📰 India fortifying case against Jaish-e-Mohammad
It will show how the outfit is a threat to the West
•As India, supported by France, prepares a fresh proposal to place Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief Masood Azhar on the ban list operated by the UNSC’s 1267 committee, security agencies are putting together new details of the outfit’s threat not only to India but also to the West.
•A senior official said they would highlight how the JeM’s parent outfit, Harkat-ul-Ansar (HuA), included by the U.S. in its list of Foreign Terrorist Organisations in 1999 had been rechristened as Jaish-e-Mohammad and continued to train terrorists for attacks against the U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
•Another senior official said Balakot, the JeM training camp that was hit in a precision strike by the Indian Air Force (IAF) last week, was established after the Taliban collapsed in Afghanistan in 2001.
•“The primary aim of the establishment of this camp was to train people to go to Afghanistan to attack the U.S. troops there. Their next objective was to train fidayeen [suicide bombers] and then the local militants. As many as two-thirds of the militants trained here were sent to Afghanistan,” the senior official said.
•He said the JeM’s creation could be linked to the popularity surrounding Masood Azhar after his release from India in 1999. He was released in exchange for the passengers of the Indian Airlines aircraft IC 814 that was hijacked from Nepal.
•“He was the general secretary of the newly established Harkat-ul-Ansar (HuA) in 1994 and was on a mission in J&K when he was arrested on February 11 the same year. After he was released [in 1999], the HuA was included in the U.S. list which compelled the outfit to rename itself as the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HuM). Azhar decided to float a new outfit, JeM. He received assistance from Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), the then Taliban regime in Afghanistan, Osama bin Laden and several Sunni sectarian outfits of Pakistan,” said the official.
•He said the formation of the outfit was endorsed by three religious school chiefs in Pakistan, Mufti Nizamuddin Shamzai of the Majlis-e-Tawan-e-Islami, Maulana Mufti Rashid Ahmed of the Dar-ul Ifta-e-wal-Irshad and Maulana Sher Ali of the Sheikh-ul-Hadith Dar-ul Haqqania.
Terror tactics
•A 1998 report by the U.S.’s Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) said, “HuA, an Islamic extremist organisation that Pakistan supports in its proxy war against Indian forces in Kashmir, increasingly is using terrorist tactics against Westerners and random attacks on civilians that could involve Westerners to promote its pan-Islamic agenda.” The report also said that since early 1994 to 1998, the HuA had kidnapped at least 13 individuals, 12 of them Westerners.
•After India and other foreign countries put pressure on Pakistan, post 2001 attack on the Indian Parliament by the outfit, Azhar was arrested by Pakistani security forces on December 29, 2001. However, a three-member Review Board of Lahore High Court ordered on December 14, 2002, that Azhar be released. He was never detained or arrested after that.
•The official added that the outfit is run like a family enterprise of and the prominent office bearers include- Qari Mansoor Ahmed, Nazim (head) of the Propaganda Wing (a resident of Bhurewala, Pakistan’s Punjab), Abdul Jabbar – Nazim, Military Affairs (Formerly with HuM), Sajjad Usman – in charge of Finance (Former HuM), Shah Nawaz Khan alias Sajjid Jehadi and Gazi Baba – Chief Commander J&K (Former Commander HuM, J&K), Mohamamd Asghar – launching Commander (Former Launching Commander of HuM).
•The official said the outfit is closely linked, through the Binoria madrassa in Karachi, with the former Taliban regime of Afghanistan.
Boost in bilateral ties fuelled action on training camps
•India’s improved ties with Myanmar led to that country’s crackdown in late January on the National Socialist Council of Nagaland-Khaplang (NSCN-K), considered the mother lode of most extremist groups in the northeast.
•Another factor that made the Tatmadaw — Myanmar’s military — take over the headquarters of NSCN-K in an operation from January 29 to February 5, was the Naga outfit’s violation of an agreement not to allow Myanmar territory to be used by “any rebel group to attack a neighbouring country (India)”.
•According to The Irrawaddy, a Myanmar-based publication, the Tatmadaw took over the NSCN-K’s headquarters, three outposts and two military training schools in the Taga area of Sagaing Region. The schools were run by rebel groups “fighting the Indian government in Assam and Manipur” under the NSCN-K’s supervision.
