Pakistan rattled as Modi govt begins halting water after suspending Indus Water Treaty; Islamabad plotting with China to build new dam in…, it will be capable of…
Indus Water Treaty: Pakistan is rattled as India has set in motion plans to halt water supply from the Indus river system after the suspension of the Indus Water Treaty following the heinous April 22 Pahalgam terror attack earlier this year. Now, panicked and rattled by Narendra Modi government's plans to stop the flow of water, Pakistan has announced that it will increase its water storage capacity and will build a large dam with the help of its 'iron brother' China, to meet that goal. How Pakistan plans to increase water storage capacity?
The announcement was made by Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif during his visit the National Emergency Operations Center (NEOC) in Islamabad. Sharif said that the country will increase its water storage capacities in the next few years, and use the Diamer Bhasha dam and similar projects for that purpose, adding that the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) will play an important role in the matter.
The Pakistani prime minister stated that the 'enemy' had 'illegally' suspended the Indus Water Treaty, but Islamabad will enhance its capacity to store more water without any dispute using projects such as the Diamer Bhasha dam. Sharif also talked about the damage caused by 2022 floods and the danger of water crisis posed by climate change. What makes Diamer Bhasha Dam project a concern for India?
The Diamer-Bhasha Dam is a concrete-filled gravity dam being built on the Indus River between Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK). Once completed, the gigantic dam will be a staggering 272 meters in height, making it the world's tallest Roller Compact Concrete (RCC) dam.
The dam will have a reservoir of about 8 million acre feet (MAF).
However, apart from Pakistan, its ally China has shown keen interest in the project as Beijing wants it to be a part of the ambitious China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). This is a major cause of concern of New Delhi as China will increase its influence and interference in a strategic region which lies close to the India's borders. How Pakistan depends on the Indus river system?
Pakistan is an agrarian economy and its agriculture is heavily dependent on the Indus river system, especially the Jhelum, Chenab, and Indus rivers. If India manages to divert or completely stop the flow of water to Pakistan from these, the neighboring country's agriculture could be seriously impacted and even lead to crop failures and drought in severe cases. Why India suspended the Indus Water Treaty?
Earlier this year, India suspended the Indus Waters Treaty after the heinous April 22 Pahalgam terror attack, and now the Modi government has devised a long-term strategy that will make Pakistan yearn for every single drop of water in the coming future.
According to reports, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government is committed to make Pakistan pay for the Pahalgam massacre, and plans are in place in to restrict water from the Indus, Sutlej and Beas rivers to the enemy country.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Indian Express
7 minutes ago
- Indian Express
GoM meeting on GST reforms next week, tight timeline for Council's nod
The Group of Ministers (GoM) on Rate Rationalisation is set to meet in the coming week to discuss the proposal on next-generation GST reforms Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on Friday. The GoM has ministers from six states: Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Bihar and Karnataka. While the proposal was shared with the ministers from the six states a day before the PM's Independence Day address, the Department of Revenue in the Union Ministry of Finance will make a presentation to the GoM when it meets, sources said. Sources in the Union Finance Ministry said they were confident the GoM and later the GST Council would find merit in the proposal. Internal calculations by the Department of Revenue in the Finance Ministry suggest that gross GST revenues under the proposed two-pillar rate structure of 5 per cent and 18 per cent will not be lower than what it is now. Giving a broad idea of the proposal, sources said most of the products and services would be placed in either of the two rates — 5 per cent or 18 per cent. Goods and services used by the common man, or as inputs by farmers, small entrepreneurs and MSMEs, will attract the lower 5 per cent duty. This will reduce the tax burden and is expected to drive consumption. Most other goods and services will attract the 18 per cent rate, they said. Sources said that in categorising goods and services as sin and demerit goods and bracketing them under the special rate of 40 per cent, the Department of Revenue has kept in mind the country's 'social ethos'. At present, there are multiple rate slabs — 5 per cent, 12 per cent, 18 per cent