June 11, 2020

MOST IMPORTANT ARTICLES OF THE

DAY – 11/06/2020
China reaches accord with India on LAC spat
The Hindu https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/lac-row-china-reaches-accord-with-
india/article31797681.ece, June 11

China said on Wednesday it had “reached agreement” with India on the ongoing tensions along the Line
of Actual Control (LAC), a day after India announced troops from both sides had begun a “partial
disengagement” from some of the stand-off points.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry said both sides had agreed to handle the situation “properly” and “in line
with the agreement” to ease the situation, but did not provide specific details on some of the stand-off
points, such as Pangong Lake, where Chinese troops are still present on India’s side of the LAC.

Also on Wednesday, India and China held Major General-level talks to discuss further de-escalation at
several stand-off points in Eastern Ladakh including Patrolling Point (PP) 14, following a broad accord
reached on Saturday in talks held at the Corps Commander-level. As per the agreement, a series of
ground-level talks would be held over the next 10 days, with four other points of conflict identified at
PP15, PP17, Chushul and the north bank of Pangong Lake.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry did not provide specifics on the sites of conflict. It only referred to the
western section, which was the focus of Saturday’s talks, although a stand-off is also continuing at Naku
La in Sikkim in the eastern section.

‘Taking action’

“Through diplomatic and military channels, China and India have recently had effective communication
and reached agreement on properly handling the situation in the west section of the China-India
boundary,” spokesperson Hua Chunying said. “At present, the two sides are taking actions in line with
the agreement to ameliorate the border situation.”

Government officials said a partial disengagement had happened at some points in the Galwan area and
at Hot Springs, but there was no change at Pangong Lake.

The Global Times, a Communist Party-run newspaper, reported on Tuesday that the ongoing dispute
“will not escalate into a conflict” but added “due to the complexity of the situation, the military stand-
off could continue for a little longer”.

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The military-level talks showed “both sides do not want to escalate,” Qian Feng, director of the research
department of the National Strategy Institute at Tsinghua University in Beijing, was quoted as having
said.

“It showed that China and India remain determined to peacefully resolve border issues,” Mr. Qian Feng
said. “That being said, the ongoing stand-off is not likely to end immediately, as concrete issues must
still be resolved.”

The Indian delegation at Wednesday’s military-level talks was led by the General Officer Commanding, 3
Corps based in Karu.

Last Saturday, the two sides held talks at the level of Corps Commanders on the Chinese side at Moldo
opposite Chushul, where the two sides agreed to partial pullout of troops and equipment from some of
the stand-off areas in Galwan.

The talks on Wednesday is the first of several at the rank of Colonel, Brigadier and Major General.

Finger 4 area in Pangong Lake remains a major area of contention where Chinese troops had taken
position in Indian territory and that is expected to be discussed at the Corps Commander level at a later
stage, officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said.

COVID-19 turns India’s urban blight

The Hindu https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/coronavirus-covid-19-turns-indias-urban-
blight/article31798984.ece, June 11

The three-time MLA of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, J. Anbazhagan, died at a private hospital here
on Wednesday morning, days after he tested positive for COVID-19. Incidentally, Wednesday was his
62nd birthday.

Anbazhagan, who had a chronic kidney condition, is among the most prominent politicians to have
contracted COVID-19 and died. His death came on a day when Chennai accounted for another high of
1,392 of the 1,927 cases reported in Tamil Nadu. Overall cases in the city increased to 25,937 and total
deaths to 260.

Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Ahmedabad have accounted for nearly 1,25,000 cases and 4,193 deaths,
close to 43% of the overall cases and more than half of the total number of fatalities in India, signifying
how the novel coronavirus has affected urban metropolitan centres. These cities continue to register the
bulk of new cases and deaths.

The daily increase in registered cases and deaths reached new highs on Wednesday, with 10,787 new
infections taking the total to 2,86,897 and 357 deaths added to the overall tally of 8,105. A total of
1,45,216 samples were tested on Wednesday, up from 1,41,682 the previous day.

Mumbai has been the worst-hit metropolis, with 52,667 cumulative cases and 1,857 deaths, and the
city’s health infrastructure remains under severe strain. While the city has built multiple jumbo facilities

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June 11, 2020
and augmented beds for quarantine, there has been a dearth of hospital beds, particularly in the
Intensive Care Units (ICUs). As on Tuesday, 99% of the 1,158 ICU beds for COVID-19 patients and 76% of
the 5,181 oxygen beds were occupied. Nearly 96% of the 506 ventilators were also occupied.
Ahmedabad continues to have the highest case fatality rate in the country among major cities at 7.13%,
with 1,092 deaths and 15,305 cases as on Wednesday.

