India even after 65 years of independence finds it bothersome to build a memorial for the Unknown Soldier in the national capital. The soldiers died so that we may live. And the least we can do is to remember them, writes Colonel R Hariharan (retd).
Pitching for freer movement of goods, services and people across South Asia, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday warned that the region faces the risk of "marginalisation and stagnation" if member countries fail to build SAARC as a group that is better connected and better empowered.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is likely to meet his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani on sidelines of the SAARC Summit here and is expected to convey India's disillusionment over Pakistan not acting against the Mumbai attack suspects and its failure to take credible steps to dismantle terror infrastructure on its soil.
About 67 per cent of Indian organisations whose data was encrypted paid a ransom to get back their data-a slight increase on the previous year when 66 per cent paid a ransom. In fact, Indian entities were the most likely to pay a ransom of all countries surveyed: the global average was just under a third (32 per cent). These were the findings of the global survey 'The State of Ransomware 2021' conducted by cybersecurity firm Sophos. The survey findings further stated that the total cost of recovery from a ransomware attack has more than doubled in a year, increasing from $761,106 in 2020 to $1.85 million in 2021 globally.
'One cannot escape the conclusion that Pakistan has won the Paris-Bangkok-Islamabad round. To be able to resume the composite dialogue without making any progress on the Mumbai attack trials is a dream come true for Pakistan.'
Shringla, a 1984 batch officer of the Indian Foreign Service, is considered an expert on India's neighbourhood and is currently serving as envoy to the US.
The high-profile visit of Home Minister P Chidambaram to Pakistan for the SAARC conference may not take place on February 26 as the meet is expected to be postponed to the middle of next month.
Singh is expected to bluntly ask Pakistan to stop sponsoring acts of terror in India and also raise the issue of slow pace of probe into the Pathankot airbase terror attack
'From the very start, PM Modi was insistent that visiting foreign leaders should be exposed to an India beyond its capital.' 'Through these experiences, he felt that the full Indian narrative would be much better understood across the world,' explains External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar. A riveting excerpt from Bluekraft Digital Foundation's Modi@20: Dreams Meet Delivery.
India invited leaders of the BIMSTEC countries as well as Kyrgyz President Jeenbekov, the current chair of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, and Mauritius PM Jugnauth for the Modi's swearing-in.
The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation is very much aligned with the foreign policy priorities of the Modi 2.0 government, says Sana Hashmi.
Except Pakistan, seven SAARC countries are a part of the project.
Nawaz Sharif also appreciated India's efforts in the rescue operations in Nepal.
The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry is 'very hopeful' that the seven SAARC nations would be able to clear all roadblocks on the way to signing of Saarc Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA) at the Islamabad summit.
Domino's India data that included sensitive customer information such as their names, phone numbers, and credit card details has allegedly been breached and put on sale on the dark web. According to tweets by Israel-based Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer of cybercrime intelligence firm Hudson Rock, Alon Gal, the data is worth 13 terabytes (TB). He tweeted on Sunday that the data includes as many as 180 million order details, including 1 million credit card details. The data, said Gal, was up for sale on the dark web. The threat actor, he said, was asking for $550,000 for the data.
The visit is in his capacity as the chairman of SAARC.
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.
Pakistan has got the message that the Modi regime in New Delhi has brought in a new language of dialogue with Islamabad, sources well informed about the preparation for the Kathmandu meeting tell Sheela Bhatt/Rediff.com
Where Ms Chawla seems to have erred is that she has not been able to build the desired credibility required to champion the cause she took to court.
Bike maker Hero Electric has decided to foray into overseas market starting with exports of e-bikes to SAARC countries this year and also plans to set up a new greenfield assembly unit.
Within the SAARC framework, says Rajeev Sharma, Nepal's strategic importance cannot be overestimated as Nepal is a key member of the sub-SAARC group India has created to bypass Pakistan.
"We have always attempted to move ahead with the concept of sabka sath, sabka vikas," Modi said in his monthly radio programme Mann Ki Baat.
Lauding Prime Minister Narendra Modi's steps to improve ties with the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation countries, top American officials, eminent South Asia experts and lawmakers have said that he has shown firm commitment towards strengthening India's relations with its neighbours, including Pakistan.
From January 2015, he has served as India's Ambassador to Poland, based in Warsaw, with concurrent accreditation to Lithuania.
A verbal duel between Indian and Pakistani MPs was witnessed at the meet on Sunday over the draft declaration, which suggested that people of Jammu and Kashmir be involved in resolving the issue.
Musharraf attended the SAARC summit in 2002 at Kathmandu where he grabbed headlines with his famous handshake with the then Indian Prime Minister A B Vajpayee in a bid to reduce the mounting military tensions.
India on Monday successfully launched five foreign satellites from four countries on board PSLV-C23 rocket which placed them in orbit, an achievement described by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as an 'endorsement' of the country's space capabilities.
The earliest ones included whistles shaped like birds, toy monkeys that could slide down a string and small carts made from materials found in nature such as sticks, clay and rocks. While there might be no disputing India's rich toy-making tradition, the industry is languishing for lack of investment and technology, and also owing to competition from cheap imports. And though it has been listed among 24 key sectors under the government's Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan, the question remains: will this push help place it in the global game? Currently, 80-odd per cent of the toys sold in India are imported - nearly 60 per cent of them from China.
Some of them include Spider G, NeuroTags, Genrobotic Innovations, AI Aeronautics, Synersense, Dealshare and NanoHealth. 'Highway to a Hundred Unicorns,' the Microsoft for startups initiative, works closely with local governments to strengthen the startup ecosystem in each state.
AirAsia India, which started operations on June 12 2014, had a market share of 6.2 per cent of the domestic traffic in April.
The first to see price hikes will be soaps. In the past six months, domestic palm oil prices have increased by 46 per cent. Palm oil is a key input going into soaps.
The restoration of the Chilahati-Haldibari railway link and signing of the pacts, providing for cooperation in areas of hydrocarbons, agriculture and textiles among others, came at a virtual summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina.
The implementation of South Asian Free Trade Agreement is expected to enhance trade in the region to $14 billion from $6 billion in the next two years.
Dubai-based auto component major Parts International Company on Monday said it would invest approximately Rs 16 crore
The swearing-in ceremony of Narendra Modi as the 15th Prime Minister of India will be the biggest event so far to have been staged at Rashtrapati Bhavan with the guest list, which includes key leaders from SAARC countries, set to cross the 4,000 mark.
Secretary of State Colin Powell described the meeting of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf as 'historic'.
