Month: June 2020

Delhi Govt Hospitals To Treat Only City Residents: CM

By LokMarg

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday announced that hospitals in Delhi, except those run by the Centre, will only be available for people from the national capital in the view of rising COVID-19 cases here.

He said that private hospitals in Delhi will also only treat patients from national capital except for those hospitals which provide treatment that is not available anywhere in the country.

The Chief Minister also announced that restaurants, malls and religious places will open from tomorrow along with the opening of Delhi borders. He said that hotels and banquets will remain closed as the government might need to convert them into hospitals in coming time.

Addressing a press conference, Kejriwal said: “In the cabinet meeting today, a decision has taken regarding healthcare facilities. There are 10,000 beds in hospitals of Delhi government and the same number of beds are available in those hospitals run by Centre. We are opening borders from tomorrow. Delhi hospitals will be available for the people of Delhi only, while hospitals run by the Central government will remain open for all.”

“Anyone can get treatment in hospitals run by the Central government. Private hospitals in Delhi will also be reserved for people of Delhi. But there are some hospitals which offer surgeries/treatment like neurosurgery which is not available in other parts of the country. Those hospitals will remain open for everyone. I think this is a fine balance to protect the interest of people of Delhi and people from outside Delhi,” he said.

The Chief Minister said that a majority of people and the five-member committee which was constituted to look into healthcare facilities in the national capital suggested that hospitals of Delhi should be reserved of its people only.

“We are opening Delhi borders from tomorrow. We thought that if we open our borders then many people will come for treatment in hospitals in Delhi. Will hospitals treating COVID-19 patients be able to take a load of those patients as well? At any time, around 60-70 per cent patients in hospitals in the national capital are from outside Delhi. We never said no to any patient,” he said.

“Coronavirus cases in Delhi are increasing. Delhi government is arranging beds. If we open hospitals in Delhi for everyone, then where will people of Delhi go if they are infected with COVID-19? We have asked suggestions from people on this. Around 90 per cent people said that hospitals of Delhi should be reserved of its people only,” he added.

Speaking further, the Chief Minister said: “We constituted a committee of five doctors. They submitted their report in which they said that Delhi would need 15,000 beds by the end of the month of June. That’s why they suggested that hospitals in Delhi should be reserved for its people for some months and should not open them for everyone. They said within three days 9,000 beds for COVID-19 will be filled.”

Kejriwal said that restaurants, malls and religious places will open from June 8 but necessary precautions should be followed there.

“Delhi government will allow the opening of restaurants, malls and religious places from June 8 according to Central government’s directions. Precautionary measures need to be taken in those places. A guideline will be issued by the Delhi government regarding this. Hotels and banquets halls will not be opened as of now. Keeping in view of rising coronavirus cases, the Delhi government might convert hotels and banquet halls into hospitals,” he said.

The Chief Minister appealed to senior citizens to take all precautions as they are most vulnerable to COVID-19.

“We have opened our economy and given relaxation in lockdown. But it does not mean that coronavirus is over. People should follow all precautionary measures. I see some people going outside without masks. They are not doing a favour to anyone. I request all senior citizens to think that lockdown is not over for them. Mostly senior citizens are dying due to coronavirus,” he said.

“As a precautionary measure, the elderly people should have minimum interaction with their family members and others, especially children, as senior citizens are most vulnerable to COVID-19. Try and remain in a single room of your house,” he said.

(ANI)

Make America ‘Breathe’ Again

By Amit Sengupta

White people in this country will have quite enough to do in learning how to accept and love themselves and each other, and when they have achieved this — which will not be tomorrow and may very well be never — the Negro problem will no longer exist, for it will no longer be needed.
– James Baldwin in Newyorker, November, 1962

Between Minneapolis police officer and his three colleagues who backed him, Derrick Chavuin, and Afro-American citizen George Floyd, it took just about 8 minutes and 46 seconds, to resurrect the jackboot of White supremacy and Ku Klux Klan racism yet again, in full public view, as a public spectacle for the whole world to see.

Pinned down by his knee on the ground for the alleged crime of using a $20 counterfeit currency note (like another White man who was let out easily and predictably), the knee is yet again becoming a bad faith/good faith metaphor in the United States of America, certainly not the ‘greatest nation’ in the world, as it routinely claims. Indeed, the cops in Miami, one knee bent, have proved the visual and symbolic value of this gesture – followed by protestors hugging them warmly, some with tears in their eyes.

