Jaishankar told the parliament on Friday, August 9, that the CBI had already initiated criminal cases against 19 individuals and entities involved in the recruitment scheme, with evidence emerging against 10 human traffickers, and four arrests had already been made.
New Delhi: External affairs S. Jaishankar has told the parliament that the government is awaiting the release of 69 Indian nationals who were recruited into the Russian army to fight the war in Ukraine.
In response to questions raised on the matter by AIMIM MP Asaduddin Owaisi, Jaishankar told the parliament on Friday, August 9, there was evidence with the government that Indian nationals were being recruited into the Russian army under “misleading” circumstances.
The minister informed the House that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had already initiated criminal cases against 19 individuals and entities involved in this recruitment scheme, with evidence emerging against 10 human traffickers, and four arrests had already been made.
Jaishankar emphasised the government’s seriousness in addressing the issue, noting that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had personally raised the matter with Russian President Vladimir Putin during a recent meeting. Putin assured that Indian nationals in the Russian army would be discharged and released, he said.
“We should not jump the gun and say Russians are not serious on this matter. I think it is important to hold the Russian government to their word and most important for us, we are not here to score points or enter into debates. We are here to get back those 69 people because Indian citizens should not be serving in the army of foreign countries,” he said during the Question Hour, according to the news agency PTI.
According to the minister, there are a total of 91 cases of Indian nationals being recruited into the Russian army. Out of them, he said, eight had passed away, 14 were discharged or in some manner had come back with the government’s assistance and “there are 69 Indian citizens awaiting release from the Russian army”.
Eight of them have lost their lives, with the bodies of four having reached India. The minister acknowledged the gravity of the situation and reiterated the government’s commitment to bringing the remaining 69 Indians home.
Jaishankar underlined that the problem pertains to Russian authorities maintaining that these Indians had entered into contracts for services with the Russian army. “We are not necessarily subscribing to that… I think in many cases there are reasons to indicate that our nationals were misled, that they were told that they were going for some other job and then they were deployed with the Russian army,” he said.
Besides, the minister also highlighted broader concerns about cyber trafficking, revealing that 1,613 Indian nationals had been brought back from Southeast Asia after being forced into cyber scams. He emphasised the need for collaboration between state and central governments to tackle this growing problem, promising vigorous prosecution of those involved in illegal activities.
As per the Committee to Protect Journalists, Israel has killed 113 media workers since the war began in October last year. In the latest incident, Al Jazeera journalists Ismail al-Ghoul and Rami al-Rifi were killed by Israeli airstrike.
On May 3, World Press Freedom Day, the Israeli government banned Al Jazeera from operating within Israeli-controlled territory. Israel had already killed scores of journalists, many of them from Al Jazeera, but to use powers granted under an emergency law to shut down the network’s operations on a day the United Nations created to underscore journalists’ right to do their work without retaliation was the cherry on top, a symbolic middle finger to Palestinian journalists who have been working heroically, on empty stomachs and often without electricity, to cover the genocide of their people.
This week saw more new assassinations of Palestinian journalists. Yesterday, journalists in Gaza had traveled to the home of Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’s political leader who was assassinated early Wednesday while he was in Tehran attending Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian’s inauguration, a death Hamas has attributed to Israel.
Near Haniyeh’s home west of Gaza City in the al-Shati refugee camp, an Israeli air strike killed Al Jazeera Gaza correspondent Ismail al-Ghoul and cameraman Rami al-Rifi as they sat in their car, according to initial reports. Al Jazeera called the killing of its journalists “a cold-blooded assassination.”
Al-Ghoul was a familiar presence to those following Israel’s now nearly year-long war on Gaza. He covered some of the year’s most horrific crimes, including Israel’s siege on al-Shifa Hospital. As al-Ghoul testified before his death, this work took a toll.
“I no longer know the taste of sleep,” he said. “The bodies of children and the screams of the injured and their blood-soaked images never leave my sight. The cries of mothers and the wailing of men who are missing their loved ones never fade from my hearing.”
He continued: “I can no longer bear the sound of children’s voices from beneath the rubble, nor can I forget the energy and power that reverberates at every moment, turning into a nightmare. It is no longer easy for me to stand before the rows of coffins, which are locked and extended, or to see the dead people more than the living who are fighting death beneath their homes, not finding a way out to safety and survival. I am tired, my friend.”
Following the deadly air strike, Gaza’s journalists staged a protest at al-Aqsa Hospital. They flung their unmistakable blue press vests on the ground before a podium, proclaiming that such supposedly protective attire is useless when Israel deliberately targets journalists, international law be damned.
That is not hyperbole: according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Israel has killed 113 media workers since the war began, making it the deadliest period for journalists since the organisation began gathering data in 1992. And that’s likely an undercount: journalists in Gaza say that the CPJ’s number has lagged in recent months, and Palestinian government officials now estimate that more than 160 journalists have been killed.
In another report, published in February, CPJ found that of the 99 journalists killed last year, some three-quarters were killed in the war. That number includes three Lebanese and two Israeli journalists; the rest are Palestinian. Several months ago, the International Federation of Journalists estimated that one in 10 journalists in Gaza had been killed; that number has only risen. More journalists were killed in the first three months of the war than have ever been killed in a single country over an entire year.
“Journalists in Gaza are bearing witness on the front lines,” CPJ CEO Jodie Ginsberg said of the unprecedented killing of journalists. “The immense loss suffered by Palestinian journalists in this war will have long-term impacts for journalism not just in the Palestinian territories but for the region and beyond. Every journalist killed is a further blow to our understanding of the world.”
This is nothing new for Israel. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has a long history of targeting journalists with impunity. Concerning the 20 journalists Israel killed in the two decades before the current war – most famously, Al Jazeera Arabic journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, whose funeral was then attacked – not a single person has been held accountable.
