Category: National

Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat report most cases.

India’s COVID-19 case tally shot past China, with a total of 85,761 cases, including 53,219 active ones, according to data from the State Health Departments. The death toll nationwide stood at 2,674.

The country has registered over 3,600 cases and over 100 deaths on average everyday since May 8.

According to the Health Ministry, India registered 3,967 more COVID-19 cases and 100 deaths on Friday, taking the total number of cases to 81,970 and the nationwide toll to 2,649.

Stressing the need to focus on high load areas and case fatality management, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said while worldwide the total number of cases stood at 42,48,389 with 2,94,046 deaths and the fatality rate pegged at 6.92%, India had managed to keep its fatality rate at 3.23%.

Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat reported the highest number of cases, with the capital cities of Mumbai, Chennai and Ahmedabad accounting for the most patients.

With 933 persons testing positive, the number of cases in Mumbai rose to 17,512 and the death toll increased to 655 with 34 more deaths, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation said.

With 261 new cases, Ahmedabad’s tally rose to 7,171 while the death toll reached 479 with 14 more patients succumbing to the infection, officials said.

In a release issued by the Ministry, Mr. Vardhan said, “So far, a total of 27,920 people have been cured. And in the last 24 hours, 1,685 patients were cured. This takes the total recovery rate to 34.06%.” It added that the impact of the lockdown was seen on the doubling rate, which improved from 3.4 days in the pre-lockdown week to 12.9 days last week.

The 15th meeting of the high level Group of Ministers (GoM) on COVID-19 was held at Nirman Bhawan on Friday and the group was informed that there are 30 municipal areas which account for 79% of India’s case load.

It was also informed that domestic manufacturers has reached the production capacity of nearly 3 lakh PPEs per day and about 3 lakh N-95 masks per day which is sufficient to meet the requirement of the country in the near future. “In addition, manufacturing of ventilators by domestic manufacturers has also started and orders have been placed,” the release said.

Meanwhile amid rising cases of COVID-19 and as countries in WHO South-East Asia Region ease lockdowns in a graded manner, World Health Organisation (South East Asia region) on Friday said careful assessment of local epidemiology should guide future actions to combat the virus.

“Countries in the region must continue to take evidence-informed action and conduct careful risk assessments while winding back public health and social measures. The focus should be on local epidemiology of COVID-19, to identify hot-spots and clusters, and the capacity of systems and responders to find, isolate and care for cases, and quarantine contacts,” said Poonam Khetrapal Singh, regional director, WHO South-East Asia.

Stating that there can be no illusions and that the impact of the will be felt for a long time, Dr. Khetrapal said, “As of Friday morning, the Region has approximately 122,000 cases and 4,000 deaths due to COVID-19. Countries in the region are in various transmission scenarios and the cases are increasing. In every transmission scenario, the core public health measures remain – rapidly detect, test, isolate, care and trace contacts. Moving forward we need to scale up these measures.’’

With inputs from The Hindu

PTI

A group of doctors from AIIMS, Raipur have recommended restrictions on use of mobile phones in healthcare institutions amid the COVID-19 pandemic, warning that such devices can be a potential carrier of the virus and lead to infection among healthcare workers.

In a commentary published in the BMJ Global Health journal, the doctors stated that mobile phone surfaces are a peculiar ‘high-risk’ surface, which can directly come in contact with the face or mouth, even if hands are properly washed and one study indicates that some healthcare workers use phones every 15 minutes to two hours.

Though there have been many significant guidelines from various health organisations like WHO and CDC focusing on prevention and control of disease, the commentary highlighted “there is no mention of or focus on mobile phones in these guidelines, including the WHO infection control and prevention guidelines, which recommends the use of hand washing”.

In healthcare facilities, phones are used to communicate with other health care workers, look up recent medical guidelines, research drug interactions, understand adverse events and side effects, conduct telemedicine appointments and track patients among others, stated the document.

The document has been authored by Dr Vineet Kumar Pathak, Dr Sunil Kumar Panigrahi, Dr M Mohan Kumar, Dr Utsav Raj and Dr Karpaga Priya P from the Department of Community and Family Medicine.

“In their tendency to come in direct contact with the face, nose or eyes in healthcare settings, mobile phones are perhaps second only to masks, caps or goggles.

