[🇮🇳] India---News & Views

[Saif]

Source : https://thedailynewnation.com/nepal-map-on-currency-note-stirs-up-border-row-with-india/

Nepal map on currency note stirs up border row with India
10 May 2024, 12:00 am
AFP :

The boundary dispute between India and Nepal has heated up once again after the Nepali government last week announced a new currency note featuring a map that shows three border areas claimed by New Delhi.

The dispute involves the territories of Kalapani, Lipulekh and Limpiyadhura, which are currently under Indian control.

The new map adds 335 square kilometres of land to Nepal, and the country's central bank is expected to take up to a year to print and issue the new note.

India's Foreign Minister S Jaishankar slammed Nepal's decision, saying it will not change the reality on the ground.

"Our position is very clear. With Nepal, we are having discussions about our boundary matters through an established platform. In the middle of that, they unilaterally took some measures on their side," Jaishankar told media persons.

"But by doing something on their side, they are not going to change the situation between us or the reality on the ground," he added. The boundary dispute between the two countries began to escalate after New Delhi issued a political map in November 2019 that placed the contested area within India's territory.

Relations became more strained when India inaugurated an 80-kilometer-long roadway that passes through Lipulekh, a disputed area that lies at the strategic Nepal-India-China tri-junction.

The unilaterally built motorway links India's Uttarakhand state to Tibet's Kailash Mansarovar via the Lipulekh Pass, a territory historically claimed by Nepal and considered one of the shortest and most practicable trade routes between India and China.

The small Himalayan nation challenged India's inauguration of the road by publishing a new map showing the contested areas – including the areas of Kalapani, Lipulekh and Limpiyadhura – as lying inside Nepal's borders.

Nepal, which was never under colonial rule, has long claimed these areas in accordance with the 1816 Sugauli treaty with the British Raj following the Anglo-Nepalese (Gurkha) War.

The treaty recognized the Kali River as Nepal's western boundary with India and the land lying east of the river is Nepalese territory. However, these areas have been under India's administrative control since the early 1960s.​

 

[Saif]

Another Indian national arrested in Canada over Sikh activist murder

Canadian police have arrested another Indian national over the murder of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar last year. The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT) announced Saturday that they have taken Amandeep Singh, 22, into their custody over allegation of his involvement in the Nijjar's

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Another Indian national arrested in Canada over Sikh activist murder
FE ONLINE DESK
Published :
May 12, 2024 10:49
Updated :
May 12, 2024 10:49

Canadian police have arrested another Indian national over the murder of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar last year.

The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT) announced Saturday that they have taken Amandeep Singh, 22, into their custody over allegation of his involvement in the Nijjar's killing.

Singh, who resided in Brampton, Surrey and Abbotsford, was charged with the murder.

Earlier this month, Canadian police arrested and charged three Indian men in the city of Edmonton in Alberta.

Nijjar, 45, was shot dead in June outside a Sikh temple in Surrey, a Vancouver suburb with a large Sikh population. A few months later, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau cited what he said was evidence of potential Indian government involvement, prompting a diplomatic crisis with New Delhi.​

 

[Saif]

US warns of ‘potential risk of sanctions’

Any country having business dealings with Iran runs the risk of sanctions, the United States has said, noting that it is aware that Iran and India have signed a deal concerning the Chabahar port.

www.thedailystar.net

US warns of 'potential risk of sanctions'
Any country having business dealings with Iran runs the risk of sanctions, the United States has said, noting that it is aware that Iran and India have signed a deal concerning the Chabahar port.

"We're aware of these reports that Iran and India have signed a deal concerning the Chabahar port. I will let the government of India speak to its own foreign policy goals vis-a-vis the Chabahar port as well as its own bilateral relationship with Iran," State Department Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel told reporters at his daily news conference on Monday.

"I will just say, as it relates to the United States, US sanctions on Iran remain in place and we'll continue to enforce them," he said in response to a question on India's deal with Iran on the strategic Chabahar port.

"You've heard us say this in a number of instances, that any entity, anyone considering business deals with Iran, they need to be aware of the potential risk that they are opening themselves up to and the potential risk of sanctions," Patel said.

