India

New Delhi: Slamming Pakistan for indulging in deceit since 1947, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said the Kargil war of 1999 had changed the world's perception about India, which took military action to evict the Pakistani Army and foiled the neighbour's attempt to redraw the boundary. Addressing a gathering to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Kargil war, the Prime Minister said modernisation of the armed forces was a priority of his government as the wars have now reached the space and are being fought even in the cyber world. In 1999, Pakistani Army had captured the mountainous heights in Kargil in Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir and India undertook military action to evict the intruders in a three-month war. "We foiled Pakistan's deception in Kargil... This war changed the perception of the world towards India... We exposed the deceitful plans of Pakistan to re-draw the Line of Control (LoC). The world witnessed that we never initiated any act of violence and … [Read more...] about Kargil War Changed World’s View About India: Modi

        Union environment minister Prakash Javadekar on Saturday said that India is participating in the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP25) in Madrid starting next week with a constructive outlook and that it will work to protect its long-term development interests.“[India] is leading from the front in climate action,” Javadekar said ahead of his departure to Madrid to attend the conference, which will conclude on December 13. He cited India’s efforts in mitigating the impact of the climate crisis. “Prime Minister [Narendra Modi] was the first to propose Solar Alliance and Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure,” he said. Javadekar added that India’s ambitious renewable energy programme of 450 GW has attracted attention globally. “...it is the largest renewable programme in the world,” Javadekar said.India has been calling on the developed countries to take the lead in taking actions in the … [Read more...] about India leading from the front in climate action: Prakash Javadekar

        The Assam government has informed the Centre it is confident of tackling protests over the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill ahead of the planned India-Japan Summit in Guwahati next week, people familiar with developments said on Tuesday. Most parts of Assam witnessed a complete shutdown on Tuesday. The people cited above said in case the protests became more widespread in the next few days, New Delhi was available as a backup venue for the summit. Though India has announced the summit will be held during December 15-17, both sides have not yet specified the venue. People familiar with planning for the summit had told HT that the two premiers are expected to hold talks in Guwahati during December 15-16 and make a brief visit to Imphal on December 17.Teams from the Japanese embassy and external affairs ministry are expected to visit Guwahati on Wednesday. … [Read more...] about Confident of conducting India-Japan meet: Assam

        India will host two Track 1.5 dialogues this week to highlight its open and inclusive approach to build a “cooperative, free, and rules-based Indo-Pacific” region. The external affairs ministry is organising the 6th Indian Ocean Dialogue and Delhi Dialogue XI in New Delhi during December 13-14 and for the first time these two events will be held consecutively and on similar themes. The two events will intersect on December 13 in a joint ministerial session at which the guests of honour include Indonesian foreign minister Retno Marsudi and Bangladesh foreign minister AK Abdul Momin, who will deliver keynote addresses in the presence of their Indian counterpart S Jaishankar. The valedictory address will be delivered by Jaishankar on December 14.The theme for the Indian Ocean Dialogue is “Indo-Pacific: Re-imagining the Indian Ocean through an Expanded Geography”, while the theme for the Delhi Dialogue is “Advancing Partnership … [Read more...] about India to host key talks on Indo-Pacific region

Birth registration in India has increased from 41% in 2005-2006 to 80% in 2015-2016, according to a new Unicef report that said one in four of the world’s children remains invisible despite significant global progress driven by India, Bangladesh and Nepal.Twenty-two states have attained birth registration levels of more than 75% in the first year of birth in 2015-16, as compared to eight states in 2005-06.Globally, children under five years, whose births were officially recorded, went up from 63% to 75% over the past decade, but 166 million children are unregistered, shows an analysis of data from 174 countries published in the report called Birth Registration for Every Child by 2030: Are we on track?Half of the 166 million unregistered children live in just five countries: India (14%), Nigeria (11%), Ethiopia (10%), Pakistan (9%) and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (7%), said the Unicef report, which released on its 70th anniversary in India.“Equity gaps between the … [Read more...] about Birth registrations in India doubled in 10 years: Unicef