Palestinian journalists in Gaza threw their press vests to the ground in protest against Israel’s killing of Al Jazeera correspondent Ismail al-Ghoul and cameraman Rami al-Rifi. pic.twitter.com/Dmi4D1MoQ3
The reasons why a government would systematically hunt down and kill journalists and their families are not hard to discern: Israel is committing genocide, and it does not want the outside world to know the details. We are gaining further evidence of that from the testimonies of Palestinians detained by Israel in recent months, many of whom speak of torture, rape, beatings, and starvation while in Israeli prisons. Reaching for a comparison, these Palestinians cite Guantanamo.
Funeral of Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Aqleh after her assassination in Palestine. Photo: Wikimedia Commons/alwatan_live/CC BY 3.0
Organisations like CPJ have been pushing for transparent investigations into the killing of journalists – reminding the IDF that deliberately targeting journalists is a war crime – and for Israel to allow foreign journalists into Gaza. Thus far, they have had little success in opening the area to outside scrutiny. Currently, only select news organisations are allowed into Gaza, accompanied by Israeli soldiers in excursions that offer little in the way of a view into the actual conditions on the ground. As IDF soldiers themselves have said, soldiers clear the area of corpses, for instance, before higher-ups enter the area; undoubtedly, the same is true when Western journalists enter.
Even as journalists’ professional organisations like CPJ have been raising the alarm bells, the response from Palestinian journalists’ counterparts in the United States, the country that is providing the weapons used to kill our colleagues in Gaza, remains notably muted. If US media were truly determined to put an end to this repression, the coverage would look a lot different. Their failure to do so, even as Israel makes a mockery of the concept of press freedom, is a stain on the profession.
On World Press Freedom Day, as Israel shut down Al Jazeera, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on “every nation to do more to protect journalists,” reiterating his “unwavering support for free and independent media around the world.” In reality, Blinken has continued to send bombs to a state that is systematically killing journalists. It is hard to imagine a nation doing less to “protect journalists” around the world.
The Henley Passport Index for 2024 has been released, with Singapore emerging as the holder of the world’s most powerful passport, allowing visa-free travel to 195 countries, marking a significant achievement in global mobility.
The latest Henley Passport Index, released by Henley & Partners, has once again crowned Singapore the nation with the most powerful passport in the world for 2024. India holds a modest locus at the 82nd spot.
India’s passport ranks 82nd alongside Senegal and Tajikistan, offering visa-free access to 58 countries. This position illustrates India’s middle-tier global mobility, reflecting both the opportunities and limitations faced by Indian travellers.
Singaporean passport holders enjoy visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to an impressive 195 destinations. This achievement underscores the city-state’s consistently high ranking in global mobility, maintaining its top position from previous years.
This year’s rankings reveal significant mobility shifts, with European and Asian countries dominating the top spots. This places Singapore ahead of other leading nations, including Germany, Italy, France, Spain, and Japan, providing visa-free access to 192 destinations.
The United States, once among the top five, has now slipped to the eighth position, granting visa-free access to 186 countries. This decline highlights the shifting dynamics of global mobility and the increasing competition among countries to provide greater travel freedom to their citizens.
Following Singapore, the second place is shared by five countries: France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and Spain, each granting their citizens visa-free access to 192 destinations. These nations demonstrate the strong global mobility afforded to their citizens through robust diplomatic relationships and comprehensive visa agreements. Interestingly, several countries have shown notable changes in their rankings over the past decade. China has climbed essentially, moving up 24 places from 83rd to 59th since 2014, and Ukraine has progressed 23 places, presently positioning 30th.and Ukraine has advanced 23 places, now ranking 30th. Conversely, Russia has dropped from 38th to 45th place, reflecting changing geopolitical and travel conditions.
In a notable shift, the United States has dropped to eighth place, with its passport allowing visa-free travel to 186 countries. This decline reflects changing international dynamics and possibly stricter visa policies affecting US passport holders.
The Henley Passport Index evaluates 199 passports against 227 travel destinations, providing a comprehensive overview of global travel freedom. The index uses data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and supplemental in-house research.
Israel writes its own rules to suit its purposes, but global civil society needs to sustain the pressure till war crimes investigations lead to prosecutions for the mass murder in Gaza.
Israel’s mass murder in Gaza, part of the Palestinian homeland, is unique and permits none of the distraction of comparison with other crimes against humanity. Global civil society is aware of this and recognises that silence is complicity. Governments have either remained paralysed by indecision or joined the chorus of acclaim for Israel. Civil society for all its global reach in the campaign for Palestinian rights, is yet to make a dent in the undeclared alliance of power against the popular will.
Except for a handful that broke off diplomatic contacts, governments are powerless because the US from its self-assigned perch as arbiter of neo-colonialist global law, is unequivocal in support of Israel. A month into the bombardment of Palestinian life, US President Joe Biden was asked about the possibilities of a ceasefire. “None, no possibility,” he deadpanned. A pause could perhaps be mandated, but only to secure the release of the captives taken by Palestinian militants in their audacious October 7 raid into southern settlements in Israel.
Now an active patron of two wars in distinct theatres – aside from low-level conflicts across the globe the US plays sides in – Biden is unabashed about his double standards. His special assistant in the National Security Council, John Kirby was weepy and maudlin on live TV when speaking of civilian suffering in Ukraine, as also the casualties Israel suffered on October 7. About civilian casualties among the Palestinians, he was brusque and business-like. The US would lay down no “red lines” for Israel’s operations, Kirby said, a response reminiscent of the “stuff happens” comment from US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld (as he then was) after the invasion of Iraq in 2003 and that country’s descent into blood mayhem.
