'With the recent challenging of the notion of the Indian Ocean Region being India's strategic backyard, China is gradually upping the ante in the maritime realm around India.'
India now faced a higher likelihood of a drought in some parts, as monsoon rain would be less than predicted in April, private weather forecaster Skymet said on Friday.
The US intends to break up India's strategic partnership with Russia and to continue to interfere in Indian-Iranian relations, apart from inserting itself into the Sino-Indian bilateral discourse, says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar, analysing the US defence secretary's visit to India.
The judge fixed April 26 as the next date of hearing when he will appear via video link from jail.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Friday
'There will be much for President Trump and Prime Minister Modi to discuss including growing Chinese military cooperation with Pakistan, which heralds a new attempt by China and Pakistan to neutralise India's influence in its Indian Ocean neighbourhood,' notes Ambassador G Parthasarathy.
Any form of entanglement with India or the US on the strategic plane will be anathema to Sri Lanka's Rajapaksa rulers, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Since 2016, when India was officially recognised in US law as a 'major defence partner', Washington has purposefully upgraded the defence relationship.
Huge demand for dry bulk commodities such as iron ore, coal, and grain has helped the Index touch a five year high recently.
US Secretary of State Micheal Pompeo and Secretary of Defence James Mattis will travel to New Delhi next month for the 2+2 dialogue.
According to Skymet Weather, the initial surge in the Monsoon rains can be attributed to the transition of El Nino into the neutral phase.
The United States, he said, 'desires a new age of ambition' in its relationship with India. Asserting that the US has never been more supportive of India's security, he said New Delhi too, is an important partner and a key pillar of President Trump's foreign policy.
'Gwadar has the potential to facilitate PLAN's operations in the Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean.' 'Reports of China setting up electronic eavesdropping posts at Gwadar to monitor US and Indian naval activity and shipping traffic through the Straits of Hormuz and the Arabian Sea lend credence to this,' says former RA&W officer Jayadeva Ranade.
With the situation in Ladakh tense and no resolution in sight the trigger to take the India-US relationship to a transformational one is already there, observes Lieutenant General Syed Ata Hasnain (retd).
The experts said that climate change is not only raising temperatures and making India's heatwaves hotter, but also changing weather patterns that further drive dangerous weather extremes.
Hydrography (underwater geography) prevents the Indian Navy for opting for an all-conventional, or all-nuclear submarine fleet.
Three Chinese astronauts on Thursday entered the country's new space station after their spaceship successfully docked with it, just over seven hours after the launch from the Gobi Desert, in a major milestone for the Communist giant's space exploration plans and its bid to become a leading space power.
There is growing alarm at the inexorable rise of China, both of its military prowess and its aggressive bullying of other countries plus its subjugation of whole portions of its own population.
Even as Barack Obama administration officials believe that the India-US relationship has now "emerged at the world stage" and is no longer a "restricted to narrow" South Asia or subcontinental set of issues, they also concede that America's security partnership with Pakistan over the years still poses challenge to India-US relationship.
It is time the current leaders who swear by 'cultural nationalism', that is religion neutral, assert that Bharatiyata is at the core of our nationalism and India was never a 'Hindu Rashtra', argues Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
'2020 will show whether India's troubled domestic economic and political house reveals a mismatch in their strategic association or whether closer strategic ties are yet possible,' says Anita Inder Singh.
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India and Japan have a shared interest in countervailing China's hegemonic ambitions in Asia. Although neither has an interest in forming an overt anti-China alliance, Tokyo and New Delhi feel increasingly obligated to work together to find ways to guard against a muscular Beijing's power sliding into arrogance, says Brahma Chellaney.
The Obama administration has christened his vision of Indo-US ties that has overcome the "hesitations of history" and working for the betterment of the global good as "Modi Doctrine".
China's white paper on Asia-Pacific security cooperation extends an olive branch to India. It mentions India 15 times -- a record in all Chinese white papers issued so far. New Delhi's response will need to be carefully calibrated, says China expert Srikanth Kondapalli.
'Clearly, Washington has all but given up hope following US Acting Assistant Secretary of State Alice Wells's stormy visit to Colombo last month where she read the riot act to Sri Lankan leaders to sign the pending status of forces agreement allowing American troops to use Sri Lanka as a hub for operations in the Indian Ocean,' points out Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's first State visit to India is an indication of the success of India's Act East Policy, says Dr Rahul Mishra.
Pompeo will travel to India, Sri Lanka, Japan and South Korea from June 24 to 30. His four-nation is aimed at deepening US partnerships in the strategic Indo-Pacific region.
'India enjoys the maneuverability of a coming big power.' 'It is this possibility that has persuaded Moscow to humour India and stayed Washington from getting punitive about India's neutrality on the Ukraine issue.'
He said India would continue to actively pursue and promote its geo-political, strategic and economic interests on the seas, in particular the Indian Ocean.
The prime minister also pitched for respecting freedom of navigation against the backdrop of South China sea dispute.
India, Japan and the US are set to focus on "anti-submarine warfare" by deploying "different machines" during the next round of their marine wargames named the Malabar Exercise, amidst increasing presence of Chinese underwater vessels in the strategic Indian Ocean region.
Amid China's growing assertiveness in South China Sea, India, Japan and the US at their first ever trilateral ministerial dialogue in New York.
Chushul and Depsang are not vital in this game of Chinese checkers, the Indian Ocean Region is. Keeping our maritime prowess restricted has to be a key Chinese strategic interest and it would appear that the LAC affair has helped China achieve its aim, points out Vice Admiral Premvir Das (retd).
El Nino is expected to occur in August-September, but it is unlikely to have any major impact on the monsoon, and the weatherman expects a positive Indian Ocean Dipole, which has a strong influence on rainfall in the country.
Among others, China is developing the strategically located Gwadar port in Balochistan, which is aimed towards having a military presence, says a Pentagon report
That Australia is ready for a substantive engagement is evident from its 2013 Defence White Paper, which emphasised the need to build stronger defence relations with India, says Ajai Shukla
China has taken a position of non-acceptance and non-participation on the jurisdiction by the International Court of Arbitration in a case the Philippines has brought against China's claims to nearly all of the South China Sea, Abraham Denmark, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence for East Asia, told lawmakers at a Congressional hearing.
'The Chinese navy is large and expanding both in numbers and capability by the day.' 'India too must take measures to safeguard its own interests, now and in the future.'
Prices of perishable items could spike in the near term.
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