The decision by the US Commission on International Religious Freedom to place India on its 'Watch List,' for what it said was "the government's largely inadequate response to protecting religious minorities," will not impact in any way on the growing US-India strategic partnership, Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Robert Blake has said.
Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Robert Blake was asked pointedly by rediff.com to respond to a growing perception that Pakistan was hedging on punishing the terrorists behind the Mumbai terror attack and the US was backing off from applying too much pressure on Islamabad because of its strategic interests. Blake said, "First of all, let me say these are really a very complicated set of issues that are for India and Pakistan to resolve."
"The new sarsanghchalak, Mohan Bhagwat, is perhaps the most politically inclined head of the RSS since its founder Keshav Baliran Hedgewar some eight decades ago," says American expert Dr Walter Andersen.
"Of course, from a more general perspective, the Indian weapon programme has produced sufficiently good weapons -- they did go 'bang' at Pokhran II -- to provide a nuclear deterrent that only insane fools or idiots would ignore."
"Nations need to recognise higher education as the engine of economic growth and prosperity," says Dr Susan Aldridge, president, University of Maryland University College, US, Aziz Haniffa reports
The swine flu epidemic now sweeping India should give the government and the Medical Council of India the needed impetus to move rapidly on an initiative to train doctors in the treatment of infectious diseases, Dr Navin Shah has said.
The United States' nonproliferation lobby is apparently relishing the controversy ignited by erstwhile Defense and Research Development Organization scientist K Santhanam that the May 1998 Pokhran thermonuclear tests were not a full success implying that India needs to test again.
The New York Times report that Pakistan illegally modified the Harpoon anti-ship missile provided by the United States apparently to bolster its conventional weaponry against India, has embarrassed the Obama administration and Senators John F Kerry and Richard Lugarjust as Washington is poised to provide Islamabad with a massive economic and military largesse of $ 7.5 billion over five years
Aziz Haniffa reports on a business management programme the University of Maryland is offering Indian graduates.
The Obama administration has not received any specific assurances from India that it will help carry the developing countries with it to help successfully complete the stalled Doha Development Agenda, but the fact that New Delhi is hosting the World Trade Organization ministerial meeting exudes optimism in this regard, US Trade Representative Ron Kirk has acknowledged
Telecommunications icon and entrepreneur Sam Pitroda, who is the chairman of National Knowledge Commission, tasked with building excellence in India's education system to meet the challenges of the 21st century, has said India faces serious problems in its higher education system and that unless it is alleviated expeditiously, the Indian march to become a major global player could be adversely impacted.
Sam Pitroda, chairman of India's National Knowledge Commission, believes the United States' model of a liberal arts education is applicable in the revamping of higher education in India and that such a model is very much in the works.He noted during a conference on Higher Education Policies in India, China and the United States, "Too much focus on engineering and medical education has created a situation where liberal arts really did not get due recognition," he said.
If India, China and the United States are to prosper in a globalised economy, a joint, cooperative transformation of their higher education systems was imperative, believes B M Naik, former principal of the engineering school at the Guru Gobind Singh College in Nanded, Maharashtra."To bring about this transformation from one level to the high level and to the global level and quality standard education, what is most important is that these ideas must move fast," he said.
Bruce Riedel, who spearheaded President Obama's strategic review of Afghanistan and Pakistan, spoke to rediff.com on Tuesday and said the Afghanistan elections played a huge role in maintaining credibility for the US, and that leaving the fight against Taliban abruptly would only mean victory for jihadism and a renewed nightmare for India.
The United States has said it is working with India to find a political solution in Sri Lanka now that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam "is now flat on its back having lost most of its leaders," but has no intention of putting pressure on New Delhi to change its policy toward Sri Lanka, which has been perceived by some Tamils to be favoring the government of President Mahinda Rajapakse.
Even as tensions continue to simmer between New Delhi and Islamabad, Indian and Pakistani-Americans have come together to stage a play at the Kennedy Center to show that they can interact without the hang-ups of their respective countries.
The Obama administration's decision to improve the United State's immigration detention system, including ending family detention at the T Don Hutto Residential Center, an erstwhile state penitentiary in Taylor, Texas, is being hailed as a major victory for attorney Vanita Gupta.
Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor feels it "raises a larger question, as to whether Muslims, who are such a significant portion of our population are suffering particularly from the procedures that are applied to them when they travel to the US."
The OhioDaily blog reported that it has "learned that Governor Ted Strickland's search for a Lt. Governor may be nearing completion and his short list includes at least two members of the House leadership team: Mansfield-area Representative Jay Goyal and Toledo-area Representative Matt Szollosi. Goyal is the House Majority Whip and Szollosi serves as the Speaker Pro Tempore."
While the Pentagon has asserted that the US is "comfortable" over the safety and security of Pakistan's nuclear weapons arsenal and Islamabad has rubbished a report that militants attacked its nuclear facilities at least three times, an erstwhile CIA analyst has argued that what should elicit more concern among the international community is terrorists in Pakistan acquiring material for a "dirty bomb".
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