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India is witnessing rising turmoil all around its borders and, therefore, a stable, moderate Bangladesh is in its long-term interests. Constructive Indo-Bangladesh ties can be a major stabilising factor for the south Asian region as a whole. It can’t afford to ignore Dhaka, says Harsh V Pant. P resident Pranab Mukherjee was in Bangladesh recently at a time of great political upheaval as the nation comes to terms with its identity. Despite widespread protests by by the opposition Jamaat-e-Islami and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party against an unprecedented Shahbag upsurge by those demanding the death penalty for the war criminals of 1971, Mukherjee stuck to his visit, sending a clear signal that India values strong ties with Bangladesh. Mukherjee also signalled that India remains committed to an early solution on the sharing of the waters of the Teesta river and the long-pending boundary issue. New Delhi has not been a great partner to Dhaka so far and by not signing the deals ... » Learn More about Why India must pay attention to Bangladesh

The cumulative number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in India has crossed 1.8 crore, the Union health ministry said on Friday. IMAGE: An elderly man gets the COVID-19 vaccine during the second phase of vaccination at BKC COVID Centre, in Mumbai on Thursday. Photograph: ANI Photo These include 68,53,083 healthcare workers (HCWs) who were administered the 1st dose, 31,41,371 HCWs who were given the 2nd dose, 60,90,931 frontline workers (FLWs) who were given the 1st dose and 67,297 FLWs (2nd dose), 2,35,901 beneficiaries aged more than 45 years with specific co-morbidities (1st dose) and 16,16,920 beneficiaries aged more than 60 years. Nearly 14 lakh (13,88,170) vaccine doses were given on Thursday, Day-48 of the vaccination drive (March 4). The ministry said 10,56,808 beneficiaries were vaccinated across 16,081 sessions for first dose (HCWs and FLWs) and 3,31,362 HCWs and FLWs received second dose of vaccine. The 10,56,808 beneficiaries include 6,15,903 ... » Learn More about Over 1.8 crore vaccine doses administered in India

U.S.-based human rights watchdog Freedom House has accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government of “driving India toward authoritarianism” with a “hamfisted lockdown”, scapegoating of Muslims, and a crackdown on critics, and downgraded India’s status from ‘Free’ to ‘Partly Free’ , in its annual report. “Under Modi, India appears to have abandoned its potential to serve as a global democratic leader, elevating narrow Hindu nationalist interests at the expense of its founding values of inclusion and equal rights for all,” said Freedom in the World 2021 , which was released on Wednesday. India’s freedom score, calculated using indicators of political rights and civil liberties, dropped four points to 67 this year, pulling the country down into the ‘Partly Free’ category. In a year when social media censorship has been hotly seated, while the government shut down Internet connectivity in Kashmir as well as on Delhi’s borders, India’s Internet freedom score dropped to just 51. ... » Learn More about India is ‘partly free’, says U.S. thinktank

India expects China to work with it to ensure complete disengagement “at the earliest” along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), which was key to restoring the relationship, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Friday. The foreign ministers of both countries, S. Jaishankar and Wang Yi, in a phone call on February 25 reviewed the status of disengagement , which has been completed on the north and south banks of Pangong lake and is in progress in other areas along the LAC. Both ministers also agreed to establish a hotline. Also read: LAC standoff | 10 patrolling points in eastern Ladakh blocked by Chinese People’s Liberation Army, says senior official It was India’s “expectation that the Chinese side will work with us, both through the WMCC [Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on border affairs] and Senior Commanders’ meetings, to ensure that disengagement in the remaining areas is completed at the earliest,” MEA spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said. ... » Learn More about Disengagement, de-escalation key for progress in ties, India tells China

By revising the India-Bangladesh land boundary agreement, the NDA is going for short-term gains and losing the long-term perspective, says Gautam Sen. T he Union Cabinet has cleared a Constitution amendment bill on a modified land boundary agreement with Bangladesh, excluding the exchange of enclaves and territories in adverse possession in the Assam segment. Bangladesh’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Mohammad Shahriar Alam is reported tohavestated to themedia that Dhaka is not yet clear on this issue. It is clear that political compulsions of the Bharatiya Janata Party which dominates the National Democratic Alliance government,inthe context of the assembly elections in Assam next year, has driven the government to decide against an LBA as it has been originally framed to encompass the entire India-Bangladesh border. The BJP does not want to be seen as compromising on surrender of excess Indian land in Assam to Bangladesh. Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League-lead ... » Learn More about Why India must not tinker with B’desh border deal

