US seeks better ties with allies in Indo-pacific

The US has initiated major defence department efforts to better address the security challenge from China, including steps to “streamline and strengthen” cooperation with allies, especially in the Indo-pacific region.

US defence secretary Lloyd Austin announced the initiatives on Wednesday based on the recommendations from the China Task Force, which was unveiled by President Joe Biden in February to provide an assessment of existing steps and to chalk out priorities.

Based on the recommendations, Austin issued a directive initiating several departmentwide efforts to better address the security challenges posed by China as America’s “No. 1 pacing challenge”, the Pentagon said.

The measures are designed to “focus departmental processes

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and procedures and better help department leaders contribute to whole-of-government efforts to address the challenge from China”.

Earlier, China accused the US of being “full of Cold War mentality” after the Senate passed a sweeping industrial policy bill to counter the economic threat from Beijing. America’s political parties supported pumping over $170bn into research and development.

The United States Innovation and Competition Act is seen as crucial for US efforts to avoid being out-manoeuvred by Beijing as they compete in the race for technological innovation.

In another development, Biden withdrew a series of Trump-era executive orders that sought to ban new downloads of Wechat and Tiktok. and major changes in the development control norms – which could become controversial from an environment perspective.

Environmentalist Diwan Singh said the policy will result in “rampant commercial activities in greenbelt villages”. “These are the green buffers of the city. What’s left if development is allowed in these villages? Instead provisions should be made that villagers can get revenue eco-system services or ecofriendly activities, etc,” he said.

The MPD-2041 also proposes that local bodies and the tourism department identify nightlife circuits (NCS) and permit extended timings for socio-cultural activities. For this, low-frequency public transport should be made available, it adds.

“Cities should consciously support night-time economies and active nightlife. On the one hand, it will support numerous economies that can thrive at night, for instance, cultural activities, certain industries, logistics, etc. thereby helping stagger work timings and reduce congestion on roads. This will also substantially increase productive use of city resources by utilising city infrastructure throughout the day, resulting in higher economic output. On the other hand, night life can also provide interesting options for citizens to participate in recreational, cultural and creative activities after standard work hours,” said NIUA director Hitesh Vaidya.

Vaidya said the “pandemic has shown that it cannot be business as usual anymore”.

“There is a need for the integration of health services with other city infrastructures. There is a need for detailed neighbourhood planning,” he added.

The MPD-2041 abandons the provision for Local Area Plans, which was mandated in the MPD-2021, and the DDA now plans to develop layouts that will be more detailed and map all infrastructure.

The proposed development of green-blue corridors will focus on improving drains and river waterfronts, and allow regulated development in green belt villages while preserving eco-cultural assets.

With dust pollution being one of the major contributors to air pollution, the plan has proposed that infrastructure agencies should prepare a dust management plan and get it approved by competent authorities.

Shortage of housing is also a pressing concern that the MPD focuses on. The new Master Plan pushes for rental housing and small format housing complexes. “This is being done to provide affordable housing to a large section of people. An online portal giving information regarding availability, location, rentals, etc, shall be created,” said an official, who asked not to be named.

Like MPD-2021, this plan, too, focuses on congestion pricing in busy business districts, restricting on-street parking, and preparing market management plans in residential and commercial areas.

In the transport sector, there is a major thrust on promoting electric mobility, revival of the Ring Rail network, promoting cycling by developing dedicated corridors, and provisions for starting premium bus services on busy routes.

MPD-2041 also has a detailed plan for monitoring the implementation of the Master Plan. DDA officials said that they have baseline data of all important sectors and to assess progress, three monitoring committees -Environmental Sustainability Committee, Built Environment Committee and City Vitality Committee – will keep tracking related metrics.

Anumita Roychowdhury,

the doors on negotiations with protesting farm unions. “We are willing to talk and are committed to farmers’ welfare. We had 11 rounds of talks. We have appealed to the farmers to point out specific objections in the legislation. Neither any opposition leader in the House (Parliament) nor the protesting farmers have come up with any specific objection,” Tomar said.

The government buys large quantities of cereals from farmers at MSP rates and distributes them to beneficiaries through the public distribution system at subsidised rates. This is primarily how farmers benefit from the MSP system. However, sales to other buyers can be at prices that are either above or below MSPS.

Among key crops, MSP for paddy has been raised from ₹1,868 to ₹1,940 a quintal, a hike of 3%. The rates for coarse cereals jowar and bajra were hiked by ₹118 to stand at ₹2,738 and ₹2,250, which translates to a raise of 21% and 5%, respectively. The prices of urad, a lentil, has been increased sharply by ₹300 to stand at ₹6,300 a quintal.

The highest increase over the previous year was for sesamum, an oilseed, whose MSP was raised by ₹452 a quintal, to stand at ₹7,307 a quintal, up from ₹6,855.

The next largest increase were for two lentils, tur (pigeon pea) and urad (black gram) , whose MSPS were increased by ₹300 a quintal each. Prices of groundnut and nigerseed have been increased by ₹275 per quintal and ₹235 a quintal, respectively. In all, prices were raised by up to 62%.