•A top government official said the takeover of the NSCN-K headquarters was a significant development as Taga was the collective headquarters of all extremist groups active in the northeast, except the Isak-Muivah faction of NSCN, that has been on ceasefire mode since 1997.
•Taga is close to the Indian border. Extremist groups such as United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) and United National Liberation Front of Manipur are known to use jungle routes for hit-and-run operations in India from the NSCN-K’s base.
•New Delhi has been constantly conveying to Myanmar the problems created by these outfits. The interaction with the Myanmar government intensified after the NSCN-K split last year and many of its Indian members returned. “We told the Myanmar government that they needed to act,” the official said.
•He said all the outfits that the NSCN-K sheltered have vacated the Taga area and are out of reach. “Members of the NSCN-K faction comprising Myanmar nationals are still there. The government there wants it to engage in the nationwide ceasefire agreement but is clear that the Indians must leave,” he added.
•The official said NSCN-K’s military chief Niki Sumi, among the last Indian Nagas in the outfit, moved north towards the China border after the crackdown. “The Myanmar Army is putting pressure on them; they don’t want bloodshed,” he said.
•Sumi carries an award of ₹10 lakh on his head.
•Outlawed in India, the NSCN-K had in March 2015 abrogated a 14-year ceasefire agreement with New Delhi and perpetrated a string of attacks, including the killing of 18 soldiers in an ambush in Manipur in June that year.
•There has been no word about the rebels belonging to the other northeastern outfits, specifically the Kathe (Manipuri) groups the Tatmadaw is after. But the Indian Army and the paramilitary Assam Rifles have strengthened vigil along the 1,643 km border with Myanmar, in a bid to intercept them.
•Apart from these groups, the Indian armed forces are also on the lookout for possible infiltration by members of the Arakan Army, a Myanmarese rebel group active in the Chin State bordering Mizoram, following the intensification of conflict with the Tatmadaw.
📰 A.P. villagers yearn to revive historic temple
Located in Prakasam district, it remains closed after Archaeology Dept. took it over for conservation
•Motupalli, where a historic temple of Veerabhadraswamy, a fiery form of Lord Siva is located, has been an important port for centuries with flourishing trade with South Asian countries especially during the medieval period. But the heritage site in Chinnaganjam mandal of Prakasam district presents a picture of neglect now.
•The temple, constructed during the regime of the Cholas, is an Indologists’ delight with stone inscriptions in Telugu and Tamil and awe-inspiring Panchaloha idols.
•The temple remains closed ever since the Department of Archaeology took it over for conservation and preservation of the archaeological marvel in the wake of discovery of Panchaloha idols of gods and goddesses including that of Lord Nataraja in dancing posture and Bhadrakali in the 1970s from nearby farms, after idol-lifters tried to lay their hands on them in view of the demand for such idols overseas.
•People of the sleepy village now yearn for reviving the past glory of the temple by reinstalling the idols in the historic temple and promotion of temple tourism in a big way as Motupally is well connected by road and rail network on the east coast.
•“We have collected about Rs. 2 lakh for the purpose and taken up the matter with the State Endowments Department for contribution from the Common Good Fund. But more funds are required to revive the temple,” says former village sarpanch K. Govindu who has been impressing upon the people in and around the village to contribute their mite as an inactive temple in the locality is not good for the community. They are sentimentally-attached to Lord Veerabhadraswamy and make it a point to name their children after the god, he says. Pilgrims in large numbers visit the non-descript village close to the east coast highway especially during the auspicious Maha Sivratri and Karthika Pournami to take a holy dip. They return disappointed without the darshan of Lord Veerabhadraswamy, explains another villager T.Venkata Subbaiah.
•Most of the antique idols were shifted either to the State Archaeology Museum or to the Victoria Museum, Vijaywada. The villagers’ demand is that they should be brought back and reinstalled, says a village elder P.V. Rama Rao The temple in Rudramambapuram, a hamlet of Motupalli village panchayat, was an important cultural centre then. The hamlet gets its name from the Kakatiya queen Rudrama Devi of Kakatiya dynasty.
