Why India should play greater role in Afghanistan
There is a certain – surprising – amount of unease ahead of the visit of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani to New Delhi. India has been consistently among the largest donor …
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Amid Ghani’s Pakistan overtures, Modi talks tough on terror
“A timeless link of human hearts” was a poetic metaphor that Prime Minister Modi used to describe the relationship between India and Afghanistan after meeting Afghan President Ashraf Ghani in …
Read MoreXi’s Pakistan corridor: New India encirclement strategy
The sheer ambition and scale of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, which was unveiled during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s trip to Islamabad, is truly staggering. China’s unprecedented investment commitment to the tune of $46bn gives some substance to the hyperbolic expression “higher than the Himalayas, deeper than the Indian Ocean and sweeter than honey,” that has come to define bilateral relations between China and Pakistan for many decades.
Sans Economics
President Xi’s visit, although touted as a visit with economics as its core objective, had an obvious strategic dimension; one that involves defence trade. Besides the promise of supplying Pakistan with eight submarines, it has emerged that China will provide 110 latest JF-17 Thunder fighter jets to Pakistan as the two countries forge closer defence cooperation. Also built on a transfer-of-technology basis, the JF-17 can be read as Pakistan’s response to India’s Rafale deal, coming on the heels of the latter. Shrouded between 51 agreements to boost economic cooperation during Xi’s trip, there are clear strategic undertones, belying the notion that the visit was not just about pure economics.
China-Pakistan Economic Corridor
The visit and, more so, the nature of bilateral agreements between China and Pakistan have undoubtedly ruffled some feathers in the Indian strategic circles.An investment worth $28bn in new trade and investment deals is part of the mega $46bn that will be used to construct the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project. The CPEC project will see the 3,000km trade route built over the next 15 years, with Chinese investments and companies building new roads and pipelines along the proposed route, which runs the length of Pakistan.
Nepal quake: India goes all out to help and heal quake-struck neighbour
In the unfolding aftermath of the April 25 earthquake, the worst to hit Nepal in 80 years and one of the worst in all of South Asia, India has left no stone unturned to come to the rescue of its Himalayan neighbour and strategic partner.
India was the first nation to respond, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi convening a disaster response meeting in within hours of the quake.
“Nepal’s pain is our pain,” said Modi, “I have spoken to their prime minister and president and assured them that this country of 125 crore is with you.” keeping up the spirit of cooperation that was rekindled during Prime Minister Modi’s historic visit to Nepal in August last year.
Mr Modi has already spoken with about a dozen state chief ministers immediately after the earthquake.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh told parliament on April 27 that Prime Minister Narendra Modi “knew of the incident before me and took swift action.” “Just five minutes before the earthquake, I was with the PM. He later called me about the earthquake and said there would be a meeting at 3 pm. The quick response that should have been shown by me as home minister was shown by the PM,” Mr Singh said in a statement in the Lok Sabha on the disaster that has killed over 3,700.
Distressing times are indeed true tests of friendship. And India is more than ready to do its best as the countries are intimately bound up with fraternal and cultural ties and their joys and sorrows interlinked.
Nepal quake: The world chips in, India leads the charge
In the aftermath of the Nepal mega quake, countries from across the globe are pitching in different ways to alleviate the impact of the disaster-hit Nepal, with India leading the …
Read MoreApocalypse Now? How prepared is Delhi to deal with quake
With the death toll climbing to 3350 in Nepal, the April 25 earthquake is one the most devastating natural disasters to hit the subcontinent since the magnitude 7.6 earthquake quake …
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All eyes in Vietnam on Modi’s China visit, South China Sea
HANOI: The Delhi-Hanoi maritime bonding is set to get stronger in days to come. Vietnam, the emerging dynamo of the Southeast Asia region, is closely watching the forthcoming visit of India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi to China and is expecting that the Indian leader will pitch for peace and stability in South China Sea, the site of conflicting territorial claims.
Vietnam has faced the brunt of the perceived Chinese assertiveness in South China Sea and has looked up to India, with its rising stature and formidable naval apparatus, as an anchor of stability in the maritime domain in the region.
