Category: National

Ravi Shankar Prasad called the ban a “digital strike”, and added that the government’s move was to protect the data of countrymen. (File Photo)

PTI

New Delhi: Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has said India’s surprise move to ban 59 Chinese apps days after a violent face-off between Indian and Chinese soldiers in eastern Ladakh was a “digital strike”. “We banned Chinese apps to protect data of countrymen; it was a digital strike,” Mr Prasad said at a BJP rally in West Bengal today, news agency Press Trust of India reported.
“Now you can hear about only two ‘Cs’ – coronavirus and China. We believe in peace and solve problems through discussion, but if somebody casts an evil eye on India, we will give a befitting reply… if our 20 jawans have sacrificed their lives, then the toll is double on the Chinese side. You all must have noticed that they have not come out with any figure,” the Law, Communications, Electronics and Information Technology Minister said, echoing a similar statement that Prime Minister Narendra Modi made last week on the India-China border tension.

A section of the media had called India move’s to ban the Chinese apps, including the wildly popular TikTok, a “digital airstrike” in allusion to India bombing a camp of the terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed in Pakistan’s Balakot in February last year.

India was TikTok’s top market, accounting for 30 per cent of its two billion downloads worldwide. TikTok parent ByteDance had laid out plans to invest $1 billion in India and had hired several senior executives since 2019.

The rest 58 apps with Chinese links blocked by the government include WeChat and UC Browser. The Indian government’s TikTok account MyGov, which had 1.1 million followers, has been disabled. Sina Weibo, China’s answer to Twitter, has deleted PM Modi’s account at the request of the Indian embassy.

India’s surprise move has affected Chinese tech firms at a time when they are starting to make inroads into the country’s vast market where mobile phone usage is high and data is relatively cheaper compared to other nations.

At the rally today, the Union Minister also attacked the Mamata Banerjee government. “We are witnessing a strange trend in Bengal; the ruling TMC (Trinamool Congress) had earlier asked why we were not banning the apps, now they want to know why we are banning the apps. This is strange, why can’t they stand with the government at the time of crisis?”

With inputs from NDTV

Other deals include Pinaka ammunition, armoured vehicle BMP armament upgrades and Software Defined Radio for Army, long range land attack cruise missile systems of over 1000 km range and Astra Beyond Visual Range air to air missiles for Navy and IAF

Amid the ongoing tensions on the border with China, the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, on Thursday approved defence deals worth ₹38,900 crore. This includes procurement of 21 MIG-29 fighter jets for the Indian Air Force, upgrade of 59 of them and procurement of 12 Su-30 MKI aircraft.

Other deals include Pinaka ammunition, armoured vehicle BMP armament upgrades and Software Defined Radio (SDR) for the Army, long range land attack cruise missile systems of over 1000 km range and Astra Beyond Visual Range (BVR) air to air missiles for the Navy and Air Force, all of which will be procured domestically and worth an estimated ₹31,130 crore.

“While the MIG-29 procurement and upgrade from Russia is estimated to cost ₹7,418 crore, the Su-30 MKI will be procured from Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) at an estimated cost of ₹10,730 crore,” the Defence Ministry said in a statement. This would shore up the squadron strength of the IAF’s fighter fleet.

The 21 MiG-29s have already been partially manufactured by Russia in the past for an unfulfilled order and will now be upgraded and delivered to India. These will add to the three of their squadrons in service that are already undergoing an upgrade. The 12 Su-30MKIs are meant to replace the aircraft that have crashed over the years.

India has in different batches contracted 272 Su-30s from Russia, majority of which have been licence manufactured by HAL.

The IAF currently has 30 fighter squadrons against a sanctioned strength of 42. It will start adding the first batch of Rafale multi-role jets this month end. Another deal for 83 Light Combat Aircraft Mk-1A, estimated to cost ₹38,000 crore, is expected to be signed in the next two months.

Role for indigenous industry

On the other systems and equipment, the statement said these would be manufactured in India involving indigenous industry with the participation of several Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) as prime tier vendors. “The indigenous content in some of these projects is up to 80% of the project cost. A large number of these projects have been made possible due to Transfer of Technology by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) to the indigenous industry,”it stated.

