Putin warns US to be ready for the consequences if it deploys missiles

Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday threatened to relaunch production of intermediate-range nuclear weapons if the United States confirmed its intention to deploy missiles to Germany or elsewhere in Europe.The United States said on July 10 that it would start deploying long-range missiles in Germany from 2026 in preparation for a longer-term deployment that will include SM-6, Tomahawk cruise missiles and developmental hypersonic weapons.In a speech to sailors from Russia, China, Algeria and India to mark Russian navy day in the former imperial capital of St Petersburg, Putin warned the United States that it risked triggering a Cold War-style missile crisis with the move.“The flight time to targets on our territory of such missiles, which in the future may be equipped with nuclear warheads, will be about 10 minutes,” Putin said.“If the United States carries out such plans, we will consider ourselves liberated from the unilateral moratorium previously adopted on the deployment of medium- and short-range strike capabilities,” Putin said, adding that now in Russia “the development of a number of such systems is in the final stages”.“We will take mirror measures in deploying them, taking into account the actions of the US, its satellites in Europe and in other regions of the world,” the Russian president warned.Such missiles, which can travel between 500 and 5,500km, were the subject of an arms control treaty signed by the US and the Soviet Union in 1987.But both Washington and Moscow withdrew from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty in 2019, each accusing the other of violations.Russia subsequently said it would not restart production of such missiles as long as the United States did not deploy missiles abroad.In early July, Washington and Berlin announced that the “episodic deployments” of long-range US missiles, including Tomahawk cruise missiles, to Germany would begin in 2026.Putin said that “important Russian administrative and military sites” would fall within the range of such missiles that “could in the future be equipped with nuclear warheads, such that our territories would be within around 10 minutes” of a strike being launched.The Russian president also mentioned that the US has deployed Typhon mid-range missile systems in Denmark and the Philippines in recent exercises.Russian and US diplomats say their diplomatic relations are worse even that during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, and both Moscow and Washington have urged de-escalation while both have made steps towards escalation.Putin said that the United States was stoking tensions and had transferred Typhon missile systems to Denmark and the Philippines, and compared the US plans to the Nato decision to deploy Pershing II launchers in Western Europe in 1979.The Soviet leadership, including General Secretary Yuri Andropov, feared Pershing II deployments were part of an elaborate US-led plan to decapitate the Soviet Union by taking out its political and military leadership.“This situation is reminiscent of the events of the Cold War related to the deployment of American medium-range Pershing missiles in Europe,” Putin said.The Pershing II, designed to deliver a variable yield nuclear warhead, was deployed to West Germany in 1983.In 1983, the ailing Andropov and the KGB interpreted a series of US moves including the Pershing II deployment and a major Nato exercise as signs the West was about to launch a pre-emptive strike on the Soviet Union.Putin repeated an earlier warning that Russia could resume production of intermediate and shorter range nuclear-capable missiles and then consider where to deploy them after the United States brought similar missiles to Europe and Asia.US missiles continued to be stationed through the reunification of Germany and into the 1990s.But following the end of the Cold War, the United States significantly reduced the numbers of missiles stationed in Europe as the threat from Moscow receded.The Kremlin had already warned in mid July that the proposed US deployment would mean that European capitals would become a target for Russian missiles.“We are taking steady steps towards the Cold War. All the attributes of the Cold War with the direct confrontation are returning,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a state TV reporter.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/687527/international/putin-warns-us-to-be-ready-for-the-consequences-if-it-deploys-missiles