“The Indian government has shown increased interest in protecting sea lanes of communication. We expect India will continue to support Vietnam and help it to cope up with instability in South China Sea,” Mr Le Van Nghiem, Director General, Directorate of External Information, told a group of visiting Indian journalists in the balmy Vietnamese capital.
“Many countries are reluctant to take up the issue with China. If India raises its voice (on South China Sea with Vietnam), it would be beneficial for both India and Vietnam and the region,” the Vietnamese official said. He was responding to a question by this writer on whether Vietnam expected Prime Minister Modi to take up the issue of South China Sea during his talks with the Chinese president next month.
Under Prime Minster Modi’s watch, Vietnam has emerged as a key pillar of India’s Act East policy, with a string of high-profile two-way visits seen in the last few months. Signalling the intent for closer strategic embrace, India rolled out the red for Vietnam’s prime minister in October 2014, a little over a month after President Pranab Mukherjee’s substantive visit to Vietnam.
Modi assures India will wipe Nepal’s tears, hold hands
With Nepal descending deeper into a full-blown crisis and a potential humanitarian catastrophe in the wake of the massive earthquake, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has assured that India will wipe the tears of every person in Nepal as his government has gone full steam to fast-track rescue, relief and rehabilitation for the quake victims.
“For 1.25 billion Indians, Nepal is their own country and India will make all efforts to wipe the tears of every person in Nepal, hold their hands and stand with them,” Mr Modi said his monthly radio address to the nation, entitled “Mann ki Baat.” He also spoke extensively about the recent calamities, including the storm in Bihar and the crisis in the war-torn Yemen.
The prime minister also recalled the Bhuj earthquake in Gujarat on January 2001, which killed nearly 20,000 people, and added stressed that the recent earthquake with its epicenter in Nepal has shaken the whole world.
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Nepal quake: Death toll exceeds 3218, India steps up rescue efforts
The most devastating earthquake to hit Nepal in 81 years has unleashed an unending trail of death, destruction and trauma, with the death toll climbing up to over 3,218 and more than 6,500 people injured.
On April 26 afternoon, another powerful tremor measuring 6.7 magnitude, according to US Geological Survey (USGS), rocked Nepal, leaving its quake-residents reeling and without respite from continuing aftershocks of varying intensity.
The Nepalese government has declared emergency in affected areas and announced a relief package of Rs 500 million. The Himalayan country has also appealed to India and China as well as other governments for help in relief and rehabilitation.
India has been prompt to respond within minutes of the quake and has firmed up a multi-pronged rescue operation to help the fraternal neighbouring country, also home to a large Indian diaspora.
A C17 aircraft, sent by India, with 225 Indians on board, touched down in New Delhi from Kathmandu.
“Our immediate focus is on rescue and relief. We are also examining land route for evacuating of Indians,” India’s Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar told reporters in New Delhi on April 26.
India rallies behind quake-hit Nepal, relief aircraft on the way
Within hours of a massive 7.9 Richter earthquake hitting central Nepal, India has promptly rallied behind the neighbouring country, home to a large Indian community. Hours after the quake struck, which also impacted swathes of northern India unleashing mayhem and destruction, Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to Nepal’s President Ram Baran Yadav and Prime Minister Sushil Koirala and assured them of all support and assistance.
Coming through on these assurances, India has sent two IAF planes carrying relief material to Nepal, following which a C-130J Super-Hercules aircraft of the IAF left Hindon airforce base at 3.45 pm for Kathmandu, with an NDRF team onboard.
After dropping the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) team, C-130J will perform aerial reconnaissance to check road communication to Pokhara, the resort town which is the epicenter of the quake, and return to Hindon. Additionally, five teams are waiting to depart from Hindon and four more from Bhatinda. The Defence ministry has issued standby orders to the Indian Army and Border Roads Organization as well. The Eeternal affairs ministry has opened a 24-hour Control Room for queries.
These steps were decided at an emergency meeting of the national crisis management committee, headed by the cabinet secretary, convened in the presence of Mr Modi at 3.00 pm on April 25. The prime minister was earlier scheduled to inaugurate the National Intelligence Academy in New Delhi at this time. nepalkkk