Military ties between India and Germany have been minimal, but Russia's war against Ukraine and China's growing assertiveness are causing New Delhi and Berlin to rethink their defense partnership. In a significant strategic change, Germany is signalling an interest in boosting military relations with India.  Earlier this month, the German ambassador to India, Philipp Ackermann, said in an interview that there is now a "clear political will" in Berlin to improve defense ties with New Delhi, calling it a "huge paradigm shift." "We have earlier been very hesitant. Now, there is clear political will in Germany to increase defense cooperation with India through military visits, exercises, co-production and other areas, including new ones like cyber," Ackermann told The Times of India on March 4. The defense minister of both countries held talks in Berlin at the end of February over developing defense cooperation, the security situation in the Indo-Pacific and possible joint exercises in the region. The German air force is now slated to take part in multilateral drills hosted by the Indian air force in August, along with France, the US and other countries. In October, a German naval frigate and a combat support ship are scheduled to visit India's western state of Goa. What's driving the change? Germany is beginning to see India as a natural partner in the region, said observers, pointing out that the shift in Berlin's attitude toward New Delhi is driven by Russia's war in Ukraine and China's rising assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific region. For India, it's about reducing a decadeslong dependence on Russian arms and diversifying defense procurement. Defense ties between Berlin and New Delhi have so far been minimal as "there was very little commonality" and both were "looking elsewhere rather than at each other," Arun Prakash, a former chief of the Indian navy, told DW. "Germany was focused on the EU and India's main defense relationship was with Russia, France and Israel. So, to put it in a nutshell, so far the relations have been quite distant, except for one instance where we acquired four submarines in the late 1980s, the HDW," he said. "That program also, unfortunately, went into terminal decline." German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius' visit to India last year provided a renewed thrust to the bilateral defense partnership. The first German defense minister to visit the South Asian country since 2015, Pistorius is in favor of making defense cooperation and weapons deals with India easier by treating the country as a strategic partner like Australia or Japan. Defense experts in India have said New Delhi would welcome such a change. "German engineering and German technology have always been superior but we knew that Germany was focused towards the EU, plus legal restrictions prevented exports, so we didn't receive too many offers from Germany," said Prakash.  "They are now changing their laws and are being more open about military hardware being made available to us. We'll be happy with that." During the defense minister's trip to India, German and Indian companies signed an agreement envisioning the possible construction of six advanced stealth diesel-electric submarines. Prakash noted that the Indian navy would welcome having German equipment in its inventory, provided there was also an agreement on support and spare parts. Defense cooperation in 'mutual interest of both nations' Deependra Singh Hooda, a retired lieutenant general and former commander of the Indian army's northern command, sees closer military relations as a win-win for both India and Germany. "India needs to modernize," he said. "It needs to diversify its weapons procurement. It's looking for additional technology and Germany has a very strong and robust defense industry. There is a huge scope for cooperation to grow, which is going to help both sides." Prakash shares a similar view. "At this current moment, it happens to be in the mutual interest of both nations to establish relationships with each other and see how they turn out," he said. While India is the world's largest importer of military gear, Germany is one of its biggest exporters. Hooda said New Delhi's weapons needs are extensive. "If you look at India's defense imports, they cut across everywhere. India's defense industry is not well-developed. I think the scope is very vast considering that India's requirements are huge. There is a great deal of capacity and opportunity on both sides," he said. German, Indian air force to focus on joint drills Joint drills form another element of the cooperation. The multilateral air force exercises in August are expected to see participation by dozens of German aircraft, including the Tornado jets, Eurofighters, midair refueling tankers and military transport planes. "When the German air force contingent flies into India for the exercises, the formation is going to be led by their chief himself. He is going to fly in with the Eurofighters. I have not seen this happening before," Anil Golani, a retired air vice marshal and the additional director general of New Delhi-based Centre for Air Power Studies, told DW. He said many air forces worldwide are increasingly wanting to take part in drills with the Indian air force. "One of the reasons is that we operate both the Russian as well as Western fleets of aircraft — the Sukhoi, the Rafale and the Mirage, among others. Nowhere else do the other air forces get to pitch their aircraft against the Russian-made fleet." What does the future hold? As India and Germany embark on a path to forge closer defense relations, observers have said there is also a need for the two nations to understand each other's strategic concerns. "Germany has been looking with suspicion at why India has not come out openly on one side in the Russia-Ukraine war. But it has its own strategic concerns. We should look at areas where there's convergence and wherever there are differences, sit and discuss and get greater clarity on both sides," said Hooda. "Frankly, if you look, that's how the India-US relationship has matured over the years." While Golani said the future of Indo-German defense relations is "good and robust," former navy chief Prakash stressed that "it is hard to predict the future and how the relations will turn out." He said India and Germany should first make a start and carry out a project to its successful conclusion. "That will lead the way to future relations," he said.