Jordan’s Umm al-Jimal added to Unesco heritage list

Jordan’s Umm al-Jimal village has been added to Unesco’s World Heritage List, in a move hailed yesterday by the country’s tourism and antiquities minister as a “great achievement”.Unesco, which is hosting a meeting of its World Heritage Committee in New Delhi, said on X on Friday that the earliest structures uncovered at Umm al-Jimal date back to the first century CE, “when the area formed part of the Nabataean Kingdom.” It added that inscriptions in “Greek, Nabataean, Safaitic, Latin and Arabic uncovered on the site... sheds light on the changes in its inhabitants’ religious beliefs”.The village is near the Jordanian-Syrian border, 86 kilometres north of the capital Amman, and is known as “the black oasis” due to the prevalence of black volcanic rock in the area.Jordan’s Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Makram al-Qaisi said in a press conference yesterday that the inclusion of Umm al-Jimal on the World Heritage List is a “great achievement we should be proud of”. He said the ministry hoped to invite local and international investors to the site and “present Umm al-Jimal as an attractive tourist destination”.The name Umm al-Jimal comes from the use of camels as part of trade caravans in the village.The village was first settled by the Nabataean peoples in the first century CE and later occupied by the Romans, becoming an important agricultural and commercial village. Umm al-Jimal is the seventh historical site in Jordan to be added to Unesco’s World Heritage List, along with Petra, Quseir Amra, Umm al-Rasas, Wadi Rum, Mughatas and Salt. Tourism contributes between 12 and 14% of GDP in the kingdom, whose 10mn inhabitants rely heavily on the sector. Qaisi said Jordan welcomed more than 6mn tourists in 2023, bringing in $7bn.But tourism has started to feel the effects of the war raging in nearby Gaza. Qaisi said the kingdom saw a 4.9% drop in tourism revenue so far in 2024, and a 7.9% drop in visitors.Most tourists come from Europe, the US and Canada, followed by Asia Pacific countries.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/687523/international/jordans-umm-al-jimal-added-to-unesco-heritage-list

Nigeria courts convict 125 insurgents in mass trial

Nigerian courts convicted 125 Boko Haram militants and financiers of a series of terrorism-related offences in a mass trial this week, the attorney-general’s office said.A Boko Haram insurgency has killed thousands of people and displaced millions since it began in 2009, creating a humanitarian crisis in northeastern Nigeria and putting pressure on the government to bring the conflict to an end.Kamarudeen Ogundele, the spokesman of the Attorney-General’s office, said in a statement late on Friday that “they were convicted of charges bordering on terrorism, terrorism financing, rendering material support, and cases relating to International Criminal Courts (ICC) criminality”.The last mass trials of Boko Haram suspects took place between 2017 and 2018, where 163 people were convicted and 887 set free. Ogundele added that from the previous convictions, 400 defendants who had completed their sentences were moved to a rehabilitation centre known as Operation Safe Corridor in Gombe State, northeast Nigeria “for rehabilitation, deradicalisation and subsequent reintegration”.Boko Haram kidnapped more than 270 girls from a school in the northeastern town of Chibok in April 2014, an attack that sparked outrage and gave rise to the global “#Bring Back Our Girls” campaign, though more than half of the girls have returned, many as mothers of multiple children.The breakdown of the latest convictions showed that 85 people were convicted for terrorism financing, 22 for ICC related crimes, while the rest were convictedfor terrorism.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/687447/international/nigeria-courts-convict-125-insurgents-in-mass-trial

Climate change ‘causing change in rainfall, fiercer typhoons’