Remember the infamous ‘Wounded Knee Massacre’, and all the other massacres of  the indigenous native tribes of the Americas by the ‘White migrants, immigrants and outsiders’ to capture their land, bodies, natural resources, and brutally ravage their souls, civilizations, memories, folk traditions and history? The massacre on December 29, 1890 and later, of more than 300 Lakota Indians by the US Army in the Wounded Knee Creek somewhere in the southwest South Dakota has been movingly recorded in that heart-breaking book: Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown.

ALSO READ: Protests Engulf US Over Floyd’s Death

Indeed, not only Black Lives Matter, the lives of the original inhabitants of these vast lands, killed by small pox, starvation, brute atrocities and genocides, too matters, though most of the last remaining native tribes, malnourished, ghettoised and degraded, have been pushed into invisible  forests and no-man’s land as third class citizens, outside the gaze of the so-called ‘greatest nation’.

George Floyd kept saying something which too has become a bad faith metaphor for the whole American society, White and Black, immigrants, Latinos, dissenters, intellectuals, journalists, homemakers, professional and students. Like that famous painting called ‘Scream’ by Edvard Munch, his last words reflect the suffocating reality of oppression which the largely marginanlised Afro-American communities, among other oppressed groups, face in affluent America.

“I can’t breathe,” he said. “Please help.” As he was pinned down, finally, calling out for his mother in his last moments. Murdered on the street by a White cop for no rhyme or reason, as is mostly the case with Black people in scores of similar situations all across the White supremacist landscape of this advanced capitalist democracy.

In recent times, this sinister and open legacy of murder has continued unabated, especially under the leadership of President Donald Trump. Some weeks earlier, Ahmoud Arbery was killed by White vigilantes in a suburb in Georgia; the video footage showed he was peacefully jogging. On March 13, an African-American woman, Breonna Taylor, was killed by the cops. Later, it transpired that they had botched it up again – they were searching an alleged suspect at a wrong address.

Indeed, the homeless streets of New York, perhaps one of the most democratic and expensive cities in the world, are a testimony of the destiny of the Black population in America. Even in the bitter, freezing cold, with temperatures falling below minus 40, they are out on the windy streets, in the night and during the day, poorly clothed, looking for the idea of fake warmth from the heating system’s steam which comes out from the streets and gutters. Capitalism in America is cold and cold-blooded – even a beggar has to get a coffee from a Starbucks café!

The prison system is yet another example, including those run by private parties, including the highly exploitative prisons, as reports say. Till about 2017, majority of the prisoners were either Blacks or Latinos/Hispanics, and the quantum of punishment they get is often disproportionate to the crime committed by them, it is reported.

According to a report by the Pew Research Centre, Blacks have long outnumbered Whites in American prisons. However, there has been a decline in the number of Black prisoners, according to new data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS).

The report declares: “At the end of 2017, federal and state prisons in the United States held about 475,900 inmates who were Black and 436,500 who were White – a difference of 39,400, according to BJS. Ten years earlier, there were 592,900 Black and 499,800 White prisoners – a difference of 93,100. (This analysis counts only inmates sentenced to more than a year.) The decline in the Black-White gap between 2007 and 2017 was driven by a 20 per cent decrease in the number of Black inmates, which outpaced a 13 per cent decrease in the number of White inmates… The gap between White and Hispanic imprisonment also narrowed between 2007 and 2017, but not because of a decrease in Hispanic prisoners. Instead, the number of White prisoners fell while the number of Hispanic inmates increased slightly. At the end of 2017, there were 100,000 more White inmates than Hispanic inmates (436,500 vs. 336,500), down from an inmate difference of 169,400 in 2007 (499,800 White inmates vs. 330,400 Hispanic inmates).”

ALSO READ: Donald Trump: What Is There To Not Like

Trump decisively botched up the pandemic aftermath, in initial and total denial. Consequently, more than 100,000 Americans have died, a large number in New York, something perhaps which never happened even while putting the death toll together in the civil war, the first and second World War. Anyway, since it is geographically so distant in the map, America has had the illustrious history of inflicting death and destruction across the continent, but remains aloof and safe, facing no consequences for its actions, unlike, for instance, what Europe faced, and Soviet Russia, during the war against fascism.

