ISRO puts 31 satellites in space
29 of them belong to 14 foreign countries, including the U.S. and the U.K.
•The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully launched 31 satellites — 29 of them belonging to foreign countries — on board the PSLV-C38 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre here on Friday.
•The PSLV, in its 40th flight, carried the Cartosat-2 series satellite, the main payload, weighing 712 kg and another Indian satellite, NIUSAT, an Indian university/academic institute satellite from Noorul Islam University, Kanyakumari. Delegates from foreign agencies that were sending their satellites watched from Mission Control as the satellites were placed into orbit.
•The PSLV-C38 took off from the first launchpad at 9.29 a.m. The Cartosat-2 series satellite was placed in orbit at 16 minutes after launch and the final satellite was injected into orbit at 23 minutes. The total payload weighed 955 kg at lift-off. The Cartosat satellite launch will provide remote sensing services for about five years.
•The other 29 nano satellites belonged to 14 nations — Austria, Belgium, Chile, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, the U.K., and the U.S.
Remote sensing satellite
•The Cartosat-2 is a remote sensing satellite, and is the sixth in the series. It was placed in a 505 km polar Sun Synchronous orbit. It will be used for cartographic applications, coastal land use and regulation, road network monitoring, water distribution, creation of land use maps, Land Information Systems (LIS) and Geographical Information System (GIS) applications, ISRO said.
•The Cartosat satellite separated 16.43 minutes after launch, as planned, following which the remaining satellites separated over the next seven minutes.
•With the launch of the PSLV-C38, B. Jayakumar, Mission Director said, ISRO now had the confidence to put a number of satellites into different orbits, in a single mission. “Initially it [PSLV] was designed to put satellites in sun synchronous orbit… we could establish it could cater to any type of orbit – Geo Synchronous, Sun Synchronous orbit or low inclination orbit, carrying multiple satellites; Everything has been established. I’m sure this will be a major attraction for foreign customers,” Mr. Jayakumar said.
‘Credible launch vehicle’
•ISRO Chairman A.S. Kiran Kumar said the PSLV was emerging as a credible launch vehicle for anybody across the globe, “because of the frequency at which the launch is happening and also the access and timeline within which their satellites can be put into orbit.”
‘Brexit is an opportunity for Netherlands-India ties’
Amsterdam aspires to be India’s biggest partner in Europe
•Netherlands is aspiring to emerge as India’s biggest partner in Europe following the Brexit-related changes taking place in Europe. Ambassador of the Netherlands Alphonsus Stoelinga said that during the working visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on June 27, both countries will conclude two deals on water and cultural relations and firm up cooperation for multilateral diplomacy.
•“There were a lot of questions over the EU’s (European Union) future after Brexit. But now the EU is relatively better and the Eurosceptics are under control. Prime Minister Modi will have a personal experience that post-Brexit Europe is good for India-Netherlands ties,” said Mr. Stoelinga, explaining that India is the fastest-growing member among the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) countries and the Dutch remain highly interested in increasing investments into India.
•“20% of India’s $ 45 billion trade with the EU passes through the Netherlands. After Brexit, there is a good possibility that Indian investments in our country will increase and the Netherlands can possibly emerge as an alternative hub of Indian exports and capital in Europe,” said Mr. Stoelinga, speaking to a small group of journalists at his official residence.
•During the visit, Prime Minister Modi will meet Prime Minister Mark Rutte of the Netherlands and will have a working lunch on 27 June. The Dutch leader will be accompanied by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Trade and Development Cooperation and other high-level officials of his team. PM Modi will have an audience with His Majesty King Willem-Alexander and Her Majesty Queen Maxima.
•Mr Stoelinga also indicated that his country’s support to India’s attempts for export control regimes will continue.
U.S. visit aimed at deepening ties: Modi
Pichai, Nadella to attend CEO round table; Tillerson, Mattis to call on PM
•Prime Minister Narendra Modi will arrive in the US capital on Saturday evening for his first meeting with President Donald Trump. Mr. Modi will meet Mr. Trump one-on-one in the White House on Monday afternoon, which will be followed by a delegation-level meeting and possibly a working dinner.
