indo israel

PM Narendra Modi to advance sales and production of missiles, drones and radar systems from Israel under his signature ‘Make in India’ drive
Narendra Modi is making a first visit to Israel by an Indian prime minister next week, in a public embrace of a country that he has long admired for its military and technical expertise but which his predecessors kept at arm’s length.

India has traditionally trodden a careful diplomatic line in the region, analysts say, wary of upsetting Arab states and Iran—upon whom it relies for its vast imports of oil—and its large Muslim minority. It has been a vocal supporter of the Palestinian cause, even as it quietly pursued ties with Israel.

But now Modi is lifting the curtain on a thriving military relationship. He will hold three days of talks with his Israeli counterpart, Benjamin Netanyahu, to advance sales and production of missiles, drones and radar systems under his signature “Make in India” drive, officials in Delhi and Tel Aviv said.

The Indian leader will not travel to Ramallah, the seat of the Palestine Authority and a customary stop for visiting leaders trying to maintain a balance in political ties.

At home, the apparent shift in what has long been a bedrock of India’s foreign policy risks sharpening criticism that the country’s 180 million Muslims are increasingly being marginalized under Modi’s Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government, which swept to power in 2014.

“Narendra Modi’s visit to Israel will only strengthen its occupation of Palestine,” said Asaduddin Owaisi, a member of the Indian parliament from a regional group that promotes Muslim rights.

In previous decades, under the left-leaning Congress Party, former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was a regular visitor to New Delhi, pictured hugging then Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi when the two were championing the Non-Alignment Movement.

In May, Modi hosted Arafat’s successor, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, and offered help in health and information technology, but the trip was low-key.

The scale of the ongoing collaboration with Israel dwarfs anything India is attempting with the Palestinians, officials say.

“We have a wide ranging partnership with Israel that ranges from agriculture cooperation to homeland security,” said Bala Bhaskar, head of the foreign ministry’s West Asia division.

He said India’s ties with Israel and Palestine were important in their own right and neither should viewed through the prism of the other. But an Israeli diplomat said Modi’s standalone trip to Tel Aviv was an important signal.

The two sides are expected to announce strategic partnerships in areas including water, agriculture and space technology during Modi’s visit. But it is the defence relationship that is most advanced—India is now Israel’s biggest arms market, buying weapons at an average of $1 billion each year.

Eli Alfassi, executive vice-president of marketing at state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), the country’s biggest defence firm, said it was supplying India with drones, radar, communication systems and cybersecurity.

Missiles, food security

The centrepiece of the collaboration is the Barack 8 air defence system, built jointly by the two countries in a boost for Modi’s campaign to develop a domestic defence industry.

“We are adjusting to the ‘Make in India’ policy which says only local companies will win tenders, so we are setting up three joint projects in India with local companies,” Alfassi said.

IAI has signed a memorandum of understanding to build missiles with India’s state-run Bharat Electronics Limited, launched a joint project with Dynamatic Technologies to make drones and is scouting for a partner for a joint venture for its subsidiary Elta, which specialises in electronic warfare and communication systems, he said.

India is in the midst of a military modernisation programme worth more than $100 billion to help counter rivals Pakistan and China. Israel, the United States and Russia are India’s top military suppliers, and Modi’s government has said it will favour countries that are ready to share technology.

Avi Mizrachi, executive vice-president of business development for Israel and Southeast Asia at Elbit Systems, which supplies electro-optic systems and upgrades of helicopters and combat vehicles, said it would be bidding for a tender to supply drones in partnership with the Adani group.

The two countries stress, though, that there is more to the relationship than arms deals.

Modi will be discussing a plan for Israeli help in boosting India’s food security, officials said. The plan is to expand 26 agriculture expertise centres that Israel has set up in 15 Indian states to help increase output of everything from vegetables to mangoes and pomegranates.

Modi wants Indian companies involved in turning these small centres into commercial entities that would help tens of thousands of farmers to boost productivity.

Sikkim standoff: India pushes more troops in Doka La in longest impasse since 1962

Sikkim standoff: India pushes more troops in Doka La in longest impasse since 1962

Officials say India brought in more troops in Doka La after the destruction of two of its bunkers and ‘aggressive tactics’ adopted by the Chinese People’s Liberation Arm
India has pushed in more troops in a “non-combative mode” to strengthen its position in an area near Sikkim, where its soldiers have been locked in a standoff with Chinese troops for almost a month now in what has been the longest such impasse between the two armies since 1962.