Amid falling growth rates, low business sentiment, and international investors pulling out due to the crisis-stricken property market, subdued export earnings, and crackdowns on private industry, China is currently facing a critical moment to revive its economy, Al Jazeera reported, citing the analysis of several experts. In 2023, China was able to narrowly beat its economic growth target of 5 per cent, one of its lowest benchmarks in decades. Looking ahead, analysts are expecting the economy to face stiff headwinds in the 'Year of the Dragon'. As business sentiment continues to falter, economists broadly agree that Beijing needs to roll out measures to stimulate more domestic consumption. While some analysts are calling for radical measures to jolt China's economy, expectations are subdued owing to Beijing's aversion to broad-based social spending, according to Al Jazeera. On the other hand, some experts see grounds for optimism beyond the current strains. China is experiencing its longest deflationary run since the 2008 Global Financial Crisis. Consumer prices fell in January for a fourth straight month and declines look likely to extend into 2024. "China didn't see the boost most people expected after COVID restrictions were removed in late 2022," Kevin P Gallagher, the director of the Boston University Global Development Policy Centre, told Al Jazeera. "Authorities are now keenly aware of the threat of falling prices." Falling prices risk turning into a self-reinforcing cycle if households and businesses postpone purchases in the hope that goods will keep getting cheaper. Deflation also squeezes debtors as the real cost of borrowed money rises. In China's case, where the debt-to-GDP ratio, including local government liabilities, reached 110 per cent in 2022, the situation poses a growing headache for policymakers. Notably, in recent months, Beijing authorities have ramped up support measures to try and stem falling prices - mortgage rates on home purchases have been lowered, and banks have been allowed to hold smaller cash reserves to spur increased lending, Al Jazeera reported. Much of China's deflationary woes can be traced back to its beleaguered real-estate sector, which accounts for 20-30 per cent of GDP. After the 2008 Global Financial Crisis, local governments encouraged a debt-fueled construction boom to boost growth. But after decades of rapid urbanisation, housing supply has run ahead of demand. Amid several high-profile developer defaults, including the failure of Evergrande Group, new home sales fell by 10-15 per cent in China last year, according to the Fitch Ratings agency. In turn, Chinese households have become cautious about spending money, especially on property, while a weak social safety net encourages families to save for emergencies. In 2022, household consumption accounted for just 38 per cent of China's GDP. On the other hand, private spending made up 68 per cent of the GDP in the United States that same year. "Households ran down savings during the pandemic," Sheana Yue, a China economist at Capital Economics said. "The real-estate crash undermined consumer confidence even further. China also has an ageing population, and, typically, spending declines with age." The upshot is that gross national savings exceeded 40 per cent in 2023, more than double the US level. "Looking ahead, getting people to spend their savings won't be easy. For decades, economists have encouraged the government to rebalance the economy away from investment in favour of consumption," Yue said. At 42 per cent of GDP, China's rate of investment dwarfs that of other emerging economies, let alone advanced economies - which average 18-20 per cent. In addition to housing stock, Beijing has invested heavily in roads, bridges and train lines. As with housing, however, years of overinvestment have resulted in spare capacity. Revenues at China Railway, for instance, regularly fall short of costs. At the end of 2022, the state-backed agency was 6.11 trillion yuan (USD 886 billion) in debt. "We're seeing the limitations of China's capital-intensive infrastructure model," Yue said. "And given that interest rates are already quite low, Beijing will need to start stimulating consumption to generate high and stable growth." Yue said policymakers should remove incentives to hoard savings by spending more on education, healthcare, and pension provisions. Analysts expect the National People's Congress--China's rubber-stamp parliament -- to again set an annual growth target of about 5 per cent when it meets in March, as reported by Al Jazeera. While many economists have exhorted Beijing to stimulate growth through household transfers, Victor Shih, an expert on the Chinese economy at the University of California, San Diego, expects investment-driven growth to continue to hold sway. "Marxist ideology, which valorises industrial production, remains the fundamental basis for policymaking in Beijing," Shih said. "In all likelihood, the government will continue to subsidise manufacturing. Consumption, by contrast, is viewed as indulgent," Shih added. "There are 1.4 billion people in China, so comprehensive social assistance would be extremely expensive, especially in a deflationary context." Shih said Beijing could raise household consumption by urging companies to pay higher wages but that "China's manufacturing edge is partly based on subdued worker income". As such, "higher wages would undermine Chinese exports, which is an important source of output," he said. "I don't think the government will shift budgetary priorities in favour of the Chinese people... which will likely result in a period of economic weakness." Gary Ng, a senior Asia Pacific economist at Natixis in Hong Kong, said that Beijing has other strategic priorities. "President Xi [Jinping] appears less keen on stimulating rapid growth than he is on optimising the economy for security and resilience," Ng said. In recent years, Beijing has invested heavily in strategic industries like artificial intelligence and advanced computer chips. By moulding industrial policy on the basis of national security, Beijing has set its sights on reducing its reliance on foreign technology and supporting its long-term geopolitical ambitions. At the same time, Ng said, "Beijing has shown a new willingness to invest in more consumer-facing tech sectors, like renewable energy and electric vehicles." "Unlike property, these industries have the capacity to create jobs and promote economic self-sufficiency," he said. Ng also stressed that economic transformation takes time and that "there's no magic pill for lightning-quick growth". "Investment in high-tech sectors should, slowly, reform China's economic base," he said. "Incidentally, private consumption is already on an upward trend." Gallagher, of Boston University, said China's economic growth trajectory is healthier than sometimes portrayed. "It's easy to forget about China's economic development since the 1990s. Growth has slowed from high levels lately but it still tallied at 5.2 per cent last year," Gallagher said. "Forecasts are equally solid for this year." "Hawks have been predicting the demise of China's growth model for decades," Gallagher added. "It is true, however, that to build on China's remarkable success, Beijing has to shake off its timidity about the investment-consumption pivot." Gallagher said 2024 is likely to underscore the urgency of reform amid the possibility of Donald Trump's return to White House, who in his previous term had unleashed a strong trade war against China, Al Jazeera reported. "If Donald Trump is re-elected (in the US) and chooses to engage in a new trade war, Beijing will want to be more self-reliant. The Year of the Dragon could be ideal for China to step up its efforts to unleash domestic consumption," he said.  Source: ANI