India and Iran on Monday signed a 10-year contract for the operation of a terminal at the strategically important Chabahar port in Iran.

Under the agreement, Indian Ports Global Limited (IPGL) will invest about $120 million while there will be an additional $250 million in financing, bringing the contract's value to $370 million, said Iranian Minister of Roads and Urban Development Mehrdad Bazrpash.​

 

[Saif]

Nepal latest to ban Indian spice brands

Nepal has become the latest jurisdiction to ban the import and sale of two popular Indian spice brands after reports that some of their products contained a...

www.newagebd.net

Nepal latest to ban Indian spice brands
Agence France-Presse . Kathmandu 18 May, 2024, 00:28

Nepal has become the latest jurisdiction to ban the import and sale of two popular Indian spice brands after reports that some of their products contained a cancer-causing pesticide, officials said Friday.

Hong Kong and Singapore last month banned products from Everest and MDH—two brands popular in India and exported worldwide—after tests detected the presence of ethylene oxide, according to media reports.

Besides its use as a pesticide, ethylene oxide is used to sterilise medical equipment and as a sterilising agent in spices to prevent illnesses caused by salmonella and E. Coli bacteria.

Regular exposure to the colourless and odourless compound increases the 'risk of cancers of the white blood cells', according to the US Environmental Protection Agency.

Matina Joshi Vaidya, chief of Nepal's Department of Food Technology and Quality Control, told AFP that the Himalayan country had also decided to halt the sale of the spice blends.

'It is an issue of public health,' she said. 'We have its banned import and sale from Thursday.'

Nepal has banned four products—three variants produced by MDH and one by Everest.

'We do not have the lab resources to run the tests in the country. The ban will be lifted when Indian authorities declare it safe,' Vaidya said.

Everest and MDH are India's top two spice brands with a market share of 16 and 10 percent respectively in 2022, according to consumer research monitor Statista.

Both companies have put out statements denying their products pose a health hazard to consumers after the Singapore and Hong Kong import bans.

'We clarify and state unequivocally that these claims are untrue and lack any substantiating evidence,' MDH said last month on social media platform X.

India's food regulation agency has asked for state authorities to carry out random testing of spice products, broadcaster NDTV reported.​

 

[Saif]

How is India matching China’s anti-access area denial capabilities?

India's concerns at China's increasing influence in its sphere of power and prowess, from immediate neighbors to the Indian Ocean, amidst historical clashes and territorial disputes, have led to calls for balanced military preparedness against specific threats.

en.prothomalo.com

How is India matching China's anti-access area denial capabilities?
Mohammad Abdur Razzak
Published: 30 May 2024, 10: 43

India has concerns at China's increasing foothold in its sphere of influence with political, economic and civil and military technology power and prowess. India's most accessable sphere of influence is its immediate neighbors where India has security stakes. Besides China's penetrations into India's immediate neighborhoods, India is also worried at China's gradual all-pervading presence in the Indian Ocean where China was not in sight even in the 1980s.

China and India fought on the land a brief but full scale war in 1962.The Line of Control (LoC) and the Line of Actual Control (LAC) have had always a disputed status flaring up with brawls at the border. Similar situation also prevails along the disputed McMahon line separating India's Arunachal Pradesh and China's Tibet autonomous region. The clash at Galwan River valley on June 15, 2020 was the deadliest since the end of the 1962 war. In the context of prevailing contentious conditions, Indian strategists persistently call for balanced military preparedness at sea, in the air and on the land to ward off "belligerent China and Pakistan specific threats".


Until the 1990s, India had the lone troubled land frontier with China. By the turn of the 20th Century the Indian Ocean became India's new frontier due to China's increased naval manoeuvers. India-Pakistan borders have been confrontational since 1947. They fought three declared wars in 1948, 1965 and 1971 and one undeclared Kargil War in 1999. The war of 1971 witnessed a couple of naval engagements not seen in previous wars. The most significant operations were the sinking of INS Kukri and PNS Gazi, naval blockade of Pakistan and India taking the war close to Pakistan's shore and attacked Karachi harbour on 5 December 1971.

