Author: Arif ArifArman

INTERNATIONAL DESK: Amid an ongoing military standoff with China, the Special Forces of the US and India are carrying out wargames with a focus on supporting fighter aircraft operations in forward areas. The wargames are being carried out at Special Forces training centres near here, defence sources told here. The operations are likely to have focused on supporting the fighter aircraft operations including designating targets in frontline areas by laser so that the precision-guided bombs can reach their designated target accurately, the sources said. The troops of both countries are likely to join up with the larger contingent of both…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: Highways are integral to a country’s growth connection people and transporting goods and raw materials. A rapid expansion and makeover of Indian road network has ensured that India is steadily on track to reach standards at par with the best in the world. Nitin Gadkari, the Minister for Road Transport and Highways says that by 2024, India’s road infrastructure will be equivalent to US standards. This might not be an exaggeration considering the sheer number of projects that have been undertaken, and are in the pipeline. The development and maintenance of road infrastructure is a key government priority,…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: Prime Minister Narendra Modi extended best wishes to everyone associated with the 35th Australian Sikh Games organised by Australian National Sikh Sports and Cultural Council in Brisbane. In his message, PM Modi said the games will help the Sikh community to showcase its sporting skills, competitive spirit and teamwork on a bigger platform. “My best wishes for the 35th Australian Sikh Games. May the Games serve as an inspiration to motivate younger generations of Sikhs to excel in every sphere of life,” PM Modi said in his message. Taking to its official Twitter handle, the High Commission of…

ZOOMBANGLA DESK: The 22nd session of the 11th Parliament, which was a special session, was prorogued today after five working days. On the eve of the prorogation, the House unanimously adopted a motion on the occasion of the golden jubilee of Bangladesh National Parliament. PM Sheikh Hasina, member of parliament from Gopalganj-3 constituency, moved the motion under Section-147 of the Rules of Procedure in the House on the 50th anniversary of Bangladesh National Parliament. Some 63 lawmakers took part in the discussion that lasted for 10 hours and 23 minutes. Earlier, President Md Abdul Hamid addressed the House on the…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: The First Global Buddhist Summit organised by the International Buddhist Confederation (IBC) will be held in Delhi on April 20-21. The theme of the summit is ‘Response to Contemporary Challenges from Philosophy to Praxis’. Dhammapiya, General Secretary of the IBC, stated that many issues in the world can be resolved by following the precepts of the Buddha. The summit is aimed at exploring answers to multifarious issues faced by humanity globally. Keeping Buddhism as its base, eminent scholars from across the globe will try to find solutions to various problems humans are encountering every day. It will cover…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: Hyderabad-based National Geophysical Research Institute has found large deposits of 15 rare earth elements (REE) in Andhra Pradesh’s Anantapur district. REE of the lanthanide series are critical components in many electronic devices like cellphones, televisions, computers, and automobiles used daily and in various industrial applications. NGRI scientists were conducting a survey for non-traditional rocks like syenites when they made the significant discovery of the minerals in the lanthanide series. The elements identified included allanite, ceriate, thorite, columbite, tantalite, apatite, zircon, monazite, pyrochlore euxenite and fluorite. NGRI scientist PV Sunder Raju said, “Zircon of varying shapes was observed in…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: The central government has established an online counselling centre named “Tele Manas” at the only major hospital for mental illness in the Kashmir Valley where mental health counsellors listen to patients’ problems on the phone and offer comfort and advice. Eighteen women’s councils have been organized at this centre since November last year and they are performing their services 24 hours a day. In such a situation, “Tele Manas” is receiving 80 to 100 calls daily and most of them are from female patients who are dealing with various mental problems. The patients do not have to reveal…

ZOOMBANGLA DESK: Adani Power on Sunday said that it has begun supplying electricity from its plant in Godda in Jharkhand to Bangladesh. Adani Power Ltd (APL), a part of the diversified Adani Group, has commissioned the first 800 MW ultra-super-critical thermal power generation unit at Godda in Jharkhand. The plant has started with supplying 748 MW of power to Bangladesh, a company statement said. The electricity supplied from Godda will significantly improve the situation in the neighbouring country as it will replace expensive power generated from liquid fuel, bringing down the average cost of power purchased, it stated. “The Godda…

