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Both India and China have demonstrated levels of maturity in diffusing tensions and ensuring that the border remains by and large incident free, says Seema Mustafa
India has been put in lockdown to halt the spread of the coronavirus outbreak. People have been told to stay indoors, but for many daily-wage earners this is not an option.
The human toll in the floods and relentless rain across the country reached almost 200 by Thursday, even as thousands in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Assam, Odisha, West Bengal, and elsewhere were forced out of their homes into temporary shelters.
'The Chinese have taken to telling their Indian interlocutors to bear in mind the 5:1 disparity in the sizes of the two economies.' 'The message from Beijing, says T N Ninan, is clear: Acknowledge superior Chinese power, and behave accordingly.'
However, Beijing expresses readiness for talks to reopen the Nathu La pass for the Kailash-Mansarovar Yatra.
The Shimshal Mountaineering School in Pakistan is training students, many of them women, to scale some of the world's highest peaks.
Wu said both the countries are also in consultations to work on a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the defence ministries.
Officials feared that the death toll could rise as rescuers find it difficult to reach remote areas.
From announcing a lockdown and extending its tenure, setting up the country's first two exclusive Covid-19 hospitals, creating a hotspot zone, providing doorstep medical service and making masks compulsory, the state is doing all it can to dwarf the virus.
'She's not going to keel over.' 'This is the kind of difficult situation that she thrives in.'
What does one do when one day, out of the blue, one is told to go on a road trip to the Everest Base Camp?
"The era of 'lalten' is gone. In the last six years consumption of electricity has increased 3 fold in Bihar," PM Modi said. "Voters of Bihar have taken a resolve that they won't let those who have a history of making the state 'Bimaru' come near them," he added.
Phantom FDI refers to investments that pass through shell companies that have no real business activities and are tailor-made to cut tax liabilities.
BJP banks on Modi, Congress on its candidate Manvendra Singh in Barmer, India's largest constituency by area after Ladakh.
'Our network somehow saves 3,000 lives every year, but there's so much more to do, as every death due to shortage of blood is easily avoidable.'
While inaugurating the projects, Modi said highways construction has reached 27-km a day from mere 12-km a day during the Congress regime.
Films that amazed Aseem Chhabra at the El Gouna Film Festival in Egypt.
We love a leader who oozes authority and firmness, notes Virendra Kapoor.
The corona-fuelled lockdown having shattered their dreams, they are now walking, cycling and hitchhiking hundreds of miles under an unforgiving sun blazing down at over 40 degrees to reach their homes in an impoverished Bihar, where an uncertain future awaits them.
The Manali-Leh National Highway-3 was blocked after heavy rainfall triggered landslide in Himachal Pradesh's Kullu district on Friday.
General T N Raina was an iconic Indian military leader whose contributions to the nation should be more widely known, notes Lieutenant General Syed Ata Hasnain (retd).
'This is for the first time that a strong, solid evidence-based investigation has happened.' 'It can meet international standards and put the onus on the Pakistanis.'
India may have not won the third Test, but the team which has turned into an 'injury-ravaged' outfit walked out of the SCG with heads held high. The roar of a jubilant comeback from the Indian side will undoubtedly be echoed in the SCG stands for years to come.
True Indian scenes most often lie on less travelled routes, along roads that have fallen off the map, after modern highways have come up. On the fourth leg of their 2,148 km journey, Rediff.com's Archana Masih and photographer Rajesh Karkera discover one such forgotten place in the Thar Desert.
The United Liberation Front of Asom runs seven hotels of international standards in Dhaka, Chittagong and Sylhet in Bangladesh and operates three bank accounts in that country, the Border Security Force said on Friday.
Opposition parties on Thursday launched a vociferous attack on the Centre over its handling of the farmers' agitation, callings its dialogues with the protestors 'monologues', even as the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party defended the new laws asserting that its government is committed to the welfare of peasants and increase their incomes.
While the COVID-19 pandemic has completely halted production and new orders, exporters say that payments have also been delayed for the shipments sent before the lockdown. Exporters say some customers are not taking delivery of the shipments because they have shut shop. Ready-made garment players had been hoping for a revival in demand in China but with the virus spreading to Europe, the US and other major markets, there are no orders coming from the major retailers.
'You cannot implement such a huge exercise, which is bound to cause misery to millions, without studying every aspect of its consequences, economic and social,' notes Sherna Gandhy.
'We owe our existence to the men in uniform, and we owe it to them to cleanse the armed forces by driving away every bit of corruption that eats into it,' argues Sudhir Bisht.
The experts also said China's military 'misadventure' may have been driven in part by President Xi Jinping's attempt to show 'gains somewhere" after the growing global criticism against his country over the origin of COVID-19.
An eerie silence prevails with concertina wire barricades laid on deserted streets and police and armed forces personnel allowing civilians to move only after thorough checking.
'China, much more than Pakistan, is a credible potential adversary with the ability to hurt our interests.' 'It must figure higher in our national security concerns,' says Vice Admiral Premvir Das (retd).
'War cannot resolve problems. So wisdom is to resolve diplomatically.'
At least seven persons killed in flood and landslides triggered by incessant rain in South West Garo Hills district of Meghalaya where about one lakh people from over 200 villages have been rendered homeless so far even as the authorities have been caught off guard in the face of disaster.
'What made him different was that he was not a banker at all by temperament.' 'He was a businessman, a typical lalaji at that.' 'He had to win at any cost.'
The incident took place at Bhatindi on Saturday morning when the man, hailing from Mendhar in Poonch district, drove at a high speed and banged his car against the main gate, they said.
India and China on Wednesday signed in all nine agreements, including the Border Defence Cooperation Agreement and one on strengthening cooperation on trans-border rivers, after restricted and delegation-level talks that lasted over two hours as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Premier Li Keqiang met for the second time this year for talks which the Indian leader described as "fruitful and productive".
Suddenly the sands are shifting and even friends are acting strange.
It keeps getting harder every day for the government to drive its narrative that ample jobs are being created. They sound increasingly silly as they try to defend the indefensible, says Mahesh Vyas.
To address the supply crunch, CII has suggested leveraging the existing excess capacity in the Indian industry; rolling back import duty hike to look for alternative sources of imports; expanding credit to manufacturing units with quick loan sanctions, and one-time emergency waiver of non-performing asset regulations for three months.
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