India and the World

China visit will aid Make in India, bolster peace in Asia: Modi

- by India Writes Network

Ahead of his three-day visit to China next week, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has resorted to twitter diplomacy, saying his visit will lay the foundation for developing not only bilateral relations between the two countries, but will also bolster stability in Asia.

“Looking forward to visiting China from 14-16 May to boost friendship between our 2 ancient civilizations and 2 largest developing nations,” wrote the net-savvy prime minister in his twitter post.

“Am certain that my visit to China will strengthen stability, progress and prosperity in Asia,” he added.

Mr Modi’s trip to China promises to be a landmark trip that will buttress his economic agenda in seeking Chinese investment and expertise to build India’s manufacturing and infrastructure.

Read More

Lakhvi innocent? India hits out at Hafiz Saeed

- by India Writes Network

After Jamaat-ud-Dawa Chief Hafiz Saeed called Lashkar-e-Taiba leader and 26/11 Mumbai attack mastermind Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi an innocent man, India lashed out at Saeed and underlined that his remarks showed the pervasive network of terrorists, prevalent in Pakistan.

“Hafiz Saeed is himself among the dreaded terrorist that the world has already notified. And his clean certificate to Lakhvi, who was the real mastermind behind the 26/11 terror attacks, I think shows the connection and the extensive network of terrorist that pervades Pakistan as a country,” said G. V. L. Narasimha Rao, spokesperson of Bharatiya Janta Party(BJP).

He called his comments rather amateurish and intriguing and said that Hafiz Saeed had absolutely no locus standi, and his recent comments only vindicated that Lakhvi was the mastermind behind that attack.

Read More

Britain targets India: From courted to courtier

- by India Writes Network

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited France, Germany and Canada in early April this year in his first official trip to Europe. Rafale fighter jets, increasing manufacturing through the Make in India campaign, urging the EU to move forward on the stalled FTA, and attracting trade and investment featured on the agenda.

While PM Modi has stated that he “usually tries to visit two to four nations together” in convenient clusters, the UK that has been desperately courting India was missing on his travel agenda. While Britain erects a statue of Mahatma Gandhi at London’s Parliament Square in a desperate attempt to entice India, amid all the hysteria in India involving Modi’s visits to relevant countries and vice versa, Britain has been greatly sidelined.

In 2014, five prominent UK politicians made official visits to India from Foreign Secretary William Hague to Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne and Deputy PM Nick Clegg. Indeed, Prime Minister David Cameron himself has visited India three times since assuming office in 2010, including twice in 2013, professing that India is Britain’s “partner of choice” and “relations with India are at the top of the UK’s foreign policy priorities”.

Read More

US cautions India on Iran ties: Don’t rush, hold your horses

- by India Writes Network

The Iran deal is not done yet. Don’t rush – “hold your horses.” This is the message of Wendy Sherman, the US’ key negotiator for the Iran nuclear deal, to India and all those countries who are eagerly looking to step up economic and energy ties with Tehran in the hope of the much-anticipated lifting of sanctions.
“I would say ‘hold your horses’. We are not quite to an agreement yet,” Sherman, US Undersecretary of Political Affairs, said in the Indian capital. She was responding to a question on the US’ position on India and other buyers of Iranian oil that want to increase their trade ties with Tehran.
The deadline for the Iranian nuclear deal, which aims at preventing Iran from developing an atomic bomb and to bring the country into the global mainstream, has been set for June 30. However, the United States says there is no guarantee of the closure of the deal as tough nuclear negotiations lie ahead.

Read More

Nepal quake gets India, Pakistan leaders talking: Need for SAARC solidarity

- by Manish Chand

It takes a colossal tragedy like the 7.9 Richter earthquake in Nepal to get the leaders of India and Pakistan talking. And that’s not something to be cynical about. On the contrary, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s telephone call to his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi should be welcomed not just because the Pakistani leader lauded India’s exemplary relief efforts in the Himalayan state, but the conversation underlines the need for regional solidarity in the face of cataclysmic events like the Nepal quake.
The Nepal tragedy is also the testing time for SAARC to shed its unenviable reputation as a talk shop and show some real initiative in healing the wounds of a member country. To begin with, the SAARC Disaster Management Mechanism should be strengthened. Secondly, SAARC Food Bank should be activated to provide immediate succour to thousands of hungry people who could starve to death if they are not fed urgently. It’s time for SAARC to show its relevance in testing times like the aftermath of the Nepal earthquake.

Read More

Clearing Up Misconceptions Between India and China

- by India Writes Network

China and India are not only neighbors but also important rising economies and global powers with a combined population accounting for 35 percent of the world’s total. However, the two nations remain largely distant in some respects. A survey about the rise of China conducted in India in 2013 by the Asian Barometer Survey Organization showed that many Indians lacked knowledge about the growing power to their north. And in recent interviews with Beijing Review, most Chinese respondents expressed stereotypes about India that focused on negative qualities like poor infrastructure and social governance, overlooking India’s status as a global leader in information technology and the bio-pharmaceutical industry.

Media observers said a lack of mutual understanding is the root cause of the indifference and even outright ignorance displayed by the peoples of the two countries toward each other.

China-India relations have entered a period of overall accelerated growth. Nonetheless, persistently negative media reports of the two sides are failing to improve the relationship. Some in the media overhype border disputes and political issues while neglecting bilateral economic cooperation and people-to-people exchanges.

At the Second China-India Media Forum on February 1 in Beijing, a platform jointly established by the State Council Information Office of China and the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) of India to enhance bilateral media exchanges, participants from the mainstream media outlets of both countries addressed these issues. These media representatives held candid and in-depth exchanges on the crux of the problems and the convergence of their interests to provide the general public of both countries with accurate and comprehensive information in order to reduce misunderstandings.
Manish Chand, Editor in Chief of India Writes, echoed Dasgupta’s view by noting that Indian media should break the tradition of always “looking at China-India relations through the security prism,” and devote more energy to culture stories.
“Culture is always a missing component in Indian media coverage. The frame of reference while thinking of culture is mostly the West. We speak of Hollywood and its films and actors, but how many people know of Chinese films and directors?” said Chand.

Read More

Quake ravages Nepal’s iconic monuments, tourism economy crumbles

- by India Writes Network

The April 25 earthquake and 50 aftershocks have not only devastated Nepal, but has also crumbled its cultural heritage, dealing a blow to the country’s tourism-centric economy.

Centuries-old structures lie in ruins, with many of them severely damaged. Social, religious and urban focal points of Kathmandu, the three Durbar Squares of Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Patan, that housed several ancient temples, palaces and structures of historical note, were described as “almost fully destroyed”.

The iconic Dharahara tower, that stood tall for nearly two centuries, was reduced to a stump.

The extent and degree of loss was acknowledged by Irina Bokova, the director general of the UNESCO, when she said, “I am deeply aggrieved by the magnitude of human loss caused by the earthquake in Nepal.”, “I am also shocked by its devastating impact on the unique cultural heritage in the country, in particular extensive and irreversible damage at the World Heritage site of Kathmandu Valley.” The UNESCO has promptly sent a team to Nepal to assess the damage.

The loss of centuries-old temples, palaces and monuments is more than a symbolic loss of a slice of living history for Nepal and the world. The tourism industry is the worse for it; the disaster’s ripple effects on tourism, a pillar of the city’s (and nation’s) economy, will hit the local communities, who relied on tourism in these areas, the hardest.

Read More