@Noon: 📦 To Move Faster. PM Launched The National Logistics Policy

1. 📦 Moving fast!

PM Modi launched the National Logistics Policy. It's more important to the growth of the Indian economy than the name indicates.

• India's logistics cost is 14-18% of the GDP. Global benchmark is at 8%. We spend way too much on logistics.

• Many developed economies have very low (<10%) cost to GDP ratio.

• Therefore, we must bring down our cost to GDP ratio of logistics by about 50%.

How will the policy help? Many interesting ideas are part of the policy. One such example is Unified Logistics Interface Platform (ULIP).

• Govt is aiming to bring all logistics sector digital services into a single digital platform.

• This will allow businesses to reduce hassle of dealing with cumbersome business and regulatory process.

• A Comprehensive Logistics Action plan (CLAP) will work on standardising physical assets, service standards, HR requirements, capacity building and also work on logistics parks

Some examples. The railways used to carry 40% of our freight in 1980s. It is now reduced to just 20%.

• Freight trains continue to operate without timetables.

• Their speeds are still at 25 km/hr for decades now - can this be doubled when the dedicated corridors come online?

What's different this time? PM Modi says the policy has not come out of the blue but after eight years of work.

• Last Mile Governance: It is policy plus performance that will energise all sectors, the PM said.

• Looks like he was sending a message to cynics.

2. 🧕 Beware the fundamentalists

A dark future for Afghanistan's women. It has been a year since Taliban banned girls from high school classes 6 - 12.

• Look around: not one influential nation or organisation is standing up for Afghanistan's children.

• Those who cry the loudest about religion, blasphemy or phobia are not only quiet but also impotent to effect any change.

Why is this relevant to India? Islamists are fighting a legal battle here in India to make it permissible for Muslim girls to wear hijab in schools and colleges.

• Islamists say hijab is an essential religious practise.

• If the state concedes this Islamist demand then every girl or women in public will face an element of compulsion (to wear hijab) or else face expulsion from the community.

• If Islamists win the hijab battle, what's to stop them from pushing for burkha, gender segregated schools and ultimately no schools for girl kids?

3. 📖 Confucius say

Getting Confucius out: Britain is working to replace the many Confucius Institutes in their country with Taiwanese teachers.

• With changing global dynamics Confucius institutes, backed by the Chinese state, are coming under increasing scrutiny.

• Mao is often introduced as uncle Mao in Confucius institute classes. The normalisation of CCP's ideology is subtle but pervasive in these classes.

• Nearly all of Britain's government spending on teaching Mandarin at schools through university-based Confucius Institutes,

4. 🚁 The LCH gets going

5. 🛤️ The Spectacular Chenab Bridge - now bomb proof too!

The Chenab bridge on Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link is getting bomb proofing

• Railway engineers are mounting a 780 metre long blast protection platform on the surface of the bridge.

• This is being built to absorb the impact of any possible explosion during the train operation.

• 72 sensors are being installed for the structural health monitoring of the Chenab arch bridge round the clock.

Highlight: The 1315m bridge is the world's highest railway bridge. The Udhampur - Srinagar - Baramulla rail link will put large parts of Kashmir on India's railway map, a huge achievement given the terrain.