•“My USA visit is aimed at deepening ties between our nations. Strong India-USA ties benefit our nations & the world,” Mr. Modi said in a Twitter post.
•“I look forward to this opportunity to have an in-depth exchange of views on further consolidating the robust and wide-ranging partnership between India and the United States,” he said.
•Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Secretary of Defence James Mattis will call on Mr. Modi at his hotel earlier on Monday. Mr. Modi will interact with US CEOs on Sunday morning and attend a community reception in the afternoon. Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella will attend a round table with the PM.
•“India’s partnership with the United States is multi-layered and diverse, supported by not just governments but all the stakeholders on both sides. I look forward to building a forward looking vision for our partnership with the new administration in the United States under President Trump,” said Mr. Modi.
•Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar has already arrived in the city and was scheduled to meet Mr. Tillerson and Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan on Friday. "We are looking forward to strengthening ties between the United States and India," State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said ahead of the visit. "We have a lot of areas of mutual cooperation, of fighting terrorism, and we have a lot of strong people-to-people ties ties; so we are looking forward to that visit," she said.
‘Expect the unexpected’
•Both sides have been careful not to raise expectations ahead of the first meeting between the two leaders. Mr. Trump’s meeting with world leaders have taken unscripted courses, a factor that makes Indian planners of the visit nervous. “Both leaders like to surprise people, but do not like being surprised. But, in this case, Mr. Modi will likely expect the unexpected and try to be prepared to deal with it,” pointed out Tanvi Madan, Director, India Projects at Brookings Institution in Washington, DC.
•The PTI reported that the State Department has given the final clearance for the sale of 22 unarmed Guardian unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) to India, ahead of Mr. Modi’s visit. The sale was in principle approved by the Obama administration, but has been stuck in technical and bureaucratic hurdles in the State Department.
•The deal is estimated to be worth between two to three billion U.S dollars. These drones would be for the use of Indian navy for maritime surveillance around India. The drone sale enhances Indo-U.S defence cooperation. India has also expressed the desire to buy armed Predator UAVs from General Atomics, the U.S manufacturer.
Centre announces 30 more Smart Cities
Thiruvananthapuram tops list in third round of selections
•Thirty more cities from across the country have been added to the Centre’s Smart Cities Mission, with a proposed investment of Rs.57,393 crore in various projects under the scheme.
•Marking the second anniversary of the launch of the Smart Cities Mission, Union Urban Development Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu on Friday announced the new cities added to the scheme in the third round, taking the total number of cities to 90. With the addition of the 30 cities, 23 States and four Union Territories have been included in the Mission.
•As in the previous two rounds, the cities were picked on the basis of the proposals they submitted for the Smart Cities Challenge. Among the cities selected, Mr. Naidu said, Kerala’s capital, Thiruvananthapuram, topped the challenge.
•Tamil Nadu emerged as the State with the highest number of cities selected in this round, with Tirupur, Tirunelveli, Thoothukudi and Tiruchi making it to the Mission.
Three cities in U.P.
•Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat had three cities each selected for the Mission.
•While Jhansi, Allahabad and Aligarh made it from U.P., Rakjot, Gandhinagar and Dahod were the picks from Gujarat.
•Further, Madhya Pradesh (Sagar and Satna), Bihar (Patna and Muzaffarpur), Chhattisgarh (Naya Raipur and Bilaspur) and Jammu and Kashmir (Srinagar and Jammu) had two cities each selected. Andhra Pradesh’s new capital, Amaravati, was also selected, as was Karimnagar in neighbouring Telangana.
•Among the 11 State capitals selected were Bengaluru in Karnataka, Shimla in Himachal Pradesh, Aizawl in Mizoram and Gangtok in Sikkim.
