Chindia Alert: You’ll be Living in their World Very Soon
aims to alert you to the threats and opportunities that China and India present. China and India require serious attention; case of ‘hidden dragon and crouching tiger’.
Without this attention, governments, businesses and, indeed, individuals may find themselves at a great disadvantage sooner rather than later.
The POSTs (front webpages) are mainly 'cuttings' from reliable sources, updated continuously.
The PAGEs (see Tabs, above) attempt to make the information more meaningful by putting some structure to the information we have researched and assembled since 2006.
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called on the nation to work toward ending the consumption of single-use plastics by 2022, in a speech on Wednesday.
“Hygiene, protection of environment and protection of life were of keen interest to Gandhi,” said Modi, speaking on the anniversary of the freedom movement leader’s birth. “Plastic is dangerous to all these three goals. So we need to reach the goal of ending single-use plastic by 2022.”
Meanwhile, India held off a plan to impose a blanket ban on single-use plastics as it was seen as a measure too disruptive for industry at a time when India is dealing with an economic slowdown and job losses, officials told Reuters on Tuesday.
In a tweet on Wednesday, India’s environment ministry however, denied that it had planned to issue a ban.
“India, today is on the verge of starting a historic movement against #SingleUsePlastic, setting an example for the world. At such a time, discovering a shelved ban, when none was planned is indeed misleading & doesn’t do justice to its fight against single use plastic,” the ministry said in a tweet.
Reuters had in August reported that India was set to impose a nationwide ban on plastic bags, cups and straws on Oct. 2, in a sweeping measure to stamp out single-use plastics from cities and villages that rank among the world’s most polluted.
Concerns are growing worldwide about plastic pollution, especially in oceans, where nearly 50% of single-use plastic products end up, killing marine life and entering the human food chain, studies have shown.
BEIJING, Oct. 2 (Xinhua) — While turning 70 often signals the beginning of a person’s twilight years, for the People’s Republic of China (PRC) it marks a golden age full of hope and vigor.
The PRC celebrated its 70th birthday on Oct. 1. China’s transformation from an agricultural society isolated from the West into the world’s second-largest economy open wide is nothing short of a miracle.
More importantly, it has charted a new path for developing countries to modernize.
Seven decades ago, the war-ravaged country started from scratch. Observers are astonished at China’s large-scale modernization, its reduction of the number of people living in poverty and the sheer volume of its consumer market. Their heads have been turned not only because of the speed of the transition but also by the unique path taken to realize this great transformation.
Reflecting on its past and present, and through experimentation, China has identified and will continue down the right path — socialism with Chinese characteristics.
Reform is the engine of China’s miracle. There is no ready-made solution for the development issues facing China. From creating special economic zones to building free trade pilot zones, from carrying out family-based production contracts to revitalizing state-owned enterprises, China has been one of the most successful countries in piloting reforms over the past decades. Now the reform is more in-depth and more comprehensive in economic, political, cultural, social and ecological sectors.
The Chinese government stresses being effective and responsive to the public interest. Development outlines are far-sighted. For example, the five-year plans are made to deal with comprehensive aspects that concern human development: food, transportation, communication, environment, health and education. These plans are a priority for the government.
Of course these achievements could never have been realized without the leadership of the CPC.
From the people and for the people, the CPC has always upheld its principle of striving for the happiness of the people and the rejuvenation of the nation.
At a life-or-death moment, the CPC shouldered the mission of saving the nation from existential peril. After 28 years of bloody struggle, it led the Chinese people to overthrow the “three mountains” placed on their heads and put an end to the semi-colonial and semi-feudal society of old China. Gone are the days where any attempt to bully China with “fists” or “intimidation” would succeed.
Despite overseas doubts, misunderstandings and predictions that its survival would be short-lived, the CPC has stunned the world with its leadership, innovative theories and ability to unite and organize the people.
It abolished the agricultural tax that had been in place for more than 2,600 years; it established a political system in which people are masters of their own affairs; it did its utmost to help people shake off poverty and keep nearly 1.4 billion people well-off.
No ruling party in the world can match the CPC’s record of adhering to the truth, versing itself in self-reform and self-purification, and turning impossibility into certainty in the face of difficulties and challenges, again and again.
The 70-year journey was never smooth. Trials and hardships abounded. The Chinese people dealt with floods and massive earthquakes and guarded against SARS and financial tsunamis. Yet these twists and turns never blocked China’s way forward but made it more sober, determined and mature.