Biden visited Israel ten days into the conflict. The Al Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza had just been bombed, and his response was a sporting metaphor: “based on what I’ve seen, the other team must have done it, not you”, he said sitting across from Israel’s far-right Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Dissembling was the theme after his return home, when he brushed off the toll of deaths and injuries put out by Gaza’s health ministry as implausible.
Biden emboldened further outrages. In the days that followed, Israel attacked every healthcare facility in Gaza, ambulance convoys, schools, mosques and churches, with lethal force. The repeated bombardment of refugee camps under the UN administration was called out as a war crime, but this unequivocal finding by observers on the ground gained no official endorsement from global watchdog bodies such as the International Criminal Court or the UN Security Council.
On November 13, the Israeli army’s spokesman took embedded reporters on a tour of the bombed-out shell of the Rantisi Hospital in Gaza. He pointed to a chalkboard written in Arabic, alleging it was a duty roster for the militant resistance organisation Hamas. The claim was debunked at first glance: the chalkboard did nothing more sinister than list the days of the week in the Arabic script.
The following day, when Israel’s invasion force stepped up the ferocity of its attack on the Al-Shifa Hospital, Gaza’s largest health facility and the last to retain a level of serviceability, it claimed to be carrying out a “precise and targeted” operation against armed Hamas fighters sheltering behind the protection afforded by the hospital. The US asserted that it had evidence proving the Israeli case. No third party stepped up to endorse the claim, neither was any allowed in to verify. The Israeli onslaught went on regardless.
What would be the obligations of global watchdog bodies, which have shown great alacrity in bringing indictments against soft targets? There is a framework of legal obligations global players are expected to honour, a crystallisation of the learning experiences of the “civilised West” after it dragged the world through two rounds of industrial-scale bloodshed in the first half of the 20th century. These were embedded in the Geneva Conventions and related global covenants. The fourth of the Geneva Conventions (GCIV) and the First Additional Protocol are of particular relevance, since they deal with the protection of civilians in armed conflict.
Al Shifa hospital is being used as shelter for displaced families in Gaza. Photo: WHO
Among the rules applicable in all forms of conflict, irrespective of the status of belligerents as state or non-state actors, is Article 33 of the GCIV, which prohibits “collective penalties and likewise all measures of intimidation or terrorism”. This is followed by an entire section on “Occupied Territories” with no fewer than fifteen articles. Among these is one (Article 55), which makes it the duty of the Occupying Power to ensure “the food and medical supplies of the population”, and in particular, to “bring in the necessary foodstuffs, medical stores and other articles if the resources of the occupied territory are inadequate”.
Immediately afterwards is the stipulation (Article 56), that the maintenance of “medical and hospital establishments and services, public health and hygiene in the occupied territory” is an obligation of the Occupying Power, “with the co-operation of national and local authorities”.
Israel has in the past, argued that it is not bound by the Geneva Conventions in any of the occupied territories because there was no sovereign power supplanted by its military conquest. Military lines of control were drawn at Gaza and the West Bank in 1948, after hostilities between Israel and the Egyptian and Jordanian armies ended. Israel merely replaced one form of military administration with another in 1967, when it rolled into Gaza and the West Bank after blitzing the Arab armies in the Six-Day War.
This perspective has been rejected by every expert body since the language of the Geneva Conventions creates no such distinction. Its protections rather, are extended to all persons who “at a given moment and in any manner whatsoever, find themselves, in case of a conflict or occupation, in the hands of a Party to the conflict or Occupying Power of which they are not nationals”.
Israel has since added another element to its ideological armament, with the claim that after its withdrawal of all military deployments and settlements in 2004, the situation in Gaza ceased to be one of occupation, since it is no longer in “effective control”. The reality is that Israel has absolute control over all routes of access to the strip through air, land and sea, has maintained a powerful military presence at Gaza’s border with Egypt, and repeatedly intervened by military means, massively and at times of its choosing. In 2007, it fomented a series of pitched battles between Hamas and the rival resistance group Fatah, in an effort to overturn the result of the Palestinian National Council election of 2006, which the former had won. Effectively splitting the two and confining Hamas to Gaza, Israel ratcheted up the severity of its blockade of the territory.
Israel justifies the blockade on the grounds that it is engaged in an armed conflict with Hamas. In 2010, when a Turkish ship bringing essential food and medicines approached Gaza’s shores, it was interdicted by an Israeli naval task force. Commandos forcibly boarded the ship and killed nine peace volunteers, claiming the alibi that they met with violent resistance. Israel argued before a formal inquest that it was in a state of war with Gaza which made its blockade legal and its interdiction of the Turkish ship a permitted action.
The GCIV stipulates that warring parties will not use deprivation of the basic necessities of civilian life as a weapon of war. Article 23 requires all contracting parties to “allow the free passage of all consignments of medical and hospital stores, … essential foodstuffs, clothing and tonics intended for children under fifteen, expectant mothers and maternity cases”. Article 70 of the First Additional Protocol requires that in the event that “the civilian population of any territory under the control of a Party to the conflict, other than occupied territory … is not adequately provided …. relief actions which are humanitarian and impartial in character and conducted without any adverse distinction shall be undertaken, subject to the agreement of the Parties concerned in such relief actions”.
Israel is in clear and material breach of these stipulations, even in a declared state of war, and even if its denial of the status of an Occupying Power were to be accepted. This has never been a secret from the global community. The purpose of the blockade was put with absolute clarity by an adviser to Israel’s prime minister in 2009: it was “to put the Palestinians on a diet, but not to make them die of hunger”. Israel also has claimed that the blockade on Gaza is a form of legitimate “economic warfare”.
