India and the World

Act East: Delhi-S(e)oul Bonding

- by Manish Chand

It’s been a year of Looking East as well as Acting East for the Indian diplomacy. India’s diplomatic and economic engagement with Southeast Asian and East Asian countries saw a marked upswing in 2014. With India’s Look East policy morphing into Act East policy under the Narendra Modi government, the country’s diplomatic calendar in 2014 is ending with a visit by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj to South Korea, which will focus on intensifying economic ties and injecting greater strategic content into this dynamic relationship.
The growing strategic comfort in bilateral ties will be reflected in a renewed push to implement the civil nuclear deal the two countries signed in 2011. Unlike Japan, which is still hemmed in by its powerful non-proliferation lobby, South Korea is expected to be more pragmatic and cooperate closely in areas of nuclear safety and research and development. The two sides have “identified research and development, training of India’s scientific personnel, and working together on next-generation reactors,” says Akbaruddin.
Looking ahead, South Korea, East Asia’s economic dynamo and India, Asia’s third largest economy, are set to come closer in an evolving calculus of win-win opportunities. The two countries are now looking to implement their civil nuclear deal, collaborate in outer space and frontier areas of technology, and are taking a slew of steps to bolster their defence and strategic ties through enhanced joint exercises and maritime cooperation. With the Asia-Pacific theatre becoming the focus of global attention and India acting east with renewed vigour, expect the multifarious India-South Korea strategic partnership to acquire a new ballast in days to come.

Read More

Bharat Ratna birthday gift for Vajpayee, Malaviya

- by Manish Chand

It was long overdue. Finally, on a befogged morning in Delhi, there was some cheering radiant news for the ailing leader-statesman as the Indian government decided to confer the country’s highest civilian honour on Atal Bihari Vajpayee, a sort of birthday gift as the iconic leader turns 90 on December 25.
A towering political personality, Mr Vajpayee, known for his dazzling oratory, formidable diplomatic skills, and political acumen, successfully led the first non-Congress government for a full five-year term. He headed the first NDA government as the 11th Prime Minister of India, first for 13 days in 1996, second time for 13 months from 1998-mid 1999, and then from 1999 to 2004.
Mr Vajpayee’s stints as the prime minister saw several path-breaking initiatives in the diplomatic arena. Vajpayee, also a former foreign minister, surprised the world by going ahead with the contentious decision to conduct the twin nuclear tests in May 1998 that made India a formal nuclear power and managed to successfully ride out international sanctions that followed through deft diplomacy.
The bestowal of Bharat Ratna on Vajpayee caps decades of a multi-hued career, and is a fitting tribute, however belated, to an outstanding politician-statesman, who is esteemed and admired by friends and detractors alike.

Read More

Can Pakistan take on the Taliban?

- by India Writes Network

The December 16 killings of over 130 school children in Peshawar by terrorists was generally described as the 9/11 moment of Pakistan, a moment in which the Nation is shaken to its core and resolves to strike at the enemy with all its might. Even by the annals of terrorist killings in Pakistan, this was by far the most gruesome and barbaric incident. And it called for the most resolute response.

What then was the response of the Pakistan government? The Prime Minister of Pakistan called for an all-party meeting. The Army Chief flew to Kabul, seeking a meeting with the President of Afghanistan, apparently to seek extradition of Mullah Fazlullah, the head of Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) that claimed responsibility for the massacre of the children. How would Gen. Raheel Sheriff respond if President Ashraf Ghani demanded the reciprocal handing over of Mullah Omar or Haqqani from the sanctuaries of North Waziristan?

Read More

BJP wins Jharkhand, second largest party in Jammu and Kashmir

- by India Writes Network

The Modi wave seems to have worked again, underlining the surging popularity of India’s prime minister whose development mantra has struck a powerful chord with the electorate. The Bharatiya Janata Party is poised to form the government in Jharkhand, India’s resource-rich eastern state. In Jammu and Kashmir, the BJP looks set to emerge as the second largest government after the PDP, the best performance by the party in the northern state that has been the site of a fierce electoral contest.

Read More

PBD 2015: Serenading NRIs, on home turf, Modi-style

- by Manish Chand

Madison Square Garden, New York. Allphones Arena, Sydney. After dazzling and ravishing NRIs in high visibility rock-star like shows in foreign lands, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to turn on all his charm to serenade over 3,000 NRIs and PIOs on home turf in Gandhinagar, Gujarat. On January 8, Mr Modi is expected to perform a new improvisation of his ‘Song of NRIs’ and will seek to enlist them as proactive stakeholders in the reignited India growth story.
The annual jamboree of overseas Indians looks set to have a new shine next year as India toasts the centenary of the homecoming of Mahatma Gandhi, the most famous NRI, and seek to leverage myriad talents and resources of expat Indians for the larger project of national resurgence. The Modi government, which has made a proactive engagement with the 25-million strong Indian diaspora scattered across countries and continents a key feature of its foreign policy, is bursting with ideas to put its own stamp over the 13th edition of Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) that will be held in Gandhinagar January 7-9.
In the age of visuals, the PBD promises to be a captivating show. It will be a 3D performance in ways more than one. Celebrating Mahatma Gandhi’s historic salt march, a new high-tech museum built inside a giant salt mound will illumine the father of the nation in a 3D image. Prime Minister Modi, on his part, will have his own 3D mantra of Democracy, Demographic Dividend and Demand, with which he charmed the rapturous crowds at Madison Square Garden in New York on a bright Sunday morning.
Get ready for the 3D show in Gandhinagar.

Read More