Climate change is driving changes in rainfall patterns across the world, scientists said in a paper published yesterday, which could also be intensifying typhoons and other tropical storms.Taiwan, the Philippines and then China were lashed by the year’s most powerful typhoon this week, with schools, businesses and financial markets shut as wind speeds surged up to 227kph. On China’s eastern coast, hundreds of thousands of people were evacuated ahead of landfall on Thursday.Stronger tropical storms are part of a wider phenomenon of weather extremes driven by higher temperatures, scientists say.Researchers led by Zhang Wenxia at the China Academy of Sciences studied historical meteorological data and found about 75% of the world’s land area had seen a rise in “precipitation variability” or wider swings between wet and dry weather. Warming temperatures have enhanced the ability of the atmosphere to hold moisture, which is causing wider fluctuations in rainfall, the researchers said in a paper published by the Science journal.“(Variability) has increased in most places, including Australia, which means rainier rain periods and drier dry periods,” said Steven Sherwood, a scientist at the Climate Change Research Centre at the University of New South Wales, who was not involved in the study. “This is going to increase as global warming continues, enhancing the chances of droughts and/or floods.”Scientists believe that climate change is also reshaping the behaviour of tropical storms, including typhoons, making them less frequent but more powerful. “I believe higher water vapour in the atmosphere is the ultimate cause of all of these tendencies toward more extreme hydrologic phenomena,” Sherwood said. Typhoon Gaemi, which first made landfall in Taiwan on Wednesday, was the strongest to hit the island in eight years. While it is difficult to attribute individual weather events to climate change, models predict that global warming makes typhoons stronger, said Sachie Kanada, a researcher at Japan’s Nagoya University.“In general, warmer sea surface temperature is a favourable condition for tropical cyclone development,” she said. In its “blue paper” on climate change published this month, China said the number of typhoons in the Northwest Pacific and South China Sea had declined significantly since the 1990s, but they were getting stronger.Thousands evacuated as record rains pound JapanRecord heavy rain forced the evacuation of thousands of people across parts of northern Japan and killed at least two, as rivers burst their banks washing away bridges and cars, officials and media reports said yesterday.A rescuer is among the dead after the downpours in Yamagata and Akita prefectures on the main island of Honshu. Two other people, including another rescuer, are missing.In Yamagata, where two rivers burst their banks, one police officer in his 20s who had been searching for a missing person was found “submerged” and later confirmed dead, a local police spokesman said.Another police officer also tasked with a search operation, remains unaccounted for, the spokesman said.In northern Akita region, one body was also found, media reports said, with police trying to ascertain whether it was that of an 86-year-old man earlier reported missing.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/687420/international/climate-change-causing-change-in-rainfall-fiercer-typhoons

Philippines racing to clean oil spill to avoid ‘catastrophe’

The Philippine Coast Guard yesterday raced to offload 1.4mn litres of industrial fuel oil from a sunken tanker and prevent an “environmental catastrophe” in Manila Bay.One crew member died when the MT Terra Nova sank in rough seas nearly 7km off Limay municipality early Thursday after setting out for the central city of Iloilo.An oil slick stretching several kilometres was detected in the waterway, which thousands of fishermen and tourism operators rely on for their livelihoods.Coast guard spokesman Rear Admiral Armando Balilo said yesterday the spill was “minimal” and that it appeared to be diesel fuel used to power the tanker and not the industrial fuel oil cargo.“No oil has been leaking from the tank itself, so we’re racing against time to siphon the oil so we can avoid the environmental catastrophe,” Balilo said.The coast guard has set a target of seven days to offload the cargo and prevent what Balilo warned would be the worst oil spill in Philippine history if it were to leak.Journalists at the Port of Limay in Bataan province watched coast guard personnel load oil dispersant and a suction skimmer onto a boat to be used against the slick.Balilo said oil spill containment booms had also been deployed in preparation “for the worst case scenario” of the industrial fuel oil leaking before it could be offloaded.Once the weather improved, coast guard divers would inspect the position of the tanker so the “siphoning operation” could get under way, he said.The coast guard met with representatives of the MT Terra Nova’s owner and a contracted salvage company yesterday to discuss the timeline.“There’s nothing to be worried about for now, but we should not be complacent,” Balilo said.The incident happened as heavy rains fuelled by Typhoon Gaemi and the seasonal monsoon lashed Manila and surrounding regions in recent days.After setting out late Wednesday, the captain decided to abort the journey to Iloilo due to rough seas.Balilo said investigators were seeking to verify testimony from the crew that the vessel was damaged as it tried to turn back and had to be towed by another ship.Somehow the tow line was cut and the MT Terra Nova “lost control” in the large waves and went down, he said.“We will see if there were protocols violated or if there was a lapse in decision-making,” Balilo said.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/687418/international/philippines-racing-to-clean-oil-spill-to-avoid-catastrophe

India’s strategic railway bridge closes the gap to Kashmir

Soaring high across a gorge in the rugged Himalayas, a newly finished bridge will soon help India entrench control of Kashmir and meet a rising strategic threat from China.

The Chenab Rail Bridge, the highest of its kind in the world, has been hailed as a feat of engineering linking the Kashmir valley to the vast Indian plains by train for the first time.

But its completion has sparked concern among some in the territory, home to a permanent garrison of more than 500,000 soldiers.

India’s military brass say the strategic benefits of the bridge to New Delhi cannot be understated.