Although Croatia has legislation that allows for the establishment of energy communities, administrative obstacles and opposition from the energy sector are blocking progress. Citizens and NGOs are champing at the bit. "It's a catch 22," says Goran Cacic when asked about the legal technicalities preventing his Green Energy Cooperative, a Zagreb-based NGO, from becoming a full-fledged citizen energy community. Cacic wants his renewable energy collective to be able to share and distribute electricity as well as produce it, which it does now. "Croatia's energy regulator says we need to register to 'organize citizen energy communities,' but the courts don't recognize that as an official activity and won't let us," he explains. But that isn't the only obstacle blocking citizen energy communities over two years after the Croatian parliament established a legal basis for them. Green activist Vjeran Pirsic from the island of Krk — which wants to become Croatia's first energy-autonomous island — even uses the word "sabotage" to describe the situation. He says that the development of renewable energy sources in the country of four million has long been stymied by powerful coal, gas and nuclear lobbies.   Improvements and setbacks For individual solar producers in Croatia, the situation has improved dramatically since 2018. The number of required documents, for instance, has dropped from 66 to only three, says Pirsic. What's more, there are EU-financed incentives, and since the war in Ukraine began in 2022, Croatia's government has abolished taxes on all solar installations. All of this will help Krk in its bid to become Croatia's first energy-autonomous island, albeit without the aid of genuine energy communities — democratic associations that are co-invested in renewable sources and may also participate in distribution, energy storage and sharing, energy efficiency services or other energy services.   Democratic energy associations Indeed, energy communities remain an unsolved problem in Croatia. The Croatian law that wrote the citizen energy community model into national legislation includes restrictions that are not part of the EU directive. For example, Croatian authorities limit the power of community power plants to 500 kilowatts, which is less than about 1,000 panels. Moreover, the communities must be non-profit and employ an expert — a tough requirement for grassroots projects. In fact, citizen energy communities have to fulfill much the same requirements as large wind-farm projects worth hundreds of millions of euros, says Cacic.   Croatia: as green as it claims to be? The 2019 EU directive on energy communities spells "decarbonization, digitalization, decentralization, and democratization — and that's a distinct threat to the powers that be," says Pirsic, adding that this includes large wind power developers. "They don't want to lose their grip on the energy sector." On paper, Croatia is one of the greenest countries in the EU: Renewable energy accounted for around 60% of the country's energy mix in 2023. But this record volume is thanks to socialist-era hydroelectric plants on Croatia's rivers — and an unusually rainy 2023. In fact, sunny Croatia, which has 1,750 kilometers of coastline, still imports around a quarter of its electricity, including from the lignite-fired thermal-power plants in Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina.   Falling short on goals The country will most probably fail to reach its goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by roughly 35% by 2030, compared with 1990 levels. A recent European Commission assessment of the country's draft climate and energy plan found Croatia falling short on energy efficiency and renewables. Despite its enormous solar potential, Croatia is among only seven EU countries with solar power capacities below one gigawatt, according to the solar lobby SolarPower Europe. The development of renewables in Croatia has concentrated mainly on wind power, which covers around 13% of the country's electricity needs. But even wind-energy buildout in the last eight years has slowed, blocked by inadequate legislation and an understaffed administration.   The first citizen energy community There is, however, some progress on the energy-community front. The volunteer firefighters association in Spickovina, a village in northwestern Croatia, is planning to build a solar power plant that will function as a bona fide clean energy community according to EU standards. Experts say that pilot projects like Spickovina will break the ice and encourage others to follow. "The energy system is going to transform, move away from the traditional large players who manage large areas and large energy projects," says Slavica Robic from REGEA, a regional energy agency in northwestern Croatia, which is assisting the Spickovina firefighters. The agency regularly receives calls from interested parties who have heard about Spickovina and want to set up their own energy generation system. Vested interests But this is exactly what the major players in the energy sector don't want, claims Pirsic, who founded a prosumer NGO on the island of Krk in 2012. The state-owned utility HEP, which once had a monopoly on power generation in Croatia, fails to understand how small producers can help balance the grid and reduce power-system shortages at peak hours, says Pirsic.   More private solar power plants, no energy communities "Energy communities are not in the interest of electricity suppliers," says Sanela Mikulcis Santic, the manager of the energy NGO Klik from the small town of Krizevci in northern Croatia. Klik has helped over 100 citizens install rooftop solar power plants in recent years and has plans to double the installed capacity in 2024. So far, Pirsic's NGO has helped citizens, businesses and municipalities construct more than 200 small solar power plants. NGOs like these are leading the way to a more democratic energy future, but, for now, do not plan to register as citizen energy communities because the legislation is hampering their progress. What is changing is that more and more Croatians want to generate their own energy — and know they have the EU firmly on their side.

