Whatsapp 93125-11015 For Details
The Centre has “taken over” control of security in violence-hit Manipur on Friday by deploying 12 companies, comprising around 1,000 personnel, of the Border Security Force (BSF) and airlifting anti-riot vehicles to the north eastern State.
Around 3,200 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel, as well as Army and Indian Air Force (IAF) teams have been deployed.
Article 355 is there so that Centre takes more attention on the affairs of the State and that is why the adviser has been sent,” Manipur’s Director-General of Police P. Doungel told journalists in capital Imphal.
Article 355 empowers the Centre to take all necessary steps to protect a State against internal disturbances and external aggression.
However, the Ministry of Home Affairs has denied invoking Article 355. Mr. Doungel was referring to former CRPF chief Kuldiep Singh, who has been appointed as the security adviser to the Manipur government.
Editorial
The horizon for India beyond the G-20, SCO summits (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 2, International Relations)
India’s year-long presidency of the G-20, and leadership of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), should not blind us to the persisting challenges the nation faces, due to a concatenation of circumstances.
It must, hence, tone down the high expectations that are being generated of reaping a rich dividend from helming the two summits. Global peace, on which India’s Prime Minister had waxed eloquent at the last G-20 summit in Indonesia, is nowhere in sight with India holding the reins.
Instead, everything points to a further deterioration in the geo-political climate, and to a distinct possibility of impending conflict. Priorities listed by India as signifying its presidency, viz., climate change, clean energy, sustainable developmental programmes and reform of multilateral institutions, are likely to take a back seat, given the deteriorating global situation. Consequently, hopes of reaping a rich dividend from the summitry may be misplaced.
India also needs to be aware that the importance of the G-20 appears to be declining in today’s world. The SCO seems to have somewhat greater traction.
During its presidency of the two institutions, India may well be called upon to chart a course that balances the contradictory demands of the G-20 and the SCO — and even more so that of the Global South. All this leaves little room for grandstanding, and India should proceed with caution.
The world may not, as yet, be on the brink of a global conflict, but it is perilously close to it. Distrust between the two camps led by the United States and China/Russia, respectively, leaves little scope for countries such as India — that have not declared their allegiance to either camp — any room for manoeuvre.
The U.S. and its allies are meanwhile making a virtue of the fact that they are in a position to provide Ukraine with an arsenal of the most sophisticated weaponry available, alongside provision for training Ukraine troops.
Switching on India’s smart electricity future (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
Imagine a future where your electricity meter becomes your adviser on all things electricity. It tells you about your electricity use during different times of the day, months and seasons.
It notifies you about changes in power tariffs so that you plan your activities during low-tariff periods. It points you to appliances that are using more electricity than they should, and suggests options to replace them with new, efficient ones. It even allows you to trade solar power directly with your peers. All this on a mobile app.
India is witnessing the future unfold now. More than 5.5 million smart meters have been installed in India, and over 100 million sanctioned.
The target is to replace 250 million conventional electric meters with prepaid smart meters by 2025-26. India is supporting this initiative through a results-linked grant-cum-financing to help power distribution companies (discoms) become financially sound and efficient to deliver better services to consumers. However, there are also on-ground challenges.
A recent study by the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) found that the majority of smart meter users have already begun to experience some of the technology benefits.
The study covered about 2,700 urban households that use prepaid or postpaid smart meters across six States. Half the users reported improvements in billing regularity, and two-thirds said paying bills had become easier.
Around 40% of users alluded to multiple co-benefits such as a greater sense of control over their electricity expenses, a drop in instances of electricity theft, and improved power supply to the locality.
In fact, 70% of prepaid smart meter users said they would recommend the technology to their friends and relatives. These findings give confidence that India’s smart metering transition is heading in the right direction.
There are some road bumps, though. For instance, half the users were not using the smart meter mobile app, and many were unable to access detailed electricity bills, leaving them doubtful about their bill computation and deductions. Solving these will help bring a smart-meter revolution in India.
As India marches towards its vision of a financially sound and digitalised power sector through smart metering interventions, it must pursue a user-centric design and deployment strategy. Here are four suggestions on how diverse actors can step up.
