More than 1,100 people have died in a blistering heatwave sweeping India as forecasters warned that searing temperatures would continue.
Showing posts with label india news. Show all posts
Showing posts with label india news. Show all posts
Thursday, 28 May 2015
Tuesday, 26 May 2015
Monday, 18 May 2015
Thursday, 14 May 2015
India’s Military Cannot Fight Wars Lasting Longer than 20 Days
Last week, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India published
a report outlining a massive ammunition shortage facing the Indian
military. Currently, India has only enough supplies for 20 days of
intense fighting.
“Stocking of ammunition even at ‘minimum acceptable risk level’ was not ensured,” the report said, according to the Hindustan Times. The report found that, as of March 2013, India’s stockpiles were below “minimum acceptable risk level” for “125 out of a total of 170 types of ammunition.”
The across-the-board requirement for the Indian Army is to have enough reserves for at least 40 days of high-intensity combat. However, the auditors found that the supplies for around 50 percent of ammunition types would barely last for even ten days of war.
This report will not come as a surprise to military analysts. The Indian Army has been confronted by a critical ammunition shortage for at least 16 years. For example, during the 70-day long Kargil War in 1999, India had to purchase much needed artillery shells from Israel at exorbitant prices.
Already last year, the Times of India revealed that the Indian military could not last for much longer than 20 days of intense fighting and reported critical shortages, including in tank and air defense ammunition, anti-tank guided missiles, specialized machine-gun magazines, grenades, and mine fuses.
The article also noted that “urgent steps” were being taken by the government to address this problem and to accelerate the slow buildup of the war wastage reserves (WWR), which should reach 100 percent by 2019.
“The WWR, incidentally, should be sufficient for 30 days of ‘intense’ and 30 days of ‘normal’ fighting. With three days of ‘normal’ equal to one of ‘intense’, the WWR should consequently be adequate for 40 days of ‘intense’ fighting,” the Times of India states.
However, drawn-out arms procurement processes and the underperformance of state-owned ammunition suppliers has led to no obvious improvements in the situation, as evident by the newly released CAG report. One of the consequences is that India still has to rely heavily on arms imports.
For example, India’s Defense and Research Organization (DRDO) failed to produce ammunition for its fleet of T-90 tanks (see: “Breakdown: What’s Happening with India’s Tank Force”). “The ammunition produced in India was not compatible with the fire-control system of the tanks, thus these have to be modified,” according to a military analyst.
Consequently, the Indian military decided to purchase around 66,000 anti-tank shells from Russia in early 2014. However, Moscow suddenly hiked up the price for the purchase by 20 percent. New Delhi had no choice and the Indian Ministry of Defense had to reluctantly agree to the price increase.
READ MORE FROM HERE:
“Stocking of ammunition even at ‘minimum acceptable risk level’ was not ensured,” the report said, according to the Hindustan Times. The report found that, as of March 2013, India’s stockpiles were below “minimum acceptable risk level” for “125 out of a total of 170 types of ammunition.”
The across-the-board requirement for the Indian Army is to have enough reserves for at least 40 days of high-intensity combat. However, the auditors found that the supplies for around 50 percent of ammunition types would barely last for even ten days of war.
This report will not come as a surprise to military analysts. The Indian Army has been confronted by a critical ammunition shortage for at least 16 years. For example, during the 70-day long Kargil War in 1999, India had to purchase much needed artillery shells from Israel at exorbitant prices.
Already last year, the Times of India revealed that the Indian military could not last for much longer than 20 days of intense fighting and reported critical shortages, including in tank and air defense ammunition, anti-tank guided missiles, specialized machine-gun magazines, grenades, and mine fuses.
The article also noted that “urgent steps” were being taken by the government to address this problem and to accelerate the slow buildup of the war wastage reserves (WWR), which should reach 100 percent by 2019.
“The WWR, incidentally, should be sufficient for 30 days of ‘intense’ and 30 days of ‘normal’ fighting. With three days of ‘normal’ equal to one of ‘intense’, the WWR should consequently be adequate for 40 days of ‘intense’ fighting,” the Times of India states.
However, drawn-out arms procurement processes and the underperformance of state-owned ammunition suppliers has led to no obvious improvements in the situation, as evident by the newly released CAG report. One of the consequences is that India still has to rely heavily on arms imports.
For example, India’s Defense and Research Organization (DRDO) failed to produce ammunition for its fleet of T-90 tanks (see: “Breakdown: What’s Happening with India’s Tank Force”). “The ammunition produced in India was not compatible with the fire-control system of the tanks, thus these have to be modified,” according to a military analyst.
