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The <keyword id="19905108" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="ministry-of-defence" source="keywords">Ministry of Defence</keyword> has sanctioned over Rs 300 crore through its <keyword id="20416767" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="technology-development-fund" source="keywords">Technology Development Fund</keyword> (TDF) to create an ecosystem aimed at enhancing capabilities in cutting-edge technology and promoting '<keyword id="20460685" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="aatmanirbharta" source="keywords">Aatmanirbharta</keyword>' in defence, an official statement said on Thursday. The Technology Development Fund (TDF) scheme is a flagship programme of the Ministry of Defence, executed by <keyword id="19948662" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="drdo" source="keywords">DRDO</keyword> under the '<keyword id="20018809" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="make-in-india" source="keywords">Make in India</keyword>' initiative. Under this initiative, the government provides grants-in-aid to Indian industries, including <keyword id="19910977" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="msmes" source="keywords">MSMEs</keyword> and <keyword id="19945815" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="startups" source="keywords">startups</keyword>, as well as academic and scientific institutions, for the development of defence and dual-use technologies that are currently not available in the Indian defence industry. With these initiatives, the Ministry aims to engage private industries, especially MSMEs and startups, to foster a culture of design and development in military technology and support them with grants-in-aid. The TDF seeks to enhance the capacity and capability of Indian industries for the design and development of defence technologies in the country. It aims to create an R&amp;D ecosystem where industry and academia work together to meet the current and future requirements of the Armed Forces and the defence sector. The government aims to achieve 'Aatmanirbharta' in defence technology by building a robust defence manufacturing ecosystem in the country. The <keyword id="19910956" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="defence-ministry" source="keywords">Defence Ministry</keyword> on Wednesday highlighted several successful startups benefiting from the scheme. Pune-based startup <keyword id="22281521" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Combat-Robotics" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="Combat Robotics" meta.hostid="153" meta.entityid="Combat Robotics">Combat Robotics</keyword>, with the help of the scheme, has successfully developed an innovative simulator for <keyword id="20146841" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="unmanned-vehicles" source="keywords">unmanned vehicles</keyword>. This multi-domain simulator supports unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs), unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs), unmanned surface vehicles (USVs), and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), serving as an excellent development tool for agencies working on autonomous systems. Another Pune-based defence equipment startup, ChiStats Labs Private Limited, is developing virtual sensors for aero gas turbine engine health monitoring, which helps to increase the operational reliability and longevity of the engines. The system is built on modern artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML) technologies. Bengaluru-based NewSpace Research and Technologies Pvt. Ltd., under the project titled 'Autonomous Drone as First Responder for Search and Report Operations in Enclosed/Indoor Environments', has created a cutting-edge UAV capable of exploring indoor environments under various conditions, including zero light. The success of this project will open up various applications, including search and rescue operations, surveillance, industrial inspections, environmental monitoring, and hazardous environment exploration, contributing significantly to technological advancements in unmanned aerial systems, the Ministry added. The technology has been developed under the technical guidance and mentorship of CAIR, Bengaluru.

Defence ministry allocates Rs 300 cr for technology development fund to promote Make in India products

