Voice from the Rooftop

India has banned 59 apps with Chinese connection. Ravi Shankar Prasad called it Digital Strike. He said it was for the safety of the country and to safeguard people’s digital data. It seems surgical strike against China is not possible and digital strike was the next best thing.
USA is against Chinese apps. After the Battle of Galwan, USA is ready to be on the side of India and other countries which have border disputes with China. US war ships are in South China Sea. It is possible that war will break out by accident or design.
India and China have agreed to move back 1.8 km from the site of clash on 15/6/2020. US support for India is the likely reason for China’s abandonment of march into Indian territory. What compromises India’s Government has made to please China is not fully known. One was glaring as India’s President Ram Nath Kovind and PM Narendra Modi did not wish Dalai Lama on his birthday on 6/7/2020.
The executives of companies of 59 apps were to meet officials of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology on 3/7/2020. The meeting has been postponed with no date fixed. Some companies may change ownership.
The effectiveness of bans will be known in due course. Indians who use those apps will find it inconvenient to stop using them. In some cases patriotism may triumph over inconvenience.
China decided to attack India after Amit Shah’s statement in Lok Sabha on 6/8/2019. He said, during a discussion on resolution to abrogate Article 370, “Mr. Speaker, I want to put this on record that whenever I say State of Jammu and Kashmir in the House, then both PoK and Aksai Chin are part of it. The boundaries of Jammu and Kashmir decided in our Constitution and also in the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir, includes PoK and Aksai Chin.” China’s foreign ministry had issued a statement “We urge India to be cautious in its words and deeds on the border issue, strictly abide by the relevant agreements reached between the two sides, and avoid taking actions that further complicate the border issue.”

Battle of Galwan has come as a rude awakening for people of India. On 16/6/2020 afternoon came reports that one Colonel and two jawans had died in skirmishes with Chinese on the night of 15-16. At night came the news that 20 are dead.
Line of Actual Control stand-off has been going on for sometime. In April and May there were Chinese army movments along LAC and they occupied Indian territory. Indian Government was slow to act and when Chinese occupation became public knowledge it tried to downplay the incident and questioned the patriotism of people who raised questions about occupation. Foreign media reported occupation and POTUS Donald Trump offered to mediate. Indian Government did not accept the offer and talked of solving the problem by bilateral talks. Indian and Chinese army officers held talks and it was said that both sides will disengage or withdraw. At one place there was report of withdrawal. At Galwan, China claimed it was in its territory and battle followed. It is no use to say not a single bullet was fired. When lives are lost it does not make a difference whether they were lost to bullets or to batons, clubs, sticks and stones.
This Battle has to be linked with two other events. One is continued infiltration in Kashmir from Pakistani side. Second is belligerence by Nepal. Nepal’s Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli claimed part of Indian territory i.e., Kalapani, Lipulekh, and Limpiyadhyra in Uttarakhand belongs to Nepal. That territory was not in Nepal’s map. So he called for Constitutional Amendment to change Nepal’s map to show that territory as beloging to Nepal. All political parties of Nepal supported him. Nepal has 275 members in House of Representativess. Of these 258 were present and voted for Amendment. The Bill has gone to National Assembly which has 59 members and 50 belong to ruling party Nepal Communist Party and members of other parties also support Amendment. Nepal has moved its army to No Man’s Land between India and Nepal. Some Indians in Bihar have land in Nepal. They wanted to go there to till the fields. There was commotion at the border. Nepali police fired on Indians. One Indian died.
It is time for India to get real with Nepal and not talk of food and blood (roti-beti) ties as Defence Minister Rajnath Singh did. It is no use of talking civilisational and cultural ties and humanitarian assistance.
Magnanimity is foolishness. India gave up the land it won in Kashmir in 1965 and 1971 wars. It is said Lal Bahardur Shastri succumbed to pressure from Nikita Khrushchev and signed Tashkent Agreement in 1966. Indira Gandhi did not have such pressure to sign Simla Treaty in 1972. In 1974 she gave Kachchateevu island to Sri Lanka. After that Indian fishermen have suffered losses. Sri Lankan navy has killed or injured Indian fisherman, destroyed their boats and dumped their catch into the sea.
China had evacuated its citizens from India some weeks back. It has prepared for war and Nepal and Pakistan are its allies. India should be ready for war with three countries on air, land and sea. China and Pakistan are nuclear powers. Be ready for nuclear war.

Tamil Nadu government has ordered name changes of 1,018 places. Most of them are adding a, i, k, th to existing names or substituing u with oo. Change of names continues in India ever since Independence. Change of names was mainly of British Era names. Now names prior to British Era like that of Allahabad and Mughalsarai are also changed.
English does not have some sounds which are in Indian Languages. Changing Bangalore, Mangalore and Belgaum to Bengaluru, Mangaluru and Belagavi was not of much use because l in new names does not represent the Kannada sound. Also instead of luru it should have been looru.
Those who want name changes disagree with William Shakespeare who wrote “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose / By any other name would smell as sweet.” (Romeo and Juliet).
Some years back, that is August 2009, M. K. Azhagiri changed his name to M. K. Alagiri because zh does not represent the Tamil sound and non-Tamilians are unaware of it. Now Egmore has become Ezhumboor. It will be pronounced differently by Tamilians and non-Tamilians.
Madras was the name of the state and the capital. State became Tamil Nadu. Capital became Chennai. Some say Chennai is Telugu, Madraspatnam is Tamil.
Now nothing official about Coimbatore, Dharmapuri, Mylapore, Triplicane, Vellore and so on. States have changed many place names at a time. Changing 1,018 place names at a time is unknown.
Some wanted Tamil Nadu to be changed to Tamizh Naadu and and removal of Sanskrit names.
Change of name happens all over the world. When countries changed names when they became independent.