An official document noted in 2010 that Israel’s blockade of Gaza conformed with the principle that “a country has the right to decide that it chooses not to engage in economic relations or to give economic assistance to the other party to the conflict, or that it wishes to operate using ‘economic warfare’” (Yearbook of International Humanitarian Law, 2010: 402-03). In 2011, a cable unearthed by Wikileaks has Israel informing the US that its object was to keep the “Gaza economy functioning at the lowest level possible consistent with avoiding a humanitarian crisis”. To achieve this goal, Israeli officials employed “mathematical formulas to monitor foodstuffs and other basic goods entering the Strip to ensure that the amount of supplies entering was neither less nor more than the (permitted) amount”.
These privations are imposed on Gaza with the object of creating unbearable stresses in society. With a sufficient accumulation of such stresses, Israel believes, Gaza would be compelled to evict Hamas from all positions of authority. This puts Israel flagrantly in violation of the law of armed conflict, since the enforced suffering of civilians cannot be used as a means of achieving political and military objectives.
Perversely, the larger political context creates an incentive for Israel to sustain the blockade indefinitely, irrespective of any expression of peaceable intentions on the other side. Gaza has long since been banished from Israel’s territorial ambitions. It is seen as unmanageable, just too minute a territory with many more people than Israel can deal with. Israel’s territorial aims today include in the near future, the annexation of a substantial part of the West Bank. Keeping Gaza in in a permanent state of global ostracism and blockade, serves its purposes very well.
If Israel was already in a declared state of war with Gaza till the morning of October 7, the events that day were obviously part of a continuum. UN secretary general Antonio Guterres did no more than point this out, when he set off a frisson of faux outrage from the Israeli ambassador to the world body, who called on him to resign and announced that all cooperation with its agencies would cease. That is yet another instance, one among an infinite number, when Israel has used bluster and bullying, with the connivance of the US, to force certain themes off the global dialogue.
Even as the demonstrators who refuse to vacate the streets bear testimony to the manifest failure of this strategy, certain curiosities endure. If Israel was already in a war with Gaza, why was the declaration or the renewal of such a state on October 7 necessary? And in the context of a war that was already underway, how were Hamas’s actions of October 7 to be viewed? To add to these curiosities, Israel that day sought in a noisy, obstreperous clamour of self-righteousness, the right to defend itself against a people it had placed on a blockade and kept on the verge of starvation as a matter of policy.
Members of the orthodox Hasidic Jewish community lead the call for ceasefire in Gaza, Brooklyn, NY, Saturday, October 29. Photo: Sunita Viswanath
The term “terrorism” applied to the October 7 attacks has empowered Israel’s grossly disproportionate response under a dangerously vague and open-ended mission of “eliminating” Hamas for all time. The First Additional Protocol by Article 1(4), extends all the protections of the Geneva Conventions to peoples “fighting against colonial domination and alien occupation and against racist regimes in the exercise of their right of self-determination”. This has been read, though not without controversy, as the legally enshrined right of an occupied people to assert their right to self-determination by armed means. Armed resistance is legitimate where necessary, though within the universally applicable norms of proportionality and military necessity.
“Proportionality” is a difficult parameter to estimate in all circumstances. But when weighed in the scale of Israel’s history of occupation and blockade, and the massive military operations it has carried out in Gaza prior to October 7, it becomes virtually impossible to quantify. Leaving that aside, it is a fact that video records from that day, reviewed by respected global rights bodies, have provided undeniable evidence of war crimes, warranting an investigation by the International Criminal Court.
Proportionality in the application of international legal norms would then require an investigation of Israel’s conduct, both before and after October 7. And Israel has very early on, signalled its utter disdain of every norm, with its deliberate policy of bombing entire neighbourhoods out of existence, its order for the relocation of Gaza’s residents, and its attacks on hospitals after serving brief notice for their evacuation.
Amid the very visible evidence of mass murder, there has been a call for the nuclear bombing of Gaza by an Israeli cabinet minister, Amihai Eliyahu. He earned a reprimand from Israel’s prime minister, perhaps more for the public revelation of Israel’s clandestine nuclear arsenal than for the genocidal intent. Avi Dichter, another cabinet minister, spoke of the ongoing operations as the “Gaza nakba”, or catastrophe, an Arabic term used to describe the mass displacement of Palestinians that accompanied the creation of Israel in 1948. When questioned about this assertion, Mark Regev, an adviser to the Israeli prime minister embraced the sentiment, ascribing all the blame, as he put it, to irresponsible Palestinian leadership.
“We are deeply disturbed by the failure of governments to heed our call and to achieve an immediate ceasefire. We are also profoundly concerned about the support of certain governments for Israel’s strategy of warfare against the besieged population of Gaza, and the failure of the international system to mobilise to prevent genocide.”
This is followed by a call to action:
“The international community, including not only States but also non-State actors such as businesses, must do everything it can to immediately end the risk of genocide against the Palestinian people, and ultimately end Israeli apartheid and occupation of the Palestinian territory.”
International law is of course an imperfect instrument to enforce the will of the global community. With all its ambiguities, the Geneva Conventions are the best available guide to how the world should be, not to how the world is. In reality, the law is what the powerful say it is. An ancient adage resurfaced by the historian E.H. Carr in his classic critique of the theory of international relations puts it best: justice is the right of the strong. Now, more than ever, is a time when international civil society has to agitate for the right to be heard by ruling establishments. Global demonstrations demanding that Israel be held accountable have not shown any sign of fatigue, despite the forces arrayed on the other side, and the application of draconian new laws to silence their voices. That is perhaps the sole bright spot in a bleak global scenario.
Sukumar Muralidharan is an independent writer and researcher based in the Delhi region. He has worked in print media, as a journalism instructor and trainer, and press freedom campaigner.
Punjab has reported nearly 23,000 cases of farm fires this season.
New Delhi: The Punjab government has issued detailed instructions for the police and state administration asking them to crack down on the farmers who continue to burn paddy straw. This comes after the number of farm fires in a single day in the state crossed the 2,000 mark on November 8 (Wednesday).