Excavations
•Excavations taken up by the Archaeology Department had led to unearthing of Chinese ware and copper coins of the Ming dynasty, coins belonging to the Chola era and bronze articles and pottery. The importance of the village, also referred to as ‘Mohanagiripuram’ can be appreciated from the accounts of Italian merchant Marco Polo who visited the place in the 13th century.
•Its prominence continued during the regimes of Reddy kings as also Bahmini Sultans before fading with the advent of the Britishers on the East coast who focused their trading activities mostly from Machilipatnam.
📰 The basics are vital
Making hospitalisation affordable will spell relief, but there is no alternative to strengthening primary health care
•In 2011, a high-level expert group on universal health coverage reckoned that nearly 70% of government health spending should go to primary health care. The National Health Policy (NHP) 2017 also advocated allocating resources of up to two-thirds or more to primary care as it enunciated the goal of achieving “the highest possible level of good health and well-being, through a preventive and promotive healthcare orientation”. However, if current trends and projections are anything to go by, this goal is likely to remain a pious hope.
•Last year, an outlay of ₹1,200 crore was proposed to transform 1.5 lakh sub-health centres into health and wellness centres by 2022, which would provide a wider range of primary care services than existing sub- and primary health centres (PHC). Going by the government’s own estimate, in 2017, it would cost ₹16 lakh to convert a sub-health centre into a health and wellness centre. This year, the outlay is ₹1,600 crore (a 33% increase) clubbed under the National Health Mission (NHM) budget. Assuming that at least the same number (15,000) of new health and wellness centres would be planned for 2019-20, and that at least half the aforementioned amount of ₹16 lakh would be required to run an already approved health and wellness centre, the required sum for the year 2019-20 stands at around ₹3,600 crore. While this is a conservative estimate, the realistic figure could easily exceed ₹4,500 crore. The current outlay is less than half the conservative estimate — not to mention that building health and wellness centres at the given rate (15,000 per year) can fulfil not even half the proposed target of 1.5 lakh health and wellness centres till 2022.
Picture of extremes
•The overall situation with the NHM, India’s flagship programme in primary health care, continues to be dismal. The NHM’s share in the health budget fell from 73% in 2006 to 50% in 2019 in the absence of uniform and substantial increases in health spending by States. The medium-term expenditure projection statement presented by the Ministry of Finance to Parliament in August 2018 projected a 17% increase in allocation for the NHM in 2019-20. However, there has only been only an increase of 3.4% this year. With this, the NHM budget for this year (₹31,745 crore) barely crosses the actual spending on the programme in 2017-18 (₹ 31,510 crore).
•On the other hand, the Centre looks fairly committed to increasing access to hospitalisation care, predominantly through private players. This reflects in the 167% increase in allocation this year for the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY) — the insurance programme which aims to cover 10 crore poor families for hospitalisation expenses of up to ₹5 lakh per family per annum — and the government’s recent steps to incentivise the private sector to open hospitals in Tier II and Tier III cities. The increase in the PMJAY budget is a welcome step — spending on this colossal insurance programme will need to rise considerably with every passing year so that its commitments can be met. However, the same coming at the expense of other critical areas is ill-advised.
Staff shortage
•Today, the condition of our primary health infrastructure is lamentable: there is a shortage of PHCs (22%) and sub-health centres (20%), while only 7% sub-health centres and 12% primary health centres meet Indian Public Health Standards (IPHS) norms. Further, numerous primary-level facilities need complete building reconstruction, as they operate out of rented apartments and thatched accommodations, and lack basic facilities such as toilets, drinking water and electricity. Data by IndiaSpend show that there is a staggering shortage of medical and paramedical staff at all levels of care: 10,907 auxiliary nurse midwives and 3,673 doctors are needed at sub-health and primary health centres, while for community health centres the figure is 18,422 specialists.
•While making hospitalisation affordable brings readily noticeable relief, there is no alternative to strengthening primary health care in the pursuit of an effective and efficient health system. It must be remembered that the achievement of a “distress-free and comprehensive wellness system for all”, as enunciated by the Union Finance Minister in this year’s Interim Budget speech, hinges on the performance of health and wellness centres as they will be instrumental in reducing the greater burden of out-of-pocket expenditure on health. Their role shall also be critical in the medium and long terms to ensure the success and sustainability of the PMJAY insurance scheme, as a weak primary health-care system will only increase the burden of hospitalisation.
