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Statsguru: How India, Bangladesh fared after a year under Yunus' rule
nations.
However, despite rising anti-India sentiment in Bangladesh, goods trade between the nations has expanded. This is reflected more in India's imports than in its exports.
Although inflation declined marginally, the unemployment rate rose, and the economic growth rate fell to below 4 per cent — the lowest since 2019-20 (FY20) — under Yunus.
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Business Standard
14 minutes ago
- Business Standard
Hong Kong court hearing final arguments in Jimmy Lai's security trial
A Hong Kong court began hearing final arguments Monday in the landmark national security trial of former pro-democracy newspaper founder Jimmy Lai, who could be sentenced to up to life in prison if he is convicted. Lai, 77, was arrested in 2020 under a national security law imposed by Beijing following anti-government protests in 2019. He is being tried on charges of colluding with foreign forces to endanger national security and conspiring with others to issue seditious publications. Lai founded Apple Daily, one of the local media outlets that was most critical against Hong Kong's government. His high-profile case which has already stretched nearly 150 days, far beyond the original estimate of 80 days is widely seen as a trial of press freedom and a test for judicial independence in the Asian financial hub. Prosecutors allege that Lai asked foreign countries, especially the United States, to take actions against Beijing under the guise of fighting for freedom and democracy. On the first day of his testimony, he denied he had asked then-Vice President Mike Pence and then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to take action against Hong Kong and China during the 2019 protests. Later, when Lai's lawyer questioned him about an Apple Daily report saying he had asked the US government to sanction Beijing and Hong Kong leaders, he said he must have discussed it with Pompeo, as he had no reason to doubt the accuracy of the report by the now-defunct newspaper he founded. But Lai said he would not have encouraged foreign sanctions after the national security law was enacted on June 30, 2020. The closing arguments have been delayed twice, first due to weather then to concerns over Lai's health. On Friday, his lawyer, Robert Pang, said Lai had experienced heart palpitations while in prison. The judges wanted him to secure a heart monitor and medication first. After Friday's hearing, the Hong Kong government alleged foreign media outlets had attempted to mislead the public about Lai's medical care. It said a medical examination of Lai found no abnormalities and that the medical care he received in custody was adequate. It is unclear when the verdict will be delivered. Lai's yearslong detention, especially in solidarity confinement, has drawn concerns from foreign governments and rights groups. US President Donald Trump, before being elected to his second term in November, said he would talk to Chinese leader Xi Jinping to seek Lai's release: One hundred percent, I will get him out. In a Fox News radio interview released last Thursday, Trump denied saying he would 100 per cent save Lai, but rather that he would bring the issue up. I've already brought it up, and I'm going to do everything I can to save him, he said. China has accused Lai of stirring a rise in anti-China sentiments in Hong Kong and said it firmly opposes the interference of other countries in its internal affairs. Dozens of people waited in the rain Monday for a seat in the main courtroom to see Lai. Former Apple Daily reader Susan Li said she worried about Lai's health as he looked visibly thinner, and she would continue to pray for him. I wanted to let him know we are still here, she said. When Hong Kong, a former British colony, returned to China in 1997, Beijing promised to retain the city's civil liberties for 50 years. But critics say that promise has become threadbare after the introduction of the security law, which Chinese and Hong Kong authorities insist was necessary for the city's stability. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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Business Standard
14 minutes ago
- Business Standard
One jawan killed and three injured in Naxalites' IED blast in Chhattisgarh
The injured personnel are in stable condition and out of danger. They have received first aid and are being evacuated for further treatment ANI According to IG Bastar P Sundarraj, during an anti-Maoist operation by DRG team in Bijapur district's National Park area, an IED blast occurred in the morning. One DRG jawan, Dinesh Nag, was martyred, and three others were injured. The injured personnel are in stable condition and out of danger. They have received first aid and are being evacuated for further treatment. Detailed information will be provided after the completion of the operation. Earlier on August 14, the security forces neutralised two dreaded naxal cadres carrying a combined bounty of Rs 1.16 crore during a gun battle in Chhattisgarh's Mohla-Manpur-Ambagarh Chowki district. Vijay Reddy, a member of the Dandkaranya Special Zonal Committee (DKSZC), who carried a bounty of Rs 90 lakh, and Lokesh Salame, Secretary of the Rajnandgaon-Kanker Border (RKB) division, with a reward of Rs 26 lakh on his head, were neutralised in a joint operation by the Chhattisgarh Police, District Reserve Guard (DRG), and the 27th Battalion of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) on August 13 in the state's insurgency-hit region. The gun battle erupted during a coordinated anti-Naxal operation, the ITBP said in a statement. "Security forces had been tracking the movement of the duo in the dense forest belt when the exchange of fire broke out." According to officials, the elimination of Reddy and Salame is considered a major blow to Naxal operations in the Dandkaranya region and along the Rajnandgaon-Kanker border. Weapons and other naxal-related materials were recovered from the site. The slain ultras were on the hunt among leaders of the North Bastar region for the past two decades. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
United News of India
41 minutes ago
- United News of India
Does ISRO need reshuffle? Questions arise over satellite and rocket production shifts