•The other cities selected were Puducherry, Karnal in Haryana, Dehradun in Uttarakhand, Pimpri Chinchwad in Maharashtra, and Pasighat in Arunachal Pradesh.
•Mr. Naidu said that the proposed investment in these 30 cities was Rs.57,393 crore under various smart city plans. With that, the total investment for smart infrastructure development for the 90 cities had gone up to Rs.1.91 lakh crore, he added.
•Of the 30 cities added to the Mission, 26 had proposed affordable housing projects, 26 cities would take up school and hospital projects, and 29 would carry out redesign and redevelopment of roads, Mr. Naidu said.
•“The concept of smart cities has redefined the urban discourse in our country like no other idea,” he said.
Less than 3% of projects under mission completed
•Nearly two years after the Smart Cities Mission was launched, less than 3% of the projects proposed under the Mission have been completed, as per information shared by the Union Urban Development Ministry. The remaining projects are in various stages of implementation.
•Launched on June 25, 2015, the Smart Cities Mission covered 60 cities in the first two rounds, with a total of 2,313 projects being proposed at a total cost of Rs.96,336 crore. But of these, only 57 projects had been completed as of June 16, 2017.
•Of the remaining unfinished projects, work has started on 116, tenders have been floated for 182, detailed project reports (DPRs) were completed for 439, and DPRs for 1,519 were in progress, according to the Ministry.
•June 25 will also mark the second anniversary of two other Central government schemes for urban development, the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) and the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban).
•Speaking about the Smart Cities Mission, AMRUT and PMAY (U), Mr. Naidu said that his Ministry had approved a total investment of Rs.3,15,964 crore for the three schemes. He added that 11,705 projects had been approved, and of these, 5,493 were in the process of being executed.
Massive investment
•“These projects account for an investment of Rs.1,12,904 crore, which is 36% of the total investment approved. Such a high rate of project conversion is quite significant, given the past record of urban planning and implementation,” he said.
•According to data from the Ministry, under AMRUT, Rs.77,640 crore had been approved for 4,672 projects. As of June 16, work had started on 982 projects worth Rs.15,980 crore and the tendering process had begun for 1,365 projects.
Panel to oversee progress in UN’s SDG
Data collected by private agencies may be considered for monitoring
•The Centre will soon set up a high-level committee headed by Chief Statistician of India to oversee the country's progress towards UN’s Sustainable Development Goals aimed at ending poverty, fighting inequalities and tackling climate change.
•A dashboard is also being developed with technical support from the UN Development Programme (UNDP) to “strengthen the mechanism” for monitoring progress on these global goals, India said in its Voluntary National Review Report submitted to the UN Forum on Sustainable Development.
•Data collected by private agencies may be considered for monitoring the SDGs, particularly since a number of the goals are not directly linked to the Centre’s provision of public services.
•“Given the interrelatedness of the goal and targets, the government is also considering setting up a high level Committee headed by the Chief Statistician of India to oversee the monitoring framework for SDGs at the national-level… Steps are being taken to strengthen the statistical system in the country through adequate financial and human resource investment,” according to the report.
National indicators
•The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation has already developed a list of draft national indicators to measure progress of SDGs. These draft indicators have been put out in public domain. Based on the inputs received, national-level indicators will be finalised.
•India will hold bi-annual reviews with the State governments for identifying good practices and challenges. There is an emphasis on assessing and improving the availability of data and putting in place a transparent monitoring system, the report said, pointing out that “disaggregated data” was vital as it would help formulate policies for specific disadvantaged groups and geographical areas.
•“India appreciates that tracking the SDGs effectively will require mechanisms to be established for generating a set of data that is broader, more disaggregated and available at shorter intervals of time as compared to the data that is currently utilised for reviewing developmental efforts,” the report said.
M-banking now under ombudsman’s purview
Could award up to Rs. 20 lakh, says RBI
•The Reserve Bank of India has widened the scope of the Banking Ombudsman Scheme 2006 by enabling a customer to lodge a complaint against the bank for non-adherance to instructions related to mobile banking and electronic banking services.
