Hindustan Times News | 23rd March 2022 | 8 AM

HT Daily News Wrap

US State Department spokesperson says India is an essential partner of the United States as both the countries share the vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific, Russia would only use nuclear weapons in the context of the Ukraine conflict if it were facing an existential threat, Modi government has decided to give a special remission to certain categories of prisoners and release them in three phases and other top news in the bulletin.
US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said on Wednesday India is an essential partner of the United States as both the countries share the vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific. New Delhi’s stand on Russia because of their historic defence relationship does not come in the way as the US is a partner of choice for India. The comment follows US president Joe Biden’s recent remark that only the response of India, among the Quad countries, has been “somewhat shaky” against Russia. On being asked how Quad partners are seeing India’s stand on Russia, Price said, “It’s a question of history versus where we are now… India has, of course, had a historic defence and security relationship with Russia over time. That relationship came of age and came together at a time when theUS or some of our partners weren’t prepared to have that kind of relationship with India. That was a very different time, different considerations. But those times have changed in terms of our willingness and ability to become a strong defence partner of India. This is a bilateral relationship that has deepened over the past 25 years or so.” Russia would only use nuclear weapons in the context of the Ukraine conflict if it were facing an “existential threat,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told CNN International Tuesday. “We have a concept of domestic security, and it’s public. You can read all the reasons for nuclear arms to be used,” Peskov said. “So if it is an existential threat for our country, then it can be used in accordance with our concept.” Peskov’s comment came as interviewer Christiane Amanpour pushed him on whether he was “convinced or confident” that President Vladimir Putin would not use the nuclear option in the Ukrainian context. Days after Russian troops invaded Ukraine, Putin announced on February 28 that he had put the country’s strategic nuclear forces on high alert in a move that sparked global alarm. Asked about Peskov’s statement, and Russia’s nuclear stance more broadly, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby called Moscow’s rhetoric on potential use of nuclear weapons “dangerous.” The China Eastern Airlines Corp. jet that crashed Monday was traveling at close to the speed of sound in the moments before it slammed into a hillside, according to a Bloomberg News review of flight-track data. Such an impact may complicate the task for investigators because it can obliterate evidence and, in rare cases, damage a plane’s data and voice recorders that are designed to withstand most crashes. The Boeing Co. 737-800 was knifing through the air at more than 640 miles (966 kilometers) per hour, and at times may have exceeded 700 mph, according to data from Flightradar24, a website that tracks planes. “The preliminary data indicate it was near the speed of sound,” said John Hansman, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology astronautics and aeronautics professor who reviewed Bloomberg’s calculation of the jet’s speed. “It was coming down steep.” Sound travels at 761 mph at sea level but slows with altitude as air temperature goes down and is about 663 mph at 35,000 feet (10,668 meters). The Narendra Modi government has decided to give a special remission to certain categories of prisoners and release them in three phases — on August 15, 2022, (75th anniversary of Independence), January 26, 2023, (Republic Day) and August 15, 2023, to commemorate the ‘Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav’. “The remission scheme is intended to ensure prison discipline and good conduct on the part of prisoners and to encourage learning and better work culture with the prospect of early release from prison as an incentive,” according to officials in the knowledge of the matter. Persons involved in some serious crimes, however, will not be eligible for special remission. The categories of prisoners, who have consistently maintained good conduct during their term in prison, will be eligible for the special remission. Trinamool Lok Sabha MP Mahua Moitra on Tuesday said in the Lok Sabha that former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s worst fears have come true in the government of his own party as the government has turned Parliament into Rome’s Colosseum where the prime minister enters like a gladiator to the chants of ‘Modi, Modi’. Referring to Vajpayee’s remarks in Parliament in 1972, Mahua Moitra said, “I would like to quote former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee who in 1972 said in Parliament: These days the atmosphere in New Delhi makes one choke. It is not easy to breathe freely. The chanting of a prime minister’s name on All India Radio from morning to night, saturated propaganda on cinema screens, how can people sitting in the Opposition fight this.” “It is India’s greatest tragedy perhaps that the very party Vajpayeeji led as prime minister today leads the government that has turned Parliament like Rome’s Colosseum,” Mahua Moitra said participating in the discussion on the demands for grants for the ministry of civil aviation 2022-23.