New Delhi: Chief of Defence Staff Gen Bipin Rawat is on a visit to Ladakh to review the country’s overall military preparedness as thousands of Indian and Chinese troops remained deployed in a high state of combat readiness in various mountainous locations in the region amid the eight-month-long border standoff.

Official sources said on Monday that Gen Rawat will be briefed by Lt Gen PGK Menon, the commander of the Leh-based 14 Corps, popularly known as Fire and Fury Corps, and other senior military officials on the dynamic security matrix in eastern Ladakh.

The visit of the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) to Ladakh comes days after he toured several key installations including “forward most air maintained” posts in Dibang Valley, Lohit sector and Subansiri valley near the Line of Actual Control(LAC) in Arunachal Pradesh.

“The CDS will review the overall security scenario in the eastern Ladakh region,” said a source.

Gen Rawat is also expected to travel to Kashmir from Ladakh on Tuesday.

The Army and the Indian Air Force(IAF) have been maintaining a high state of operational readiness along the nearly 3,500-km LAC with China in view of the military standoff in eastern Ladakh.

Nearly 50,000 troops of the Indian Army are deployed in various locations in eastern Ladakh as multiple rounds of military and diplomatic talks between the two sides have not yielded any concrete outcome to resolve the faceoff. China has also deployed an equal number of troops, according to officials.

The eighth and last round of military talks had taken place on November 6 during which India and China broadly discussed disengagement of troops from specific friction points.

The CDS has been part of the top military brass framing strategies to enhance India’s military prowess in view of the Sino-India standoff.

Last month, Chief of Army Staff Gen MM Naravane had visited eastern Ladakh to review the ground situation in the region that is also experiencing harsh winter.

The standoff erupted on May 5 last year following violent clashes between the troops of the Indian Army and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army(PLA) in the Pangong lake area. The incident in Pangong Tso was followed by a similar incident in north Sikkim on May 9.

Also read: China calls for immediate return of its soldier held by Indian Army

http://

CJI-led Bench pulls up Centre for poor handling of issue; proposes to set up a panel; Attorney General vehemently opposes stay; says farmers from other parts support the laws

Satya Prakash 
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, January 11

Pulling up the government for poor handling of farmers’ agitation against farm laws, the Supreme Court on Monday said it intended to stay the implementation of the contentious laws and set up a committee to find an amicable solution to the problem.

“We are extremely disappointed with the way the government is handling the issue. Last four times you said negotiations are on. What negotiations are you talking about?.. If you have some sense of responsibility, and if you say you will withhold the implementation of laws, we will form a committee to decide,” a three-judge Bench headed by Chief Justice of India SA Bobde told Attorney General KK Venugopal.

The court’s comments came after Venugopal said farmers’ organisations had rejected various offers made by the government.

“People are committing suicide. People are calling names. People are suffering in cold and the pandemic,” noted the Bench, which also included Justice AS Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian.

“We don’t see why there should be an insistence that the laws must be implemented at any cost…Our intention is clear. We want an amicable solution to the problem. That is why we asked you last time, why don’t you keep the laws on hold? But you keep asking for time. We are not on the merits of the law. We are not on repeal,” it said.

The Bench posted the matter for passing a formal order on Tuesday.

During hearing on petitions challenging the validity of the three farm laws and those seeking removal of agitating farmers from Delhi roads, the top court described the situation as “very delicate”.

It said, “We are doing this because you have failed to solve the problem. The Union of India has to take the responsibility. The laws have resulted in a strike and now you have to solve the strike.”

“It will not help you to say that this was started by the last government… We have given you a very long rope. Don’t lecture us on patience. We will decide when to pass the order,” it told the government. It also commented that the law was acted without much consultation.

Venugopal and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta vehemently opposed the court’s proposal to stay the implementation of the farm laws, saying farmers from other parts of the country supported the laws.

Venugopal said: “A law cannot be stayed by the Supreme Court unless the Lordships find that it violates the fundamental rights or constitutional schemes. Law has to be without the power to legislate, only then it can be stayed. No petitioners have raised any such issues”.

“Kindly remove the impression that we didn’t do enough. We gave our best. But the farmers groups have been non-cooperative during talks,” Mehta submitted.

“We have an apprehension that someone will do something a day which will lead to breach of peace. Each one of us will be responsible if something goes wrong. We don’t want anybody’s blood on our hands,” the Bench said.

