Prime Minister Modi has just wrapped up a two-day visit to France, where he was guest of honour at France’s Bastille Day Parade. This is a rare honour, given that it’s not every year that the parade has a foreign chief guest—the last time was in 2018 when Singapore PM Lee Hsien Loong was the guest of honour. This is […]

India announced a new multi-billion-dollar deal for French fighter jets on Thursday (13 July) as Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Paris for a two-day trip in a sign of deepening trade and diplomatic ties to counter a rising China. Modi’s visit this week as a guest of honour during France’s national day celebrations comes as the two countries celebrate the […]

India is one of the world’s largest armaments importers and continues to expand the scope and range of its defence and strategic cooperation with countries like the U.S., France, Israel, and Russia. In 2016, the U.S. recognised India as a “Major Defence Partner”, a title that consents on India buying more cutting-edge and sensitive technologies from the U.S. at par […]

The focus is on violence in Manipur, but the entire range of rights issues is to be debated The European parliament is discussing the human rights in India with the focus on the violence in the North Eastern Indian State of Manipur. The EU Parliament’s resolution on India says that minorities, civil society, human rights defenders and journalists regularly face […]

In India, data is being treated as a strategic resource that needs to be safeguarded from external exploitation and made available for domestic requirements. Prime Minister Narendra Modi even went so far as to say that ‘data is the new gold’. Data is a new currency that flows across borders, enabling information exchange and facilitating transactions at record speeds. While […]

The Taliban Ministry of Foreign Affairs has appointed Mr. Qadir Shah to the post of Chief Envoy from his previous position as Trade Counselor at the Afghan Embassy in New Delhi. Ambassador Farid Mamundzay, nominated by former Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, has expressed his dissent towards the said nomination. The Indian Ministry of External Affairs has not yet accepted Mr. […]

Militance by separatist insurgents in Jammu, part of India’s Jammu and Kashmir territory, is resurfacing after a gap of 14 years, a former top military officer told VOA June 20. There have been at least six deadly attacks, resulting in the loss of 33 lives, including 10 civilians, since 2021. The first wave of militancy emerged in 1990. Deependra Singh […]

India has refused to accept the Taliban’s appointed chief envoy to its embassy in Delhi, Farid Mamundzay, who is still the ambassador from the previous government. This has led to a power struggle at the embassy, with Mamundzay refusing to step down and the Taliban government sending its own nominee, Qadir Shah, to replace him. The Indian government’s decision not […]

The ethnic clashes in Manipur, a northeastern state in India, stem from a deeply embedded historical conflict between the Meitei community, who primarily inhabit the Imphal Valley, and the hill tribes, mainly the Kukis and Nagas. The violence was sparked by a tribal solidarity march against the Meitei community’s demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status, a move that could radically […]

On June 21, 2023, a local Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader, Kaka Arjun (52), was killed by Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) cadres at Ilmidi village in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur District. Arjun served as the Sarpanch (head of the Panchayat, village level local self-Government institution) of Ilmidi village Panchayat from 2016 to 2020. His body was found lying on the Kongupalli-Ilmidi […]