and 28 per cent — and a compensation cess ranging from 1 per cent to 290 per cent that is levied on sin and luxury goods such as cars, refrigerators, air conditioners, pan masala, tobacco and cigarettes. With loans taken by the Centre to pay compensation cess to states getting recouped and fully repaid by November-December, the cess rates on goods are proposed to be subsumed at this special rate of 40 per cent, sources said. But on some goods like tobacco, the tax incidence is substantially higher than 40 per cent; the government is aware of this, and a separate mechanism may be arrived at in due course, the sources said. Though there might be an initial impact on revenues, the gains from higher compliance and consumption are expected to offset the losses, they said. Against a tight timeline, the Centre is learnt to have factored in at least three meetings of the GoM before a final proposal is put before the GST Council, the apex decision-making authority on aspects of the indirect tax regime that was introduced in 2017. Indications are that a rollout is being targeted well ahead of Diwali, since the industry needs time to reconcile to the new rate structure and any disruption ahead of the festive season would need to be avoided. 'In the eight years of GST, there has so far been patchy tinkering of tax rates and slabs. That piecemeal addressing of problems with the tax regime has only complicated the structure further and has ended up with a system that is even more complicated and layered than what was originally envisaged. What we are doing now is a holistic revamp of the tax system with two main rates that will be the two pillars of the tax regime,' said the source 'This structural reform to the tax regime would be accompanied by process reforms that include sorting out registration issues and problems with refunds, and changes in how automated notices are generated to make the interface smoother,' said the source. As per the proposal, the government is looking to implement pre-filled returns to reduce manual intervention, eliminate mismatches and compliance burden due to multiple notices. Changes will also be made on the refunds front, with the proposal aiming to provide a major portion of refunds within a fixed number of days and enable automated processing of refunds for exporters and those with inverted duty structure. 'In Income Tax, the tax department keeps your TDS (tax deducted at source) amount for one year and pays you the refund after your return filing. But since they pay fast, the taxpayer feels happy about it. In GST, there are refunds that are given three times or four times a year. But people still complain. Now, the crucial difference here is that in the case of GST, the timing is crucial, since it (the refund) is working capital for the enterprise. So, there is a need to make the processes faster. All these will be part of the process reforms,' the source said. The Centre is learnt to have factored in at least three meetings of the Group of Ministers (GoM) before a final proposal is put before the GST Council. Indications are that a rollout is being targeted well ahead of Diwali, since the industry needs time to reconcile to the new rate structure and any disruption ahead of the festive season would need to be avoided. The multiplicity of rates in the current GST regime, officials said, had triggered problems of implementation, confusion of interpretation, and disputes. 'So, we wanted to make it simple. Ideally, one tax rate would have been the best solution, but it is not practical. Currently, we have five rates, alongside the exempt items and special rates for items such as jewellery or diamonds. Now we would have two rates (5 per cent and 18 per cent). The third rate (40 per cent) is exceptional. You need to justify why something should go there. Currently, 28 per cent is part of the structure. 40 per cent in the new regime is not. That is the difference,' the source said. The PM's announcement has to be seen in the context of it being a proposal for states to consider, the source said. 'A reform like this should have everybody on board for it to work best. The GoM on rate rationalisation has been working on this issue for the last four years… The Centre has now taken a leadership position on this, and put this proposal for consideration of the panel,' a source said. The Centre, sources said, is convinced of the buoyancy from the rate rationalisation taking care of the worries stemming from revenue loss, unlike an earlier attempt in 2018 when rate cuts did not result in revenue gains. 'There were problems then (2018), since it (the cut) led to inversions in duty rates in multiple sectors and that led to some amount of gaming of the system by players to avail of input tax credits. Evasion grew… This move to revamp the rate structure (now) is to avoid inversions and inversions-related problems,' an official said. 'Technically, the states should be convinced. Politically, one has to see how they respond,' the official said.
