Global Indian News
International bond credit ratings agency Moody’s cautioned emerging economies in the Asia-Pacific region, that despite possessing a high degree of immunity to external economic shocks, the US Federal Reserve interest …
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In a major embarrassment for Al Jazeera, the international news channel was forced to go off air in India for five days, as the government penalised the channel for showing an incorrect map of India on several occasions between 2013 and 2014.
Al Jazeera transmitted a blank screen with a message displaying that it is unable to air regular content“as instructed by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, this channel will not be available from 00.01 hours on 22nd April till 00.01 hours on 27th April 2015.”
When questioned why, the I&B Ministry said that it had been informed that the news channel had been using an incorrect map of India in some of its shows during the last two years, following which the matter was forwarded to the Surveyor General of India (SGI).
The SGI observed that in some of the maps displayed by Al Jazeera, “a portion of Indian territory Pakistan occupied Kashmir and Chinese occupied Aksai Chin has not been shown as a part of Indian territory.” The channel also did not show Lakshadweep and the Andaman Islands in some of the maps, the SGI said.
Read MoreWith India taking various initiatives to clean its major rivers including the Ganga, a group of environmentalists will petition the Indian Prime Minister, to pursue UNESCO to declare the upper …
Read MoreZaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, the man behind the 26/11 attack in Mumbai, is being kept at an ISI safe house on the outskirts of Lahore, away from public gaze. This area is …
Read MoreIndia’s Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has expressed his disappointment over the non-implementation of IMF quota and governance reforms, which would give emerging economies a greater say in global financial management. …
Read MoreIn what will make the Modi government’s task of wooing foreign investment in India easier, over 90 percent of companies in Germany have picked India as possessing the best investment …
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It was a rich outpouring of praise and a reaffirmation of special ties, backed by $45 billion deals, that would have more than pleased his Pakistani hosts, but have created unease among India’s diplomatic-strategic establishment. During his maiden visit to Islamabad, China’s President Xi Jinping applauded Pakistan’s anti-terrorism efforts and underlined that the Chinese people will always stand together with Pakistan, Beijing’s all-weather ally.
The Chinese leader’s praise of Pakistan’s anti-terrorism efforts must have been created an unease in India, which has been relentlessly pressing Islamabad to prosecute Pakistani terrorists behind the Mumbai carnage. Xi underlined both the countries have common stakes in security and that Pakistan had contributed greatly to security and stability of China’s western border. “This is something that we should never forget,” he said.
Xi began his maiden visit to Pakistan on April 20, a landmark trip that saw the two countries sign 51 deals in diverse areas. The big-ticket takeaway for Pakistan was clearly a raft of investment projects in infrastructure and power sector, unveiled by the Chinese leader, which are estimated to be worth $45 billion.
The outcomes of Xi Jinping’s visit have been closely scrutinized in India’s diplomatic-strategic circles. India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi can be expected to protest Beijing’s decision to supply nuclear submarines to Pakistan when he travels to China next month.
Green is the colour of the emerging India-US partnership. Underlining the centrality of India to the success of the global climate deal in Paris, the US has said that it regards India as its “best partner” and exhorted New Delhi to take the leadership role in curbing global warming.
US ambassador to India Richar Verma, the first Indian-origin envoy of Washington in New Delhi, stressed that the whole world is watching what India will do to help fructify the promise of an international climate deal.
“We’re not the only ones that are interested. India’s size, economic growth projections, and already significant greenhouse gas emissions means there is tremendous interest around the world regarding what India will do,” Mr Verma said at a conference themed “Green – the Color of Growth: The Business Case for Climate Action” at a luxury hotel in the Indian capital.
The envoy underscored the US’ interest in India’s future steps, and said it considered India as the “best partner in an entire array of areas and would also like to discuss and tackle the toughest issues on the planet.
The ambassador added that said that the US would like to work closely with India to tackle climate change, where the two countries will look to promote the transition to a low carbon and a clean energy future. He praised India’s recent proposal to the leading countries to cut down their use of HFCs: gases used in air conditioner, refrigerator and other insulating forms that are responsible for greenhouse gas emissions.
Mr Verma added that there is an essential need for the whole world to play a leadership role to effectively tackle climate change through innovation, partnership, and a commitment to a cleaner future.
Ahead of the crucial climate meet to be held in Paris later this year, the envoy pointed out that India is yet to submit its “Intended Nationally Determined Contributions” (INDCs) – a voluntary commitment to take steps for clean energy, and produce greenhouse gas emissions.
Read MoreIn Chennai to inaugurate a new Australian consulate, Julie Bishop, Australia’s Foreign Minister, was extremely positive on the future of ties between the two countries especially in the Indian Ocean …
Read MoreThe issue of net neutrality has taken the social media by storm. Over 100,000 emails have been sent to TRAI through the website savetheinternet.in to plead for net neutrality. Videos are being shared to explain the issue to a wider audience (the latest one by AIB, of the infamous roast fame, has gone viral), endearing them to add their names to petitions pleading against any move to dilute the principle of net neutrality. The pro net neutrals are rooting for ‘saving the last bastion of equality’ which will be lost once the corporates takeover. They would be able to manipulate preferences, making it hostile to start-ups, small businesses and basically anyone who cannot pay. The anti- net neutrals gives the familiar neoliberal price/competition argument – the need to price supply as per demand allows for beneficial allocation in an increasingly shrinking space, and that those who put in the infrastructure should be incentivised (by the profit motive) to invest in making the space better.
As the battle continues, beyond the economics and technicality of the issue lie our worldview, one being framed by atomistic consumerist preferences and the constant compromise equality/ democracy makes in the onslaught of the Neoliberal- systems of economy and society we have nurtured (albeit sub/unconsciously), and affirm as the mainstream.
But first some quick facts.
What is net neutrality?
The principle that all content on the internet should be treated equally- one can access all websites (with equal speed of connection, on all possible devices), once you have internet access.
What is equal access?
Non-discriminatory access and equal distribution of content basically means that service providers should
not create high speed lanes for certain services (such as by, say, collusions between content providers and internet service providers to allow users to access their content much faster- making shopping at say, Ebay, much faster than rival Flipkart when using a certain ISP) and charge excessive tariffs based on demand and paying capacity of the user
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