Pecuniary jurisdiction
•The banking regulator also said that the pecuniary jurisdiction of the Banking Ombudsman to pass an award has been increased from the existing Rs. 10 lakh to Rs. 20 lakh.
•“Compensation not exceeding Rs. 100,000 (Rs. 1 lakh) can also be awarded by the Banking Ombudsman to the complainant for loss of time, expenses incurred as also harassment and mental anguish suffered by the complainant,” the Reserve Bank of India said on Friday.
Engaging Pyongyang
The latest U.S.-North Korean tensions couldbe turned into a diplomatic opportunity
•The tragic death of Otto Warmbier, the 22-year-old American student who was imprisoned and later released while in a state of coma by North Korea, is a huge setback to hopes for dialling down tensions between Washington and Pyongyang. The Korean crisis has worsened since President Donald Trump took office early this year. North Korea test-fired a number of missiles in defiance of international pressure, while the United States issued repeated warnings. Mr. Trump had put pressure on Beijing to rein Pyongyang in, and even praised it for its efforts. But the pressure does not seem to be working, with North Korea continuing with its nuclear missile programme. This was the backdrop to the release of Warmbier. He was arrested in Pyongyang in January 2016 while visiting as part of a tour group and later sentenced to 15 years of hard labour for the “hostile act” of trying to steal a propaganda poster. Within a few days of his release he died. The fallout in the U.S. is predictably charged. The Trump administration has flayed the North Korean regime for Warmbier’s death, but stopped short of calling for more sanctions or issuing new threats. This may be because three other Americans are still imprisoned in North Korea, and Washington’s priority for now is to secure their release.
•On the face of it, this may not seem like the ideal time to advocate diplomacy. But it is worthwhile for Washington to ask whether its hostile policy towards North Korea has produced any positive result. The sanctions-only approach has not helped change Pyongyang’s behaviour. In fact, the longstanding hostility and Washington’s repeated threats have turned the Kim dynastic regime so paranoid that it doesn’t spare even American tourists visiting North Korea. Attempts to put pressure on Pyongyang through Beijing have also failed — either because China is not completely on board or it is simply reluctant to use its leverage over North Korea. Using force or attempting a regime change, a strategy that has not worked for the U.S. elsewhere, will be far more dangerous in the Korean Peninsula given that the North is an unpredictable nuclear power. This situation leaves Mr. Trump with only one viable option: to take the lead in a new diplomatic offensive with both carrots and sticks. Officials from Washington and Pyongyang had already established low-level contact for the release of Warmbier and the other three Americans who are still in North Korean custody. Mr. Trump could use the crisis as an opportunity to expand the engagement, get the Americans freed and then gradually start discussing more complex issues. The new South Korean President, Moon Jae-in, is an advocate of talks and has vowed to roll back the hostile foreign policy of his predecessor. If China also backs such an effort wholeheartedly, Mr. Kim would have to unequivocally demonstrate whether he is interested in peace or not.
Limits of exclusivism
The recent crisis in Sri Lanka’s Northern Provincial Council has more to it than a fight against corruption
•The recent no-confidence motion in Sri Lanka’s Northern Provincial Council (NPC) in Jaffna, moved by a section of the Council members against Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran, has brought the deep divide in Tamil nationalist politics to the fore.
•The turbulence lasted a week, after he called on two ministers to resign on corruption charges and two others to go on compulsory leave, until Tamil National Alliance (TNA) leader R. Sampanthan engineered a compromise that let Mr. Wigneswaran continue in power.
•The controversy was essentially a manifestation of a simmering political conflict within the Tamil polity. Tension had been brewing within the NPC since the regime change in January 2015. The Tamil nationalists’ preferred discourse of victimhood and the need for international intervention during the authoritarian Rajapaksa regime suddenly confronted the geopolitical agenda of the West and India, which moved close to the new government in Colombo. The TNA leadership in Parliament shifted its approach towards engaging Colombo. However, Mr. Wigneswaran, along with politicians within and outside the NPC, firmly held his exclusivist, if not separatist, line.