Worried about its over-reliance on foreign-made weapons, India banned the import of various arms systems and components. Experts warn India's military is now facing equipment shortages. For those who believe that India is under threat from its militarily powerful neighbors, the question of how and where to acquire modern weapons is a question of life and death. Right-wing populist Prime Minister Narendra Modi has time and again called for India to become "self-reliant" in procuring arms and defense technology ever since he came to power in 2014. "The state of the world today teaches us that a self-reliant India is the only path," Modi said in a 2020 address to the nation as a response to the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic. Since then, New Delhi has focused on self-reliance in various sectors, including food processing, electronics and military equipment and systems. But the push towards domestic production and procurement — or indigenization — of weapons and military equipment still has a way to go. India is currently among the top five importers of weapons in the world. To augment its homegrown development and production capacities, India has placed import bans on a number of military systems and components. The Defense Ministry has also produced lists of items that the Indian armed forces will be forced to procure from local manufacturers. However, a report by Bloomberg, a business news agency, in September suggested that India is not making "enough weapons locally" to meet its defense needs and is reportedly facing a weapons "shortage" due to Modi's call to make India self-reliant through his "Make in India" policy. This has raised concerns over whether self-reliance can meet India's defense needs in light of the threats presented by India's most powerful neighbors: China and Pakistan. Why is India pursuing self-reliance? Experts say that a clear reason for the government's self-reliance push for the armed forces is that it does not have the funds to go shopping in the global market and pay the kind of prices that countries charge when it comes to high-tech weaponry. "Without major financial resources to buy arms from global vendors, India is left with little choice but to make its own weaponry," defense analyst Ajai Shukla, a retired Indian Army colonel, told DW. In order to do this though, Shukla said, India needs to expand its own research and development as well as private manufacturing capacities. But New Delhi's current push for self-reliance may prove to be several decades too late, with some experts saying that this should have happened when the country first began opening up its economy. "There are technologies which are the preserve of very few countries. For 35 years, we have been trying to make an aircraft engine in India but we have not been able to and nobody is willing to help," Anil Chopra, a retired Air Marshal of the Indian Air Force and director-general at the New Delhi-based Centre for Air Power Studies, said. "Those countries which have offered us engine technology, the amounts they are charging are so phenomenal and in the end, they would still perhaps not give us 100% of their technology. They may give us parts of their technology," Chopra said. "India has been able to manage in automobile, pharmaceutical, software and so many other areas to become a leader in the world. It was important that this push should have come 20 or 25 years back," he added. Maintaining India's large armed forces India faces particular threats from China and Pakistan, which both have nuclear weapons as well as "very strong armed forces," Chopra said. "We have to compete with two very powerful neighbors with whom we have differences of opinion and therefore India has to be militarily strong. We have the second-largest standing army in the world, the fourth-largest air force and the fifth-largest navy. So, to sustain these armed forces, self-reliance is crucial," he said. He also pointed out how the Russian war in Ukraine — both countries being weapons suppliers to India — has disrupted logistics chains, highlighting the need for domestic procurement. "We are buying a lot of marine engines from Ukraine. Our Antonov An-32s [military transport aircraft] have come from there. If they are at war and their factories have been bombed, our logistic chains are gone," Chopra said. What changes are being called for? Defense analyst Shukla says that one of the challenges India faces when it comes to defense-sector self-reliance is that scientific and technological development in the country is still low. "Until India begins making weaponry and achieving a high degree of scientific accomplishment, its scientists and engineers cannot move on to the next step which is building more capable weaponry that can deliver victory on the modern battlefield," Shukla said. "We cannot just work with outdated, low-tech weaponry and equipment. It takes time and investment to climb the technology ladder and develop the quality weaponry that is required to survive in the modern battlefield," he added. But Chopra traces the problem to the top of the decision-making ladder, claiming that bureaucratic delays are obstructing the move towards self-reliance. "Saying all this in the public domain and newspapers is one thing but the proof of the pudding is what is on the table. Is the money being given? Are the decisions happening quickly? Those manufacturing these defense items, like the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited and DRDO, are they promising too much and not capable of delivering? These are the questions that need to be asked," he told DW. Is there a looming weapons shortfall? Reports in September suggested that India could be at risk of being critically short of helicopters by 2026 and fighter jets by 2030, although Chopra believes India could be facing a "crisis situation" regarding the shortage of jets as early as 2025. "We are badly off in fighter jets in terms of numbers because the MIG-21 Bison will retire by 2025. But we don't have any means to fill up those four squadrons as of today. The new 114 jets which are supposed to come from abroad will take six to seven years, if they come at all," he said. "Two other areas where there's a crisis are airborne warning and control systems (AWACS) and flight refueling aircraft. We have too few for the two types of threats we have got on our borders. Pakistan has more AWACS compared to us." For Shukla, the key issue is the technology gap, pointing to India's inability to produce key parts for aircraft engines. "When it comes to aero engines, which make up as much as one-third the cost of modern combat aircraft, we don't have the technologies for making them, so we end up importing them," he said. "The weapons that we have are not world-class and are not of a level where they provide instant superiority on the battlefield. So, the military ends up fighting with lower quality aircraft and vehicles." In the end, Shukla is in agreement with Chopra that it is the government that will need to free up funds for investment in order to achieve its goal of military self-reliance.

