Tribune News Service
Amritsar, April 13

Farmers under the banner of the Sanyukt Kisan Morcha paid tributes to the martyrs of Jallianwala Bagh massacre by organising a gathering on road outside the memorial, which was closed in February last year for renovation.

The farmer leaders said 102 years ago, the British government killed hundreds of peaceful protesters who had gathered to protest against them. The farmers said the present government at the Centre was moving on the same lines as over 350 farmers have died during the ongoing protests at Delhi borders but it had failed to accept the justified demands of the farming community.

The leaders exhorted farmers to take inspiration from the martyrs of Jallianwala Bagh massacre and continue the protest till the three controversial laws were repealed. The farmer organisations also criticised the government’s plan of setting up a ticket counter outside the memorial. They said people would launch another agitation if the government did not abandon its plan to set up the ticket counter.

Leading the protest, farmer leader Balkar Singh Dudala said: “Like the British government, the present rulers, too, are working against the common masses.” He said the three agriculture laws would destroy the farming community and benefit the corporate.

Another leader Rattan Singh Randhawa said: “The farmers’ protest at Delhi borders will soon complete five months. The government is indifferent and focused more on elections. Any sensitive government would have by now addressed the issues of the agriculture sector.” He said the protest would continue till the demands of farmers were accepted. Others who addressed the gathering included Davinder Singh Chattiwind, Harjit Singh Jheeta, Mehtab Singh Sirsa, Bachittar Singh, Hoshiar Singh Jhander and others.

A labourer spreads wheat at the Bathinda grain market. Tribune photo

Bathinda, April 14

Farmers under the banner of BKU (Mansa) faction staged a protest at Goniana Kalan in Bathinda district alleging the FCI had not started wheat procurement there so far.

The protesting farmers raised slogans against the Centre and the FCI. They said the central procurement agency had dragged its feet from around six mandis in the district on the pretext of high moisture content. Farmers blocked Bathinda-Amritsar highway and also raised slogans against the state government.

Union leader Jagshir Jeeda said, “This is a deliberate attempt by the central procurement agency to pester farmers who have brought their produce to the mandi. No one is available here to buy their produce. This approach of FCI won’t be tolerated and if the procurement does not start soon, we will intensify the stir.”

Later, Naib Tehsildar Rajvir Singh reached the protest venue and placated the farmers following which the dharna ended. — T

The results showed that inactivity is strongly associated with poor Covid-19 outcomes

Regular exercise or a 30-minute brisk walk in the neighbourhood park or in your society five days a week while following the social distancing norms can improve your chances of beating  Covid-19, reveals a significant study that analysed 48,440 adults who were Covid positive.

On the other hand, patients who were consistently inactive had 1.73 times greater chances of ICU admission, while the risk for death was 2.49 times greater for patients who were consistently inactive.

Other than being over the age of 60 or having a history of organ transplant, being consistently inactive conferred the highest risk for death from Covid-19.

Even patients who were inconsistently active had lower chances for severe Covid-19, suggesting any amount of physical activity has benefit, revealed the findings published in the British Journal of Sports  Medicine.

 “This is a wake-up call for the importance of healthy lifestyles and especially physical activity,” said Robert E Sallis, physician at the Kaiser Permanente Fontana Medical Centre in the US.

“People who regularly exercise had the best chance of beating Covid-19, while people who were inactive did much worse,” Sallis added.

For the study, the team identified 48,440 adults with a Covid-19 diagnosis from January 1, 2020, to October 21, 2020.

They found 6.4 per cent were consistently active and 14.4 per cent were consistently inactive, with the remainder falling in the inconsistently active category. Among all Covid-19 patients, 8.6 per cent were  hospitalised, 2.4 per cent were admitted to the ICU, and 1.6 per cent died.

“What surprised me the most from this study was the strength of the association between inactivity and poor outcomes from Covid-19,” said Deborah Rohm Young from the Kaiser Permanente Southern California.

“Even after we included variables such as obesity and smoking in the analysis, we still saw inactivity was strongly associated with much higher odds of hospitalisation, ICU admission, and death compared with  moderate physical activity or any activity at all,” Young added.