Over the decades the advances in civilian and military technology around the world has transformed the concept, character and conduct of wars. In the maritime domain surface, sub-surface and air space are one integrated battle space. In the competition for the dominance of the battle space and defending the center of gravity, the kinetic values resulting from the dynamism of 'Anti-access (A2)' and 'Area Denial (AD)' capabilities are key indicators.

To read the rest of the news, please click on the link above.​

 

[Saif]

Adani suspected of fraud by selling low-grade coal as high-value fuel to Indian state firm

Reports Financial Times

www.thedailystar.net

Adani suspected of fraud by selling low-grade coal as high-value fuel to Indian state firm
Reports Financial Times

Adani Group passed off low-quality coal as far more expensive cleaner fuel in transactions with an Indian state power utility, according to evidence seen by the Financial Times that throws fresh light on allegations of a long-running coal scam.

The documents, secured by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and reviewed by the FT, add a potential environmental dimension to accusations of corruption associated with the Indian conglomerate. They suggest that Adani may have fraudulently obtained bumper profits at the expense of air quality since using low-grade coal for power means burning more of the fuel.

Invoices show that in January 2014 Adani purchased an Indonesian shipment of coal said to contain 3,500 calories per kilogramme. The same shipment was sold to the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution company (Tangedco) as 6,000-calorie coal, one of the most valuable grades. Adani appears to have more than doubled its money in the process, after transport costs.

The FT has also matched documentation for a further 22 shipments in 2014 involving the same parties that indicate a pattern of grade inflation in the supply of 1.5 million tonnes of coal.

Adani sourced the coal in Indonesia from a mining group known for its low-calorie output, at prices consistent with low-grade fuel. It delivered the coal to India's southernmost state for power generation, fulfilling a contract that specified expensive high-quality fuel.

More than 2 million people are killed in India each year by outdoor air pollution, according to a 2022 study in The Lancet, while other studies found significant increases in child mortality for hundreds of miles around coal-fired power plants.

Another study a decade ago found that coal-fired power plants, which supply about three-quarters of India's electricity, accounted for roughly 15 percent of the country's man-made emissions of fine particulate matter, 30 percent of nitrogen oxide and 50 percent of sulphur dioxide.

To read the rest of the news, please click on the link above.
​

 

[Saif]

Priyanka Gandhi to make parliamentary debut from Wayanad

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will make her parliamentary election debut from Wayanad constituency in Kerala, the party announced today

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Priyanka Gandhi to make parliamentary debut from Wayanad

This undated photo of AP shows Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, general secretary of Congress, waves to party supporters during an election campaign rally in Rae Barelli in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will make her parliamentary election debut from Wayanad constituency in Kerala, the party announced today.

Priyanka will be in fray in the by-election in Wayanad which her brother Rahul Gandhi has decided to give up and retain his membership of Rae Bareli Lok Sabha seat in Uttar Pradesh, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge told reporters after the Congress' top leadership held discussions on the issue at his residence in New Delhi, reports our New Delhi correspondent.

"Rahul Gandhi won two Lok Sabha seats but as per the law, he has to vacate one. Rahul Gandhi will retain Rae Bareli and we have decided that Priyankaji will fight from Wayanad," Kharge said.

Rahul's decision to vacate sets at rest weeks of speculations as to which constituency he would retain after winning from Wayanad and Rae Bareli in recent national elections.

After the decision, Rahul Gandhi said both Rae Bareli and Wayanad "will get two MPs" while Priyanka said "I won't let the people of Wayanad feel Rahul's absence".

In 2019 parliamentary elections, Rahul had contested from two seats Amethi in UP and Wayanad but lost the north Indian constituency to BJP's Smriti Irani and won from Wayanad by a huge margin.

In the 2024 polls, he won from both Rae Bareli and Wayanad with margins of over 6.5 lakh and 3.6 lakh votes respectively.​

 

[Saif]

Railway collision in India kills 15, hurts several

A freight train smashed into the rear of a stationary passenger train in India’s West Bengal state on Monday, killing at least 15 people and injuring dozens, police said, in an accident that railway authorities blamed on a disregarded signal. Media showed images of the pile-up, with containe

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Railway collision in India kills 15, hurts several
Published :
Jun 17, 2024 16:04
Updated :
Jun 17, 2024 16:04

A freight train smashed into the rear of a stationary passenger train in India's West Bengal state on Monday, killing at least 15 people and injuring dozens, police said, in an accident that railway authorities blamed on a disregarded signal.