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Ukraine has mostly been able to counter Russia's air force, blunting its ability to affect the war.</li><li>But Russia may now have a plan to lure away Ukrain's air defense to make an opening, experts said.</li></ul>Russia may be trying to lure Ukraine's air defense systems away from the front line so its air force can play a bigger role, war analysts said.The influential Institute for the Study of War pointed on Wednesday to Russia's increasing missile and drone strikes against Ukraine's energy facilities.It theorized that Russia was doing it to bait Ukraine into moving its air defense systems away from the front lines.Without the defenses in place, Russia could deploy its warplanes with less concern that they'll be shot down."Russian forces may be intensifying strikes to further pressure the Ukrainian command to deploy air defense systems away from the front in order to more safely intensify aviation operations in support of ground operations," the ISW said.Ukraine has largely held back Russia's air force despite having a much smaller and older air force itself.By using its air-defense systems — both Soviet-era and modern, Western-donated supplies — Ukraine has rendered crucial parts of its air space too dangerous for Russian jets to enter.Though Russia can still launch long-range attacks with its planes, the dynamic strongly limits the overall damage it can do.Instead of risking its planes over the front lines, Russia has focused air strikes on towns and cities across Ukraine, killing civilians and destroying residential buildings.Air warfare experts told Business Insider that<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-air-force-enter-devastate-ukraine-if-missiles-run-out-2024-2"> Ukraine's ability to deny Russia's air force has been a hugely impressive achievement</a> — significant enough to stop Russia from winning the war soon after its full-scale invasion in February 2022.However, the strategy is one that Ukraine may not be able to continue successfully as air defense supplies run low.House Republicans have been stalling $60 billion in further aid for Ukraine, and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-veteran-in-ukraine-says-ammo-desperately-needed-not-tanks-2024-3">soldiers there say they can feel the impact</a>, as they are forced to ration ammunition and not hit targets.If Ukraine doesn't have enough air defenses, Russia's air force could quickly make its power felt, the experts warned BI earlier this year.Justin Bronk, a Russia and air warfare expert at the UK's Royal United Services Institute, said Ukraine's actions meant Russia's air force "has, up to this point, been largely irrelevant to the conflict in terms of the battlefield."But he warned that could change."Ukraine's ability to sustain air defense coverage over the front lines and the immediate area behind them: If that is not sustained, Ukraine could lose the war quite quickly."The ISW warned in February that Russia <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-air-superiority-avdiivka-could-be-devastating-for-ukraine-2024-2">appeared to temporarily establish air superiority over the town of Avdiivka</a>, likely it had done so since its full-scale invasion started. [The town soon fell.]The ISW warned that it would be "devastating" if Russia could keep doing that.Ukraine's defenses near the front lines in the east have been able <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ukraine-war-army-destroyed-10th-russian-plane-days-2024-2">to shoot many Russian jets down</a>, notching an impressive kill streak in February.Ukraine appears to have at least one <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/patriot-performance-in-ukraine-dispels-doubts-over-abilities-experts-2024-3">US-made Patriot battery</a> in that area, and at least one protecting the capital city, Kyiv.But Ukraine says those missiles are running out, too, and <a target="_blank" href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/defence/ukraines-allies-not-giving-enough-air-defence-minister-says/articleshow/109008543.cms?from=mdr">asked allies for more of the systems</a>.

Russia may be trying to get its air force in the fight by luring Ukraine into moving its air defences, war experts say

New Delhi, The <keyword id="43909" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="defence-Ministry" source="Orion">Defence Ministry</keyword> on Friday cleared procurement of various weapons systems and platforms including Dhruvastra short range air-to-surface missile and 12 <keyword id="18793242" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Su-30-MKI-fighter" source="Orion">Su-30 MKI fighter</keyword> jets at a cost of around Rs 45,000 crore. A total of nine procurement proposals were approved by the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) headed by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, officials said. "All these procurements will be made from Indian vendors under Buy (Indian-Indigenously Designed Developed and Manufactured (IDMM)/Buy (Indian) category which will give substantial boost to the Indian defence Industry towards achieving the goal of 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat'," the defence ministry said. To enhance protection, mobility, attack capability and increase survivability of mechanised forces, the DAC accorded the approval for procurement of Light Armoured Multipurpose Vehicles (LAMV) and Integrated Surveillance and Targeting System (ISAT-S), the ministry said in a statement. The DAC cleared also cleared the procurement of High Mobility Vehicle (HMV) Gun Towing Vehicles for swift mobilisation and deployment of artillery guns and radars. The DAC further approved procurement of next generation survey vessels for the Indian Navy, the ministry said. It said a proposal of the Indian Air Force to ensure avionic upgrade of Dornier aircraft to improve the accuracy and reliability for operations was also given Acceptance of Necessity (AoN). The AoN is the initial approval. "The procurement of Dhruvastra Short Range Air-to-Surface Missile as a potent Indigenous Precision Guided Weapon for indigenously built ALH Mk-IV Helicopters has been cleared by the DAC," the ministry said. "The AoN for procurement of 12 Su-30 MKI Aircraft with associated equipment from Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) was also accorded," it said.