•The government needs to remember its promise of ‘Health assurance to all’ made in its election manifesto in 2014. Apart from an adequate emphasis on primary health care, there is a need to depart from the current trend of erratic and insufficient increases in health spending and make substantial and sustained investments in public health over the next decade. Without this, the ninth dimension (‘Healthy India’) of “Vision 2030” will remain unfulfilled.
📰 Deepening slowdown: on the Indian economy
Can the RBI’s reduction in borrowing costs help check the demand slowdown?
•India’s economy is inarguably slowing, and the latest estimates from the Central Statistics Office disconcertingly point to a deepening slowdown. GDP growth is projected to have eased to 6.6% in the October-December period. With the CSO now forecasting the full-year expansion at 7%, fiscal fourth-quarter growth is implicitly pegged at an even slower 6.5%. At that level, growth would have slowed to a seven-quarter low, giving the incumbent NDA government its slowest pace of annual growth. The data clearly reflect the pain points in the real economy that have been evident for some time now. For one, the farm sector continues to remain in trouble with GVA (gross value added) growth in agriculture, forestry and fishing having slowed sharply to 2.7% in the last quarter, from a 4.2% pace in July-September and 4.6% a year earlier. With rabi sowing showing a shortfall across most crops after a deficient north-east monsoon, and the abiding structural issues that have pushed a multitude of farmers into acute distress nowhere near resolution, it is hard to foresee an early revival in this crucial primary sector. This, in turn, continues to dog demand in the hinterland for manufactured products, from two-wheelers to tractors, and is evident in the consumption spending data. Growth in private final consumption expenditure eased appreciably to 8.4%, from the second quarter’s pace of 9.8%.
•Manufacturing is another source of concern. The estimates for growth in GVA for the sector put the pace at 6.7%, weaker than the 6.9% posted in the second quarter and a rapid deceleration from the April-June period’s 12.4%. The latest Index of Industrial Production (IIP) figures also give little cause for optimism as manufacturing expansion in December slowed to 2.7%, from 8.7% 12 months earlier. RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das had in fact pointedly cited how “high-frequency and survey-based indicators for the manufacturing and services sectors” suggested a slowdown in the pace of activity, to help justify his vote last month for an interest rate cut to bolster growth. That most of the sectors comprising the broader services basket remain becalmed adds to the sense of disquiet. It remains to be seen if the RBI’s reduction in borrowing costs helps check the demand slowdown in the fourth quarter, an improvement in investment activity notwithstanding. Gross fixed capital formation, the key metric for investment demand, expanded by a healthy 10.6%, building on the second quarter’s 10.2% increase. Still, with military tensions with Pakistan on the boil, a long campaign for the general election ahead, uncertainties looming on the global trade and growth horizons, and little fiscal leeway to tease back momentum through increased spending, the economy appears headed for a period of uncertainty at least till the next government is in place.
📰 Hailstorm kills over thousand birds near Pench Reserve
•A hailstorm in the buffer zone of Pench Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh on the intervening night of Saturday-Sunday has killed 1,102 birds, a senior forest official said.
•The hailstorm lashed Khamarpani and Kanhar villages in Chhindwara district, over 60 kilometres from here, the official added.
Egrets and parrots
•“The dead birds comprise 590 egrets, 360 parrots and 152 crows. They were killed in the hail that struck Khamarpani and Kanhar villages in Chhindwara district,” Pench Tiger Reserve Field Director Vikram Singh Parihar said on Sunday. After the dead birds were examined as per the Wildlife Protection Act, they were disposed of, he added.
📰 Odisha shelter homes to have lightning protection system
640 shelters to be taken up in first phase with funding from World Bank
•The Odisha government has decided to have lightning protection system in multipurpose shelters across 25 districts as lightning has emerged as the leading cause behind natural deaths across the State.