The results showed that inactivity is strongly associated with poor Covid-19 outcomes, Sallis said, while suggesting walking 30 minutes a day, five days a week at a moderate pace, to prevent  Covid-19.

“Exercise is medicine that everyone should take — especially in this era of Covid-19,” Sallis said. — IANS

Over 800 Indian Sikhs travelled to Pakistan to attend the Baisakhi festival

New Delhi/Lahore, April 14

India is in touch with authorities in Pakistan regarding safety of over 800 Indian pilgrims whose visit to the neighbouring country has been affected by violent protests in several cities, including Lahore.

“Closely tracking developments. In touch with Pakistani authorities and Sikh Jatha. Will do utmost to ensure security and safe return of pilgrims,” External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar tweeted.

The minister’s response came after president of Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management committee Manjinder Singh Sirsa, in a tweet, requested Jaishankar to look into the matter of stranded Sikh pilgrims in Pakistan.

Over 800 Indian Sikhs travelled to Pakistan to attend the Baisakhi festival. The Indian pilgrims had reached Lahore via Wagah border on Monday to attend the festival.

On Tuesday afternoon, the visiting Indian Sikhs left for Gurdwara Panja Sahib in Hassanabdal in 25 buses which were escorted by the police and the Pakistani Rangers.

“Owing to the TLP protest that blocked roads, the Sikh yatrees reached Hassanabdal at 4 am on Wednesday after over 14 hours of journey which otherwise is covered in three hours,” an official of the Punjab government told PTI in Lahore.  

Protests are taking place in several parts of Pakistan by supporters of Tehreek-i-Labaik Pakistan (TLP) demanding the expulsion of the French envoy over the publication of blasphemous caricatures in France.

The Indian pilgrims attended the main event on Wednesday in which several local Sikhs also participated.

The visiting pilgrims are scheduled to visit other holy places in the Punjab province of Pakistan during their 10-day stay in the country. PTI

While Dalit organisations from Haryana joined the farmers protest at the Tikri border, Azad and a large group of workers from Punjab’s NREGA Mazdoor Association went to the Singhu border, it said

Bhim Army National President Chandrashekhar Azad and BKU leader Rakesh Tikait, during the ongoing farmers protest, at Ghazipur border in New Delhi, Wednesday, April 14, 2021. PTI

New Delhi, April 14

Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad and several Dalit organisations from Haryana joined farmers camping at Delhi borders as they observed ‘Save Constitution Day’ and ‘Kisan Bahujan Ekta Diwas’ on the occasion of B R Ambedkar’s birth anniversary on Wednesday, the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) said.

While Dalit organisations from Haryana joined the farmers protest at the Tikri border, Azad and a large group of workers from Punjab’s NREGA Mazdoor Association went to the Singhu border, it said.

Thousands of farmers, mostly from Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh, have been camping at three border points of Delhi — Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur — demanding a repeal of the three farm laws enacted by the Centre in September last year.

“The present government and the RSS-BJP are manipulating and destroying the Constitution in the name of reforms. This pattern is dangerous for both the economy and society. The present farmers’ movement has not only tried to save the Constitution but it is another effort to fight for the strong implementation of the Constitution,” the SKM, a joint front of farmer unions, said in a statement.

It also accused the government of implementing a “divide and rule policy” by splitting the working class into several classes, and asserted that farmers and labourers are united against the present “corporate-government nexus”.

“The marketing system and proper minimum support price (MSP) is the biggest freedom for farmers. In the same way, minimum wage and respectful work of workers protect them from exploitation. At present, both sections have been targeted by the central government.

“Not only the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act but the other two farm laws will also affect the economy of Dalit Bahujans broadly. Today, labourers and farmers understand this well and they are fighting unitedly against these policies,” the statement said.

The Centre says the new farm laws will free farmers from middlemen, giving them more options to sell their crops.