Consequently, the Indian military decided to purchase around 66,000 anti-tank shells from Russia in early 2014. However, Moscow suddenly hiked up the price for the purchase by 20 percent. New Delhi had no choice and the Indian Ministry of Defense had to reluctantly agree to the price increase.
READ MORE FROM HERE:
Malaysia and Thailand turn away hundreds on migrant boats
Thousands of Rohingya Muslims and Bangladeshis abandoned at sea by
human traffickers have nowhere to go after Malaysia turned away two
boats crammed with more than 800 migrants, and Thailand kept at bay a third boat with hundreds more.
“What do you expect us to do?” Malaysian deputy home minister Wan Junaidi Jafaar said. “We have been very nice to the people who broke into our border. We have treated them humanely but they cannot be flooding our shores like this.”
“We have to send the right message that they are not welcome here,” he said, just days after about 1,000 refugees landed on the shores of Langkawi, a popular resort island in northern Malaysia near Thailand. Another 600 have arrived surreptitiously in Indonesia.
The Thai prime minister, Prayuth Chan-ocha, said his government did not have resources to host refugees.
“If we take them all in, then anyone who wants to come will come freely. I am asking if Thailand will be able to take care of them all. Where will the budget come from?” Prayuth said. “No one wants them. Everyone wants a transit country like us to take responsibility. Is it fair?”
South-east Asia, which for years tried to quietly ignore the plight of Burma’s 1.3 million Rohingya, finds itself caught in a spiralling humanitarian crisis. In the last three years, more than 120,000 members of the Muslim minority, who are intensely persecuted in Buddhist-majority Burma, have boarded ships to flee to other countries, paying huge sums of money to human traffickers.
“What do you expect us to do?” Malaysian deputy home minister Wan Junaidi Jafaar said. “We have been very nice to the people who broke into our border. We have treated them humanely but they cannot be flooding our shores like this.”
“We have to send the right message that they are not welcome here,” he said, just days after about 1,000 refugees landed on the shores of Langkawi, a popular resort island in northern Malaysia near Thailand. Another 600 have arrived surreptitiously in Indonesia.
The Thai prime minister, Prayuth Chan-ocha, said his government did not have resources to host refugees.
“If we take them all in, then anyone who wants to come will come freely. I am asking if Thailand will be able to take care of them all. Where will the budget come from?” Prayuth said. “No one wants them. Everyone wants a transit country like us to take responsibility. Is it fair?”
South-east Asia, which for years tried to quietly ignore the plight of Burma’s 1.3 million Rohingya, finds itself caught in a spiralling humanitarian crisis. In the last three years, more than 120,000 members of the Muslim minority, who are intensely persecuted in Buddhist-majority Burma, have boarded ships to flee to other countries, paying huge sums of money to human traffickers.
India and China: Friends, foes or frenemies?
When
President Xi Jinping welcomes Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to
China on Thursday, both leaders will be well aware that, by 2025, their
nations will be two of the three largest economies in the world.
Geopolitical
tensions notwithstanding, economic imperatives demand that
collaboration between the two giants help mitigate historical mistrust
and future rivalry.
As immediate neighbors and old civilizations, China and India have long enjoyed mutual harmony spanning almost two millennia.
Yet,
the half century since India's independence in 1947 and Chairman Mao
Zedong's establishment of the People's Republic in 1949 has been
anything but harmonious.
Deep freeze
Unresolved
border disagreements led to a brief war in 1962, which India lost. Over
the next four decades, relations between the two neighbors went into
deep freeze.
India and China: Democracy vs. single-party state 02:30
Since
2000, however, there has been a rapid thawing of the relationship
between China and India -- centered largely around trade.
Since
then, bilateral trade between the two has grown at an average annual
rate of 29%, faster than the growth rate in either country's trade with
any other region of the world.
Nonetheless,
the China-India relationship is beset with serious tensions over two
issues: India runs a large trade deficit vis-à-vis China; and, the
border disagreements remain unresolved.
Strong leaders
The confluence of recent developments make this an opportune time for a fundamental transformation.
On
both sides, the new leaders -- Xi and Modi -- are politically secure
and likely to rule their nations for the next ten years.
Where would you put your money: China or India? 02:32
Their
domestic strength coupled with a shared willingness to chart new paths
makes it more likely than at any time in the last 50 years that Xi and
Modi will find a mutually satisfactory resolution to the border
disagreements.