Delhi, with 32,810 cumulative cases and 984 deaths, has reported more than 1,000 new cases every day
for 12 of the past 13 days. After the Lieutenant-Governor on Monday reversed the AAP government’s
decision that treatment in government-run and private hospitals would be only for residents of Delhi,
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday said the decision would be implemented. Health Minister
Satyendar Jain said that by June 20, the government would arrange 15,000 hospital beds, which are
likely to be needed by June 30 and more in the coming days.

Chennai has been reporting 1,000-plus cases since June 3. The city accounts for 260 of the State’s 326
deaths. An official of the Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine said six zones of the
Greater Chennai Corporation continued to report a high number of cases. While Royapuram accounted
for 4,192 cases, Tondiarpet had 3,192 cases. The remaining four zones had more than 2,000 cases each
as on June 10. The Directorate is diverting 112 mobile medical teams from 25 districts to Chennai to
monitor and follow up on home-isolated COVID-19 patients.

Gujarat’s pride grows as it now hosts 674 Gir

lions
The Hindu https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/energy-and-environment/gujarats-pride-grows-as-it-
now-hosts-674-gir-lions/article31799404.ece, June 11

Gujarat prides itself on hosting Asiatic lions exclusively, and their numbers have now risen to an
estimated 674 in the Gir forest region and other revenue areas of coastal Saurashtra.

Once seen as threatened by extinction, the lion population has grown by almost 29% from the last count
in 2015. Today, Asiatic lions are present in Protected Areas and agro-pastoral landscapes of Saurashtra
covering nine districts, over an expanse of about 30,000 sq. km.

The State Forest Department says the population is 674 including males, females and cubs. During 2015,
the baseline was 523 lions. Moreover, the distribution of the lions expanded from 22,000 sq. km in 2015
to 30,000 sq. km in 2020.

As soon as the State shared the details of the census conducted on June 5-6 by over 1,400 staffers of the
Forest Department, Prime Minister Narendra Modi praised his home State. “Two very good news:
Population of the majestic Asiatic Lion, living in Gujarat’s Gir Forest, is up by almost 29%. Geographically,
distribution area is up by 36%. Kudos to the people of Gujarat and all those whose efforts have led to
this excellent feat,” Mr. Modi said in a Twitter post.

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“Over the last several years, the lion population in Gujarat has been steadily rising. This is powered by
community participation, emphasis on technology, wildlife healthcare, proper habitat management and
steps to minimise human-lion conflict. Hope this positive trend continues!” he added.

Forest officials said there was a consistent increase in the population and distribution. The department
had implemented strategies and interventions like community participation, use of technology, habitat
management and increase in prey base, human-lion conflict mitigation and healthcare including import
of vaccines after some lions were infected with Canine Distemper Virus (CDV).

This year, the department carried out a “population estimation exercise” on the night of June 5-6
because the five-yearly regular census in May could not be held due to COVID-19. In October 2018, Gir
witnessed an outbreak of CDV in which 36 lions died. The Prime Minister had then directed the State
authorities to import vaccines.

As per Forest Department data, there are 161 male, 260 female, 45 sub adult male, 49 sub adult female,
22 unidentified and 137 cubs. Experts said the male-female ratio was healthy in the Gir region with 161
males vs 260 females.

In unlock phase, focus shifts to testing rates

The Hindu https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/coronavirus-in-unlock-phase-focus-shifts-to-
testing-rates/article31798809.ece, June 11

Deaths due to COVID-19 continued to increase in Tamil Nadu with 19 more fatalities on Wednesday.
Eight more COVID-19 patients died in Telangana, taking the toll to 156. Three deaths were reported in
Karnataka, raising the toll to 69, while in Andhra Pradesh the toll rose to 78 as another death was
reported in East Godavari district.

While the total number of tests done in Karnataka crossed four lakh, the average number of tests per
day was down by half for the second consecutive day. On an average the State was testing 15,000
samples a day in the last one week.

While 7,036 tests were done on Tuesday, 8,249 tests were done on Wednesday, of an overall total of
4,08,506. The number of positive cases too reduced. While 161 were reported on Tuesday, it was 120 on
Wednesday.

Sources in the State’s COVID-19 expert committee said this was because the number of migrants
returning had reduced.

C.N. Manjunath, Director of Sri Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences, the nodal officer for labs
and testing in the COVID-19 task force said, while this may have brought some relief to the State’s
COVID-19 burden, the positivity rate at 1.47% remained almost the same.

On Wednesday, with 120 new cases the total number of positive cases in Karnataka touched 6,041.

