat at the hands of India, which caused East Pakistan to break away and become Bangladesh. Experts believe the humiliating loss of territory, much more than reports that India was pursuing nuclear weapons, accelerated the Pakistani nuclear program. India tested its first bomb, codenamed “Smiling Buddha,” in May 1974, putting the subcontinent on the road to nuclearization.

Pakistan began the process of accumulating the necessary fuel for nuclear weapons, enriched uranium and plutonium. The country was particularly helped by one A. Q. Khan, a metallurgist working in the West who returned to his home country in 1975 with centrifuge designs and business contacts necessary to begin the enrichment process. Pakistan’s program was assisted by European countries and a clandestine equipment-acquisition program designed to do an end run on nonproliferation efforts. Outside countries eventually dropped out as the true purpose of the program became clear, but the clandestine effort continued.

Exactly when Pakistan had completed its first nuclear device is murky. Former president Benazir Bhutto, Zulfikar Bhutto’s daughter, claimed that her father told her the first device was ready by 1977. A member of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission said design of the bomb was completed in 1978 and the bomb was “cold tested”—stopping short of an actual explosion—in 1983.

Benazir Bhutto later claimed that Pakistan’s bombs were stored disassembled until 1998, when India tested six bombs in a span of three days. Nearly three weeks later, Pakistan conducted a similar rapid-fire testing schedule, setting off five bombs in a single day and a sixth bomb three days later. The first device, estimated at twenty-five to thirty kilotons, may have been a boosted uranium device. The second was estimated at twelve kilotons, and the next three as sub-kiloton devices.

Kollam, September 27

A big incident carried out by terrorists from our neighbouring country on India’s coastline cannot be ruled out but we are committed to coastal and maritime security, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said on Friday.

Speaking at the 66th birthday celebrations of Mata Amritanandamayi Devi at Kollam in Kerala, Singh said India would not let anyone who bothered them “rest in peace” while referring to the air-force strike in Balakot in response to the Pulwama attack.

“We cannot rule out that our neighbouring country’s terrorists can carry out a big incident on our coastline which extends from Kutch to Kerala. As Defence Minister I would like to assure you that our country’s maritime security is absolutely strong and solidified.

“We are completely committed to coastal and maritime security,” he said.

Singh said when he was Home minister, the Pulwama incident had taken place and no one in the country would be able to forget the sacrifice of the soldiers who died in the incident.

“You know that after some days of Pulwama incident, our air force conducted airstrike at Balakot in Pakistan. We do not bother anyone, but if anyone bothers us, we will not let them rest in peace.

“The country that does not remember the sacrifice of its soldiers, it is not respected anywhere in the world,” he said.