India should also explore other avenues to reduce crude oil imports. Ethanol production can be increased through alternate, non-food feedstock like algae. Algae can grow on wastelands or coastal areas, requires no freshwater, and thrives on sunlight and carbon dioxide. Algae species contain around 20% oil, making them ideal for biofuel.
The first “I” of the World Bank stands for investment, which India must increase to 40 percent of GDP. It must also increase labour force participation of women from 35 to 50 percent. The second “I” refers to infusion of new technologies, by linking with global value chains, by trade agreements, and reducing tariffs and barriers to foreign investment. The third “I” is innovation, meaning enabling greater investment in research and development
The real motive behind Sheikh Hasina’s removal, as widely suspected, lies in her steadfast refusal to allow a U.S. military base on St Martin’s Island—an outpost that would give America strategic leverage over Southeast and East Asia. Her resistance to such neocolonial imposition sealed her fate.
If Tharoor is indeed disciplined, the Congress Party would have confirmed the popular perceptions of its aversion to intra-party democracy. The extreme form of punishment, of course, would be his expulsion, something that the leadership is unlikely to risk given its electorally vulnerable position. With 99 parliamentary seats, the Congress Party cannot afford to lose any of its members no matter how some of them may step out of the line occasionally.
Since the late 1970s, the Indian Army has been paying a heavy price of losing good soldiers in asymmetric warfare waged by Pakistan, which involves having large bodies of regular troops committed on the ground for dealing with a 'handful' of the enemy.
Analysts see the rice-potato trade between the two countries as an extension of their stepped-up bilateral diplomacy. Their expectation is that this incipient commercial relationship can play a major role in resolving the Rohingya humanitarian crisis
India can assist Bangladesh in achieving the goal of Bangladesh’s military plan “Forces Goal 2030,” a modernization programme that aims to transform Bangladesh's army into a technologically advanced, multi-domain force by 2030.
Military spending calculated as a share of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was 2.4 per cent for India, an estimated 1.6 per cent for China, 2.6 per cent for Pakistan.
On the one hand, India sees itself as the rising global power, the head of G20 today, and with an economy that is the fifth largest in the world by GDP. On the other hand, India is the story of flourishing gangsters who when they get too big must be taken to a secluded spot and shot.
Bangladesh's zero-tolerance policy against militancy is bearing fruit. So far, eight militant organizations, namely JMB, Shahadat-e-al-Hikma, JMJB, Hizbut Tahrir, Huji-B, ABT, Ansar Al Islam, and Allahr Dal, have been banned by the government. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's tough stance has made it possible to virtually dismantle the militant network in Bangladesh.
Herman Kumara, the national convener of the National Fisheries Solidarity Organization (NAFSO) in Sri Lanka, strongly opposes the practice of keeping arrested fishermen in jail even after their punishment has been served.
Today, what is needed is a genuine assessment of the population of different marginalized sections and to modify the country's policies so that the uneven growth of society is brought on the path of equality. The deaths of the likes of Rohith Vemula and Darshan Solanki should awaken India to the need to combat the biases constructed against the socially marginalized sections and strive for a future where ‘annihilation of caste’ is the central credo of our society.
This is surely not the first or the last of the fake encounters (extra-judicial killing) in our country. Are people, including the police, losing faith in constitutional methods so earnestly championed by Dr. Ambedkar? What would he have said, had he been alive today?
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.
