BREAKSPACE Season 8 Issue 21

1
Operation Kabaddi: When India almost struck back!
The Indian Armed Forces planned a major operation to change the shape of the
Line of Control (LoC) in September 2001. Plagued constant intrusions from both
the regular Pakistani armed forces and state-sponsored militants from across the
border, the Indian defence establishment decided to carry out multiple surgical
strikes across the LoC to gain control of key tactical sites, thereby allowing the
Indian Armed Forces to combat infiltration with greater efficacy.

The plan was to carry-out the attacks in phased manner, but in a limited time-
frame, to ensure that such actions do not ignite a full-blown war between the two
nations. This action was very similar to the actions carried out by the Pakistani
Armed Forces to occupy outposts that were vacated by the Indian Army during
winter. As claimed by an Indian Army veteran, such actions are business-as-usual
on the LoC and happens on a regular basis.

This news has come to spotlight because of the book authored by Jawaharlal
Nehru University (JNU) professor Happymon Jacob ‘Line on Fire: Ceasefire
Violations and India-Pakistan Escalation Dynamics’. This plan was revealed by two
form Indian Army officers who were posted in the area, Lt. Gen. Rustom K.
Nanavatty, (Northern Army Commander, 2001-2003), and Lt. Gen. H.S. Panag,
(General Officer Commanding in Chief (GOC in C) of the Army’s Northern
Command and Central Command 2006-2008). They claimed that the operational
details were discussed in a meeting chaired by the then Chief of the Indian Army,
 Gen. Sundararajan Padmanabhan.

The book says that Operation Kabaddi would include a “wide spectrum of evolving
punitive operations such as the execution of deliberate fire assaults to destroy
military and terrorist points, and area targets across the LoC; ambushes and raids
across the LOC; and company, battalion, and brigade-sized deliberate offensive
attacks to capture objectives of tactical importance across the LoC that would
improve the Indian Army’s counter-insurgency (CI) posture.”

But the entire operation was put on hold after the tragedy of 9/11, when a plane
crashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Centre on the 11th of September,
2001, and killed close to 3000 people in the process. All mobilised troops were
never given their orders of attack as it was felt that the geopolitical situation had
changed after the incident and India did wish for her actions to be seen as ‘taking
advantage of a tragedy’.

2
Flaming Flamingos: Over 90,000 birds migrate to Pulicat
lake for the warmer season
The annual flaming flamingo festival was organised this year on the 17th, 18th and
19th of January this year in Sullurpeta and Pulicat Lake in Andhra Pradesh. This
festival was a treat to bird-watchers as over 90,000 avian visitors had made their
way to the lake this year. The lake is second largest brackish (salty) water
ecosystem in the country after the Chilika Lake. The birds return to their home
lands once their offspring are able to fly and develop the capacity to sustain the
long journey home.

As claimed by the district administration, an amount of INR 3 crore was used to

build the tourist infrastructure for the event. This included approach roads and
sighting towers. Exhibitions were organised to create awareness among the newer
generations of the brackish water ecosystem and the need to conserve
biodiversity.

The local fishermen have been commended for helping preserve the local
ecosystem while also earning their livelihood, exemplifying sustainable living at its
best. In fact, these are the same fishermen who were in the news a few years ago,
when they feared the loss of their livelihood due to the silting of the mouth of the
lake. The scientists of IIT Madras came to their rescue when the suggested the
opening of another area of the lake to allow fishermen to take their boats across
the banks.

3
Who knew? Total value of transactions in Organic Millets
Mela doubles from the last year
The second edition of the Organic and Millets International Trade Fair 2019
generated a total business worth INR 240.25 crore, doubling from INR 107 crore
from the same event of a year ago. An event release states that 67 memoranda of
understanding (MoUs) with a total worth of INR 153.94 crore were signed during
the event. Another encouraging sign was the INR 32 crore generated from sales to
international buyers.

According to the Minister for Agriculture of the Government of Karnataka, N.H.

Shivashankara Reddy, approximately 20,000 farmers from all over the state
benefitted from the event that saw participation from nine other states of the
country and participants from 9 countries other than India.

