'Unholy alliance with Pakistan': RSS-affiliate SJM calls for sanctions, curb on tourists to Turkey
NEW DELHI: Amid rising resentment over Turkey's military support to Pakistan against India, RSS-affiliate Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM) on Wednesday urged the Modi government to suspend civil aviation links, impose economic sanctions, and curb the flow of Indian tourists to Turkey.
The SJM also urged the Centre to reconsider diplomatic ties with Turkey, citing its 'unholy alliance' with Pakistan.
The appeal from the RSS-affiliate comes amid heightened tensions between India and Pakistan following a four-day military standoff.
'Turkey, a NATO member and a supposed secular republic, has increasingly aligned itself with radical Islamist regimes and military establishments hostile to Bharat's sovereignty,' the SJM alleged in a statement.
It further alleged that the Turkish government is supplying military hardware, technological platforms, and training to Pakistan's armed forces, making Turkey the second-largest arms supplier to Pakistan after China and thereby strengthening Pakistan's military capabilities.
Citing an example, the SJM said, 'Turkey has delivered MILGEM-class warship to Pakistan under a USD 1.5 billion deal and Turkish company Baykar has provided armed drones.'
It further alleged that an electronic warfare test range has also been set up in Pakistan with assistance from HAVELSAN, Turkey's major defence electronics firm.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
&w=3840&q=100)
Business Standard
11 minutes ago
- Business Standard
Digi Yatra to expand to 15 more airports in India, says Siddharth Verma
Digi Yatra, an initiative co-ordinated by the civil aviation ministry to ensure seamless travel for passengers from the airport gates to boarding a flight, will be available in 15 more airports this fiscal, Siddharth Verma, head of IT operations at Digi Yatra Foundation, said. "All the metros are done and all the big airports are done. So now we are left with the smaller airports where the ministry evaluates if there is a need at all or not. Because at times you don't need such solutions if the volume is very low, or there is just one gate," he told Business Standard. Five of the new airports include Mangalore, Trivandrum, Srinagar, Chandigarh, and Nagpur. The rest are managed by the Airports Authority of India (AAI), whose infrastructure is ready but where technology integration is still under way. India has 24 of its major airports covered under Digi Yatra, covering nearly 90 per cent of outbound passenger traffic, Verma added. The upcoming airports in Navi Mumbai and Noida are not part of the 15, he clarified. Digi Yatra's technology, launched in 2022, has revolutionised travel across Indian airports through the implementation of self-sovereign identity or decentralised ID, which allows users to control their online information. Authentication is done through two documents: the Aadhaar and the boarding pass. To date, the app has been downloaded 14 million times and has facilitated more than 56 million journeys across Indian airports. 'It should be like a walk in the park, a kind of experience where nobody should ask for your documents. You just show your face and keep walking through the touchpoints seamlessly and don't have to exchange your documents with anyone.' The Digi Yatra app is linked with the UIDAI ecosystem. When a passenger downloads the app, fills in the required details — including the Aadhaar number — and receives an OTP to authenticate, UIDAI sends the Aadhaar details to the phone. 'Then your proof of presence is established by taking your selfie and matching it with the image on your Aadhaar. These two must match. We then create a verified credential (VC), which is like a digital photocopy with a digital stamp called proof value. This proof value, along with the ID document, is stored in the Digi Yatra wallet on the user's phone until it is deleted by the user.' Even with Aadhaar, Digi Yatra follows what Verma terms data minimisation. Only the passenger's name, gender, date of birth, and masked Aadhaar number are taken. 'Your address is not pulled because it is not required for this use case. Privacy by design means data minimisation must be embedded at the core.' The second step involves uploading the boarding pass. The technology pulls data from the QR code, including date of travel, name, seat number, PNR, origin, destination, and sequence number. 'When you link your boarding pass, we match the name linked earlier from your Aadhaar with the name on the boarding pass. If these match, along with the real-time facial image clicked at the airport, the gate opens. All this happens automatically. There is no human intervention,' Verma explains. Asked about data security concerns, he said data shared with the origin airport is deleted from Digi Yatra's biometric gallery within 24 hours of flight departure. 'The data becomes instantly obsolete. That's how the architecture is designed. Airports also cannot retain the data as per policy.' Digi Yatra also conducts annual audits at the enabled airports to ensure compliance with these policy guidelines and verify that systemic scripts are in place. 'Some airports delete it within four hours, some within five. Others delete it as per the policy required by the CISF and other security agencies.'