•The governing body of the Odisha Disaster Management Authority (OSDMA) under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary A. P. Padhi has underlined the need for fixing lightning arresting systems in multipurpose shelters and strengthening the outdoor lightning alert system.
•“Multipurpose shelters operating in 25 districts would be retrofitted with lightning protection system. In the first phase, 640 shelters would be taken up with funding support from the World Bank under the National Cyclone Risk Mitigation Project,” said Bishnupada Sethi, OSDMA. Managing Director.
•He said about Rs. 17 crore would be invested in the project while the remaining 239 multipurpose shelters would be taken up at a later stage.
•“The OSDMA in collaboration with the US-based Earth Networks has installed six lightning detection sensors in different parts of the State. The system gives prediction of lightning about 30 to 45 minutes in advance. Moreover, more map-based lightning alerts are being provided,” said Mr. Sethi.
•The government will install more alert systems in 14 most lighting-prone blocks of the State on a pilot basis.
•“The system would specify the exact location of the lightning and storm and provide automatic warning through sirens. The siren would be audible at a one-kilometre radius,” he said.
•In Odisha, lightning claims an average of 400 lives every year. The total number of reported deaths due to lightning during the last three years from 2015-16 to 2017-18 is 1,256, which accounts for about 27% of total number of disaster deaths.
📰 Palghar to get another seismometer
•Three days after two earthquakes rocked Mahrashtra in quick succession, the National Centre of Seismology (NCS) and India Meteorological Department (IMD) said another seismometer would be installed in Palghar district, taking the total number of such monitors to four.
•According to officials from IMD, the fourth instrument to be located east of the last earthquake’s epicentre will enable the team in acquiring a more accurate data.
•Palghar district has seen thousands of small earthquakes since November 2018, but the March 1 quake measuring 4.3 on the moment magnitude (Mw) scale was the first time the magnitude crossed 4 here.
📰 A tale of six elephants using one corridor in two countries
Scientists advise trans-boundary conservation for wildlife along the border
•A herd of six female elephants surviving under severe anthropogenic stress may be helped by trans-boundary conservation, say scientists. For several years now, the beleaguered group has been negotiating the international border between India and Bangladesh, ranging from the western side of the Karimganj district of Assam to the eastern side to the Sylhet district of Bangladesh.
•In a publication titled “The importance of trans-boundary conservation of the Asiatic Elephant Elephas maximus in Patharia Hills Reserve Forest, northeastern India”, scientists have called for “joint conservation activities” for the protection of the herd. The paper was published in the Journal of Threatened Taxa .
•Researchers said that its last male elephant died almost five years ago, causing the population to stagnate. Electrocution caused the death of a female elephant in 2017.
Human settlement
•“The elephants are now divided into two small herds with three in each group, and one herd always follows the other. They stay on both sides of the forest, that is, the sections in India as well as Bangladesh, and cross the border frequently. They have broken border fences to use their migratory corridor,” Parthankar Choudhury, one of the authors of the publication, said.
•The researchers said a greater part of the elephants’ habitat lies in southern Assam’s Patharia Hills Reserve Forest, where a lot of illegal settlements have come up in the recent decades. The publication points out that “if conservation action is not taken up, the Reserve Forest (RF) will be a dense human settlement area without any trace of wildlife in the near future.”
📰 Failing the forest
Both human rights and wildlife rights groups have not used the Forest Rights Act as a conservation tool
•On February 13, the Supreme Court ordered the eviction of more than 10 lakh Adivasis and other forest dwellers from forestland across 17 States. The petitioners, mainly wildlife NGOs, had demanded that State governments evict those forest dwellers whose claims over traditional forestland under the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, known simply as the Forest Rights Act (FRA), had been rejected. On February 28, the court stayed its controversial order and asked the States to submit details on how the claims of the dwellers were decided and the authorities competent to pass final rejection orders.
•While the Supreme Court has now made it clear that there will be no forcible eviction, what the order has succeeded in doing is resuscitating a sharp binary between the human rights- and wildlife rights-based groups that have for decades tried to swing public opinion in their favour. The wildlife groups who went to court argue that implementation of the FRA could lead to ‘encroachments’ and fresh clearance of forestland for human dwellings. The human rights groups have argued that the FRA was passed by Parliament and is aimed at correcting historical injustices to traditional forest dwellers who, since colonial times, have been subject to a cycle of evictions. Since colonial times, as governments asserted their control over forests, India’s forest history has become a cycle of evictions from forestland and rebellions by forest dwellers.