According to the Tribune, the government has said that FIRs will be registered against those in violation of the law.
Punjab has reported nearly 23,000 cases of farm fires this season and till November 6, 18 FIRs under Section 188 of the IPC ((disobedience to order promulgated by a public servant) were registered, the report said.
The highest number of farm fires on Wednesday were recorded in Sangrur, where chief minister Bhagwant Mann and three of his ministers hail from. Despite the 466 cases reported in the district yesterday, no FIRs have been registered in Sangrur.
Chief secretary Anurag Verma has asked district magistrates, commissioners of police and senior superintendents of police (SSPs) to jointly hold a review meeting on the issue after daily updates on farm fires adding that action will be taken against the station house officer (SHO) in-charge of an area if stubble burning takes place in their jurisdiction.
It has also been decided that erring farmers will be told that FIRs will be registered as burning of stubble is violative of law, the Tribune report said.
Among the set of 12 instructions issued yesterday, police patrol parties headed by SHOs have been asked to go on rounds and prevent stubble burning. District magistrates and SSPs have also been asked to conduct regular field visits themselves.
Meanwhile, general secretary of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Dakunda), Jagmohan Singh, said, “Around 5 lakh farmers across the state had applied for the crop residue management (CRM) machines on the subsidised rates but only 25,000 could get it. This huge gap between availability of CRM machines and demand has forced the farmers to burn stubble.”
“We don’t want to burn the stubble either. But we don’t have any other option in this regard. There is a huge gap in the demand and supply of CRM machines. The pressure of planting new crop is also there as any delay might affect wheat yield,” a farmer, on the condition of anonymity fearing action from the district administration, told the Hindustan Times.
Farm experts have cautioned that stubble burning incidents are expected to rise owing to a delay in harvesting because of unseasonal rainfall in July and August.
New Delhi: On Thursday (October 26), Punjab witnessed 589 farm fires, the highest in a single day this season. This has brought the total incidents of stubble burning to 1,849 over the past week, the Tribunereported.
Of the 589, Amritsar accounted for 91 farm fires, followed by Patiala 81, Tarn Taran 67 and Sangrur 63. Amritsar is also leading the overall tally with 925 stubble burning events since September 15, while Patiala has witnessed 406 cases, Tarn Taran 386, Ferozepur 272 and Sangrur 240, the report said.
Since September 15, the state has witnessed a total of 3,293 incidents. However, compared to last year, the state pollution control board said that there is a 50% drop in stubble burning events in 2023.
Against the 3,293 incidents reported till October 26 this year, the state had recorded 7,036 fire events in the corresponding period last year, the Tribune reported. In 2021, the count stood at 6,463, while it crossed 18,000 in 2020.
However, farm experts have cautioned that the count is expected to rise in the coming days owing to a delay in harvesting because of unseasonal rainfall in July and August.
Jalandhar is the most polluted city in the state with an AQI of 193, followed by Amritsar (172), Ludhiana (146) and Patiala (118). As per health experts, such conditions may trigger breathing discomfort to people with lungs, asthma and heart diseases, the report said. As per the AQI standards, the air quality between 0-50 is considered ‘good’, 51-100 ‘satisfactory’, 101-200 ‘moderate’, 201-300 ‘poor’, 301-400 ‘very poor’, and 401-500 ‘severe’.
According to the report, the Patiala administration has decided to use drones to closely monitor farm fires.
The Punjab Government had submitted a state action plan and district-wise action plans for tackling the problem of stubble burning to the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) for the current paddy harvesting season earlier this month.
“Punjab currently has 1,17,672 crop residue management machines and procurement of around 23,000 machines is underway. Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) has reiterated to the State Government of Punjab for efficient and optimal utilisation of Crop Residue Management (CRM) machines through the 23,792 Custom Hiring Centres (CHCs) established for the purpose in the State,” an official statement said.
This development had come after New Delhi’s Lieutenant Governor (LG) VK Saxena brought up the issue of air pollution in the nation’s capital as a result of stubble burning in neighbouring states while addressing a meeting in Amritsar on September 26.
Ahead of the stubble burning season this year, the Union had allocated Rs 600 crore to the states for handling paddy straws, including its new project on ex-situ supply chain management. Of this, around Rs 105 crore has already been released to Punjab, the Business Standard reported.
The two reports put the BJP-led Union government on the backfoot after the opposition accused it of presiding over “scams” in flagship schemes. The parties demanded accountability from Prime Minister Narendra Modi. After The Wire published its reports, the CAG, in a press release, called them ‘erroneous and baseless’.
New Delhi: The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has transferred officers, including three who were coincidentally involved with and in charge of two of the twelve key audit reports that were presented in parliament during the monsoon session.
These twelve CAG reports revealed corruption and irregularities in the functioning of several Union government ministries and departments. The Monsoon session of Parliament, where these reports were tabled, ended on August 11. The transfer orders were issued on September 12.
CAG reports have been of special interest after the UPA government came under fire for the “2G” and “coal block allocation scam” – which were revealed when Vinod Rai was the CAG, and which had serious consequences for the UPA’s credibility.
The Wire has learnt that two of the Indian Audit and Accounts Service (IA&AS) officers who were transferred were in charge of the audit reports that exposed corruption in the Dwarka Expressway project and Ayushman Bharat.
A third officer who had initiated the audit of the Ayushman Bharat report was also transferred.
According to order 1901 of the CAG office dated September 12, accessed by The Wire, Atoorva Sinha who was the principal director of audit, Infrastructure (PDA, Infrastructure), New Delhi has been transferred and posted as Accountant General (A&E), Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram in place of Sunil Raj Somarajan. Sinha was only assigned the PDA, Infrastructure post in March 2023.
