India and the United States will finalize the contours, schedule of negotiations, and terms of reference for a proposed bilateral trade agreement (BTA) during a three-day meeting beginning Tuesday. The agreement is expected to be finalized in two tranches, with the first phase focusing on goods trade. The US team, led by Assistant US Trade Representative for South and Central Asia Brendan Lynch, will be in India from March 25-29 to discuss the agreement. Both countries are aiming to conclude the first phase of the agreement by fall 2025.
'He needs to see results while he is in office.'
Moeed Yusuf, South Asia advisor at the United States Institute of Peace and one of the rising stars among South Asia policy wonks in the country, who has done extensive field research on the youth of Pakistan, has said they are virulently anti-extremist. He said that 67.1 percent of the Pakistani population is below the age of 30 and "So, wherever this particular demographic decides to take Pakistan, is going to be the destiny of this country."
Indian real estate sector saw more land deals in 2024 at over 2,200 acres as developers were looking to expand the business, according to CBRE. Real estate consultant CBRE data showed that land deals of more than 2,200 acres last year as against about 1,900 acres in the preceding year. Out of the total land transactions in 2024, around 2,000 acres were located in the eight major cities -- Delhi-NCR, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Chennai, Pune, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Ahmedabad.
Amid a social media storm over the death of a young employee at tax consultancy major EY allegedly due to work pressure, Deloitte has formed a three-member external committee, which includes former revenue secretary Tarun Bajaj, to look into practices, policies and processes concerning employees, its South Asia CEO Romal Shetty said on Friday. Shetty said to manage the work pressure within the organisation and have an open work culture, Deloitte has a chief happiness officer and takes strictest action for any bad behaviour within the organisation. Deloitte is one of the four major global tax consultancy firms.
Tillerson said that he believed that the US has a partner in Pakistan.
'Trump administration wanted a positive tone at this summit, but there was still some anxiety that there could be some awkward moments -- and there were not.'
Observing that the turmoil in global capital should come as a wake-up call for South Asia, which was the second-fastest growing region in the world in the aftermath of the global crisis, the World Bank said on Wednesday its recent performance has been less stellar, and it has been sustained by potentially volatile portfolio inflows.
While Canada denies harbouring extremists or terrorists, Kugelman pointed out that India remains firm in its disagreement.
Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri on Monday called on Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussed issues of bilateral interest.
'Everyone with a low BMI will not get Type 5 diabetes.'
China has approved the construction of the world's largest dam on the Brahmaputra River in Tibet, close to the Indian border. The USD 137 billion project, which is expected to dwarf even China's own Three Gorges Dam, has raised concerns in India and Bangladesh, the downstream riparian states. Concerns in India are centered around China's potential to control water flow, potentially enabling the release of large amounts of water to flood border areas in times of hostilities. The dam is part of China's 14th Five-Year Plan, and the Chinese government claims that the project is safe and prioritizes ecological protection.
According to a 2019 Congressional Research Service report of August 2019, a longstanding goal of US policy in South Asia has been to prevent the India-Pakistan conflict from escalating to interstate war.
Allowing India to play all their matches in Dubai robbed Pakistan of the honour of hosting the final and disrupted the schedule of the knockout matches.
Though Beijing asserts the Dalai Lama's successor needs its approval, observers say it remains concerned as the present Panchen Lama, the number two spiritual leader who was appointed by it after unseating the boy nominated by the Dalai Lama, has not gained much traction in Tibet.
The statement by United States president-elect Barack Obama regarding American intervention in Kashmir is his first foreign policy mistake, a leading expert on South Asia said on Tuesday. A Kashmir initiative by America, however veiled, can undermine improving India-US ties, Selig S Harrison, director of Asia Programme at the Center for International Policy and a senior scholar of the Woodrow Wilson International, said an opinion piece published in The Washington Times.
The foreign secretary should delegate policy execution
'Will President Dissanayake calibrate his foreign policy taking into account India's immediate security concerns? We need to watch.'
Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari on Monday said the country needs 1,000 vehicle scrapping centres and 400 automated fitness test centres. Launching 'DigiELV', Gadkari said the road ministry has so far approved 85 vehicle scrapping facilities across the country. "We need 1,000 vehicle scrapping centres in the country and at least 400 automated fitness test centres," he said.
