Express News Service
Make In IndiaIsrael seeks closer G2G and private partnerships
Israel has offered niche technologies of its prime armaments to Indian companies to support the Make In India scheme. Sources said a formal offer was made during the recent visit of Israeli defence minister Benny Gantz to New Delhi. Gantz reportedly sought an umbrella pact between the two governments under which Israel would offer full technology transfer of its Spike anti-tank guided missiles, Spice-250 precision-guided munitions and software-defined radio sets, besides providing technical assistance in the development of futuristic military technologies in partnership with DRDO. Israel also wants private Indian enterprises to forge new partnerships with Israeli defence companies to undertake various military upgrade programmes under Make In India. India has been working hard to reduce dependence on foreign-made systems and has asked for transfer of technology of composite materials, nanotechnologies and artificial intelligence-enabled sub-systems for defence projects under Make In India. The Indian government has also asked for progressive increase in the indigenous components in Israeli-supplied Barak-8 missiles or MRSAM (medium-range surface to air missiles), long-range tracking radars, and unmanned aerial vehicles. Ties between the two countries are strengthening even after the change of government in Israel.
National Herald caseCongress leaders rue restructuring of AJL
The Congress party has launched a spirited defence of its leadership both on the street and in the media on the National Herald case. Party leaders, including chief ministers of Congress-ruled states, are marching in solidarity with their former president Rahul Gandhi, who has been summoned and grilled by the Enforcement Directorate for long hours in Delhi. In the press conferences, press notes, media bytes as well as in articles in the National Herald, the party newspaper that is in eye of the storm, Congress leaders wax eloquent about the history of the newspaper: How it was started by freedom fighters in British-ruled India to propagate the idea of independence, etc. They also emphasise the fact that the new company, Young Indian, that took over the Rs 90-crore loan of National Herald’s owner Associated Journals Ltd, is a not-for-profit company and therefore no director or shareholder is allowed to monetarily benefit from it, except for availing professional expenses. In private, however, Congress leaders rue the decision of creating Young Indian. They wonder what was the objective of shifting National Herald and its assets from one company controlled by Congress leadership to another company controlled by the same set of people. If the idea was to extinguish the rights of some shareholders, the party leadership could have bought those shares from the shareholders. After all, the shareholders in AJL were all Congressmen who were allotted shares in the company on the basis of the sole criteria that they were trusted members of the larger Congress family. The National Herald case is cited by Congress leaders as one of the many blunders that has brought the party to its present state.
5G AuctionBharti, Ambani snubbed as tech giants have their way
In a battle between Mukesh Ambani and Sunil Bharti Mittal on one side, and Google, Meta, Microsoft, Amazon, TCS, etc on the other, the government of India has ruled in favour of the latter. When the government decided to auction spectrum for 5G services, three telecom service providers (TSPs) of India namely Reliance Jio owned by Mukesh Ambani, Airtel owned by Sunil Bharti Mittal, and Vodafone Idea, had demanded that spectrum be allocated exclusively to the TSPs and all other users be directed to obtain spectrum on lease from them. The global and Indian tech giants, however, lobbied hard to be allowed to participate in the spectrum auction and buy spectrum directly from the government for their captive use. In the Notice Inviting Application (NIA) issued earlier this week for participating in spectrum auction for 5G services, the government allowed “enterprises” (read large companies or corporations with high demand of internet) to set up “Captive Non-Public Network” (CNPN). Para 2.4 of the NIA, June 2022, among other things, says: “Enterprises setting up CNPNs may obtain the spectrum directly from DoT and establish their own isolated network…” With this policy announcement, the government has potentially taken away a huge number of high revenue clientele from Reliance Jio, Airtel and Vodafone Idea. This is because the tech giants that are big consumers of the internet would buy spectrum directly from the government which may turn out much cheaper for them than buying from the telecom service providers. They were lobbying with the government for this permission through associations as well as directly. The Union government’s decision is seen as a big blow to Mukesh Ambani and Sunil Bharti Mittal, who were also snubbed over the reserve price of spectrum for 5G. The Indian TSPs are clearly facing headwinds.
Shahid faridiThe writer is Associate Editor and Chief of Bureau at TNIE, New Delhi. Email: shahid@newindianexpress.com
