Month: July 2020

Taking an apparent dig at China, while addressing the soldiers in Nimmoo, Leh, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said the age of expansionism is over and added that the new age of development is here.

“From Leh, Ladakh to Siachen and Kargil…and Galwan’s icy waters…every mountain, every peak is witness to the valour of Indian soldiers. Age of expansionism is over, this is the age of development. History is witness that expansionist forces have either lost or were forced to turn back,” said PM Modi.

The Prime Minister also said that the people of Ladakh have rejected every attempt to create separatism in the region.

“Ladakh is the head of the country. This is the symbol of pride for the 130 crore citizens of India. This land belongs to the people who are willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for the country… Every attempt to create separatism in the region was rejected by the nationalist people of Ladakh,” Modi said.

PM Modi said the bravery of 14 Corps will be talked about everywhere. “Tales of your bravery and valour are echoing in every house in the country.”

“Bharat Mata’s enemies have seen your fire and fury,” he added.

“The bravery that you and your compatriots showed, a message has gone to the world about India’s strength. Your courage is higher than the heights where you are posted today. I once again pay my tributes to the brave soldiers martyred in Galwan Valley,” said PM Modi.

The Prime Minister paid tributes to the valour of the Indian Armed Forces, stating that their courage and devotion to Mother India is unparalleled. He said Indians can go about their lives peacefully because they know that the armed forces are standing firm, protecting the nation in the borders.

Prime Minister remembered the soldiers who lost their lives in the Galwan Valley clash. He said those who sacrificed their lives belong to all parts of India and “epitomised our land’s ethos of bravery.”

He further said, “We are the same people who pray to the flute playing Lord Krishna but we are also the same people who idealise and follow the same Lord Krishna who carries the Sudarshana Chakra.”

The Prime Minister added that India has increased expenditure on development of infrastructure in the border area by three times.

Highlighting women empowerment in the battlefield, PM Modi said, “I am looking at women soldiers in front of me. In the battlefield at the border, this view is inspiring….Today I speak of your glory.”

“Those who are weak can never initiate peace, bravery is a pre-requisite for peace. Whether World Wars or peace, whenever the need arises, the world has seen the victory of our braves and their efforts towards peace. We have worked for the betterment of humanity,” he added.

The soldiers were seen maintaining social distancing while the Prime Minister addressed them.

The Prime Minister on Friday made a surprise visit to Ladakh and was briefed by senior officers at Nimmoo amid ongoing tension with China. The Prime Minister was accompanied by Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat and Army Chief General Manoj Mukund Naravane.

He reached Nimmoo, early morning today and interacted with Army, Air Force and ITBP personnel.

Located at 11,000 feet, this is among the tough terrains, surrounded by Zanskar range and on the banks of the Indus.

The situation at the India-China border remains tense after 20 Indian soldiers lost their lives in a violent face-off in the Galwan valley on June 15-16 when Chinese troops attempted to unilaterally change the status quo during the de-escalation. India and China have been involved in talks to ease the ongoing border tensions since last month.

(ANI)

China on Friday said no party should engage in any action that may escalate the situation at Line of Actual Control (LAC) after Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a surprise visit to Ladakh and met the soldiers there.

“India and China are in communication and negotiations on lowering the temperatures through military and diplomatic channels. No party should engage in any action that may escalate the situation at this point,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said during a briefing when asked about the Prime Minister’s visit.

PM Modi was accompanied by Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat and Army Chief General Manoj Mukund Naravane.

He reached Nimmoo early morning today and is presently interacting with Army, Air Force and ITBP personnel. Located at 11,000 feet, this is among the tough terrains, surrounded by the Zanskar range and on the banks of the Indus.

The situation at the India-China border in Ladakh remains tense after 20 Indian soldiers lost their lives in a violent face-off in the Galwan Valley on June 15-16 when Chinese troops attempted to unilaterally change the status quo during the de-escalation. The two countries have been involved in talks to ease the ongoing border tensions since last month. (ANI)

A total of eight police personnel including Deputy Superintendent of Police Devendra Mishra have lost their lives after they were fired upon by criminals in the early hours of Friday.

The incident took place when a police team had gone to raid history-sheeter Vikas Dubey’s house.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Friday paid floral tributes to the policemen who lost their lives in an encounter at Bikaru village in the district, at the police line, and announced Rs 1 crore each ex-gratia for their families.

Conveying his condolences to the kin of the deceased, the Chief Minister said: “In Kanpur encounter, our 8 policemen lost their lives and 2 criminals died. The sacrifice of our policemen will not go in vain. People responsible for this, will not be spared.”