First, the Ministry of Power should drive a nationwide campaign to educate consumers about smart meter benefits and improve the uptake of smart meter apps.
The apps should be accessible to users from diverse socio-economic backgrounds and provide actionable tips and information. This is important, as user satisfaction with smart meters is linked to their ability to access and decipher online bills and perceived technology benefits.
High-user satisfaction in Assam and high uptake of the mobile app in Bihar indicate learning opportunities on how to scale smart meter usage for discoms in other States.
News
Border situation is stable, says China Foreign Minister (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 2, International Relations)
The situation along the India-China border is “generally stable” and both sides should “draw lessons from history”, visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang told External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar in talks.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry, in a statement on the talks released early on Friday, said Mr. Qin “pointed out that the current situation on the China-India border is generally stable” and “the two sides should continue to implement the important consensus between the leaders of the two countries, consolidate the achievements made, strictly abide by the relevant agreements and protocols, promote further cooling and easing of the border situation, and maintain sustainable peace and tranquillity in the border area”.
Mr. Jaishankar on Thursday said he had “a detailed discussion with State Councillor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang of China on our bilateral relationship” and the “focus remains on resolving outstanding issues and ensuring peace and tranquillity in the border areas,” following their talks on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Benaulim, Goa.
Mr. Qin and other Chinese officials have described the border situation as being “stable” and moving to what they have called normalised management, and asked India to place the issue in an “appropriate” position in the relationship.
Indian officials have reiterated their view that relations with China still remained “abnormal” and have called for urgency in completing the disengagement process in the two remaining friction areas in Depsang and Demchok.
Meanwhile, tens of thousands of troops remain in forward areas. India has also called for de-induction of these troops and de-escalation to return to the April 2020 status quo, which China has rejected.
Mr. Qin described both countries as “as the two most populous developing countries in the world, and both are in a critical period of modernisation”.
Real-time, operational picture among several automation initiatives of Army (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 3, Defence)
Army formations at all levels — from the Commander on the ground to the Corps level — will soon have a real-time, common operating picture, with information and data from various sensors and inputs fused into one comprehensive image for quick decision-making, according to defence sources, who said that this is a result of one of several automation projects in the process of being rolled out.
A new Battlefield Surveillance System (BSS) under Project Sanjay is in the process of being deployed, after extensive validation carried out in the plains, deserts, and mountains.
“Under BSS, the aim is to have surveillance centres for all field formations by December 2025. It will integrate thousands of sensors which will enable provision of an integrated surveillance picture to commanders and staff at all levels, besides completing the sensor-shooter grid by integrating with the Artillery Combat Command and Control System (ACCCS),” a source said.
The system also integrates data on the movements of India’s adversaries received from various sources across borders, including sensors, satellites, UAVs or unmanned aerial vehicles, and patrols.
This is among a series of automation projects being rolled out which are expected to cumulatively improve operational efficiency, enhance battlefield awareness for Commanders on the ground, and also provide functional efficiency for human resource management, logistics, inventory management, medical services and other administrative functions, sources said.
Bharat Electronics Ltd. (BEL), Ghaziabad, is the project’s system integrator, and after hundreds of trials across terrains, it has shown a rate of success of more than 95%, meeting the army’s aspirations and requirements.
As part of the trials, a few surveillance centres were set up under two corps of the Army, and with the bulk production clearance now granted, the full project will be implemented by the end of 2025.
The original cost was estimated to be around ₹2,700 crore, but has now been revised to ₹2,400 crore and is set to go down further.
To enable these projects, the imminent operationalisation of the secure Network for Spectrum will provide an abundance of bandwidth to the services, the source stated. Further, the Army is setting up captive data centres across the country and these will be fully operational this year.
Complementing the BSS is the Army Information and Decision Support System, an upgraded and redesigned version of the erstwhile Combat Information Decision Support System, which will integrate inputs from all operational and managerial information systems.
A decision support system called the Situational Awareness Module for the Army (SAMA) has successfully integrated inputs from ACCCS, BSS, e-Sitrep, and the Management Information Systems Organisation.