Chennai, Aug 18 (UNI) With the production of satellites and rockets now being outsourced and the Indian government's satellites are managed under the public sector NewSpace India Ltd (NSIL), the future of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) looks uncertain and the question arises whether the key part of the Department of Space (DoS) under the central government needs a reshuffle. Recently in a highly debated decision, private space sector regulator Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe), announced that the PixxelSpace India-led group, comprising Piersight Space, Satsure Analytics India, and Dhruva Space—will build and operate India's first fully indigenous commercial earth observation (EO) satellite system. Historically, EO satellites and satellite constellations were firmly within ISRO's domain. The other major satellite constellation under ISRO, the NavIC system (Navigation with Indian Satellite Constellation)system, has yet to be fully completed. It raises a pertinent question, whether the government will look at private companies to supply the satellite constellation to provide the positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) or the navigation services? Interestingly, a private space start-up AeroDome Technologies Private Limited co-founded by alumni of Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IITM) is working on a navigation satellite constellation in low Earth orbit (LEO). 'Location and time are the foundational pillars of the modern connected world. Every piece of technology, upon activation, seeks to answer two fundamental questions: when and where,' Vibhor Jain, Co-Founder, AeroDome Technologies told this writer. However, retired ISRO officials said that communication satellite operations are the only part of the space sector likely to generate profits and not PNT or earth observation services. They suggest that had ISRO established a satellite communications company years ago, the situation might have been different today. On the rocket side, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), India's leading aircraft manufacturer, won a tender to produce ISRO's Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) for Rs. 511 crore. NSIL also entered into an Rs. 860 crore agreement to buy five Polar Satellite Launch Vehicles (PSLV) from a HAL-Larsen & Toubro Ltd consortium, with ISRO providing the technology for these rockets. It is not known whether ISRO will continue to buy the PSLV rockets from outside after the fifth one from HAL-Larsen & Toubro consortium or revert back to the existing model-assembling the vehicle by itself. And last year, NSIL had also called for Request for Qualification (RFQ) to manufacture ISRO's heavy lift rocket LVM3 on public-private-partnership (PPP) mode. Given these changes and ISRO's huge manpower (sanctioned 17,000 but in place around 16,000 excluding the contracts) a question arises: Should ISRO shift its focus from production to only research? Instead of transferring the rocket and other production technologies to others, could ISRO spin off its various units into separate government-owned companies, with NSIL serving as the procurement and marketing arm? And ISRO in a new avatar could focus on the research, for which it was originally formed. Long ago, in the Indian nuclear power, the field was clearly demarcated with Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) and Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR) focussed on research and development of reactors while Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) focussed on setting up power plants sourcing equipment from outside and generate power. There are separate companies for uranium and rare earth mineral mining and other activities. In the case of ISRO the roles got blurred over the years by carrying out the assembling of commercial satellites and rockets. With the glamour, fame attached to the rocket launches, officials did not look at separating the functions, industry officials said. It is also said the sum of the turnover of Indian space agency's various divisions-rocket, satellite manufacturing, satellite payloads, rocket engine production, launcher integration and launch services, tracking and satellite maintenance- if spun off into different business entities will surpass that of its behemoth parent owing to focused leadership and innovation. 'There are no production facilities in ISRO. It was never created or funded to create. Only R&D facilities were created. We are doing most of the production in industry or using GOCO (government owned and contractor operated) models. There is nothing that can be separated as production facilities except some explosives and propellant processing facilities which in any way won't be possible to be transferred,' former Secretary, Department of Space and Chairman, ISRO told this writer. 'You can see that production of all structures and tanks are in HAL and other industries, all electronics in many industries, all machining related works are in industry as well. What ISRO does is development, system engineering and integration, which in any way has to be done by ISRO as there is none,' Somanath said. 'The purpose of technology transfer is to create the final leg of capability in industry,' he added. Somanath said majority of the ISRO staff are in R&D except people required for the facilities running and some critical production and also in rocket launch operation at the rocket port in Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh. 'The scientists are not recruited for operational work. But now scientists do it part time because work has to be done as there is no industry ready to take integration with required skill. These many people are in so many domains of research in many centres. Each domain has only a handful of people really,' Somanath added. Tapan Misra, retired Director, Space Applications Centre, ISRO told this writer: 'Currently ISRO has two roles – R&D and production. There is substantial manpower deployed in production activity with two/three generations of engineers involved in production than in hard core research.' 'On paper engineers are scientists and many of them are involved in production. Only about 20-30 percent of the staff is involved in research and development and the others are in a supportive role,' Misra commented. According to him, ISRO has missed the bus of kerosene and methane powered rockets. So production and repetitive work has to be taken outside of ISRO as the technology is also old. Only now ISRO is developing a methane powered rocket. Misra said, given this situation, production of existing rockets by a public sector unit like HAL has to be there till the private rocket makers mature and stabilise. The PSUs may produce for ISRO now and may do the same for the private players later. As regards the ISRO staff, the young and bright ones may be encouraged to focus on research and float start-ups and the senior and experienced ones in the production can be deputed to HAL. Those who bid and win the tenders to make rockets and satellites may not have the experience in making the same and hence ISRO's experienced talent pool will be of great help. Industry officials also add that production of rockets and satellites should also be there in the public sector as the government cannot be allowed to be dictated by the private players. 'For instance the Indian government owned telecom player Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) has the necessary backend network to support the government and public needs when exigencies demand,' Misra said. Perhaps at a future date, ISRO's production/assembly units may be housed under NSIL. Currently ISRO's facilities are allowed to be used by the private space sector players. 'India now should have a clear focus on the space sector model it wants to focus –American (strong government-private collaboration), the Chinese (military-civil mixture), the European (collaboration amongst nations with current focus on autonomy encouraging private participation) or its own existing model (national development focus, government control, public sector driven and now with private participation encouraged). A hybrid model of these three will not work,' a retired senior ISRO official told this writer. UNI VJ AAB