Mint
15 minutes ago
- Mint
India explores MSP reset to boost pulse output
The Centre is exploring a plan to review the formula it uses to calculate the minimum support price (MSP) for key pulses such as tur (arhar), urad (black gram), chana (gram), and masur (lentil), four people familiar with the matter told Mint on condition of anonymity. This comes amid rising concerns over stagnant production, growing imports, and skewed price incentives that fail to reflect current demand trends. As per the proposed plan, which is in discussion, the government is exploring whether the current cost-based pricing mechanism adequately reflects the ground realities faced by farmers. The MSP has to be aligned with demand, consumption, and production patterns to incentivize farmers and encourage crop diversification, they said. The move comes amid concerns that floor prices that are of same level as input costs or even lower are discouraging farmers from planting more pulses, despite India's high import dependence. Read more: Centre plans to leverage high productivity in northeastern states to boost output of pulses, ease food inflation "The ministries consumer affairs, agriculture, and cooperation will hold discussions to draft a plan for increasing the domestic production of key pulses, particularly the costlier tur," said the first person cited above. There has been a sharp spike in imports of tur from African nations and Myanmar, contributing to a rising import bill. Queries sent to the ministries of consumer affairs, agriculture, and finance remained unanswered at press time. Mission for Aatmanirbharta in pulses This review is part of a six-year Mission for Aatmanirbharta (self-reliance) in pulses, which aims to make India self-sufficient in pulse production within a decade. While the MSP for tur for the 2025-26 crop year is set at ₹8,000 per quintal, moong fetches a higher ₹8,868 per quintal, despite lower demand. "Moong is a 60-70-day crop and is cultivated three times a year, while tur is a 120–160-day crop. Given the price sensitivity of tur, there is a need for a targeted approach to increase its production," said the second person. Moong (green gram) is cultivated over three main seasons—kharif (June-August), rabi (October-December) and the summer season (March-May) after the harvest of rabi crops. In contrast, tur (pigeon pea) is primarily a kharif crop, sown with the arrival of the monsoon between June and July and harvested between November and January. It is typically cultivated only once a year. Alongside price revision, the Centre is also planning to provide better quality seeds to improve yield and bridge the demand-supply gap. A stakeholder consultation with relevant ministries is expected later this month to outline a strategy. The government is also exploring region-specific procurement strategies to stabilize prices in pulse-growing zones and reduce supply chain inefficiencies, according to one of the four people. Tur is widely consumed in states such as Maharashtra, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Gujarat, while moong has niche consumption in Rajasthan and southern states. Tur production has stagnated, dropping from 4.3 million tonnes in FY21 to 3.5mt in FY25, with yields falling from 914 kg per hectare to 823 kg/ha over the same period. In contrast, moong production has risen from 3mt in FY21 to 3.8 mt in FY25, and yield has improved from 601 kg/ha to 685 kg/ha. Tur consumption, however, remains higher than moong. According to government estimates, tur consumption stood at 4.6mt in FY23, compared with 3.5mt for moong. Retail data from 9 June shows tur is priced at ₹124.08 per kg, while moong is cheaper at ₹111.41 per kg. The MSP for masur is ₹6,600 per quintal and for chana is ₹5,650 per quintal. In her FY2025-26 budget speech, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced the Mission for Aatmanirbharta in pulses, allocating ₹1,000 crore to boost domestic production, with a focus on tur, urad and masur. The mission promises assured MSP-based procurement and post-harvest warehousing. The area sowed for pulses grew marginally to 27.62 million hectares in FY25, with tur cultivation at 4.33 million hectares compared with 4.13 million hectares the previous year. India's overall pulse production dipped to 24mt in FY24 from 26mt in FY23 due to poor weather but is expected to recover to 25mt in FY25. "The proposed strategy to significantly increase