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The Indian government has registered a protest with the UK over a recent visit by its High Commissioner in Islamabad to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), calling the act “unacceptable”.
In a statement issued Saturday, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said the visit was an infringement of India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and that foreign secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra has lodged a protest with the British High Commissioner to India, Alex Ellis.
The British envoy to Pakistan, Jane Marriott, visited Mirpur city in PoK along with an official of the UK Foreign Office. Marriott later wrote on social media site X that 70 per cent of British-Pakistani people have their roots in Mirpur. She also posted photographs from the visit.
In response, the MEA Saturday said India has taken serious note of the “highly objectionable” visit. “Such infringement of India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity is unacceptable,” it said, adding: “Foreign Secretary has lodged a strong protest with the British High Commissioner in India on this infringement.”
The statement reiterated that “the Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh are, have been and shall always remain an integral part of India”.
During her trip to Mirpur, Marriott held meetings with the business community and officials. A significant portion of the population from the area had migrated to the UK in the 1950s and 1960s. A sizable chunk of its population holds dual British and Pakistani citizenship.
Govt & Politics
J&K Army launching operation sarvashakti to flushout terrorists (Page no. 5)
(GS Paper 3, Defence)
The Army is launching Operation Sarvashakti involving security forces from both sides of the Pir Panjal range in Jammu and Kashmir to flush out terrorists who have been involved in a series of ambushes on Indian troops carried out in areas of Rajouri and Poonch.
Troops of the Srinagar-based 15 Corps and the Nagrota-based 16 Corps will be operating in tandem, along with other agencies and paramilitary forces, as part of the operation to wipe off terrorists sponsored by Pakistan.
According to sources, intelligence inputs at all levels are being collated and acted upon. Additional troops from the reserve formations have been moved into the Rajouri-Poonch area.
The operation will be on the lines of Operation Sarpvinash of 2003, which was launched against terrorists south of the Pir Panjal range.
The operation had lasted for roughly three months and nearly 100 terrorists were killed at that time. A large number of stores and equipment, including some medical ones, were recovered.
Sarpvinash followed by large-scale domination of the area by the Army and the Rashtriya Rifles brought peace in the area till about 2017-2018.
New high for PM Fasal Bima: Non Loanee area 70% higher compared to 2021-22 (Page no. 6)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
The insured gross cropped area of non-loanee farmers under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) has reached a new high, indicating growing acceptance of the Centre’s crop insurance scheme.
According to the data available with the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, the non-loanee area, the gross cropped area for which farmers have not taken any loan from bank or other financial institutions, has jumped to 180 lakh hectares during crop year 2022-23 under the PMFBY, which is 70 per cent higher as compared to 106 lakh hectares during 2021-22.
In fact, the insured non-loanee area accounted for 36.07 per cent of the total insured area under the PMFBY during 2022-23, which is the highest in the last five years.
The proportion of non-loanee area in the total insured area under the PMFBY have been hovering around 24 per cent during the last five years — 23.93 per cent in 2021-22, 24.52 per cent in 2020-21, 22.38 per cent in 2019-20, and 24.3 per cent in 2018-19.
While the insured non-loanee area has increased during the last five years, the loanee area has seen a decline from 444 lakh hectares in 2019-20 to 354 in 2020-21 to 336 lakh hectares in 2021-22 to 320 lakh hectares in 2022-23. In 2018-19, the loanee area stood at 406 lakh hectares.
The NDA government launched the PMFBY from kharif 2016. After implementation of the scheme for initial two years, the government reviewed it and introduced some changes with effect from October 1, 2018.
In 2020, the government revamped the scheme’s operational guidelines, and the revised guidelines came into effect from kharif 2020.
Opinion
Maldives, India, China: History shapes the present (Page no. 9)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
The Maldives, especially when seen through the eyes of its Indian Ocean neighbours, and past and prospective allies, is a study in contradictions. An archipelago of nearly 1,200 islands, it is a specimen of small states that paradoxically managed to maintain relative independence from European colonisation throughout the colonial period, in contrast to large South Asian territories.
A constitutionally Muslim nation, today, Maldivian culture is rooted in Buddhism, which once informed the nation’s script, language, architecture, culture, and manners. This was prior to the adoption of Islam in 1153 AD.
Owing to its strategic location in the Indian Ocean, the Maldives attracted the gaze of Portuguese, Dutch, and French explorers in the 16th and 17th centuries.
It came under British economic and strategic influence, which culminated in a Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation that the nation signed with the British in 1887.
While the Victorian administration became the de facto handler of Maldivian foreign affairs, the nation retained its internal political sovereignty.
During the Second World War, the Maldives was a British naval base, and continued as a British protectorate until its independence in 1965.
World
Taiwan voters rebuff China, give ruling party third presidential term (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
Taiwanese voters swept the ruling Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) presidential candidate Lai Ching-te into power, strongly rejecting Chinese pressure to spurn him, as China said it would not give up on achieving "reunification".
Lai's party, which champions Taiwan's separate identity and rejects China's territorial claims, was seeking a third successive four-year term, unprecedented under Taiwan's current electoral system.
However, in a measure of public frustration at domestic issues like the high cost of housing and stagnating wages after eight years in power, the DPP lost its majority in Parliament, making Lai's job harder in passing legislation.
Lai also only won 40% of the vote in Taiwan's first-past-the-post system, unlike current President Tsai Ing-wen who was re-elected by a landslide four years ago with more than 50% of the vote.
Lai said he would maintain the status quo in relations across the Taiwan Strait, but that he was "determined to safeguard Taiwan from threats and intimidation from China".
Economy
Govt reconstitutes EPFO board (Page no. 11)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
In a revamp of the retirement fund body Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), the government has reconstituted the body’s Central Board of Trustees (CBT) after the completion of its five-year term.
Among the 10 employees’ representatives, who are essentially part of trade unions, there are three members from Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)-affiliated Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), along with one member each from Hind Mazdoor Sabha, Communist Party of India (M)-affiliated Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), Trade Union Co-ordination Centre, Self Employed Women’s Association, National Front of Indian Trade Unions.
This sums up to eight members out of 10 available positions for employees’ representatives and two posts remain vacant so far. Before this, the CBT was reconstituted in November 2018 having representatives from BMS (3 members), CITU (1 member), AITUC (1 member), Hind Mazdoor Sabha (1 member), AIUTUC (1 member), and three vacant posts of Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC).
With notification, now there are no employees’ representatives from the CPI-affiliated All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), All India United Trade Union Centre (AIUTUC) and Congress-affiliated INTUC.
Two posts remain vacant so far without the government mentioning the name of any trade union. The November 2018 notification had mentioned three vacant positions from INTUC.