India brought in more troops after the destruction of two of its bunkers and “aggressive tactics” adopted by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA), officials said.

In a “non- combative mode”, the nozzle of a gun is placed downwards. Giving details for the first time about the events that preceded the face off between the two armies, the officials said the PLA on 1 June asked the Indian Army to remove the two bunkers set up in 2012 at Lalten in Doka La, which falls in the vicinity of Chumbi Valley at the corner of India-Bhutan- Tibet tri-junction.

The Indian Army, which had been patrolling this area for many years, decided in 2012 that two bunkers would be positioned there as a backup option, besides providing security to the Bhutan-China border. The Indian Army forward positions informed Sukna-based 33 Corps Headquarter in North Bengal about the Chinese warnings on the bunkers, the officials said.

However, during the night of 6 June, two Chinese bulldozers destroyed the bunkers, claiming that the area belonged to China and that India or Bhutan had no right over it, the officials said. Indian troops on the ground prevented the Chinese men and machines from doing any further damage or transgressing into the area, they said.

Additional forces from nearby brigade headquarters, located 20km from the face off point, were moved in on 8 June during which a scuffle led to soldiers on both sides suffering minor injuries. PLA troops were rushed in from its 141 division located in the area, prompting the Indian Army to also strengthen its position. This is the longest standoff between the two armies since 1962.

The last one, which carried on for 21 days, occurred at Daulat Beg Oldie in the Ladakh division of Jammu and Kashmir in 2013, when Chinese troops entered 30km into Indian territory till the Depsang Plains and claimed it to be a part of its Xinjiang province. They were, however, pushed back.

Sikkim, which became a part of India in May 1976, is the only state which has a demarcated border with China. The lines are based on a treaty signed with the Chinese in 1898. After the India-China war of 1962, the area where the Indian troops are stationed was placed under the Indian Army and the ITBP, which is the border guarding force and has a camp 15km from the international border.

As the scuffle broke out between the two sides, the Indian Army rushed an officer of the Major General rank to the area and a flag meeting was sought with the Chinese counterparts. China rejected two such requests from the Indian side, but accepted the third call for a meeting, where it asked the Indian Army to withdraw its troops from the Lalten area, which falls in Doka La.

Doka La is the Indian name for the region which Bhutan recognises as Dokalam, while China claims it to be part of its Donglang region. As a fallout of the standoff, the Chinese refused to allow the first batch of 47 pilgrims, who were to conduct the annual Kailash Mansarovar Yatra, into Tibet.

They also conveyed to the Indian side that visas of another batch of 50 yatris had also been cancelled, the officials said, describing the move as an indication of “increased tempers” in Beijing. The Sikkim route to Mansarovar, which is in Tibet, was opened in 2015, enabling pilgrims to travel the 1500km long route from Nathu La to Kailash by buses.

It is not the first time that such a transgression has happened at Doka La. The Chinese forces had in November 2008 destroyed some makeshift Indian army bunkers there. Defence experts believe China wants to exert its dominance over the Chumbi Valley, which is a part of the southern reaches of Tibet.

By claiming the Doka La area, Beijing wants to maximise its geographical advantage so that it can monitor all movements along the India-Bhutan border. China has also increased diplomatic pressure on India and lodged a protest over the alleged “crossing of boundary” by Indian troops in the Sikkim section.

They demanded their immediate withdrawal, as Beijing warned that future visits of Indian pilgrims to Kailash Mansarovar would depend on the resolution of the standoff. “Our position to uphold our territorial sovereignty is unwavering. We hope the Indian side can work with China in the same direction and immediately withdraw the personnel who have overstepped and trespassed into Chinese border,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang had told the media in Beijing last week.

People’s Liberation Army spokesman Col Wu Qian also spoke a tough language while making a reference to the 1962 Sino- India conflict, saying that New Delhi should “learn historical lessons”. Qian described Indian Army Chief General Bipin Rawat’s remarks that India was ready for a “two-and-a-half front war” as “extremely irresponsible” and asked him to “stop clamouring for war”.