Centre looks into options to counter EU’s carbon tax plan (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 3, International Relations)
The Commerce Ministry is exploring various options to cope with the European Union’s decision to introduce a Carbon Tax, including retaliatory tariff measures, a challenge at the World Trade Organisation and measures to help smaller Indian exporters.
The EU plans to introduce a Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) that will entail a monitoring mechanism for imports from producers deploying non-green technologies starting this October and a tax levy from January 2026. This is likely to hit Indian metal and engineering products’ exports to the EU.
Addressing this challenge is one of the top agenda items for the Commerce Department and several options are being examined, Director-General of Foreign Trade Santosh Kumar Sarangi said at a meeting hosted by engineering goods exporters’ body, EEPC India, on Thursday.
EEPC India chairman Arun Kumar Garodia made a pitch for including the primary iron and steel sector into the Remissions of Duties and Taxes on Exported Products (RoDTEP) scheme and raising the scheme’s benefits for engineering products.
The rebate given by RoDTEP for engineering sector is in the range of 0.5% to 1%, which is lower than the incentives provided under the earlier merchandise exports from India scheme that offered incentives in the range of 2% to 5%.
Pakistan Minister is a promoter of terror industry: Jaishankar (Page no. 11)
(GS Paper 2, GS Paper 2, International Relations)
Calling Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari a “promoter, justifier and spokesperson” of terrorism, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on Friday hit out at Islamabad for its continued support to terror groups.
Speaking at the end of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation’s Council For Foreign Ministers (SCO-CFM) that he chaired, Mr. Jaishankar said Indians felt “outrage” over a incident, referring to the firing in Rajouri in which five Indian soldiers were killed.
The spat between the two countries came even as the SCO Foreign Ministers’ meeting agreed to strengthen cooperation in a number of areas, including economic and technological spheres.
Announcing the results of the Ministers’ deliberations, Mr. Jaishankar said India’s proposals on making English an additional official language to Russian and Chinese at the SCO, and setting up working groups on innovation, start-ups and traditional medicines were being discussed.
The Ministers agreed on a 15-point decision document that will be taken forward to the SCO Heads of State Summit due on July 3-4 in Delhi.
After the customary greetings on Friday morning, Mr. Jaishankar welcomed his counterparts to the SCO-CFM. However, in their speeches, both Mr. Jaishankar and Mr. Bhutto traded veiled accusations over cross-border terrorism and the amendment to Article 370 that granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir.
Briefing journalists in the evening, Mr. Jaishankar said he was forced to distinguish between hosting the Pakistan Foreign Minister as a member of the SCO, and “treating him differently” for Mr. Bhutto’s comments on terrorism.
Mr. Jaishankar also responded sharply to questions about China’s official statement issued after his meeting with his Chinese counterpart, Qin Gang, on Thursday, that stated that the situation at the Line of Actual control (LAC) was “stable”.
In his statement at the CFM, Mr. Qin did not refer to the situation at the LAC but spoke about the Belt and Road initiative. He said that Beijing would hold a major BRI conference this year with all parties to take the cooperation forward.
India has consistently opposed the inclusion of the BRI in the SCO statements, and regularly abstains paragraphs that refer to the Chinese infrastructure initiative, which other SCO countries endorse.
Govt. programme for non-communicable diseases renamed (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 2, Health)
The addition of many new diseases or disease-groups and new health initiatives have prompted the Union government to widen and rename its programme for control and prevention of non-communicable diseases (NCDs).
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has also decided to rename the portal which enables population enumeration, risk assessment, and screening for five common non-communicable diseases, including hypertension, diabetes, and oral, breast and cervical cancers of the population above 30 years.
The Ministry communicated its decision to the States on Wednesday through a one-page letter and asked them to adhere to the changes.
In its communication, it said that since there has been an addition of diseases to the National Programme for Prevention and Control of Cancer, Diabetes, Cardiovascular Diseases and Stroke (NPCDCS), such as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, chronic kidney disease etc., “there is a need that the Scheme in its present form may subsume all types of NCDs under a new name”.
The NPCDCS is being implemented under the National Health Mission (NHM) across the country.
Meanwhile, the letter added that the application or software named Comprehensive Primary Healthcare Non-Communicable Disease rolled out under the programme for screening and management, will now be renamed ‘National NCD Portal’.