I n another major step towards ease of living for the common citizens, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has dedicated 75 Digital Banking Units (DBU) across 75 districts to the nation. Through DBU, the government aims to provide maximum services with minimum infrastructure, and all of this will happen digitally without involving any paperwork. It will also simplify the banking procedure while also providing a robust and secure banking system. As the PM put it, people living in small towns and villages will find benefits like transferring money to availing loans. Digital Banking Units are another big step in that direction which is going on in the country to make the life of common man of India easier. The Prime Minister said that the aim of the government is to empower the common citizen and make them powerful, and as a result, policies were made keeping in mind the last person and the entire government moving in the direction of their welfare. He pointed out the two areas on which the government worked simultaneously. First, reforming, strengthening, and making the banking system transparent, and secondly financial inclusion. Recalling the traditional ways of the past where people had to go to the bank, the Prime Minister pointed out that his government has transformed the approach by bringing the bank to the people. “We have given top priority to ensure that banking services reach the last mile”, he said. A huge change from the days when it was expected that poor will go to the bank to a scenario when the banks were going on the doorstep of the poor. This involved reduction of distance between the poor and the banks. “We not only removed the physical distance but, most importantly, we removed the psychological distance.” Highest priority was given to cover far flung areas with banking. Today more than 99 percent of villages in India have a bank branch, banking outlet or a ‘banking mitra’ within 5 km radius. Extensive Post Office network too was harnessed via India Post Banks for providing the banking needs to the common citizen. Today the number of branches per one lakh adult citizens in India is more than countries like Germany, China and South Africa. Despite initial misgivings in certain sections, the Prime Minister said, “today the entire country is experiencing the power of Jan Dhan Bank accounts.” These accounts enabled the government to provide insurance to the vulnerable at a very low premium. This opened the way for loans for the poor without collateral and provided Direct Benefit Transfer to the accounts of the target beneficiaries. These accounts were the key modality for providing homes, toilets, gas subsidy, and benefits of schemes for farmers could be ensured seamlessly. The Prime Minister acknowledged the global recognition for India’s digital banking infrastructure. The IMF has praised India’s digital banking infrastructure. The credit for this goes to the poor, farmers and labourers of India, who have adopted new technologies, made it a part of their lives. UPI has opened up new possibilities for India. When financial partnerships are combined with digital partnerships, a whole new world of possibilities opens up. A huge example like UPI is before us. India is proud of this as it is the first technology of its kind in the world. Today 70 crore indigenous Rupay cards are in operation, a vast change from the days of foreign players and the elite nature of such products. This combination of technology and economy is enhancing the dignity and affordability for the poor and empowering the middle class, while at the same time it is also eliminating the digital divide of the country. He also praised the role of DBT in eliminating corruption and said that more than 25 lakh crore rupees have been transferred in various schemes via DBT.

PUNJAB EXPRESS BUREAU Ludhiana, October 17 Three days after members of an auto-rickshaw gang targeted an ex-Army man and robbed him of Rs 50,000, Division Number 1 Police arrested three accused and recovered Rs 4,000 cash. The police also seized an auto-rickshaw which was used in crime. The accused have been identified as Pritpal Singh of Daba Colony, Pankaj Kumar of Adarsh Colony, Gagandeep Singh of Mohalla Gobindsar of Shimlapuri. According to the complainant Jaswinder Singh of village Kadiana Kalan, he is a retired Army man. He stated that after purchasing some household products from Military Canteen, he boarded a three-wheeler autorickshaw near Jagraon Bridge at around 7 pm and was heading towards Jalandhar Bypass. “There were already two persons and a driver in the auto-rickshaw and when the auto-rickshaw driver crossed Jagraon Bridge, he stopped the vehicle at a side and the two persons flashed a sharp-edged weapon. They threatened to kill me and snatched away Rs 50,000 from my pocket. They dropped me at the spot and then fled with the auto-rickshaw towards Jalandhar Bypass,” he said. He said that after the incident he immediately lodged the complaint with the police. Investigating Officer ASI Lakhwinder Singh said that after receiving the complaint the police initiated investigation and with the help of CCTV cameras traced the accused. “All the three accused who are around 27-28 years of age have been arrested. The police have as of now recovered Rs 4,000 from their possession and will recover the remaining amount soon,” said the ASI while adding that the accused are drug addicts and have committed several snatchings in the area earlier also.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday said it has become increasingly difficult to differentiate between external and internal security threats as hybrid warfare has almost eliminated this distinction. The situation has become even more complicated as latest technological advancements have expanded the nature of threats to national security, Singh said, while addressing the second convocation of the Rashtriya Raksha University at Lavad in Gandhinagar district. Singh also said social media, NGOs, the judiciary and the democracy of a country can be misused by forces working to destroy its security. “New kinds of threats are coming to the fore which have blurred the line between internal and external security. Besides terrorism, cyber war and information war are the new forms of security threats. “In addition, there are problems like human trafficking and money laundering which are different in appearance, but are related to one other. All the agencies must work in an integrated manner to deal with these challenges,” Singh said. The government has adopted a holistic approach to strengthen all aspects of national security, he said