Indeed, the thousands killed in the middle-east due to American policies and ‘blood for oil’, remains a fact of bitter realism. While Germany under Angela Merkel can give shelter to one million refugees from the Middle East, much of America can only suffer vicarious guilt and detached anxiety.

Even the pandemic seems to have killed more Blacks than Whites; in the manner that the poorest workers and migrants in India have suffered the most after a botched up lockdown announced by the Indian prime minister. Even a pandemic is prejudiced when translated in different geographical and social circumstances. Indeed, the unemployment figures among African American in a routine scenario is 25 per cent – almost three times the national average. In recent times, post pandemic, reports point out that of those arrested, 68 per cent are Black and 24 per cent are Latinos.

Among the White supremacists, like those who backed apartheid in South Africa for decades, the summering longing in the political unconscious is for a ‘back-to-slavery’ syndrome. ‘Make America Great Again’, the Trump slogan, in many ways reflected that – Make the Whites Call the Shots. They call the shots anyway.  Loosely translated, it means give more power to the powerful.

Every gesture and word of the militarist and narcissist US president, including holding the Bible outside  an Episcopal Church in Washington DC, after using rubber bullets and tear gas against peaceful protesters, and ‘kettling’ them, is reflective of this perverse ‘White American Nostalgia’. Not surprisingly, the bishop of the church, and other Church authorities, have expressed outrage and anger at his gesture amidst police violence, and has strongly condemned it.

The silver lining in this American explosion is that both Blacks and Whites, along with other communities, across the class and social spectrum, have collectively taken racism by the horn. It is reflected not only by the Miami cops, or the Houston police chief telling Trump to “Shut up”.

It is mostly reflected by the great gesture of the White protestors, including women, who line up as peaceful vanguard, in front, protecting the Blacks, telling the armed cops, “Come, get us first, will you?”

Quarantine At NDA

Locked Down At Seventeen

By LokMarg

Lt Gen (Retd) Ike Singha reminisces his first quarantine at National Defence Academy in 1974 due to chicken pox and the bonding between the grounded batchmates

We were first time quarantined in May-June 1974, at National Defence Academy, Khadakwasla, in Kilo Squadron, the reigning champion Squadron, towards the very end of our first term. One flank of the ground floor consisting of freshers was segregated for three weeks because one of us had been detected with chicken pox. Life at the academy starts early at 5 AM and is so hectic that by lights-out time at 10.30 PM, we used to fall flat on the bed; off to sleep within a minute, and were dead to the world till 5 AM.

Our quarantine meant that we were confined to our rooms, called cabins in NDA, based on the Naval tradition; and did not have to attend drill, physical training, riding, swimming, academic classes and sports activities. We were served meals in our flank itself. Unlike the present lockdown, we did not have to sweep our rooms and wash our clothes. All facilities were extended to us after taking due precautions. In fact, it was one great holiday during which twelve of us bonded exceedingly well. Till now, when we are all grandfathers, we are closer to each other than the other batchmates.

ALSO READ: ‘How I Turned The Tables On Lockdown’

As first termers, it was a blessing in disguise, as we could rest and recoup while no seniors could punish or rag us. We got a sadistic pleasure in staying up in the bed while listening to announcements for morning muster followed by the NDA prayer before the entire squadron, but for the dirty dozen, marched off on their bicycles for a long, gruelling and treacherous day ahead.

We generally missed our bed tea and only surfaced in our pyjamas for breakfast. It seemed that the term break which was a month away, had already started for us! We played dumb charades and also did jamming as there were one or two good singers amongst us. Three of us had cleared the first tier of drill square test taken by the Subedar Major of the Academy. The second stage was more stringent as the Adjutant in his test dropped half the candidates who had cleared stage one. We were thrilled to see our name in the pass list in spite of missing the Adjutant’s test!

