India and the World

Modi’s Independence Day anthem: Re-make India and Make in India

- by India Writes Network

Freedom from poverty. Freedom from the poison of casteism and communalism. Liberating India from the curse of gender bias. Making India a manufacturing and export hub. Building a new and clean India, based on financial empowerment and inclusion of all Indians, cutting across all parochial categories.

These were some strands of Prime Minister Narendra’s Modi’s anthem of national renewal outlined in his maiden Independence Day address. On a radiant and bright morning, Modi spoke to thousands of people assembled at the Red Fort complex, kindling new hopes about his vision of a national renaissance. Refreshingly, Modi, sporting a polka-dotted blazing orange turban, spoke extempore, without notes, and eloquently underlined the need to forge a national consensus on key issues and making the country into a formidable manufacturing hub, underpinned by enterprise and innovation.

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India to Pakistan: Stop denials, terrorism remains a core concern

- by India Writes Network

Denials and equivocations don’t alter hard facts on the ground. And the fact is that terror remains “a core concern” of India in its relations with Pakistan.

In a hard-hitting response to Pakistan’s repudiation of India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s contention that Islamabad was engaging in a proxy war of terrorism, New Delhi sharply reminded Islamabad that “mere denials of selective approaches towards terrorism are not going to drive away its concerns.”

In a forceful assertion, New Delhi underlined that India will use all means available to deal with cross-border terror.

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Modi to Pakistan: Stop proxy war of terrorism against India

- by India Writes Network

In his maiden visit to Kargil, the site of a bitter India-Pakistan war 15 years ago, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi took a tough stance against Islamabad’s use of terrorism in its proxy war against New Delhi.

“The neighbouring country has lost the strength to fight a conventional war, but continues to engage in the proxy war of terrorism,” Mr Modi told personnel of the Indian Army and Indian Air Force in Kargil, located in Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir, August 12.

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Innovative India: A hub for wearable technology

- by India Writes Network

Vibrating shoes that guide you to your destination, a ring that enables your fingers control over most gadgets, and a coin-sized electronic device that can help you track your valuables. Indian startups, engaged in innovative wearable technologies, are creating a buzz as they build India’s reputation as a hub for innovative consumer electronic inventions.

Ducere Technologies Pvt., an Indian startup, has designed Bluetooth-enabled footwear — aptly named Lechal shoes — which vibrate to let the user know where and when to turn to reach a pre-set destination.

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South China Sea: US, China spar, India backs freedom of navigation

- by India Writes Network

Stability in the South China Sea – a region disputed by China and Southeast Asian countries such as the Philippines and Vietnam – dominated discussions at a series of meetings held in Myanmar focused on the ASEAN and East Asia region. The meetings saw a prickly verbal exchange between US and China, with Beijing forcefully rejecting a US proposal for countries to refrain from “provocative” acts in the South China Sea

In Naypitaw, US Secretary of State John Kerry worked hard to ease tensions between China and its neighbours on the issue of the South China Sea Islands.

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India-Myanmar ties: Buddha, Business and Bollywood

- by Manish Chand

The “neighbours first” policy of the new government in India will again be in focus when India’s External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj goes on her maiden visit to Myanmar August 8-9 for bilateral talks, as well as to attend ministerial meetings connected with ASEAN, East Asia Summit and ASEAN Regional Forum. Myanmar will be the first Southeast Asian country Sushma Swaraj will be visiting after trips to three important neighbours in South Asia: Bhutan, Bangladesh and Nepal. The minister’s visit will take place soon after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s path-breaking trip to Nepal, and underlines the centrality of immediate and extended neighbourhood in India’s foreign policy matrix.

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