Daily News Compilation (HINDU) for 12th April

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Dancing with the nuclear djinn

Better to the point article in Indian Express. So summarizing that one.

Issue: BJP's manifesto says that it would "Revise and Update" India's nuclear doctrine if it comes to power. Initial reports suggested that rather than just a routine update, a future BJP government might revisit and abandon India’s pledge not to be the first party to use nuclear weapons in a crisis or conflict, otherwise known as a No First Use (NFU) pledge.


About the NFU pledgeThe NFU pledge is a cornerstone of India’s nuclear doctrine, formally adopted by the BJP-led NDA government in January 2003. While pledging NFU, and to not threaten the use of nuclear weapons against non-nuclear states (a so-called negative security assurance), the doctrine promises massive retaliation if weapons of mass destruction are used against India or its armed forces. India’s massive retaliation doctrine is strictly designed to deter a nuclear attack. The goal, if crafted properly and if deterrence is successful, is to never to have to fire a nuclear weapon.



It is unclear whether reversing NFU is seriously being considered by the BJP, or whether these are just rumours. Abandoning the NFU pillar of the nuclear doctrine would be a terrible idea for India’s national security. It would potentially transform India’s deterrence-only nuclear doctrine to one of nuclear warfighting, with serious ramifications for Indian security.



1. First, abandoning NFU is strategically unnecessary for India. Threatening the first use of nuclear weapons is useful for one primary purpose: to deter a conventionally superior adversary, where the threat of using nuclear weapons against conventional forces is necessary to offset the adversary’s conventional advantage over passable terrains.



India has conventional superiority against Pakistan, and this gap will only grow in the future as India incorporates more — and more advanced — platforms into its armed forces. India does not need the threat of nuclear weapons — or nuclear warfighting — to deter Pakistani conventional forces from attacking India.



Some advocates of abandoning NFU point to the fact that Pakistan threatens to use nuclear weapons first against India (precisely because of India’s conventional superiority) and is developing tactical or battlefield nuclear weapons such as the Nasr system to deter Indian army operations across the international border. But since India already reserves the right to retaliate against any nuclear use — whether from Nasr or Shaheen missiles — these developments do not alter the basic deterrent logic or aim of India’s retaliatory doctrine.



How will reversing NFU improve India’s ability to respond to Pakistani development of battlefield nuclear weapons? 



Against China, India has achieved a greater conventional balance and, in any case, the first use of nuclear weapons against Chinese ground forces in the likely terrain of any conflict renders them futile as a practical deterrent.



2. Second, not only is abandoning NFU unnecessary, it would make any militarised crisis with Pakistan very dangerous for India. Pakistan does not have a nuclear force guaranteed to survive a first strike from India. This makes the threat of first-use by India much more alarming to Pakistan. In a crisis, absent a formal NFU assurance, Pakistan would have reasons to fear a disarming Indian first strike and begin to calculate that it is in a “use them or lose them” situation, where it is better off striking first before India can wipe out its nuclear forces.



3. Third, formally abandoning NFU would carry significant costs and set a dangerous precedent in the second nuclear age in which the world presently finds itself. Having a credible first-use doctrine involves costly development and intensive management procedures for both strategic and tactical nuclear weapons, and would carry risks of inadvertent and unauthorised nuclear use. India has been accepted by the world (and formally by the Nuclear Suppliers Group) as a legitimate and responsible nuclear power. Reversing NFU could provocatively undermine the rightful legitimacy that the NDA and successive UPA governments achieved.



India’s security situation is such that its nuclear forces are primarily required to deter nuclear use and coercion against it, demanding only a doctrine of credible and assured retaliation — this is difficult enough to manage, and aligning India’s nuclear posture with that doctrine is something that both the NDA and UPA governments have admirably worked hard to achieve.