A fundamental difference
•Now, here’s the problem. Both groups have been so locked in ideological debates — whether in the courtroom or on social media — that they have failed to protect what could potentially have been beneficial to their respective interest groups: the forest. The FRA was meant for forest dwellers, but it could have also been a powerful tool for conservation. Sadly, both sides have propagated misinformation to garner support for themselves.
•The first myth that needs to be busted for the wildlife lobby is that when a right is recognised of a forest dweller/Adivasi on a piece of land, it doesn’t mean that he/she will cut down all the trees in that area. This is often the strongest note of dissonance between the two groups — the implication that recognising rights on forestland is the same as clear-felling that forest. Therefore, to argue that the rights of millions of forest dwellers have been recognised through the Act does not mean that the forest is a pie to be divided. On the other hand, when forestland is ‘diverted’ for big development projects, like mining or highways or roads, it is actually clear felled or submerged. If this fundamental difference between ‘recognition of rights’ and ‘diversion’ were accepted, the groups at loggerheads would in fact find grounds for commonality.
•It is in fact the Supreme Court that paved the way for this commonality in 2013 when it asked the gram sabhas to take a decision on whether the Vedanta group’s $1.7 billion bauxite mining project in Odisha’s Niyamgiri Hills could go forward or not. It thus affirmed the decision-making power of the village councils of Rayagada and Kalahandi under the FRA. All 12 gram sabhas unanimously rejected mining in the hills.
•Again, in 2016, it was the FRA that was invoked by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) when the people of Lippa in Himachal Pradesh were given the powers to decide whether or not they wanted a hydel power project in this area. The project would have led to submergence of forestland and also caused heavy siltation in the river.
•When wildlife groups point towards the thousands of ‘bogus claims’ that are being filed and that should be rejected, what should not go unnoticed is that the state in fact is not always keen to recognise the rights of people in forest areas (even if it may get them votes) as it becomes tough to ‘divert’ land for big projects. A case in point is the Mapithel Dam that is under construction in Manipur. Once commissioned, it will submerge 1,215 hectares (ha) of land, 595 ha of which are under forest cover. In 2015, the NGT had asked for the state to seek forest clearance for the project. To obtain forest clearance, the State government would have to prove that the rights of the tribal people and forest dwellers would not be affected. However, the State government refused to recognise the rights of the people living there since it was keen to construct the dam.
•There have been hundreds of cases that offered both these divergent groups the opportunity to come together for the cause of the environment and communities. Can the two groups put down their metaphoric swords and use their powers to fight the battle that needs to be fought?
Correcting historical injustice
•Likewise, could not the same wildlife NGOs which filed this petition in the Supreme Court have joined hands with the local communities and used the FRA to challenge big development projects coming up on forestland instead? Human rights groups too cannot be absolved of blame. Most of them have been quick to respond when the judiciary steps in, but have been missing when it comes to the tedious groundwork of working with the gram sabhas and ensuring that genuine claims are filed. The same human rights groups did not come forward to fight cases that could have helped conservation as well as the people who live in those areas. Both groups have failed the forest. There is a chance to correct the historical injustice has been inflicted on the people and to India’s forests. And it is through the FRA that India can achieve that aim.
📰 U.K. offers collaboration in fighter tech, carriers
High Commissioner says it’s a partnership building exercise
•As the Indian Air Force (IAF) continues its efforts to procure new fighter jets, the U.K. has made a pitch for cooperation in the fields of building aircraft carriers and future fighter aircraft technologies.
•“It is not a selling proposition. It is a partnership building exercise on how India and the U.K. can collaborate as future defence technologies are increasingly going to be delivered by collaborative programmes,” British High Commissioner in India Dominic Asquith said at Aero India 2019 held from February 20 to 24.
•The IAF has floated a tender for 114 fighter jets, while a proposed fifth generation stealth fighter, the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA), is on the drawing board.