•In the parliamentary election of August 2015, these fissures became pronounced with Mr. Wigneswaran supporting the hard-line Tamil National People’s Front (TNPF) which suffered a thumping defeat. The TNA’s landslide victory seemed a timely moment for the Chief Minister’s removal, but Mr. Sampanthan’s indecisiveness let the status quo be.
Political culture
•The recent developments in the NPC also reflect worrying trends in Tamil political culture. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and later the Rajapaksa regime had curtailed peoples’ struggles for decades. However, with democratic space opening after 2015, protests around land, fishing rights, wartime disappearances and militarisation mounted. Through these agitations, the war-affected people voiced their growing frustration as their livelihoods remained precarious. But the government in Colombo was comfortably indifferent.
•The lack of solutions through meaningful leadership in the TNA and the Colombo government has left the field open for the crass politics of nationalists aligned with Mr. Wigneswaran. Their campaigns are essentially repackaging the LTTE’s politics of ethnic exclusion, often with anti-Muslim sentiments. They glorify martyrdom and victimhood, blame all ills on the south, and claim to be devoted nationalists who can lobby the West for deliverance.
•It is true that substantive devolution is yet to be realised in the country, but Mr. Wigneswaran actively blocks development projects allocated from Colombo.
•The pro-Wigneswaran mobilisations culminated in attacks on the dominant sections of the TNA, with the labelling of politicians as “traitors”, reminiscent of the LTTE’s politics of character assassination. Meanwhile, sections of the local Tamil media project Mr. Wigneswaran’s populist appeal through religious and cultural imagery betraying an emergent Hindu nationalism in Jaffna.
•The Tamil chauvinist forces do not pose any threat to the state for the Tamil community cannot stomach another insurrection. However, they can further undermine the Tamil community by preventing moves to rebuild its social, economic and political institutions. While the LTTE mowed down committed social and political Tamil leaders for its military project seeking a separate state, its opportunistic and talking-head avatars pose a political threat to what remains of progressive Tamil society and its institutions.
Downward spiral
•The next year, ahead of NPC elections, is likely to be wasted with a lame duck Council, with possibly more extreme nationalist theatrics to keep the Tamil population at boiling point. In this context, early elections following its dissolution is one possibility. Alternatively, the electorate may demand changes in provincial governance through local struggles. The Centre also aggravates the dire state of the Tamil community with a terribly flawed reconstruction programme, with no meaningful investment in the local economy or job creation. The promised constitutional reforms to expand devolution of power have been virtually put on hold as the coalition government wobbles, with unchecked Sinhala-Buddhist chauvinist forces surging. Having wasted two and a half years in power, the President and the Prime Minister offer little confidence to the war-torn population by way of a solution. As for Tamil nationalist politics, whether it is the TNA leadership or its rivals, little is likely to change. There isn’t even reflection and introspection about how the LTTE and, for that matter, the current leadership have brought about this abject situation.
•Mr. Wigneswaran’s politics have been a disaster. He has severed relations with the south and is the subject of ridicule by international actors whom he claims to lobby. However, the faith placed by many in Mr. Sampanthan as a senior leader who can finally deliver a solution is also waning, thanks to his political indecisiveness and failure to engage and mobilise the Tamil population.
•In this context, Tamil nationalist politics that has centred on exclusivism culminating in separatism, or demands towards constitutional change without political rapprochement requires a rethink. It has never sought to genuinely engage the other minorities and progressive Sinhalese, or consider ways of achieving devolution of power in tandem with broader democratisation and economic justice. Worse, it has failed to address the contradictions within its fold of caste, gender, class and region, and instead depended on an elite consensus within its narrow, Jaffna-centred base. The downward spiral of Tamil nationalist political competition in recent years signals a destructive path for an already debilitated, war-torn society. It is only a generational political shift breaking away from Tamil nationalism that can redeem Tamil society from its tragic predicament.
