Pakistan is allegedly working on an offensive chemical and biological warfare program with the help of its 'all-weather friend' China.
India's entry into the Wassenaar Arrangement would enhance its credentials in the field of non-proliferation despite not being a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty.
The Australia Group seeks to ensure that exports do not contribute to the development of chemical or biological weapons.
Security agencies at Mumbai's Nhava Sheva port intercepted and seized the consignment of a Karachi-bound ship from China after it was found carrying a dual-use consignment with implications for Pakistan's nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.
India on Sunday sought South Korea's support in its bid for the membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group and other international regimes related to nuclear trade.
The customs officials, based on an intelligence input, halted a Malta-flagged merchant ship -- CMA CGM Attila -- at the port en route to Karachi on January 23 and inspected the consignment, which included a Computer Numerical Control (CNC) machine, originally manufactured by an Italian company.
Significantly, China, which stonewalled India's entry into the 48-nation NSG at the just--concluded Seoul plenary, is not a member of 34-nation MTCR.
India has become the 37th country to join the list of Strategic Trade Authorization-1 category, the only South Asian nation.
The government on Friday came out with Foreign Trade Policy (FTP) 2023 which seeks to boost the country's exports to $2 trillion by 2030 by shifting from incentives to remission and entitlement based regime. Unlike the practice of announcing 5-year FTP, the latest policy has no end date and will be updated as and when needed, said Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) Santosh Sarangi while briefing media about FTP 2023. Earlier, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal unveiled FTP 2023 which will come into effect from April 1, 2023.
The move will boost India's efforts to purchase Predator drones from the US and export its high-tech missiles to friendly nations.
Unlike Israeli company NSO, whose sale of Pegasus cyber tech grabbed worldwide attention, and other manufacturers of offensive-cyber products, Cellebrite operates in a grey area between security exports and civilian ones.
China continued to stonewall India's entry harping on the need to have a criterion for countries like India which have not signed the Nuclear non-Proliferation Treaty and clubbing India's case with that of Pakistan for which it is batting.
The "understanding" between India and Japan on civil nuclear issue has "improved", Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Monday, after talks with his counterpart Shinzo Abe even as the much-anticipated remained deal remained elusive.
Modi said that in the last four years the government has worked for creating a New India by 2022.
The PM also welcomed South Korea's efforts to maintain peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula.
India's entry into the MTCR comes days after it failed to get Nuclear Suppliers Group membership due to stiff opposition from China and a few other countries.
"Prudence and caution" needs to be exercised, warns China.
It is baffling how the PM chose the LCH as an indigenous product to celebrate on Rashtriya Raksha Samarpan Parv, even while his Cabinet holds up manufacturing clearance for 15 LCHs on the grounds that they are not Indian enough.
With the spectre of nuclear terrorism growing, the international community is concerned about the security of India's nuclear facilities. The worry has grown since 2010, when radioactive Cobalt-60 surfaced in a New Delhi scrapyard, killing one person and hospitalising eight others.
The two countries also asked all nations to stop cross-border movement of terrorists and asserted that a decisive collective response from the international community without 'double standards and selectivity' was required to combat the threat of terrorism.
'Imagine a scenario where a terror strike by Pakistan-supported jihadis causes thousands of deaths in India. India in retaliation destroys terror camps in Pakistan occupied Kashmir.' 'There is a clamour for revenge in Pakistan and that country begins to fuel its missiles for a nuclear strike against India and that is detected by Indian satellites.' 'No sane government in India will then wait for the nuclear bombs to fall on Delhi before launching its own strike. To be effective, this may well involve nuclear weapons.' Colonel Anil A Athale (retd) says the change in the 'No First Use' pledge in the BJP manifesto is long overdue.
'In the Mahabharat, when faced by an enemy, Yudhishtir, the eldest Pandav, had quipped that 'When it comes to external enemies, we are 105, (100 Kauravs and 5 Pandavs)'.' 'It is time modern politicians heed this ancient wisdom,' says Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
'Even China and Russia would not challenge the technology apartheid unless India was able to enhance its relationship with the United States.'
During their talks, the two leaders decided to significantly expand their ties in several key areas including defence, trade, energy and education.
'As far as acquisition of Russian equipment is concerned, with about 70% of Indian military equipment being of Russian origin, a sudden decision to abandon imports from Russia is not feasible,' points out Brigadier S K Chatterji (retd).
'Bolstering India's conventional military capability against China is in America's strategic interest,' says military historian Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
The two PMs called upon all countries to work towards rooting out terrorist safe havens and infrastructure.
The strategic pacts were inked after the summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe during which they also discussed international and regional issues of mutual importance including UN security reforms.
Seeking to boost the strategic ties, India and the US finalised the text of the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement.
'This is the first time the US has formally recognised the threat India faces from terrorist organisations based in Pakistan.'
Modi also made a call for European Union unity and said India would play a positive role in enhancing that through Germany.
Here is the full text of the joint statement issued by India and the US.
'Political meetings will be a mere side show; the main show is economic investment and the business partnership. The success of Modi's US visit will be judged on the basis of India's ability to attract American investment and setting up of manufacturing in India to give jobs to millions,' says Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
India needs to have a re-look of whole gamut of its relations with major powers and also prepare for a more turbulent neighbourhood. But such is the tyranny of Indian status quo mindset that any talk of re-look at nuclear doctrine or foreign relations is treated as blasphemy, says Colonel (retd) Anil Athale.
'The book has immense value because it reveals the inner workings of the think-tank which appears to provide facts and insights to Modi, though he himself takes the final decisions and articulates them in his characteristic rhetorical style,' says Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
'It is in the interest of both sides that the visit of the US President is seen as being successful. Both sides have invested considerable political capital in it. This rapid exchange of visits and the decisions taken have to be justified, beyond the symbolism, which is no doubt important in itself. This opportunity to impart a fresh momentum to ties should not be missed,' says former foreign secretary Kanwal Sibal.
Moving ahead with their new mantra -- Chalein Saath Saath: Forward Together We Go -- Prime Minister Narendra Modi and United States President Barack Obama on Tuesday vowed to deepen cooperation in every sector for the benefit of global stability and people's livelihoods over the next ten years.
PM Modi seems to be gradually ending India's strategic ambiguity
This is the joint statement issued by the ministry of external affairs on the visit of US President Barack Obama to India.
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