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Hindustan Times February 28, 2020 Pakistan’s new bid to combat terror allows widening of trade ties: US Commerce Secy Pakistan’s fresh efforts to fight terrorism and promote security is “affording” the US to expand trade between the two countries and in the region, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross has said after meeting the country’s top leadership here.  Ross was in Islamabad on Wednesday, a day after US President Donald Trump concluded his high-profile maiden visit to India, and called on Prime Minister Imran Khan, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Minister of Energy Omar Ayub Khan and others. Building on the productive discussions between President Donald Trump and Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, “I met with Prime Minister Khan and his economic team today in Islamabad to explore ways to grow the US-Pakistan trade and investment relationship, including in the energy and digital sectors,” Ross said in a statement. “Deepening our economic ties will...

Dailyhunt February 27, 2020 Pakistan 'pernicious cradle of terrorism': India at UNHRC Geneva, Feb 27: Describing Pakistan as the 'pernicious cradle of terrorism', India on Thursday slammed the neighbouring country for raising concerns over human rights in Jammu and Kashmir and said that before preaching others, it must remember that terrorism is the worst form of rights abuse. Exercising the right of reply after Pakistan raised concerns over human rights in Jammu and Kashmir at the 43rd Session of the Human Rights Council, First Secretary in India's Permanent Mission Vimarsh Aryan said that over the past seven months India has undertaken a series of democratic and progressive legislative reforms in Jammu and Kashmir.  He said the reforms are aimed to further protect the overall human rights of Indian citizens and to curb Pakistan's 'nefarious designs' aimed at damaging the syncretic fabric of Indian society. 'The internati...

The Washington Post February 24, 2020   The anti-Greta: A conservative think tank takes on the global phenomenon For climate skeptics, it’s hard to compete with the youthful appeal of global phenomenon Greta Thunberg. But one U.S. think tank hopes it’s found an answer: the anti-Greta. Naomi Seibt is a 19-year-old German who, like Greta, is blond, eloquent and European. But Naomi denounces “climate alarmism,” calls climate consciousness “a despicably anti-human ideology,” and has even deployed Greta’s now famous “How dare you?” line to take on the mainstream German media. “She’s a fantastic voice for free markets and for climate realism,” said James Taylor, director of the Arthur B. Robinson Center for Climate and Environmental Policy at the Heartland Institute, an influential libertarian think tank in suburban Chicago that has the ear of the Trump administration. In December, Heartland headlined Naomi at its forum at the UN climate conference in Madrid, where...

The Indian Express February 27, 2020 As Trump visits India, on the table: plan to counter China’s reach with Blue Dot network With China moving to expand its strategic footprint through the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), India and the US will discuss the Blue Dot network, a new proposal to cover infrastructure and development projects across the region and other countries. The Blue Dot network is “a multi-stakeholder initiative to bring together governments, the private sector and civil society to promote high-quality, trusted standards for global infrastructure development”, sources said. The US, which is leading the proposal, has already got Japan and Australia as partners in this idea. The proposal, which is part of the US’s Indo-Pacific strategy, is aimed at countering Chinese President Xi Jinping’s ambitious One Belt One Road initiative, and is expected to be part of talks over the next two days between visiting US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Na...

The Indian Expres Written by  Duvvuri Subbarao   November 18, 2019 9:52:46 am In the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business index released last month, India ranked 63, an impressive jump from its lowly rank of 142 when the Narendra Modi government first came into office in 2014. Yet, there is anecdotal evidence of investors being frustrated by venality, indifference and corruption at the operating level. Now consider this: When the government amended the terms of reference of the 15th Finance Commission a few months ago asking that allocations for defence and internal security be carved out upfront, before determining the pool of resources to be shared with the states, the latter baulked at the highhandedness of the Centre. Also consider this: Early in his tenure, Modi attempted to reform the land acquisition law by tweaking the balance in favour of investors, but quickly buckled down as many states took umbrage. This, even though land is on the concurrent list in t...

The Financila Express October 08, 2019 By Vikram Singh Mehta The drone attacks compelled India to ask questions related to Middle East geopolitics. Was the regional status quo now sustainable? How might the US react? Two unconnected ‘developments’ and one ‘fact’ lead me to suggest India should deepen its economic linkages with Saudi Arabia through interlocking cross-country investments. The first development is the recent attacks on Saudi Arabia’s oil and gas infrastructure. The second is the muscular, albeit irresponsible, anti-Indian diatribe by the Pakistani leadership. They have introduced the nuclear option in their language. The ‘fact’ is the location of a substantial part of our petroleum assets on- or offshore our western coastline. In my view, when seen through a common lens, these three matters reveal a heightened security risk scenario for India, but also offer a non-military option for mitigating the consequential outcome. Saudi Arabian investments in India’s petr...