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With 257 discharges, the number of discharged persons was more than double the positive cases on
Wednesday. The 120 new cases included 68 inter-State and three international travellers. With 42 cases,
the highest number was reported from Bengaluru and over half were ILI cases.

Andhra Pradesh reported 218 fresh COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, the highest single-day tally.

The State’s ‘tests per million’ ratio at 9,339, was one of the highest testing rates among States, officials
said.

Kerala reported 65 new COVID-19 cases and 57 recoveries on Wednesday, with active cases in hospitals
put at 1,238, seven more than the previous day. Senior Health officials said a good turnover in the
number of recoveries would stabilise the total number of active cases.

With the Health Department confirming that the death of a 87-year-old male in Thrissur on Sunday night
(shifted to Medical College Hospital, Thrissur, after he tested positive for SARS-CoV-2) was due to the
disease, the death toll now stood at 17.

The number of COVID-19 cases in Telangana touched 4,111 as 191 more tested positive for coronavirus
on Wednesday.

T.N. adds 1,927 new cases

Tamil Nadu added another 1,927 cases of coronavirus disease on Wednesday, taking its overall tally to
36,838. At the same time, 1,008 persons were discharged from hospitals across the State, the highest
number of persons to be discharged on a single day. With this, 19,333 persons had been discharged.

However, the death count touched 326 in the State on Wednesday.

‘China disregarding historic commitments on

Naku La’
The Hindu https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/china-disregarding-historical-commitments-on-
naku-la/article31796935.ece, June 11

The skirmishes and the stand-off between Indian and Chinese troops at Naku La in Sikkim last month, in
an area of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) that is considered settled, may be Beijing’s way of attempting
a new claim, said defence sources, highlighting the historic Sikkim-Tibet Convention of 1890 as proof of
India’s ownership of the territory.

Referring to a major scuffle that took place at Naku La on May 9, the sources said it was unusual for
Chinese troops to open up a part of the LAC that has not been in contention before.

According to the Convention, the boundary in the area is based on the watershed principles.

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Its Article 1 states, “The boundary of Sikkim and Tibet shall be the crest of the mountain range
separating the waters flowing into the Sikkim Teesta and its affluents from waters flowing into the
Tibetan Mochu and northwards into other rivers of Tibet. …follows the above mentioned water-parting
to the point where it meets Nipal Territory.”

The Gazetteer of Sikkim in 1894, while describing the physical features of Sikkim, also mentions the
boundary that runs along Naku la - Chorten Nyima La.

The sources said the geographic alignment of the features were so prominent that it could easily be
identified and recognised. Even analysing the available Google images of the pass, the location of Naku
La could be discerned by anyone as the watershed parting line in the area was very prominent. “There
exists no ambiguity with respect to the location of the pass, since geographic realities cannot be
altered,” the sources said.

“The clearly orchestrated actions on an otherwise dormant area masks a hidden agenda, which is far
removed from Naku La,” the sources noted referring to the Chinese push at several points along the LAC
and also the ongoing Chinese aggression in the South China Sea and Taiwan Straits.

Diplomatic experts point out that China may also be opening up a front in Sikkim due to the ambiguous
official position of the boundary.

Undemarcated boundary

Although meetings between former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Chinese Premier Wen
Jiabao in 2003 and maps exchanged subsequently indicated that India recognised the Tibetan
Autonomous Region as a part of China, and Beijing recognised Sikkim as a State of the Indian Union, the
boundary at Sikkim while undisputed, remains undemarcated on the ground.

In 2017, after the Doklam stand-off near the India-Bhutan-China trijunction, then Foreign Secretary S.
Jaishankar informed the Parliamentary Standing Committee that “there are still steps to be covered
before the boundary is finalised.”

He said India accepted the 1890 treaty as “the basis for alignment”, but the treaty had only been
“partially implemented on the ground”. “Certainly the segments India is talking about, the Batang La
segment, etc. was not there and there is nothing to show that that was actually delineated or
demarcated or agreed upon.”

U.S. report takes note of CAA, NRC

The Hindu https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/us-religious-freedom-report-takes-note-of-caa-
nrc-jk-status/article31798724.ece, June 11

The U.S. State Department has released its annual International Religious Freedom (IRF) Report, a
survey of the state of religious freedom across the world, submitted to the U.S. Congress.

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The country report for India, which looks back on the developments in 2019, takes note of the change in
the status of Jammu and Kashmir, the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and the National Register of
Citizens (NRC). It discusses in detail mob lynchings and anti-conversion laws, and related issues.

“Issues of religiously inspired mob violence, lynching and communal violence were sometimes denied or
ignored by lawmakers,” according to NGOs and media outlets, the report says. “Some officials of Hindu-
majority parties, including from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), made inflammatory public remarks or
social media posts against minority communities,” it says.