August 5 marks the day when Article 370 was abrogated in 2019. While a section of the media talks about the release of political prisoners, restoration of internet & phone connectivity, and lifting of the curfew are important issues, for ordinary Kashmiris the concept of ‘normalcy’ largely evolves normal functioning of schools, colleges, health services, government offices etc. Beyond the narrow interpretation of the state of ‘normalcy,’ real normalcy can be found in the thriving business and infrastructure that is being built in J&K.   Three years after the Central government abrogated Article 370, ending the semi-autonomous status of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), bifurcate the state into the two centrally-administered union territories (UT) of J&K, and Ladakh began a new phase in Kashmir’s history, encouraging the people of the state a future of development and peace. Today Kashmir is well on its way to becoming a model state with investments, infrastructure, tourism, social welfare and agriculture showing unprecedented growth in the three years since being freed from Article 370.   According to information provided by the Government of Jammu & Kashmir, 1,41,815 new works/projects have been taken up under various sectors/schemes in the Union Territory (UT) of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) since 2019. Kashmir is in fact poised on the cusp of a massive economic push with record investment proposals worth Rs 31,000 crore under consideration. The project construction and procurement activities are creating significant employment opportunities for skilled as well as unskilled labourers, engineers, transporters and small businesses in addition to those engaged in the supply of material, equipment and tools in the private sector. It is estimated that this investment has generated employment of about 1,169 lakh man-days in the UT of J&K.   The central government has notified a new scheme worth Rs 28,400 crore which is likely to provide employment to over 4.5 lakh people. Six agreements with global investors were signed at EXPO2020 Dubai in January 2022 for investments in real estate, infrastructure, tourism, healthcare, and manpower employment sectors among others. The quantum jump in the budgetary allocation is a piece of evidence of how seriously India wants to bring peace through development in otherwise restive J&K because of the perpetration of terrorism from the Pakistani side. The new government is continuously taking policy initiatives for the development of J&K.   There is considerable progress on the infrastructure front. More than 53 projects are at different stages of completion at a cost of Rs 58,477 crore in various sectors such as roads, power, health, education, tourism, agriculture, and skill development. Twenty-one of these projects have been completed or substantially completed. Projects languishing at various stages numbering over 1,192 projects worth Rs 1,983.77 crore were completed, including five projects which were incomplete for more than 20 years, 15 projects for more than 15 years and 165 projects for more than 10 years. These include roads nearly 11,517 km in total length, 1858 roads and 84 bridges.   A multi-pronged plan has been put in place to transform Kashmir into a premier educational hub in north India. Besides improving existing schools and colleges, new educational institutions are rising across the territory. Premier educational institutes like IITs and IIMs are already functional. Over 22 colleges and two new cultural universities are on the anvil. At the micro level, students are being offered better-endowed scholarship schemes, helping those from the minorities as well as poorer sections of the society.   With an aim to improve the physical infrastructure in Jammu and Kashmir, the government has accelerated the pace of execution of Prime Minister’s Development Package (PMDP) projects. Official data suggests that the expenditure has reached up to Rs.34,653 crore ending October 2021 resulting in fast-moving improvement of physical infrastructure here. As per the data, 21 major projects have been completed/substantially completed and nine projects are likely to be completed by this financial year.   In respect of the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana(PMGSY), J&K has moved in the overall ranking in the country from 9th place in 2016-17 to 3rd position in 2020-21. A dedicated policy for the maintenance of road infrastructure has been approved by the UT government during 2021-22.   In another significant achievement, J&K has achieved 100% household electrification under the Saubhagya scheme before the target date and 3,57,405 beneficiaries have been covered. The government has also embarked on a path of smart metering and around 20 Lakh consumers shall be covered under Smart Metering Program. As of now, the Installation of two Lakh metres is already underway and the installation of another six lakh is being finalized under Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme.   Further to improve the power infrastructure as well as distribution in Jammu and Kashmir, Government is committed to increasing the power generation of J&K as the UT has vast potential for Hydroelectricity. Power projects with 3500 MW capacity are going to solve most of the power woes in Jammu and Kashmir.   Improvement in health services has been dramatic with national health schemes and projects establishing themselves in far nook and cranny of the valley. National medical insurance schemes are now reaching even the most remote, and poorest, sections. Kashmir is the only Union Territory with universal health insurance coverage for up to Rs 5 lakh per family. Besides premier medical institutes like All India Institute of Medical Sciences and Cancer Institute along with two new medical colleges in Udhampur are changing the health scene in Kashmir. Mega private hospitals are already planning to enter the state. The first one would be Apollo Hospitals which plans to set up a 250-bed hospital, an initiative which the hospital administration hopes would sow the seeds of Kashmir being known as a global health tourism destination.   The Pakistan-sponsored insurgency that broke out in the 1990s wreaked havoc on the culture and heritage of the Himalayan region. Since the abrogation of Article 370, the government has devised a scheme for ‘Revival, Restoration, Preservation and Maintenance of Ancient Cultural Heritage’ in J&K. Under the banner of ‘Naya Jammu and Kashmir’ Government of India has embarked on a mission to revive, restore, preserve and maintain ancient sites and protect its cultural heritage.   