The protesting farmers, however, say the laws would pave the way for eliminating the safety cushion of MSP and do away with the ‘mandi’ (wholesale market) system, leaving them at the mercy of big corporates. PTI

Ajay Banerjee

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 14

In what could set the tone for future military cooperation to tackle growing Chinese assertiveness, Indian Navy Chief Admiral Karambir Singh on Wednesday said if an ‘opportunity arose’ the Quad navies had the capability and capacity to come together almost in a ‘plug and play’ manner – indicating seamless integration.

The Quad or Quadrilateral is the grouping of India, US, Japan and Australia.

At the Raisina Dialogue 2021, on being asked where he saw Quad, if it could take a military form and was it ready for joint military operations, the Navy Chief said Quad navies already enjoyed a high degree of interoperability and highlighted that the Malabar exercise started with the US in 1992 and it predated the Quad construct. India has bilateral naval exercises with Japan since 2012 and with the Australian Navy for the past six years. “We have robust engagement of Quad navies….So if an opportunity arises, we have the capability and capacity to come together in almost a plug and play mechanism,” the Admiral said as his statement would be deciphered in Capital across the world specially Moscow and Beijing – both are not pleased with the Quad grouping.

Admiral Karambir Singh was joined by Admiral Phil Davidson, Commander of the Indo-Pacific Command, United States, who spoke about the importance of US-India relationship. “It indispensable for the Indo-Pacific”.

The Quad, he said, must fully realise the opportunities and address common interests, including cyber and space. He blamed the Communist Party of China for seeking to exploit the pandemic for military terms. Their intent is to undermine the established rule of law in the Indian Ocean and also the South China Sea.

Earlier, Admiral Karambir Singh said the Indian Navy recognised the expanse of the Indo-Pacific and no one could do it alone, it was best to do it together. “We could see that freedom of navigation gets converted into contested water,” he said.

‘Forces already enjoy interoperability’

At the Raisina Dialogue, on being asked where he saw Quad, whether it could take a military form and was it ready for joint military operations, Navy Chief Admiral Karambir Singh said Quad navies already enjoyed a high degree of interoperability and highlighted that the Malabar exercise started with the US in 1992 and it predated the Quad construct.

An old soldier being bid farewell by his comrades in arms in a small village in Punjab. This is what soldiers are made of.

Its time f0r the Ex-Servicemen community to wake up without any expectation from the Central Govt /State Govt .

we must ensure proper respect to be given to the departed soul of any Fauji /ESM by attending funerals and paying tribute by laying wreaths on the the body and giving the last salute .

time to revive the tradition by paying respect in a proper army way and ensure the family also gets Rs 10000/- from the dependent CSD canteen and also Station HQ is supposed to send a rifleman for the salute with biggular .The families normally miss out except the pension claims or bank accounts etc .

The vedio shows the spirit of ESM of a village in paying last respect to the departed soul of an ESM

The

Army is also focusing on the infantry soldier manning the border

Photo for representation only. Source: iStock.

New Delhi, April 13

There’s a strong possibility of you getting a forward on social media these days, criticising Indian Army’s proposed move of reduction in manpower.

What it probably won’t mention is that it concerns the ‘non-essential’ manpower. So what is it, really and, more importantly, how and when is the reduction going to happen?

Essentially, the idea is to modernise the armed forces with the heavy infusion of cutting edge technology including Artificial Intelligence (AI), cyber warfare capability, space technology to serve small tech-intensive Integrated Battle Groups (IBF), of a tri-service nature.

To achieve that objective within limited budgets, the following steps are essential: Maintaining a healthy Teeth-to-Tail – or combat vs non-combat ratio The ‘teeth-to-tail ratio’,

in military parlance, is the amount of military personnel it takes to supply and support each combat soldier. While both ‘teeth’ and ‘tail’ soldiers may find themselves in combat or other life-threatening situations, ‘teeth’ soldiers are those whose primary function is to engage in combat.

The Army said, as detailed in the 20th standing committee report released last month, that some reduction in manpower remains the ultimate goal.