Our Correspondent

Anirudh Gupta

Ferozepur, October 16

Notwithstanding the change of guard in the state, the historic memorials situated in this border district continue to reel under apathy and neglect. To date, successive state governments have failed to develop and beautify these memorials which exhibit the indomitable spirit of sacrifice and valour.

These include the Anglo-Sikh war memorials at Ferozshah, Mudki and Sabraon, the Saragarhi Memorial, the National Martyrs Memorial at Hussainiwala, besides the secret hideout of Bhagat Singh and his comrades. All these sacred places are crying for attention and depict a tale of “unkept” promises.

Most of the pronouncements made by visiting dignitaries over the last seven decades to develop these places have remained mere lip service as practically nothing has been accomplished on ground. The only silver lining has been the commissioning of a light and sound system in Hussainiwala, where a simulation train coach, reminiscent of a train ride to Peshawar during the pre-partition era, has been set up under the “Swadesh Darshan” scheme of the Centre.

The process to develop the secret hideout of Shaheed Bhagat Singh and his revolutionary comrades situated in city, which is believed to be the headquarters of the “Krantikari Party”, has also not gained any momentum even though the Department of Tourism and Cultural Affairs had issued a notification to list the site under the Punjab Ancient and Historical Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act 1964.

The historic Anglo-Sikh War Museum, constructed in memory of valiant Sikh soldiers who died during the Anglo-Sikh wars of 1845-46, portrays a picture of apathy and neglect. Located on the banks of twin canals on NH-95, the memorial stands “alone” on the actual war site, where the two of these wars were fought.

The state government had released a grant of Rs 1 crore for the development of Saragarhi Memorial, but it has remained unutilised for the past three years. Former IAS officer Kulbir Singh Sidhu, who was posted here as the Commissioner, said, “It is ironic that till date neither have we developed these sacred places, nor have we been able to secure national heritage status for these memorials. I had taken up the matter with the Archaeological Survey of India to notify these sites as monuments of national importance, however, after my transfer, the authorities did not evince any interest.”

In 2018, the then Local Bodies and Tourism Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu, during his visit to the district, had announced that the government would allocate sufficient funds for the development of the historic memorials and efforts would be made to get them the status of national importance.

MK Bhadrakumar

Former Ambassador

Two massive terrorist strikes misfired spectacularly and a terrible beauty is born in the Ukraine war. These two carefully planned attacks in quick succession — on Nord Stream gas pipelines and Crimean Bridge — were intended as a knockout blow to Russia. According to President Vladimir Putin, people ‘who want to finally sever ties between Russia and the EU, weaken Europe’ are behind the Nord Stream blasts. He named the US, Ukraine and Poland as ‘beneficiaries’.

India should expect the defeat of the US and NATO, which completes the transition to a multipolar world order.

Last Wednesday, Russia’s domestic intelligence service FSB identified Ukraine’s military intelligence chief, Kyrylo Budanov, as the mastermind behind the Crimean attack. The New York Times and Washington Post also pointed fingers at Kiev, quoting ‘sources’. While Nord Stream-1 has been crippled, one of the strings of Nord Stream-2 remains intact. Putin said last week that the pipeline could be restored and Russia could deliver about 27 billion cubic metres of gas. ‘The ball is on the side of the European Union, if they want — let’s turn on the tap,’ he said.