The order adds that the additional charge of the post of PDA, Infrastructure will be held by Rajiv Kumar Pandey.
Atoova Sinha was in charge of the CAG report on highway projects under the Implementation of Bharatmala Pariyojana Phase-I (BPP-1) that found instances of irregularities.
The report found massive overrun costs in the Dwarka Expressway project and said that the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI)’s decision to opt for an elevated carriageway in the Haryana portion pushed up costs to Rs 250.77 crore per kilometre as against the cost of Rs 18.20 crore per kilometre approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs.
Dwarka Expressway. Photo: File
According to order 1902 of the CAG office, also dated September 12, Dattaprasad Suryakant Shirsat Director (AMG II), Director General of Audit, Central Expenditure, New Delhi “has been transferred and posted as Director (legal) in this office against an existing vacancy.”
The Wire has learnt that Shirsat was in charge of the Performance Audit of the Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana – Union Government (Civil) National Health Authority Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, that exposed corruption in the Modi government’s flagship healthcare scheme.
The order also states that Ashok Sinha, director general (North Central Region) has been transferred as director general Rajbhasha. He will also hold the additional charge of the post of director general (exam) in the CAG office “till further orders.”
The Wire has learnt that Sinha had initiated the audit of Performance Audit of Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana – Union Government (Civil) National Health Authority Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
The audit report revealed corruption in insurance settlement claims. The report, among other findings, said that lakhs of claims continued to be made against some who had been shown as ‘deceased’ in the database.
The Wire has reached out to the CAG office for a comment on the transfers. These transfer and posting orders involving a total of 37 officers have not been posted online.
The CAG reports on the irregularities in Ayushman Bharat and the Dwarka Expressway project were in particular picked up by the opposition parties – including the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) – who accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of presiding over “scams”, demanding accountability from Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
At present, the CAG is Girish Chandra Murmu, who was appointed in 2020. Murmu is a 1985-batch Gujarat cadre Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, believed to be a trusted aide of both Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah. Prior to his appointment as the CAG, Murmu was the first Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir after the dilution of Article 370 and downgrading its status to a Union Territory.
What the CAG report on Dwarka Expressway said
The CAG reporton highway projects under the Implementation of Bharatmala Pariyojana Phase-I (BPP-1) found huge overrun costs in the Dwarka Expressway project, which was prioritised to decongest NH-48 between Delhi and Gurugram by developing it into a 14-lane national highway.
The report said that the NHAI’s decision to opt for an elevated carriageway in the Haryana portion pushed up costs to Rs 250.77 crore per kilometre from the approved cost of Rs 18.20 crore per kilometre.
The report added that the NHAI board approved the Delhi-Vadodara Expressway with a civil cost of around Rs 32,839 crore, which was not included in the CCEA-approved list of Bharatmala Pariyojana Phase-I projects.
The report also found irregularities in the award of projects.
“Instances of irregularities in award of projects by implementing agencies were observed in clear violation of the prescribed processes of tendering, viz., successful bidder not fulfilling tender condition or bidder selected on the basis of falsified documents, award of works without there being approved detailed project reports or based on faulty detailed project report,” it said.
After the report was released, the AAP held a protest at the Dwarka Expressway and accused the Modi government of “breaking all records of corruption.”
The report was also used by the Congress to flag “scams” by the Modi government.
What the CAG report on Ayushman Bharat said
The CAG report on the Performance Audit of Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana – Union Government (Civil) National Health Authority Ministry of Health and Family Welfare – found several instances of corruption.
For the report, 964 hospitals in 161 districts of all 28 states and Union territories (UTs) were audited. Delhi, Odisha, and West Bengal have opted out of this scheme.
The audit revealed corruption in insurance settlement claims and found that in 2.25 lakh cases, the date of the ‘surgery’ done was shown to be later than the date of discharge. More than 1.79 lakh such cases were found in Maharashtra, for which the claimed amount was over Rs 300 crore.
Lakhs of claims continued to be made against some who had been shown as ‘deceased’ in the database.
The audit also discovered that 1.57 lakh unique IDs appeared more than once in the database even though the scheme stipulates that a unique Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY) ID should be issued to beneficiaries once verification is complete.
After the CAG report was reported widely, including by The Wire, the health ministry on August 17 issued a press release that sought to fact-check media reports on the CAG report’s findings but did not cite a single specific example of the media falsely quoting the CAG report.
An illustration on the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission’s official site.
What other CAG reports found
Apart from these two reports, the ten other CAG reports also highlighted several other irregularities in Union government ministries.
The CAG report on the ‘Ministry of Road Transport and Highways Toll Operations of National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) in Southern India’ conducted on 41 randomly selected toll plazas across the five southern states found that in five toll plazas, a total amount of Rs 132.05 crore was collected from commuters in violation of toll plaza rules.
The report also found that the NHAI collected excess toll fees of Rs 22.10 crore from road users during 2017-2018 to 2020-2021 at the Paranur public-funded toll plaza.
The CAG report on the regional connectivity scheme UDAN (Ude Desh Ka Aam Naagrik) under the Ministry of Civil Aviation found that up to March 2021, when UDAN-3 ended, 52% (403 out of 774 routes) of the awarded routes could not commence operations.
The CAG report on the financial audit of the accounts of the Union government found that the Ministry of Railways had incurred unsanctioned expenditure.
In the 2021-22 financial year (FY), the ministry had an unsanctioned expenditure of Rs 23,885.47 crore, encompassing 1,937 cases. In FY 2020-21 unsanctioned expenditure of Rs 8,127.97 crore was incurred by Indian Railways in 2,775 cases.
The CAG report on ‘Departmental Trading Units Including Supply Chain Management in Khadi and Village Industries Commission under the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME)’ found that less than 20% of departmental trading units were operational.
