India and the World

Russia’s military pact with Pakistan in long-term interest of India, assures Putin

- by Manish Chand

Russia’s military pact with Pakistan has triggered a wave of anxiety among India’s diplomatic-strategic establishment about the future of the much-touted special and privileged partnership between the two strategic partners. But Moscow feels such concerns are a gross-misreading, with President Vladimir Putin assuring that the pact with Pakistan was mainly aimed at counter-terrorism and underlined that it will only serve the long-term interests of India and Russia.

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Banking reforms: How to cure KYC headache?

- by India Writes Network

A far-reaching reform would be to use the PAN database for giving KYC clearances for banking and investment services as well. Do we really need three separate and parallel systems for customer data for tax, banks and mutual funds? Merging the KYC process of the banking and investment services into the PAN system of the Tax department would greatly improve efficiency all around. Indian citizens and thousands of NRI/PIOs and foreigners would be spared the nuisance of doing the KYC process which simply reuses the same data and does not add any value.
Prime Minister Modi is to be lauded for pushing against bureaucratic resistance in giving millions of Indians access to the banking system through the Jan Dhan Yojana. When reforms are proposed there is opposition from the establishment. But where a decision is made, the bureaucracy will find a way to implement it. Now the prime minister has the chance to simplify and streamlining the outdated, repetitive and inefficient KYC process by basing it on a single database of the PAN system. This will save an enormous amount of time and money for customers, bank employees, and be more effective in tracking down tax evaders and criminals. He will be thanked for this service by millions of users.

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Putin power for India-Russia ties: New vision, with diamond sparkle

- by Manish Chand

The intricate machinery of time-tested India-Russia relationship is set to hum with a new decadal vision of this crucial partnership and get an added diamond sparkle in economic ties when Russian President Vladimir Putin holds his first annual summit meeting with India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi December 11. Ahead of the visit, India has struck an upbeat note on the future trajectory of the relationship and hoped that President Putin’s visit will be “a landmark event” and is “expected to provide a fresh impetus to the existing excellent bilateral relations between our two countries.”
Diamonds are forever, and will cast their radiance on the forthcoming presidential visit as Mr Putin is set to attend a diamond conference in New Delhi, with the larger plan of making India into a major global diamond hub.
President Putin’s first visit to India under the new dispensation in New Delhi is, therefore, poised to be substantive and all-encompassing, reaffirming the pivotal place both countries occupy in each other’s strategic calculus amid the vagaries of international politics. The messaging from both sides is distinctly upbeat.

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Is China’s dealings with the world set to change?

- by India Writes Network

Change seems to be afoot in China’s dealings with the world. At a major conference on foreign affairs in Beijing on November 28-29, President Xi Jinping called on his colleagues to create a “more enabling environment” for China’s development. Xi’s remarks are nuanced and balanced and seek to distance China from its brash and assertive posture which has generated considerable unease in the regions neighbouring China.
At another level, China is signalling that it is a big power and wants to be seen in a more benign light as one, rather than being feared and distrusted , as it is at present.
At a third level, it also reflects a Chinese understanding that despite its impressive capabilities, it is still a relatively passive power as is evident from the Chinese absence in dealing with any of the serious global crises like Ukraine, Syria or Afghanistan.

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Africa has high hopes from Modi govt: Ethiopia envoy

- by India Writes Network

India’s multifarious relations with the resurgent African continent has deepened and acquired a new traction over the last decade or so, especially since the inaugural India-Africa Forum Summit (IAFS) in New Delhi in 2008. India is set to host the third edition of IAFS early next year, which will bring the leaders and representatives of all 54 African countries to the capital Delhi, and is expected to mark an all-round acceleration of this burgeoning partnership. This will also be the first India-Africa Forum Summit, which will be hosted by the Narendra Modi government in New Delhi.

In this wide-ranging conversation with Manish Chand, Editor-in-Chief, India Writes Network (www.indiawrites.org) and Editor of “Two Billion Dreams: Celebrating India-Africa Friendship,” Ethiopian ambassador to India Gennet Zewide strikes an upbeat note about the future trajectory of the India-Africa relations and hopes that this partnership will “tripled, multiplied and even quadrupled” under the new dispensation in New Delhi. The Ethiopian envoy, a former education minister of the East African country, the seat of an ancient civilization, also speaks about the win-win partnership unfolding between India and her country, and the transformative impact of India’s Line of Credit for the country’s sugar industry, which promises to turn Ethiopia from an exporter into an importer of sugar in days to come.

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India’s maritime security: Strategy, choices and imperatives

- by India Writes Network

The Indian Ocean Region is witnessing an unprecedented flux in its security complexion. A flurry of recent events in the region, which has both regional and global implications, has created an additional dynamic in the region. In spite of strong warnings from India’s National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, a Chinese submarine, Changzheng 2 was docked at Colombo, along with warship Chang Xing Dao. This incident has geopolitical implications and portends to China’s growing naval profile in the region.
After attending the G-20 summit of the world’s leading economies in Brisbane, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the Australian Parliament in Canberra where he stated that both the countries can play a more proactive role in maintaining maritime security. In the latest move towards bolstering maritime security, the government of India is set to commission the Information Management and Analysis Centre (IMAC), to be manned by the Indian Navy. IMAC aims to be a nodal point of information on the maritime domain awareness around India and will enable the integration of 40 Indian radars and satellites which would provide continuous feed of waters surrounding India.
On the multilateral front, one of the key initiatives launched by the present government to retain Indian influence in the IOR is ‘Project Mausam’.

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Obama visit: India, US to firm up joint defence projects

- by India Writes Network

Ahead of US President Barack Obama’s visit to India in January next year, India and the US will be looking to bolster their defence ties and to firm up joint projects for co-production and co-development of weapons systems. US Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs Puneet Talwar will be holding wide-ranging interactions with senior officials of India’s defence ministry and foreign office in New Delhi December 1-2. The US delegation comprises senior officials from the State Department, Pentagon and the US Pacific Command.
Mr Talwar is the second Indian-American serving as assistant secretary in the state department after Nisha Desai Biswal, who is US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia.
The focus will be on identifying a wide array of projects for co-production and co-development in the defence sector, which fits in with India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Make in India’s initiative and his strategic intention to create indigenous defence-military base. Currently, India is among the world’s largest arms importer, with military hardware imports accounting for over 90 per cent of its needs.
The India-US political-military dialogue will seek to firm up deliverables in the defence sector during President Obama’s visit to New Delhi as the guest of honour at the Republic Day parade next year – the first time India has bestowed such an honour on a US president.

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