These include the Pinaka Multi-barrel Rocket Launch System ammunition, BMP armament upgrades and SDRs, Long Range Land Attack Cruise Missile Systems and Astra missiles. The cost of these Design and Development proposals was in the range of ₹20,400 crore.

On the missile systems, the Ministry said the acquisition of Pinaka systems would enable raising additional regiments over and above the ones already inducted by the Army. Addition of Long Range Land Attack Missile Systems, having a firing range of 1000 km to the existing arsenal, would bolster the attack capabilities of the Navy and the Air Force, it added.

Nirbhay, a long range land attack cruise missile with a range of over 1000 km, had been under development by the DRDO for sometime. It is equivalent to the Tomahawk cruise missile of the U.S.

The IAF has expressed satisfaction over the performance of the Astra BVR and is currently inducting the Astra Mk-I on the Sukhoi fleet. It is also keen on the Astra Mk-II variant being developed by the DRDO.

With inputs from The Hindu

PTI

India registered the highest single-day COVID-19 deaths at 507 on Wednesday with Maharashtra, Delhi and Tamil Nadu accounting for over 70 per cent of the fatalities, while 18,653 new infections were reported taking the total tally to 5,85,493, according to the Union Health Ministry data.

This is the fifth consecutive day that coronavirus infections have increased by more than 18,000. The country has seen a surge of 3,94,958 infections from June 1 till date.

The number of active cases stands at 2,20,114, while 3,47,978 people have recovered, and one patient has migrated, according to the updated data at 8 am.

“Thus, around 59.43 per cent of patients have recovered so far,” an official said.

The total number of confirmed cases include foreigners.

Of the 507 deaths reported in the last 24 hours, 245 are from Maharashtra, 62 from Delhi, 60 from Tamil Nadu, 25 from Uttar Pradesh, 20 from Karnataka, 19 from Gujarat, 15 from West Bengal, eight each from Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, seven each from Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, six each from Jammu and Kashmir, and Punjab, five from Bihar, four from Haryana, two each from Kerala, Odisha, Puducherry and Uttarakhand and one each in Assam and Himachal Pradesh.

The country had recorded a massive spike of 2,003 deaths on June 17 following a data reconciliation exercise carried out by states and UTs which brought to the fore large number of fatalities previously reported in Maharashtra and Delhi which were not attributed to COVID-19.

According to the ICMR, a cumulative total of 88,26,585 samples have been tested up to June 30, with 2,17,931 samples being tested on Tuesday.

Of the total 17,400 deaths reported so far, Maharashtra accounted for the highest 7,855 fatalities followed by Delhi with 2,742 deaths, Gujarat with 1,846, Tamil Nadu with 1,201, Uttar Pradesh with 697, West Bengal with 668, Madhya Pradesh with 572, Rajasthan with 413 and Telangana with 260 deaths.

The COVID-19 death toll reached 246 in Karnataka, 236 in Haryana, 187 in Andhra Pradesh, 144 in Punjab, 101 in Jammu and Kashmir, 67 in Bihar, 41 in Uttarakhand, 25 in Odisha and 24 in Kerala.

Jharkhand has registered 15 deaths, Chhattisgarh 13, Assam and Puducherry 12 each, Himachal Pradesh 10, Chandigarh six, Goa three and Meghalaya, Tripura, Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh have reported one fatality each, according to the Health Ministry.

More than 70 per cent deaths took place due to co-morbidities, it said.

Maharashtra has reported the highest number of cases at 1,74,761, followed by Tamil Nadu at 90,167, Delhi at 87,360, Gujarat at 32,557, Uttar Pradesh at 23,492, West Bengal at 18,559 and Rajasthan at 18,014 according to the ministry data.

The number of COVID-19 cases has gone up to 16,339 in Telangana, 15,242 in Karnataka, 14,595 in Andhra Pradesh, 14,548 in Haryana, and 13,593 in Madhya Pradesh.