But mum’s the word from Brussels. It is a profoundly embarrassing moment for the EU. The triumphalism has vanished as Europe is threatened by years of recession caused by the blowback from sanctions against Russia, where the US insisted on the cut off of energy ties with Moscow. The EU has now become a captive market for Big Oil and is left to buy LNG from the US at the asking price, which is six to seven times higher than the domestic price in the US. (Contracted price for long-term Russian supply for Germany used to be about $280 per 1,000 cubic metres as against the current market price hovering around $2,000.)

Plainly put, the Europeans have been nicely played by the Americans. India should take note of the US’ sense of entitlement. Basically, the Biden administration created a contrived energy crisis whose real aim is war profiteering.

The Crimean Bridge attack of October 8 is much more serious. Zelenskyy has crossed a red line that Moscow had repeatedly warned him against. Putin has disclosed that there have also been three terrorist attacks against the Kursk NPP. Russians will settle for nothing less than the ouster of the Zelenskyy regime.

Russia’s retaliation against Ukraine’s ‘critical infrastructure’, something Moscow refrained from so far, has serious implications. Since October 9, Russia has begun systematically targeting Ukraine’s power system and railways. Noted Russian military expert Vladislav Shurygin told Izvestia that if this tempo was kept up for a week or so, it ‘will disrupt the entire logistics of the Ukrainian military — system for transporting personnel, military equipment, ammunition, related cargo, as well as the functioning of military and repair plants.’

The Americans are cocooned in a surreal world of their self-serving narrative that Russia ‘lost’ the war. In the real world, though, Ivan Tertel, KGB chief in Belarus, who has an insider view of Moscow, said last Tuesday that with Russia boosting its troop strength in the war zone — 3 lakh troops who have been mobilised plus 70,000 volunteers — and the deployment of advanced weaponry, ‘the military operation will enter a key phase. According to our estimates, a turning point will come in the period from November of this year to February of next year.’

Policy-makers and strategists in Delhi should make a careful note of the timeline. The bottom line is, Russia is looking for an all-out victory and will not settle for anything less than a friendly government in Kiev. Western politicians, including Biden, understand that there is nothing stopping the Russians now. The US’ weapon kitty is running dry as Kiev keeps asking for more.

When asked whether he’d meet Biden at the G20 in Bali, Putin derisively remarked on Friday, ‘He (Biden) should be asked whether he is ready to hold such negotiations with me or not. To be honest, I don’t see any need, by and large. There is no platform for any negotiations for the time being.’

However, Washington has not yet thrown in the towel and the Biden administration remains obsessed with exhausting the Russian military — even at the cost of Ukraine’s destruction. And, for the Russians too, there is still much to be worked out on the battlefield: the oppressed Russian populations in Odessa (which suffered unspeakable atrocities from the neo-Nazis), Mykolaiv, Zaporizhya, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkov are expecting ‘liberation’. It’s a highly emotive issue for Russia. Again, the overarching agenda of ‘demilitarisation’ and ‘denazification’ of Ukraine must be taken to its logical conclusion.

When all that is over, Putin knows Biden will not even want to meet him. Hungarian PM Viktor Orban said last week, ‘Anyone who seriously believes that the war can be ended through Russian-Ukrainian negotiations lives in another world. Reality looks different. In reality, such issues can only be discussed between Washington and Moscow. Today, Ukraine is able to fight only because it receives military assistance from the United States…

‘At the same time, I do not see President Biden as the person who would really be suitable for such serious negotiations. President Biden has gone too far. Suffice it to recall his statements to Russian President Putin.’

India should expect the defeat of the US and NATO, which completes the transition to a multipolar world order. Sadly, Indian elites are yet to purge their ‘unipolar predicament’. Europe, including Britain, is devastated and there is palpable discontent over the US’s ‘transatlantic leadership’. Indo-Pacific strategy is hopelessly adrift. New power centres are emerging in India’s extended neighbourhood, as the OPEC’s rebuff to Washington shows. A profound adjustment is needed in the Indian strategic calculus.

