Iran-Pakistan

anxiety in Tehran is that Pakistan has crossed a line by hitting inside Iranian territory, a threshold that even the U.S. and Israel have been careful to not breach.”

Russia’s foreign ministry on Thursday called on Iran and Pakistan to show maximum restraint and solve their differences through diplomacy.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said after speaking with his counterparts from both countries that neither side wanted to escalate tensions.

Iran and Pakistan have complicated but cordial relations. Their ministers met at Davos this week and their navies conducted joint exercises in the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf. The two countries have similar concerns about the lawless border area, where drug smugglers and militant Baloch groups are very active.

After both sets of air strikes, each side seemed anxious to emphasise that these did not represent attacks on a brotherly neighbour.

Tehran’s reaction to the Pakistani strike appears relatively muted and the authorities have said that the victims, who included women and children, were not Iranian nationals.

Michael Kugelman, South Asia director at the Wilson Center, said that while Pakistan’s retaliation raises the risk of escalation, “it also provides an opportunity to step back from the brink”.”In effect, the two sides are even now.

Islamabad had a strong incentive to try to restore deterrence, especially with Iran on the offensive around the wider region deploying direct strikes and proxies to hit out at threats and rivals.

In effect, if Pakistan had held back, it would have faced the risk of additional strikes,” he said. Others suggested that the government in Islamabad was under domestic pressure to respond. The country, which saw its former leader Imran Khan removed nearly two years ago, is holding an election next month. infusing trust among people that no deprived person will be left out of its benefits, he said.

More than four crore people have taken health checkups during the yatra and over 2.5 crore have been screened for TB, he said, adding that over 50 crore ‘ayushman’ cards have been given to people and nearly 35 lakh farmers have been included in the ‘PM Kisan Yojna’.

Neearly 25 lakh new ‘Kisan Credit Cards’ and 25 lakh free gas connections were given and 10 lakh new ‘SVANidhi’ applications received during the course of the yatra so far, he added.

He said these are not merely statistics for him as every number represents a life who was deprived of the benefits so far. The prime minister said he has always tried to ensure saturation of welfare schemes coverage.

He stressed his priority is to ensure good nutrition, health and treatment to people besides houses with availability of water, cooking gas and power connections.

He also underlined how crores of people have got bank accounts and opportunities to do something on their own.

Over four crore poor families have got a house of their own in the last 10 years and owners of 70 per cent of them are women, which has boosted their empowerment, he said.

The average period to build a house for the poor has come down to nearly 100 days from 300 days earlier, he said.

It is his government’s priority to boost the rural economy and empower farmers, he said.

“India is changing rapidly. People’s selfconfidence, trust in the government and the resolve to build a new India are visible allaround,” he said.

Citing welfare schemes for transgenders, who were part of the interaction, he said his government was the first to show concern about their difficulties and gave priority to making their lives easier. In 2019, it enacted a law protecting their rights.

Highlighting the steps taken to empower self-help groups, he said collateral-free loans ceiling was increased to Rs 20 lakh from Rs 10 lakh, resulting in 10 crore new women getting associated with them.

They have received over Rs 8 lakh crore assistance for opening new businesses, he said.

Speaking about the government’s efforts to modernise the rural economy and empowering farmers, he listed the steps to strengthen the small farmers, including the presence of over 8,000 farmers producer organisations and 50 crore vaccinations for foot and mouth disease resulting in 50 percent increase in the milk production.

Launched on November 15, the ‘Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra’ was started to attain saturation coverage of flagship government schemes and ensure their benefits reach all targeted beneficiaries in a time-bound manner.

With the Lok Sabha polls expected in AprilMay, the programme is likely to boost the ruling BJP’s outreach to the poor and tens of millions of beneficiaries of numerous welfare schemes. out of this amount, medical claims of Rs. 17 crore had been disbursed by the M/s RGIPL.

“ED has attached land worth Rs 4.04 Crore in the name M/s Globus Trade Links Pvt. Ltd., a subsidiary of M/s TRBL and FDRs to the extent of value of Rs 32.53 Crore, pertaining to M/s Reliance General Insurance Pvt. Ltd.

Further investigation is under progress,” it said.