Iran drops India from Chabahar rail project, cites funding delay
Paper: II
Mains: India and its neighbourhood- relations.
Why in news?
Four years after India and Iran signed an agreement to construct a rail line from Chabahar port to Zahedan, along the border with Afghanistan, the Iranian government has decided to proceed with the construction on its own, citing delays from the Indian side in funding and starting the project.
Key points:
- Last week, Iranian Transport and Urban Development Minister Mohammad Eslami inaugurated the track-laying process for the 628 km Chabahar-Zahedan line, which will be extended to Zaranj across the border in Afghanistan.
- The entire project would be completed by March 2022, and that Iranian Railways will proceed without India’s assistance, using approximately $400 million from the Iranian National Development Fund.
- The development comes as China finalizes a massive 25-year, $400 billion strategic partnership deal with Iran, which could cloud India’s plans.
Trilateral agreement
- The railway project, which was being discussed between the Iranian Railways and the state-owned Indian Railways Construction Ltd (IRCON), was meant to be part of India’s commitment to the trilateral agreement between India, Iran and Afghanistan to build an alternate trade route to Afghanistan and Central Asia.
- In May 2016, during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Tehran to sign the Chabahar agreement with Iranian President Rouhani and Afghanistan President Ghani, IRCON had signed an MoU with the Iranian Rail Ministry.
- The MoU was to construct the Chabahar-Zahedan railway as “part of transit and transportation corridor in trilateral agreement between India, Iran and Afghanistan”. IRCON had promised to provide all services, superstructure work and financing for the project (around $1.6 billion).
- However, despite several site visits by IRCON engineers, and preparations by Iranian railways, India never began the work, ostensibly due to worries that these could attract U.S. sanctions.
- The U.S. had provided a sanctions waiver for the Chabahar port and the rail line to Zahedan, but it has been difficult to find equipment suppliers and partners due to worries they could be targeted by the U.S. and India has already “zeroed out” its oil imports from Iran due to U.S. sanctions.
- The Ministry of External Affairs and IRCON declined to comment on the issue.
25-year Strategic Partnership
- Meanwhile, complicating matters further, Iran and China are close to finalising a 25-year Strategic Partnership which will include Chinese involvement in Chabahar’s duty free zone, an oil refinery nearby, and possibly a larger role in Chabahar port as well.
- According to leaked versions of the 18-page “Comprehensive Plan for Cooperation between Iran and China”, being finalized by officials in Tehran and Beijing, the cooperation will extend from investments in infrastructure, manufacturing and upgrading energy and transport facilities, to refurbishing ports, refineries and other installations, and will commit Iranian oil and gas supplies to China during that period.
Iranian officials denied a report that also suggested Chabahar port, where India took, will be leased to China. However, Iran proposed a tie-up between the Chinese-run Pakistani port at Gwadar and Chabahar last year, and has offered interests to China in the Bandar-e-Jask port 350km away from Chabahar, as well as in the Chabahar duty free zone.
Navy to get new carrier-based jet by 2032
Paper: III
Mains: Science and technology- developments and their applications and effects in everyday life.
Why in news?
Navy to get new carrier-based jet by 2032, to replace MiG-29K.
Key points:
- The Navy is expected to start receiving new twin-engine aircraft carrier-based fighter aircraft being developed by the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) by 2032 and it will be a replacement for the Russian MiG-29K carrier jets in service.
- The Navy is expected to get the Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL)-built twin-engine carrier aircraft by 2032. It will replace the MiG-29Ks in service which are scheduled to start going out by 2034.
- The Navy currently operates Russian-origin carrier INS Vikramaditya and expects to have the first Indigenous Aircraft Carrier (IAC-I) Vikrant operational by 2022. With a second carrier to come in, the Navy is already evaluating a global tender for 57 carrier-based twin-engine fighter aircraft.
- With the new jet under development and also factoring in budgetary constraints, the Navy is looking to revise the tender for 57 carrier-based jets downwards. The revised numbers have not been finalised yet.
- Last January, the naval Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) successfully completed arrested landing and take-off on board Vikramaditya and has since undertaken several trials.
Deck-based fighter
- Based on the experience of the carrier landing, the DRDO has offered to develop a twin-engine deck-based fighter for the Navy. With the successful deck-landing, they decided to drop the naval LCA Mk2 and move on to the twin-engine jet.
- The Navy currently has 45 Russian MiG-29K aircraft and its officials had stated that there will not be enough aircraft to operate from both carriers.The Navy is currently evaluating the responses to the
- Request For Information (RFI) from Boeing with its F-18 Super Hornet and Dassault Aviation with its Rafale jets. Both companies had stated that their jets can operate off the ski-jump of Vikramaditya and in future the Vikrant.
Corona virus immunity may disappear within months of recovery, study shows
Paper: III
Mains: Science and technology- developments and their applications and effects in everyday life.