It has risen to 10,043 in Bihar, 8,227 in Assam, 7,497 in Jammu and Kashmir and 7,065 in Odisha. Punjab has reported 5,568 novel coronavirus infections so far, while Kerala has 4,442 cases.

A total of 2,881 people have been infected by the virus in Uttarakhand, 2,860 in Chhattisgarh, 2,490 in Jharkhand, 1,388 in Tripura, 1,315 in Goa,1,234 in Manipur, 973 in Ladakh and 953 in Himachal Pradesh. Puducherry has recorded 714 COVID-19 cases, Nagaland 459, Chandigarh 440 and Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu together have reported 213 COVID-19 cases.

Arunachal Pradesh reported 191 cases, Mizoram has 160 cases, Andaman and Nicobar Islands has 97, Sikkim has registered 89 infections so far, while Meghalaya has recorded 52 cases.

“Our figures are being reconciled with the ICMR,” the ministry said, adding that 6,915 cases are being reassigned to states.

State-wise distribution is subject to further verification and reconciliation, it added.

The nine persons declared terrorists are linked to separatist Khalistani groups that seek to establish a separate country for the Sikhs.

The Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), enacted in 1967, was first amended in 2004, 2008 and 2013. The 2004 amendment was to ban organisations for terrorist activities, under which 34 outfits, including the Lashkar-e-Taiba and the Jaish-e-Mohammad were banned. The UAPA as amended in August last year gave the MHA the power to designate individuals as terrorists.

The nine terrorists are Wadhawa Singh Babbar, Pakistan-based chief of terrorist organisation Babbar Khalsa International; Lakhbir Singh, based in Pakistan and chief of terrorist organisation International Sikh Youth Federation; Ranjeet Singh, based in Pakistan and chief of terrorist outfit Khalistan Zindabad Force; Paramjit Singh, based in Pakistan and chief of the Khalistan Commando Force; Bhupinder Singh Bhinda from Germany, who is a key member of Khalistan Zindabad Force; Gurmeet Singh Bagga from Germany, also an important member of Khalistan Zindabad Force; Gurpatwant Singh Pannun from the U.S.A., a key member of the unlawful association called Sikh for Justice; Hardeep Singh Nijjar from Canada, who is the chief of the Khalistan Tiger Force; and Paramjit Singh from United Kingdom, who heads the Babbar Khalsa International there.

‘From foreign soil’

“These individuals are involved in various acts of terrorism from across the border and from foreign soil. They have been relentless in their nefarious efforts of destabilising the country, by trying to revive militancy in Punjab through their anti-national activities and through their support to and involvement in the Khalistan Movement,” a statement issued by the MHA said.

Earlier, in September 2019, the four individuals to be first designated as terrorists were Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar, Lashkar-e-Taiba’s Hafiz Saeed, his deputy Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, and underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, who planned and executed the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts.

Home Minister Amit Shah had said in Rajya Sabha on August 2 last year that “it was important to identify terrorists and not just organisations”.

Opposition had raised concerns in Parliament that the law could be misused against political opponents and civil society activists.

The designations are in alignment with laws in European Union (EU) countries, the U.S.A., China, Israel and even Pakistan and Sri Lanka, an MHA official had earlier said.

With inputs from The Hindu

PTI

New Delhi: India and Pakistan on Wednesday exchanged lists of civilian prisoners and fishermen in their respective custodies as per the provisions of a 2008 agreement.

India handed over lists of 265 Pakistani civilian prisoners and 97 fishermen in its custody to Pakistan, the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.

Similarly, Pakistan has shared lists of 54 civilian prisoners and 270 fishermen in its custody, who are Indians or believed-to-be Indians, the MEA said.

The Indian government has called for early release and repatriation of civilian prisoners, missing Indian defence personnel and fishermen, along with their boats, from Pakistan’s custody, it said.

In this context, Pakistan was asked to expedite the release and repatriation of seven Indian civilian prisoners and 106 Indian fishermen to India whose nationality has been confirmed and conveyed to Pakistan, the MEA said.