Today, more than at any other time in history, China is closer to, more confident and more capable of achieving the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. However, lofty goals are never easily reached.
The world has been undergoing tremendous changes unseen in a century. Resistant external forces and headwinds still remain. “Zero-sum game” and “superior civilization” mentalities, among others, are prevailing.
The CPC will continue to lead the Chinese people to fight trade bullying, blackmailing and hegemonism. Only the CPC can lead China to emerge as a stronger country.
It all started long ago, and the journey is far from over.
US billionaire says it will take time to solve problems like air pollution but China is taking action
Billionaire Michael Bloomberg says it will take time for China to resolve problems like air pollution. Photo: AFP
US billionaire Michael Bloomberg has spoken out in support of Chinese President Xi Jinping, saying Xi is “not a dictator” and the Communist Party “listens to the public” on issues like air pollution.
Bloomberg made the comments in an interview on the weekend with Margaret Hoover, host of PBS’ Firing Line public affairs show, ahead of November’s Bloomberg New Economy Forum in Beijing, an event designed to rival the World Economic Forum in Davos.
When asked whether China could be a good partner in the fight against climate change, Bloomberg said “China is doing a lot”.
“Yes, they are still building a bunch of coal-fired power plants. Yes, they are [burning coal]. But they are now moving plants away from the cities. The Communist Party wants to stay in power in China and they listen to the public,” he said.
“When the public says ‘I can’t breathe the air’, Xi Jinping is not a dictator. He has to satisfy his constituents, or he’s not going to survive … The trouble is you can’t overnight move cement plants and power plants just outside the city that are polluting the air and you have to have their product. So some of it takes time.”
China prepares for next round of nationwide inspections in ‘war on pollution’
Hoover countered, saying China was not a democracy and Xi was not answerable to voters.
“He doesn’t have a vote, he doesn’t have a democracy. He [isn’t held] accountable by voters. Is the check on him just a revolution?” she said.
“You’re not going to have a revolution. No government survives without the will of the majority of its people,” Bloomberg said. “He has to deliver services.”
Hoover then said: “I’m looking at people in Hong Kong who are protesting and wondering whether the Chinese government cares what they have to say.”
Bloomberg said that in government – “even governments that aren’t what we could call a democracy” – there were many stakeholders with vested interests and “they have an impact”.
Smog in northern China rises in first four months of 2019 as anti-pollution drive loses ‘momentum’
Bloomberg’s comments come seven years after his news service published an investigative story about the finances of the extended family of Xi, then vice-president.
The story was published at a sensitive time, with China holding a once-a-decade leadership transition that saw Xi become president.
China banned the use of Bloomberg financial data tracking terminals but the company’s relations warmed gradually after three years.
In August 2015, Bloomberg was given a high-profile reception by then vice-premier Zhang Gaoli. He also published an opinion piece in party mouthpiece People’s Daily.
The trip comes amid growing resistance from European leaders over what they see as China’s failure to change long-term practices unfair to foreign investors
French President’s trip to Beijing follows Chinese leader’s visit to France in March
President Emmanuel Macron of France speaks to the Council of Europe parliamentary assembly on Tuesday. Photo: AFP
French President Emmanuel Macron will visit China next month as Europe’s most diplomatically active leader focuses on climate change cooperation and trade promotion with Asia’s leading power, a source briefed on the Elysee Palace’s discussions said.
This will be the second Chinese tour for Macron since he took office in 2017, and it will come amid escalating resistance from European politicians and business communities over what they see as China’s failure to change long-standing practices unfair to foreign investors.
His visit also comes at a time when France – as well as the European Union as a whole – is bracing for Washington’s potential levies of tariffs on European products, and the lack of progress on climate change policies with US President Donald Trump’s administration.
“President Macron will meet President Xi [Jinping], while France strives for better cooperation with China on climate and trade,” the source said. “His itinerary is still in the pipeline, but he is expected to visit Beijing and Shanghai.”
Macron, 41, who is widely seen as emerging as Europe’s most aggressive leader filling the political vacuum left by German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s political twilight, has cast himself as an honest broker between Russia and Ukraine, and between the US and Iran.
He has also been critical of China’s influence in Europe, joining forces with Merkel to push for a tougher EU stance on the world’s second biggest economy.
In March, when Xi claimed a major diplomatic victory by clinching a memorandum of understanding with Italy on the Belt and Road Initiative, Macron declared: “The time of European naivety is ended. For many years we had an uncoordinated approach and China took advantage of our divisions.”
