📰 IAF went for precision strikes in Balakot: official
‘Munitions were chosen carefully’
•During the Balakot air strikes, the Indian Air Force (IAF) went in for “clinical precision” and hit the intended targets, a senior defence official said on Thursday.
•“The IAF didn’t go in for propaganda bombing. The objective was to hit the targets but avoid collateral damage to possible non-militant staff in adjacent buildings. The munitions were chosen accordingly,” the official said.
•In a pre-dawn attack on February 26, 12 IAF Mirage-2000 fighter jets struck a Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) training camp at Balakot in Pakistan. Of the 12 Mirage-2000s deployed, at least four had crossed the Line of Control (LoC), to varying distances, to release their payloads, the official said.
•The IAF used SPICE-2000 precision guided glide bombs, weighing 1,000 kg and having a range of up to 100 km. Most of the bomb consists of penetrators to pierce hardened structures, while the actual explosive is about 90 kg.
‘Images confirm targets were hit’
•In the air strikes on the Balakot terror training camp, the Indian Air Force chose its munitions carefully, a senior defence official said on Thursday. “The warhead would not cause total destruction of the buildings hit and neither was this being aimed for,” he said, responding to debates on how effective the strikes had been and the extent of the damage done.
•In all, the IAF hit four buildings, two of which were the main training complex and the other a seminary where religious training was imparted. The other two targets include accommodations for the cadres.
•The official said there is no question on the capability of the bombs. The radar and high-resolution satellite images show “we have hit the targets.” The buildings were not reinforced structures but conventional structures with metal or cement roofs, and the bomb would have just sliced through inside and only explode after hitting a hard surface.
•The IAF had said a PAF F-16 was shot down by a MiG-21 piloted by Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman in a dogfight as Pakistani jets tried to bomb Indian Army installations on February 27. PAF jets used H4 standoff munitions to target Army positions but they were intercepted and the bombs fell in the open, the official said. “Tail units of the H4 bombs and pieces of AMRAAM (Advanced Medium Range Air to Air Missile) fired by the F-16s were recovered,” he added.
Protest in Bhubaneswar against alleged tinkering with Act
•A large number of forest dwellers took to the streets in Bhubaneswar on Thursday protesting against alleged tinkering with the Forest Rights Act.
•Although the Supreme Court had stayed its earlier order that had created panic among 10 lakh forest dwellers over possible eviction, protesters under the banner of Campaign for Survival and Dignity, Odisha, announced that they would continue to agitate till permanent relief was not granted.
•“We do not want temporary relief… we want complete setting aside of the Supreme Court’s February 13 order. Ever since the NDA government came to power, there has been a consistent effort to weaken the FRA,” said Gopinath Majhi, CSD State convener.
‘Centre failed’
•“We are forced to stage protests as the Central government has failed to defend the FRA in the Supreme Court,” said Mr. Majhi.
•“Since most of 422,384 individual forest rights titles have been issued in a haphazard manner without ground verification, it has led to confusion on the ground. As many as 1,45,567 IFR applications have been rejected. All of them are facing evictions,” he added.
•“The BJD-led government claims to be number one in the country by issuing the highest number of IFR titles. In reality, the State has messed up the FRA implementation. It has bypassed the gram sabha,” alleged Manohar Chauhan, a campaigner with CSD.
•Moreover, Mr. Chauhan said, not all IFR claimants have been formally informed on the rejection of their claims because of which hundreds of forest dwellers are likely to miss a chance to appeal at a higher forum. The CSD has demanded that all the so-called rejected IFR applications be sent back to the gram sabhas concerned for reconsideration and appropriate action.
•Forest dwellers said they will continue to protest against any attempts to dilute the Act.
📰 Funding period extended to boost regional air connectivity
•The Union Cabinet on Thursday gave its approval for extending the “time and scope” of financial support of Rs. 4,500 crore to the Airports Authority of India (AAI) for the revival of small airports for the regional connectivity scheme (RCS).
•The sum of Rs. 4,500 crore had earlier been promised for the development of 50 un-served and under-served airports for the period of three years between financial years 2018 and 2020. An AAI official said that this was now being extended to all the airports AAI may develop until 2022.
•The official added that the need to seek these extensions was felt because the duration of the RCS programme according to the scheme document is 10 years. The scheme was launched in March 2017 after the first set of RCS routes were awarded.
•The AAI has developed 38 unfrequented and less frequented airports since the launch of the scheme in March 2017. As many as 750 routes have been awarded for connecting 77 un-served airports, 21 under-served airports, ten waterdromes and 31 helipads.
📰 Ethanol production gets a leg-up
Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approves ₹3,355 crore in incentives
•To boost sugar mills’ ethanol-production capacity and help them pay off mounting arrears to cane farmers, the Union government has approved ₹3,355 crore in incentives. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) made the decision on Thursday at what is likely to be its last meeting before the Lok Sabha election is announced.
•The CCEA has approved ₹2,790 crore for bank loan interest subvention to mills, and ₹565 crore for loan interest subvention to the molasses-based standalone distilleries.
•Banks will be able to extend soft loans worth ₹15,500 crore to mills and distilleries under the scheme. This is likely to benefit 268 mills and create an additional 300-400 crore litres of ethanol capacity, according to industry estimates.
•Record harvests and sugar recovery have caused a glut in sugar production and brought the prices down. Cash-starved mills owe farmers more than ₹22,000 crore in arrears for the current season, with almost half the sum owed to farmers in the politically significant parts of Uttar Pradesh. Last June, the ruling BJP lost a crucial byelection in Kairana, in the heart of Uttar Pradesh’s cane country. The defeat was perceived as the result of farmers’ anger. The enhancement of ethanol capacity could help divert surplus cane from sugar production, thus reducing inventories and bringing in revenue to mills. Improved liquidity would help them pay dues.