As a lawyer said he had full faith in the top court, the CJI asserted, “Whether you have faith or not, we are the Supreme Court of India. We will do our job.”

The CJI said it was for the police to deal with the situation not the court.

The courts made it clear that it can’t restrain peaceful protest, saying it was for the police to deal with the situation, not the court. “We want to ensure there is no violence or bloodbath in the streets. If somebody breaks the law you take action”.

“We should not be understood that we are protecting any law breaker. If someone breaks the law, they will face the consequences. We are not encouraging breaking of law. We propose to pass this order to prevent loss of life and property,” the Bench noted.

The farmers’ unions were represented by senior advocates Dushyant Dave, HS Phoolka and Colin Gonsalves. Dave said he needed to take instructions as there were 400 farmers’ bodies involved in the agitation.

“Don’t create an odd situation where the unions went to the government, but won’t go to the committee,” the CJI told Dave, who sought a day’s time to respond. It asked Phoolka to persuade the women and old farmers to leave the protest site due to the cold and COVID19.

Senior advocate Harish Salve, representing a Delhi resident, cautioned the court against the possibility of protests getting scaled up to demand repeal of the laws following the stay order.

On behalf of the Delhi government, advocate Rahul Mehra alleged it was the ego of certain governments, which was not allowing a fair dialogue.

• Centre files affidavit on farm laws in SC

  New Delhi [India], January 11,2021 (ANI): The Union of India (UOI) has filed an affidavit “hurriedly” in the Supreme Court after the hearing concluded on petitions filed against the central farm laws on Monday.
  The Centre‘s affidavit stated that the present affidavit is necessary for the purpose of dispelling the erroneous notion that the protestors have peddled that the central government and the Parliament never had any consultative process or examination of issues by any Committee before passing of the laws in question.
  The Centre stated in its affidavit that it is necessary for the purpose of bringing some unquestionable facts before this Court, thereby this affidavit has been filed before the Supreme Court.
  The Government of India has been, thus, actively and intensively engaging with the States for about two decades to achieve the objectives of reforms to provide accessible and barrier free-market system for better price realisation but states either showed reluctance to adopt the reforms in true spirit or made partial or cosmetic reforms, the Centre‘s affidavit said.
  The legislations are not hurriedly made but are a result of two decades of deliberations. The farmers of the nation are happy as they are given an additional option over and above the existing and, therefore, no vested right is taken away, the Centre stated in its affidavit.

  The central government has done its best to engage with the farmers to remove any misapprehensions or misgivings in the minds of the farmers and no efforts have been found lacking, the affidavit said.
  As a responsible government, it has taken all conceivable steps to ensure that specific grievances of some farmers who are agitating are discussed and sorted out so far as possible, the Centre‘s affidavit said.
  It is submitted that the Acts have received wide acceptance throughout the country and, therefore, some farmers and others objecting to the law had put a condition of its repeal, is neither justifiable nor acceptable, the Centre‘s affidavit stated.
  With a view to satisfy this Court that sincere and possible attempts are made to engage a constructive dialogue with agitators, the Centre‘s affidavit said.
  The Supreme Court will pass orders on Tuesday on petitions challenging the constitutional validity of farm laws.
  A three-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sharad Arvind Bobde, is hearing a batch of petitions, including those filed by DMK MP Tiruchi Siva, RJD MP Manoj K Jha, regarding the constitutional validity of three farm laws, passed by the Central government along with the plea to disperse protesting farmers.
  The bench had said that the government should have passed these laws after discussing with all stakeholders. (ANI)

Mukesh Ranjan

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 10

The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in its annual review report has claimed that the number of incidents related to militancy in 2020 (up to November 2020) has declined by 63.93 percent as compared to the corresponding period in 2019 in Jammu & Kashmir.

It also said the newly carved out union territory (UT) had witnessed a dip in fatalities among the special forces by 29.11 per cent and in case of civilian casualties by 14.28 percent, while noting the recently concluded District Development Council (DDC) elections as the landmark decision.

In the report under the title – Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh – Further steps towards Integration of the new UTs with the Union – the MHA said, “The number of militant incidents in 2020 (up to 15 November) decreased by 63.93 per cent as compared to the corresponding period in 2019. There was also a decrease in fatalities of special forces personnel by 29.11 per cent and a decrease in casualties of civilians by 14.28 per cent in 2020 (up to 15th November) as compared to the corresponding period in 2019.”