“The government will provide an ex-gratia of Rs 1 crore each to kin of deceased, pension and government job,” Adityanath said.

Senior Superintendent of Police and Inspector General of Police have reached the spot and forensics team is examining the area.

State Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has expressed his condolence to the families of the eight Police personnel who lost their lives after being fired upon by criminals in Kanpur. He has directed Director General of Police HC Awasthi to take strict action against criminals. He also sought a report of the incident.

Japan on Friday expressed hope for a peaceful resolution of the ongoing standoff between Indian and Chinese troops and asserted that it opposed any attempts to change the status quo on the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

New Delhi has briefed Tokyo regarding the situation on LAC following a major showdown between Indian and Chinese troops last month in Galwan Valley area. Following the face-off, India had said that Chinese troops attempted to unilaterally change the status quo during the de-escalation.

“Had a good talk with Foreign Secretary (Harsh Vardhan) Shringla. Appreciated his briefing on the situation along LAC, including GOI’s policy to pursue peaceful resolution. Japan also hopes for peaceful resolution through dialogues. Japan opposes any unilateral attempts to change the status quo,” Japenese envoy Satoshi Suzuki tweeted on Friday.

Tensions have been escalating along the LAC since May. The Chinese and Indian troops got engaged in a number of confrontations along the LAC.

The border tensions between India and China heightened after 20 Indian soldiers lost their lives in a violent face-off in Galwan Valley on June 15-16 after an attempt by the Chinese troops to unilaterally change the status quo during the de-escalation. Indian intercepts revealed that the Chinese side suffered 43 casualties including dead and seriously injured in the face-off.

India and China have been involved in talks to ease the ongoing border tensions since last month. (ANI)

In a major boost for the Indian Air Force, the Defence Ministry on Thursday approved the acquisition of 33 new Russian fighter planes including 12 Su-30 MKIs and 21 MiG-29s along with 200 Astra Beyond Visual Range air-to-air missiles.

The fighter aircraft project, that includes upgrading 59 existing MiG-29 platforms, would cost over Rs 18,140 crore, Defence Ministry officials said.

The Defence Ministry cleared the acquisition of 248 Astra Beyond Visual Range air-to-air missiles for the Indian Air Force and the Navy, the officials said.

The Navy would get 48 Astra missiles for its MiG-29K fighter jets which operate from Goa air base and sometimes on the aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya.

Design and development of a new 1,000 kilometre strike range Land Attack Cruise Missile by DRDO has also been cleared, they said.

The officials said that Defence Acquisition Council cleared proposals worth Rs 38,900 crore of which acquisitions worth Rs 31,130 crore would be from the Indian industry.

The projects cleared include ammunition for Pinaka rocket launchers, BMP combat vehicle upgrades and software-defined radios for Army. (ANI)

With 19,148 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, India’s COVID-19 count crossed 6 lakh cases on Thursday.

The total cases now stand at 6,04,641 of which there are 2,26,947 active cases while 3,59,860 patients are “cured/discharged/migrated”.

With 434 deaths reported from across the country, the death toll due to the disease has gone up to 17,834.

The Health Ministry said there are 1,32,912 more cured and discharged patients than active COVID-19 cases in the country.

Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan has said that around 91 lakh COVID-19 tests have been conducted across India so far and soon this figure will touch the one crore.

Urging people not to panic, he said that the recovery rate has been improving and the doubling rate was 21-22 days. The recovery rate at present is 59.52 per cent.

Maharashtra continues to have the largest number of coronavirus cases. The state’s count stands at 1,80,298 including 79,091 active cases, 93,154 cured patients and 8,053 deaths due to the disease.

Maharashtra government had earlier extended lockdown till July 31 to contain the spread of COVID-19.

Tamil Nadu with 98,392 reported cases, including 41,047 active cases, is the second-worst affected state. The state has seen death of 321 persons due to the disease.

Delhi has reported 89,802 cases with 59,992 patients cured and discharged and 2,803 deaths due to the disease.

Karanataka saw 1,502 new COVID-19 cases till 5 pm today taking the total number of cases in the state to 18,016. Nineteen persons lost their lives due to the disease in the state according to figures for the last 24 hours released on Thursday.

Punjab’s COVID-19 case count has reached 5,784 with 120 new positive cases reported today.

Uttar Pradesh has 6,709 active cases while 16,629 patients have been cured and discharged so far. The state’s COVID-19 count stands at 24,056 with 718 deaths reported due to the disease.