Both leaders have
publicly reiterated their shared belief that peace along the border is
critical to help them stay focused on their number one priority --
economic development.
Given recent
developments in both India and China, the next ten years will also see a
complete transformation in the China-India economic relationship --
from just trade to trade topped with large scale investments.
Modi
appears determined to permanently fix India's weakness in
infrastructure and manufacturing, the way he did in the state of
Gujarat, where he served as chief minister for ten years.
And China is the world's grandmaster at infrastructure.
Given
the ongoing slowdown in the domestic economy, Chinese infrastructure
companies are eager to pursue opportunities abroad. Importantly, they
also have access to a large pool of relatively low cost capital.
Tuesday, 12 May 2015
At least 3 dead in Nepal, more than 300 injured, in quake - police
At three people
were killed and more than 300 injured in Nepal after a magnitude 7.3
earthquake shook the Himalayan nation on Tuesday, police said.
"We are getting updates from outlying areas, the number of dead is three and injured is over 300," an officer in the Kathmandu police control room told Reuters by telephone.
The latest casualties came just weeks after a devastating quake, with a magnitude of 7.8, killed more than 8,000 people in Nepal and damaged hundreds of thousands of buildings.
READ MORE FROM HERE:
"We are getting updates from outlying areas, the number of dead is three and injured is over 300," an officer in the Kathmandu police control room told Reuters by telephone.
The latest casualties came just weeks after a devastating quake, with a magnitude of 7.8, killed more than 8,000 people in Nepal and damaged hundreds of thousands of buildings.
READ MORE FROM HERE:
Buildings down, bodies recovered in Chautara, Nepal, after quake
An earthquake in
Nepal on Tuesday destroyed buildings in the town of Chautara, east of
the capital Kathmandu, with bodies being recovered from ruins and
injured being brought to hospital, aid workers said.
"Buildings down in Chautara ...Bodies being brought out of buildings," the International Organization of Migration, a United Nations agency, said on its Twitter feed.
Three major landslides were reported in Sindhupalchowk district, whose capital Chautara, with at least 12 people hurt, a district official said.
Sindhupalchowk was the region that suffered the most reported deaths in a 7.8 magnitude earthquake that devastated Nepal on April 25. The epicenter of Tuesday's 7.4 quake was in a remote conservation area between Kathmandu and Mount Everest.
READ MORE FROM HERE:
"Buildings down in Chautara ...Bodies being brought out of buildings," the International Organization of Migration, a United Nations agency, said on its Twitter feed.
Three major landslides were reported in Sindhupalchowk district, whose capital Chautara, with at least 12 people hurt, a district official said.
Sindhupalchowk was the region that suffered the most reported deaths in a 7.8 magnitude earthquake that devastated Nepal on April 25. The epicenter of Tuesday's 7.4 quake was in a remote conservation area between Kathmandu and Mount Everest.
READ MORE FROM HERE:
Monday, 11 May 2015
Pakistani intelligence officer shared Osama's hideout info with US
A former Pakistani intelligence officer disclosed the hideout of Osama bin Laden to CIA in exchange of USD 25 million bounty on the head of the al-Qaeda chief, who was living as prisoner under ISI protection in the garrison town of Abbottabad, according to a report.
"In August 2010 a former senior Pakistani intelligence officer approached Jonathan Bank, then the CIA's station chief at the US embassy in Islamabad. He offered to tell the CIA where to find bin Laden in return for the reward that Washington had offered in 2001," the Dawn reported, citing American investigative journalist and author Seymour M Hersh.
The intelligence official, Hersh said, was a military man who is now living in Washington and working for the CIA as a consultant. "I cannot tell you more about him," he said.
The US confirmed the information provided by the official and put the compound under satellite surveillance. Americans later informed the ISI which set up a cell in Ghazi, Tarbela, where "one man from the SEALs and two communicators" practised the raid before executing the operation, Hersh said, adding that it was difficult decision but Pakistan was ultimately taken on board and told about the script to kill Osama.
Hersh said that whatever the Obama administration told about the operation to kill Osama was part of fiction and the real story was totally different.
"The most blatant lie was that Pakistan's two most senior military leaders ? Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani (the then army chief) and Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha (the then ISI chief) were never informed of the US mission," he told Dawn.
When the Americans contacted the Pakistani government and asked for Osama, the ISI insisted that he be killed and his death should be announced a week after the operation.