Mint
7 minutes ago
- Mint
Applied Materials Suffers Worst Rout Since 2020 on China Woes
Applied Materials Inc. suffered the worst single-day stock decline in five years after giving a disappointing sales and profit forecast, renewing concerns that the US trade dispute with China is weighing on demand. Revenue will be approximately $6.7 billion in the fiscal fourth quarter, the company said in a statement Thursday. Analysts had estimated $7.32 billion on average. Profit will be about $2.11 a share, excluding some items, compared with a projection of $2.38. Applied Materials, the largest American producer of chipmaking gear, is seeing less demand from customers in China, Chief Executive Officer Gary Dickerson said in an interview. It also faces delays in approval for exporting technology to that country, he said. Moreover, large customers are putting off some purchases in the face of prolonged negotiations around tariffs and other economic issues. 'It just creates a level of uncertainty,' Dickerson said. The outlook sent shares of Applied Materials down 14% on Friday, the most since the early days of the pandemic in March 2020. They had been up 16% this year heading into the report. In the third quarter, which ended July 27, revenue rose 7.7% to $7.3 billion. Analysts had anticipated $7.21 billion on average, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Profit was $2.48 a share, compared with an estimate of $2.36. Applied Materials' customer ranks include some of the biggest names in the chip industry, such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Samsung Electronics Co. and Intel Corp. Those manufacturers order gear well ahead of starting production, making Applied Materials' forecasts a barometer for future demand. The company said last week that it would participate in an Apple Inc. plan to boost manufacturing in the US by spending more than $200 million on a facility in Arizona. Applied Materials will also sell equipment to Texas Instruments Inc.'s US factories to support Apple products. 'Applied Materials' decision to be a core member of Apple's 'American Manufacturing Program,' a drive to increase factory production within the US, could strengthen its position as a key supplier of chipmaking tools for advanced semiconductors used in iPhones,' Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Masahiro Wakasugi said in a note. 'The new administration is very focused on increasing semiconductor supply in the United States,' Dickerson said on Thursday. 'We're very positive.' In July, rival Lam Research Corp. said revenue for the quarter ending in December would ease from the current-quarter levels, with Chinese customers potentially scaling back after a spending spree. In a further sign of US-China tensions, Applied Materials was recently sued by Beijing E-Town Semiconductor Technology Co. over what that company characterized as trade secret theft. Still, Dickerson said the long-term demand outlook for computing power remains strong. Customers in China had significantly ramped up buying in recent years, and are now just digesting those purchases, he said. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
Indian Express
37 minutes ago
- Indian Express
India, South Korea resolve to set ‘new industrial ambition' in high-tech sectors
India and South Korea on Saturday resolved to expand their strategic partnership by setting new 'industrial ambition' in the areas of semiconductor, defence, clean energy, and artificial intelligence. Ways to ramp up the overall bilateral cooperation figured prominently in talks between External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his visiting South Korean counterpart, Cho Hyun. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said Jaishankar and Hyun agreed to set new industrial ambitions, especially in high-tech sectors such as AI, semiconductors, clean energy, shipbuilding, and the defence industry. The ministers took stock of bilateral cooperation, including in the political, security, trade and economy, technological, and people-to-people domains, it said. In a social media post, Jaishankar said, 'Held productive discussions on advancing our bilateral cooperation in trade, manufacturing, maritime and people-to-people exchanges as well as new opportunities in AI, semiconductors, clean energy and defence.' Jaishankar said he and Hyun also exchanged perspectives on the Indo-Pacific region and contemporary global developments. 'Appreciated our deepening convergences and growing engagement as our Special Strategic Partnership completes 10 years,' he said. In his opening remarks at the meeting, Jaishankar also thanked Seoul for its condemnation of the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack. Jaishankar made a mention of Seoul's support to an Indian parliamentary delegation that visited South Korea in the aftermath of Operation Sindoor. 'You have been barely a month in the job (as the foreign minister), the fact that you are here literally a day after your National Day, and our National Day, says a lot really about the value we attach to the relationship,' Jaishankar said. The MEA said Jaishankar and Hyun reaffirmed the strong and growing 'special strategic partnership' between the two countries. The partnership is rooted in shared democratic values, mutual trust, shared economic interests, and commitment to regional and global peace and stability, it said.