ALSO READ: ‘Lockdown Made My Kids Prospective Chefs’

There was the flip side to the lockdown as well. The seniors would quietly sneak into our corridor and give us their set of eleven brass buttons each, which needed to be polished for the white patrol to be worn on Passing Out Parade. Each one of us landed up with four to five sets of these brass buttons. Some seniors also borrowed our rain capes and cycles and we were not sure in what shape they would be returned. Some academically weak seniors gave us notes to be copied from their brighter course mates. Seniors ensured all these encounters were done in a clandestine manner as special operations!

There were occasional fist fights when some early birds had taken more than their share of food especially the tipsy pudding. We missed some of our academic and physical tests which were mandatory to clear before going home on term break. Those who had not cleared their tests or had failed them once the lockdown was lifted, had to come one week earlier from home for practice, preparation and retests. Memories of those lovely three weeks, nearly half a century ago came back vividly during the ongoing lockdown when one had to help in the daily chores!

India, China Agree To Settle LAC Dispute Via Dialogue

By LokMarg

Amid stand-off in Eastern Ladakh, officials of India and China interacted through video-conferencing on Friday with the two sides agreeing that they should handle “their differences through peaceful discussion” while respecting each other’s sensitivities and concerns and not allowing them to become disputes in accordance with the guidance provided by the leadership.

Joint Secretary of the East Asia Division of the Ministry of External Affairs, Naveen Srivastava, and Wu Jianghao, Director General in the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, held a meeting through video conference today.

The interaction came a day before senior military commanders of India and China are expected to hold talks in Moldo to address the LAC stand-off in Eastern Ladakh.

An External Affairs Ministry release said that the two sides reviewed the “state of bilateral relations including the current developments” during the video-conference.

“In this context, they recalled the consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries, that peaceful, stable and balanced relations between India and China will be a positive factor for stability in the current global situation,” the release said.

“Both sides also agreed that in accordance with the guidance provided by the leadership, the two sides should handle their differences through peaceful discussion bearing in mind the importance of respecting each other’s sensitivities, concerns and aspirations and not allow them to become disputes,” it added.

The two sides also exchanged views on the challenge posed by the COVID-19 pandemic and cooperation in various multilateral forums.

Troops of two countries are in a stand-off with India stating that the Chinese side that has undertaken activity hindering India’s normal patrolling patterns. India has also said that its troops fully abide by the alignment of the Line of Actual Control in the India-China border.

India had also said that the two sides have established mechanisms both at military and diplomatic levels to resolve situations that may arise in border areas peacefully through dialogue and “continue to remain engaged through these channels.”

There was also a face-off between troops of two sides in Sikkim sector last month.

There have been talks between local commanders of the two sides since the first week of May to resolve the stand-off in Eastern Ladakh. (ANI)

PM Modi’s Lockdown Failed, says Rahul Gandhi

By LokMarg

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday targeted the government by citing data over the way it had gone for “unlock” phase when coronavirus cases were rising in the country.

“This is what a failed lockdown looks like,” he said in a tweet.

Gandhi attached graphs with the tweet and cited media reports, Oxford University data and that of AICC Data Department which show that India imposed a lockdown when daily new COVID-19 cases were between 0-1000.

According to the graphical description shared by the Congress leader, the unlock phase was initiated in the country when the daily new cases were around 8,000. The data showed that in the subsequent days, the daily new cases have risen to between 9,000-10,000.

Another graph showed that in Spain the lockdown was imposed when daily new cases were between 1,000-2,000. After peaking to around 9,000 cases per day in the middle phase of the lockdown, the unlock was initiated when daily new cases fell down again to 1,000-2,000 cases per day. Data showed that cases fell down to lower levels in the subsequent days in Spain.

The data shared by the Congress leader showed a similar pattern in Germany, Italy and the UK with different magnitudes for the lockdown-unlock scenarios.

India registered its highest spike in COVID-19 cases with 9,851 more cases on Friday and 273 deaths reported in the last 24 hours. The total number of cases reached 2,26,770 including 1,10,960 active cases, said the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. (ANI)

Mamata Rebuffs Oppn: ‘Never Asked For PM Removal’

By LokMarg

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday slammed the opposition parties for doing politics amid coronavirus and post-Amphan destruction, saying she “never asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to be removed from Delhi”.

