Archives for May 2021

MUMBAI: The Shiv Sena on Saturday said that while smaller countries in the neighbourhood are offering help to India to tackle COVID-19, the Modi government is not even ready to stop the work of the multi-crore Central Vista project.

The party also said that the system created in the past 70 years by previous prime ministers, including Pandit Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Manmohan Singh, has helped the country live through the tough times that it is facing today.

“The UNICEF has expressed fear that there is a threat to the world from India due to the pace at which coronavirus is spreading in the country. It has also made an appeal that maximum number of countries should help India in the fight against COVID-19. Bangladesh has sent 10,000 Remdesivir vials, while Bhutan has sent medical oxygen. Nepal, Myanmar and Sri Lanka have also offered help to ‘aatmanirbhar’ India,” the Sena said in an editorial in its mouthpiece ‘Saamana’.

“In clear terms, India is surviving on the system created by Nehru-Gandhi. Many poor countries are offering help to India. Earlier, countries like Pakistan, Rwanda and Congo used to get help from others. But due to the wrong policies of today’s rulers, India is going through that situation now,” it said.

But while poor countries are helping India in their own way, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is not ready to stop the ambitious project of Central Vista worth Rs 20,000 crore, the Sena added.

The party expressed surprise that nobody feels regret that on the one hand, India accepts aid from countries like Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Bhutan, while on the other, Modi is not ready to stop work on the multi-crore Central Vista project for construction of a new Parliament building and the house of the prime minister.

The redevelopment project of the Central Vista – the power corridor of the country – envisages a new triangular Parliament building, a common Central Secretariat and the revamping of the three-km-long Rajpath from the Rashtrapati Bhavan to India Gate and new residences for the prime minister and the vice president.

The Sena said that even as the world is battling a second wave of COVID-19, experts have predicted that the third wave will be more severe.

But the ruling BJP is doing all it can to corner Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal even today.

“A sensitive and a nationalist government would not have thought about the political pros and cons and set up a national panel of all main political parties to discuss ways to defeat the pandemic,” the Uddhav Thackeray-led party said.

BJP MP Subramanian Swamy has demanded that Union minister Nitin Gadkari be given the charge of the health ministry and this is a proof that the current union health ministry has been a complete failure, it added.

India has reported the highest number of COVID-19 deaths in the last 10 days.

Globally, one out of the five active patients is in India.

In the last ten days, 36,110 deaths have occurred.

Every hour, there are 150 COVID-19 deaths in the country. We have left USA and Brazil behind in terms of deaths due to virus. The world fears India now, the Sena said.

According to it, several countries have stopped their citizens from travelling to India and our country is bearing the economic brunt of the pandemic.

“The country is presently surviving thanks to the development works, projects set up by and the confidence given by the previous governments of PanditNehru, (Lal Bahadur) Shastri, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, P V Narasimha Rao, Manmohan Singh,” it said.

The prime ministerwill have to do a lot of hard work andthink of non-political nationalismto help the country come out of the pandemic, it said.

On Friday, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had attacked the Union government over the Central Vista project, terming it a “criminal wastage” and asked the dispensation to focus on people’s lives.

Nasheman News

New Delhi: In the backdrop of the deteriorating security situation in the Gulf region, post attacks on merchant ships in the Gulf of Oman in June 2019, Indian Navy had commenced Maritime Security Operations, code named Op SANKALP, in the Gulf Region on 19 June 2019 to ensure safe passage of Indian Flag Vessels transiting through the Strait of Hormuz.

In the trade routes for a merchant ship sailing in an area of high tension, especially under threat of attack, the presence of a warship flying the flag of the same nationality is a highly reassuring sign.

The deployment of Indian Naval warships in the Persian Gulf to ensure safety of Indian Flag Merchant Vessels carrying both import and export cargo after the attack on merchant ships in the Gulf of Oman is a case in point. These deployments under Operation Sankalp, which commenced from 19 June 2019, are aimed at protecting Indian Flag Merchant Vessels and ensuring their safe passage in the Gulf region and through the Strait of Hormuz.

‘Sankalp’, is a Sanskrit word which means “Commitment” and is in standing with the Indian Navy’s aim to protect India’s shipping and trade, which is clearly reflected as one of the National Maritime Interests espoused in the Indian Navy’s unclassified Strategy Document, “Ensuring Secure Seas: Indian Maritime Security Strategy”.

This article highlights safeguarding of India’s mercantile marine and maritime trade as an important objective under the military role. Given the complexity of the operation and international environment in which Indian Naval ships are operating, Op-Sankalp is being undertaken with active interaction, and close coordination, with the Ministries of Defence, External Affairs, Shipping, Petroleum and Natural Gas, and the Director General of Shipping.

West Asia, specifically the Persian Gulf, is an important area for India’s Maritime Trade. In the financial year 2019-2020, around 62 per cent of India’s oil imports valued at approximately 66 Billion USD came from this area. For the same year, India’s exports and imports from the region stood at around 51 Billion USD and 108.2 Billion USD, respectively. These constitute 8.1 per cent and 11.4 per cent of India’s total exports and imports, respectively. Therefore, Operation Sankalp is a significant Indian Naval endeavour. Till date, since June 2019, 20 Indian warships have been deployed and more than 200 Indian Flag Vessels carrying more than 21 Million Tonnes of cargo were provided safe passage.

The deployment is based on the inherent attributes of a blue water navy, specifically reach, versatility and presence, where the operations of a nation’s maritime forces in furtherance of its national interest is representative of national interest and political intent.

In normal times this would have been a “normative” deployment. However, under the shadow of the Covid pandemic, the ability of the Indian Navy to deploy its warships indicates the high level of operational availability and readiness maintained.

This is also indicative of the strict protocols and mechanisms followed by the Indian Navy to mitigate the impact of Covid on its manpower, and hence deployments and operations. As a result, apart from the ongoing anti-piracy patrols and Op-Sankalp, the Indian Navy successfully carried out several deployments and operations. Under Operation Samudra Setu, launched on 05 May 2020, as part of the national effort to repatriate Indian citizens from overseas, 3992 Indian citizens were brought back to India by warships. Under Mission Sagar, assistance to combat Covid was provided to five IOR island nations (Maldives, Mauritius, Seychelles, Madagascar and Comoros), in response to their request for supporting their ongoing national efforts.

The Indian Navy will, even under adverse conditions, continue to deploy warships to protect and further India’s Maritime Interests, while also meeting its responsibilities and obligations of being the first responder in the maritime domain, and as a preferred security partner for many.   

NEW DELHI:  Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday attacked the Union government over the central vista project, terming it a “criminal wastage” and asked the dispensation to focus on people’s lives.

The CPWD, which is executing the project, had revised its estimated cost from Rs 11,794 crore to Rs 13,450 crore.

“Central Vista is criminal wastage. Put people’s lives at the centre — not your blind arrogance to get a new house,” he said on Twitter.

Gandhi and his Congress party have been asking the government to shelve its plans on the central vista project and give priority to improving medical infrastructure during the COVID-19 pandemic to save people’s lives.

It has also criticised the government for according the construction work of the Central Vista project “essential services” tag and has and accused it of having its priorities wrong.

The work on the project has continued despite the lockdown in the national capital that has brought most construction sites to a grinding halt.

The construction work for the project has been brought under the ambit of “essential services”, a move that been flayed by the opposition.