Gyaan:



In simpler terms we should not change our NFU pledge because:1. a. Against Pakistan we don't need the threat of first use of nuclear weapons as we already have a larger conventional forceb. Against China we are achieving greater conventional balance. So in that case first use policy will be of no use



2. Since Pakistan can't win a battle in conventional warfare threatening them of first use will in a way force them to use their nuclear weapons first.



3. Changing NFU policy will
a) carry significant cause is we will need more development in our nuclear warheadsb) set a bad example for othersc) tarnish the image of India as a responsible power.





The quiet IPCC warning

IPCC’s March 31 report:



>>Evidence of global warming is now overwhelming, and warns that all countries and all social classes of people will be affected by changes which are likely to be “severe, pervasive and irreversible.” 


>>All animal species face an increased risk of extinction, and vegetation patterns are likely to change substantially, with low-latitude species appearing in higher latitudes and lower latitudes becoming more arid, even if rainfall patterns there are becoming less predictable.


>>If temperatures rise to 2 ˚ C or more above 20th century levels, yields of major food crops will probably fall; the likely yield increase in colder climates as those grow warmer may not offset declining yields elsewhere.


>>Water resources, already under stress in Asia, are likely to come under even greater stress, and ocean acidification — caused by the absorption of rising levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide — is likely to compound the problems. 


>>The poor in all countries are likely to suffer more than the rich, but all humanity may well be unable to adapt to temperature rises of above 2 degrees.

New guidelines on blood pressure pave the way for a pill-free life

The medical community across the world is abuzz with discussion on the altered and eased blood pressure guidelines, which would translate into a pill-free life for several people. 
In a divisive move, the Eighth Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation and Treatment of High Blood Pressure recently 

1. relaxed the blood pressure goal in adults 60 years and above to 150/90 mm Hg instead of the previous goal of 140/90 mm Hg. 

2. Blood pressure goals were also eased for adults with diabetes and kidney disease.

Anyone registering a blood pressure of 120-139/80-89 mm Hg is considered pre-hypertensive and should be advised lifestyle changes to manage hypertension. This includes diet modifications, exercise and stress management.

High blood pressure often has no signs or symptoms and the only way to find out if you have hypertension is to be tested for it.

Gyaan

Blood pressure is typically recorded as two numbers, written as a ratio like this:



Read as "117 over 76 millimeters of mercury"
 
Systolic

The top number, which is also the higher of the two numbers, 

measures the pressure in the arteries when the heart beats (when 

the heart muscle contracts).
 
Diastolic

The bottom number, which is also the lower of the two numbers, 

measures the pressure in the arteries between heartbeats (when the 

heart muscle is resting between beats and refilling with blood). 



A single high reading does not necessarily mean that you have high 

blood pressure.

Typically more attention is given to the top number (the systolic blood pressure) as a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease for people over 50 years old. In most people, systolic blood pressure rises steadily with age due to increasing stiffness of large arteries, long-term build-up of plaque, and increased incidence of cardiac and vascular disease.

India to join China Navy exercise; Japan, U.S. keep out

India has decided to send the naval stealth frigate INS Shivalik to participate in an international fleet review and maritime exercise hosted by the Chinese Navy on April 23 — an exercise that has acquired particular diplomatic significance with the United States declining to join the review after Japan was excluded from the event.

With India and Pakistan taking part, the review and exercise will also provide a rare instance of both countries jointly taking part in a naval exercise.

The fleet review and maritime exercise will take place along with the annual meeting of the Western Pacific Naval Symposium (WPNS) — a U.S.-established grouping of 20 countries, including Australia, Canada, Russia, Japan, South Korea and China, and three observers, India, Bangladesh and Mexico.

China invited Japan’s Navy chief to attend the WPNS, but the PLAN decided to exclude Japan from the international fleet review and exercise, to which a number of other countries were invited.

Justice Lodha to be next Chief Justice of India

President Pranab Mukherjee has appointed the senior-most judge of the Supreme Court, Justice R.M. Lodha, as the 41st Chief Justice of India. He will succeed present CJI P. Sathasivam, who retires on April 26.