“I really feel bad that when we are fighting against COVID-19 and Amphan and working to save lives, some political parties are asking to remove us from power. I never said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should be removed from Delhi,” said Banerjee while addressing at ‘Re-Greening Kol’ programme on the occasion of World Environment Day.

She added, “Is this the time for engaging in politics? Where were they for the last three months? We were working on the ground.”

“Bengal will win against both COVID-19 and conspiracy,” the TMC supremo further said. (ANI)

Amphan

‘Corona Unsettled Us, Cyclone Added To The Misery’

By LokMarg

Rashmi Singh, a 37-year-old banker in Kolkata, says going to work, household chores and distancing had begun to tell on her family when Cyclone Amphan added to their woes

I got transferred to Kolkata in July and from then on it has been a series of one readjustment after another. Just as my family of four (with two kids aged 5 and 8) was settling down to Kolkata’s slow and languid pace after Bengaluru’s fast- paced life that Coronavirus struck.

Being a banker, my work comes under essential services and there was no way work from home was an option for me. So every day during the lockdown I had to go to work. With no access to maids during the lockdown, it meant I had to do all the household chores and cooking before leaving for work.

Thankfully my husband has proved to be of tremendous support and also had the option to work from home, so he would (and always does) help in the household chores as much as he could and take care of the kids while I was at work. Commuting to office during lockdown was very difficult as one had very little access to cabs. Driving to work also wasn’t an option. One didn’t know what one was exposed to while at work.

And just when we thought we had got the lockdown figured out that Cyclone Amphan, one of the deadliest cyclones that India has ever seen, struck.

Thankfully due to technology we were informed beforehand of the havoc Amphan could wreak. The timing of the landfall had been predicted around 2.30 pm on Wednesday, May 20. And we were at work till 12 pm that day. Then we hurried back home as soon as we could. Thankfully the roads were empty because of both lockdown and Amphan. But around an hour after I reached home that mayhem started.

My kids, and to be honest, even I was terrified of the whooshing sound the storm was making. Our balcony had sliding windows, just like everyone else in our society. They made such rattling sounds as if they would fall off. One resident’s AC unit actually fell off on a car. We could see scooties falling down and cars colliding with one another as their owners hadn’t applied handbrakes after parking.

ALSO READ: ‘Covid-19 Was Bad Enough, Then Came Cyclone’

I live in a society in Tangra (which is near China Town) and thankfully our society RWA (Residents’ Welfare Association) did a terrific job of handling both the lockdown as well as Amphan or the damages could have been much more.

We had one corona positive case in our society and the society president and his team did a wonderful job of streamlining everything. First of all it was ensured that there would be no discrimination against the person who tested positive and his family. Then a dedicated guard sat outside their house and would provide the family with everything they needed. Those of us who work in the essential services were also taken care of. Excel sheets were drawn up for the delivery of groceries to the whole society (around 1200 houses which means nearly 5,000 people). Each tower had 3-4 volunteers. Things were tough during lockdown but they could have been tougher if not for the RWA taking care of small things.

They did the same thing when Amphan struck. They drew a list of things that could be done to minimize damage. Everyone was asked to clear their balcony of potted plants or sharp objects. The water pump was switched on so that the basement parking wouldn’t be flooded (many nearby societies found their basements flooded because they hadn’t planned beforehand). Many more such steps were taken. Senior citizens and families with people with special needs were checked upon.

Work from home was impossible the next day as both the internet services as well as electricity supply had been affected. But while many areas of Kolkata are still suffering our LAN wire cables were repaired and the RWA had managed to supply electricity through generators. Sometimes I wonder if an RWA can be so efficient, why can’t our governments be as proactive and prepared? And not only should they be prepared, they should also let people know that they are well-prepared so that people don’t panic.

WATCH: ‘No Money, No Food, No Work’

Kolkata taught me that we can do wonders if we come together as human beings. I couldn’t have adjusted to so many quick and sudden changes without the help of our RWA. Amphan and coronavirus taught me that we should always be in tune with nature or nature will keep taking corrective measures like these. Time we understood we are a part of nature.

India, Australia Ink Strategic Pact In Virtual Summit

By LokMarg

India and Australia on Thursday elevated their bilateral ties to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP) and signed seven agreements including on defence and mining during a virtual summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Aussie counterpart Scott Morrison.

