Grand Trunk Road

India recently announced that it will reopen an airbase in Ladakh, the eastern portion of the Jammu and Kashmir state of India, and that it has plans for two more airbases in the same region¹. It is an effort to put some muscle behind its side of the territorial disputes with China that have been heating up for the last year, although the move may upset Pakistan as well.

The other recent hotspot along the Indian-Chinese border is Sikkim², of which China claimed a portion. India has rejected the Chinese claim, and with good reason — Sikkim is a strategically important area, as explained by an interesting report from Radio Free Europe³:

The area itself defends what can be considered the most vulnerable part of India, the narrow corridor that divides Assam from the Indian heartland, at some places less than 30 miles wide. (The corridor runs between Nepal and East Pakistan.)

The defense of Sikkim is the exclusive responsibility of the Indian army, since Sikkim itself has no army of any consequence. The border between Sikkim and India is also vulnerable, since at some sections the terrain can be considered as mild by Himilayan standards. Between Sikkim and the Tibetan valley of Chumbi the passes are easily traversed; the road between Tibet and Sikkim going over the Nathu Pass can be used by vehicles of larger size.

Despite being written in 1965, the report is well worth a read and sounds eerily familiar to today’s situation.

¹ Ladakh base fresh crimp in ties with China. Times of India. June 4, 2008.
² India rejects China’s claim over Sikkim province. Rediff India Abroad. June 4, 2008.
³ Sikkim — A Potential Danger Spot. Radio Free Europe. January 22, 1965.

The Koodankulam nuclear power plant received its first shipment of fuel rods from Russia this weekend. The plant is not yet operational but the first reactor should be complete within the year. When the second reactor is completed (sometime around mid-2009) the plant will produce 2 GW of electricity of India’s nuclear power — a big step towards India’s goal of having 20 GW by 2020. Four more reactors are scheduled to be built at the same location in the coming years.

Another important step will be the completion of the Turamdih mill, which entered trial production recently. The mill, commissioned in 2007, will process raw uranium ore into fuel to eventually be used at several existing reactors that are sitting idle for lack of fuel. Koodankulam, however, will have its fuel supplied by Russia for the lifetime of the reactors.

Subramanian, T. S. Enriched uranium for Koodankulam arrives. The Hindu. May 27, 2008.

Recently, the State Bank of India announced that it was halting loans to farmers for farm equipment such as tractors and combines. Now, Arun Kumar of the Hindustan Times reports¹:

Stung by protests from farmers, politicians and even a section of its own employees, State Bank of India on Wednesday hurriedly withdrew its controversial decision to suspend financing of farm equipment, primarily tractor loans.

“We regret that our circular dated May 16, 2008, concerning tractor loans has been misunderstood and has given rise to concern. The circular is withdrawn with immediate effect,” SBI Chairman OP Bhatt said in a statement.

What misunderstanding was there? According to Anup Banerjee, an official from the SBI, the halt was intended not for small farmers but for large-scale farmers with huge loans who have fallen behind in payments.

Another angle to this situation is the impact of the farmer debt relief plan being pushed by the government. According to Moneycontrol India², the guidelines for the Farmer Debt Waiver Scheme have been passed and will allocate Rs 71,680 crore ($16.8 billion at current exchange rates) to loan forgiveness. Small farmers are expecting to get 100% forgiveness, whereas large farmers (those with more than Rs 50,000 borrowed) will have up to 25% forgiven.

This loan forgiveness program may be at least partly responsible for SBI’s problems to begin with, though. In The Hindu, C. R. L. Narasimhan comments³ on the harm SBI’s backstepping has done to their image as an independent bank. But also, he notes that:

Already there are indications that even farmers who would have repaid their loans are holding back hoping to get a waiver.

This reminds me somewhat of the subprime mortgage crisis in the USA. Even people who could pay their mortgage have chosen to walk away, hoping for some kind of government bailout. What portion of SBI’s 17.8% default rate on farm equipment is due to this sort of behavior is an open question.

¹ Kumar, Arun. SBI backtracks on farm gear loans. Hindustan Times. May 21, 2008.
² Cabinet okays Farmer Debt Waiver Scheme guidelines. Moneycontrol India. May 24, 2008.
³ Narasimhan, C. R. L. Tales behind SBI’s withdrawn circular. The Hindu. May 26, 2008.