•This is the seventh major package approved by the Cabinet to bail out the sugar sector since May last year. The other measures are production subsidies, a minimum selling price, buffer stock creation, more import duties and a cut in export duties. The most recent package, approved last week, offered ₹10,540 crore in soft loans to mills to pay off arrears, a measure criticised as a pre-election gimmick by Opposition parties and farmers groups.
•Indian Sugar Mills Association secretary-general Abinash Verma said mills would take 30 to 60 days to start making payments to farmers, depending on their financial health and ability to get speedy loans. However, he said, Thursday’s decision to encourage ethanol production would have a longer term impact, with the creation of 300-400 crore litres of ethanol capacity in addition to the existing 355 crore litres. “We will cross 10% blending with petrol in the next year itself. The year thereafter could see us blending substituting even 15% of the petrol used in the country,” Mr. Verma said. “This will help the sugar industry reduce surplus production by diverting the surplus sugarcane for ethanol. Sugar production may come down by 1.5 million tonnes to 2 million tonnes from the next year itself.”
📰 Breathing clean
Political will is integral to the tackling of India’s hazardous air pollution
•An assessment of the quality of air across countries and in cities has come as a fresh warning to India on the levels of deadly pollutants its citizens are breathing. The IQ AirVisual 2018 World Air Quality Report published in collaboration with Greenpeace underscores that Delhi remains an extremely hazardous city to live in. The national capital exposes people to air containing annual average fine particulate matter (PM2.5) of 113.5 micrograms per cubic metre, when it should be no more than 10 micrograms as per WHO guidelines. In fact, Gurugram, which borders Delhi, fares even worse with a PM2.5 level of 135.8 micrograms, while 15 of the 20 cities worldwide ranked the worst on air pollution metrics are in India. Delhi’s air quality has been making headlines for years now. Yet, measures to mitigate emissions have not moved into crisis mode: the launch this year of the National Clean Air Programme for 102 cities and towns, including the capital, talks only of long-term benefits of mitigation programmes beyond 2024, and not a dramatic reduction in near-term pollution. This has to change, and an annual target for reduction be set to make governments accountable. Achieving a reduction within a short window is not impossible if there is the political will to reform key sectors: transport, biomass and construction.
•The monitoring of air quality in real time across cities and towns in India is far from adequate or uniform. The evidence from Delhi, which is relatively more robust, has clear pointers to what needs to be done. The Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises learnt from a commissioned study last year that dusty sources such as roads, construction sites and bare soil added about 42% of the coarse particulate matter (PM10) in summer, while in winter it was a significant 31%. Similarly, PM10 from transport varied between 15% and 18% across seasons. Yet, it is the even more unhealthy PM2.5 penetrating the lungs that causes greater worry. Vehicles contributed 18-23% of these particulates, while biomass burning was estimated to make up 15-22%, and dusty sources 34% during summer. These insights provide a road map for action. The Delhi government, which has done well to decide on inducting 1,000 electric buses, should speed up the plan and turn its entire fleet green. A transition to electric vehicles for all commercial applications, with funding from the Centre’s programme for adoption of EVs, should be a priority in cities. Cutting nitrogen and sulphur emissions from industrial processes needs a time-bound programme supervised by the Environment Ministry. These are priority measures to get urban India out of the red zone.
📰 Indian Army to undergo major reforms
New wings for vigilance, rights issues
•In a major move, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has approved the first batch of reforms in the Army which include relocation of 229 officers from the Army headquarters, creation of a new post of Deputy Chief for Military Operations and Strategic Planning, and setting up new wings for vigilance and human rights issues, official sources said Thursday.
•Finalised after 12 independent studies, the reforms are intended to make the 1.3 million-strong force leaner and meaner.
•The sources said the number of officers being moved out was 20% of the number of officers in the Army headquarters in the national capital, and they would be deployed in forward locations along the borders with China and Pakistan.
•They said the post of Deputy Chief of the Army Staff, Strategy, is being created to deal with military operations, intelligence, strategic planning and operational logistics.
•The reforms will also include restructuring the Army’s officer cadre, bringing down age of key commands, arresting rising revenue expenditure and “rightsizing” the force.
📰 Large hydro projects get ‘renewable energy’ status
Cabinet approves new policy
•The Union Cabinet on Thursday approved a new hydroelectric policy aimed at boosting the sector, including according large hydro projects the status of renewable energy projects.
•According to the new policy, large hydro projects will also be designated as renewable energy projects. So far, only smaller projects of less than 25 MW in capacity were categorised as renewable energy.
•With the removal of this distinction, large hydro projects will be included as a separate category under the non-solar renewable purchase obligation policy. Under this policy, power purchasers will have to source a portion of electricity from large hydro projects.
•“The hydro policy was in the works for a long time,” Power and Renewable Energy Minister R.K. Singh said.
•He also said the new policy had increased the debt repayment period for hydro projects to 18 years from the current 12 years with the provision to introduce an escalating tariff of 2%.
📰 Cabinet clears new coal linkage rules
•The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on Thursday approved new rules that will provide greater coal availability to stressed thermal power projects, based on the recommendations of the Group of Ministers constituted to look into the issue. “One of the reasons for the stress was the [non] availability of coal and that thermal projects without medium to long-term power purchase agreements would not get coal supply,” Power Minister R.K. Singh said.
