Author: India Writes Network

It’s time for India’s diplomacy to raise its ambitions: Fashioning a new narrative

- by India Writes Network

Let’s focus on foreign policy underway today. How much of it is continuity; how much change? What do the changes signify? How much is substance; how much is optics? Some opinions have been offered already, not all of them without bias. I am sure that if we subject the diplomacy of the last year to a smell test, we can arrive at a reasonably clear conclusion.

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Ufa U-turn? India, Pakistan trade blame over ceasefire violations, ‘spy drone’

- by India Writes Network

Days after the leaders of India and Pakistan held an ice-breaking meeting in Russia resulting in “actionable propositions” to improve strained ties, the two countries are getting back to the depressingly familiar pattern of blame game. Senior ministers in India met on July 16 to discuss ceasefire violations by Pakistani troops and an out-of-the-blue controversy arising out of Islamabad’s claim of having shot down an allegedly Indian spy drone.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, with NSA Ajit Doval, discussed the latest developments that could undermine the much-hyped breakthrough meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif in the Russia city of Ufa on July 10.

Meanwhile, India has lodged a strong protest against Pakistan after its Rangers targeted five border outposts in Akhnoor sector and civilians in R.S. Pura and Tawi belts, in Jammu. This was the seventh ceasefire violation in July month alone.

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Historic Iran deal: What it means for India and the world

- by India Writes Network

The first thing to understand about the 109- page long document, known as Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action(JCPA), signed in Vienna on July 14, 2015 is that it marks the end of a long spell of hostility and suspicion between the US and Iran. Though it was Federica Mogherini, the foreign policy chief of European Commission, who stood next to Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif at the centre in the official photo, the real negotiation was between Zarif and US Secretary of State John Kerry who was standing almost at the edge.
It will be useful to understand how the US and Iran, close allies for decades till Mohammed Reza Shah was toppled by Ayatollah Khomeini in 1979, got estranged.
In short, despite referring to the US as Satan in public, Iranians love and admire the US. Their reconciliation is a good development for themselves and the rest of the world. Israel lacks the military capability to carry out strikes against Iran though empty threats might not stop.
For India, this is indeed a positive development. The UPA government had unwisely assessed that the US might not agree to the 123 nuclear agreement then under negotiation, and voted against Iran. Now is the time to rectify the mistake. The Modi government is going ahead with the stalled Chabahar Port project. A visit by Prime Minister Modi to Iran is indicated.

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Listening in to what China has to say: Asian Bank, MSR, strategy and blue skies

- by India Writes Network

India and China are walking together in a spirit of ‘competitive cooperation’ that can bring about prosperity not only to Asia, but can give a sense of hope to most of the developing and under-developed world.
Recently, when a delegation of Indian journalists was landing in Beijing, Premier Li Keqiang had left for Brussels to push the idea of setting up of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) in which India will be the second largest shareholder after China.
It is evident that China is opening up, as our delegation was given a rare opportunity to visit the Academy of Armored Force Engineering Institute of PLA to interact with Deputy Commandant Sr. Col. Mr. Liu Degang and get a closer look at the Chinese main battle tanks and other army vehicles.
A visit to China’s show case city ‘Pudong ‘, a walk on the famous Nanjing Gu avenue in Shanghai, glimpses of ever glittering skyscrapers on the banks of river Hangpu and a travel by bullet train running at the speed of 304 km per hour from Shanghai to Beijing, were proof enough of China’s robust achievements that India has much to learn from. The bullet train covered a distance of 1207 km in exactly 5 hours and 5 minutes. According to the latest reports in Fortune magazine, ”China has built 6900 miles of tracks for bullet trains. The ridership has gone up from 237,000 (2007) to 2.5 million last year. China is investing more than $128 billion dollars in domestic railway construction in 2015. Food for thought indeed for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu!

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