“However, they are neither disposable nor washable like these other three, thus warranting disinfection. Mobile phones can effectively negate hand hygiene… There is growing evidence that mobile phones are a potential vector for pathogenic organisms,” the authors said.

It is the need of the hour to address proper hygienic use of mobile phones in healthcare settings. In a study in India, almost 100 per cent of health workers of a tertiary care hospital used mobile phones in the hospital, but only 10 per cent of them had at any time wiped their mobile phones clean, the commentary published on April 22 said.

“The safest thing to do is to consider your phone as an extension of your hand, so remember you are transferring whatever is on your phone to your hand,” Dr Pathak said.

Amidst the ongoing pandemic, two biggest mobile phone companies have uploaded their user support guidelines, saying that 70 pc isopropyl alcohol or Clorox Disinfecting Wipes can be used to gently wipe the exterior surface of phones in switched-off mode.

However, in doing so, the use of bleach or entry of moisture through any of the openings must be avoided, and any harsh chemical may damage the oleophobic screen, leading to damage in the touch screen sensitivity of the phone, the article stated.

Mobile phones are one of the most highly touched surfaces according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), along with counters, tabletops, doorknobs, bathroom fixtures, toilets, keyboards, tablets and bedside tables.

The doctorsrecommended restriction on mobile phone usage in healthcare settings like ICUs and operation theatres, while advocating use of headphones to prevent contact with the face while talking.

There should be no sharing of mobile phones, headphones or headsets of any kind. In addition, where available, the use of interdepartmental intercom facility though telephones may be promoted.

AIIMS, New Delhi, Resident Doctors’ Association (RDA) General Secretary, Dr Srinivas Rajkumar T said even outside health care settings, people should pay special attention to usage of mobile phones as they carry them to all places.

“Phone and computer peripherals like keyboard, mouse, etc should be covered with transparent plastic covers which can be cleaned without interfering with their function. Cleaning hands by soap or alcohol based hand sanitizer before and after contact with phone and between contact with other surfaces can decrease the risk of potential transmission.

“Using handsfree headset, dedicated operator/assistant per ward handling the communication via common linein hospitals while on duty can enable communication without compromising safety,” Dr Srinivas said.

PTI

Washington: The coronavirus pandemic has highlighted the importance of strong India-US collaboration, India’s Ambassador to the US, Taranjit Singh Sandhu has said.

Noting that India’s partnership with the US in health sciences and technologies is longstanding, the senior diplomat said research and innovation institutions of both the countries have been engaged in understanding important chronic and infectious diseases and in developing therapeutics and diagnostics.

“COVID-19 has made us recognise the need for collaborations more than ever before. Our Prime Minister has emphasised a global coordinated response to deal with the challenges even as we work to strengthen our domestic capacities to deal with this crisis,” Sandhu said during a virtual interaction with eminent Indian-American scientists on Thursday.

India and the United States have closely collaborated in combating diseases such as tuberculosis; cancer; HIV; eye diseases and environmental health research, he said.

There are over 200 ongoing NIH-funded projects in India, involving 20 Institutes from the NIH network and several eminent institutions in India.

“A recent successful example of our co-operation is the development of the ROTAVAC against rota virus. Such collaborations will be critical in the fight against COVID-19,” Sandhu said.

“From the initial days of the outbreak, our scientists and institutions have been actively engaged in exchange of information. Even as both our countries are focused on combating the disease domestically, NIH and Indian Council for Medical Research have come together and announced a call to support collaborative research and training through India-US partnership to understand the disease,” he said.

The India-US Science and Technology Endowment Fund has called for proposals that would enable scientists to carry out joint research and work towards development of new technologies, tools, safety, outreach and also support public-private virtual networks to fight COVID-19, he added.

Indian pharmaceutical companies are global leaders in producing affordable low-cost medicines and vaccines and will play an important role in the fight against this pandemic, Sandhu said.

“As I speak here today, there are at least three ongoing collaborations between Indian vaccine companies with US-based institutions. These collaborations would be beneficial not just to us, but for the billions who would need to be vaccinated against COVID-19 across the world,” Sandhu said.

Asserting that innovation will be the key driver in pandemic response and recovery, the Indian diplomat said that the tech-companies and start-ups have already begun to take the lead in this direction. Telemedicine and telehealth will evolve as will other digital platforms across sectors, he noted.

