'Gyanendra back on the throne would be bad news for the Nepali people. He may not have learnt from his experience, but we have.'
India and Qatar on Tuesday agreed to elevate their relationship to a strategic partnership and double bilateral trade to USD 28 billion over the next five years. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Qatari Amir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani signed agreements and MoUs to strengthen economic cooperation, including a revised double taxation avoidance agreement. The strategic partnership will cover the "entire spectrum" of the bilateral relationship, including trade, energy security, and regional and international cooperation. Both leaders also discussed ways to further strengthen and broaden the energy partnership, including "exploring mutual investments." The Amir's visit provided an "excellent opportunity" for the top leadership of the two countries to discuss and "cement a strategic partnership for enhanced future cooperation."
'The BJP lacks a credible mass leader who matches Mamata Banerjee's popularity.' 'Given the division of votes among Opposition parties, the West Bengal government's dole-giving strategy, and the consolidation of the poor, significant sections of scheduled caste groups and Muslim minorities behind the ruling party, it will be difficult to dislodge the Trinamool from power.'
After the 1962 War with China, there was a demand to forge greater defence cooperation between India and the West. One such voice was that of Sudhir Ghosh, a distinguished MP, to tie up strategic cooperation with the USA immediately after the Chinese attack on India, recalls Rup Narayan Das.
'Unsurprisingly, Trump shared Modi's podcast with Fridman on his Truth account.' 'The intentions of Trump, a transactional president, are never easy to tell.' 'We will know in the next fortnight if and when he unfolds reciprocal tariffs on Indian goods, whether Modi's flattering words made any significant difference to Trump's compass,' notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The growing decline of MTech applicants in Indian colleges is due to multiple factors, including outdated curricula, poor return on investment and lucrative non-engineering alternatives, say experts.
The National Security Strategy document should flag all major issues concerning security strategy and provide guidelines to concerned departments to work out suitable action plans. Since the global and regional geopolitical canvas is dynamic, the NSS document should be deliberated at length before formulation and should be reviewed periodically, recommends Commodore Venugopal Menon (retd).
'While on the one hand, terrorism continues to be a serious threat to global peace and security, on the other hand, areas such as cyber, maritime and space, are emerging as new theatres of conflict'
Gold seems to be losing its glitter in India due to a rise in prices. Demand in Q2CY24 was 149.7 tonnes - a 5 per cent drop compared to 158.1 tonnes in the same period last year, according to a report by the World Gold Council (WGC). Demand by value in April-June 2024 stood at Rs 93,850 crore, up by 14 per cent compared to Rs 82,530 crore in the same period last year.
'The focus of the legislation will be to minimise user harm and increase the accountability of platforms, while also promoting innovation.'
NITI Aayog had been asking for Rs 7,500 crore for three years to set up an AI framework.
Ron Somers, founder and CEO of India First Group and the former President of leading business advocacy group US-India Business Council said that when Lok Sabha election results are declared on June 4, "I believe that Narendra Modi will win Parliament by the largest majority ever recorded in the country's history.
RBI has cited "legal impediments" in sharing the reports.
Why are financial-technology (fintech) players moving back to India, or doing the reverse-flipping?
By the year 2020, India will become an economic giant vying with China and the US for global supremacy, the US-based National Intelligence Council said on Thursday.
Regulators must learn from past mistakes and act swiftly to prevent Big Tech from monopolising the AI ecosystem, argue Payal Malik and Nikita Jain.
Right to apprenticeship, legal guarantee for MSP, passing a constitutional amendment to raise the 50 per cent cap on reservations for SCs, STs and OBCs, a nation-wide caste census and scrapping of Agnipath scheme are among the promises made by the Congress in its Lok Sabha polls manifesto released on Friday.
This does not mean isolating parochialism but of new way of thinking about economic systems, says Rajni Bakshi.
The world needs to wake up to this new dimension of war at sea and be prepared to face the 'unknown enemy' who have the advantage of attacking at their choice of location and time, cautions Commodore Venugopal Menon (retd).
India and the US on Friday said they have started talks to put in place a strategic framework for human space flight by year-end as they plan to send an Indian astronaut to the International Space Station in 2024.
The agency had received Rs 946.51 crore to manage its affairs in the Budget Estimates for 2023-24, which was later increased to Rs 968.86 crore in the Revised Estimates.
In a post on X, Modi said, "Happy to have welcomed @POTUS @JoeBiden to 7, Lok Kalyan Marg. Our meeting was very productive."
The United States intelligence community has failed to reach any firm conclusion on the exact origin of COVID-19 and is split on whether it leaked from a lab in China or emerged in nature, even though it does not believe the virus was developed as a biological weapon, according to results of a detailed review ordered by President Joe Biden.
Former Punjab Director General of Police Dinkar Gupta was on Thursday appointed as the new Director General of the National Investigation Agency (NIA), an anti-terror probe agency formed after the 26/11 attack in Mumbai.
The biggest question looming over the summit is whether there will be a joint leaders' declaration in view of the sharp differences between the West and the Russia-China combine on the text to describe the Ukraine conflict in the document.
But the ISI chief did not retire giving the impression that he has won General Asim Munir's trust, notes Rana Banerji who headed the Pakistan desk at RA&W.
'At the heart of the strategic relationship between our countries are economic ties.'
If confirmed by the Senate, Garcetti, 50, would replace Kenneth Juster, who served as India's Ambassador to the US during the Trump administration.
India is likely to become a $40 trillion economy by 2047 -- a 13-fold jump from its current size -- driven primarily by a clean energy revolution and digitalisation, billionaire Mukesh Ambani said on Tuesday. Ambani's estimate for the Indian economy, currently the fifth largest in the world behind only the US, China, Japan and Germany, is more optimistic than Asia's richest man Gautam Adani, who last week stated that India will become a $30 trillion economy by 2050 on back of rising consumption and socio-economic reforms. "From a 3 trillion-dollar economy, India will grow to become a 40 trillion-dollar economy by 2047, ranking among the top three economies of the world," Ambani said at the 10th convocation of Pandit Deendayal Energy University in Gandhinagar.
This year saw no improvement in bilateral ties as India accused Pakistan of cross-border infiltration and re-activation of terror-launching pads near the LoC.
India's dream to be in the forefront of international politics has come true. India has placed itself firmly as a major player in the shaping of a new world order, observes Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
India has conveyed its concerns to the top security and intelligence officials of the United States, the United Kingdom and Russia over the possible implications of Pakistan's links with the Taliban and various terrorist groups operating in Afghanistan for regional security and stability, people familiar with the development said.
'We have already given Rs 1.59 trillion to states.' 'So, there is no question of giving them more.'
The report also referred to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Israel in July 2017.
'The State uses identity politics as part of divide and rule; the militant groups too use identity politics and civil society groups are also divided along ethnic groups.'
'It is strange that a country like India, which had gone through crisis after crisis resulting from militancy, insurgency and terrorist attacks, should still be practising ad hocism in managing its security imperatives,' says B S Raghavan, the distinguished civil servant and former member of the Joint Intelligence Council.
'From what evidence has come up, General Bajwa somehow managed to tell the Americans that I was anti-American.' 'And so, it [the plan to oust me] wasn't imported from there. It was exported from here to there.'
Russia and China are tight-fisted and Iran is broke and none of them has the political will or capacity to bankroll the Afghan economy, which only the US can, points out Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
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