To fix MSP, the government uses a measure of cost, called A2 + FL, which refers to the cost of cultivation plus the value of family labour. Farmers have been demanding a legal guarantee for MSP that is calculated using a broader and more comprehensive measure of costs called C2, which includes the assumed cost of capital invested, including machinery, and rent on land.

“Across crops, the increase in absolute numbers doesn’t even match the inflation rate,” said Kavitha Kuruganti, a farm activist. “The government is doing its usual trickery on farmers. First, they did not use the C2 cost concept and used A2+FL. In maize, the increase is as low as ₹20 per quintal, compared to last year. MSPS are meaningless if the government cannot ensure that all farmers get at least this price.”

discriminated against due to the colour of their skin”. The findings showed that 18% were discriminated against due to their gender or religion and 16% for their country of origin. About 5% were discriminated over caste, which, the authors of the report said, based on the responses, was perpetrated by both Indian Americans and non-indians, such as South Asians who are familiar with caste and related issues.

The state of California sued Cisco Systems, a San Jose-based IT giant in July 2020 for alleged caste-based discrimination at workplace on a complaint from an employee who was described as “Dalit”. The lawsuit cited a 2018 survey that found that 67% of Dalit employees reported being treated unfairly at American workplaces.

Indian Americans were also hit by a wave of hate crimes and ethnic slurs in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks in 2001 -- a Sikh man in Arizona was the first person killed in the backlash. A white supremacist gunned down six people at a Wisconsin gurdwara in 2012; and Srinivas Kuchibhotla, an IT engineer from Hyderabad, was killed in Kansas by a man who yelled “get out of my country” in 2017.

“The incident of my friend’s daughter who was born in America being told by another person who was standing in line at a coffee shop to ‘go home’ still stands out for me,” said MR Rangaswami, founder of Indiaspora. The study, he added, “is a clarion call for the Indian diaspora to build institutions that can stand up for the community”.

A significantly larger number of foreign-born Indian Americans, 59% , did not feel they had been discriminated against in the past one year, compared to 36% of their Us-born counterparts, the survey showed. “Differences in social norms, greater awareness of discriminatory practices, or less fear of retaliation”, were some of the factors for the higher reporting of discrimination by Us-born Indian Americans.

In other findings, Indian Americans — both born in the US and outside — tend to marry within the community, with Us-born Indian Americans marrying non-indians at a significantly higher number than foreign-born Indian Americans.

They also tend to hang out with other Indian Americans as part of their “social network”.

And only 43% believe the phrase “Indian American” describes them adequately. About 30% preferred to be called “Indian” and 6% don’t like the “hyphenated American” part like Bobby Jindal, the Republican who briefly ran for the White House in 2016, and wanted to be called “American”.

“This paper argues that while there is much that binds the community, there are also nascent signs that these common bonds are being tested as religious cleavages, generational divides, and political polarisation invite fragmentation,” the study said. “In that sense, the currents coursing their way through the Indian diaspora are perhaps reflective not only of broader developments in American society but also... and perhaps... the turbulence afflicting India,” it said.

said he realised that it was no longer possible for him to serve people and protect their interests while remaining in his former party. He said the decision was not about which party he was quitting but which he was joining. The development marks another high-profile exit from the Congress of a leader who later joined the BJP. Rajya Sabha MP Jyotiraditya Scindia joined the BJP last year, resulting in the fall of the Congress government in Madhya Pradesh. Once considered close to Rahul Gandhi, a host of young Congress leaders, including Sachin Pilot and Milind Deora, have spoken out about the state of affairs in their party.

Getting Prasada, a member of the Brahmin community, which forms about 13% of Uttar Pradesh’s population, is good optics for the BJP ahead of assembly elections in the state next year, experts said.

Goyal praised Prasada for continuing to help the people of his constituency despite no longer being their representative in Parliament. Prasada, a twotime Congress MP, lost the 2014 elections to BJP’S Rekha Verma.

Lauding him as a “rooted leader” and politician of stature, Goyal said his joining the BJP will boost the party and also provide him an opportunity to serve people. There was speculation about the possibility of Prasada joining the BJP ahead of the 2019 elections but he had then dismissed it saying he would not address “hypothetical questions”.

Prasada has said in recent years that his community was facing persecution and being largely ignored by the Yogi Adityanath-led government in Uttar Pradesh. He also started a Brahma Chetna Samvaad to reach out to the community and offer a platform to give a voice to the community’s aspirations.

In a tweet on Wednesday, Adityanath said: “We welcome Jitin Prasad, who has left Congress to join the BJP. His inclusion in the party will definitely strengthen BJP in Uttar Pradesh.” Last year, Congress leader Kapil Sibal, who was among the signatories to a letter to party chief Sonia Gandhi seeking organisational changes, alleged Prasada was being targeted by partymen in Uttar Pradesh and called it unfortunate. Prasada did not find a place in the Congress’s committees formed for the 2022 assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh. A two-term Lok Sabha MP, he lost elections in 2014 and 2019, and was the Congress leader in charge of West Bengal before joining the BJP.

“Jitin Prasad Ji, do you feel comfortable standing with those people who have suppressed every democratic institution in the last 7 years?” Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate said.