“It is an ongoing process; if you recollect, when Gen. V.P. Malik was the Chief, he thought of a reduction of 50,000 men. Our aim in the next three to four years is a reduction of about 1,00,000 men and this money that we are going to save because of the manpower costs, the government has assured us that this money will be cycled back to us for imbibing technology,” the committee was told.

Outsourcing, the new age mantra

So, while several blueprints of plans to reduce the Army manpower have been prepared over the past couple of decades, the reduction of the ‘non-essential’ manpower may finally begin after the massive upgradation of internal infrastructure done in the recent years, especially in the border areas.

The repair workshops are opening in forward locations and the Indian Army is consistently working on shortening its logistics tail and work on the Integrated Battle Group, or the IBG, concept. The small units will have a small logistics tail which too shall be outsourced.

The committee was told that, if in need of repair or service, an Army Tata vehicle no longer needs to be sent to Army Base Workshops (ABWs). With Tata workshops now operating even in places like Silchar and Guwahati, it can be sent straight to the facility run by the manufacturing company.

A couple of years ago, while reviewing the functioning of different organisations including defence workshops, the government had decided to corporatize eight Army Base Workshops on Government Owned Contractor Operated (GOCO) model while disbanding two ABWs, one Static Workshop and four ordnance depots.https://0a6aa51c3bfc4ce4bbb6c96f6c7c375f.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html

With workshops being put on the GOCO model, the manpower can be shifted to other divisions, including space, cyber and Artificial Intelligence.

Saving manpower, infusing technology

Last year, during the first anniversary of Balakot air strikes, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had termed hybrid warfare a reality and had emphasised the need to reorient the training of soldiers to meet the challenges posed by it. With AI, high-speed weapons and space-based sensors and tools having a significant impact, he stressed that there was an urgent need to imbibe new technologies and use existing capabilities in innovative ways.

With India being a witness to a number of skirmishes in the region, CDS General Rawat too realises the fast-changing geopolitics around the globe. Time and again, he has called for maintaining credible deterrence in land, air and at sea at all times, saying that the three Services must work together concurrently to deal with any potential threats, based on the principle of theater commands.

“Credible deterrence comes from the will of the military leadership and intent of the political class while taking tough decisions. This was amply shown after the Kargil, Uri and Pulwama attacks,” General Rawat had said earlier.

With the whole concept of war undergoing transition, the Ministry of Defence is now working on introducing modern technologies, which though costly will save on manpower and even money in the long run.

“For example, let us say there is a hill feature which we are occupying. Today we occupy that hill feature with 120 men which is a company. But if that same company is given technology which ensures that it has got a complete transparency within 2000 meters of what is available there and has got weapon systems to engage, it can do the same task with about 80 men. That is what we are looking at in the future,” the committee was told.

At the same time, while looking at imbibing technology, the Army is also focusing on the infantry soldier manning the border.

“We want to give him a modern rifle; we want to give him a modern surveillance system; we want to give him technology that he can imbibe.” — IANS

It had rushed in aid of West Pakistan during the 1971 Indo-Pak conflict. To defy Indian law through our EEZ in the 50th year of Bangladesh’s creation and then advertise it is downright obtuse, if not intended to send out a message.

April 14, 2021 8:53:28 amIndia and US were involved in a joint naval exercise, along with navies of Japan, France and Australia in the eastern Indian Ocean region, in the La Pérouse exercise between April 5 and April 7. (Source: Twitter/@USNavy)

The United States of America has always basked in its bluntness and candour. However, what it did recently is something of an “achievement” even by its own tone-deaf standards.

On April 7, the US Navy put out a rather quixotic announcement on the official website of its Seventh Naval Fleet stating that one of its ships, USS John Paul Jones, had asserted navigational rights and freedoms approximately 130 nautical miles west of the Lakshadweep Islands inside India’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), without requesting Delhi’s prior consent. It went on to declare that the freedom of navigation operations (FONOPs) are not about one country, nor are they about making political statements.

Several elements of the Seventh Fleet entering Indian waters without permission touch on emotive issues for India with attendant overtones of patriotism. The fact that these FONOPs have happened earlier does not, in any manner, normalise what happened on April 7 — or, for that matter, why the Seventh Fleet courted ignominy half a century ago.