Media showed images of the pile-up, with containers from the goods train strewn nearby, and one carriage left nearly vertical after the accident, which comes just over a year after a signalling error caused one of India's worst rail crashes.

At least 15 bodies have been pulled from the mangled carriages, Abhishek Roy, a senior police official in the eastern state's district of Darjeeling, the site of the accident, told Reuters.

Nearly 30 people were injured and rescue teams from the police and national disaster response force were working with doctors and residents of the area to clear debris from the derailed carriages, Roy added.

The goods train hit the Kanchanjunga Express travelling to Kolkata, the capital of West Bengal, from the northeastern state of Tripura, driving three carriages of the passenger train off the rails.

It was not immediately clear how many passengers were on board at the time.

Rescuers used iron rods and ropes to free one carriage of the passenger train that had been swept upwards to lodge on the roof of the freight train by the impact of the collision.

The dead included the driver of the freight train and a guard on the passenger train, Jaya Varma Sinha, the head of the railway board that runs the countrywide network, told reporters.

The accident happened after the driver of the freight train disregarded a signal and hit the rear end of the express train, Sinha added.

Rescue work has been completed, Sinha said, while authorities were working to restore traffic, although the damage had been less extensive than initially feared.

"The guard's compartment in the passenger train was badly damaged," he added. "There were two parcel vans attached ahead of it which reduced the extent of damage to passengers."

Nearby residents heard a loud crash and saw the pile-up upon going to investigate, several told the ANI news agency, in which Reuters has a minority stake.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered condolences on the loss of life in the accident and said Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw was on his way to the site.

About 288 people died a year ago in the neighbouring state of Odisha, in India's worst rail crash in more than two decades, caused by a signal failure.​

 

[Saif]

India reports over 40,000 suspected heatstroke cases over summer

India recorded more than 40,000 suspected heatstroke cases this summer as a prolonged heatwave killed more than 100 people across the country, while parts of its northeast grappled with floods from heavy rain, authorities said

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India reports over 40,000 suspected heatstroke cases over summer

A man covers himself with a cloth to protect from heat on a hot summer day in New Delhi, India, May 20, 2024. Photo: Reuters/File

India recorded more than 40,000 suspected heatstroke cases this summer as a prolonged heatwave killed more than 100 people across the country, while parts of its northeast grappled with floods from heavy rain, authorities said.

Billions across Asia are grappling with extreme heat this summer in a trend scientists say has been worsened by human-driven climate change, with temperatures in north India soaring to almost 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit) in one of the longest heatwave spells recorded.

Birds fell from the skies due to extreme heat and hospitals reported an inflow of heat-affected patients as both day and night time temperatures peaked in recent weeks since the start of summer in March.

The health ministry ordered federal and state institutions to ensure "immediate attention" to patients, while hospitals in the capital Delhi, which is also facing a water shortage, were directed make more beds available.

A health ministry official said there were more than 40,000 suspected heatstroke cases and at least 110 confirmed deaths between March 1 and June 18, when northwest and eastern India recorded twice the usual number of heatwave days.

The weather office has forecast above normal temperatures for this month too, as authorities say Indian cities have become "heat traps"due to unbalanced growth.

"During the ongoing heatwave, most bird rescue calls that we receive are due to birds falling from the skies," said Kartick Satyanarayan, co-founder and CEO of non-profit Wildlife SOS.

"In the past two weeks, Wildlife SOS has been receiving more than 35-40 rescue calls daily, in and around Delhi-National Capital Region. Most of the calls include bird rescue requests."

Separately, floods and landslides triggered by incessant rain in the northeastern state of Assam killed at least six people on Tuesday night, officials said.

"A landslide buried a woman and her three daughters alive," a state disaster management official, Siju Das, said by telephone.

"Their house was on a slope, and they died on the spot around midnight," he said, adding that the bodies were retrieved after a three-hour search operation by rescuers.

"A three-year-old was killed too."