•Sir Dominic said that on the naval side, they were looking at collaboration in aircraft carriers “where our capabilities and Indian interests are very closely aligned”.
Combat plan
•Talking of the U.K.’s air combat strategy, he said it was essentially the “research and development of technologies for future air platforms which we would like to do in partnership with others”.
•As part of the air combat strategy, BAE Systems has begun the Tempest project to develop sixth generation stealth fighters to replace the Typhoons in service with the Royal Air Force and are scheduled to be phased out by 2040.
Concept stage
•Savraj Sidhu, a member of the Future air combat team of the UK Ministry of Defence, said the project is now at the concept stage and they still do not know what it will look like or who the partners are.
•Preliminary discussions are also on with Sweden, and Japan in addition to other allies.
•“We are going to have exploratory discussions to understand what the Indian requirements are for future air combat and whether they align with the U.K. and hopefully start a long detailed discussion after Aero India,” he said.
•The Tempest project is jointly led by the U.K. government, BAE Systems, Rolls Royce, Leonardo and MBDA. Andrew Pulford, senior military adviser to the BAE, told The Hindu that Team Tempest is about to deliver a technology demonstrator and it is likely to be done by 2035.
•Talking of carrier cooperation, Air Marshal Stuart Evans of the Royal Air Force and Deputy Air Commander, Allied Air Command said that comparing the nature of the two carrier programmes and some of the others globally, the Indian and UK are the most similar in terms of requirement, size and capability.
•“There is huge scope for collaborative discussions on whether there could be more synergy between these two programmes.”
📰 SpaceX’s capsule docks on ISS
The launch is a step towards resuming manned space flights
•SpaceX’s new Dragon capsule successfully docked on the International Space Station (ISS) on Sunday, NASA and SpaceX confirmed during a live broadcast of the mission. “We can confirm hard capture is complete,” NASA said.
•The announcement was met with applause at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. The docking began at 1051 GMT, more than 400 km above the Earth’s surface, north of New Zealand — and 27 hours after the capsule’s launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral in Florida.
•Although the contact appeared slow, the ISS and the capsule were moving at a speed of over 27,000 km per hour in orbit around the Earth. On board the ISS, the crew — American Anne McClain, Russian Oleg Kononenko, and Canadian David Saint-Jacques — were scheduled to open the airlock at 1330 GMT. The mission is a test launch with only a dummy on board the capsule ahead of a manned flight scheduled for later this year.
•The Dragon capsule will remain on the ISS until Friday before detaching to splash down in the Atlantic. It will be slowed by four parachutes, in what is the one of the mission’s riskiest stages.
•The launch is a key step towards resuming manned space flights from U.S. soil after an eight-year break.
•SpaceX has made the trip to the ISS a dozen times before since 2012, but only to refuel the station.
📰 Trend of recycling gold by retail users on the rise
Jewellers report up to a 15% increase in transactions involving exchange of old gold, attribute shift to a jump in metal price
•The quantum of recycled gold in the system is on the rise in India on account of an increase in gold prices and some players ensuring transparency in evaluation and pricing, said jewellers and gold loan companies.
•This trend is also helping curb imports, thus saving foreign exchange. India is the second-largest consumer of gold and the largest importer of the yellow metal, importing about 700-800 tonnes annually.
•This has a bearing on India’s current account deficit (CAD). In 2017-18, India’s gold imports increased by 22.3% to $33.65 billion and the CAD jumped to $48.7 billion, or 1.9% of the GDP.
•While gold imports have not shown a declining trend, jewellers said that had it not been for gold being recycled, recent imports would have shown a higherspike.
•According to estimates, temples and households in India have more than 24,000 tonnes of gold, large parts of which are stored in vaults and used on a need basis.
•Generally, people hesitate to sell gold. Goldsmiths and jewellers tend to use opaque and unreliable methods such as rubbing ornaments on a black stone, immersing them in some solution and conducting the entire process of gold evaluation out of sight of the seller, often resulting in inaccurate assessment of quality and quantity. This creates a deficit of trust among retail sellers. Now, some players offer transparent and scientific processes to evaluate gold thereby ensuring best value to sellers.