Air-to-surface Missile and 12 Su-30 MKI fighter jets at a cost of around Rs 45,000 crore approved by DAC

Integrated manufacturing solutions company <keyword id="6521648" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="sanmina-corporation" source="Orion">Sanmina Corporation</keyword> and <keyword id="10849195" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="reliance-strategic-business-ventures-limited" source="Orion">Reliance Strategic Business Ventures Limited</keyword> (RSBVL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of <keyword id="10926" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="reliance" source="Orion">Reliance</keyword> Industries Limited (RIL), on Tuesday announced the completion of their joint venture transaction. The joint venture will create a world-class electronic manufacturing hub in <keyword id="3658" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="india" source="Orion">India</keyword>, in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Make in India' vision. All the manufacturing will take place at <keyword id="315784" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="sanmina" source="Orion">Sanmina</keyword>'s 100-acre campus in Chennai, with the ability for site expansion to support future growth opportunities as well as to potentially expand to new manufacturing sites in India over time based on business needs, the companies said in a statement. The day-to-day business will continue to be managed by Sanmina's management team in Chennai. The joint venture will prioritise high technology infrastructure hardware, for growth markets, and across industries such as communications networking (5G, cloud infrastructure, hyperscale data centers), medical and healthcare systems, industrial and cleantech, and defence and aerospace. "In addition to supporting Sanmina's current customer base, the joint venture will create a state-of-the-art 'Manufacturing Technology Center of Excellence' that will serve as an incubation center to support the product development and hardware startup ecosystem in India, as well as promote research and innovation of leading-edge technologies," said the companies. Sanmina provides end-to-end manufacturing solutions, delivering superior quality and support to Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) primarily in the communications networks, cloud solutions, industrial, defence, medical and automotive markets. Currently ranking 104th, Reliance is the largest private sector company from India to feature in Fortune's Global 500 list of 'World's Largest Companies' for 2022. SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/national-green-tribunal-slaps-telangana-with-a-3800-cr-fine-for-waste-management-failure/articleshow/94636341.cms">National Green Tribunal slaps Telangana with a ₹3,800 cr fine for waste management failure</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/telecom/news/reliance-jio-and-airtel-5g-prices-may-be-affordable-for-now-but-expected-to-increase-after-wider-rollout/articleshow/94636173.cms">Reliance Jio and Airtel 5G prices may be affordable for now but expected to increase after wider rollout</a>