ZOOMBANGLA DESK: Bangladesh Bank has started releasing new taka notes for exchange from today, on the occasion of Eid-ul-Fitr, at specific branches of scheduled banks. The central bank in a notification said that until April 17 (except weekends and public holidays), these notes will be available through certain branches of banks in the Dhaka region and through the offices of Bangladesh Bank. At this time, new notes of Tk 5, 10, 20, and 50 will be exchanged in a special system. According to the central bank, the same person cannot receive new notes more than once. However, while withdrawing the…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: Pakistan is indulging in a blame game policy to seek concessions from India on Indus Water Treaty while continuing to indulge in poor water management at home. While attending recently concluded ‘UN 2023 Water Conference’, Hasan Nisar Jamy, Pakistan’s Water Resources Ministry Secretary stated, “Indus Water Treaty (IWT), which governs sharing of the Indus basin’s waters, is one example of such successful cooperation, which provides an effective mechanism for cooperation and management on water issues.” Islamabad is seeking it to be a model for all future trans-border water agreements. The observers in the UN Conference pointed out that…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: India’s announcement of dates for the G20 meeting in Srinagar came despite opposition from Pakistan and also China, which had last month also objected to another. While Pakistan had lobbied its allies in G20, like Saudi Arabia, Türkiye and indeed China, to stop the meeting in Srinagar, Beijing had reacted to a meeting of the group in Arunachal last month by releasing “invented names” for 11 more places in the state to reinforce its claim over the region. India updated its G20 calendar on Friday to say that a meeting of the working group on tourism will take…

ZOOMBANGLA DESK: Bangladesh, Japan, and India will hold a meeting in Tripura on 11-12 April to put in place connectivity initiatives to harness the commercial potential of the region. Asian Confluence, a think tank based out of North East India, in collaboration with India’s foreign ministry, is organising the event. It will be attended by deputy foreign ministers of Bangladesh and India along with the chief minister of Tripura and the Japanese envoy to India, reports the Economic Times. Japan is investing in Northeast India and Bangladesh including the deep sea port at Matarbari that will connect the landlocked region…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: Union Minister for Law and Justice Kiren Rijiju on Saturday said that after the Abrogation of Article 370, the benefit of government schemes has reached the last person in Jammu and Kashmir. “We are here in Udhampur and have already distributed aid materials, subsidy cheques and other benefits through the government of India schemes to the beneficiaries. I’m happy to say that this happened due to the abrogation of Article 370. Now, government schemes reached the border villages of Jammu and Kashmir,” Minister Rijiju said. The Minister addressed an awareness cum mega legal aid camp organized in Riwayat…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: Jammu and Kashmir has witnessed the expenditure of the highest-ever funds in the recently concluded financial year under the flagship Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS). According to a report, in 2021-22, the total amount received by the UT under CSS was Rs 7,655 crore which was enhanced to Rs 8,938 crore during 2022-23, registering a growth of nearly 15 per cent. Notably, benefits of the Centrally Sponsored Schemes have been reaching the last man in the queue after August 5, 2019–when the Centre announced its decision to abrogate J-K’s special status. According to the report, it is for the…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: In a bid to combat the growing problem of drug addiction among young people in Kashmir, two social organizations, ‘Team 360’ and ‘Safe Women Safe World’, joined hands with the Indian Army to organize a foot march rally. The rally aimed to raise awareness about the dangers of drug use and promote a drug-free lifestyle among the youth in the region. The foot march, which started from the Kaman Aman Setu towards the Uri town, saw enthusiastic participation from people across the region. The marchers, comprising volunteers from ‘Team 360’ and ‘Safe Women Safe World’ walked through the…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: In a first since Russia launched its military offensive in Ukraine, a Ukrainian minister will visit India next week to discuss the implications of the ongoing conflict and seek India’s support. Emine Dzhaparova, the first deputy foreign minister of Ukraine, will hold talks with Indian officials and also deliver a lecture- Russia’s war in Ukraine: why the world should care – at a think tank affiliated to India’s ministry of external affairs. The visit will come days after India again abstained from voting on a UN Human Rights Council resolution that extended the mandate of the international commission…