“The train to Kashmir will be pivotal in peace and in wartime,” general Deependra Singh Hooda, a retired former chief of India’s northern military command, said.

The new bridge “will facilitate the movement of army personnel coming and going in larger numbers than was previously possible”, said Noor Ahmad Baba, a politics professor at the Central University of Kashmir.

But, as well as soldiers, the bridge will “facilitate movement” of ordinary people and goods, he said. That has prompted unease among some in Kashmir who believe easier access will bring a surge of outsiders coming to buy land and settle.

Previously tight rules on land ownership were lifted after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government cancelled Kashmir’s partial autonomy in 2019.

India Railways calls the $24mn bridge “arguably the biggest civil engineering challenge faced by any railway project in India in recent history”.

It is hoped to boost economic development and trade, cutting the cost of moving goods.

But Hooda, the retired general, said the bridge’s most important consequence would be revolutionising logistics in Ladakh, the icy region bordering China.

India and China, the world’s two most populous nations, are intense rivals competing for strategic influence across South Asia, and their 3,500km shared frontier has been a perennial source of tension.

Their troops clashed in 2020, killing at least 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers, and forces from both sides today face off across contested high-altitude borderlands. “Everything from a needle to the biggest military equipment... has to be sent by road and stocked up in Ladakh for six months every year before the roads close for winter,” Hooda said.

Now all that can be transported by train, easing what Indian military experts call the “world’s biggest military logistics exercise” - supplying Ladakh through snowbound passes.

The project will buttress several other road tunnel projects under way that will connect Kashmir and Ladakh, not far from India’s frontiers with China and Pakistan.

The 1,315-metre-long steel and concrete bridge connects two mountains with an arch 359 metres above the cool waters of the Chenab River.

Trains are ready to run and only await an expected ribbon cutting from Modi.

The 272km railway begins in the garrison city of Udhampur, headquarters of the army’s northern command, and runs through the region’s capital Srinagar.

It terminates a kilometre higher in altitude in Baramulla, a gateway trade town near the Line of Control with Pakistan.

When the road is open, it is twice the distance and takes a day of driving.

The railway cost an estimated $3.9bn and has been an immense undertaking, with construction beginning nearly three decades ago.

While several road and pipeline bridges are higher, Guinness World Records confirmed that Chenab trumps the previous highest railway bridge, the Najiehe bridge in China.

Describing India’s new bridge as a “marvel”, its deputy chief designer R R Mallick, said the experience of designing and building was a great learning experience for the engineers.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/687366/international/indias-strategic-railway-bridge-closes-the-gap-to-kashmir

Typhoon hits Chinese seaboard, widespread flooding feared

Typhoon Gaemi roared into southeastern China yesterday after churning across the Taiwan Strait, prompting warnings of swelling rivers, flash floods and waterlogging in cities and provinces that were hit by extreme rains just several weeks ago.Gaemi, the third and most powerful typhoon to hit China’s eastern seaboard this year, made landfall in Fujian province at 7.50pm (1150GMT) after whipping Taiwan with gusts of up to 227kph, some of the strongest winds recorded in the Western Pacific Ocean.Ahead of its arrival, 240,800 people in Fujian were evacuated.Despite slightly weakening since its landfall in Fujian’s Putian, a city of over 3mn, Gaemi and its giant cloud-bands are forecast to unleash intense rainfall in at least 10 Chinese provinces in the coming days.The arrival of Gaemi has drawn comparisons with Typhoon Doksuri last year, which triggered historic flooding as far north as Beijing and caused nationwide losses of nearly $30bn.Authorities said water levels in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River as well as the vast freshwater lakes of Poyang and Dongting in central China could rise, returning to dangerous levels seen in early July after intense summer rains.Due to its high vapour content, Beijing cautioned that Gaemi could spawn strong rainfall in the Chinese capital, about 2,000km north of Putian, even as the storm weakens into a tropical depression.Gaemi’s rains could cause flash floods and waterlogging particularly in parts of northern China where the soil remains saturated after being lashed by a passing system of storms earlier this week, authorities warned.In Taiwan, Gaemi killed three people, triggered flooding and sank a freighter after the strongest typhoon to hit the island in eight years made landfall on Wednesday night.The storm cut power to around half a million households, though most are now back online, utility Taipower said.Apart from the three fatalities, 380 were injured by the typhoon in Taiwan, the government said.Taiwan’s fire department said a Tanzania-flagged freighter with nine Myanmar nationals on board had sunk off the coast of the southern port city of Kaohsiung.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/687365/international/typhoon-hits-chinese-seaboard-widespread-flooding-feared