RIL, Sanmina completes JV to build manufacturing hub in India

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Russia increased its Ukraine territory by 0.016% in April, the Institute for the Study of War told Insider.</li><li>That's just 6.76 square miles, as its troop losses continue and Ukraine readies for a counterattack.</li></ul>Russia gained less than 6.8 square miles (17.5 square kilometers) of new territory in Ukraine in April, according to one US think tank. At the same time, it suffered major losses and is now awaiting an expected Ukrainian counteroffensive.Washington DC-based think tank Institute for the Study of War told Insider that Russia held just 6.76 square miles more Ukrainian territory on April 31 than it did in April 1, according to its mapping data. That meant a territory increase of just 0.016%.Ukraine's landmass is over 230,000 square miles. Russia saw territorial gains of 0.039% in February, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-gained-only-tiny-percentage-more-ukraine-territory-february-experts-2023-3">the think tank previously told Insider</a>, followed by 0.28% in March, the equivalent of 115.9 square miles.These limited gains come as Russia's troop and equipment losses continue to mount.Ukraine <a href="https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2023/04/23/7399052/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> that 690 Russian troops were killed in one day on April 22, and the White House said in early May that <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-65451487" target="_blank" rel="noopener">more than 20,000 Russian troops have been killed</a> in the fighting since December.US Director of National Intelligence <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-cant-launch-significant-offensives-ukraine-this-year-us-intel-2023-5">Avril Haines said</a> in early May that "Russian forces are facing significant shortfalls in munitions and are under significant personnel constraints but continue to lay minefields and prepare new defensive positions in occupied Ukrainian territory."Russian efforts in April concentrated on the eastern Ukrainian cities of Bakhmut, Marinka, and Avdiivka.But while Russian forces inched forward in Bakhmut — which is considered the longest and bloodiest battle in the invasion — they have not yet taken the city.Russia has also failed to take the other two cities, though its efforts have ramped up more recently. Mariinka has been <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ukraine-marinka-photos-before-after-destroyed-putin-russia-war-2023-3">left a wasteland</a>, with no buildings left intact.Russia also appears to have adopted a more defensive posture in April, ahead of Ukraine's expected counteroffensive.The UK Ministry of Defence <a href="https://twitter.com/DefenceHQ/status/1650739501927395331?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> in late April that Russia was concentrating on preparing for Ukraine's coming efforts.But it's not clear when those will start. Ukraine's prime minister <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/ukraine-prepares-for-new-counter-offensive-against-russia-which-must-demonstrate-success-prime-minister-says-12876756" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told Sky News</a> last week that the offensive will start at the "proper time, when it will be absolutely ready."Ukraine's deputy defense minister <a href="https://ca.news.yahoo.com/ukraine-says-whole-russia-panic-093240963.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">predicted</a> that when it starts "Russia will be in panic."

Russia's army took just 6.8 square miles of Ukrainian territory in April, less than a 0.02% increase, US think tank says, as military losses mount