“Affirming their commitment to strengthening India-Australia ties for the long term, they committed to elevating the bilateral Strategic Partnership concluded in 2009 to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP),” a joint statement following the virtual meeting between the leaders of two countries.

“The CSP is based on mutual understanding, trust, common interests and the shared values of democracy and rule of law. It reflects India and Australia’s strong commitment to the practical global cooperation to address major challenges like COVID-19,” added the statement.

The two countries also announced a shared vision for maritime cooperation in the Indo-Pacific to harness opportunities and meet challenges together as Comprehensive Strategic Partners.

The two countries signed seven agreements including the Mutual Logistics Support Agreement (MLSA). They agreed to continue to deepen and broaden defence cooperation by enhancing the scope and complexity of their military exercises and engagement activities to develop new ways to address shared security challenges.

New Delhi and Canberra also signed framework Arrangement on Cyber and Cyber-Enabled Critical Technology Cooperation and an MOU on cooperation in the field of mining and processing of Critical and Strategic Minerals.

Implementing Arrangement concerning cooperation in Defence Science and Technology to the MoU on Defence Cooperation was also signed during the first virtual summit.

The two sides also signed three MoUs on cooperation in public administration and governance reforms, cooperation in vocational education and training and water resources management.

In his opening remark, Prime Minister Modi focused on the importance of a comprehensive strategic partnership between the two nations, especially during the COVID-19 period. He also called for a coordinated and collaborative approach to overcome the economic and social side effects of the pandemic.

“The role of our comprehensive strategic partnership will be more important in this period of the global epidemic. The world needs a coordinated and collaborative approach to overcome the economic and social side effects of this epidemic,” added he.

Prime Minister Modi pointed out that India is committed to expanding its relations with Australia on a wider and faster pace. This is important not only for our two countries but also for the Indo-Pacific region and the world, stressed Modi, adding further that Australia is one of India’s friends. “So the criteria for the pace of development in our relations should also be ambitious,” he said.

In his remarks, Scott Morrison said that Australia is committed to building an open, inclusive as well as a prosperous Indo-Pacific region and India’s role in that region will be critical in years ahead.

“In the Indo-Pacific, we are committed to an open, inclusive and prosperous region and India’s role in that region will be critical in years ahead. The cultural links that we enjoy between our countries are well known. And what I am excited about is it’s time for our relationship to go broader and go deeper,” Morrison said.

(ANI)

2 Gujarat Cong MLAs Quit Ahead Of Rajya Sabha Polls

By LokMarg

Two Congress MLAs Akshay Patel and Jitu Bhai Chaudhary have resigned voluntarily from the post of MLA, said Rajendra Trivedi, Gujarat Assembly Speaker. The resignations came days ahead of crucial Rajya Sabha polls.

“Two of Gujarat MLAs voluntarily gave their resignation yesterday evening. I have investigated the matter, they have resigned with their own will,” said Trivedi while speaking to the reporters.

“There is no kind of threat or any other issue. I have accepted the resignations,” he added.

The elections to fill the pending 18 Rajya Sabha seats from seven states, including four Rajya Sabha seats in Gujarat, will be held on June 19.

(ANI)

Oz To Back India’s Claim On NSG Membership, UN Seat

By LokMarg

Australia on Thursday extended its support for India’s candidacy for permanent membership of a reformed United Nations Security Council (UNSC) and membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).

Australia extended its support at the first virtual summit with India. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Australian counterpart Scott Morrison jointly participated in the summit.

During the meeting, the two countries elevated the bilateral Strategic Partnership concluded in 2009 to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP).

“Australia reiterated its support for India’s candidacy for permanent membership of a reformed UN Security Council (UNSC) and India’s candidature for a non-permanent seat at the United Nations Security Council for the 2021-22 term,” read a joint statement on CSP between the two countries.

Several countries have backed India to be a permanent member of the UNSC. The body has five permanent members — China, France, Russia, the UK and the US.

“Both sides reiterated their support for continued bilateral civil nuclear cooperation and their commitment to further strengthen global non-proliferation. Australia expressed its strong support for India’s membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG),” it said.

The NSG is a group of nuclear supplier countries that controls the export of materials, equipment and technology that can be used to manufacture nuclear weapons.

ANI