It details incidents of “cow vigilantism” and other types of mob violence — such as the attack last year
on Tabrez Ansari in Jharkhand.

The report also takes note of the Babri Masjid decision by the Supreme Court and the challenges to the
2018 reversal of a ban on some women entering the Sabarimala temple. It outlines the U.S. engagement
with India on the issues.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) — an independent bipartisan

commission and separate from the State Department’s Office of International Religious Freedom — had,
in April, recommended to Secretary of State Michael Pompeo that the State Department downgrade
India’s religious freedom to the lowest grade — Country of Particular Concern (CPC). The Secretary of
State is not obliged to accept the recommendation and has not always done so.

As per law, the CPC and the Special Watch List (one level less severe than CPC) designations have to be
made by the administration no later than 90 days after the publication of the IRF Report.

Negative examples

Unveiling the report at the State Department on Thursday, Mr. Pompeo listed countries for positive
developments in religious freedom and negative examples (India was not cited in either list). Nicaragua,
Nigeria and China were cited as negative examples. “In China, state-sponsored repression against all
religions continues to intensify. The Chinese Communist Party is now ordering religious organisations to
obey CCP leadership and infuse communist dogmas into their teachings and practice of their faith.”

Mr. Pompeo said Uighurs, Tibetans, Falun Gong followers and Christians were being repressed by China.

To a question on the handling of domestic protests in response to the death of George Floyd, an
unarmed black man at the hands of a white police officer, Mr. Pompeo denied there was a moral
equivalence between countries that “repress” and “bludgeon” their people, “burn down their religious
facilities” and “deny journalists …the chance to ask a question to a Secretary of State”.

Stations to be classified on waste water output

The Hindu https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/energy-and-environment/cpcb-to-classify-railway-
stations-based-on-waste-water-generation/article31798664.ece, June 11

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The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) will classify railway stations under the red, orange and green
categories based on the quantity of waste water generated.

After the National Green Tribunal directed the Indian Railways to get a No Objection Certificate (NOC)
from the CPCB under the provisions of the Water Act & Air Act, a clarification was sought since railway
stations did not figure in the classified list of industries requiring permission to operate.

The CPCB issued a clarification stating that railway stations would be classified into red, orange and
green based on the quantity of waste water generation and the disposal of untreated water into the
municipal drain systems. While railway stations generating waste water equal to or more than 100 Kilo
Litres per Day (KLD) would be categorised as red, those greater than 10 KLD but less than 100 KLD would
come under the orange category. Railway stations with less than 10 KLD waste water generation would
be branded green.

In a note to all Zonal Railways, the Railway Board said it had become imminent to reduce the waste
water generation at railway stations and urged the need to identify quantity of sewage/non-sewage
waste water separately to plan installation of water recycling plants accordingly.

The Chairman, CPCB, by invoking powers under the provisions of the Water (Prevention & Control of
Pollution) Act, 1974, had issued a direction to all State Pollution Control Boards (SPCBs) to categorise
railway stations and send an action taken report.

OIL well blaze claims lives of 2 firemen

The Hindu https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/assam-2-firefighters-killed-in-oil-
well-fire/article31793085.ece, June 11

Two infernos that engulfed a natural gas well of Oil India Ltd. (OIL) in Tinsukia district of eastern Assam
on June 9 afternoon claimed the lives of two firefighters, who were among four reportedly missing after
the disaster struck.

The well at Baghjan near the ecologically fragile Dibru-Saikhowa National Park caught fire at 1.14 p.m.
on Tuesday, 13 days after a blow-out — uncontrolled escape of crude oil or gas due to machine failure
— on May 27.

The cause of the deaths was said to be drowning after the two, both employees of OIL, jumped into a
pond to avoid the flames. Personnel of the National Disaster Response Force recovered the bodies after
drones used by the Assam Forest Department located them on Wednesday morning.

They were identified as Durlov Gogoi and Tikheswar Gohain of OIL’s firefighting unit. The former was a
footballer who represented Assam as a goalkeeper at the junior level.

“We lost two of our men today [June 10]. The cause of death as of now for lack of forensics is drowning
in the pond beside the well. It could be suffocation too because of gas around,” OIL officer Tridib
Hazarika told The Hindu.

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Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal grieved the death of the two OIL employees “out of the four
missing personnel working at the oil well”. He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has promised all help
for the people in the affected area.

Locals said the fire that expanded horizontally after “erupting like a volcano” destroyed 50 houses.
Tinsukia district officials said the claim was being verified.