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The US is leaving behind a flourishing, violent trade in <keyword id="48598" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="60" keywordseo="Heroin">heroin</keyword> and crystal <keyword id="1293367" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="meth">meth</keyword> in <keyword id="6354541" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="afghanistan">Afghanistan</keyword>.</li><li>The Om weed, which contains the key ingredient for making meth, grows wild in the mountains.</li><li>One in 10 Afghans are said to be involved in the drug trade, about as many as are said to be addicted.</li></ul>HERAT, Afghanistan - For weeks, Afghan police had been staking out a single-family house they believed was being used as a meth lab.When it came time for the raid, they were caught off guard when a middle-aged woman answered the door. In accordance with local custom, a female officer stepped forward. But before anyone knew what had happened, the woman had struck the officer and bolted the door behind her.By the time the police managed to knock down the door, only fizzled remnants of meth and heroin were left in the kitchen and bathroom, while a rank odor wafted."In the time it took us to enter the house, she had destroyed the hard <keyword id="14721" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Drugs">drugs</keyword>," one of the officers told Insider. "We would never be able to prove that the house was being used for cooking meth or making heroin."Twenty years after the US invasion of Afghanistan, US troops are preparing to leave the country for good. The announcement has prompted sky-is-falling predictions of a Civil War by some <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-56966473">US</a> and <a href="https://tolonews.com/afghanistan-171499">Afghan</a> politicians and pundits.But it's not just the prospect of a resurgent Taliban that has people on edge.Once the Afghan National Security Forces assume sole responsibility for security on September 12, they will also be faced with managing the country's flourishing, and increasingly violent, drug trade.Crystal meth, in particular, is suddenly everywhere in Afghanistan - fueled by the discovery that Om, a weed that grows wild in the mountains, is an excellent source of ephedrine and pseudoephedrine, the drug's key ingredient.<div type="image" title="Herat (32).JPG" height="3008" width="4512" msid="82457744" hostid="261"></div>Production often happens in people's homes, employing entire families, and police say few seem aware of basic safety protocols to prevent living areas from being contaminated with toxic residue. Residents in Ghorian district, a few hours' drive from the Iran border in Herat province, say they have heard of people's kitchens exploding.Afghanistan's drug trade generates an estimated <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-taliban-are-megarich-heres-where-they-get-the-money-they-use-to-wage-war-in-afghanistan-147411">$35 million</a> a month for the Taliban and drug gangs. Meanwhile, a narcotics official estimates that one in 10 Afghans are involved in the drug trade, while <a href="https://tolonews.com/afghanistan/afghanistan-%E2%80%9Cproduces%E2%80%9D-80-world%E2%80%99s-opium">a 2018 report suggested</a> that a similar number were addicted to drugs. As for the US, which poured <a href="https://www.sigar.mil/interactive-reports/counternarcotics/index.html">$8.6 billion</a> into anti-narcotics efforts from 2002 to 2017, there are <a href="https://www.sigar.mil/pdf/quarterlyreports/2021-04-30qr.pdf">no plans</a> to fund those efforts going forward.Meth now rivals heroin as Afghanistan's most lucrative illicit export. What isn't sent abroad, mostly via Iran, is consumed locally, contributing to an epidemic of addiction fed by decades of war, displacement, and poverty.<h2>A mysterious grass</h2>In 2017, rumors circulated in western Afghanistan that a mysterious form of grass had been found to contain the key ingredient in crystal meth.<div type="image" title="Ali Ephedra" height="432" width="576" msid="82457745" hostid="261"></div>Initially, locals largely dismissed the "men and women rushing to the fields at night with their flashlights in hand to scour the hillsides," as one resident put it.Within a year, though, cartels based in Iran - Afghanistan's wealthier and better-developed neighbor, which already had a booming meth trade - had people regularly crossing into Afghanistan to train locals in how to spot the plant in the wild and use it to produce a cheap but potent methamphetamine.The grass turned out to be a weed - ephedra sinica, known locally as Om - that flourishes in mountainous areas. <a href="https://www.emcdda.europa.eu/system/files/publications/13410/emcdda-methamphetamine-in-Afghanistan-report.pdf">According to</a> the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, ideal growing conditions cover 192,000 square kilometers in Afghanistan, about a third of the country.Unlike opium, which requires months of care, ephedra sinica grows free and requires just low-paid laborers capable of picking bushes.As Om has flourished in high-altitude areas, so too has meth production. Much of it is smuggled into Iran, and then on to Turkey and Europe for sale.What's more, according to David Mansfield, an <a href="https://t.co/RZBjFtvqoX?amp=1">author</a> and researcher who has been tracking the trade, there's growing evidence that meth coming from Afghanistan is of comparable quality to what's produced in Southeast Asia, Europe, and Mexico.