In Assam, more than 160,000 people were affected, with waters surpassing the danger level in the Kopili, one of the largest tributaries of the Brahmaputra, which ranks among India's biggest rivers.

More than 30 people in the state have died since the end of May in floods and landslides brought by heavy rain, officials said.​

 

[Saif]

India floods, heatwaves kill 11 people

India was battling extreme weather yesterday that caused severe heatwaves, landslides and floods, killing at least 11 people this week, among them a woman and her three daughters buried alive in a northeastern state, officials and media said.

www.thedailystar.net

India floods, heatwaves kill 11 people
Four buried alive in landslide

India was battling extreme weather yesterday that caused severe heatwaves, landslides and floods, killing at least 11 people this week, among them a woman and her three daughters buried alive in a northeastern state, officials and media said.

The capital, New Delhi, sweltered through its hottest night in six years on Tuesday, with hospitals in the city of 20 million reporting at least five deaths from heatstroke this week, the Times of India newspaper said.

Floods and landslides triggered by incessant rain in the northeastern state of Assam killed at least six people on Tuesday night, officials said.

"A landslide buried a woman and her three daughters alive," a disaster management official said.

"Their house was on a slope, and they died on the spot around midnight," he said, adding that the bodies were retrieved after a three-hour search operation by rescuers. "A three-year-old was killed too."

Billions across Asia are grappling with extreme heat this summer, in a trend scientists say has been worsened by human-driven climate change.​

 

[Saif]

US issues rare criticism of India in religious freedom report

The United States offered rare criticism of close partner India in a report published Wednesday on religious freedom, while also voicing alarm over rising bigotry worldwide against both Jews and Muslims...

www.newagebd.net

US issues rare criticism of India in religious freedom report
Agence France-Presse . Washington 27 June, 2024, 23:45

The United States offered rare criticism of close partner India in a report published Wednesday on religious freedom, while also voicing alarm over rising bigotry worldwide against both Jews and Muslims.

Secretary of state Antony Blinken unveiled the annual report and said that the United States was also facing its own sharp increase of both anti-Semitism and Islamophobia in connection to the Gaza war.

'In India, we see a concerning increase in anti-conversion laws, hate speech, demolitions of homes and places of worship for members of minority faith communities,' Blinken said.

The US ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom, Rashad Hussain, faulted efforts by Indian police.

In India, 'Christian communities reported that local police aided mobs that disrupted worship services over accusations of conversion activities, or stood by while mobs attacked them and then arrested the victims on conversion charges,' he said.

The United States for decades has sought warmer ties with India, seeing the fellow democracy as a bulwark against China, with president Joe Biden embracing prime minister Narendra Modi, a Hindu nationalist who recently secured a third term.

Despite the public criticism in the report, few expect the State Department to take action on India when it drafts its annual blacklist of countries over religious freedom later this year.

The State Department also raised concerns about countries that are on the list, including India's historic rival Pakistan, where Blinken condemned blasphemy laws that 'help foster a climate of intolerance and hatred that can lead to vigilantism and mob violence.'

Blinken noted that in the United States, hate crimes against both Muslims and Jews 'have gone up dramatically.'

He also singled out EU member Hungary, led by nationalist Viktor Orban, saying that 'officials continue to use anti-Semitic tropes and anti-Muslim rhetoric and they penalize members of religious groups who criticise the government.'

He said that nine other European nations 'effectively ban some forms of religious clothing in public spaces.'

He did not name the countries, although France has been at the forefront on restricting full-face veils worn by some Muslim women.​

 

[Saif]

India economic inequality to persist despite roaring GDP growth

The Indian economy is likely to remain the fastest-growing major one in coming years, but a majority of independent economists and policy experts polled by Reuters are not confident it will make any difference in narrowing stark economic inequality. Despite over 8 per cent economic growth last fis

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

India economic inequality to persist despite roaring GDP growth
Published :
Jun 20, 2024 09:38
Updated :
Jun 20, 2024 09:54

A general view of the upcoming coastal road in Mumbai, India Photo : Reuters

The Indian economy is likely to remain the fastest-growing major one in coming years, but a majority of independent economists and policy experts polled by Reuters are not confident it will make any difference in narrowing stark economic inequality.