J&K has been connected with the ‘Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat’ movement as the culture of the Himalayan region is being promoted among the people of other states and vice versa. In the recent past, many cultural exchange programmes of artists with other states and UTs have been organised to develop the connection that had been missing during the past 70 years. J&K has its own peculiar and varied cultural, social, historic, architectural and religious significance of the past embodied in the heritage sites. The present regime has worked out a comprehensive plan to restore the pristine glory of the heritage sites to make future generations aware of their legacy.   Kashmir is known for its handicrafts throughout the world. Its carpets, silks, shawls, basketry, pottery, copper and silverware, papier-mache, and walnut wood are most sought after. The cottage handicrafts industry provides direct and gainful employment to around 340,000 artisans. A new plan for global cooperation has been launched with Germany, one of the biggest patrons of Kashmiri handicrafts, as the focus.   The thrust areas are IT & Technology, Infrastructure, Renewable Energy, Manufacturing, Hospitality, Defense, Skills Education and Tourism sectors. Some of these have sought 15-year tax holidays on investment in militancy-hit areas, which the state is considering. Among the 31 companies which are eager to invest in the Valley include Reliance Ammunition Limited, Sree Cements Limited, Dalmia Cement (Bharat) Limited, Krishna Hydro Projects Pvt Ltd, Universal Success Enterprises Singapore, Cheema Boilers, Indian School of Business, Prakash Amusement Rides and Fun World Pvt Ltd, Bestech India Private Limited, LM Energy and Software Pvt Ltd, Cure Fit Health Care Pvt Ltd, Precision Industrial Systems, Ace International, etc.   A violence-marred state is fast becoming a great investment destination to look out for in the days to come. In short, it can be said that the government with the help of the central government has boosted the infrastructure as well as other developmental aspects in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. In coming years the Union Territory will be transformed both in terms of development as well as economic means as a large number of projects and schemes are underway here which will change the entire economic landscape of Jammu and Kashmir.   Write Up: Dr Sakariya Kareem   Source: Asian Lite

Over the few years, India has maintained a remarkable relationship with Africa, not only in diplomacy, but also in Development sectors. While a total of 37 lines of credit (LoCs) worth $14.27 billion covering 162 projects have been extended to five countries in the neighborhood, another 222 LoCs worth $14.07 billion covering as many as 357 projects have been extended to 42 countries in Africa. According to the Indian government, these projects are spread across sectors like roads, railways, power, ports and shipping, telecom, health, education and aviation. Talking about relations with Africa earlier this month, the country’s foreign minister S Jaishankar had said that the resource-rich continent plays a particularly important role in India’s foreign policy outlook and that this is reflected in India’s expanding diplomatic footprint that now covers 43 African countries. While India has so far completed 197 projects in Africa, 65 more are currently being implemented and 81 are at the pre-execution stage. In addition, according to the government, India has granted assistance worth $700 million to African countries. India’s 37 LoCs in the neighborhood have been extended to five countries — Bangladesh, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal and Sri Lanka, according to information shared by the government in Parliament. In the neighborhood, under LoC assistance, India is implementing the maximum number of projects in Nepal (27). This is followed by 15 in Myanmar, 12 in Bangladesh, 11 in Sri Lanka and three in the Maldives. Apart from LoCs, grant-in-aid projects are also being executed in partner countries in the neighborhood, in areas such as railway links, roads and bridges, waterways, border-related infrastructure, capacity building, healthcare, agriculture and community development in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Mauritius, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal and Sri Lanka, according to the MEA. “Under the ‘Neighborhood First’ policy, development cooperation is an important component of our engagement with neighboring countries,” said junior external affairs minister V Muraleedharan. Source: Times of India

Group of Seven leaders have unveiled an infrastructure plan meant to bolster the global economy and counter China. But crippling debt owed by poorer countries may get in the way. The thing about the G7 is they’re not legitimate, but they are immensely powerful and they can do very powerful things. Max Lawson’s demands are clear. As Germany, France, Canada, Japan, Italy, the US and the UK otherwise known as the Group of Seven gather with EU representatives for their annual meeting this year at the luxurious Schloss Elmau high in the Bavarian Alps, the head of the inequality policy program at Oxfam is calling on the leaders of these wealthy countries to cancel the debt crippling the globe’s poorest nations. It’s really dramatic, Stormy-Annika Mildner, executive director of the Aspen Institute Germany, a think tank, told DW. They’re paying almost more on servicing their debt than they’re getting in new aid. Countering China But debt cancellation isn’t on the group’s public agenda this year. Instead, on Sunday, the first day of the summit, the informal bloc of industrialized economies unveiled its Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment, a commitment to raise $600 billion (€568 billion) in private and public funds over five years to finance needed infrastructure in developing countries. I want to be clear. This isn’t aid or charity. It’s an investment that will deliver returns for everyone, said US President Joe Biden on Sunday, adding that it would allow countries to see the concrete benefits of partnering with democracies. The initiative is meant to counter China’s influence and its ongoing, multitrillion-dollar Belt and Road infrastructure project across Asia and Africa. United over common values that include democracy, rule of law and a free market, combined the G7 countries account for around 45% of global gross domestic product, according to the World Bank. This gives them considerable economic influence; indeed, some