A statement from OIL said compensation was being disbursed to the families of the two OIL employees
while medial help was being ensured for four firefighters — two from OIL and one each from Oil and
Natural Gas Corporation Limited and a contractor — who sustained injuries in the fire.

“After the [fire] incident, affected people in the surrounding areas have been accommodated at 12 relief
camps at a safe distance with the help of the district administration and arrangement for food and other
basic needs have been made,” the statement said.

OIL officials said the fire was brought “under control to a great extent” on Wednesday with multiple
agencies at work. The blow-out would take four more weeks to cap after the fire is completely doused,
they noted.

The well had caught fire a day after three disaster control experts from a Singapore-based firm arrived in
a special flight to help contain the well. The trio, OIL officials said, had handled blow-outs across 125
countries.

3 in 10 say coronavirus was lab-made: survey

The Hindu https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/health/about-three-in-ten-believe-coronavirus-was-
made-in-a-lab-says-survey/article31798338.ece, June 11

Nearly three in 10 believed that the novel coronavirus was manufactured in a laboratory but most, or
42%, believed it evolved naturally, say the early results of a sociological survey to gauge public
perception of the COVID-19 pandemic in India.

U.S. President Donald Trump has said he believed that the virus emerged from the Wuhan Institute of
Virology and Union Minister Nitin Gadkari has stated that SARS-CoV-2 was “man-made and not natural.”
However, the expert scientific consensus based on analysing the gene sequences of the virus is that it
has evolved naturally.

About 54% said the lockdown “helped overcome” the pandemic and 30% said the lockdown “created
problems” including — a fifth of them saying — that they’d lost jobs and earnings and 3% saying that
they faced “hunger and starvation.” At 2,80,000 cases on Wednesday, India continues to be on a rising-
case trajectory even as the government has announced significant relaxations — from the opening of
religious places to allowing malls to reopen — even as the true extent of the infection is still being
ascertained by epidemiologists. Seven in 10 said social distancing would only retard the spread of the
virus and 18% saying that it would “eradicate” the pandemic. “Overall, it appears that scientific

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information won over superstition and myths regarding the virus, its origin, manner of spread, those
who were most susceptible,” Gauhar Raza, formerly Chief Scientist, CSIR-National Institute of Science
Communication and Information Resources, and among the authors of the study, said.

In response to a question: ‘Are you afraid of corona infection when you go out?’, 64% said they were
afraid and 18% responded they weren’t. This was in the first fortnight of May when lockdown 3.0 was in
force.

2,223 respondents

The survey report, Pulse of the Pandemic, interviewed 2,223 respondents and was authored by
sociologists Surjit Singh and P.V.S. Kumar, and social activist Leena Dabiru and Raza.

About 60% of those who responded were recorded from north India and the next highest
percentage,18, from western India. Only 6% were from the south and the east — Bengal, Bihar, Odisha
and Jharkhand — made up 5%. Six out of 10 who participated were male and 46% of the respondents
were 21-40 years and 60% said they were graduates or postgraduates and primarily were in government
jobs or worked for a private company. “They represented an urban middle class population of India and
a limitation of our study was that it didn’t represent a wider demographic of the country in terms of
their perceptions and beliefs regarding COVID-19. This was due to the difficulties in movement due to
the lockdown,” said Mr. Raza.

The study was supported by the PM Bhargava Foundation and ANHAD, an organisation associated with
human rights issues.

New guidelines for import of exotic species

The Hindu https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/nba-calls-for-plan-to-manage-import-of-exotic-
fish/article22897514.ece, June 11

The Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change (MOEFCC) has issued an advisory saying people
importing “exotic live species” will have to make a voluntary disclosure.

The move comes as the outbreak of COVID-19 has raised global concern about illegal wildlife trade and
zoonotic diseases. “Considering the significance of the import and export of exotic live species, this
Ministry is issuing the advisory to streamline the process ....”

The advisory issued earlier this month defines “exotic live species” as animal or plant species moved
from their original range (location) to a new one. Several exotic species of birds, reptiles, small
mammals, fishes and even some plants are imported.

The Ministry has said “exotic live species” shall be construed to mean only “the animals named under
the Appendices I, II and III of the Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) of
Wild Fauna and Flora”.

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Species covered by the Wildlife (Protection) Act of 1972 cannot be traded.

Experts have welcomed the move and said it will create a process where all imports will be screened. As
of now, the imports are being made through the Director General of Foreign Trade and State Forest
departments are not kept in the loop.

For new “exotic live species”, the importer should obtain a no-objection certificate from the Chief
Wildlife Warden ( CWLW) of the State. For existing species, stocks “shall be declared by the owner/
holder (stock, as on 1 January 2020) to the Chief Wildlife Warden (CWLW) of the concerned State or
UT”.

