The 37 percent escalation by a margin of roughly INR 1,200 crore for the US government offer to India for 145 M-777 light weight howitzers comes into effect on Tuesday, along with the imminent closure of the assembly line for the artillery.
China and Bhutan will be conducting a “joint technical field survey” in September in a move to settle their boundary disputes, which could shrink the buffer zone between the Siliguri corridor and the India-China border in Chumbi valley.
In purely dollar terms, the new price represents a 37 percent hike in the cost of the offer to India, but would effectively be even higher given the fall in the value of the rupee against the dollar since 2010.
The Flag Meeting took place on a day when Indian Defense Minister Arackaparambil Kurien Antony had some tough words for the intruders at the Unified Commanders Conference of the Indian armed forces.
