India and the World

Ahead of Modi’s US visit, Jaitley drums up India story, promises predictable tax regime

- by India Writes Network

Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the US, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has already launched an outreach to the US investors, allaying their concerns about the business environment in India and making a strong pitch for scaling up bilateral trade and investment. Assuring a fair and predictable taxation regime, Mr Jaitley invited US investors to invest in various sectors, including infrastructure, manufacturing and defence.

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Why Modi needs to silence ‘Hindutva’ brigade

- by N Sathiya Moorthy

It’s sad that meat-ban and other original agenda-points of the ‘Hindutva brigade’ should be allowed to derail the good work seemingly being done, or continued to be promised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It provides fodder for criticism of the Prime Minister in the social media circuit from the ridiculous to a very serious level, which surpasses corruption charges and jokes against the Manmohan Singh government through all those long months leading to Elections-2014.

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India votes in favour of raising Palestine flag at UN

- by India Writes Network

In a move that is set to impart an added traction to the Palestinian cause, the United Nations General Assembly voted overwhelmingly in favour of allowing the Palestine and Vatican flag to be flown in the UN. India was among the 119 countries that voted in favour of the resolution. The issue of raising the flags of the non-member observer states who maintain permanent observer missions at the UN headquarters had been gaining momentum for a while. The US and Israel were among the eight countries that voted against the resolution, while 45 countries, including the UK and EU countries, abstained.

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High expectations from Modi’s UK visit: Focus on smart cities, investments

- by India Writes Network

As the euphoria builds up around India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s November trip to the United Kingdom, Britain’s Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills Sajid Javid is in India to firm up the visit for the visit. This will be the first visit by an Indian Prime Minister to the UK in more than a decade. The last visit was by Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee in 2001.

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World Hindi Conference kicks off in Bhopal: Modi stresses on the importance of languages

- by India Writes Network

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the 10th World Hindi Conference in Bhopal on September 10. He spoke about the importance and significance of the language.
Speaking at the event India’s External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said the emphasis this time is more on the possibilities of propagating Hindi in various fields rather than on just literary aspects of the language. She said that this time conference is different from the previously held summits involving literature and litterateurs.

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West calling: Bengal’s Baul singers reach foreign shores

- by India Writes Network

Bauls, the singing minstrels from India’s state of West Bengal, are now looking West. In a globalising world, it’s hard to say no to new opportunities, even for the tradition-bound Bauls.

Mimlu and Paban Das Baul, a couple living in France for the last three decades, write and make Baul music. “Paban is a big hit. His music is on local FM radio in France and people consider him a big star. In India this is his first album (Notun Sopon – The Sugar Mule Project) being produced,” says Mimlu.

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Ahead of Modi’s Silicon Valley visit, Infosys cleared in US visa probe

- by India Writes Network

In a shot in the arm for the Narendra Modi government ahead of his US visit, the US Department of Labour has cleared Indian IT giant Infosys of visa violation charges. The non-immigrant visas of H-1B and L-1 are the most sought after visas in the US by foreign workers to work in high skill technology sectors and Indians get the maximum number of these visas in the US. However, it has been a major point of contention between India and the US, with India pushing the US to liberalise the visa regime in this category.

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Ahead of BSF-Rangers talks, Sartaj Aziz accuses Modi of anti-Pakistan policy

- by India Writes Network

A day before India’s Border Security Force and Pakistan Rangers meet for some straight talk on intensifying ceasefire violations, the atmosphere could not have been more tense, with charges and counter-charges flying thick and fast. In a calculated attempt to provoke New Delhi, Pakistan’s National Security Adviser (NSA) Sartaj Aziz on September 8 accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of following an “anti-Pakistan policy” and insisted that Islamabad will participate in any future talks with India only if Kashmir is part of the agenda.

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