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Caption -- Borobudur: hardly Chinese The author is former foreign secretary of India sibalkanwal@gmail.com The West has built a lot of myths about China which others, including in India, have accepted without challenge. That China was for centuries the dominant power in Asia and is now on the way to recovering that lost status is one such myth. This historical distortion is serving to legitimize China's hegemonic ambitions, as if China has the right to recover its natural position in Asia and any resistance amounts to denying the Chinese their due. This explains why even when China is aggressive...

Has India Secretly Supplied Vietnam with 6,000-pound Supersonic Missiles? Vietnamese state media claim Hanoi and New Delhi not only agreed on a deal to send BrahMos supersonic projectiles to Hanoi, but also say the weapons have been delivered. India’s Ministry of External Relations, though, denies such a deal exists. When asked specifically about the acquisition of the BrahMos, Vietnamese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Thi Thu Hang said on August 18 “the procurement of defense equipment by Vietnam is consistent with the policy of peace and self-defense and is the normal practice in self-defense.” India’s External Relations Ministry said reports of BrahMos...

A sailor, who felt he was "a woman trapped in a man's body", is facing termination from serving with the armed forces, after the Navy recommended to the defence ministry that "she" be discharged from service. The sailor in question had recently undergone sex change surgery or gender reassignment, which prompted the Indian Navy to take this extreme measure. Confronted with the first-ever such case when the sailor returned to her INS Eksila base in Visakhapatnam after quietly undergoing the surgery in Mumbai late last year, the Navy wants her to be discharged under the SNLR (service no longer required)...

Indian American model-turned-author Padma Lakshmi recently slammed US President Donald Trump, saying he is a “menace to society”. She was speaking at the 8th Mountain Echoes Literary Festival in Thimphu, Bhutan. This is not the first time the author has lashed out against the US president. Last year, during the run-up to the elections, the Variety magazine quoted her as saying: “Even if he wasn’t the racist buffoon that he is making himself out to be, I probably wouldn’t vote for him. But as an immigrant, I obviously don’t see his worldview as mine.” She added: “We are a country...

Doklam standoff ends: A satisfactory resolution for India but it must guard against complacency and China's revanchism Sreemoy Talukdar Aug, 29 2017 16:16:25 IST Nearly 24 hours after the dice was rolled to end the Doka La standoff, media in India and China have reacted on predictable lines. The Chinese have focused on the aspect that Indian troops have ultimately pulled out of the disputed area over which it claims sovereignty, Indians have interpreted it as a loss of face for China after being forced to revert to status quo ante. It is irrelevant beyond a point to consider who...

Global defence equipment major Boeing on Monday said that its F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter aircraft is compatible with India's current naval carrier platforms and that they can be produced in the country under the government's "Make in India" initiative. "Analytical and (computer) simulations have shown that the F/A-18 is compatible with the current carrier fleet of the Indian Navy. The results of the test have been submitted in response to a global RFI issued by the Navy," said Pratyush Kumar, President, Boeing India. Presently, the Indian Navy's aircraft carriers' utilise "ski-jump ramps" for fighter aircraft to take-off. Kumar spoke to...

India and China have agreed to an “expeditious disengagement” of troops in a disputed border area where their soldiers have been locked in a stand-off for more than two months, India’s foreign ministry said on Monday. The decision comes ahead of a summit of the BRICS nations - a grouping that also includes Brazil, Russia and South Africa - in China next month, which Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to attend. Indian and Chinese troops have been confronting each other at the Doklam plateau near the borders of India, its ally Bhutan and China, in the most serious...

Muslims leaders in India say they will not abide by the Indian Supreme Court’s ban of the quickie divorces allowed under Islamic law. “If a law is made which is against Shariah, then it will be unacceptable to us. And like such other laws, it too will meet the same fate that it will remain a law but will not be followed,” said Muhammad Saeed Noori, the general secretary of the Mumbai-based Raza Academy. Syed Parvez Qaisar, a leader of the Muslim League, called it “interference” in Muslim law. Earlier this week, the Supreme Court of India “delivered a landmark...

One woman for India don get permission from court to divorce her husband because im no gree build toilet for dem house.. The woman wey dey for her 20's don dey married to her husband for five years, but na for inside bush she dey poopoo. Indian law dey only allow divorce for limited circumstances like beating or wicked behaviour. The lawyer for di woman tell AFP news agency say the judge say to dey make di woman poopoo for outside na one form of torture. Times of India talk say di court say: "We dey spend money dey buy...

NEW DELHI: In its first visit to India, American Navy's amphibious dock landing ship USS Pearl Harbor arrived in Goa today as part of defence cooperation between the two countries. USS Pearl Harbor is a Whidbey Island-class amphibious dock landing ship with a crew of over 700 sailors and marines. The 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), which is one of seven marine expeditionary units of the US Marine Corps, has also come to Goa as part of the trip. While in Goa, the ship's sailors and marines will conduct exchanges with the Indian Navy's marine commandos relating to amphibious warfare,...