Herein hangs a tale. As the Indo-Pakistan conflict over the genocide in the then East Pakistan looked inevitable, US President Richard Nixon and his National Security Adviser (NSA) Henry Kissinger decided that if push came to shove, they would weigh in on West Pakistan’s side. This was notwithstanding the fact that the US administration was fully cognizant of the grave human rights violations being perpetrated by the Pakistani army in the east of the country.

Consistent with the plan in November 1971, Henry Kissinger advised his Deputy NSA General Alexander Haig to direct the US Navy to keep an aircraft-carrier-led task force ready for deployment in the Indian Ocean.

As the tide of war turned against Pakistan, US Navy’s Task Force-74 of the Seventh Fleet led by the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise was ordered to sail at battle speed into the Bay of Bengal from the Gulf of Tonkin where it was then deployed for operations in the Vietnam war. Concurrently, the British Navy also dispatched a naval group led by the aircraft carrier HMS Eagle towards the west coast of India.

An audacious and coordinated “grand bluff” to intimidate India was thus operationalised. British ships in the Arabian Sea would engage Indian naval assets, thereby providing a distraction for the US Task Force-74 to make a dash for the coast of East Pakistan to reinforce the pulverised Pakistani positions. The objective being to force an immediate ceasefire and stop Dhaka from falling into Indian hands.

Obviously, this caused great consternation in India. Articulating India’s position, Defence Minister Jagjivan Ram thundered: “Even if the US were to send the 70th fleet, we would still not be deterred”.

However, on the ground, the situation was grim. Facing the British and the American Armada was Indian Navy’s Eastern Fleet commanded by its aircraft carrier Vikrant with barely 20 light fighter aircrafts. The Indian Air Force would provide the rest of the muscle.Must Read Opinions

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Invoking the Indo-Soviet Treaty signed on August 9, 1971, India requested the Soviet Union for help to call out the Nixon-Kissinger chicanery. The Soviets responded with alacrity. The 10th Operative Battle Group (Pacific Fleet) commanded by Admiral Vladimir Kruglyakov slipped anchor at Vladivostok and in double quick time reached the Bay of Bengal. The Soviets stared down the Anglo-American flotilla and the rest is history. However, the American perfidy at that critical moment is indelibly imprinted in the collective Indian psyche.

Since then, India and the US have become friends if not allies. The Quad between US, Japan, Australia and India is plugged as the fulcrum of a future Asian NATO. India and US have signed foundational agreements for better interoperability between their respective militaries. Since the Indian nuclear tests of 1998, there has been better appreciation of each other’s strategic imperatives. The US, by its own admission, has supported India logistically in eastern Ladakh.

However, it seems the understanding has not permeated deep enough to understand each other’s psyche, if not sensibilities. In the fiftieth year of the creation of Bangladesh, to sail a Seventh Fleet vessel in defiance of Indian law through our EEZ, and then advertise it is downright obtuse, if not intended to send out a message to India and the larger Indo-Pacific region. For the manoeuvre is not as innocent as it is being made to look.

The Joe Biden administration’s appreciation of the Indo-Pacific and India’s place in it is very different from that of its predecessor. While Trump saw India as an important instrument to counter the growing Chinese influence in the region, President Biden has a more nuanced, if not a softer, approach towards Beijing. The manner in which FONOP was broadcast is obviously to smoothen ruffled Chinese feathers over similar operations in the South China Sea that the US has been regularly undertaking.

Given that India and China are still locked in an eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation in eastern Ladakh, such posturing by the US does not augur well for India. Even our “time-tested ally” Russia wants to balance its position in South Asia given our “closeness” to the US, as evidenced by the Quad and our approach to Afghanistan that is more aligned to the US position than what Moscow is proposing. India will do well to weigh its options far more carefully. A stitch in time saves nine.

This column first appeared in the print edition on April 14, 2021 under the title ‘American fleet and Indian waters’. The writer is a Congress leader, lawyer, MP and former Union Information and Broadcasting Minister