Despite over 8 per cent economic growth last fiscal year and a roaring stock market in Mumbai that is easily one of the world's most expensive, New Delhi still distributes free food grains to more than 800 million of its 1.4 billion people, as per Reuters reports.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, sworn in for a third term with the support of regional parties after a shock election where his Bharatiya Janata Party lost its sizeable majority in parliament, has retained most ministers from his second one.

Yet rising economic inequality - around its highest in decades - and high youth unemployment were widely reported as reasons for the electoral drubbing after securing sweeping victories in 2014 and 2019 on development and economic reform platforms.

A nearly 85 per cent majority of development economists and policy experts, 43 out of 51, in a May 15-June 18 Reuters poll, said they were not confident economic inequality would significantly reduce over the next five years, including 21 who said they had no confidence at all.

Only six said they were confident and two said very confident. These are separate from private economists who regularly forecast economic data and interest rates.

"Acknowledging that it is a problem will be a good first step ... Currently, reduction of economic inequality is not a policy objective of decision-makers," said Reetika Khera, a development economist at the Indian Institute of Technology in New Delhi.

"Inequality is not something that will go away on its own ... it needs proactive government interventions."

Even for a developing economy, income inequality in India is too extreme, according to a March report from the World Inequality Lab.

However, not everyone agrees.

"I don't think the inequality metrics are meaningful for India. The key issue is not inequality but how the bottom of the pyramid fares economically. This is not a function of how the top does," said Nagpurnanand Prabhala, finance professor at Johns Hopkins University.

India has the second-highest number of billionaires in Asia but has tens of millions who depend on the government's 100 days minimum guaranteed wage employment programme, digging wells, building roads, and filling potholes for about $4 a day.

"The present government has created an economic system that shrunk the middle-income group considerably. The poor are on public dole ... the rich are on public cross-subsidy using crony capitalism," said Saibal Kar, professor of industrial economics at the Center for Studies in Social Sciences.

"The economic and social freedoms are low owing to repressive public policies. This has to change. Unless it changes, inequality will rise further."

SKILLS NEEDED, NOT JUST JOBS

Asked to rate the quality of India's economic growth over the past 10 years, a near-80 per cent majority of economists surveyed, 42 of 53, said it was not inclusive, with 17 saying not at all. Eight said fairly inclusive and three said inclusive.

And yet 60 per cent, 32 of 53, said India would maintain or exceed the current solid GDP growth rate over the next five years. The rest said it will fall short.

While the Modi government has set a target of turning India into a developed economy by 2047, several experts in the survey said the government should first improve workers' skills, create more jobs and focus on inclusive growth.

In December, the government's chief economic adviser said the subsidised grain distribution, as well as spending on education and health had helped to distribute income more equally.

During the election campaign, a government document showed Modi wanted to focus on 70 areas of improvement including workforce skills and vocational training.

Over 90 per cent of experts polled, 49 of 54, who answered a separate question said unemployment would be the biggest economic challenge for the government over the next five years.

The unemployment rate was at 7.0 per cent in May, according to the Center for Monitoring Indian Economy, a think-tank, up from around 6 per cent before the pandemic.

"Most countries that have experienced more rapid growth did it on the basis of a farm-to-factory structural transformation," said Parikshit Ghosh, professor at the Delhi School of Economics, adding manufacturing as a share of GDP has hovered around 15 per cent for about 30 years.

"Of the multiple factors behind this, perhaps the most important is the failure to invest seriously in education."

India spends around 3 per cent of GDP on public education, half the 6 per cent the government's National Policy on Education recommends.

Other experts pointed out the ongoing challenges presented by a society still mired in caste and class divisions.

"We don't even talk about the cleavage that has been ripping our society apart for thousands of years now in our living rooms - we still live in a world where Dalit families are cleaning toilets in urban and rural areas, generation after generation," said Aditi Bhowmick, a public policy expert, who previously worked as India Director at Development Data Lab.​

 

[Saif]

Modi to visit Russia for talks with Putin on July 8-9

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Russia on July 8 and 9, the Kremlin said yesterday, in his first trip to the country since Moscow launched its military offensive in Ukraine.