The Naval Light Combat Aircraft (N-LCA) | Photo: Angad Singh At the annual Navy Day press conference, held on December 02, 2016, Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Sunil Lanba told media that the Indian Navy had elected not to field the naval variant of the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), and would look abroad for new fighters. For the less well informed, this was a stunning volte-face from the Service that has unstintingly backed domestic procurement programmes and has contributed considerable funding to the development of an indigenous carrier fighter. To the slightly more clued in, however, the announcement had been...

Doklam standoff: Countering China in the backyard, Indian Navy silently tightens grip over Indian Ocean New Delhi has tasked the Indian Navy to silently spread its influence and further strengthen its grip over the Indian Ocean Region. Sudhi Ranjan Sen | Posted by Bijin Jose New Delhi, August 24, 2017 | UPDATED 15:11 IST As countries like Bangladesh, Myanmar, Vietnam and Thailand keenly watch the outcome of the standoff at the Doklam in Bhutan between the Indian and Chinese armies; New Delhi has tasked the Indian Navy to silently spread its influence and further strengthen its grip over the Indian...

A confrontation occurred between Indian and Chinese soldiers along a disputed border in the western Himalayas, Indian officials said on Tuesday. The PTI news agency said soldiers threw stones, causing minor injuries to both sides, as Chinese troops tried to enter Indian territory near the Pangong lake. Beijing maintains that their soldiers were inside Chinese territory. [snip] The two nations fought a war over the border in 1962 and disputes remain unresolved in several areas, which causes tensions to escalate from time to time.

Lockheed Martin, the world’s biggest defence vendor, which is pitching strongly to sell the Indian Air Force (IAF) its new F-16 Block 70 fighter, told Business Standard on Tuesday that, if India chose its fighter, an Indian production line would churn out three-to-four F-16s every month. “We want to create the capacity to build three or more aircraft per month; we could do four. It depends upon how many aircraft India needs and when it will buy those”, said Randy Howard, who markets the F-16 globally for Lockheed Martin. For the IAF, which is making do with just 32-33 fighter...

Every time the media does an emotional story on farmer suicides or farmer protests, there are suggestions for what government should do. Usually, these suggestions include more subsidies, price supports, and other forms of government intervention. There is one solution that is never mentioned but is by far the simplest one. To increase farmer incomes, it is necessary to reduce the number of farmers. The law of supply and demand tells us that when the supply of something is very high relative to demand, the price it can fetch is very low. The same law applies to farmers as well....

India’s top court on Tuesday banned a controversial Islamic practice that allows men to divorce their wives instantly, ending a long tradition that many Muslim women had fiercely opposed. The Supreme Court ruled that the practice of "triple talaq", whereby Muslim men can divorce their wives by reciting the word talaq (divorce) three times, was both unconstitutional and un-Islamic. Victims including Shayara Bano, whose husband used triple talaq to divorce her by letter in 2015, had approached India’s highest court to ask for a ruling. A panel of five judges from India’s major faiths -- Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, Sikhism and...

China on Tuesday jumped to the defence of its all-weather ally Pakistan in the wake of United States President Donald Trump's stern warning to it over providing safe havens to terrorists, saying that Islamabad is at the frontline of combating terrorism. Trump, in his first prime-time televised address to announce his Afghanistan and South Asia policy, hit out at Pakistan for providing safe havens to 'agents of chaos' that kill Americans in Afghanistan and warned Islamabad that it has 'much to lose' by harbouring terrorists. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying, while reacting to Trump's comments on Pakistan, said, "Hope the relevant policy decision by US...

The United States on Tuesday ruled out a hasty withdrawal of its troops from Afghanistan as President Donald Trump warned Pakistan of consequences if it continues to provide safe havens to terror groups and sought an enhanced role for India to bring peace in the war-torn country. Trump, in a prime-time televised address to the nation, laid out his South Asia policy saying a 'critical part' of it was to further develop US' strategic partnership with India. He said after a 'comprehensive review', it has been decided that the American strategy in Afghanistan and South Asia will change dramatically. "A...

Seeking to provide protection to dignitaries including the President and Prime Minister as well as the national capital territory from enemy cruise missiles, drones and aircraft, India is considering an American system under the Delhi Area Defence project. "The National Advanced Surface to Air Missile System (NASAMS) is being considered for the Delhi Area Defence project to provide aerial protection to the Capital from airborne threats," government sources told Mail Today. The programme is being undertaken as the threat perception from incoming enemy missiles, drones and aircraft is on the rise because of their increasing use by terrorist organisations such...

India can take on China under any circumstances, says Baba Ramdev He said, "India is today a self contented country with sufficient arms, ammunitions and army to fight against China.". ANI | August 19, 2017, 09:12 IST Ludhiana : Yoga guru Baba Ramdev on Friday criticized ,China over the ongoing military impasse on the Doklam Plateau and described India's a self contented and contained country that could take on China under any circumstances. He said, "India is today a self contented country with sufficient arms, ammunitions and army to fight against China." "Let China accumulate blood, dollars, weapons and whatsoever,...