<div type="image" title="Herat (38).JPG" height="3008" width="4512" msid="82457747" hostid="261"></div>Narcotics police in the province said that drug mafias operate in remote areas beyond the government's reach and in territories under the direct control of the Taliban for cover. The Taliban will personally escort traffickers across district and provincial borders to ensure they do not come under attack.For this protection, the group collects taxes on several stages of the production process, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-46554097">earning</a> it anywhere from $100 million to $400 million a year, police sources said.All this has led to a cross-border cat-and-mouse game between the nation's 2,850 narcotics police officers and the drug mafias that have allied with local strongmen, crooked cops, corrupt officials, the Taliban, and regional drug mafias."So long as this war continues, the drug trade will continue to grow bigger and bigger. Eventually, it will swallow us whole," one narcotics officer said.<h2>Iran's budget meth lab</h2>In 2007, the United States and western Europe placed strict limits on the sale of Sudafed and other over-the-counter sources of pseudoephedrine, forcing producers to look elsewhere to feed the growing demand.Iran first discovered a <a href="https://www.unodc.org/documents/southeastasiaandpacific//Publications/2013/TOCTA_EAP_web.pdf">meth</a> lab in 2008. By 2012, Iran had become the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/13/breaking-bad-tehran-iran-crystal-meth-methamphetamine">fourth-largest importer</a> of pseudoephedrine.Iranian drug traffickers have long turned to Afghan mafias to produce and export heroin, taking advantage of Afghanistan's <a href="https://www.unodc.org/documents/afghanistan/Opium_Surveys/Illicit_Drug_Trends_in_Afghanistan_April_2008.pdf">167 unofficial</a> - and largely unmonitored - international border crossings.And so once Afghanistan was found to have an almost limitless supply of ephedra, there was already infrastructure to smuggle it out. Making it all easier, Afghan authorities were seen as overstretched, with less training than their Iranian counterparts.<div type="image" title="Herat (14).JPG" height="3007" width="4010" msid="82457749" hostid="261"></div>It's not just the gangs. For years, Tehran has been accused of double-dealing in Afghanistan. Iran publicly supports the Kabul government, while it has repeatedly been <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/12/magazine/afghanistan-shindand-taliban.html">accused</a> of <a href="https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2021/01/iran-afghanistan-zarif-fighters-syria-fatemiyoun-mashhad.html">aiding</a> and <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/iran-afghanistan-zarif-fatemiyoun-brigade-syria-shameful">abetting</a> the Taliban - a primary beneficiary of Afghanistan's drug trade. Meanwhile, Afghan nationals are routinely detained and even put to <a href="https://gandhara.rferl.org/a/afghan-executions-on-the-rise-in-iran/25381942.html">death</a> on dubious <a href="https://tolonews.com/afghanistan/bodies-afghans-executed-iran-buried-takhar">drug-smuggling</a> charges in Iran.Shakib Ahmad, a 40-year-old car-parts seller from the eastern province of Nangarhar, was among the many Afghans who traveled to Tehran looking for work.He arrived in 2007 and ended up living there for more than 13 years, though most of that time was spent in an Iranian jail. He was eventually transferred to Herat Central Prison, where I interviewed him.Like millions of other Afghans, Ahmad started out doing back-breaking, low-paid work on construction sites in the Iranian capital, enduring <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2013/11/24/iran-accused-of-mistreating-afghan-migrants">mistreatment</a>, racism, and <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2013/11/20/iran-afghan-refugees-and-migrants-face-abuse">abuse</a>.When he lost his job, a friend helped connect him to a crew of meth producers. He never sampled the final product, he said, but the chemical fumes wafting out of the giant pots took a toll on his health. Other people in the prison shared similar stories.For the first five months, he was allowed only to observe in the houses and shops that were turned into meth labs. He watched Iranian women stirring the large pots and blending the ingredients using simple household supplies and flimsy glass beakers.<div type="image" title="Herat (5).JPG" height="3008" width="4512" msid="82457754" hostid="261"></div>Eventually, Ahmad earned the trust of his Iranian bosses and became a master cook. Slowly he noticed more and more Afghans working around him."At the time, for every 100 Iranians there were at least five Afghans in each lab," he said, adding that in recent years that number had ballooned.He started to hear of Iranians, including some of his fellow inmates, traveling to Herat, Farah, Nimroz, Helmand, and Kandahar."They would go in rounds, staying a few weeks or months at a time, 30 or 40 of them. Each of those would train 20 Afghans. And then it just exploded," he said.<h2>'I, who am an addict'</h2>While meth production appears to be surging across Afghanistan, nowhere is it more apparent than in Herat, Afghanistan's fourth-largest city. What isn't exported is sold locally.In the daylight hours, people cluster on the dirt walkways only a couple of kilometers from the city's famous minarets. Built in the 1400s by Queen Gowharshad, who envisioned Herat as a center for Islamic learning, the minarets were meant to guide students from as far away as Syria to study in this ancient city.