India, he said, takes immense pride in the contribution of doctors, scientists, academicians of Indian-origin, who came to the United States in the pursuit of academic excellence and have distinguished themselves in diverse fields.

Your contributions are widely acknowledged and deeply appreciated by the political leadership in the United States, he added.

The online interaction was attended by Dr Chandan K, Sen J Stanley Battersby Chair and Professor of Surgery and Director of the Indiana Center for Regenerative Medicine and Engineering, Pawan Sinha, professor of vision and computational neuroscience in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Professor Shivaji Sondhi, professor of physics at Princeton University, known for contributions to the field of quantum condensed matter, Professor Aseem Chair of the Department of Chemical Biology and Therapeutics, St. Jude Children’s Hospital and Dr Sanjay Kumar Jain, Professor of Pediatrics, Radiology and Radiological Science.

The scientific community has a critical role to play in the unprecedented circumstances that we face today. As doctors, you are at the frontlines of the fight against COVID-19, as scientists and biotech experts, you are at the forefront of global efforts to find a cure for COVID-19, Sandhu said in his remarks.

PTI

Mumbai: A 45-year-old migrant worker from Rajasthan, who walked 30km from his residence to catch a Shramik Special train, collapsed and died near the Vasai Road railway station, an official said on Friday.

The incident took place on Thursday evening and the deceased was identified as Harish Chander Shankarlal, a resident of Bhayander in adjoining Thane district, he said.

He had walked nearly 30km from his local residence to catch a Shramik Special train at the Vasai Road station in the district to travel to his hometown in Rajasthan, the official said.

Shankarlal, a carpenter by profession, was working at a construction site and was without a job due to the lockdown, he said.

He and some of his distant relatives had applied for nod to travel to their hometowns in Shramik Special trains, being operated by the Railways to ferry migrant workers stranded due to the COVID-19 lockdown, the official said.

On Wednesday, they got information that a special train will be leaving for Rajasthan on Thursday evening, he said.

Shankarlal ran and walked on Thursday afternoon on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad Highway in sweltering heat to reach the station as he was left with no money to hire an autorickshaw or any other private vehicle, he said.

The migrant labourer felt uneasy and collapsed near the station out of exhaustion, the official said, adding he also vomitted.

The Manikpur police took him to a nearby hospital, where he was declared dead before admission, he said.

His train was scheduled to leave at 6.30 pm.

An accidental death case has been registered at the Manikpur police station and a probe was underway, the official added.

His body has been sent for a post-mortem to the government hospital, another official said.

migrant workers staying in Bhayander said authorities had not made any arrangements to ferry them to the railway station.

When contracted, Vasai tehsildar Kiran Survase said they had arranged for travel to the station only for migrant workers living in Vasai.

Bhayander did not come in their jurisdiction, he said.

Survase said on Thursday two trains left from Vasai Road, one for Jaunpur (Uttar Pradesh) and another for Sikar (Rajasthan) with a total of 3,045 passengers.

PTI

New Delhi: The death toll due to COVID-19 rose to 2,649 and the number of cases climbed to 81,970 on Friday, registering an increase of 100 deaths and 3,967 cases in the last 24 hours since Thursday 8 AM, according to the Union Health Ministry.

The number of active cases stood at 51,401 while 27,919 people have recovered and one patient has migrated, it said.

“Thus, around 34.06 per cent patients have recovered so far,” a senior health ministry official said.

The total confirmed cases include foreign nationals too.

Of the 100 deaths reported since Thursday morning, 44 were in Maharashtra, 20 in Gujarat, 9 in Delhi, 8 in West Bengal, five each in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, four in Rajasthan, two each in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka and one in Andhra Pradesh.

Of the 2,649 fatalities, Maharashtra tops tally with 1,019 deaths, Gujarat comes second with 586 deaths, followed by Madhya Pradesh at 237, West Bengal at 215, Rajasthan at 125, Delhi at 115, Uttar Pradesh at 88,Tamil Nadu at 66 and Andhra Pradesh at 48.

The death toll reached 35 in Karnataka, 34 Telangana and 32 in Punjab.

Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir have reported 11 fatalities each due to the disease while Bihar has registered seven and Kerala has reported four deaths.

Jharkhand, Chandigarh and Odisha have recorded three COVID-19 fatalities each while Himachal Pradesh and Assam have reported two deaths each.