Macron also backed investment screening mechanisms for Chinese business moves in Europe, while endorsing plans to change the EU’s notoriously strict antitrust rules in order to facilitate mergers between large European groups and companies to counter Chinese companies’ global ambitions.
Macron urges Iran and US to show ‘courage of building peace’
The EU is also wary of China’s effort to “divide and rule” the European Union. Greece and Hungary – both recipients of large amounts of Chinese investments – have repeatedly wanted to water down EU’s stance on issues deemed sensitive to Beijing, including the South China Sea and China’s human rights violations.
“It would be good [for Macron] to stress that 17+1 is irritating,” said Joerg Wuttke, president of EU Chamber of Commerce in China, in reference to China’s engagement with a group of EU and non-EU member states in eastern and southeastern Europe.
“After all, the EU has a ‘one China’ policy, [so] EU could expect this position from China too.”
Macron’s domestic call for EU unity has translated into diplomatic appeals, with China being one of the targets.
(From left) Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European Commission; Xi Jinping, China’s leader; Emmanuel Macron, France’s president; and Angela Merkel, Germany’s chancellor, ahead of a meeting in Paris on March 26. Photo: Christophe Morin/Bloomberg
When Xi visited France in March, Macron hosted him at the Elysee Palace in the presence of Merkel and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, showcasing European solidarity when it comes to EU-China policies.
In terms of French-Chinese bilateral ties, trade imbalances have persisted after Macron called for a “rebalancing” during his last visit.
France has a 1.4 per cent market share in China, compared with China’s 9 per cent market share in France. China represents France’s largest bilateral trade deficit, totalling €US$29.2 billion (US$31.9 billion) last year, ahead of Germany.
The EU has been calling for reciprocal investment treatment with China, a call that European business leaders in China expect Macron to make.
France bids farewell to late president Jacques Chirac
“We [Europe] need … a solid investment agreement to allow EU business to conduct their affairs in a similar manner as Chinese companies can operate in Europe. The agreement should be finalised in 2020, but not at all cost,” said Wuttke.
“The last thing EU business needs in China is a weak agreement that institutionalises imbalances,” he added.
Part of that involves building “more efficient defensive tools to prevent abusive technology transfers and to address the deep asymmetry in EU-China relations when it comes to access to public procurement markets,” said Mathieu Duchâtel, director of Asia programme at the Paris-based think tank Institut Montaigne.
Duchâtel added that it was also important to convey the message to Beijing that there are areas for cooperation even amid a more defensive China policy from France.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and French leader Emmanuel Macron toast raise a toast during a state dinner in Paris on March 25. Photo: EPA-EFE
One such area is the climate and environment, where China is “an important partner” for France to reach its goal of global carbon neutrality by 2050, he said.
“The energy/environment agenda is a political priority in Paris and one of very few issues on which cooperation with China remains promising and will continue to create business opportunities,” he said.
China is the world’s biggest carbon polluter, producing around 30 per cent of the planet’s man-made carbon dioxide. It remains committed to the 2015 Paris accord on climate change, even after Trump pulled the US out of the deal.
Under the agreement, the long-term temperature goal is to keep the increase in global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels, and to pursue efforts to limit the increase to 1.5°C.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang meets with a group of foreign experts who received the Friendship Award, given annually by the Chinese government to honor outstanding foreign experts, at the Great Hall of People in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 30, 2019. The meeting was also attended by vice premier Han Zheng. (Xinhua/Rao Aimin)
BEIJING, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) — Chinese people will not forget foreign experts’ support and assistance to China’s development over the 70 years since the founding of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), said Chinese Premier Li Keqiang.
Li made the remarks Monday when meeting at the Great Hall of the People with a group of foreign experts who received the Friendship Award, given annually by the Chinese government to honor outstanding foreign experts in China.
The meeting was also attended by vice premiers Han Zheng and Liu He and State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
Speaking highly of the awardees’ contributions to China, Li said that over the past 70 years, some foreign experts made significant efforts to help China overcome early difficulties, while some introduced advanced technologies, experience and management concepts to China since the beginning of the country’s reform and opening-up.
He noted that China will continue to expand international cooperation in technological innovation, further open up sci-tech projects to foreign experts and encourage them to lead and take part in the country’s sci-tech programs.
China will pursue a more proactive, open and effective policy on training competent professionals, provide more convenience for foreign experts in all respects and create a market-based, legalized and international business environment, Li said.