Merkel, Macron urge EU to prepare for next

pandemic
The Hindu https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/merkel-macron-urge-eu-to-prepare-for-next-
pandemic/article31798655.ece, June 11

France, Germany and four other EU countries on Tuesday urged the European Union to take a greater
role in preparing for any future pandemic, conceding that coronavirus responses had fallen short.

There should be a “common European approach” to such challenges in future, wrote France’s
Emmanuel Macron and Germany’s Angela Merkel along with the leaders of Spain, Poland, Belgium and
Denmark.

They addressed their letter and policy paper to European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen, in the
strongest attempt yet by the bloc’s most powerful leaders to spur the EU executive to fix the disunity
displayed during the crisis, especially in its earliest days.

As the global outbreak first took hold, member states privileged national responses by shutting borders,
hoarding medical supplies and waving through major spending plans regardless of EU rules.

The letter put a special emphasis on the shortages of desperately needed medical supplies that were felt
unevenly across the EU as the virus made its way across the continent.

“Understanding the shortcomings is essential,” the leaders wrote.

“These include a sufficient supply of personal protective equipment (PPE), medical devices, critical
medicines, and vaccines.”

The leaders also pressed Brussels to streamline data across the bloc so that rates of infection and other
key figures matched from one country to the other.

They also urged the commission to provide a “strengthened mandate” for the European Centre for
Disease Prevention and Control, an EU agency.

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Common procurement and better cooperation on maintaining critical stocks was another field the
leaders urged the commission to study.

The leaders also called on Europe to work towards “diversifying supply lines”, in a veiled call to stop EU
countries from relying too heavily on China or India.

“This includes identifying new trading partners with the aim to decrease the dependency of EU countries
on single suppliers,” the paper said.

The 27 leaders of the European Union will be holding virtual talks on June 19 to discuss the fallout of the
crisis.

Sweden closes ex-PM Palme’s murder probe after

34 years
The Hindu https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/sweden-closes-ex-pm-palmes-murder-
probe-after-34-years/article31797938.ece, June 11

Sweden on Wednesday dropped its investigation into the unsolved murder of former Swedish Prime
Minister Olof Palme, who was shot dead 34 years ago in Stockholm, saying that decision was made
because the main suspect died in 2000.

Palme was gunned down on February 28, 1986, after he and his wife Lisbet Palme left a movie theatre in
the Swedish capital. The murder shocked the nation and shook the Scandinavian county’s image as
being so safe and peaceful.

More than 100 people have been suspected in the crime and the unsolved case has generated scores of
conspiracy theories, with possible villains ranging from foreign governments or rogue Swedish police
with right-wing sympathies to an act by a lone shooter.

The investigation was being closed because the main suspect, Stig Engstrom, died in 2000, the case’s
chief prosecutor, Krister Petersson, told a news conference in Stockholm on Wednesday.

S&P affirms India’s rating, outlook

The Hindu https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/economy/macro-economy/sp-reaffirms-indias-bbb-
sovereign-
ratings/article31797487.ece#:~:text=S%26P%20Global%20Ratings%20has%20affirmed,the%20January%
20to%20March%20quarter., June 11

Global rating major S&P has affirmed the country’s long term rating at BBB-, the lowest investment
grade, and said the outlook on the long-term rating is stable.

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The rating agency said though risks to long-term growth are rising, if the on-going reform process is
executed well, the country’s growth rate would be ahead of its peers.

It also expects there could be a fiscal consolidation over the next three years after a larger fiscal deficit
this financial year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The stable outlook reflects our expectation that India’s economy will recover following the
containment of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the country will maintain its sound net external position,”
S&P said.

“The stable outlook also assumes that the government’s fiscal deficit will recede markedly following a
multi-year high in fiscal year 2021 (ending March 31, 2021),” it said.

Can face downgrade

India can face a ratings downgrade over the next 1-2 years if GDP growth fails to meaningfully recover
2021 onwards and the net general government deficits materially exceed forecasts, which would signify
weakening of the country’s institutional capacity to maintain sustainable public finances.

On the other hand, there could be an upgrade if the fiscal deficits is significantly curtailed.

Earlier this month, Moody’s downgraded the country’s rating to Baa3 — which was also the lowest
investment grade — while maintaining negative outlook.

S&P expects the Indian economy to contract by 5% this fiscal.

It said the country’s productive capacity had been severely disrupted as millions of workers had left their
jobs to return home, “sometimes crossing the country to do so.”

“India’s labour markets have therefore weakened dramatically, and may take some time to heal,” it said.