Meghalaya, Uttarakhand and Puducherry have reported one fatality each, according to the ministry data.

More than 70 per cent of the deaths are due to comorbidities (existence of multiple disorders), according to the ministry.

The data updated this morning showed the highest number of confirmed cases in the country are from Maharashtra at 27,524, followed by Tamil Nadu at 9,674, Gujarat at 9,591, Delhi at 8,470 Rajasthan at 4,534, Madhya Pradesh at 4,426 and Uttar Pradesh at 3,902.

The number of COVID-19 cases has gone up to 2,377 in West Bengal, 2,205 in Andhra Pradesh and 1,935 in Punjab.

It has risen to 1,414 in Telangana, 994 in Bihar, 987 in Karnataka, 983 in Jammu and Kashmir and 818 in Haryana.

Odisha has reported 611 coronavirus infection cases so far while Kerala has 560 cases. A total of 197 people have been infected with the virus in Jharkhand and 191 in Chandigarh.

Tripura has reported 156 cases, Assam has 87 cases, Uttarakhand has 78, Himachal Pradesh has 74 cases, Chhattisgarh has 60 and Ladakh has registered 43 cases so far.

Thirty-three COVID-19 cases have been reported from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Goa reported 14 COVID-19 cases while Meghalaya and Puducherry registered 13 cases each.

Manipur has three cases. Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh and Dadar and Nagar Haveli reported a case each till how.

“Our figures are being reconciled with the ICMR,” the ministry said on its website.

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

The DMK leader asks the Centre to see the real picture on the ground

DMK president M.K. Stalin on Friday slammed the Central government and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s announcements over the last two days, terming them as “cosmetic measures” to fool the people.

“This is no real stimulus. These are cosmetic measures that are announced in an attempt to fool the people. Instead of making such ostentatious announcements for political gains, they should step down from their high seats and see the real picture on the ground,” Mr. Stalin said in a statement.

He said when parties like the DMK and the Congress had asked the Centre to provide a relief of ₹5,000 and ₹7,500 to the people, to tide over the COVID-19 lockdown crisis, the Finance Minister was announcing ‘credit card loans’ for farmers.

“They are offering ₹10,000 as loans to roadside vendors. When people are suffering from poverty at the moment, these loans will be brought into effect after one month,” he said.

Mr. Stalin said providing monetary assistance was like providing first aid. “Already hundres of farmers are committing suicide as they are unable to repay their loans. Now you are placing another large rock on their heads saying you will offer them one more loan,” Mr. Stalin charged.

He asked Ms. Sitharaman why she could not waive off these loans in one-go like the way former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi and the UPA waived off ₹7,000 crore and ₹60,000 crore loans respectively.

What was the use of providing rations to migrant workers for two months, when they were presently suffering from hunger, he asked. “Taking care of them is the most important thing, not schemes like ‘Make in India’ or ‘Stand up India’. It is the duty of the Indian government to feed its citizens. That is the crux of the Food Security Act as well,” he said.

Mr. Stalin also asked the Finance Minister as to how she announced that ration would be provided to eight crore migrant workers when the Home Secretary had earlier informed the Supreme Court that only 4.14 crore migrant workers were there in the country. “Why is there so much contradiction?,” he asked.

With inputs from The Hindu

Sam Brownback, however, praises Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s messages for unity.

U.S. envoy for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback has called out COVID-19-related rhetoric and harassment in India — especially against Muslims — while also praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s messages for unity.

“In India, we’ve seen reports of unfortunate COVID-related rhetoric and harassment, particularly against the Muslim community. This has been exacerbated by fake news reports and misinformation being shared via social media. There have also been instances of Muslims being attacked for allegedly spreading the coronavirus,” Mr. Brownback told reporters on May 14 during a telephone briefing about COVID-19’s impact on religious minorities.

“Now, I’ve been encouraged and we’ve been encouraged by statements from senior Indian officials really urging a unity, and noting the Prime Minister stated even that COVID-19 does not see religion, language, or borders, which is certainly true,” he said.

Mr. Brownback’s comments come weeks after the U.S. International Commission for Religious Freedom (USCIRF), an independent bi-partisan commission set up by the U.S. Congress, downgraded India’s religious freedom rating to the lowest grade. Taking note of India’s Citizenship Amendment Act and the National Register for Citizens, the USCIRD had recommended to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that India be classified as a “ country of particular concern.”