Madhya Pradesh has reported 13,861 COVID-19 cases of which 10,655 have been cured or discharged and 581 persons have died.

Gujarat’s count of cases stands at 33,232 with 24,030 cured and discharged patients, 7,335 active cases and 1,867 deaths.

Haryana has reported 14,941 COVID-19 cases with 10,499 patients having been cured and discharged. The number of active cases in the state stands at 4,202 with 240 have died due to the disease.

In Rajasthan, 14,574 patients have been cured and discharged. The state has 3,317 active COVID-19 cases and 421 persons have died due to the disease. (ANI)

Twenty-eight Ministers, who joined the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government in Madhya Pradesh, were administered the oath of office and secrecy by Governor Anandiben Patel at Raj Bhawan in Bhopal on Thursday.

Notably, this is the second cabinet expansion since Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan returned to the helm of state affairs on March 23. He had earlier only inducted five ministers in the cabinet in April.

The leaders who became a part of the cabinet are, Gopal Bhargava, Vijay Shah, Jagdish Devdha, Bisahulal Singh, Yashodhara Raje Scindia, Bhupendra Singh, Adal Singh Kansana, Brijendra Pratap Singh, Vishwas Sarang, Imarti Devi, Dr Prabhuram Chaudhary, Mahendra Singh Sisodia, Pradhumn Singh Tomar, Prem Singh Patel, Om Prakash Sakhlecha, Usha Thakur, Arvind Bhadoriya, Dr Mohan Yadav, Hardeep Singh Dang, Rajvardhan Singh, Prem Singh Dattigaon, Bharat Singh Kushwaha, Inder Singh Parmar, Ram Khelwan Patel, Ramkishore Kanware, Brijendra Singh Yadav, Girraj Dandotiya, Suresh Dhakad and OPS Bhadoriya.

Soon after the expansion, BJP leader Jyotiraditya Scindia launched an attack on Congress leaders Digvijaya Singh and Kamal Nath accusing them of going back on promises to people of Madhya Pradesh.

“Tiger abhi zinda hai (Tiger is still alive),” Scindia said in an apparent indication to his win in the induction of 28 ministers, seen as his loyalists.

“I don’t need any certificate from Kamal Nath nor Digvijaya Singh. The facts are before the people how they looted the state in 15 months. They have taken everything for themselves. They (people) have also seen their history of going back on promises. But I would only like to tell them ‘tiger abhi zinda hai (tiger is alive),” Scindia told reporters here.

Earlier today, Scindia had said that the cabinet is not a leader’s team but that of people and will serve them.

“This (the Cabinet) is not any leader’s team, but the team of the public. They are not the government’s ministers but public servants. We will strive for serving the people and will provide services to the last person in the society. In 100 days of its rule the Shivraj Singh government has battled corona, helped the farmers in every possible way. We will continue doing this in the next four years,” Scindia said.

ANI

India and China have emphasised the need for an expeditious, phased and stepwise de-escalation of tension along the Line of Actual Control “as a priority” during the third commander level talks between the People’s Liberation Army and Indian Army held at Chushul, Ladakh, on June 30, sources privy to the matter told ANI on Wednesday.

India and China have been engaged in discussions through established military and diplomatic channels to address the situation along the LAC in India-China border areas.

This was third senior military commander level engagement in Chushul held to discuss issues related to disengagement at the faceoff sites along the LAC and de-escalation from the border areas.

“Both sides have emphasised the need for an expeditious, phased and stepwise de-escalation as a priority,” sources said.

“This is in keeping with the agreement between the External Affairs Minister and his Chinese counterpart during their conversation on 17th June that the overall situation would be handled in a responsible manner, and that both sides would implement the disengagement understanding of 6th June sincerely,” they added.

The meeting yesterday was long and held in a businesslike manner keeping in view the Covid-19 protocols. The discussions reflected the commitment of both sides to reduce the tensions along the LAC. The process of disengagement along the LAC is complex and in such a context, speculative and unsubstantiated reports need to be avoided.

Sources also said that more meetings are expected to be held both at the military and at the diplomatic level, in the future, to arrive at a mutually agreeable solutions and to ensure peace and tranquility along the LAC as per bilateral agreements and protocols.

The second round of talks took place in Moldo on the Chinese side of the LAC whereby the two sides reached a mutual consensus to disengage in the Eastern Ladakh sector.

India and China have been involved in talks to ease the ongoing border tensions since last month. Twenty Indian soldiers lost their lives in a violent face-off in Galwan valley on June 15-16 after an attempt by the Chinese troops to unilaterally change the status quo during the de-escalation. (ANI)