“We welcome more foreign talent and enterprises to China to start businesses and innovate,” he continued.
The awardees thanked Li and the Chinese government, delivered congratulations on the PRC’s 70th founding anniversary and said they will continue to play a positive part in China’s modernization and the development and progress of the human society.
They then attended a reception held Monday evening at the Great Hall of the People to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the founding of the PRC.
A total of 100 foreign experts from 31 countries received the Friendship Award this year.
Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, greets the Chinese women’s volleyball team, after they returned home from a resounding triumph at the World Cup in Japan, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 30, 2019. (Xinhua/Wang Ye)
BEIJING, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) — Chinese President Xi Jinping greeted the Chinese women’s volleyball team at the Great Hall of the People on Monday afternoon after they returned home from a resounding triumph at the World Cup in Japan.
The Chinese women’s volleyball team successfully defended its World Cup crown with a perfect record of 11 wins. It is China’s 10th title in world major volleyball events including the World Cup, the World Championships and the Olympic Games.
Xi first extended warm congratulations to the volleyball players and coaches, saying that they have won a great honor for the country and the Chinese people.
The triumph of the Chinese team at the World Cup has ignited the patriotic enthusiasm of the Chinese people and enhanced national confidence and pride, he said.
Xi stressed that the women’s volleyballers didn’t fear any opponents and fought hard with both style and skills.
“With the championship already secured with one match remaining, you didn’t slack off in the last game and went all out for every ball, which is a good interpretation of the Olympic spirit and Chinese sportsmanship,” he said.
Xi, who is an avid sports fan, recalled that 38 years ago, when the Chinese women’s volleyball team won the World Cup for the first time, the whole nation was overwhelmed with emotion and hundreds of millions of people cried tears of joy.
“The people love the Chinese women’s volleyball team, not only because you have won the championship, but also because you have displayed the spirit of putting the motherland first, through unity, cooperation, tenacity and never giving up,” he said.
“The ever-evolving spirit of the Chinese women’s team represents a new era, and embodies the strongest will of the Chinese nation to rejuvenate itself,” Xi continued.
Xi called on all sportspeople to carry forward the spirit of striving to achieve the goal of China becoming a world sports power.
“I hope the Chinese women’s volleyball team will continue to work hard and I look forward to your excellent results at the Tokyo Olympic Games,” he said.
The Chinese volleyballers won their first major title at the 3rd World Cup in 1981 and have since gone on to claim more top honors at the Olympic Games, the World Championships and the World Cup.
70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China marked by its biggest ever military parade and huge civilian parade
Xi says no force can stop China ‘marching forward’ and vows to protect the long-term stability of Hong Kong
Military vehicles carry DF-17 missiles capable of reaching the US mainland during the parade to mark 70 years of the People’s Republic. Photo: AP
China staged a massive military parade in Beijing on Tuesday to mark the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic, with much of the smog-shrouded capital city under a security lockdown.
President Xi Jinping inspected over 15,000 troops, more than 160 aircraft and 580 weapon systems in a show of the country’s growing military might and his drive to modernise the People’s Liberation Army.
He also delivered a bullish eight-minute speech hailing the accomplishments of seven decades of Communist rule and pledging to achieve his vision of a “Chinese dream” of national rejuvenation and global prominence.
Here are some of the key takeaways from a day of celebration in Beijing:
A show of unity
Xi presided over the ceremony in Tiananmen Square flanked by his predecessors Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao, along with other retired and present party elders.
The rare appearance of Jiang and Hu – on the rostrum of the Gate of Heavenly Peace, where the country’s founding father Mao Zedong declared Communist rule on October 1, 1949 – was clearly aimed at projecting unity and solidarity in the face of daunting domestic and international challenges.
China’s National Day parade, as it happened
Hu had been absent from the funeral of former premier Li Peng in late July, although the ailing Jiang attended.
Former vice-president Zeng Qinghong and Song Ping, the oldest party elder in attendance, also appeared on the rostrum.
President Xi Jinping speaks in Tiananmen Square during Tuesday’s celebrations. Photo: Xinhua
But notably, while former premier Wen Jiabao was present, his predecessor Zhu Rongji was not.
‘No force can shake China’
Dressed in a Mao suit, Xi’s nationally televised speech invoked China’s “century of humiliation” and praised the achievements of its people, saying there was no force that could stop it forging ahead.
