China strikes back on Arunachal

Barely weeks after it failed in its attempt to block Asian Development Bank (ADB) funds to a project in Arunachal Pradesh, China has successfully struck back.

Last month, in a development New Delhi has been quiet about, China won a vote on a “disclosure agreement,” which prevents ADB from formally acknowledging Arunachal Pradesh as part of India. (A disclosure agreement is a formal notification of a project once it’s approved by the ADB Board).

On June 16, India had successfully isolated China the entire ADB Board except Beijing had voted in India’s favour and secured approval for its $2.9-billion country plan.

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My state calm, give me Rs 500 crore peace bonus: Arunachal CM to Centre

Peace is rare in the North-East,soon estate has demanded that it should be rewarded for maintaining it. Earlier this week, Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu sought Rs 500 crore as peace bonus from the Centre for the continuing calm in his state.

Khandu met senior Central ministers to tell them there were no local militant outfits operating in Arunachal, unlike neighbouring Assam and Nagaland.

Khandu’s plea found resonance in the ministries of Home and Finance, and it has been decided to set up an officers’ committee headed by Secretary (Expenditure) to ascertain the state’s revenue generation and shortfall to be funded.

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Rising on a Tawang peak overlooking Tibet: 80-feet statue of the female Buddha

At the centre of a boundary dispute between India and China, Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh is now gearing for the installation of a 80-feet high statue of Tara — the female Buddha, typically associated with Buddhist tantra practice as preserved in Tibetan Buddhism, is also the “mother of liberation” — a top a strategically located peak which is 11,000 feet high and overlooks Tibet and Bhutan.

With infrastructure upgrade in Tawang already high on the government’s agenda several projects, including an airstrip on a hilltop, are being expedited this move to install a statue is being viewed as another assertion of Indian control over the area. The Centre has already released seed-money for the project, estimated to cost US $2.33 million.

Officially christened as the White Tara Project (WTP), the project envisages developing the Lumla peak into a Buddhist tourist destination, complete with prayer halls, meditation centres, museum and a library. The giant statue of Tara Devi is intended to give the spot a distinct tourist identity in addition to attracting Tibetan Buddhists among whom the deity enjoys a special place.

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