Categoría: Politics

After opening a direct bus route between Tripura and Bangladesh, the Centre has stepped in to lay a direct rail link between the land-locked state and Dhaka. Top sources told HT that Prime Minister Narendra Modi stepped in to remove bottlenecks in the project.

The government will build a 15-km-long broad gauge rail line from Agartala to Akhaura, a city in south-east Bangladesh, which will give India’s northeastern states a key link to Chittagong ports and large markets in Sylhet and Dhaka.

The plan had almost come to a standstill after the Tripura government expressed its inability to pump state funds for the project. But after meetings between Modi and chief minister Manik Sarkar, the Indian Railways have decided to bear the cost.

See more: http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/bangladesh-india-rail-link-on-fast-track-after-pm-intervention/article1-1370793.aspx

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has taken a huge political risk in setting up a dialogue process with Islamabad without the latter cogently addressing New Delhi’s red lines on cross-border terrorism.

There was no immediate confirmation whether he did any ground-work for a broad political consensus he’d need at home for the dialogue. But his Congress predecessor, Dr Manmohan Singh, had advised him at their meeting last month to keep ‘channels open’ with Islamabad irrespective of the ‘state of play’ in bilateral ties.

Regardless of its domestic political fall-out for the BJP — that used terror emanating from Pakistan to so gainfully propound religio-military nationalism in the 2014 polls — Modi’s surprise initiative is an acceptance of the limited value of the “no-dialogue” stance that was tried and abandoned by his predecessor AB Vajpayee. The Ufa joint statement is reminiscent,   in fact, of Vajpayee’s April 2003 “hand of friendship” speech in Srinagar after having declared “aar ya paar ki ladai (fight to the finish)” in the wake of the December 2001 terrorist attack on Parliament.

See more: http://www.hindustantimes.com/analysis/modi-emulates-vajpayee-risks-talks-with-pakistan/article1-1367842.aspx

India is in final talks with Russia to lease a new nuclear attack submarine in hopes of giving a boost to its naval fleet.

The Economic Times reported this week the Southeast Asian country has been looking to lease a modern built and customized submarine.
The new submarine has been christened as INS Chakra III, and is seen as state of the art. It will be a variant of the Akula class of stealthy nuclear-powered submarines, which have the ability to spend months underwater, The Island reported. It will be equipped with a vertically launched Brahmos missile system.

If the deal is finalized, it would be the third Russian nuclear submarine to be operated by India. The first was the original INS Chakra that was taken as a three-year lease in 1988, and the Chakra II was inducted last year after a four-year delay.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was in Ufa, Russia, this week for the BRICS summit, where he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who announced that India — alongside Pakistan — will be joining the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).

«We are in the process of negotiating with an Indian shipyard, and if these negotiations are successful, it could become our partner for future tasks of modernizing Kilo submarines. Not just for India, but for third nations as well,» Evgeny V. Shustikov, Deputy Director General of Zvyozdochka told The Economic Times. Russia also recently sold six submarines to Vietnam that will require overhauling and repairs in the coming years.

See more: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2015/07/10/India-in-final-talks-with-Russia-to-lease-new-attack-submarine/9751436541992/

An unwed mother must be recognized as the legal guardian of her child and she cannot be forced to name the father, nor does she need his consent, while deciding guardianship rights, the Supreme Court ruled on Monday in a path breaking verdict on gender equality.

A bench of Justices Vikramajit Sen and Abhay Manohar Sapre said it was necessary to protect the child from social stigma. But it was equally important to protect the unmarried mother’s fundamental right by not forcing her to disclose the name and particulars of her child’s father.

The bench said the father’s consent was unnecessary as it would mean giving legal recognition to the man who had left the mother and showed no concern for his offspring’s welfare. The order, however, would not affect the child’s right to know the father’s identity.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Unwed-mother-can-be-childs-guardian-without-dads-consent-SC/articleshow/47954591.cms

Minister Nin Novoa last week was in Peru for the Pacific Alliance presidential summit and had the chance to hold bilateral meetings with representatives from Australia, the European Union and India. Uruguay is an observer of the Pacific Alliance the dynamic trade and investment group made up of Chile, Peru, Colombia and Mexico which strongly favors open markets.

According to Uruguayan sources Nin Novoa in Paracas met with Indian ambassador Riva Ganguly Das who was part of the New Delhi delegation to the Alliance meeting.
Uruguayan sources said that India is much interested in having closer links with Uruguay and also wants to advance with a tariffs’ preference accord with Mercosur “to stimulate trade and reciprocal investments”.

Another meeting was with Australia’s foreign minister Julie Bishop, both countries Alliance observers and although competitors in sales of farm produce particularly to China, are prepared to identify cooperation areas in agriculture to increase access to third markets.

Finally Nin Novoa held talks with EU representative for the Americas, Christian Leffler, with whom they agree in the need to “advance EU/Mercosur negotiations”.

However this last wish is not certain given Argentina’s stance that the five full members must negotiate jointly and not as suggested by Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay. In effect these three countries are prepared to try a ‘two speed’ approach, giving time to Argentina to adapt its timing, and eventually join.

But Argentina has insisted that the only and best way to deal with the EU is united as a group, “otherwise the EU is going to flood us with their goods and services”.

Source: http://en.mercopress.com/2015/07/06/uruguay-looking-to-increase-trade-and-investments-with-india