November 09, 2026

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CHINA UPS THE ANTE IN ARUNACHAL

THE FLASHPOINTS IN LADAKH ALONG THE LINE OF ACTUAL CONTROL (LAC) BETWEEN INDIA and China have been quiet for some time. The disquiet is now coming from Arunachal Pradesh, which has emerged as the focal point of border tensions. On October 22, speaking at the Indo-Tibetan Border Police's (ITBP) Central Training College in Alwar, Director General Shatrujeet Kapur revealed face-offs with Chinese troops at multiple locations along the Arunachal border in recent days. Without naming specific areas, he also praised the force's Shaurya commandos for performing "exceptionally well" during the confrontations. The comments triggered widespread concern. It was the first official acknowledgment of confrontations between border patrols despite the chatter on social media channels since July. Kapur's remarks confirmed the open secret that ITBP and People's Liberation Army (PLA) troops were engaged in face-offs in Asaphila, near Taksing in Arunachal's Upper Subansiri district. These were followed by a corps commander-level meeting between the two sides on September 6 at the WachaDamai border meeting point to address friction on the LAC. After the talks, the PLA, Indian army and the ITBP reportedly reduced troop numbers from over 1,000 each in August to around 200 each in the Taksing and Limeking areas.Beneath the unease in military circles over the clashes lies a deep strategic worry: the possibility that Beijing is intensifying grey-zone operations in the eastern Himalayas by testing Indian responses and pushing boundaries in tactics typical of `salami slicing'.Asked about the clashes, external affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said on October 23, "The situation in the India-China border areas gets disturbed...when Chinese forces diverge from established patrolling patterns." RA NEW FLASHPOINT ugged terrain, difficult logistics and stretches requiring greater preparedness present operational challenges for the Indian army in Arunachal. Experts believe China is willing to test the limits of existing border-management mechanisms by probing Indian positions here. The question for New Delhi is whether these face-offs are isolated incidents or part of a calculated move to keep India under pressure.A senior military official believes that China has decided to ratchet up pressure on the LAC to keep alive its claim on Arunachal Pradesh. Also, in August, India formally identified 27 places and geographical features in the state by their standard names on the official Indian map, followed by 28 features in Ladakh. Calling this "hype", China is responding on the ground.Lt Gen. S.L. Narasimhan (retd), former commander of Dimapur-based III Corps which is responsible for most of Arunachal Pradesh, notes that Chinese troops have been moving in and out of these areas for years. "This time, I believe, they have sat over there," he said. "We have to be careful about anything unusual that they do. Until we clear the issue by exchanging maps, such problems will recur." Sources indicate that the PLA's Border Defence Regiments--frontline units responsible for patrolling and defending

THE BIG ITCH

Atiny tingling that starts in the skin. One that refuses to go. Till you have scratched it. That is the itch for you, a basic, universal urge as familiar as breathing perhaps. And humans are itching more than ever before--the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) data show an 83 per cent rise worldwide between 1990 and 2021, from 44.1 million to 80.7 million prevalent cases. In a survey of 50,552 people across 20 countries, a 2024 study published in the British Journal of Dermatology found 39.8 per cent had scratched an itch in the past week. Among the 3,000 Indians surveyed, 42.6 per cent said they had done so. Everyone itches from time to time. So, what is new? New research confirms an old intuition: an itch may be no mere a surface problem but the symptom of a deeper underlying malaise. And that picking a random old cream off the shelf or from the local chemist may not be sufficient to get rid of it. The skin is the largest organ in the human body, and an itch is its way of signalling that something is irritating it. Specialised nerve endings respond to triggers, release chemical signals called histamines and send them to the brain which in turn creates the urge to scratch. And while an ordinary itch is harmless, one that lasts for more than six weeks, what in medical parlance is classified as chronic pruritus, could signify that the problem may be more than skin deep. An itch that persists, returns or refuses to respond to treatment, warrants medical investigation. Indian dermatology literature is increas- ingly focusing on sensitive skin, stubborn eczema and recurrent fungal disease. A 2025 Indian expert position statement published in Frontiers in Medicine described sensitive skin, marked by itching, redness and dryness, as a significant dermatological concern in India and pointed to climate, pollution and everyday exposures as important influences. "We are seeing more patients in whom an itch is no longer a one-off episode; it keeps coming back because the underlying trigger has not gone away," says Dr Monica Bambroo, head of dermatology and cosmetology at Artemis Hospital in Gurugram. Drug-resistant skin fungal infections are another area of concern, where the fungus has changed in a way that makes commonly used antifungal medicines less effective.