This data is in line with the great expectations set for the Indian markets for
organic products, in an ASSOCHAM (Association Chambers of Commerce and
Industry of India), predicting a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 25 %
from the current (May 2018) market size of INR 4,000 crore to INR 10,000-12,000
crore by the year 2020. India has a whopping 8,35,000 farmers engaged in the
cultivation of organic crops! But the Indian market accounts for only 1 % of the
global organic market pie of USD 90 billion. India has the 9th highest area under
cultivation of organic crops, 1.47 million hectares (1 hectare = 10,000 sq metres).
This is in stark contrast the Australia, which is at the top of that list, with 27 million
hectares under the cultivation of organic crops.

The relatively small proportion of organic farming in Indian agriculture can be

attributed to the huge costs and effort required to obtain certification for the
organic products. This acts as an inhibitor for those farmers who are looking to
make the switch from mainstream farming to organic farming.

4
Jamtara - The new epicentre of Indian Cyber Crime
Most Indians would have never heard of Jharkhand’s Jamtara district. But those
who read the paper regularly would definitely have heard of its name with reference
to its notoriety for being the ‘Cyber Crime capital of India’. According to the
National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), a total of 9,622, 11,592 and 12,317 cyber-
crime cases were registered in the country in 2014, 2015 and 2016 respectively.
Over 50 % of these cases can be traced back to Jamtara.

In July 2017, the Karnataka state’s cyber crime unit busted a phishing scam that
they traced back to Bokaro and Jamtara in Jharkhand. Phishing is the fraudulent
attempt to obtain sensitive information such as usernames, passwords and credit
card details by disguising as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication.
The four accused in the case were engineering dropouts who were running a multi-
crore scam. During the course of the investigation, the police recovered 16,000
bank accounts, 15 cellphones, 450 simcards and four laptops from them.

In an effort to tackle this growing menace, the Jharkhand police have launched an
online portal to help expedite the processing of cases relating to cyber crimes from
other states on priority. Such a measure has also touted to help build a database
of such crimes, their criminals and their modus operandi. But sadly, this portal has
not been used by the police of most states, with their respective police
departments using other channels of communication to carry out their
investigations.

5
Railwire - Turning Indian Railways stations into WiFi hubs
The Railwire is an initiative undertaken by RailTel, a miniratna PSU by the
Government of India, to provide internet access through WiFi at major railways
stations. RailTel creates the infrastructure by providing internet service through the
laying of fibre optic cables. Google enables this by creating the wireless
infrastructure and providing technical support.

This venture has been largely successful by providing free WiFi at 400+ stations all
over the country, with another 18 stations in the pipeline. Given that passengers
spend at least an hour at train stations, this venture provides free WiFi for the first
one hour, with a drop in speed after the first 30 minutes.

This project is a step in the direction of bringing the benefits of an open society
through the free access of the internet to the masses. With over 900 million smart
phone users in the country, this project will give a boost to the Digital India
initiative by enabling digital payments and digital commerce.

But a slightly jarring note played in this whole digital symphony is the debate on
the freedom of the internet. At face value, a government organisation and an MNC
have teamed up to provide internet services free of cost. This presents the
government and the MNC a unique opportunity to control the content being
delivered to the public. There have been allegations against the government for
trying to subvert dissent and against Google for trying to store data on internet
usage. Hence, both the Government and Google shall have to be very transparent
so as to not allow such a visionary measure falling foul with the public.

6
Top business news:
• PwC’s Global Economy Watch predicts that India’s economy shall beat the UK’s
economy in terms of size

• New IT system to check tax evasion by refusing e-way bills to those not filing
GST returns

• Infosys hires over 7,600 employees in the US in the form of campus-hires in

order to achieve its target of 10,000 employees in the US, its largest market

Variation in prices of important, well, things:

• Cost of 1 gm of 24 carat gold reduces from INR 3400 yesterday to INR 3395.72
today, a decrease of 0.15 %

• BSE Sensex rose 0.53 % to INR 36,578.96 at the close of business today

• NSE Nifty also rose 0.5 % to INR 10,961.85 at the close of business today

• The cost of 1 USD rose to INR 71.28, rise of 0.13 %