Pakistan has also been asked to provide immediate consular access to Indian fishermen and 18 believed-to-be Indian civilian prisoners who are in Pakistan’s custody, it said.

The government has also sought from Pakistan that it expedite the grant of visas to the members of the medical experts’ team and facilitate their visit to that country to assess the mental condition of believed-to-be Indian prisoners of unsound mind, lodged in different Pakistani jails, the MEA said.

The Indian government has also sought from Pakistan that it organise an early visit of the Joint Judicial Committee to that country and to organise an early visit of the four-member team to Karachi in connection with release and repatriation of Indian fishing boats.

India remains committed to addressing, on priority, all humanitarian matters, including those pertaining to prisoners and fishermen in each other’s country, the MEA said.

India has also urged Pakistan to expedite necessary action at its end to confirm the nationality status of 88 Pakistani prisoners, including fishermen, whose repatriation is pending for want of nationality confirmation by Pakistan, it said.

India and Pakistan exchanged the list of prisoners in keeping with the provisions of the 2008 Agreement under which such lists are exchanged every year on January 1 and July 1.

A licensing officer had said the company sought a license for an “immunity booster and a cough and fever cure” and it never revealed that the products were part of medicine kits.

ANI

New Delhi: Yoga teacher Ramdev’s Patanjali Ayurved never claimed it can cure COVID-19 with its medicines, Coronil and Swasari, the firm’s Chief Executive Officer Acharya Balkrishna said on Tuesday, adding it just shared the favourable outcome of clinical trials on patients. The Centre had barred the firm from advertising the products after Ramdev, in a sensational claim last week, said they cured 280 patients within days in trials.

The Ministry of Ayush had asked Patanjali to provide details of the medicine (File)

“We never said the medicine (coronil) can cure or control corona, we said that we had made medicines and used them in clinical controlled trial which cured corona patients. There is no confusion in it,” Acharya Balkrishna, CEO Patanjali, was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

The Ministry of Ayush had asked Patanjali to provide details like the composition of the medicines, the results of its research, the hospitals where the research was conducted, whether the company had a clearance from the Institutional Ethics Committee and whether it had registered for the clinical trials.

A licensing officer had later said the company sought a license for an “immunity booster and a cough and fever cure” and it never revealed that the products were part of medicine kits. The state government had sent a notice to the company.

“In reply to our notice, Patanjali said no Corona Kit has been packaged by them. Patanjali has printed a representative picture of coronavirus on Coronil packaging. Samples of Coronil and two other drugs have been taken for testing,” YS Rawat, Licence Officer, Uttarakhand Ayurved Department, was quoted as saying by news agency ANI on Tuesday.

Ramdev had said the firm had collaborated with the privately-owned National Institute of Medical Sciences or NIMS University, Jaipur for clinical trials.

“We are launching COVID medicines Coronil and Swasari today. We conducted two trials of these, first clinical controlled study, which took place in Delhi, Ahmedabad, among many other cities. Under this, 280 patients were included and 100 per cent of those recovered. We were able to control Corona and its complications in this. After this the all-important clinical control trial was conducted,” he had said.

“With the help of NIMS, Jaipur we conducted the clinical control study on 95 patients. The biggest thing which came out of this is that within three days 69 per cent patients recovered and became negative from positive (cases) and within seven days 100 per cent of them became negative,” he added.

The highly communicable disease, which has killed lakhs across the globe, currently has no evidence-based cure. Doctors, however, are using several experimental drugs and procedures which have worked for some patients.

With inputs from ANI

Punjab police on Tuesday said they had foiled a bid by Pakistan-backed terrorists to target socio-religious leaders and disturb the communal harmony of the State with the arrest of three members of the Khalistan Liberation Front (KLF).

Director General of Police Dinkar Gupta said the terror module, busted on June 28, was operating in various parts of Punjab at the behest of pro-Khalistani elements based in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the UK.

Mr. Gupta said one .32 bore pistol, along with 7 cartridges, has been recovered from the alleged terrorists, identified as Sukhchain Singh of Patiala; Amritpal Singh of Mansa and Jaspreet Singh of Majitha. Another of their associates, Lovepreet Singh has already been arrested recently by Delhi Police, along with other KLF members.