Asked if he believed the Indian leadership’s language calling for unity was a reaction to the USCIRF designation, Mr. Brownback said, he did not know.

“I don’t have anything particular that I’m attributing the language to, I just noted that it’s positive and that’s good. And I don’t want to always just point to everything’s negative,” he said.

“…the fact that the leadership would say this, great. USCIRF did put them out, as you noted, in that light and that got a lot of interest both here and in India, as you might guess. We will be putting our report out — Secretary [Pompeo] will put out the report from State Department fairly soon, and then we’ll — that’ll start the time clock on the Secretary’s ultimate determinations on Countries of Particular Concern or watch-list countries, and the USCIRF recommendation will be noted as well. But I don’t know why they did that, but I’m glad they did,” Mr. Brownback said.

Significantly, the USCIRF also called for the release of those protesting the CAA.

“During #COVID19 crisis, there are reports #India govt is arresting Muslim activists protesting the #CAA, including Safoora Zargar who is pregnant,” the Commission tweeted on May 14. “ At this time, #India should be releasing prisoners of conscience, not targeting those practising their democratic right to protest.”

While there was no specific India reference in this context [the briefing discussed a number of countries and minorities], Mr. Brownback’s remarks on May 14 began by saying a number of countries had released prisoners of conscience and that “some people’s lives were possibly saved by this.”

Afghanistan’s minorities

The envoy also said Sikhs in Afghanistan were seeking to emigrate to safer countries, including India, in response to a question on Sikhs in Afghanistan seeking asylum in the U.S. Following a May 25 attack on a gurdwara in Kabul, there have been calls — including from Indian American Congressman Ro Khanna — to grant Afghan Sikhs and Hindus asylum in the U.S.

Sikh and Hindu groups in Afghanistan have also directly appealed to the Trump administration for asylum, the Wall Street Journal reported in April. The Trump administration has significantly cut back on the number of refugees the U.S. takes each year while also making it harder to claim asylum in America.

“ I’ve visited — I’ve met over the phone with a number of Sikh representatives about this particular case, and they continued to ask for — there continues to be an ask for — from some of their representatives to immigrate — U.S., Canada, even inquiries about India, Pakistan, about being able to go to any of these places to get out of Afghanistan,” he said.

With inputs from The Hindu

New Delhi: The Allahabad High Court has held that azaan, or the Islamic call to ritual prayer, can be recited by a muezzin from minarets of the mosques by human voice only without using any amplifying device or loudspeakers.

The court added that such recitation by human voice cannot be hindered under the pretext of violation of the guidelines issued by the state government to contain the spread of coronavirus.

It also said that one can’t use a loudspeaker for azaan without prior permission of district administration in accordance with the law.

“We are of the opinion that azaan may be an essential and integral part of Islam but its recitation through loudspeakers or other sound amplifying devices cannot be said to be an integral part of the religion warranting protection of the fundamental right enshrined under Article 25, which is even otherwise subject to public order, morality or health and to other provisions in part III of the Constitution,” the bench ruled.

“It cannot be said that a citizen should be coerced to hear anything which he does not like or which he does not require since it amounts to taking away the fundamental right of other persons,” the bench added.

However, the court shot down the state government’s contention that its recitation by human voice was violative of any provision of law.

“The government had not been able to explain as to how the recitation of azaan merely through human voice can be violative of any provision of law or any guidelines issued in view of Covid-19 pandemic,” it said.

The Bench, however, kept it open for petitioner to approach the district administration for permission to use loudspeaker for azaan. It added that one can’t use loudspeakers for azaan or for any other purpose without prior permission of district administration.

The bench of Justices Shashi Kant Gupta and Ajit Kumar thus disposed of a PIL filed by BSP MP from Ghazipur, Afzal Ansari, seeking lifting of ban on azaan from mosques in Ghazipur.

The petitioner’s plea was that there is no specific order in the central or state government guidelines to prohibit the recitation of azaan from the mosques. Therefore, the arbitrary decision taken by the district administration of Ghazipur to ban the prayer is illegal.

The state government’s contention, the petitioner argued, was that religious activity of any religious group through loudspeaker has been restricted in the entire Uttar Pradesh in view of the guidelines of lockdown.

