India's soft power diplomacy came into play during this cataclysm affecting the world as the pandemic defies barriers and borders, notes Rup Narayan Das.
These vaccines have not yet been approved by the World Health Organization
Jaishankar criticised the UNHRC for its criticism on the situation in Jammu and Kashmir,
"Our relationship is so big that it is no longer a bilateral relationship. It has global dimensions," the report quoted Jaishankar as saying.
One priority for Delhi (for the new foreign secretary in particular) is to have an in-depth discussion with Dharamsala as soon as possible, suggests Claude Arpi.
'The call to isolate Pakistan on the ground of sponsoring and supporting terrorism, particularly when the UN has not even defined terrorism, is a wild goose chase.' 'The responses of the various countries to the Uri attack provides testimony to this fact.' 'No country, not even Russia, was willing to condemn Pakistan for this dastardly act,' says Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
World number one Novak Djokovic on Wednesday dismissed any suggestion of friction with Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal as tennis politics spilled over to the Miami Open.
She said the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) adopted last year by India's Parliament was of 'great concern'.
'The Olympics postponement may not be a political body blow to Abe Shinzo, but it is no denying that the economic cost of the postponement of the Games will be heavy for Japan,' observes Dr Rajaram Panda.
'Modi's promise of change during the election campaign was on the domestic front, but his first year in office focused on foreign policy beyond all expectations,' says Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
'In the merry-go-round of Indian cricket, amid abhorrent match-fixing scandals and incessant politicking, Ravi Shastri is a multifaceted personality who, when called upon, can don any hat with ease.'
'India appears to have stood its ground on strategic autonomy by resisting US pressure on Russia, China and Iran, but succumbed to the temptation to walk into a tighter embrace in defence cooperation, a high priority of the Trump administration,' notes Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
India will be the most consequential partner for the US in the Indo-Pacific this century, US Defence Secretary Mark Esper said Tuesday ahead of the 2+2 ministerial dialogue between the two countries next week. Esper on Tuesday told a Washington audience that he and the Secretary of State Mike Pompeo would be travelling to New Delhi next week for the 2+2 ministerial with their respective Indian counterparts Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.
China is going to be an indispensable partner in Russia's ongoing crisis with the US, while on its part, China cannot remain indifferent if Russia gets crushed by the US, lest it loses 'strategic depth', observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Why should India buy olives from Europe when it could do so from the world's largest producers?
The government's focus is on containing and controlling coronavirus the ministry of external affairs said on Thursday and advised Indians to stay put wherever they are and travel only under compelling reasons.
The two sides are also expected to explore ways to deepen defence collaboration, including exercises, defence transfers and technologies ahead of the next edition of the 2+2 defence and foreign ministerial dialogue to be held in the US later this year, they said.
The Indian High Commission made its displeasure known despite the British government earlier reiterating that the three New Delhi laws on agricultural reform were a "domestic matter".
If China would not have extended the technical hold, Azhar would have automatically been designated under the UN as a terrorist.
A closure of the Indian mission in Kabul will be a Himalayan blunder at this historic juncture when the wheels of diplomacy and politics are set to accelerate in Afghanistan, argues Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar
In his address at a ministerial meeting of the SCO in Moscow in the Russian capital, Singh also referred to the Second World War and said its memories teach the globe the 'follies of aggression' of one state upon another that brings 'destruction' to all.
American analysts and their camp followers in India are talking absolute rubbish when they try to establish that India is facing a Hobson's choice in regard of Donbass, called upon to take sides between Russia and the West, asserts Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The government issued a fresh advisory with a ban on all existing foreign visas, except a few categories like diplomatic and employment, till April 15 in the wake of new positive cases of novel coronavirus in the country.
'It's official: we won. I'm going to Albany to fight to tax the rich, heal the sick, house the poor & build a socialist New York. But I can't do it alone. To win socialism, we'll need a mass movement of the multiracial working class as well. So let's build one,' Mamdani tweeted.
India is expected to press for text-based negotiation during the current session of the United Nation General Assembly. Suman Guha Mozumder reports from New York
'India need to look beyond the economic prism.' 'China had no qualms in taking the Kashmir issue to the UN Security Council last year -- not once, but thrice -- thus violating Indian sensitivities,' observes China expert Srikanth Kondapalli.
"In India's development cooperation, we will be guided by our partners' development priorities. Our assistance does not create indebtedness and is without conditionalities," he said at the 44th Annual Meeting of the G-77 Foreign Ministers on Thursday, in a veiled reference to China's loans which has led to debt-traps in some countries.
Exports to India support 180,000 US jobs.
There was no law or autonomous body governing digital content in India so far. Now, OTT and other platforms, including digital news websites, are expected to fall within a governmental framework of rules and regulations.
India on Wednesday asked Pakistan to rein in its "compulsive hostility" towards it and fulfil its obligation to vacate illegal occupation of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, which has become a "hub" for the global export of terror.
The diplomat spoke on condition of anonymity to give a sense of the feeling of other members of the Security Council after China blocked the move to designate Azhar a global terrorist. Beijing previously put a technical hold on similar proposals at the UNSC thrice.
An official announcement to this effect would be made next week. The vice-chairman would be of Cabinet rank.
In the past, India strongly rejected references made to Jammu and Kashmir in a previous joint statement by Pakistan and China.
'Modi has presided over an ultra-nationalism that has stunted India's growth, been unable to change the country's external situation, brought foreign intervention into Indian affairs,' explains Aakar Patel.
It took 64 days for COVID-19 cases in India to touch the (May 19) one lakh-mark from 100 cases, and another fortnight to cross two lakh cases on June 3. It took 10 days for the tally to touch the three lakh-mark and another eight days for the cases to climb to four lakh.
The CDS will be a four-star general and his salary will be equivalent to that of service chiefs.
Former external affairs minister Salman Khurshid, on Tuesday, justified India's refusal to play bilateral cricket with Pakistan during the International Cricket Council's Disputes Resolution Committee hearing into a compensation claim against the Board of Control for Cricket in India, a Board official said.
"Rafale's induction in the air force is an important and historical moment and it is a matter of pride for us to be witness to this moment. I congratulate the Armed Forces, and all countrymen on this occasion. The induction of Rafale in IAF's fleet shows the strong relations between India and France. India and France have been economic, cultural and strategic partners since long. Our faith in strong democracy and a wish for world peace are the basis of our relation," Singh said at the induction ceremony being held at the IAF airbase in Ambala.
Jammu and Kashmir "was, is and shall forever" remain an integral part of India, a top Indian diplomat asserted at the UN Human Rights Council's meeting in Geneva on Wednesday, a day after Pakistan sought the international community's intervention on the Kashmir issue. Speaking at the 43rd session of the UN Human Rights Council which is being held in Geneva in Switzerland from February 24 to March 20, Vikas Swarup, secretary (west), the ministry of external affairs, described Pakistan as the "epicentre of global terrorism".
Trump can afford to say that COVID-19 is a 'China virus', but we can't expect Modi to say that aloud while his actions may speak louder, says Rup Narayan Das.