critics have charged the group with having too much sway on global issues. Three crises at once Biden said the hundreds of billions of additional dollars could come from multilateral development banks, development finance institutions, sovereign wealth funds and others. The news followed the group’s first session of the summit, which was focused on the state of the global economy. All members are concerned about the crisis we are confronting, falling growth rates in some countries, rising inflation, raw materials shortages, disrupted supply changes these aren’t small challenges, said German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in a televised statement after the session. The world is effectively facing three crises fiscal, energy and food; at the same time, said Mildner. That’s on top of the ongoing climate and health crises. It hits those countries most that still haven’t recovered from the health crisis, she said. These countries spend a lot of money and their fiscal space has become very, very small.  Painful debt burden This is the situation many African countries find themselves in, said Edwin Ikhuoria, Africa executive director of ONE, an NGO fighting to end poverty and preventable disease. They simply don’t have the fiscal space to respond to their own people’s needs, he told reporters at the summit. This financial predicament is growing more dire as the world plunges ever deeper into a hunger crisis, worsened by Russia’s war in Ukraine.   Nearly 193 million people experienced acute food insecurity in 2021, according to the World Food Program, 40 million more than the year before. Oxfam’s Lawson pointed fingers at private creditors, along with food and energy corporations, which have raked in record profits in recent months as consumers struggle to afford daily necessities. [Poor nations] are spending more repaying BlackRock than they are on health or education combined, he told reporters, calling out the world’s largest investment bank. Along with canceling the debts their countries hold, he called on the G7 leaders to compel private creditors to do the same. Last-mile delivery For Mildner, it’s a geopolitical matter. If we are serious about wanting to ensure that undecided countries are not moving towards China and Russia, then there needs to be financial contributions and there needs to be debt relief, she said. Sunday’s infrastructure announcement was a good step, she added, but cautioned that the group was essentially reworking a commitment it had already made last year, which hadn’t achieved much. Ikhuoria told DW that funds promised to poorer nations by richer countries and international organizations often received a lot of public hype, but much of the money failed to get where it’s needed most. When asked if the G7 is the appropriate mechanism to fight hunger and poverty, he said they will gather anyway, and they spend hundreds of millions every year together. So they can as well decide that this is the time to put in, not just the vision, but the resources and a plan to end the hunger crisis,  he said. Because they can, actually ... At least the hundreds of millions they spend should not be in vain.   

In what could be big news on the job front but may carry a significant financial implication for the government, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has directed that 10 lakh people be given jobs in the central government in the next 18 months.   The announcement comes at a time when the Opposition has been raising the issue of unemployment in the country. “PM reviewed the status of human resources in all departments and ministries and instructed that recruitment of 10 lakh people be done by the government in mission mode in next 1.5 years,” the Prime Minister’s Office tweeted on Monday.   The government earlier this year told Parliament that there are a whopping 8.72 lakh vacant posts in central government departments as on March 1, 2020. The central government has over 40 lakh sanctioned, but less than 32 lakh employees are in place. The government has been trying to fill up these vacancies over the years, but not with much success.   The maximum vacancies are in the big ministries and departments like Posts, Defence (Civil), Railways and Revenue. As per details with News18, against nearly 15 lakh sanctioned posts in the Railways, about 2.3 lakh posts are vacant in the Railways Ministry. In the Defence (Civil) department, there are nearly 2.5 lakh vacancies against a sanctioned strength of nearly 6.33 lakh employees. There are about 90,000 vacancies in the Posts department against a total sanctioned strength of 2.67 lakh employees while in the Revenue department, there are nearly 74,000 vacancies against a total sanctioned strength of 1.78 lakh employees. In the Ministry of Home Affairs, against 10.8 lakh sanctioned posts, nearly 1.3 lakh posts are vacant. A senior government official explained to News18 that work of some departments has been suffering due to an acute shortage of employees and fresh recruitment has been tardy though retirements have happened and even the sanctioned strength of employees in ministries has grown over the years. The move could also dent criticism from the Opposition on the unemployment front ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.   Source: NEWS18  

China’s conquest of Tibet caused long-term difficulties for India, but the Indian government can still push for dialogue between Chinese and Tibetan leaders on Tibet’s future, a former high-ranking Indian diplomat says in a new video interview. “I think that India can do a little more in being an advocate for negotiations and for discussions and for conversations between the Tibetan community in exile and the Chinese,” Nirupama Rao, India’s former ambassador to China (2006-09) says on an episode of the International Campaign for Tibet’s Tibet Talks series that premiered May 26. “I think India and the United States, it’s something that we perhaps should look at, not only exchanging ideas but also looking at policy options that we have to ensure the best outcomes for the Tibetan people in these circumstances,” Rao adds. Rao appeared on Tibet Talks to discuss her book, “The Fractured Himalaya: India, Tibet, China 1949-62,” which untangles the complex early years of the India-China relationship, with the still-unresolved issue of Tibet closely woven in. “I can say from experience that it is a richly detailed and extremely readable account of a seminal period in relations between China and India, and it also provides a look at the centrality of Tibet and China’s invasion of Tibet to relations between