Director of US National Intelligence said that Islamabad's failure to curb terrorists and the rise in number of cross-firing incidents was the cause for increasing tensions.
India's commitment to an open and plural security architecture attests to the fact that Asia's transition is a dynamic of both power & identity, says Zorawar Daulet Singh
Describing India as one of the most important partners of the United States in the Indo-Pacific region, the Biden Administration on Tuesday said that it welcomes India's emergence as a leading global power and its role as a net security provider in the region.
'The past year has yielded extraordinary results in the strategic, commercial, and people-to-people components of the India-United States partnership, US Ambassador to India Richard Rahul Verma tells Aziz Haniffa/Rediff.com in an exclusive interview.
'If all goes well, Modi will visit the Maldives later this year. But two Indian concerns remain unaddressed: President Yameen's intentions about Mohammad Nasheed and China,' says Rajeev Sharma.
'It will make good sense for military men on that side of the table to be confronted by our own.'
Climate change has hampered the ability of the forecasting agencies to accurately predict severe events and weather bureaus across the world are focusing on augmenting the observational network density and the weather prediction modelling to improve predictability, India Meteorological Department (IMD) Director General Mrutyunjay Mohapatra has said.
Swarms of immature pink locusts and adult yellow locusts are currrently active. Not only are fresh locusts swarms expected to arrive in the coming weeks, but even those already present in India have mated and are breeding new offspring.
India, China must further strengthen business ties for growth.
A leading US daily describing nuclear-armed Pakistan as "unquestionably the biggest concern" to stability in South Asia.
India and China on Tuesday agreed to hold the next round of the Senior Commanders meeting at an early date to achieve complete disengagement from all friction points in eastern Ladakh to create conditions for the restoration of normalcy in bilateral ties.
The experts said that climate change is not only raising temperatures and making India's heatwaves hotter, but also changing weather patterns that further drive dangerous weather extremes.
The 2,268-kg GISAT-1 was originally slated to be launched from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh's Nellore district, about 100 kms north of Chennai, on March 5 last year but was postponed a day before the blast-off due to technical reasons.
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.
Indonesia is not even counted as a next-door neighbour of India, though the southern-most tip of India is less than a hundred miles away from the northern-most tip of Indonesia. Bringing Indonesia back in the mainstream of the Indian strategic calculus is a step long overdue, says Dr Rahul Mishra.
'This is the first time the US has formally recognised the threat India faces from terrorist organisations based in Pakistan.'
'It is crucial today to realise where we have reached in this 15 year-period in order to fully and properly assess the profundity of what General Rawat has said,' points out Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The missile, Babur-3, was fired from an underwater, mobile platform and hit its target with precise accuracy,
India on Friday said the Nawaz Sharif government in Pakistan has given 'good signals" in normalising bilateral ties but cautioned against expecting "magic overnight".
Gilgit Baltistan's large frontage with Kashmir and Ladakh across Kargil and the Siachen Glacier gives Pakistan and China the perceived scope for conduct of collusive operations against India and wrest control of the major course of the Indus and Shyok, observes Lieutenant General Syed Ata Hasnain (retd).
India and Japan have a shared interest in countervailing China's hegemonic ambitions in Asia. Although neither has an interest in forming an overt anti-China alliance, Tokyo and New Delhi feel increasingly obligated to work together to find ways to guard against a muscular Beijing's power sliding into arrogance, says Brahma Chellaney.
The issues around trade gaps, especially around steel and aluminium tariffs imposed by the US, will be addressed separately.
President Pranab Mukherjee's recent visit to the Pacific Island nation is path-breaking, but much more needs to be done, says Dr Rahul Mishra.
'We must look at the entire question of military preparedness anew, taking into account the new realities,' says Vice Admiral Premvir Das (retd).
India'sstartups have a good beginning but will they survive competition is a big questions which needs immediate attention.
'Not only have we rescued 1,700 fishermen but on the morning of November 30, we evacuated 1,044 fishing folk, otherwise the missing numbers would have been much higher.'
'India has ramped up infrastructure on its side, so the Chinese military is finding Indian soldiers in locations where they are not used to seeing an Indian footprint,' points out Harsh V Pant.
'Our political leadership needs to grasp that there is a difference between a soldier, policeman, trained private security guard and a chowkidar, though all of them provide security.' 'The cross border raids by the army could not be taken by the Central Reserve Police Force, for sure!'
India and China on Monday ended their standoff in Dokalam by withdrawing their troops from the area, just days before Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to China to attend the BRICS summit next week.
The IAF chief also said Pakistan has become a pawn of Chinese policy and its dependence on China would increase further in future. He said India needs to understand the interplay of some major events in its vicinity that would impact the security scenario of the region.
Playing down President Barack Obama's visit to India, official media in Beijing on Wednesday said too much need not be read into the "romance" between him and Prime Minister Narendra Modi as there are difficult talks ahead before both sides' expectations can converge.
'Like Nehru, too, Modi has found dealing with Beijing more and more difficult and has adopted an increasingly assertive approach towards managing India's northern neighbour.'
Text of PM Narendra Modi's press statement after delegation level talks with US President Obama at the Hyderabad House in Delhi.
'India alone cannot walk the path of peace. It also has to be Pakistan's journey to make,' says Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the government's geo-political flagship initiative "Raisina Dialogue-II".
The new equation between 'Namo' and 'Barack' may well 'convert a good start into lasting progress.'
China has taken a position of non-acceptance and non-participation on the jurisdiction by the International Court of Arbitration in a case the Philippines has brought against China's claims to nearly all of the South China Sea, Abraham Denmark, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence for East Asia, told lawmakers at a Congressional hearing.
The 2 countries signed 15 agreements including one on defence cooperation after Prime Minister Narendra Modi held 'productive discussions' with President Joko Widodo.
China is opposed to India's oil exploration in the South China Sea because it is a disputed area, but regards its ambitious US $46 billion (Rs 2.9 lakh crore) economic corridor through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir a "livelihood project" with issues left over from history.
The American ship, detained by Coast Guard for carrying arms and ammunition off Tamil Nadu coast, may escape action if it is established that the vessel was cruising beyond Indian territorial waters, a top official said.
Stating that India is new bright spot of hope and opportunity for the world, the prime minister said India among other things is igniting the engines of its manufacturing sector and making its farms more productive and more resilient.