And though the event was billed as being on US-South Asia relations, one could well have billed it a talk on Pakistan, as a simple question on Pakistan's stability turned out to dominate the over-an-hour conversation.
... and there is no stopping its pan-Islamic agenda, cautions Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Trump's sweeping tariffs and penalties on China-built ships have turned global shipping into the front line of economic war, observes Shyam G Menon.
'The border deal offers a hedge for India against Trump's unpredictability when it comes to his approach to competition with China.'
'Geopolitics will be the most important driver of financial markets in 2025.'
Pak is taking some positive steps...but a lot more needs to be done, says the State Department Spokesperson.
Chennai is home to global and Indian auto majors like BMW, Ford, Hyundai, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Ashok Leyland, TVS Group, et cetera. It also has almost 35 per cent of India's share of auto ancillary units.
Aggarwal, in this role, will define and lead important policy development initiatives for Facebook in India on an agenda that covers user safety, data protection and privacy, inclusion and internet governance, a statement said.
Sebi has restructured its advisory committee on market data that recommends policy measures pertaining to areas like securities market data access and privacy. Rejigging its market data advisory committee, Sebi has said the panel will now have 21 members, as per the latest information with the regulator. Earlier the committee had 20 members. The committee is chaired by M S Sahoo, Professor at National Law University, Delhi and former chairperson, Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI).
'India matters significantly to President Biden and to this administration, and not just in South Asia or the Indo-Pacific region, but truly globally.'
'A government whose policies are focused around making the life of ordinary citizens, specially the most deprived sections, richer; a government that prioritises education, health and transport, that doesn't treat its citizens as subjects who must come to it for everything, is rare in our country.' 'When such a government is thrown out, one is left stunned,' notes Jyoti Punwani.
Sabka sath, sabka vikas, said Maldives President abdulla Yameen.
Wisely skirting a prospective foreign policy pitfall, US President Barack Obama appointed a special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, shelving the controversial idea of appointing an envoy for South Asia.
The World Bank on Tuesday raised the growth forecast for the Indian economy to 7 per cent for the current fiscal year on the back of recovery in agri sector and rural demand. World Bank had in June projected India to grow at 6.6 per cent for FY24. According to the World Bank Report released on Tuesday, India's growth continues to be strong despite a challenging global environment.
Two young South Asian Americansan Indian American and a Pakistani Americanwho are rising stars in the United States strategic affairs community, were the featured panelists on the discussion of Nuclear Risk Reduction in South Asia after Mumbai at the 2011 Carnegie International Nuclear Policy Conference in Washington, DC at the Ronald Reagan Building Convention Center.
The first summit in South Asia, it will host the largest delegation of 43 heads of State and government as well as the heads of international organisations.
'The President-elect firmly believes we can avoid conflict with the Chinese Communist party because they need our markets.'
While Narendra Modi spent fewer days abroad than his predecessor -- 275 days versus Dr Singh's 306 - he has travelled more widely than any other Indian PM.
Slamming government's foreign policy as "hazy and directionless", the BJP on Tuesday said India cannot become a super power by "riding piggy back" on the US and wondered why efforts were not being made to counter China's attempts to attain dominance in South Asia.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Wednesday slashed India's GDP growth forecast for FY23 to 7 per cent from the earlier estimate of 7.2 per cent mainly on account of higher inflation and a tight monetary policy. India's economy grew 13.5 per cent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2022-23, reflecting strong growth in services, ADB said in its second supplement to Asian Development Outlook Report 2022 (ADO 2022). "However, GDP growth is revised down from ADO 2022's forecasts to 7 per cent for FY2022 (ending March 2023) and 7.2 per cent for FY2023 (ending March 2024) as price pressures are expected to adversely impact domestic consumption, and sluggish global demand and elevated oil prices will likely be a drag on net exports," ADB said.
The 'aura of invincibility' around Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been 'shattered' by the Indian voters who gave the Opposition a new lease on life, this is how the international media described the outcome of India's general elections.
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