Pakistan on Wednesday said it has formally informed India about its decision to allow the transportation of an Indian humanitarian shipment of 50,000 metric tonnes of wheat and life saving drugs to neighbouring Afghanistan through its territory on an 'exceptional basis for humanitarian purposes.'
The high-level expert group led by former Reserve Bank of India governor C Rangarajan to formulate a jobs plan for Jammu and Kashmir is likely to meet on Friday in New Delhi. The committee was formed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as part of the Centre's efforts to end the ongoing cycle of violence there. The committee will initially hold a few meetings with senior officials from various ministries including home, agriculture, external affairs.
Seeking to further enhance trade ties, India on Tuesday said it looked forward to the early conclusion of the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement with Singapore.
The three-member committee was constituted following a direction from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who is currently abroad, government sources said. However, the defence forces have now agreed to accept the pay scales with the existing 'anomalies', but would wait for a decision from the committee in which Defence Minister A K Antony and Finance Minister P Chidambaram would be members.
The Congressman is said to have written a letter to party president Sonia Gandhi apprising her of his decision.
In the first high-level bilateral engagement after the installation of the NDA government, India on Thursday assured Bangladesh that efforts were on to evolve a national consensus on the contentious Teesta river water sharing deal even as it announced easing of visa norms for certain categories of visitors from Bangladesh.
"The fight against impunity is critical to the larger pursuit of securing peace and justice. The Security Council must send an unambiguous and unequivocal message on this count," External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar told the 15-nation UN Security Council briefing on Ukraine 'Fight against impunity'.
The Supreme Court on Friday suggested that the Centre assist the medical students who had returned to the country from Ukraine in view of the war with Russia by creating a web portal giving details of the foreign universities, where they could complete their courses as per the government's academic mobility programme.
The talks took place in a beach resort in Benaulim on the sidelines of a meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.
India on Thursday condemned Omar's visit to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Singapore Foreign Affairs Minister George Yeo signed the agreement, calling it a 'landmark pact' for a regular forum.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday chaired a meeting of the Union Cabinet for the first time after he underwent a heart bypass surgery nearly two months ago. The meetings of the Cabinet and the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs were held at his official Race Course Road residence today, unlike the meetings which were held in South Block during his absence. External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee had presided over those meetings.
Dikshit, 81, passed away on Saturday afternoon at the Fortis Escorts Heart Institute in New Delhi due to cardiac arrest.
With the acceptance of the invitation, President Pranab Mukherjee will now write an official invite to the Sultan of Oman to be followed up by telephone calls from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and External Affairs Minister S M Krishna.
The Central Bureau of Investigation has arrested an author, who allegedly forged signatures of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to recommend the External Affairs Ministry to purchase 250 copies of his book worth Rs 25 lakh.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday termed as "very dangerous" External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid's comments questioning the role of the Supreme Court and Election Commission and said the two institutions must take suo motu cognisance of it.
Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, the religious body of the Sikh community, met Union External Affairs Minister S M Krishna in New Delhi on Tuesday, to express their anger over the massacre at a Wisconsin gurdwara on Sunday.
India has submitted a formal request to the United Nations Committee 1267, seeking inclusion of the name of Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar on the sanctions' list, said government sources.
A sulking former external affairs minister S M Krishna, who was recently made a permanent invitee of the Congress working committee, will skip the party's Chintan Shivir in Jaipur this week.
External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who heads the three-member committee, said on Monday he had discussed the matter with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Defence Minister A K Antony. After the government notification was issued on August 29, the issues of 'anomalies' in the pay for officers was first raised by Air chief Fali Homi Major in his letter in his capacity as acting Chairman of Chiefs of Staff Committee.
The armed forces had decided not to implement the revised pay scales from October 1.
"Pranab Mukherjee met me this morning and said the government was in no position to accept a JPC probe," Advani said at a press conference in Parliament House on Wednesday.
For the second time in as many months, the Government on Wednesday night cut petrol price by Rs 5 a litre and diesel by Rs 2 per litre, while the domestic LPG rate was also slashed by as much as Rs 25 per cylinder.
The meeting of UPA-Left Committee on nuclear issue, scheduled for Wednesday, has been postponed, putting back further a decision on whether India should sign the safeguards agreement with IAEA. The meeting is now expected in the first half of next month.
Sibal, however, added that Natwar's removal did not mean that he was guilty.
The TERC, which comprises, among others Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma and External Affairs Minister S M Krishna, will also review the state of play in the Doha Round of talks for a multilateral trade agreement under the aegis of World Trade Organization, sources said.
Ahead of the United Progressive Alliance-Left coordination committee meeting on the Indo-US nuclear deal, the government on Saturday expressed hope that the differences with the supporting allies on the issue will be resolved. External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee told reporters in Chandigarh that he was engaged in talks with the Left on the deal to sort out the matter.
Pranab lost his cool with a scribe.
The government is working for the success of the Indo-US nuclear deal mechanism to address the concerns raised by the Left parties, Minister for External Affairs Pranab Mukherjee said on Saturday.
It appears the row over the article penned by senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Yashwant Sinha refuses to die down.
The party brought back Yashwant Sinha as its national vice-president.
India and Saudi Arabia on Monday called on states to reject the use of terrorism against other countries and prevent access to weapons, including missiles and drones, to commit acts of terror.
Calling COVID-19 pandemic and vaccines as one of the most important aspects of his discussions with top officials of the Biden administration, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said the endeavour is to expand production of vaccines in India with assistance from the US.
A government statement said Modi conveyed to Putin that India attaches the highest priority to the safe exit of Indians from Ukraine and their return to India.
On January 29, Krishna resigned from all the posts held by him in the grand old party.
The party also announced countrywide protests to press the demand.
Rejecting news reports, a Commission spokesperson said no such facility has been extended.
The Centre on Tuesday directed Suresh Kalmadi, convener of the Commonwealth Games, to relieve immediately T S Darbari and Dr Sanjay Mahindroo, senior officials holding high positions in the CWG Organising Committee, on alleged corruption charges.
The Supreme Court on Monday reduced the government's discretionary quota seats for Haj pilgrims to 300 from the 5,050 seats, proposed by it.