Why in news?
Patients who recover from COVID-19 infections may lose their immunity to reinfection within months, according to research released.
Key points:
- In the first study of its kind, a team led by researchers from King’s College London examined the levels of antibodies in more than 90 confirmed virus patients and how they changed over time. Blood tests showed even individuals with only mild COVID-19 symptoms mounted some immune response to the virus.
- Of the study group, 60% showed a “potent” viral response in the first few weeks after infection. However, after three months only 16.7% had maintained high levels of COVID-19-neutralising antibodies, and after 90 days several patients had no detectable antibodies in their bloodstream.
- When the body encounters an external danger such as a virus, it mobilises cells to track down and kill the culprit. As it does so, it produces proteins known as antibodies that are programmed to target the specific antigen the body is fighting, like a key cut for a particular lock.
Similar to other viruses
- As long as someone has enough antibodies, they will be able to snub out new infections, giving them immunity.
- But this research suggests immunity cannot be taken for granted and may not last more than a few months, as is true with other viruses such as influenza.
- The findings may change how governments plan for the next phase of the pandemic, including how they fund and organize vaccine research and development.
Way forward:
This is an important study that starts to define the longer-term dynamics of the antibody response to SARS-CoV-2. It further emphasizes the need for us to better understand what a protective immune response looks like if we are to develop an effective vaccine.
Xi’s mobilization order, months of planning preceded border moves
Paper: II
Mains: India and its neighbourhood- relations.
Why in News?
China’s moves into the Galwan Valley, Pangong Lake area and several other spots along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), starting in early May, were likely planned for months and followed a new mobilization order issued by President Xi Jinping.
Key points:
- Several Chinese incursions across the LAC took place almost simultaneously in locations several hundred kilometres apart — some even hours apart on the same day — leading to skirmishes in early and mid-May.
- The timing of the incidents suggested a high level of coordination and planning, the officials said.
- In Galwan Valley and Pangong Lake, the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) deploymentsappeared to have been aimed at pushing India back from the LAC and redrawing it to more closely align with China’s official borders.
- A buffer zone that both sides have temporarily agreed to in Galwan has, on China’s insistence, been structured around Beijing’s new LAC perception, shifting the line around 1 km west.
- In Pangong Lake, China has thinned its presencefrom its LAC perception at Finger 4 but moved only to Finger 5, still much deeper inside from the Indian claim line at Finger 8 which is about 8 km from Finger 4.
- Starting in late January and early February, the PLA began what was viewed as routine mobilization for annual exercises in Xinjiang, which borders Ladakh.
Significant new order
- In January 2020, President Xi signed a new Training Mobilisation Order (TMO)for strengthening military training in real combat conditions and “to maintain a high level of readiness”. The new order updated the 2019 TMO, which was the first such order to be signed by Mr. Xi, and had called for implementing new military training guidelines announced by him in 2018 to improve combat readiness.
- While the announcement was seen as routine at the time, Indian officials believe it dramatically altered the pattern of annual exercises and China’s forward deployments, not just with India but also in other theatres, where tensions have flared this summer with Japan, Taiwan and in the South China Sea. Government sources said the TMO called for “confrontational training” to assess the reaction of commanders in real-time combat situations and deal with “a multi-front situation”.
- “They are putting these to test and are war-gaming in real-time,” said one government source, who like others quoted in this article requested anonymity.
- With the TMO likely to be in place till at least 2021, India is preparing for a new normal along the border, and is considering the possibility of positioning an additional division under its Leh-based 14 Corps, which sources said was likely to happen.
The Galwan and Pangong flash-points
- The PLA’s mobilisations began in January after the order was signed, a government source said, and was initially focused on the more than 200 km-long axis stretching from Galwan Valley to Pangong Lake. On the night of May 5, skirmishes or confrontations simultaneously took place in the Galwan Valley and on the north bank of Pangong Lake, as has been confirmed in Indian and Chinese official statements.
- China has blamed the tensions in Galwan Valley, which culminated in a clash on June 15 that claimed the lives of 20 Indian soldiersand an unknown number of Chinese soldiers, on India’s construction activities transgressing the LAC. The LAC along the India-China border has never been demarcated.
- In Ladakh, it broadly aligns with China’s perceived border, while in Arunachal Pradesh it broadly aligns with India’s perceived border. There are around 11 spots in Ladakh where there are differing perceptions of the LAC.
- There are also areas where the LAC differs from China’s claimed border, and the Galwan Valley is one of them. While China’s official maps show the border passing through the bend in the Galwan river where it turns sharply to meet the Shyok river, known as the Y-nallah, the LAC lies around 1 km east of it.
- India has been routinely patrolling up to Patrolling Point 14, which is a few hundred metres east of the bend, and was the site of the June 15 clash, which took place around 1 km inside India.