Rawat had said India was prepared for security threats posed by China, Pakistan as well as by internal threats. “Such rhetoric is extremely irresponsible. We hope that the particular person in the Indian Army could learn from historical lessons and stop such clamouring for war,” he had said.

The defence minister, Arun Jaitley, made New Delhi’s stand clear when he said the India of 2017 was different from that of 1962. “If they are trying to remind us, the situation in 1962 was different and the India of 2017 is different,” Jaitley had said when asked about China’s warning. Of the 3,488km-long India-China border from Jammu and Kashmir to Arunachal Pradesh, a 220km section falls in Sikkim.

291 people reached

World Population Prospects: The 2017 Revision

World Population Prospects: The 2017 Revision
On 21st June, 2017, the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat issued World Population Prospects Report: The 2017 Revision.
According to the results of the 2017 Revision, the world’s population numbered nearly 7.6 billion as of mid-2017.
The reports shows that the world’s population is projected to increase by slightly more than one billion people over the next 13 years, and will reach 8.6 billion in 2030, and to increase further to 9.8 billion in 2050 and 11.2 billion by 2100.
Currently, the population of China is approximately 1.41 billion compared with 1.34 billion in India that is 19 percent and 18 percent of the world’s population respectively.
India’s population is projected to continue growing for several decades to around 1.5 billion in 2030 while the population of China is expected to remain stable until the 2030s, after which it may begin a slow decline.
In this way India will be the world’s most populous country by 2024-2030.
According to repots data, ten countries are expected to account collectively for more than half of the world’s projected population increase over the period 2017-2050.
These ten countries are India, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Pakistan, Ethiopia, the United Republic of Tanzania, the United States of America, Uganda, Indonesia and Egypt.
Nigeria’s population, currently the seventh largest in the world, is growing most rapidly.
The population of Nigeria is projected to surpass that of the United States shortly before 2050, at which point it would become the third largest country in the world.
According to the report in 2017, an estimated 50.4 per cent of the world’s population was male and 49.6 per cent female.
Current estimates indicate that roughly 83 million people are being added to the world’s population every year.

UKPCS-2016 full length test

UKPCS-2016 full length test

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India have topped the medal tally for first time in the history of Asian Athletics Championships.

India have topped the medal tally for first time in the history of Asian Athletics Championships.
In a stunning show of dominance on the fourth and final day of competitions in Bhubaneshwar today, India clinched five gold, 1 silver and 3 bronze.
With that, the hosts ended the championships on top with a haul of 29 medals which included 12 gold, 5 silver and 12 bronze.

Needed: A mutual restraint pact with China

Needed: A mutual restraint pact with China
The 2015 India-China statement on ‘respect and sensitivity to each other’s concerns’ should be narrowed down to primary concerns and core interests
During Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Beijing in May 2015, India and China issued a well-considered joint statement. The first section of the document, subtitled “Strengthening Political Dialogue And Strategic Communication”, stated: “Full use will be made of the opportunities provided by the presence of their leaders at various multilateral fora to hold consultations on bilateral relations and issues of regional and global importance.”

Yet when such an opportunity was presented last week in the G20 summit, both sides went out of their way to insist that they had not sought a meeting. Against the backdrop of a serious stand-off along the border, there could be no starker proof of the fraying of India-China ties over the past two years.

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To consider why things have come to this pass, it is important to understand how this difficult relationship was managed over the past 25 years. The Border Peace and Tranquility Agreement of 1993 was a decisive break from the pattern of Sino-Indian relations since the 1962 war. The agreement formalized the two sides’ commitment to maintaining status quo on the border until they arrived at a negotiated settlement. The agreement also enabled them to bracket the boundary issue and allow the bilateral relationship to develop in other areas.

The agreement was enabled by a particular domestic and international conjuncture. Having embarked on major economic reforms, prime minister P.V. Narasimha Rao was keen to ensure a stable relationship with China. This would help check defence expenditure and allow India to focus on its internal transformation.

In the wake of the Tiananmen massacre and the ensuing international opprobrium, China too was keen to avoid confrontation with its adversaries and create a suitable external environment to spur its economic growth. Both China and India were also reconciled to the fact of American unipolarity and sought to leverage it for their own power and purposes.

