India and the United States of America signed several pacts during the recent visit of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defence Secretary Mark Esper. The two senior American officials met Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar. The key aspect of the discussions is the signing of the Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA). This agreement will give India access to data available with the US military.
BECA assumes strategic importance due to the simmering tensions with China. US President Donald Trump has stayed the course of his run for re-election on the Chinese virus. Given the Democrats have Indian-American Kamala Harris on the bill, Trump has a winner on his hand by tying up with India against China. US politics aside, India has quite a bit to gain.
New equation
Brigadier (Rtd) Vinod Dutta told APN that in the new geopolitical equation, this initiative is going to give good dividends when both countries are looking for peace and stability in the Indian Ocean region. Moreover, it is a clear-cut signal to China’s abusive behaviour and its expansionist designs.
“Two big democracies, 2 real powers and 2 good friends are coming together. Barring Turkey and some odd countries, the entire world has moved towards India, which is seen as a reasonable, formidable regional power,” Dutta said.
Moreover, in the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic, the US polls are focused, as noted above, on the Chinese virus with most Chinese products rotting at the ports, he said.
In a similar vein, Japan has already given a $2.2 billion economic stimulus to help manufacturers uproot production from China and relocate else, Dutta noted.
Equal partners, not master-slave
Ambassador (Rtd) Deepak Vohra, the special adviser to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, countered the criticism of India’s American friendship from several quarters. “It is being said that through BECA, India has fallen into the lap of the US. This is not true. This is a partnership between equals and both have fallen into the lap of each other,” he said.
The Indian Army is more than a match to any military in the world, the US has the world’s most awesome technology and when these two powers combine, no one can dare India, Vohra added. Through geospatial intelligence, India will be in a position to see movements of elephants and ants in real time, he said.
The 9/11 effect
Listing the long Indo-US diplomatic journey, Vohra said 9/11 was a watershed moment after which America’s view of India changed. “This got polished with India’s spectacular progress in information technology and military resilience demonstrated in 1999,” Vohra said.
Perhaps, India is being seen by the US as a factor for stability in the arc of Islamic instability stretching from Nigeria to Indonesia. So what we are seeing in Indo-US defence relations in the last two decades is the convergence of security perception and world vision, he added.
Defence ties between India and USA
The world’s oldest and largest democracies have been evolving a defence deal with each other in the recent past. In 2016, the US gave India major defence partner status putting it at par with other major allies. In 2017, the US Congress passed the National Defence Authorisation Act cementing India’s major defence partner status, Vohra said.
Since then the two countries have inked two major agreements, the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) and the Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA), and now the BECA, he said.
This indicates the level of trust and comfort in the relations of two countries and a strong message to the world. With the US-India coming together, there is fear and frustration in Beijing and Islamabad, Vohra said.
Amid uncertainties on who will win the US polls, the signing of the BECA deal indicates growing bipartisan support for New Delhi as a bulwark against Beijing despite what occurred in Ladakh.
Three individuals, including two women, lost their lives and nine others were hospitalised following a gas leak caused by an explosion in a reactor at a fertiliser plant in Maharashtra’s Sangli district, an official said on Friday.
The incident occurred at approximately 6:30 PM on Thursday at the Myanmar Chemical Company, located in Shalgaon MIDC within Kadegaon tehsil.
Sangli Superintendent of Police Sandip Ghuge stated that the gas is suspected to be ammonia.
According to police, the explosion released toxic chemical fumes. “Approximately 12 people in the facility were affected and subsequently taken to the hospital. Tragically, two female workers and a security guard have died, while nine others are currently receiving treatment,” stated Sangram Shewale, Senior Inspector at Kadegaon police station.
Seven of the injured individuals have been admitted to Sahyadri Hospital in Karad, with five of them in critical condition in the ICU.
The deceased women have been identified as Suchita Uthale (50) from Yetgaon in Sangli district and Neelam Rethrekar (26) from Masur in Satara district, PTI reported.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Friday launched a campaign with a tagline Revdi Par Charcha to seek public feedback on freebies. The campaign comes ahead of the assembly elections, which is scheduled to be held in February.
Former Chief Minister and AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal launched the campaign with his colleagues at the party office, saying while the opposition calls freebies as revdi, the party calls it services. This campaign will start on November 25 and will continue for 15 days until December 10, discussing the issues with common man.
Notably, the opposition has been targeting the AAP for providing free electricity, water and free public buses for women among other facilities. However, AAP feels freebies help citizens live a life of dignity.
Gopal Rai, AAP’s Delhi unit chief, said that so far, politicians used to enjoy the facilities, while citizens paid taxes. He continued that Arvind Kejriwal’s government decided that the people should also get the facilities like the politicians, adding the BJP called their attempt revdis. He said that AAP is launching the ‘Revdi Par Charcha’ campaign to discuss with the people in the city if the government should provide the facilities or not.
Launching the campaign, Arvind Kejriwal said 65,000 meetings will be held across Delhi at micro levels by the AAP leaders and workers. He said that AAP has six revdis for the people of Delhi. Mentioning that the Prime Minister and BJP have said several times that Kejriwal is providing freebies to the people that should be stopped, the former Chief Minister said that now people will now tell them if they want these six freebies. He further concluded that if the BJP is elected here, they will stop these services immediately.
While listing the six services, the AAP national convenor said that Delhi is getting free electricity round the clock. He added that there was a time when Delhi used to see power cuts for 8-10 hours, but AAP ensured that the situation changed. He also noted that his party is providing free water, free pilgrimage to senior citizens, free bus rides to women, free world-class education and free medicine and treatments. Additionally, the pamphlet launched by Arvind Kejriwal also listed that soon the women in Delhi will get Rs 1,000 per month as well, later termed as the seventh revdi by the former Chief Minister.
Reports said that the paper will be circulated across the national capital. The paper also reads that if the reader feels they are getting huge water bills, they should not pay it. It mentioned that AAP will waive all water bills once Arvind Kejriwal is re-elected.
Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Friday said the air pollution in North India is a national emergency that needs a collective national response and not a political blame game. The Congress leader added that due to air pollution tourism is declining and “our global reputation is crumbling”.
It is a public health crisis that is stealing children’s future and suffocating the elderly, Gandhi said, adding an environmental and economic disaster that is ruining countless lives.
“As Parliament meets in a few days, MPs will all be reminded of the crisis by our irritated eyes and sore throats. It is our responsibility to come together and discuss how India can end this crisis once and for all,” the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha said.
The former Congress chief said the poorest “among us suffer the most”, unable to escape the toxic air surrounding them. Families are gasping for clean air, children are falling sick, and millions of lives are being cut short, he added.
The Rae Bareli MP noted that the pollution cloud covers hundreds of kilometres. He said cleaning it up will require major changes and decisive action from governments, companies, experts, and citizens.
“We need a collective national response, not political blame games,” the Congress leader said on his X handle.
Gandhi also shared a video on a social media platform where he discussed the capital’s air pollution with environmentalist expert Vimalendu Jha. In the video, the Congress leader said he has been facing eye-burning and breathing issues and how the last week in Delhi has been terrible.
He said, “I tell my mother to leave town this month.” Jha explains to Gandhi that the sources of air pollution in Delhi are episodic and perennial. Episodic sources are firecrackers and stubble burning, which affect the month of November. “Vehicular contributes 50 per cent of Delhi’s pollution and construction-related roadside dust is another 30 per cent,” Jha said.
The Air Quality Index in Delhi has been severe since November 16, making it five consecutive days till Wednesday. On November 15, the average AQI was 396 (very poor).
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