India Today has a piece by Sandeep Unnithan¹ about the debate over the creation of a central agency to investigate all terror-related crimes. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh argued for the need for the Federal Investigation Agency days after the Jaipur blasts and complained that plans for its creation had been stalled because states were reluctant to surrender power to the central government. Critics argue that agencies created after crises have not had a good record in India:

Yet, the fate of agencies created after crises-the National Technical Research Organisation set up after the Kargil War and the Joint Intelligence Task Force after the 2006 Mumbai blasts-has led experts to question the creation of a new agency.

“It will be sensible and economical to augment and empower an existing organisation like the IB than create a new one,” says Ajai Sahni, Centre for Conflict Management.

¹ Unnithan, Sandeep. “Elusive Agency”. India Today. May 22, 2008.

Bad things are happening along the Jammu and Kashmir border. Last week, militants tried to cross the border at Samba, in Jammu. Today, Indo-Asian news service is reporting¹ that there was gunfire in the Krishna Ghati sector of Poonch which started at around 7:15 am and killed an Indian soldier of the Ghorka Rifles. Lt Col S D Goswami, defence spokesperson in Jammu, said that the firing from Pakistan was unprovoked and that “Rockets, UBGLs (under barrel grenade launchers) and small arms were used in the firing,”

Even worse, there were unconfirmed reports that at least six militants infiltrated into India under cover of the firing. “An official of the Gorkha Rifles, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: ‘We have instructions to play down such incidents.’”

¹(May 19, 2008). “Indian soldier killed in firing from Pakistan, militants sneak in”. The Hindustan Times.

Iqbal states that the Indian border security force (BSF) is confirming that militants from Pakistan did try to cross the border at Samba district in Jammu on May 8. As a result, the BSF has decided to post up to more 1000 soldiers at the border and to install more surveillance equipment. What makes this particular part of the border more vulnerable than others is the existence of an earthen bund (barrier) that was initially constructed to protect the initial builders of the border fence from Pakistani artillery. The bund is now being dismantled in order to improve visibility to make the spot less vulnerable to incursions by militants. This is an interesting article from 2005 providing some background about life in the Jammu border districts.

Article: BSF posts more jawans on border

Author: Zaffar Iqbal
Publication: NDTV.Com

This article profiles the Indian Panchayati Raj Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar’s efforts to have the Panchayati Raj system of local government integrated into mainstream Indian politics. Despite the 73rd amendment of the Indian Constitution, which was passed in 1993 and which formally ushered in Panchayati Raj as part of the Indian system of government, it did not even have a division, leave alone a ministry until 2004. Today, the three-tiered system now has over 2,600,000 representatives. Despite the large numbers of representatives voted in, the 73rd amendment has met with opposition across the board. According to Aiyar, “If we want to move from India prospering to Indians prospering, there is no alternative to Panchayati Raj.”

Article: One man mission
Author: Shankkar Aiyar
Publication: India Today

This article, by a staff reporter at the Calcutta Telegraph talks about the surprising difficulty of finding a place in a private mortuary for the father of a NRI (non-resident Indian) whose son wanted the funeral delayed for two days. Calcutta, despite being one of the world’s most populous cities only has one such private mortuary and this mortuary has place for just three bodies at a time. Morgues in government hospitals do not admit bodies of individuals who died of natural causes. Municipal commissioner Alapan Bandyopadhyay said on Tuesday that setting up mortuaries was “nobody’s business”.

Article: Dead have no haven
Author: Staff Reporter
Publication: The Calcutta Telegraph

This article, published in the Calcutta Telegraph describes the eight bomb blasts that killed up to 60 people and injured 200 in Jaipur within a span of just 20 minutes. Immediate suspicion fell on the Bangladesh-based Harkat-ul Jehadi Islami.

The body of a bride, wearing a bright red sari and marriage bangles, lay on the road. A young man hung out of a rickshaw with his head turned back and face smeared with blood. In the puddle of blood outside the Hanuman temple, a 10-year-old boy lay dead.

The day of the bombings coincided with the 10th anniversary of the May 13 nuclear tests in the Rajasthan deserts, a few hundred miles away.

Article: JAIPUR BOMBED: 60 feared dead in serial strikes on Pokhran anniversary
Publication: The Calcutta Telegraph