The peace and tranquillity agreements of 1993 and 1996 delivered their core promise. When certain aspects of them, such as clarification of the Line of Actual Control, proved difficult, the two sides responded not by restricting cooperation but expanding it. Think of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s bold decision in 2003 to embark on political negotiations on the border. Over the following decade, the common refrain was: “There is enough room for the growth of both China and India”.

The strategic and political context today is rather different. Having gained an upper hand on border infrastructure, the Chinese are keen to prevent India from catching up. Hence, the new forms of Chinese military activity along the border over the past five years.

More broadly, China’s relative power in the international system has risen since the global financial crisis. Not surprisingly, China’s definition of its core interests and its willingness to pursue them has also increased. India’s interests too have expanded with its growing power. Not only is it prepared to adopt a more assertive posture on the border, but it also harbours concerns about South China Sea and China’s rising footprint along India’s periphery.

Even as New Delhi attempts to resolve the current stand-off, it should think ahead. We now need a restraining pact with China. Diplomatic history is replete, as historian Paul Schroeder reminds us, with such examples of managing antagonistic relations by associative means—also known as pacta de contrahendo.

The Holy Alliance after the Napoleonic Wars stabilized Russia’s relations with Austria and Prussia—countries that had been its enemies recently and that continued to compete with Russia along its periphery. The Entente Cordiale, similarly, helped stabilize Britain’s ties with its historic enemy, France. Contrary to popular wisdom, the entente was aimed not at a rising Germany but at managing Britain’s rivalry with France over colonial possessions.

What could be the elements of an agreement on mutual restraint with China?

The 2015 statement spoke of “respect and sensitivity to each other’s concerns, interests and aspirations”. This should be narrowed down to primary concerns and core interests. For instance, Chinese military activism along the border is a primary concern for India. Not so the political cover they provide in the UN to Pakistan’s sponsorship of terrorism. Yet India should make it clear that Pakistani terrorism jeopardizes regional security—especially in the context of Chinese projects in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

Both sides should also set aside aspirational or status goals: be it India’s desire for Chinese support on Nuclear Suppliers Group membership, or China’s desire for Indian support on the Belt and Road Initiative and China’s leadership more generally.

As for the border, both sides could build on previous agreements. Former national security adviser Shivshankar Menon has observed that neither side has explored the reference in the 1993 agreement (and subsequent statements) to the need for “mutual and equal security” and for agreement on force levels. An accord based on these principles could help arrest the downward slide on the border and assure both sides of their core interests pending a boundary settlement.

It is easy to naysay the possibility of such a restraining pact. However, diplomacy is not about pessimism but realism—especially if the alternative is heading to hell in a handcart.

Ahmedabad takes giant leap, becomes India's first World Heritage City

Ahmedabad takes giant leap, becomes India's first World Heritage City
The historic city Ahmedabad has been declared as a World Heritage City at the 41st session of Unesco's world heritage committee meet in Karkow in Poland on Saturday. This day (July 8, 2017) will be remembered in history as for the first time an Indian city was declared a world heritage property.
The nomination of Ahmedabad was supported by close to 20 countries, including Turkey, Lebanon, Tunisia, Portugal, Peru, Kazakhistan, Vietnam, Finland, Azerbaijan, Jmaica, Croatia,Zimbabwe, Tanzania, South Korea, Croatia, Angolam, Cuba, and the host country of the Unesco session, Poland.
The countries unanimously supported Ahmedabad citing a secular co-existence of Islamic, Hindu and Jain communities along with exemplary architecture of intricately carved wooden havelis dating back hundreds of years. The countries also recognized that the city was a cradle for India's non-violent freedom struggle led by Mahatma Gandhi.

The walled city has 26 ASI-protected structures, hundreds of 'pols' that capture the essence of community living and numerous sites associated with Mahatma Gandhi who lived here from 1915 to 1930.
It will now join the likes of Paris, Cairo and Edinburgh. Of the 287 world heritage cities across the globe, there were only two cities in the Indian subcontinent-- Bhaktpur in Nepal and Galle in Sri Lanka. The Unesco tag will add immense value to the city and boost tourism.