Sensitive issues remain. Water sharing of the Ganga and Teesta rivers. Treatment of minorities, particularly Hindus. Border management. Trade imbalances. Connectivity projects.What happens next will shape not just bilateral ties, but the balance of South Asia itself, points out Ramesh Menon.
The Supreme Court has sought responses from the Centre and 12 states on a PIL challenging the validity of their anti-conversion laws. The National Council of Churches in India (NCCI) filed the PIL, seeking a stay on the operation of these laws.
'Should China's interest in the Teesta River projects be approved, it would likely result in heightened Chinese presence near the Siliguri corridor.'
The broader theme of the performance will be -- 'Swatantra Ka Mantra - Vande Mataram' and 'Samriddhi Ka Mantra - Viksit Bharat', officials said.
Around 100 artistes heralded the parade, on the theme 'Vividata Mein Ekta (Unity in Diversity) that featured a grand presentation of musical instruments, demonstrating the nation's unity and rich cultural diversity.
The upcoming Republic Day Parade will center around the sesquicentenary of 'Vande Mataram,' featuring themed decorations, performances, and special guests.
Which were India's first companies that still exist today? Many trace their origins to over a century back. These venerable organisations are business entities. But they chronicle the beginnings of Corporate India.
Master making a stew from the North Eastern state.
The Supreme Court has declined to urgently hear pleas seeking a stay on anti-conversion laws enacted by several states, including Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, and Madhya Pradesh. The matter is now scheduled for hearing in December.
If they act now, they can reshape the strategic map of Asia without firing a shot. If they wait, the next opportunity will come only after a serious Taiwan Strait incident -- by which time the price will be far higher, and the room for boldness far smaller -- the opportunity may well be lost by then. The question is no longer whether this can or should be done, points out Varun Arya.
At least 23 people, including children, were killed as relentless rain triggered one of the worst landslides in a decade in Darjeeling hills and adjoining areas on Sunday, sweeping away homes, cutting off roads, isolating villages, and leaving hundreds of stranded tourists amid widespread devastation, officials said.
The landslide, which occurred at 7 pm on Sunday near Lachen town in Mangan district, was triggered by heavy rainfall in the area.
A newly-married couple from Uttar Pradesh's Pratapgarh district, who went to Sikkim for their honeymoon, has gone missing after their vehicle reportedly fell into the Teesta River amid heavy rain, officials said on Tuesday.
The Supreme Court of India has dismissed the bail plea of former IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt, who was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in a 1990 custodial death case. The court ruled that there was no merit in his plea for bail or suspension of sentence. Bhatt, along with co-accused Pravinsinh Zala, was found guilty of murder, voluntarily causing hurt, and criminal intimidation by the Gujarat High Court in 2024. The case stems from the death of Prabhudas Vaishnani, who was detained by Bhatt following a communal riot in Jamjodhpur in 1990. Vaishnani's brother alleged that Bhatt and other police officers tortured him in custody, leading to his death.
India has exempted Bangladeshi exports to Nepal and Bhutan as such trade facilitation is mandatory for landlocked countries under the framework of provisions of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
So far, over 30 people have died across Northeastern states due to heavy rainfalls, floods and landslides, according to media reports.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed activist Teesta Setalvad and her husband Javed Anand to cooperate with the Gujarat Police in connection with a case filed against them over alleged misappropriation of funds.
Human rights activist Teesta Setalvad on Friday said she was prevented from delivering a lecture at the premier Indian Institute of Science as the administration cancelled the meeting at the last minute.
'What signal would we be sending -- that we don't stand by our friends?'
Bangladesh's Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus has called upon China to expand its economic influence in Bangladesh, controversially mentioning that India's northeastern states being landlocked could present an opportunity. Yunus, who recently visited China and met with President Xi Jinping, highlighted Bangladesh's role as the "only guardian of the ocean " in the region, suggesting it could be a pathway for Chinese economic expansion. This statement has sparked debate, with Sanjeev Sanyal, a member of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's economic advisory council, questioning the relevance of India's landlocked states in Yunus' appeal to China. Yunus, however, emphasized the importance of a strong friendship with China, viewing it as a counterbalance to India. During his visit, Yunus signed nine agreements with Beijing and secured USD 2.1 billion in investments, loans, and grants from the Chinese government and companies.
