India and the World

Terror in Munich mall: No end to this barbarism, 9 killed

- by India Writes Network

The arc of savagery is widening by the day, with the latest terror rampage in a Munich mall shows. Dhaka, Nice and now Munich – these terror attacks across continents in less than a month underlines the increasing ferocity of terrorists inspired by radical Islamism and neurosis.
The latest lone wolf attack at the Olympia Einkaufszentrum shopping center wherein a man with a rifle went on a killing spree, slaughtering nine people and injuring over 20, is deeply distressing as it shows some freak deranged creature can go on a mayhem anytime anywhere.
The mayhem was the third act of terror to rattle Europe in eight days. The Bastille Day massacre by a Tunisian-born man who ploughed his truck into revellers in the French Riviera city of Nice killed 84 people on July 14. This week, an Afghan teenager wounded five people on a train with an axe near the Bavarian city of Wurzburg. These increasingly idiosyncratic modes of attack shows that the Islamic State and other assorted terror outfits are able to infiltrate impressionable minds of young zealots, leaving no place in the world safe from their barbaric grip.

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Mapping global cooperation for Indian Ocean economy

- by India Writes Network

The Indian Ocean region has acquired an added salience in India’s geo-strategic and foreign policy calculus under the Modi government. In this speech Indian Council on World Affairs on India and the Ocean Economy on July 12, Sujata Mehta, Secretary (West) in India’s external affairs ministry, maps the way ahead for India’s strategy for harnessing Blue Economy and calls for global cooperation to maintain IOR as a zone of peace and prosperity.
It would not be an exaggeration to say that every academic/quasi-academic/informative paper about the oceanic economy serves to reinforce the importance of the subject and every occasion such as this one is a reiteration that whether one takes a historical perspective, or a strategic view into the future, the importance of the oceanic dimension only increases. The interesting themes that have been discussed in this Seminar highlight the issues that are salient today and which reflect the different layers of our interests.

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Indian launches Operation Sankat Mochan to rescue Indians stuck in South Sudan

- by India Writes Network

With Africa’s newest country slipping into a deadly spiral of violence, anarchy and civil war, India has launched Operation Sankat Mochan to rescue around 500 Indians stranded in South Sudan.
Minister of State for External Affairs V.K Singh is leading India’s rescue operation. Senior Indian diplomats, including Amar Sinha, secretary (MER) is accompanying Singh on this mission.
Gen. (retd) Singh, a former Army chief, touched down in South Sudan capital Juba on July 4 with two C-17 Globemaster Indian Air Force aircraft. India has already issued an appeal to all Indians in South Sudan to leave the violence-torn country.

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South China Sea ruling: India asks China to show ‘utmost respect’ for verdict

- by Shweta Aggarwal

The ruling by an international tribunal rejecting China’s “historic rights” to islands in South China Sea has prompted New Delhi to renew its call for resolving maritime disputes through peaceful means, sans use of military force.
In response, China has asserted that it too wants to resolve the dispute by “fully complying” with the international law.
The verdict is seen in India as a vindication of India’s long-standing position on freedom of navigation and resolution of maritime disputes through UNCLOS. “The court has upheld India’s position on freedom of navigation. The ruling will benefit India economically as well as strategically,” Srikanth Kondapalli, an influential China-expert at Jawaharlal Nehru University, told India Writes Network.

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South China Sea row: China rejects arbitration court ruling

- by India Writes Network

Amid global spotlight, an international tribunal has ruled that China’s claims to the South China Sea have no historical or legal basis and censured Beijing for violating sovereign rights of the Philippines.
The case was initiated by the Philippines in 2013 over China’s territorial claims and building of reefs and islands in the region. The Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, Netherlands has ruled that any historic rights to resources that China may have had were invalid if they are incompatible with exclusive economic zones established under a UN treaty.
Beijing, which was anticipating a negative verdict, promptly rejected the ruling and rubbished it as a “null and void.”
China “solemnly declares that the award is null and void and has no binding force. China neither accepts nor recognizes it,” the Chinese foreign ministry said in a statement.

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Modi sells the India Dream in South Africa: H.O.P.E Unbound

- by India Writes Network

Mahatma and Madiba. Interlinked dreams of India and Africa. Rise of India. Resilience and Resurgence. These were key theme of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s stirring address to ain South Africa on July 1. Sporting a Madiba shirt, Mr Modi enthralled nearly 11,000 PIOs with his resonant vision of a new India and cited myriad cultural and historical links that bind India and South Africa.

Here are some quotable quotes from PM Modi’s speech that encapsulate his views on the transformation of India, the bright future of India-Africa relations and the pivotal place of the Indian diaspora in India’s resurgence.

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NSG support, stronger defence ties signal a new era in India-South Africa ties

- by Manish Chand

Ending weeks of speculation, South Africa has declared support for India’s membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group, a key takeaway for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Africa’s economic powerhouse.
Getting the support of South Africa, a non-proliferation hawk which renounced its nuclear programme decades ago, was on top of Modi’s agenda in Pretoria.
Modi’s wide-ranging talks with South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma on July 9 firmed up a substantive agenda for galvanising India-South Africa relationship across the spectrum, with special focus on collaboration in defence, value-added manufacturing and information technology. Taking a long-range view of strategic partnership, Zuma ended ambivalence by conveying his country’s support for India’s entry into the NSG, which will enable greater access for India to civil nuclear technologies.

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