The economy is expected to make a strong comeback in the next financial year as S&P projected 8.5%
growth in real GDP in fiscal 2022.

Resilience highlighted

“The economy’s long-term outperformance highlights its resilience. India’s wide range of structural
trends, including healthy demographics and competitive unit labour costs, work in its favour.

“A more favourable corporate tax regime, which is particularly supportive of manufacturing firms,
should reinforce growth, alongside additional fiscal and monetary easing,” S&P said.

The strategic road to DBO

The Indian Express https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/lac-stand-off-india-china-darbuk-shyok-
daulat-beg-oldie-dsdbo-road-

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6452997/#:~:text=Its%20strategic%20importance%20is%20that,parlance%20as%20Sub%2DSector%20N
orth., June 11

Of the possible triggers cited for the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) targeting of Indian territory along
the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh, the construction of the 255-km long Darbuk-Shyokh-
Daulat Beg Oldie (DSDBO) all-weather road is possibly the most consequential.

Running almost parallel to the LAC, the DSDBO road, meandering through elevations ranging between
13,000 ft and 16,000 ft, took India’s Border Roads Organisation (BRO) almost two decades to construct.

Its strategic importance is that it connects Leh to DBO, virtually at the base of the Karakoram Pass that
separates China’s Xinjiang Autonomous Region from Ladakh.

DBO is the northernmost corner of Indian territory in Ladakh, in the area better known in Army parlance
as Sub-Sector North.

DBO has the world’s highest airstrip, originally built during the 1962 war but abandoned until 2008,
when the Indian Air Force (IAF) revived it as one of its many Advanced Landing Grounds (ALGs) along the
LAC, with the landing of an Antonov An-32.

In August 2013, the IAF created history by landing one of its newly acquired Lockheed Martin C-130J-30
transport aircraft at the DBO ALG, doing away thereafter with the need to send helicopters to paradrop
supplies to Army formations deployed along the disputed frontier.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has acknowledged that “large numbers” of Chinese troops had massed
along the LAC, and had “come a little further than they used to earlier”, making the situation “different”
this time from earlier incidents between the two sides in the same region.

The Chinese build-up along the Galwan River valley region overlooks, and hence poses a direct threat to
the DSDBO road.

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The token mutual de-escalation of the two armies, ahead of a series of bilateral consultations between
senior military and other officials, is expected to be completed over an extended period. The
withdrawals are subject to reciprocal endorsement.

The DSDBO highway provides the Indian military access to the section of theTibet-Xinjaing highway that
passes through Aksai Chin. The road runs almost parallel to the LAC at Aksai Chin, the eastern ear of
erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir state that China occupied in the 1950s, leading to the 1962 war in which
India came off worse.

The DSDBO’s emergence seemingly panicked China, evidenced by the 2013 intrusion by the PLA into the
nearby Depsang Plains, lasting nearly three weeks.

DBO itself is less than 10 km west of the LAC at Aksai Chin. A military outpost was created in DBO in
reaction to China’s occupation of Aksai Chin, and is at present manned by a combination of the Army’s
Ladakh Scouts and the paramilitary Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP). Both forces regularly patrol the
LAC.

There are additional strategic considerations in the area.

To the west of DBO is the region where China abuts Pakistan in the Gilgit-Baltistan area, once a part of
the erstwhile Kashmir principality.

This is also the critical region where China is currently constructing the China-Pakistan Economic
Corridor (CPEC) in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK), to which India has objected.

As well, this is the region where Pakistan ceded over 5,180 sq km of PoK to China in 1963 under a Sino-
Pakistan Boundary Agreement, contested by India.

What makes the DSDBO an “all-weather” road is the 37 prefabricated military truss bridges along it.
Previously an old road, largely a track, existed along the same alignment as the pucca road, but was
practically unusable during summer due to the flooding of the snow-fed Shyok river – or River of Death –
and its tributaries, including the Chip Chap, Galwan, and Chang Chenmo that crisscross it.

The Shyok river itself is a tributary of the Indus, flowing through northern Ladakh and Gilgit-Baltistan. It
eventually re-joins the Indus at Keris, east of Skardu.

In October 2019, Defence Minister Singh inaugurated a 500-m-long Bailey Bridge on the road. The
bridge is named after Colonel Chewang Rinchen, an Indian Army hero from Ladakh. Located at 14,650 ft,
it is believed to be the world’s highest such bridge.

An alternative route exists from Leh to Daulat Beg Oldie through the 17,500-ft-high Sasser Pass that was
part of the ancient Silk Route connecting Leh to Yarkand. It leads from the Nubra Valley into the Upper
Shyok Valley en route to China’s Karakoram Pass, indicating the topographical and strategic interlinking
of the entire disputed region between India and China and to a lesser extent, Pakistan.

