Protests swell in Myanmar
UN expert warns troop mobilisation could signal prospect of major violence
Thousands of demonstrators flooded the streets of Myanmar’s biggest city Yangon on Wednesday, in one of the largest protests yet against the coup, despite warnings from a UN human rights expert that recent troop movements could indicate the military was planning a violent crackdown.
Protesters marched carrying signs calling for ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi to be released while others feigned car trouble, strategically abandoning their vehicles — and leaving the hoods up — to prevent security forces from easily accessing the demonstrations. One motorist explained tongue-in-cheek that his car had broken down “due to the suffering that our people are undergoing now. We just stopped the cars here on the road to show that we do not want the military regime.”
Large rallies were also held in the country’s second-biggest city, Mandalay, and the capital Naypyitaw, in defiance of an order banning gatherings of five or more people.
The demonstrations came a day after UN rapporteur Tom Andrews expressed alarm at reports of soldiers being transported into Yangon, noting that such movements had previously preceded killings, disappearances and mass arrests. “I am terrified that given the confluence of these two developments — planned mass protests and troops converging — we could be on the precipice of the military committing even greater crimes against the people of Myanmar,” he said in a statement issued by the UN Human Rights office in Geneva. By Wednesday evening, there had been no reports of major violence.
The protesters on Wednesday rejected an army assertion that there was public support for overthrowing elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi, and said their campaign would not burn out.
Protesters are sceptical of the junta’s assurances, given on Tuesday, that there would be a fair election and it would hand over power, even as police filed a second charge against Suu Kyi.
“We’re showing here that we’re not in that 40 million they announced,” Sithu Maung, an elected member of Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) told a cheering crowd at the Sule Pagoda, a central protest site in the main city of Yangon.
Brig Gen Zaw Min Tun, spokesman for the ruling council, told the Tuesday news conference that 40mn of the 53mn population supported the military’s action, which he said was in line with the constitution.
NEW DELHI: India on Wednesday offered telecom and networking equipment companies incentives worth ₹12,195 crore to boost local manufacturing, seeking to cut the nation’s massive dependence on imports of such gear.
The production-linked incentive (PLI), finalised after consultations with companies and other stakeholders, will reduce the country’s imports of telecom equipment worth over ₹50,000 crore, Ravi Shankar Prasad, minister for telecom, electronics and information technology, told reporters after a meeting of the Union cabinet.
India, which imports 85% of its wireless telecom equipment, is currently preparing to roll out fifth-generation, or 5G, telecom services that will require telecom operators to make heavy investments in network infrastructure. The incentives, along with local demand, are expected to draw foreign companies to set up manufacturing units in India.
The government had in November offered incentives worth ₹1.46 lakh crore to 10 sectors, including for manufacture of automobiles and solar panels, after the success of the scheme
for production of mobile phones launched in April 2020.
“The PLI scheme that was launched for mobile phones and components manufacturing in April 2020 has been quite successful, following which the government has decided to offer such incentives to the production of telecom parts as well,” Prasad said.
The government will extend the incentive scheme to include manufacturing of other electronic devices such as laptops and tablets, Prasad said, adding that an announcement on this will be made soon.
The PLI scheme for telecom gear will cover manufacturing of equipment such as core transmission products, 4G/5G radio access network and other wireless gear, said an official
statement. The PLI programme aims to make India a global hub for the production of access and customer premises equipment, internet of things (IoT) access devices, other wireless products and enterprise gear such as switches and routers.
“The scheme is a fantastic move to advance the vocal for local agenda, generate employment and embed local manufacturing. A big positive to invigorate the ecosystem play for value addition and boost MSME market play in digital,” said Prashant Singhal, emerging markets, technology, media, telecommunications-leader, EY.
Under the PLI scheme for telecom equipment, the government will give 4-6% incentive to eligible companies on incremental sales of manufactured goods for five years. Micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) will get a 4-7% incentive in the first three years of production.
The base year is 2019-20 and the incentives are applicable from 1 April 2021.
The minimum investment threshold for MSMEs is ₹10 crore, while for larger companies, it is ₹100 crore, the statement said.
Finnish telecom equipment manufacturer Nokia Corp., which has a plant in Chennai, welcomed the government’s decision. “Nokia is already making in India a range of telecom equipment, from 2G to 5G, for domestic as well as global markets. We hope these incentives will give the right impetus to telecom manufacturing ecosystem in the country,” said a Nokia India spokesperson.
The government has estimated that the PLI scheme for telecom gear will lead to an incremental production of around ₹2.4 lakh crore, with exports of around ₹2 lakh crore in the next five years.
The incentive scheme is expected to draw investments of more than ₹3,000 crore. It will create 40,000 direct and indirect jobs and generate a tax revenue of about ₹17,000 crore, Prasad said.
THE BASE YEAR IS 2019-20 AND THE INCENTIVES ARE APPLICABLE FROM APRIL 1, 2021