“No force can shake the status of our great motherland, and no force can stop the Chinese people and the Chinese nation from marching forward,” he said.
Chinese troops take part in the Republic’s largest ever military parade. Photo: AFP
“The People’s Liberation Army [PLA] will serve its purpose in safeguarding the sovereignty, security and development interests of the country, and world peace,” he said, at a time when Beijing has expanded its military footprint globally, including with its first overseas military base in Djibouti.
Xi called on the Communist Party and the country to unite and continue to fight for the realisation of what he called the “Chinese dream” – the nation’s rejuvenation.
One country, two systems
Amid escalating unrest in Hong Kong, which has plunged the city into a deepening crisis and threatened to overshadow the National Day celebrations, Xi vowed that the central government would uphold “one country, two systems”.
He said the central government would protect the long-term stability of Hong Kong and Macau, and stressed the goal of “peaceful reunification” with the self-ruling Taiwan, repeating a message frequently used by his predecessors, including Deng Xiaoping, Jiang and Hu.
The theme of one country, two systems later appeared in a National Day parade for the first time, with placards forming the words: “Hong Kong’s tomorrow will be better.”
Hong Kong Chief Executive Cheng Yuet-ngor attended the ceremony, as did 10 Hong Kong police officers involved in suppressing anti-government protests in the city.
Showing off new weapons
China’s advancement in military weaponry was on full display, with almost half of the items featured being shown to the public for the first time.
Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam was among the guests in Beijing on Tuesday. Photo: AP
The morning’s celebrations included an 80-minute military parade – the biggest since the founding of the People’s Republic – in an apparent effort to showcase the prowess of the PLA, the world’s biggest military with 2 million personnel.
Among the weapons shown were DF series missiles, including the DF-17, a nuclear-capable glider that has the capacity to strike the US mainland, and the DF-41, which has a range of up to 15,000km, making it the world’s longest-range military missile.
Signalling Xi’s status
A 100,000-strong civilian parade featuring huge portraits of Xi and predecessors including Mao, Deng, Jiang and Hu wrapped up the morning celebration.
The procession was divided into three parts, representing three eras of the People’s Republic: the Mao era, Deng’s reform and opening up, and Xi’s era, which seeks global prominence on a par with that of the United States.
Xi appeared keen to project his supreme status in the party, reinforced since he abolished the constitutional term limit a year ago, allowing him potentially to remain leader for life.
He waved at his own portrait, unveiled alongside a sign reading “Carry out Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era”.
It took China less than 70 years to emerge from isolation and become one of the world’s greatest economic powers.
As the country celebrates the anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, we look back on how its transformation spread unprecedented wealth – and deepened inequality – across the Asian giant.
“When the Communist Party came into control of China it was very, very poor,” says DBS chief China economist Chris Leung.
“There were no trading partners, no diplomatic relationships, they were relying on self-sufficiency.”
Over the past 40 years, China has introduced a series of landmark market reforms to open up trade routes and investment flows, ultimately pulling hundreds of millions of people out of poverty.
The 1950s had seen one of the biggest human disasters of the 20th Century. The Great Leap Forward was Mao Zedong’s attempt to rapidly industrialise China’s peasant economy, but it failed and 10-40 million people died between 1959-1961 – the most costly famine in human history.
This was followed by the economic disruption of the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s, a campaign which Mao launched to rid the Communist party of his rivals, but which ended up destroying much of the country’s social fabric.
‘Workshop of the world’
Yet after Mao’s death in 1976, reforms spearheaded by Deng Xiaoping began to reshape the economy. Peasants were granted rights to farm their own plots, improving living standards and easing food shortages.
The door was opened to foreign investment as the US and China re-established diplomatic ties in 1979. Eager to take advantage of cheap labour and low rent costs, money poured in.
“From the end of the 1970s onwards we’ve seen what is easily the most impressive economic miracle of any economy in history,” says David Mann, global chief economist at Standard Chartered Bank.
Through the 1990s, China began to clock rapid growth rates and joining the World Trade Organization in 2001 gave it another jolt. Trade barriers and tariffs with other countries were lowered and soon Chinese goods were everywhere.
“It became the workshop of the world,” Mr Mann says.
Take these figures from the London School of Economics: in 1978, exports were $10bn (£8.1bn), less than 1% of world trade.
By 1985, they hit $25bn and a little under two decades later exports valued $4.3trn, making China the world’s largest trading nation in goods.