Further, according to the state government , the Ghazipur district has been declared as hotspot area. Since azaan is a call for prayer on loudspeaker, hence it has been restricted in Ghazipur.

The state government, in its affidavit, has also submitted a list of instances which have been filed disclosing how people assembled in mosques in Ghazipur following a call through azaan and administration had a tough time to control the situation.

Azaan is recited by a ‘muezzin’, a man who calls Muslims to prayer from the minaret of a mosque at prescribed times of the day. (HT)

Economic Times

Mumbai: Of the Rs 20-lakh-crore package that Prime Minister Modi announced to defend the economy against COVID-19 disruptions, fresh support may be only around 60 per cent of the offer as it counts the first financial stimulus and liquidity support that Reserve Bank has given already, and will overburden bond market, says a report. In a big push to revive the COVID-hit economy, Modi on Tuesday announced massive new financial incentives on top of the previously announced packages for a combined stimulus of Rs 20 lakh crore.

Modi outlined a Rs 20-lakh-crore which is 9.7 per cent of GDP support package, of which new allocations could only be 50-60 per cent of the offer. But until more details are known, financing burden will fall on the bond markets, Radhika Rao, the economist at Singaporean lender DBS Bank said in a note on Wednesday.

She further noted that “the new fiscal package is upsized and its scale lends a positive surprise, at a bigger-than-anticipated size with emphasis on making the economy more self-reliant via local manufacturing and improved supply chains”.

It can be noted that the government had in late March announced fiscal measures worth Rs 1.7 lakh crore while the RBI offered liquidity support of Rs 3.7 lakh crore in March and Rs 2 lakh crore in April.

“The new fiscal measures might account to around 60 per cent or Rs 12-13 lakh crore. If this includes a wider net of RBI measures, then the new package might amount to Rs 10 lakh crore,” Rao said.

She further said coordinated approach is needed to cushion a part of the after effects of the growth slowdown, which will impact incomes, jobs and business viability.

The nuances of the measures are key, particularly details on how much is about short-term relief for Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), sector-specific payouts, cash handouts to the poor, loan guarantees, capital infusion into banks, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNEGRA) etc, and on medium-term priorities like infrastructure, labour/land reforms etc.

“This will dictate the extent of economic cushion to growth, incomes and employment outlook this year,” she said.

On the fiscal side, the report said revenue shortfall is already translating into an increase in deficit from budgeted 3.5 per cent to at least 5.5 per cent now. Assuming only part of the spending is reflected in the FY20 fiscal math and capital spending is scaled back, the deficit might rise by another 2.5-3 per cent of GDP.

On the financing side of the package, the report said it will have to be seen whether bulk of it will be raised through borrowings especially whether the states will participate, or alternate sources like COVID-19 bonds, multilateral loans, tapping offshore investors/ markets, fresh revenue streams (indirect or income taxes on HNIs) etc.

“Until clarity is available, funding burden will fall on bond markets in the near-term and to stabilise markets, focus will return to RBI’s participation,” she said adding market borrowing is likely to rise further, by at least Rs 7-10 lakh crore assuming all is raised domestically and through bond issuances.

But the report warns that the pressure will be on the Reserve Bank of India to step up bond purchases given the limited absorptive capacity of domestic investors and risk-averse foreign portfolio investors.

Beijing has teamed up with Islamabad to build Diamer-Bhasha dam there

The recent incidents of face-off between the troops of India and China are neither “co-related” nor have any connection with other global or local activities, Army Chief Gen. Manoj Naravane said on Thursday. The statement was supplemented by official spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs Anurag Srivastava who reminded China about India’s claims over Gilgit-Baltistan where China has teamed up with Pakistan to build the Diamer-Bhasha dam.

Mr. Srivastava said both sides understand the importance of maintaining peace. “India and China attach importance to tranquillity and it is essential for the overall development of bilateral ties.”

He however reminded China about India’s claims over the territory of Gilgit-Baltistan under Pakistan’s control. “Our position is clear. The entire territory of Jammu and Kashmir is part of India.”

The assertion is important as it was made a day after Power China, one of the biggest Chinese power companies, received a contract to build the Diamer-Bhasha dam which once completed will allow Pakistan to use the waters of the Indus for irrigation. Islamabad claims that the dam will help reduce downstream flood by the Indus.

With inputs from The Hindu