“Exaggerated and untenable” claim
- The LAC is broadly in alignment with the coordinates China provided India in 1960 regarding its territorial claims in Galwan, although Chinese maps now show its border further west, at the bend, which China calls the ‘estuary’. Since May, China has referred to the LAC as running at the estuary in line with its territorial claims, which India has said was an “exaggerated and untenable” claim.
- Starting in late April, China began objecting to India crossing the Y-nallah and reaching PP14. On July 7, Chinese State media released images, thought to be from early May, purporting to show Indian troops carrying out construction, such as foot bridges across the narrow river, in the area that falls in between the Y-nallah and the LAC. The images have not been authenticated.
- In a statement on June 19, the Chinese government accused Indian troops of “crossing the LAC” on the night of May 5 and said Chinese troops “have been forced to take necessary measures to respond to the situation on the ground and strengthen management and control in the border areas”. According to Indian officials, China had never previously patrolled up to the Y-nallah bend.
- On the same night of May 5, another skirmish unfolded more than 200 km away near Finger 4 on the north bank of Pangong Lake. Here, the difference in perception of the LAC was mutually recognised. China’s maps claim up to Finger 4, while India has been patrolling up to Finger 8. The Fingers 1-8 refer to mountain spurs running from west to east, towards the lake.
- China has previously dominated up to Finger 4 and built a road there in 1999, while the terrain means India can only patrol on foot from Finger 3 to 4. Since May, China has objected to India crossing Finger 4 and built a road to the top of the spur, occupying the ridgeline.
PLA bolsters deployments
- Throughout May, there were simultaneous Chinese deployments at other areas along the LAC as well as a buildup of Chinese forces in depth areas.
- A week after the Galwan and Pangong skirmishes, the PLA bolstered deployments both in the far north, from Dahongliutan near the Xinjiang-Tibet border starting May 12, and in the eastern sector of the India-China border near Naku La in North Sikkim from May 13, where a skirmish took place on May 9. Chinese troops also made ingresses at Pangong Tso, Galwan Valley, Hot Springs and Gogra and built up at Chip Chap, Spanggur gap and Changlung La. The rear areas were all occupied by mid June, officials said.
- With the disengagements currently under way, the concern in Delhi is the PLA’s strategy might be a “many steps forward and a few steps back” approach. With the new PLA training module in place until 2021, officials believe this summer’s events may not be the last.
Disabled are entitled to same benefits of SC/ST quota: SC
Paper: II
Mains: Welfare schemes for vulnerable sections of the population by the Centre and States and the performance of these schemes; mechanisms, laws, institutions and Bodies constituted for the protection and betterment of these vulnerable sections.
Why in News?
The Supreme Court, in a significant decision, confirmed that persons suffering from disabilities are also socially backward and entitled to the same benefits of relaxation as Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe candidates in public employment and education.
Key points:
- A three-judge Bench led by Justice Rohinton Nariman upheld a 2012 judgment of the Delhi High Court in Anamol Bhandari (minor) through his father/Natural Guardian v. Delhi Technological University in a significant decision.
- “In Anamol Bhandari, the High Court has correctly held that people suffering from disabilities are also socially backward, and are therefore, at the very least, entitled to the same benefits as given to the Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe candidates,” the Supreme Court held in a judgment pronounced on July 8.
- The decision by the Justice Nariman Bench came on a petition filed by Aryan Raj, a special needs person represented by senior advocate Colin Gonsalves, and advocate Rajan Mani, against the Government College of Arts, Chandigarh.
Denied relaxation
- The college insisted that disabled persons too need to meet the general qualifying standard of 40 percent in the aptitude test, whereas SC/ST candidates were given a relaxation to 35 percent.
- Setting aside the college decision, the Supreme Court noted that Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe candidates require 35 percent to pass in the aptitude test, the same shall apply so far as the disabled are concerned in future.
- The apex court allowed Mr. Raj to apply afresh for the current year. “Further, it is clear that aptitude test pass mark, so far as disabled are concerned, is now 35 percent,” the court declared.
New courses
- Justice Nariman’s Bench also highlighted the Delhi High Court’s words in the Anmol Bhandari case that new academic courses should be crafted to specifically cater to the needs of intellectually disabled persons.
- “We cannot lose sight of the fact that intellectually/mentally challenged persons have certain limitations, which are not there in physically challenged persons. The subject experts would thus be well advised to examine the feasibility of creating a course which caters to the specific needs of such persons. They may also examine increasing the number of seats in the discipline of Painting and Applied Art with a view to accommodating such students,” the Supreme Court quoted from the High Court judgment.
Way forward:
The endorsement of the High Court judgment by the apex court was a huge fillip to disabled persons’ rights.Hitherto, candidates with disabilities were often not able to get the benefit of reservation in education and employment because of not meeting the general standards. Now, public sector employers and colleges/universities will have to allow the same relaxations to them as to SC/ST candidates.