“The three men had come into contact with one other through social media. They further came in touch with Pakistan-based handlers, who provoked them to target socio-religious leaders, and also disturb Punjab’s peace and law and order. Amritpal Singh was instrumental in connecting and motivating Sukhchain and Lovepreet Singh in taking the dangerous agenda forward,” he said.

Mr. Gupta said initial investigations show that their Pakistan-based handlers also invited these men to visit Pakistan for planning the future course of action. One of the foreign handlers, based in Saudi Arabia, promised to provide them shelter once they execute their actions on ground, he added.

“An FIR has been registered at Samana in district Patiala under sections 13,16,18,20 of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 and 25/54/59 Arms Act. Further investigations are in progress,” he said.

With inputs from The Hindu

PTI

IAF indigenously modifies two Mi-17 helicopters for atomised airborne spraying of pesticide to deal with locust attack

PTI

Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday reviewed India’s preparations for vaccinating its vast population against COVID-19 once a vaccine is available and asserted that vaccination must be affordable and universal.

Modi chaired a high-level meeting to review planning and preparations for vaccination against the novel coronavirus.

At the meeting, the current status of vaccine development efforts were also reviewed and the prime minister highlighted India’s commitment to play an enabling role in the vaccination efforts against COVID-19, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said in a statement.

Prime Minister Modi noted that vaccination of India’s vast and diverse population will need to factor in issues, including those related to management of medical supply chains, prioritisation of at-risk populations, coordination between different agencies involved in the process, as well as the role of private sector and civil society, it said.

The prime minister enunciated four guiding principles that will form the foundation of this national effort, the PMO said.

He stated that vulnerable groups should be identified and prioritised for early vaccination, for example doctors, nurses, healthcare workers, non-medical frontline COVID-19 warriors, and vulnerable people among the general population.

Another guiding principle enunciated by the prime minister was vaccination of anyone, anywhere should take place without imposition of any domicile related restrictions for getting the vaccine.

The third principle enunciated by the prime minister was that vaccination must be affordable and universal and no person should be left behind, according to the PMO.

According to the fourth principle, the entire process from production to vaccination should be monitored and supported in real time with the use of technology.

Prime Minister Modi directed officials to evaluate in a broad manner available technology options that can form the backbone of the national endeavour to vaccinate all in the most efficient and timely manner.

The prime minister directed that detailed planning for such large scale vaccination should be undertaken immediately.

The State meteorological department has predicted that heavy rain would continue till July 2

With four rivers flowing above danger level, the threat of flood looms large in parts of north Bihar.

The State meteorological department, meanwhile, has predicted that heavy rain would continue till July 2..

Rivers Kosi, Bagmati, Kamla Balan and Mahananda were flowing above danger level at many places on Monday, threatening to inundate several parts of north Bihar districts such as Muzaffarpur, Katihar, Purnia, Jhanjharpur in Madhubani and Sitamarhi.

The water level in the Ganga too is gradually increasing, according to officials.

The Central Water Commission on Monday tweeted to say that “river Bagmati at Benibad in Muzaffarpur district of Bihar continues to flow in severe situation”.

NDRF, SDRF deployed

Meanwhile, in view of the flood threat, the State government has deployed several teams of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) in these areas.

As many as 13 teams of the NDRF and 14 teams of the SDRF have been deployed in sensitive areas of districts such as Katihar, Purnia, Araria, Supaul, Kishanganj, Darbhanga, Muzaffarpur, Gopalganj, East Champaran, Nalanda, Saran, Bhagalpur, Madhubani, Samastipur, Sitamarhi, Saharsha, Madhepura and Buxar, said a senior official of State Disaster Management Department.

“Besides, some home guard personnel too have been deployed there to make villagers aware of how to protect themselves in the time of flood and COVID-19,” said the official not wanting to be named.

“Though, situation is under control now, with heavy rain in catchment areas of Nepal and in the State as well, the threat of flood looms large in these areas of north Bihar districts,” he added.

With inputs from The Hindu