TECHNOLOGY DESK: Chinese search engine giant Baidu, has filed lawsuits against “relevant” app developers and Apple over fake copies of its Ernie bot app available on Apple’s app store, reports Reuters. The company’s artificial intelligence-powered Ernie bot, launched last month, has been touted as China’s closest answer to the US-developed chatbot ChatGPT. Baidu said it had lodged lawsuits in Beijing Haidian People’s Court against the developers behind the counterfeit applications of its Ernie bot and the Apple company. “At present, Ernie does not have any official app,” Baidu said in a statement late on Friday posted on its official “Baidu…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: The government push towards local manufacturing of consumer electronics items has helped India cross record more than Rs 85,000 crore in mobile exports in the fiscal year ending March 31, industry data showed on Saturday. Buoyed by attractive government incentives towards local manufacturing, India surpassed a remarkable $10 billion worth smartphone exports in the fiscal year 2022-2023, according to the data provided by the India Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA) to IANS. Smartphone exports from India have doubled from a corresponding period from the last fiscal year, driven by production-linked incentive (PLI) schemes. The top five global destinations…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: The controversy between the provincial government and the flour millers over the shunting of wheat to Karachi from interior parts of the province may further increase the price of flour in the metropolis in the coming days as the food department continued its action against unauthorised movement of wheat, it emerged on Friday. While the millers feared a wheat and flour crisis in the city due to restrictions on movement of wheat to Karachi, Food Minister Mukesh Kumar Chawla said that the action was launched to defeat hoarding across the province, ensuring no flour miller got the commodity…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: In a first, Indian Rafale combat aircraft are likely to participate in a multinational wargame codenamed Orion which is being hosted by France involving many of its NATO and other important allies. “Indian Air Force Rafale fighter jets are likely to fly to France to participate in Exercise Orion being held at a French air base there. The wargames are planned to be held from the third week of April to May 5,” defence officials told ANI. The aircraft likely to take part in the exercise are likely to be from the Western Air Command of the force…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: Going big on the textile industry, and under the ‘Make in India’ effort, the government has planned to set up seven mega textile parks under PM Mega Integrated Textile Regions and Apparel (PM MITRA) scheme. These parks will be set up in seven states namely; Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a tweet, “The parks would provide state-of-the-art infrastructure for the textiles sector, attract investment of crores and create lakhs of jobs”. The scheme was announced in October 2021, and the parks will be set up by…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: A centuries-old traditional craft that has been passed down from generation to generation in the valley is the art of making Namda. Namda is a type of rug that is made of felted wool, which is finely worked. However, despite its significance, the traditional handicraft of Namda making is now threatened with extinction due to various reasons. The art of making Namda goes through several stages and requires skilled craftsmanship that has been handed down through generations. The process of making Namda involves various steps such as carding, creating the border, the creation of a layer, sprinkling soap…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, his South Korean counterpart Park Jin on Friday held discussions on taking forward India-South Korea Special Strategic Partnership. “Glad to welcome @FMParkJin of Republic of Korea on his first official visit to India,” Jaishankar tweeted on Friday. “Our discussions today will take forward our Special Strategic Partnership,” he further wrote. Park on Friday said South Korea would like to upgrade its existing successful partnership with India and focus on trade, investment and supply chain stabilization in manufacturing sector and also critical minerals. Park said he will be holding a meeting with his Indian…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: India received 6.19 million foreign tourists in 2022 compared with 1.52 million in 2021, tourism minister G Kishan Reddy said. “There were 10.93 million Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAs) in India during the pre-pandemic year of 2019,” Reddy said in a written reply in Rajya Sabha. Reddy said that the ministry under its schemes such as Swadesh Darshan and Pilgrimage Rejuvenation And Spiritual Augmentation Drive , or PRASAD, provides financial assistance to state governments and union territories for the development of tourism-related infrastructure to enrich tourism experience for the visitors. “The Ministry of Tourism has set up a 24×7…