Request for proposal issued to get 163 drones that can operate at high altitude and another 200 drones that can operates at medium altitude

Tribune News Service

Ajay Banerjee

New Delhi, October 17

Indian Army is looking to get specialised drones that can deliver logistics to forward posts in the Himalayas. The Army, on Monday, issued a request for proposal (RFP) to get 163 drones that can operate at high altitude and another 200 drones that can operates at medium altitude.

Both types of drones need to be made in India and have the capability to carry a payload of 15 kg when launched from high altitude and 20 kg when launched at lower altitudes.

Sources said these logistics could include anything from dropping food supplies, small fuel needs, light ammunition and even some small arms.

An RFP is terminology to ask vendors to send in their technical and commercial bids. The case is being progressed as emergency procurement under the ‘fast track procedure’.

Army’s infantry directorate has issued the RFP asking that each drone should have consist of ability to have colour day video camera, monochromatic night thermal sensor and have a container for carriage of supplies besides and one set of spare battery.

The all up weight of the drone needs to be no more than 100 kg and suitable to withstand high altitude strong wind.

The Army wants the drones to be compatible with Defence series maps and have a range of 10 km.

For the high altitude drone the ability should be to launch from a maximum of 4,000 metre (13,000 feet) and the drone need to return to designated home base in autonomous mode.

In case of medium altitude drone the Army wants to operate it at a maximum launch altitude of 3,000 metre and carry a payload of 20 kg.

Islamabad: Forgetting the plight of Pakistanis who are facing one of the worst floods in the history of the country, the only news making the headlines is the selection of a new army chief.
CoAS General Qamar Javed Bajwa is due to retire in November 2022 and all eyes are focused on the appointment of the new army chief of flood-affected Pakistan, reported Islam Khabar.
Ousted in April, former Prime Minister Imran Khan recently said that Pakistan should go in for a snap poll in October, so that his political opponents, whom he calls ‘thieves’, do not select the successor to the incumbent Army Chief, General Bajwa.
Imran Khan assumes that he will win the polls and that will prevent his detractors from appointing a ‘pliable’ army chief who may condone their corruption, reported Islam Khabar.
What does Imran Khan really want? Ideally, he would like to choose Bajwa’s successor. He had wanted General Faiz Hameed to continue as ISI Chief some time ago, but this suggestion was turned down by the army chief. Faiz Hameed is one of the contenders to succeed Bajwa in November!
Most politicians in Pakistan agree that the Army has made ‘sacrifices’ and its members “staking their lives for the nation” ought not to be subjected to the ‘insult’ that they say Imran Khan is inflicting.
Imran Khan’s recent remarks are part of his rhetoric against the army and for the most part, are impractical. Even if elections are announced today, the electoral process, once begun, will take at least six weeks and results, assuming that they would yield a clear-cut popular verdict, would need time for a new government to take office, reported Islam Khabar.
Imran’s anger is against the army for having let him down last year after propping him to power in 2018. But the former PM continues to maintain his links with the establishment. Reports indicate that he is “in direct touch” with the army, both within the ISI and the senior leadership of the Army.
The deep state has reportedly told him that elections would be held in March 2023, four months before schedule. It is speculated that a formal announcement of the polls will be made in January 2023, reported Islam Khabar.

Beijing: The Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) in its latest report has accused the Chinese Communist Party of spreading false narratives on numerous issues in the Solomon Islands ahead of the 20th National Congress which is due to begin on October 16.
The report further claimed that the Chinese Communist Party is attempting to influence public discourse in the Solomon Islands through coordinated information operations that seek to spread false narratives and suppress information on a range of topics.
Moreover, the Chinese Embassy has strong connections to media outlets in the Solomon Islands and the Chinese diplomats exert pressure to influence local publications and control press releases in support of the CCP’s narratives, the Singapore Post reported.
This authoritarian regime plays a crucial role in the CCP’s information operations.
CCP has also used its propaganda and disinformation capabilities to push false narratives in an effort to carve the public’s perception of the Solomon Islands and their security issues.
According to several politicians and analysts, the China-Solomons security pact was a deal shrouded in secrecy, which took diplomats and government officials, even those from within Solomon Island, according to the Singapore Post.
Local media outlets have the highest level of online penetration and engagement in the Solomon Islands as CCP official-led articles published in local media including opinion pieces, press releases, and other quote-based articles–are the most effective method of propagating CCP narratives in the Solomon Islands’ online information environment.
Analysis of the anti-West online commentary following the leaked security agreement suggests that the local population used language featured in the CCP’s narrative, the Singapore Post reported.
Recently, the Solomon Islands’ snap ban on foreign military vessels docking at Honiara port has stocked new fears over China’s growing clout in the Islands, where China is accused of stationing its military warships and deploying troops, media reports said.
Solomon Islands, a small country in South Pacific, gained independence in 1978. India established diplomatic relations in May 1987. The High Commission in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, is concurrently accredited to the Solomon Islands.

