India becomes the world’s largest arms importer
India’s arms imports have more than doubled in the last five years, making it the largest importer of the military equipment for the period. According to the Stockholm International Peace …
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Facebook bans explicit content, sets new guidelines
Facebook is probably the biggest and smartest universal communication programme with nearly 1.4 billion users worldwide. The users post and upload just about everything they want. But now the company …
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Indian-American elected as head of top US education body
In yet another success story for the Indian-American community, Renu Khator has been elected as the chairman of the board of directors of the American Council on Education (ACE), the …
Read MoreIt’s India’s moment, Chak de India: IMF chief
“It’s India’s moment; seize it. Chak de India!” This ringing endorsement of an upswing in India’s economic fortunes from the IMF chief should be music to the ears of India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his core economic team, who are shepherding the second-generation economic reforms in Asia’s third largest economy.
Christine Lagarde, the chief of the International Monetary Fund, has betted big on the India growth story and underlined that India continues to be a bright spot when the global economic recovery continues to be “too slow, too brittle and too lopsided.”
Downbeat on the prospects of global economy, but upbeat on India, Lagarde reiterated the IMF’s forecast on the world economy, saying that more than six years after the global financial crisis, the world economy is expected to grow by just 3.5 percent this year and 3.7 percent in 2015.
“I want a larger quota of India at the IMF. This is India’s moment; seize it. Chak de India!” she said.
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Big B to lead India’s war against Hepatitis B
After making the pulse polio campaign highly successful in India, Indian iconic actor Amitabh Bachchan is set to be the face of the government’s campaign against Hepatitis B, a critical …
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Indian dentist killed in California, probe on
A 37-year-old dental student from India, Randhir Kaur, was found dead at her San Francisco Bay Area apartment. She was shot in the head, but there were no signs of …
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India forever, for Sri Lanka: Modi
I am convinced that the future of any country is influenced by the state of its neighbourhood.
The future that I dream for India is also the future that I wish for our neighbours.
We in this region are on the same journey: to transform the lives of our people.
Our path will be easier, the journey quicker and destination nearer when we walk step in step.
As I stand here in Colombo and look north towards the Himalaya, I marvel at our region’s uniqueness – our rich diversity and our common civilisational links.
We have been formed from the same elements; and, from our interconnected histories.
Today, we stand together as proud independent nations – sovereign and equal.
Read MoreChanging geo-political realities in Afghan-Pakistani region will have new implications
The predominant analysis of the ’Afghan-Pakistani’ region has gone well beyond its expiry date and that old paradigms cannot be used to gauge new realities, according to Mr. Kamran Bokhari, Vice President of Middle Eastern and South Asian Affairs at Stratfor, a leading geopolitical and intelligence consulting firm based in Austin, Texas.
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Boost for Modi reforms agenda: Parliament clears Insurance bill
In a triumph for the Modi government’s reforms agenda, the Indian parliament passed a long-pending bill to increase the foreign investment cap from 26 per cent to 49 per cent …
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New bounce in India-Sri ties: 4 pacts, $318 million for railways, currency swap
Imparting a renewed momentum to their bilateral ties, India and Sri Lanka have signed four agreements in areas of visa, customs, youth development and culture during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s maiden visit to the island country.
Mr Modi also pledged support for making Trincomalee into a petroleum hub and announced that New Delhi will provide a fresh Line of Credit of up to $ 318 million for the development of the railways sector in Lanka. India also agreed to a ‘Currency Swap Agreement’ of $1.5 billion to help keep the Sri Lankan economy stable.
Mr Modi held wide-ranging talks with Sri Lankan President MaithripalaSirisena in Colombo on March 13 that saw the two leaders charting a roadmap for galvanising their multifaceted ties. The four pacts, signed after the talks, included providing facility of travelling without visa to diplomats, cooperation in customs, youth development, and for establishing a Rabindranath Tagore museum.
The India-Sri Lanka relations had languished during the last few years of the MahindaRajapaksa presidency due to his overtly pro-China policies. Mr Sirisena underlined his intention known of building robust relations with New Delhi by making India his first foreign visit within weeks of taking charge as the president of the island nation.