<div type="image" title="Herat (1).JPG" height="3008" width="4512" msid="82457756" hostid="261"></div>These days, people gather in the shadows of those minarets, collecting trash and lighting up.There are believed to be as many as 80,000 people addicted to drugs in this ancient city, and dozens of treatment centers have opened in the province. The vast majority of their patients are using meth, either alone or in conjunction with other drugs.The Sedaqat Treatment Center is one such facility. The four-floor building towers over the fields and mud houses around it and sits along a nondescript dirt road in a corner of Injil district, about 20 minutes outside of Herat city.The center has treated thousands of people using a combination of traditional Narcotics Anonymous practices, vocational training, and music therapy."Music calms you; it takes your mind off the next high," said Abdul Zaher Attaie, a former addict who opened the center nine years ago.Ehsanullah, who's being treated at the Sedaqat center, said he first tried crystal meth because he had been assured it would help him kick his addiction to heroin."We were told it won't make you tired, you don't have to smoke a lot to get high, and that it's not addictive," he said. "It was sold to us as some kind of tonic. We had no idea about all of the adverse effects; we used it happily."<div type="image" title="Ali red jacket " height="4032" width="3024" msid="82457759" hostid="261"></div>He knows that once he leaves this center he will be surrounded by temptation in an ancient city of learning and art that has become a haven for drug production and consumption.For now, though, he's an enthusiastic participant in the center's music-therapy program, where he composes songs and sings alongside 60 others.As one song goes: "The corners of disrepair is my place, I, who am an addict, my lost friends directed me, the work of my youth was addiction, I, who am an addict."<h2>The graveyard</h2>Just behind one of Herat's ancient Jewish cemeteries is a newer graveyard where dozens of people spend their days in squalor.The disheveled men - teenagers and former jihadi fighters in their 50s and 60s among them - cover their bodies with soiled shawls, weathered from hours under the harsh Herat sun.As the heat bears down on this barren swath of land, devoid of greenery and shade-giving trees, the men - and sometimes women - sit smoking crystal meth and heroin from flimsy plastic pipes sold for 10 Afghanis (about $0.13) apiece.Most days, Omar, a 7-year-old boy, comes to sell them boiled eggs. "I come here every day to provide food for my family," he tells me. If he can sell 10 eggs, that earns him enough to buy bread and rice.Another regular visitor is Noorullah, a 20-something who works at the Sedaqat Treatment Center and is in recovery. He has built an easy rapport with these men, even if he usually fails in his efforts to entice one or two of them into treatment.He stops to say hello to a middle-aged person he recognizes from his home district of Karokh, east of Herat. Others say that they have come from <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/12/magazine/afghanistan-shindand-taliban.html">Shindand</a>, one of Herat's most insecure districts that has become a center for meth production, and that they plan to make the journey back that evening. They are likely to face Taliban checkpoints and IEDs along the way.<div type="image" title="Ali purple scarf " height="3024" width="4032" msid="82457760" hostid="261"></div>"What are you all doing here, whiling away your days? Come with me to the camp and get clean. The car is ready," he says."I've kicked the habit," one young man says. His still-crisp, colorful harem pants and tunic - called piran tomban - set him apart from the others.Noorullah isn't buying it. "What would you be doing here if you're clean?" he says. "Why would you want to be around the squalor and dismay?"Noorullah, having worked with people with addictions over the past few months, knows the toll this life has taken on the men in the cemetery. "They look old, but a lot of them are actually very young," he says. "It's the drugs that make them look so sickly and disheveled."This is another tragedy of life in Herat. These men are here because no one has done anything for them."

Afghanistan is being overrun by crystal meth as US begins withdrawal

The government is likely to give nod to a higher limit of foreign direct investment (<keyword id="44528" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="FDI">FDI</keyword>) in <keyword id="6360676" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Railways">railways</keyword> and <keyword id="32723" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Defence">defence</keyword>. However, the plan to allow FDI in e-commerce has been put on hold. 
 
FDI up to 100% would be allowed under the automatic route in railway infrastructure projects, including projects like high-speed trains, sub-urban and dedicated freight corridors under public-private partnership (PPP) mode. 
 However, in strategic border areas, companies may need prior permission from the <keyword id="1382761" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Foreign-Investment-and-Promotion-Board">Foreign Investment and Promotion Board</keyword> (FIPB). 
“Due to security concerns in border areas, there is a view that clearance from the ministry of home affairs should be taken,” said an official. 
 
In defence sector, the FDI limit of 26% would be raised to 49%. 
 The <keyword id="120170" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Cabinet-Committee-on-Economic-Affairs">Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs</keyword> has already approved 49% FDI in the insurance sector. 
 
But the government is unlikely to allow FDI in e-commerce as of now as it is of the view that it could impact domestic players.

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