US recently honouring Gen Bajwa has raised questions in Washington on the long term effects of Biden cosying up to Pakistan.
New Delhi: The highest ceremonial honours, that of “Honor Cordons” which the Joe Biden administration gave to Pakistan army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa during his seven-day visit to Washington is being described by Islamabad-based observers as a “turning of leaf” event in the bilateral ties between Islamabad and Washington. The respect given to Bajwa was akin to what Ben Wallace, Defence Secretary, United Kingdom and Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov, received during their recent visit to the states. Interestingly, the said honours was accorded to India Foreign minister S. Jaishankar when he visited the United States days before Bajwa’s visit.
However, it has led to questions being raised within Washington on the long term effect of Biden cozying up to Pakistan, something which has never served any past president well, as George Bush and Barack Obama learnt the hard way. During the tenure of Bush, analysts at the State Department and those at the Pentagon got a rude shock by way of the 9/11 attack, which was planned by people sitting inside Pakistan. Similarly, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), after spending billions of dollars and countless hours, too realised that the man they were looking for so desperately for his role in the 9/11 attack, Osama Bin Laden, was hiding under the guidance of the Pakistan army and at a home that was less than 4 km from the Pakistan military academy and the headquarter of an army battalion at Abbottabad.
Later in 2012, documents put out in public domain by Wikileaks confirmed that Laden was in routine contact with several senior figures from the Pakistan military and its intelligence arm, ISI, while hiding in the country.
It was also during the tenure of Barack Obama, who was extremely liberal when it came to loosening US purse strings for Islamabad, that Pakistan came closer to Beijing which culminated with the signing of the multi-billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a series of investment related projects that would be built by China in Pakistan, which was already receiving billions of dollars from Washington for being a part of “fight on terror”. Today, the same advisors and bureaucrats at the Hill are spending billions of dollars to contain Beijing.
The killing of Laden’s successor, Ayman al-Zawahiri, in July this year in Kabul, which the US forces were able to do—which is now crystal clear in view of the developments that have happened after his death—after inputs received from ISI and GHQ Rawalpindi, is perhaps an atonement by the Pakistan military for the disservice that they have done with successive “Potuses’ in the past. According to Indian officials, Islamabad, due to its unique position of being a rival to Delhi, is courted and treated as important by both Washington and Beijing, something which Islamabad, too, has come to realize.
If the US has to rebuke India or show it is upset or wants to interfere in India’s external policies, it uses Pakistan as a tool, as it has been doing for the past few days now, after India refused to side with Washington on the issue of cornering Russia over the war in Ukraine.
Similarly for Beijing–which considers Delhi as its only rival in South Asia–Islamabad comes as its most important tool for achieving strategic goals on India’s Western and Eastern borders. However, while Washington keeps oscillating between Delhi and Islamabad based on its strategic needs and change of Presidents and advisors to them, India has remained constant as far as Moscow is concerned, irrespective of the party in power in Delhi, something which Jaishankar reiterated while speaking in Canberra recently. “The inventory of Soviet and Russian-origin weapons grew for various reasons, including the West not supplying weapons to India for decades and in fact seeing the military dictatorship next to us as preferred partner,” the minister said.
This policy–of India refusing to become another Pakistan in the South Asian region which is used and misused by the US as a strategic tool as people in Washington would like to believe–will continue to stand, officials in Delhi indicated.