Germany's Frankfurt Airport suspends flights after climate activists stormed airport grounds

Air traffic at Germany's Frankfurt airport has been temporarily suspended after activists from the climate group Last Generation managed to gain access to the airport grounds, police said on Thursday morning.According to dpa, several protesters entered through a fence in the early hours and glued themselves to the tarmac at Germany's biggest airport.'All security authorities are currently working to resolve disruptions as quickly as possible,' a spokesman for federal police stationed at the airport said.Six Last Generation activists had gained access to the airport's runways, calling for an end to fossil fuel use by 2030.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/687340/international/germanys-frankfurt-airport-suspends-flights-after-climate-activistsstormed-airport-grounds

Trump shooter ‘did online search for JFK assassination’

The 20-year-old man suspected of trying to kill former president Donald Trump conducted an online search of the John F Kennedy assassination on the day he registered for Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, FBI Director Christopher Wray said yesterday.“Analysis of a laptop that the investigation ties to the shooter reveals that on July 6, he did a Google search for ‘how far away was Oswald from Kennedy’,” Wray said in testimony before the House Judiciary Committee.“That is the same day that it appears that he registered for the Butler rally,” he said, adding that suspect Thomas Crooks had become “very focused on Trump and his rally” at the time.Former president Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963, by Lee Harvey Oswald.Wray said Crooks, a nursing home aide, fired at least eight rounds from his rooftop position near the July 13 rally, wounding the Republican presidential candidate in the ear, killing one rally attendee and wounding two others.Crooks used an AR-15 assault-style rifle with a collapsible stock, “which could explain why it might have been less easy for people to observe,” Wray said.The motive for the shooting remains unclear. Wray said many people have described Crooks as a loner and the list of contacts in his phone was short.Wray also told lawmakers that Crooks flew a drone about 200 yards from the stage where Trump spoke to the crowd and live-streamed footage for about 11 minutes, some two hours before the event.He said the crude explosive devices recovered from Crooks’ car and home were designed to be detonated remotely. Crooks had a transmitter with him at the time of the shooting, Wray added. But he said the FBI believes the suspect would not have been successful had he tried to detonate the devices.The hearing also focused on the increasingly tense political atmosphere surrounding the presidential campaign.“I have been saying for some time now that we are living in an elevated-threat environment. And tragically, the...assassination attempt is another example, particularly heinous,” Wray testified.Kimberly Cheatle resigned as director of the US Secret Service on Tuesday after bipartisan demands to quit over the failure to prevent the attempted assassination.Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan said he expected Wray to answer questions about what happened before, during and after the incident but expressed doubt about the FBI director’s answers even before questioning began.“I’m sure you understand that a significant portion of the country has a healthy scepticism regarding the FBI’s ability to conduct a fair, honest, open and transparent investigation,” Jordan said.Representative Jerrold Nadler, the panel’s top Democrat, condemned the Trump shooting “unequivocally and unabashedly” but pointed to years of political threats and violence, and violent rhetoric from Republicans including Trump himself.“If you think that this one assassin’s bullet was a bolt out of the blue, and not part of a wave of violence that has threatened this nation for years, then you have missed the point,” the New York Democrat said.Wray has long faced opposition from hardline Republicans, some angered over the arrest of Trump supporters who stormed the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, as Congress certified President Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/687310/international/trump-shooter-did-online-search-for-jfk-assassination