Poverty rates tumble
The economic reforms improved the fortunes of hundreds of millions of Chinese people.
The World Bank says more than 850 million people been lifted out of poverty, and the country is on track to eliminate absolute poverty by 2020.
At the same time, education rates have surged. Standard Chartered projects that by 2030, around 27% of China’s workforce will have a university education – that’s about the same as Germany today.
Rising inequality
Still, the fruits of economic success haven’t spread evenly across China’s population of 1.3 billion people.
Examples of extreme wealth and a rising middle class exist alongside poor rural communities, and a low skilled, ageing workforce. Inequality has deepened, largely along rural and urban divides.
“The entire economy is not advanced, there’s huge divergences between the different parts,” Mr Mann says.
The World Bank says China’s income per person is still that of a developing country, and less than one quarter of the average of advanced economies.
China’s average annual income is nearly $10,000, according to DBS, compared to around $62,000 in the US.
Slower growth
Now, China is shifting to an era of slower growth.
For years it has pushed to wean its dependence off exports and toward consumption-led growth. New challenges have emerged including softer global demand for its goods and a long-running trade war with the US. The pressures of demographic shifts and an ageing population also cloud the country’s economic outlook.
Still, even if the rate of growth in China eases to between 5% and 6%, the country will still be the most powerful engine of world economic growth.
“At that pace China will still be 35% of global growth, which is the biggest single contributor of any country, three times more important to global growth than the US,” Mr Mann says.
The next economic frontier
China is also carving out a new front in global economic development. The country’s next chapter in nation-building is unfolding through a wave of funding in the massive global infrastructure project, the Belt and Road Initiative.
The so-called new Silk Road aims to connect almost half the world’s populations and one-fifth of global GDP, setting up trade and investment links that stretch across the world.
In its ruling, the court had stopped instant arrests and the automatic registration of criminal cases under the law. Critics said at the time that the decision would pave the way for officials to turn a blind eye to caste atrocities. They also warned that this would lead to increased violence against lower castes.
What is the SC/ST Act?
The Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 was brought into law to prevent crimes against people belonging to lower castes and tribes in India.
The act was passed as it was felt that the existing legal framework did not provide adequate protection to lower castes.
The law allows for instant arrests, severely limits opportunities for bail and the automatic registration of criminal cases against anyone accused of committing an offence against a member of a lower caste or tribe.
Image copyright AFPImage caption Despite the laws to protect them, discrimination remains a daily reality for Dalits
It also prescribes several other stringent measures such as the attachment and forfeiture of the property of an accused.
The act also allows public servants to be prosecuted for neglect of duties – a significant step given that many lower caste people allege that their complaints were often ignored by officials who belonged to the same communities as those they were accusing.
It was amended in 2015 to cover newer forms of discrimination and crimes against lower caste communities.
Why do Dalits need protection?
Dalits are some of India’s most downtrodden citizens because of an unforgiving Hindu caste hierarchy that condemns them to the bottom of the ladder.
Despite laws that protect them, discrimination remains a daily reality for the Dalit population, thought to number around 200 million.
Traditionally, they have been segregated from the upper castes and are not allowed to attend the same temples, schools or even drink from the same cups as upper caste people. They do not get equal access to education or jobs, and are often victims of exploitation, abuse and violence.
Lately, activists say that rising aspirations among young Dalits have improved their lives, but this has also increased violence against them by upper caste community members who are unable to accept this.
NANJING, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) — China’s spacecraft tracking ship Yuanwang-3 is sailing to the Pacific Ocean to carry out maritime monitoring missions for the BeiDou-3 and other satellites.
The ship departed Sunday from a port in east China’s Jiangsu Province. It is the third voyage of the ship this year.
Before the voyage, crew members completed preparation of supplies, carried out examinations and tests of the facilities and received tailored training to ensure the success of the missions.
This year, the ship has spent 83 days at sea and completed three missions, including maritime monitoring of a relay satellite Tianlian II and a BeiDou-3 satellite.
Yuanwang-3, China’s second-generation space tracking ship, mainly undertakes maritime tracking and monitoring tasks of high-, medium-, low-orbit satellites, spacecraft and space station.
Since it was launched more than 20 years ago, the ship has made 52 voyages and completed 83 missions on the sea, including maritime tracking of the Shenzhou spacecraft, the Chang’e lunar probe and BeiDou satellites, maintaining a 100 percent success rate.
CHINDIA ALERT: You'll be living in their world, very soon 