the production of pulses over the next five years will be part of the Mission for Aatmanirbharta in pulses," said a third person. Read more: In charts: Why a good pulses output is an urgent need this year Under the plan, the government aims to increase the sowing area of tur by expanding cultivation to fallow land as well as watershed areas. The Centre has also identified two million hectares of fertile land across the country for this purpose, as it was first reported by Mint on 3 December 2024. These two million hectares, earmarked for pulses, form part of a larger pool of four million hectares of watershed land identified for farming. Watershed land refers to areas where rainwater naturally collects and flows into rivers, streams, or lakes. Such land retains moisture, making it suitable for growing pulses. The five-year strategy is likely to include targeted investment in irrigation and farmer training for pulse-intensive zones, said the fourth person aware of internal discussions. Binod Anand, agriculture expert and a member of the government's committee on MSP, welcomed the plan. 'Boosting domestic production will ease the pressure on foreign exchange, as we currently spend nearly ₹70,000 crore on importing pulses from non-consuming countries," he said. 'If even 25% of that amount is redirected to support Indian farmers, it would significantly enhance domestic cultivation and reduce our reliance on imports." 'Given the shifting geopolitical landscape," Anand added, 'it is imperative to incentivize pulse farmers and move towards self-reliance, especially since India remains heavily dependent on countries like Myanmar, Mozambique, Tanzania, and Malawi for tur." Government data shows India's pulse imports surged from 2.6mt in FY23 to 6.7mt in FY25—a nine-year high—due to a favourable duty regime and softer domestic prices. Retail inflation, meanwhile, eased to a six-year low of 3.16% in April, driven by declining prices of protein-rich food items, including pulses. Food inflation dropped to 1.78% in April 2025, its lowest since October 2021. Read more: What colour is your dal? If it's yellow, the US wants a free pass.
News18
21 minutes ago
- News18
QRSAM Air Defence System To Bolster India's Frontline, Nod Expected Soon: Report
Last Updated: The Indian Army may soon acquire a new indigenous QRSAM system, costing Rs 30,000 crore, for deployment along western and northern borders The Indian Army may soon get a new indigenous surface-to-air missile system. The development comes at a time when Indian air defence systems are making headlines for successfully bringing down missile and drone attacks launched by Pakistan in the aftermath of Operation Sindoor. The proposal, which would cost Rs 30,000 crore, is scheduled to be taken by the Ministry of Defence for buying three regiments of the home-grown Quick Reaction Surface to Air Missile system (QRSAM) for deployment along both western and northern borders, news agency ANI reported. The meeting of the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) is planned to be held around the fourth week of June. The QRSAM, developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), is configured on highly mobile platforms and is capable of providing air defence on the move. QRSAM Features The Quick Reaction Surface-to-Air Missile (QRSAM) is a short-range air defence system developed to safeguard moving armoured columns from aerial threats. With an operational range of approximately 30 km, it complements existing systems like the Akash and MRSAM in the short-to-medium range category. QRSAM is equipped with capabilities for surveillance and tracking while on the move and can engage targets during brief halts. It features an active phased array surveillance radar with a detection range of up to 120 km and a tracking radar effective up to 80 km, integrated with Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) technology. The system is designed for multi-target engagement and can counter threats from aircraft, hovering helicopters, UAVs, and other airborne targets. Indian forces had not deployed air defence systems and missiles in active operations since the Kargil War. However, this changed following the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack that claimed 26 lives, when India launched BrahMos missiles to strike terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). First Published: June 09, 2025, 20:31 IST