'If there is a military standoff eyeball to eyeball on the western border, the Chinese could create problems by making movements in the north, in our northeast, which could involve us tying down some forces there so that could stretch our military actions.'
Now, the chief justice of the high court will allot the case to a new judge.
The counsel of social activist Teesta Setalvad on Thursday told a sessions court in Ahmedabad that affidavits which the prosecution claims are false were signed by witnesses and submitted in different courts in the past.
A sessions court had recently rejected her discharge plea in the case, even as the Supreme Court granted her bail after the Gujarat high court denied her relief.
Zakia Jafri, the wife of former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri who was killed in the 2002 Gujarat riots, died on Saturday in Ahmedabad at the age of 86. Ehsan Jafri was among 69 persons who were killed inside Gulbarg Society, a Muslim neighbourhood in Ahmedabad, on February 28, 2002, a day after coaches of the Sabarmati Express train were burnt in Godhra, resulting in the deaths of 59 'karsevaks' returning from Ayodhya. The incident triggered horrific rioting across the state. Zakia Jafri hit the national headlines as she waged a legal battle all the way to the Supreme Court in a bid to hold top political leaders accountable for the large conspiracy for the riots post the Godhra train burning episode. Her son Tanveer Jafri said that his mother was visiting his sister's house in Ahmedabad when she complained of feeling uneasy. The doctor who was called in declared her dead at around 11:30 am. Social activist Teesta Setalvad, who was co-complainant in Jafri's protest petition in the Supreme Court, posted on X that Zakia Jafri was a compassionate leader of the human rights community.
A sessions court in Ahmedabad on Thursday rejected activist Teesta Setalvad's application seeking discharge in a case related to alleged fabrication of evidence related to the 2002 Gujarat riots.
She had been lodged in the Sabarmati Central jail in Ahmedabad since her arrest on June 26.
Mumbai-based social activist Teesta Setalvad on Monday appeared before a sessions court in Ahmedabad in a case where she is accused of fabricating evidence to frame "innocent" people and defame Gujarat in connection with the 2002 post-Godhra riots.
The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on Wednesday a plea by social activist Teesta Setalvad challenging the Gujarat high court order which had rejected her plea for regular bail and directed her to surrender immediately in a case of alleged fabrication of evidence to frame innocent people in 2002 post-Godhra riots cases.
A bench of justices Abhay S Oka and Prashant Kumar Mishra, which heard the matter in a special hearing, urged the Chief Justice of India to assign the matter to a larger bench.
Setalvad was taken into custody on June 25 last year along with former Gujarat Director General of Police R B Sreekumar and ex-IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt in an offence registered by Ahmedabad crime branch police for allegedly fabricating evidence to frame "innocent people" in the post-Godhra riots cases.
Setalvad said working on a deeply polarising issue among the public is not an easy one and added that the impact of social media on polarization is also overwhelming.
In a big relief to activist Teesta Setalvad, the Supreme Court on Wednesday granted her regular bail in a case of alleged fabrication of documents to frame innocent people in the 2002 post-Godhra riot cases while terming as "perverse" and "contradictory" the Gujarat high court order denying her bail.
India needs to address Bangladesh's longstanding concerns to improve bilateral ties between Dhaka and New Delhi, Hossain said adding: Bangladesh's previous (ousted) government addressed the concerns of India, but India did not address Bangladesh's concerns.
India and Bangladesh on Tuesday signed an interim water sharing agreement for Kushiyara river, the first such pact since the signing of the Ganga water treaty in 1996.
Additional sessions judge DD Thakkar took the SIT's reply on record and posted the hearing on the bail application on Monday.
Bhatt was earlier sentenced to life imprisonment in a 1990 custodial death case in Jamnagar and 20 years in jail in a 1996 case relating to planting drugs to frame a Rajasthan-based lawyer in Palanpur. He is currently lodged in the Rajkot Central Jail.
The action came after Amit Shah accused Teesta of giving baseless information to the police about the 2002 Gujarat riots.
The two were produced before metropolitan magistrate SP Patel after their police custody ended.
A court in Ahmedabad on Tuesday deferred till Thursday its order on the bail pleas of activist Teesta Setalvad and former DGP RB Sreekumar in a case of fabricating evidence to frame innocent persons in connection with the 2002 Gujarat communal riots.
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