the two countries at the time and since,” International Campaign for Tibet Board Member and Asia expert Ellen Bork, who interviews Rao on the Tibet Talk, says of the book. “In light of the continuing and escalating tensions along [India and China’s] 2,100-mile border, this book is especially relevant now as the 60th anniversary of the 1962 Sino-Indian War approaches this fall.” In her conversation with Bork, Rao explains the title of the book. “The Himalayas are literally what the poet Muhammad Iqbal said before independence. He called it the ‘diwar-i-Hindustan,’ that is the wall of Hindustan, the wall of India,” Rao recounts. “It was seen as the mountains from which we literally drew our strength and our protection and our sustenance. And once the Chinese entered Tibet in 1950, 1951, in a sense, the Himalaya was fractured. “One of our diplomats in Lhasa [Tibet’s capital] at that time said, ‘The Chinese have entered Tibet. The Himalayas no longer exist.'” With China seizing control of Tibet, India lost the security and the recognition of the borders it once had with Tibet. “The whole issue, the whole problem of the borders we shared with Tibet essentially became an India-China problem, because we had to deal with China, and China questioned those borders a few years after it was able to consolidate its presence in Tibet,” Rao says. “I believe our policymakers at that time in our history perhaps didn’t have–and I guess it’s easy for us to say that with the hindsight that we have today–but they weren’t able to look far ahead into the future and anticipate that the whole question of Tibet’s status and the rights and privileges that India under the British had enjoyed in Tibet were being literally given away to the Chinese.” Border disputes in the Himalayas led to the Sino-Indian War of 1962–which China won–at the end of the period that Rao’s book covers. Border tension between the two countries has remained high since a deadly clash between Chinese and Indian troops in the Galwan Valley in 2020. Rao says on the Tibet Talk that Indians feel an “enormous emotional attachment” to Tibet. India has provided a home for the Dalai Lama since the Chinese government forced him into exile in 1959. India is also the headquarters of the Central Tibetan Administration, which provides democratic governance for Tibetans living outside China’s occupation of their country. “We’ve always regarded Tibet as that sacred geography that is in so many ways connected to India,” Rao says. “A place of pilgrimage, a place of religious and spiritual inspiration for many of us who go to the Himalayas and who cross over into places in Tibet, which are sacred to our faith.” Although China has refused to negotiate with Tibetan leaders on a settlement on Tibet’s future since 2010, Rao believes the Indian government can advocate for dialogue to resume. “It’s another matter that the Chinese establishment has been so impervious to any moves made on this subject,” she says. “They see it as a sovereignty issue, they see Tibet as an internal matter of China, they refuse to accommodate any ideas that come from outside that speak of reconciliation, that speak of building more common ground between the Tibetan community in exile and the Chinese. “Unless you have that kind of building of common ground, how are you going to solve this whole issue of the succession of the Dalai Lama and what happens in Tibet in the decades to come?” This report is auto-generated from ANI news service. Source: The Print

As a counter to China’s Belt and Road Initiative, the Quad nations — India, the US, Japan and Australia — on Tuesday agreed to extend more than $50 billion of assistance to the Indo-Pacific region over the next five years to bridge the infrastructure gaps. “We reaffirmed our shared commitment to deepen cooperation on infrastructure, which is critical to driving productivity and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region. We are committed to working closely with partners and the region to drive public and private investment to bridge gaps,” the Quad leaders said in a joint statement. Briefing reporters at the end of the two-day visit of Prime minister Narendra Modi to Japan, Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra said the Quad leaders mentioned that the filling up of the infra gaps had to be in a manner that it did not result in unsustainable burden and unsustainable bouquet of projects. “The figure ($50 billion) that you saw is a projected figure. Infrastructure cooperation that will flow out of this will precisely address these points -- that the projects are sustainable, they are demand-driven, and they meet the specific needs of the Indo-Pacific countries,” Kwatra said.   Kwatra said Modi put forward specific proposals at the Quad summit which could contribute to guiding the grouping’s agenda in the months and years ahead. “Some of the proposals include the need to take solid initiatives in the field of climate finance and sustainable developments; emphasis on the importance of building appropriate platforms for the industry and businesses in the Quad and Indo-Pacific countries to forge partnerships in the field of critical and emerging technologies; formal and informal mechanisms to strengthen partnership among the like-minded countries in the areas of common interest,” he added. Without naming Sri Lanka, the Quad leaders also resolved to address debt issues of countries in the region. “We will work to strengthen capacities of the countries in need to cope with debt issues under the G20 Common Framework, and by promoting debt sustainability and transparency in close collaboration with finance authorities of relevant countries, including through the ‘Quad Debt Management Resource Portal,’ which consists of multiple bilateral and multilateral capacity building assistance,” the joint statement said. The Quad countries also launched a new maritime domain awareness initiative, the Indo-Pacific Partnership for Maritime Domain Awareness (IPMDA), to combat illegal fishing and respond to humanitarian and natural disasters in the region. China is believed to have become the world’s largest perpetrator of illegal fishing, depleting global fish stocks and undermining traditional livelihoods of many countries. Biden hails Modi’s Covid handling During a closed session of the Quad summit, US President Joe Biden praised Modi for handling the Covid pandemic successfully in a democratic manner. He contrasted India's success with China's failure to handle the pandemic, though both countries are of comparable size, a senior official said. Source: The Business Standard