Modi begins visit to UAE
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday urged the United Arab Emirates to become India’s top ally in trade and counter-terrorism operations, saying that the two countries had a “range of common security and strategic concerns”. Modi said that he would seek to promote India as an attractive destination for investment from the UAE. The prime minister, who visited the country’s largest mosque and a residential camp for Indian workers, is expected to hold talks with the country's leadership on Monday, including with Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi. The UAE, which has a sovereign wealth fund of nearly $800 billion, is the 10th largest investor in India, with Foreign Direct Investment holdings worth over $3 billion.
India summons Pakistani envoy
New Delhi on Sunday summoned Pakistan’s High Commissioner to India, Abdul Basit, over the recent ceasefire violations by the Pakistani Army along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir. Reports said that a senior official in the External Affairs Ministry conveyed India’s protest against the “unprovoked firing”. Basit, in reply, accused India of committing 70 ceasefire violations along the International Boundary in July. The Pakistani envoy later said that he had called for a more effective mechanism to investigate ceasefire violations. Six people have been killed since Pakistani troops began shelling Indian positions on Saturday. The firing has come days ahead of talks between the National Security Advisers of both countries.
Government refuses to reveal information on Bose
The Central government has refused to reveal whether it searched files declassified by the Soviet security agency, the KGB, for any information on Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s alleged death in a plane crash 70 years ago. The Union External Affairs Ministry said that it could not reveal whether any action was taken on a 19-year-old proposal by former Joint Secretary (East Europe), RL Narayan, who had suggested making a request the Russian authorities to search the KGB archives to check if there was any evidence of Netaji’s stay in the Soviet Union. The refusal to divulge the information comes despite the National Democratic Alliance government’s promise to release the classified files on the freedom fighter’s death. Successive governments have refused to reveal this information, saying that it could affect the sovereignty of India as well as its relations with foreign countries.
Delhi, Dhaka to tackle counterfeit currency
Indian and Bangladeshi security agencies have agreed to closely coordinate with one another to tackle the smuggling of counterfeit currency notes in both countries. At a meeting of the Joint Task Force on Fake Currency Notes in Dhaka last week, the two countries agreed to share intelligence on a real-time basis, with officials saying that a secure channel would be established to facilitate the exchange of the information. According to Indian officials, the “state agencies” of other countries are using counterfeit currency notes to fund militant activities in both India and Bangladesh.
E-Tourist Visa to be extended to 150 countries
The Union Home Ministry has said that the E-Tourist Visa facility programme allowing foreigners to easily procure travel documents to India would be extended to 150 countries by March 31. A Ministry official said that the facility was extended to 36 countries on Saturday, taking the total number of countries in the scheme up to 113. The official said that while countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom had expressed reservations over India recording the biometric details of each tourist arriving in the country, the measure was a compulsory “security requirement”. The official added that the government had not taken any decision on whether to reduce the visa processing fee, which currently stands at $60. The Tourism Ministry has reported that over 1.4 lakh tourists arrived in the country using the E-Tourist Visa facility between January and July, a jump of over 924.6% from the same period last year.
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday urged the United Arab Emirates to become India’s top ally in trade and counter-terrorism operations, saying that the two countries had a “range of common security and strategic concerns”. Modi said that he would seek to promote India as an attractive destination for investment from the UAE. The prime minister, who visited the country’s largest mosque and a residential camp for Indian workers, is expected to hold talks with the country's leadership on Monday, including with Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi. The UAE, which has a sovereign wealth fund of nearly $800 billion, is the 10th largest investor in India, with Foreign Direct Investment holdings worth over $3 billion.
India summons Pakistani envoy
New Delhi on Sunday summoned Pakistan’s High Commissioner to India, Abdul Basit, over the recent ceasefire violations by the Pakistani Army along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir. Reports said that a senior official in the External Affairs Ministry conveyed India’s protest against the “unprovoked firing”. Basit, in reply, accused India of committing 70 ceasefire violations along the International Boundary in July. The Pakistani envoy later said that he had called for a more effective mechanism to investigate ceasefire violations. Six people have been killed since Pakistani troops began shelling Indian positions on Saturday. The firing has come days ahead of talks between the National Security Advisers of both countries.
Government refuses to reveal information on Bose
The Central government has refused to reveal whether it searched files declassified by the Soviet security agency, the KGB, for any information on Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s alleged death in a plane crash 70 years ago. The Union External Affairs Ministry said that it could not reveal whether any action was taken on a 19-year-old proposal by former Joint Secretary (East Europe), RL Narayan, who had suggested making a request the Russian authorities to search the KGB archives to check if there was any evidence of Netaji’s stay in the Soviet Union. The refusal to divulge the information comes despite the National Democratic Alliance government’s promise to release the classified files on the freedom fighter’s death. Successive governments have refused to reveal this information, saying that it could affect the sovereignty of India as well as its relations with foreign countries.
Delhi, Dhaka to tackle counterfeit currency
Indian and Bangladeshi security agencies have agreed to closely coordinate with one another to tackle the smuggling of counterfeit currency notes in both countries. At a meeting of the Joint Task Force on Fake Currency Notes in Dhaka last week, the two countries agreed to share intelligence on a real-time basis, with officials saying that a secure channel would be established to facilitate the exchange of the information. According to Indian officials, the “state agencies” of other countries are using counterfeit currency notes to fund militant activities in both India and Bangladesh.
E-Tourist Visa to be extended to 150 countries
The Union Home Ministry has said that the E-Tourist Visa facility programme allowing foreigners to easily procure travel documents to India would be extended to 150 countries by March 31. A Ministry official said that the facility was extended to 36 countries on Saturday, taking the total number of countries in the scheme up to 113. The official said that while countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom had expressed reservations over India recording the biometric details of each tourist arriving in the country, the measure was a compulsory “security requirement”. The official added that the government had not taken any decision on whether to reduce the visa processing fee, which currently stands at $60. The Tourism Ministry has reported that over 1.4 lakh tourists arrived in the country using the E-Tourist Visa facility between January and July, a jump of over 924.6% from the same period last year.