Hersh said the Saudi government also knew about Osama's presence it Abbottabad and had advised the Pakistanis to keep him as a prisoner. "Osama was an ISI prisoner and never moved except under their supervision," he said.
The Americans were required to say that the al-Qaeda chief was found in a mountainous region in the Hindu Kush so that neither Pakistan nor Afghanistan could be blamed for keeping him, Hersh said, adding that the ISI wanted him dead because "they did not want a witness".
Hersh said President Barack Obama did not consult Gen Kayani and Gen Pasha before releasing the cover story that he shared with his nation in a live broadcast.
"The cover story trashed Pakistan. It was very embarrassing for them," said Hersh. "Pakistan has a good army, not a bad army, but the cover story made it look bad."
"In August 2010 a former senior Pakistani intelligence officer approached Jonathan Bank, then the CIA's station chief at the US embassy in Islamabad. He offered to tell the CIA where to find bin Laden in return for the reward that Washington had offered in 2001," the Dawn reported, citing American investigative journalist and author Seymour M Hersh.
The intelligence official, Hersh said, was a military man who is now living in Washington and working for the CIA as a consultant. "I cannot tell you more about him," he said.
The US confirmed the information provided by the official and put the compound under satellite surveillance. Americans later informed the ISI which set up a cell in Ghazi, Tarbela, where "one man from the SEALs and two communicators" practised the raid before executing the operation, Hersh said, adding that it was difficult decision but Pakistan was ultimately taken on board and told about the script to kill Osama.
"The most blatant lie was that Pakistan's two most senior military leaders ? Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani (the then army chief) and Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha (the then ISI chief) were never informed of the US mission," he told Dawn.
When the Americans contacted the Pakistani government and asked for Osama, the ISI insisted that he be killed and his death should be announced a week after the operation.
Hersh said the Saudi government also knew about Osama's presence it Abbottabad and had advised the Pakistanis to keep him as a prisoner. "Osama was an ISI prisoner and never moved except under their supervision," he said.
The Americans were required to say that the al-Qaeda chief was found in a mountainous region in the Hindu Kush so that neither Pakistan nor Afghanistan could be blamed for keeping him, Hersh said, adding that the ISI wanted him dead because "they did not want a witness".
Hersh said President Barack Obama did not consult Gen Kayani and Gen Pasha before releasing the cover story that he shared with his nation in a live broadcast.
"The cover story trashed Pakistan. It was very embarrassing for them," said Hersh. "Pakistan has a good army, not a bad army, but the cover story made it look bad."
Sunday, 10 May 2015
Nepal earthquake: British doctor saved 23 lives after Everest avalanche
Survivors of the avalanche at Everest base camp have been describing how a British doctor who was caught up in it helped save the lives of 23 critically injured people, despite being wounded herself. She later stitched up her own leg without anaesthetic.
When the avalanche triggered by the 7.9-magnitude Nepalese earthquake struck, Dr Rachel Tullet, 34, from Cranbrook in Kent, was swept on to a rock and buried under a layer of ice crystals for several minutes. She said: “I realised I’d injured my leg, but I was just amazed that I’d survived it. And in the scale of what happened to other people, it just didn’t even register.”
She immediately sprang into action and led an operation that helped keep 25 seriously injured people – 19 Nepalese and six foreign climbers – alive until they were evacuated by helicopter nearly 24 hours later. Two later died of their injuries in Kathmandu.
David Hamilton, expedition leader of the Jagged Globe team, whose camp was in the middle of the avalanche’s path, said: “What she didn’t tell anyone is that she had actually injured her leg quite badly. She’d torn her ligaments, cracked her patella, and had a gaping wound in the middle of her leg, which she went on to stitch up herself the next day without anaesthetic.”
Details of the role she played emerged as the Foreign Office confirmed the death of backpacker Matthew Carapiet, 23, an architecture student from Bearsted, Kent, who was trekking in Langtang Valley when the earthquake struck. His family said “he made a huge impression on the lives of everyone he met”.
Tullet, who now lives in New Zealand, is a specialist in emergency and wilderness medicine and had come as a volunteer to work in Everest ER, the medical tent at the mountain’s base camp run by the Himalayan Rescue Association. Its mission is to provide paid-for care for the expeditions, with the proceeds being used to provide free medical care for Sherpas. While there has been criticism that the climbers on Everest received priority treatment and access to helicopter evacuation, given the scale of the catastrophe elsewhere, the vast majority of those whose lives were saved were Nepalese Sherpas and support staff.
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