A particularly noteworthy initiative has been the implementation of the Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyan (NMBA), the national de-addiction campaign. In Jammu and Kashmir, this national mission has gained remarkable traction. The recently conducted 100-day intensive campaign under NMBA has created widespread awareness and engagement across all districts. It has mobilized stakeholders from all sections of society, including educational institutions, law enforcement agencies, civil society groups, and community leaders.
At the end of the day, this is a political battle that shows the BJP to be an unstoppable steamroller, now controlling power across the North, the West and the East. The Opposition parties, which have been unable to come together with a cogent way to stand up and fight the political fight for the long haul, will have to once again think of the road ahead. It is clear that the BJP of today will stop at nothing in doing the deals it needs to take power
The constraint on India’s expansion is fissile inventory, particularly between 2035-2045. At present, the breeder program depends on plutonium from a limited set of eight unsafeguarded reactors. Meanwhile, India has accumulated spent fuel from uranium imported for its safeguarded reactors. This significant plutonium is lying idle because we lack safeguarded reprocessing facilities.
India's engagement with the Taliban is strategic as much as it is humanitarian, a counterweight to Pakistani influence, a gateway to Central Asian connectivity. And the Taliban's continued erasure of women and minorities sits as a profound moral contradiction at the heart of any diplomatic embrace.
Four years after the passage of the law, the promised Arbitration Council of India to authorise and regulate arbitration institutions has yet to be operationalised. Save for a small number of arbitration institutions established and funded by well-known law firms, some state governments do not support professionally established arbitration institutions.
This transit agreement will pave the way for energy imports from Bhutan. A Free Trade Agreement (FTA) was signed between the two countries in 2009. After last month's agreement, the FTA will gain momentum. The agreement will enable Bhutan to use Bangladesh's air, railways, river ports, land and sea ports since Bhutan is a landlocked country and has no river or sea ports of its own.
India, Pakistan, Nepal, and the Maldives are the four countries from South Asia among 120 countries at this year's Democracy Summit. Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Afghanistan were not invited, but Pakistan, one of the most authoritarian and corrupt countries in South Asia with scant respect for human rights, was invited.
India has some deep soul-searching to do as we explore the question: Are we truly a democratic nation? Or is democracy the story we sell to ourselves and the world when the nation and its people know that we are not what we think or claim to be?
Bangladesh still has a terrorism problem and cross-border drug cartels pose a significant threat to its national security. And the elite force remains one of the important agencies to curb terrorism and narcotics control.
The reason we are losing nature boils down, in my mind, to one basic problem: our inability to perceive the difference between public benefits and private profits.
Pakistan will never catch up with Bangladesh in the race for economic development. The GDP growth rate of Bangladesh increased gradually to 8.13 percent in the fiscal year 2018-19. In 2020-22, the impact of the novel coronavirus pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war slowed down the growth rate of Bangladesh, but it was much higher than that of Pakistan and the growth rate is estimated to exceed 6.5 percent in the fiscal year 2022-23.
Another result of Jaishankar’s active advocacy for the Global South is the recently held “Voices of Global South Summit” which was hosted by India. Jaishankar led the summit with participation from 120 developing countries.
I believe that the increased regulation of cryptocurrencies is a necessary step to ensure the stability of the financial system and protect consumers, and can be achieved through collaboration between governments and industry participants.
There is a culture that refuses to understand the pain of an entire class of population subjugated over the centuries, a harshness that translates in general to every other aspect of Indian life, superimposed on which is the ever-present threat of violence (State and non-State) that makes the claim of a nation that stands for non-violence hollow.
Across India, accessing the correct eligibility documents is many times harder for the poor than an average privileged caste and a class person. If we add complex digital interfaces for application to paperwork ordeal, then the experiences of the poor worsened. This burdensome citizen experience either dampens the confidence of citizens in welfare policy or reduces the net benefit access due to the cost borne by the citizen.
It was interesting to observe how focused party representatives and voters in this small northeastern state bordering Bangladesh were on basic development issues; and how vocal voters are in seeking their basic rights at the local level, perhaps showing what genuine grassroots democracy should reflect.
The government has a choice it can sit back and do nothing, or it can choose swift regulatory action and full-fledged investigations into what has been alleged to be, in the words of Hindenburg Research, “the world’s 3rd richest man pulling the largest con in corporate history.”
Dr Al Jaber has been awarded the Champion of the Earth award from UNEP. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi conferred on him a lifetime achievement award for his contributions to energy security, building bridges to emerging Asian economies, and reshaping traditional energy business models.
No doubt that the Adani Group will do its utmost to bounce back, but regulators and policymakers must ensure that investors’ trust in the markets is not dented. India’s stock markets are world leaders in terms of technology and surveillance systems. The regulators and exchanges must match that in terms of excellent governance and strengthening the foundation of trust.
