The Indian Express, July 18, 1980, forty years ago.

The US President Jimmy Carter has ordered a new assault force of 1,800 marines and five warships into the Indian Ocean. The ships led by the helicopter carrier, Guadalcanal, are moving through the Suez Canal from the Mediterranean. In a week they will join a battle group headed by the aircraft carrier, Constellation. The US already has one marine battalion in the region. Officials said no exercises have been planned but they also did not rule out the possibility of them being conducted. The new battalion has not only infantry but also artillery, tank, anti-tank units, combat engineers and support forces making it a self-sustaining unit for a short period of time.

Indo-Pak Statement

India and Pakistan issued a joint statement to continue talks. The statement was issued at the end of two days of talks between the Pakistani foreign minister Agha Shahi and the Minister for External Affairs, P V Narasimha Rao. The statement — a rather brief one — makes it clear that the talks will be at the level of foreign secretaries and foreign ministers. The statement makes no mention of the issues that came up during the talks. Nor does it give any clue about what the two governments told each other across the tables.

Relief For Farmers

Farmers will get higher procurement prices for wheat, jowar bajra and other crops from the 1980 kharif season to compensate for the rise in fertiliser prices. Agriculture minister Rao Birendra Singh said that the government formulated a five-point strategy to meet the 1980-81 target of 135 million tonnes.

Candidate Reagan

Sixty-nine-year-old Ronald Reagan was voted as the Republican candidate for the US presidential elections. He immediately announced that 56-year old George Bush, his former rival, would be his vice-president.