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Modi to visit Russia for talks with Putin on July 8-9

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Russia on July 8 and 9, the Kremlin said yesterday, in his first trip to the country since Moscow launched its military offensive in Ukraine.

That campaign has tested relations between Moscow and New Delhi, even though India has ramped up its purchases of Russian oil and not joined Western sanctions.

Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin will discuss "prospects for further development of traditionally friendly Russian-Indian relations, as well as relevant issues on the international and regional agenda," the Kremlin said in a statement.

Putin sees Modi as a key potential diplomatic and economy ally, with Russia isolated in the West. But Ukraine has complicated ties.

In a September 2022 meeting between Putin and Modi at a regional summit in Uzbekistan, the Russian president told Modi he understood he had "concerns" about the conflict and that Modi wanted it to end "as soon as possible."

Earlier this year, India said it was pushing Russia to release some of its citizens who had signed up for "support jobs" with the Russian army, following reports some were stranded in Russian border towns and forced to fight in Ukraine.

New Delhi has not been a staunch backer of Kyiv, notably declining to sign a joint statement at a peace summit in Switzerland last month that called for Ukraine's territorial integrity to be respected in any peace agreement.​

 

[Saif]

India, China FMs agree to work on border issues

India’s Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar yesterday met his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Kazakhstan where the two agreed to step up talks to resolve issues along their border, New Delhi said in a statement.

www.thedailystar.net

India, China FMs agree to work on border issues

India's Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar yesterday met his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Kazakhstan where the two agreed to step up talks to resolve issues along their border, New Delhi said in a statement.

India and China share a long Himalayan border, much of it poorly demarcated, and relations between the two countries have been sour since a military standoff in July 2020.

India said Jaishankar met Wang on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Astana where they agreed that "prolongation of the current situation in the border areas is not in the interest of either side."

The two agreed to enhance meetings between their diplomatic and military officials "to resolve the remaining issues at the earliest," the Indian foreign ministry said. China and India should properly handle their differences and ensure relations advance on a stable track, a Chinese foreign ministry statement quoted Wang as saying during the talks.

"We must maintain a positive mindset, properly handle and control the situation in the border areas on the one hand, and actively resume normal exchanges on the other hand," Wang said. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in April that the two countries should urgently address the "prolonged situation" on their border.​

 

[Saif]

India races to build power plants: sources

India plans to spend $1 billion to expedite the construction of 12 hydropower stations in the northeastern Himalayan state of Arunachal Pradesh, two government sources said, a move that could raise tensions with China that lays claims to the region.

www.thedailystar.net

ARUNACHAL PRADESH
India races to build power plants: sources

India plans to spend $1 billion to expedite the construction of 12 hydropower stations in the northeastern Himalayan state of Arunachal Pradesh, two government sources said, a move that could raise tensions with China that lays claims to the region.

The federal finance ministry under Nirmala Sitharaman recently approved up to 7.5 billion rupees ($89.85 million) in financial assistance to each hydropower project in the northeastern region, the sources said.

Under the scheme, about 90 billion rupees will likely be allotted for the 12 hydropower projects in Arunachal Pradesh, said the sources, who have direct knowledge of the matter.

The move could raise tensions with China that lays claims to the region.

The scheme is likely to support northeastern states and help them finance equity holdings in the projects they host. Having state governments on board generally helps in expediting regulatory clearances, locals rehabilitation and negotiations on sharing electricity with the host state.

The plans for the hydropower stations are expected to be announced in the 2024/2025 federal budget that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government will unveil on July 23, the sources said, declining to be named as the information remained confidential.

The Indian finance and power ministries and China's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment.

Last August, the government awarded contracts to state-run firms NHPC NHPC.NS, SJVNL SJVN.NS and NEEPCO for the construction of the 11.5-gigawatt-capacity plants entailing an estimated investment of $11 billion, as part of a broader project to develop infrastructure in the border region.

None of the companies responded to a request for comments. These power plants were earlier enlisted with private sector firms, but remained non-starters due to various reasons.

India has built less than 15-gigawatt hydropower plants in last 20 years, while installations of new coal and other renewable sources of energy were nearly 10 times of the new hydropower projects.​