Modi sets aside billions for jobs, allies in post-election budget

India’s government assigned billions of dollars for job creation and regions run by key coalition partners in a budget aimed at cementing the coalition and winning back voters after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s election setback.Tax changes unveiled in the budget included a higher levy on equity investments to allay concerns the market might be overheating and lower taxes for foreign companies to attract more investment.The $576bn in total outlays included $32bn for rural programmes, $24bn to be spent over five years to create jobs, and more than $5bn for two states ruled by coalition partners.“In this budget, we particularly focus on employment, skilling, small businesses, and the middle class,” Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said yesterday.The government will also implement reforms across factors of production, including land and labour, she said.Subsequent budgets would continue to focus on those areas, Sitharaman said while presenting her seventh annual budget.Despite the new spending, India cut its fiscal deficit target to 4.9% of gross domestic product in fiscal year ending on March 31, 2025, from 5.1% in February’s interim budget, helped by a large surplus of $25bn from the central bank.The government also marginally reduced gross market borrowing to Rs14.01tn.Economist had blamed the distress in rural areas and a weak job market for a poor poll showing that cost Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) its absolute majority. They say land and labour reforms are essential for India to sustain strong economic growth.Asia’s third-largest economy grew 8.2% in the past fiscal year and the government sees growth of 6.5% to 7% this fiscal year, a report showed on Monday.Sakshi Gupta, principal economist at HDFC Bank, said the budget managed to strike a balance between policies supporting growth and maintaining fiscal discipline.However, implementing more ambitious reforms, will be “challenging” for the coalition, Gene Fang, associate managing director for sovereign risk at Moody’s Ratings, said.Previous attempts to make it easier for companies to acquire land and lay off staff have repeatedly faced pushback from states concerned about protests such measures might provoke.Among measures aimed at boosting employment, the budget included incentives for companies to train staff as well as and cheaper loans for higher education, Sitharaman said.India’s reported urban unemployment rate is 6.7%, but private agency the Centre For Monitoring Indian Economy pegs it higher, at 8.4%.The budget also maintains spending on long-term infrastructure projects at Rs11.11tn, with states assigned Rs1.5tn in long-term loans to fund such expenditure. Some will be linked to reform milestones in areas such as land and labour, which Sitharaman said the government intended to push in its third term.In a concession to the government’s allies, Sitharaman said it would hasten loans from multilateral agencies for the eastern state of Bihar and the southern state of Andhra Pradesh.India raised to 20% from 15% its tax rate for equity investments held for less than a year, while the rate for those held longer than 12 months rose to 12.5% from 10%. The taxes will be applicable from today.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/687245/international/modi-sets-aside-billions-for-jobs-allies-in-post-election-budget

India’s Union Budget: Balances today’s needs while establishing priorities of tomorrow

India’s Union Budget 2024 is a thought-provoking one that balances the needs of today while establishing the priorities of tomorrow.At the same time, one could always view it as a budget that could have done more in addressing immediate concerns.The focus on promoting entrepreneurship, skilling, and MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises ) is commendable. The scheme offering internship opportunities in the top 500 companies will enable students to effectively translate their academic knowledge into practical professional skills, facilitating a smoother transition into the workforce.MSMEs have a vital role to play in the country’s development going forward and the moves taken in this budget to increase credit access and financial support will help these companies to scale and modernise. The initiatives to ensure credit access to MSMEs during their stress period and increase the limit in MUDRA (Micro Units Development and Refinance Agency) loans are welcome ones.I am also happy to see the initiative to bring out a Financial Sector Vision and Strategy Document. This will provide a clear agenda for all stakeholders over the next five years, ensuring that the efforts of the government, regulators, financial institutions, and market participants are aligned towards common goals.At the same time, there could have been more incentives for the tourism and hospitality industry. Rethinking lending norms and envisioning hospitality development as a vital part of infrastructure development were necessary. With the growing use of AI in other sectors, tourism and hospitality are poised to become a major driver of job creation and the sector needs more support.There could also have been more in terms of measures to attract NRI investments to the country. Reducing corporate tax for foreign companies to 35% is a welcome development, while the move to abolish the Angel Tax for startups is indeed commendable. However, the NRI community was expecting more policies and reforms to boost NRI investment in India.Overall, while this budget is a balanced one and will stand the country in good stead over the long run, one could always argue that there are missed opportunities.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/687244/international/indias-union-budget-balances-todays-needs-while-establishing-priorities-of-tomorrow