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For most of the year bar a few summer months, Sassar La — or pass — is snow-bound and inaccessible.
The BRO is currently building a “glaciated road” between Sasoma (north of Leh, near the Nubra river) to
the Sasser Pass, but it could take several years to complete. But even when it is, the alternate DBDSO
will remain critical to the Army and its defences in the region.

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New Cold War – EXPLAINED

China is soon to become the largest economy in the world. It’s growth is based on technology,
innovation and trade, which sought to balance U.S. military superiority, and has fueled the strategic
rivalry between the two countries.

The rising tensions between the US and China have prompted many experts to warn of a new Cold War
akin to the Cold War between the US and USSR.

In 2017, the US National Security Strategy called China as “a revisionist power” seeking “to erode
American security and prosperity” and “shape a world antithetical to U.S. values and interests”. Also,
China has been proactive in undermining the US hegemony on multiple fronts.

COVID-19 pandemic has further aggravated the deterioration of ties between the two countries. Thus,
this new Cold War between China and the United States is a major geopolitical risk of the 21st century.

Events Signaling a New Cold War

 China has come out with alternative governance mechanisms to the U.S.-dominated
International Monetary Fund, World Bank and World Trade Organization with its all-
encompassing Belt and Road Initiative and institutions like Asia infrastructure investment
bank, contingency reserve agreement (CRA) of New Development Bank.

 For several decades, China’s breakneck development under the relatively enlightened
authoritarianism of Deng Xiaoping and his successors was seen positively in the United States.

o However, under Xi Jinping, China has evolved from a soft to a hard authoritarianism.
There is now a president-for-life with a budding personality cult.

 In order to contain rising China’s assertiveness, the US under its ‘pivot to Asia policy’ has
launched a quad initiative, Indo pacific narrative.

o Most recently, the US proposed to expand G7 to G-11 without including China in it.

 China’s incremental “salami slicing” tactics in the South China Sea, first by land reclamation and
then constructing artificial islands for extending extra-territorial claim, has seen sharp criticism
from the US and its allies.

o It is similar to the way dominance over the Caribbean enabled the United States to
strategically control the Atlantic Ocean and thus, affect the balance of forces in the two
world wars and a cold war.

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 From Trade war to tensions over 5G telecommunications to currency wars, US-China
confrontation is on multiple economic fronts.

o Further, the donor-recipient relationship between US and developing countries has

weakened with China’s pledge of $2-billion amid COVID-19 pandemic, thereby starting a
new phase of donation diplomacy.

 Moreover, China perceives US support for Taiwan as an interference in its internal matters.

Differences Over Previous Cold War

There are several key differences between the previous Cold War between the US & Soviet Union and
the Cold War between the US and China.

 No Ideological conflict: Cold War between the US and Soviet Union was a battle between two
opposing ideologies viz. capitalism vs communism, whereas there is no such ideological conflict
between US and China.

 No proxy conflicts: Previous Cold War was full of proxy conflicts between the US and Soviet
Union like in Cuban missile crisis 1962, Soviet afghan war 1979-89, etc.

o However, till now there are no proxy wars between the U.S. and China.

 Multi-polar world: Today, the world is also not bipolar anymore. There are countries like Russia,
India and Japan, which act as swing states,as they have a choice whether or not to align with the
US or China.

 Economic interdependence: Unlike the US and Soviet Union, the economies of US and China are
closely integrated through investments and markets in a hyper globalized world.

Role of India
India is a rising global power and citing its importance both the US and China sought to attract India in
its camp. Foreign policy experts in the US argue India Is a Natural US Ally in the New Cold War. On the
other hand Chinese’s Ambassador in India has suggested writing “together a new chapter” with “a
shared future for mankind”. In this context:

 India can promote new multilateralism under the aegis of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam- which
relies on restructuring both the economic order and societal behaviour for equitable sustainable
development.

 India must take up intensified diplomacy with global powers so that Asian Century can be
defined in terms of peaceful co-existence and global interest.

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 Apart from it, India Should acknowledge that national security now relies on technological
superiority in artificial intelligence (AI), cyber and space, and not expensive capital equipment.

o Thus, India should become self sufficient in the domain of critical technologies.

Conclusion
As India joins the UN Security Council (non-permanent seat) and chairs the BRICS Summit and hosts the
G-20 in 2022, the development will bring opportunity for India to assume leadership role and propose a
new globalisation model based on humanity, fairness and equality has wide support in a more equal
world rather than a world divided by Cold War.

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