The local labour force is streaming out of the region looking for jobs in peninsular India, creating a vacuum that makes it easier for the Bangladeshis to fill in, says R N Ravi. C ontrary to the state government’s lore -- that the unregulated influx of Bangladeshis in Assam is a thing of the past -- a recent field research by the writer shows that it is a live and kicking phenomenon. More and more Bangladeshis are filling the expanding labour and low-end services sectors in Assam and its neighbouring states in the northeast. Mutation of once visceral existential fears over the unregulated migration of Bangladeshi nationals into an inexorable fatalism has been one of the striking characteristics of contemporary socio-political landscape of Assam. The issue that has seismic implications for national security, the future of Assam and its neighbours and which had once erupted into the historic Assam agitation (between 1979 and 1985) seems to be mourning at the margin today. ... » Learn More about We are in denial, but Bangladeshis are still flooding India’s northeast

K haleda Zia, former prime minister of Bangladesh and the chairperson of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, the main opposition party leading the 18-party alliance in Bangladesh, has drastically changed her party's anti-India stance. The right-wing political party's leader returned to Dhaka on November 3 from a week-long India visit that she termed as "highly successful". On Saturday, Zia met President Pranab Mukherjee. A statement from the President's Office said that Mukherjee praised the role of Khaleda as the opposition leader and as the former prime minister of Bangladesh. Mukherjee told Khaleda that New Delhi accorded highest importance to its relations with Bangladesh as a close neighbour and hoped that the diplomats of both countries will work sincerely to further strengthen the ties. Khaleda Zia responded by saying that her party is interested in establishing friendly relations with India. Before boarding her plane at for Dhaka on Saturday, Zia told ... » Learn More about Is Khaleda Zia having a change of heart about India?

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has done the seemingly impossible by finalising the long-pending Land Boundary Agreement ahead of his Bangladesh visit, writes Prakash Bhandari. T he ratification of the Land Boundary Agreement between Bangladesh and India by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s cabinet without any hassle would ensure that the Bangladesh parliament  would also greenlight the proposal for its implementation. The LBA, also referred to as the Indira-Mujib agreement, was signed in May 1974 for exchanging enclaves between the two countries. The Bangladesh parliament had ratified the agreement, but it was not done by India. But now, since both houses of Parliament have passed the bill, it would go to the state assemblies -- Assam, Mizoram, Tripura, Meghalaya and West Bengal -- for formal approvals. The assassination of former Bangladesh president Mujibur Rahman in August 1975 -- by which time India had already been brought under Emergency by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi -- ... » Learn More about Deal on enclaves marks a new beginning for India-Bangladesh ties

New Delhi: The Hon’ble Prime Minister, Narendra Modi in his Independence Day speech of 15 August, 2017 had said: “If each one of us, irrespective of where he belongs to, strives with a new resolve, a new energy, a new strength, we can change the face of the country with our combined strength in the 75th year of our independence in 2022. It will be the New India – a secure, prosperous and strong nation. A New India where there is equal opportunity for all; where modern science and technology play an important role in bringing glory for the nation in the global arena.” Taking inspiration from the words of Hon’ble Prime Minister, Government of India has taken a decision to commemorate 75 years of India’s Independence which falls on 15th August 2022 in a befitting manner at national and international level in the form of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav. A National Implementation Committee under the chairmanship of Hon’ble Home Minister had earlier been constituted for the ... » Learn More about High-level National Committee headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi constituted to commemorate 75 years of India’s Independence

The government on Friday strongly rebutted a Freedom House report downgrading India's status to a "partly free" country, calling it "misleading, incorrect and misplaced", and asserted that the country has well established democratic practices. While the ministry of information and broadcasting stressed that the country treats all citizens equally without discrimination and that discussion, debate and dissent are part of Indian democracy, the ministry of external affairs said India has robust institutions. The MEA also took a dig at the Democracy watchdog, saying India does not need "sermons", especially from those who cannot get their basics right. A new report by Freedom House, a US government-funded NGO, released on Wednesday had also claimed sustained erosion of civil liberties in India. "The Freedom House report, titled 'Democracy Under Siege', in which it has been claimed that India's status as a free country has declined to 'partly free' is misleading, incorrect and ... » Learn More about MEA slams US report that downgraded India to “partly free”