The performance audit report of the Swadesh Darshan Scheme implemented by the Ministry of Tourism said that while the scheme was launched with an initial outlay of Rs 500 crore, the ministry continued to sanction projects and the amount sanctioned had exceeded Rs 4,000 crore by 2016-17.
The CAG report on ‘Role of Tea Board India in development of tea in India’ recommended that the Tea Board initiate steps to investigate the cases of ineligible subsidy payments as these indicate “corruption/ fraud”.
The ‘Compliance Audit on Finance and Communication, Union Government’ contains significant findings from the compliance audit of the Ministry of Communications, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, and Ministry of Finance.
The report found, among others, that the Department of Posts (DoP) under the Ministry of Communication did not formulate a conservation policy of its own to meet the requirements of the protection and conservation of Heritage Buildings.
The CAG report on ‘Union Government, (Railways) Railways Finances’ has revealed that Railways incurred an additional expenditure of Rs 7,778.43 crore more than the sanctioned budget of Rs 5,7626.20.
The ‘Performance Audit of the National Social Assistance Programme – Union Government (Civil), Ministry of Rural Development’ found that funds meant to publicise the scheme were diverted for publicity of other schemes by the ministry.
The CAG report on the Union Government (Indirect Taxes – Customs) contains significant results of the Information Technology (IT) Audit of the Indian Customs Electronic Data Interchange System (ICES 1.5). The Audit said that the filing of custom duty refunds is being done manually and capturing and processing of refund claims needs to be automated on the lines of the GSTN (Goods and Services Tax Network) System.
You can read the major findings of all twelve CAG reports in a three-part series by The Wirehere, here and here.
Update at 5 pm on October 13
The CAG, having chosen to not respond to queries which The Wire sent them prior to publication of both the reports carried on October 11 and 13, has later on October 13 issued a press release saying the news story on transfers of certain key CAG officers shortly after the publication and presentation of 12 reports highlighting irregularities in the functioning of Union government ministries and departments, and the news story of verbal orders ‘to stop all field work’, are “erroneous and baseless.”
As per CAG, “matters of transfer and postings are a matter of administrative convenience and to read ulterior motives into these is highly presumptuous.” They add that “audit reports are prepared by an extensive team over a prolonged period, comprising officers entrusted with field work, central processing and finalisation at the highest level. The referred audit reports also went through multiple hands before due approval, and subsequent tabling in the Legislature; and hence cannot be attributed to any one officer. Furthermore, both referred reports have been presented to the President after approval at the highest level, and laid before the Parliament, and are in the public domain. To attribute any malfeasance to these routine transfers driven by administrative requirements, is completely incorrect.”
The news report did not attribute ‘malfeasance’ to routine transfers. It finds the reporting of three transfers that our report focussed on October 11 to be in public interest. We stand by our information that these officers were key to the Bharatmala report and to Ayushman Bharat, where irregularities were unearthed.
CAG says that “the contentions that the CAG is not signing (approving) any fresh reports and verbal orders have been issued to stop all field work, is categorically and unequivocally rejected.”
It goes onto say, “the public must stand informed that the number of audit reports approved by the CAG, Mr. GC Murmu, has been on a sharp ascent over the past 3 years, attaining an all time high of 173 audit reports in 2022-23 (Union and States). Of these, 29 Union audit reports and 78 state audit reports were tabled in Parliament and State Legislatures in 2022-23; and the total number of reports tabled including those approved prior to 2022-23 was 183. In the current financial year to date, a total of 43 Audit Reports have been approved by the CAG.”
These facts of reports done are not under dispute. Our story published on October 13 speaks of prospective reports, audits yet to be undertaken, produced and presented by CAG.
CAG says it “is committed to fulfilling its mandate of ensuring transparency and accountability in governance; and is confident of surpassing previous years’ output.” This, it says “would not be possible if there was even the slightest truth in the alleged contention that field audit has been suspended. Rest assured, field audit continues full force, suitably buttressed by data analytics and digital audit.”
The Wire looks forward to and is waiting to report on future audits by CAG.
Over 350 incidents of stubble burning were reported in the country between September 15 and 30 this year – up from the 159 incidents reported during the same period last year.
New Delhi: Incidents of stubble burning after harvesting paddy crops have more than doubled in September this year, with a significant increase reported from Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, businessline reported.
Over 350 incidents of stubble burning were reported in the country between September 15 and 30 – up from the 159 incidents reported during the same period last year – according to the Consortium for Research on Agroecosystem Monitoring and Modelling from Space (CREAMS) run by the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI).
Punjab saw the highest occurrences of crop residue burning at 214 in 2023 compared to 147 in the same period last year. Of the total instances of stubble burning, 81 such incidents took place on September 30 and 68 on September 29. Amritsar, with 174 instances, recorded the most cases from Punjab.
The Punjab Government on Tuesday (October 3) submitted a state action plan and district-wise action plans for tackling the problem of stubble burning to the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) for the current paddy harvesting season.
“Punjab currently has 1,17,672 crop residue management machines and procurement of around 23,000 machines is underway. Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) has reiterated to the State Government of Punjab for efficient and optimal utilisation of Crop Residue Management (CRM) machines through the 23,792 Custom Hiring Centres (CHCs) established for the purpose in the State,” an official statement said.
Due to economic reasons, farmers in Punjab and other states burn their leftover crop material rather than spending money on clearing the stubble by hand and selling it as fodder.
Additionally, farmers in Punjab, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh have little time to prepare the ground for wheat planting as state laws meant to protect the groundwater prevents farmers from sowing the paddy crop before certain dates in June, leading to delayed sowing and by extension, delayed harvesting.
Ahead of the stubble burning season this year, the Union had allocated Rs 600 crore to the states for handling paddy straws, including its new project on ex-situ supply chain management. Of this, around Rs 105 crore has already been released to Punjab while Rs 90 crore has been allocated for Haryana, the Business Standard reported.