•Take, for example, south-based Muthoot Pappachan Group, whose Muthoot Gold Point service claims to use transparent and scientific methodology from gold assessment to final payment, including executing the entire process in front of the customer. It also sends the collected gold to a refinery that converts it into 995 gold bars and supplies them to the domestic market thereby helping reduce gold imports.
•Suvankar Sen, ED, Senco Gold and Diamonds, said, “We are seeing a 15% increase in old gold exchange transactions due to the increase in the gold price. Customers are keen to use their unused gold to meet urgent requirements of jewellery, say, for family occasions.
•“Even new designs are being bought in exchange for old designs and jewellery. It will be good for the economy [if] recycled gold is used, which will enable the government to use [foreign exchange] for other purposes.”
•Colin Shah, vice chairman, Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council, said, “Recycling of family gold is a great idea and can unlock tonnes of gold, subject to proper involvement and support of key stakeholders. Reduction in outflow of forex is great for the country and we hope the government reduces import duty from 10% to 4% as a consequence.” Reducing import duties, it is learnt, will help importers who use the gold, in turn, in jewellery meant for exports.
•Anantha Padmanaban, chairman, Gem and Jewellery Council, said, “The launch of a comprehensive gold policy can help bring a lot family gold into the open market. [We] recently met key Finance Ministry officials and submitted a detailed roadmap for a revamped gold monetisation scheme. Its success is greatly dependent on the support of the banking and financial systems network.”
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Jewellers report up to a 15% increase in transactions involving exchange of old gold, attribute shift to a jump in metal price
•The quantum of recycled gold in the system is on the rise in India on account of an increase in gold prices and some players ensuring transparency in evaluation and pricing, said jewellers and gold loan companies.
•This trend is also helping curb imports, thus saving foreign exchange. India is the second-largest consumer of gold and the largest importer of the yellow metal, importing about 700-800 tonnes annually.
•This has a bearing on India’s current account deficit (CAD). In 2017-18, India’s gold imports increased by 22.3% to $33.65 billion and the CAD jumped to $48.7 billion, or 1.9% of the GDP.
•While gold imports have not shown a declining trend, jewellers said that had it not been for gold being recycled, recent imports would have shown a higherspike.
•According to estimates, temples and households in India have more than 24,000 tonnes of gold, large parts of which are stored in vaults and used on a need basis.
•Generally, people hesitate to sell gold. Goldsmiths and jewellers tend to use opaque and unreliable methods such as rubbing ornaments on a black stone, immersing them in some solution and conducting the entire process of gold evaluation out of sight of the seller, often resulting in inaccurate assessment of quality and quantity. This creates a deficit of trust among retail sellers. Now, some players offer transparent and scientific processes to evaluate gold thereby ensuring best value to sellers.
•Take, for example, south-based Muthoot Pappachan Group, whose Muthoot Gold Point service claims to use transparent and scientific methodology from gold assessment to final payment, including executing the entire process in front of the customer. It also sends the collected gold to a refinery that converts it into 995 gold bars and supplies them to the domestic market thereby helping reduce gold imports.
•Suvankar Sen, ED, Senco Gold and Diamonds, said, “We are seeing a 15% increase in old gold exchange transactions due to the increase in the gold price. Customers are keen to use their unused gold to meet urgent requirements of jewellery, say, for family occasions.
•“Even new designs are being bought in exchange for old designs and jewellery. It will be good for the economy [if] recycled gold is used, which will enable the government to use [foreign exchange] for other purposes.”
•Colin Shah, vice chairman, Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council, said, “Recycling of family gold is a great idea and can unlock tonnes of gold, subject to proper involvement and support of key stakeholders. Reduction in outflow of forex is great for the country and we hope the government reduces import duty from 10% to 4% as a consequence.” Reducing import duties, it is learnt, will help importers who use the gold, in turn, in jewellery meant for exports.
•Anantha Padmanaban, chairman, Gem and Jewellery Council, said, “The launch of a comprehensive gold policy can help bring a lot family gold into the open market. [We] recently met key Finance Ministry officials and submitted a detailed roadmap for a revamped gold monetisation scheme. Its success is greatly dependent on the support of the banking and financial systems network.”