Veteran journalist Paranjoy Guha Thakurta said he was asked if he had called a US number which belongs to his brother-in-law and if he uses the Signal messaging app.
New Delhi: Journalists who were raided by the Delhi police on the morning of October 3 in connection with an ‘anti-terror’ investigation were questioned about whether they had reported on matters like the 2020 Delhi riots, the farmers’ movement against the Modi government’s laws and the COVID-19 crisis.
Several journalists and commentators associated with the online news portal NewsClick were taken to the Delhi police’s special cell for questioning. The residences of many others were raided, and the police seized devices such as laptops and phones without providing seizure memos with a hash value – a number unique to the precise data on the device at the time of its seizure which courts can refer to in the event of accusations of tampering against the police.
Veteran journalist Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, who was taken to the special cell’s office at around 8 am and released around 6 pm on Tuesday, revealed the line of questioning that the police adopted. He was asked if he had called a US number which belongs to his brother-in-law and if he uses the Signal messaging app. He wasalso asked if he had covered the Delhi riots and the farmers’ protest.
“What has happened is in the public domain. They may call me again,” said Guha Thakurta, who is known for his investigative reports on the Adani Group’s dealings and crony capitalism in India.
He said the officials asked him whether he had covered Delhi riots. “I said no but then they asked me whether I reported on farmers protests. I said yes. There were many people questioning me. All of them asked different questions,” he said.
A senior journalist who freelances for NewsClick told The Wire that a six member team comprising at least one inspector rank official of the Delhi police’s special cell landed at their house with search notices that mentioned sections of the draconian Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). “They already had all my information – my phone number, my address, and my online activity. They remained polite but persistently questioned me about my association with NewsClick. I told them about the work that I do for the news portal.”
“They kept asking me about my reports on the Delhi riots, the farmers’ protests, and the COVID-19 pandemic,” the journalist said, asking not to be named. Most of the journalist’s reports on these issues highlighted the government’s failures and missteps.
“I still don’t know what are the charges against me, if there are any. I haven’t received any FIR. But they took away my phone and laptop.”
The police raided the journalist’s house for over two hours.
A junior member of Newsclick‘s editorial team told The Wire that she was asked if she was “paid extra” for stories on the farmers’ protest and the Delhi riots. “They also wanted to know why I wrote stories against the country and government. They had no follow up questions, just a performa that they were reading from,” the employee told The Wire.
She was surprised when the police arrived at her home at 6 am and raided the place for three hours. “While taking away my electronic devices and my passport, they told me 96 places have been raided,” she told The Wire.
The case against NewsClick is apparently based on a New York Times report that says the portal received funding from an American millionaire who has furthered Chinese talking points. The NYT report was highlighted by BJP MP Nishikant Dubey in the Lok Sabha, who claimed that the portal and Congress leaders like Rahul Gandhi received funds from China to create an “anti-India atmosphere”.
However, it is unclear what charges have been levelled against the individuals who were raided or questioned. The search notice used by the police on Tuesday list charges under various sections of UAPA, conspiracy (section 120 B, IPC) and promoting enmity between different groups (153 A).
Abhisar Sharma, who was also questioned by the Delhi police special cell’s headquaters, said on Wednesday that the police also asked him similar questions – if he had covered the Delhi riots, farmers’ protest and the protest against CAA-NRC at Shaheenbagh. He was also asked if he spoke to anybody in Poland, the UK and Australia.
Throughout his career, he played significant roles in government and international relations. This comes just months after the death of his brother, Essop Pahad.
New Delhi: Aziz Pahad, a politician and veteran of the South African anti-apartheid movement, has passed away at age 82. This comes just months after the death of his older brother and fellow activist Essop Pahad.
On Wednesday night, the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) reported that Pahad passed away at his Johannesburg residence.
The third of five sons, Aziz Goolam Pahad was born on December 25, 1940, in Schweizer-Reneke, in the North West province. His grandfather immigrated to South Africa to work in Indian stores from the northern Indian state of Gujarat. When he was five years old, his family relocated to Johannesburg.
Pahad was issued a banning order in 1963 for his involvement in the anti-apartheid movement, mainly through the Transvaal Indian Congress, when he was still a student. His movements and public actions were restricted by the order, and he was frequently taken into custody. He and Essop left South Africa and went into exile in 1964 following theRivonia Trial.
Pahad lived in exile for a while, principally in London, England, but also briefly in Angola and Zimbabwe. In 1966, he earned a diploma from University College London, and in 1968, he graduated from the University of Sussex with a master’s degree in international relations. From 1966, Pahad worked full-time for the African National Congress (ANC), assisting the growth of the anti-apartheid movement in the UK and Europe. He was then first elected to the party’s National Executive Committee at the ANC’s 1985 election conference in Kabwe, Zambia.
Pahad visited South Africa again in 1990 as the talks to end apartheid were taking place and Nelson Mandela was released. Pahad won the ANC’s nomination to serve as the party’s representative in the new National Assembly in South Africa’s first post-apartheid elections in 1994. Additionally, he was added to the Government of National Unity as the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs by newly elected President Nelson Mandela.
In September 2008, in response to the ANC National Executive Committee’s decision to recall Mbeki, he announced his resignation from the administration. In 2014 and 2017, former president Jacob Zuma appointed him as one of the government’s special envoys for Middle East peace. He was also the special envoy for South Africa’s bid for a seat on the UN Security Council.
He has cautioned against future global conflict, telling the SABC, “Personally I think that the international community might be sleepwalking itself to either an accidental or a decision to go to another big power conflict, and they must understand that another world war is a war that nobody can win because of the nuclear proliferation and because all powers have announced major new weapons. So hopefully common sense is going to prevail.”
