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The failure in Geneva last week of a round of talks on the reunification of Cyprus is by all measures a huge diplomatic setback. This is not the first time the United Nations-backed dialogue between the breakaway Turkish-Cypriot state in the north and the Greek-Cypriot Republic of Cyprus has been deadlocked. Even so, the current stalemate is disappointing as the prospects for a final deal had been pinned on the two interlocutors — Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades and Mustafa Akinci, his counterpart in Northern Cyprus. Both represent a generation that regards the status quo as an everyday reminder of the memories of partition of the island, whose combined population is just about one and a half million. click here to fetch more info.

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hile more details of the agreements between the two sides will emerge over the next few days and weeks, a quick look at the joint statement issued on Monday, and a comparison with the joint statement issued a year ago by President Barack Obama and Mr. Modi in June 2016, reveals a few important points.

Strategic convergence, shift to trade focus

The Indo-U.S. Strategic Partnership is on course, but with a new emphasis on trade and economic ties.

This is reflected by the title of the two statements: “Enduring Global Partners in the 21st Century” in 2016, and the more modest “Prosperity Through Partnership” this year.

While the 2016 statement focused on ‘Bolstering Economic and Trade ties’, this year’s statement is more direct on how that will be done, with references to “balancing the trade deficit” (which, as it is in India’s favour, is a sore point for the Trump administration).

However, the joint statement of 2017 continues previous references to “a growing strategic convergence” bolstered by military, maritime and intelligence cooperation. In addition, while India has yet to commit to buying Predator drones, a sale of 22 Guardian drones was cleared by the U.S. Cabinet last week. Mr. Trump said he was “pleased” that India buys U.S. defence products. click here fetch the info.

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Working around China

In 2008, India was able to get a waiver from the NSG as an exceptional case allowing it to engage in international commerce in civilian nuclear technology and equipment even though, as a nuclear weapon state, it did not have all its nuclear facilities under international safeguards as required by the group. China was opposed to the waiver but did not take a public stand on it. It encouraged countries like Ireland, New Zealand, Austria and Switzerland to oppose a consensus on the waiver for India, arguing that it would seriously undermine the NPT, that it would upset the nuclear balance in South Asia and trigger a nuclear arms race, and that a criteria-based rather than a country-specific approach should be adopted in order to avoid the charge of discriminatory practice. This was conveyed to me by the then New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark when I called on her to solicit her country’s support at the NSG.

However, whenever the issue was raised with the Chinese in meetings between our top leaders or senior officials, the response was a standard mantra: China welcomes the opportunity to promote civil nuclear cooperation with India, but would not want to undermine in any way the international non-proliferation regime. This was ambiguous enough to give China tactical flexibility at the NSG. In light of this ambiguous public posture, our assessment was that if a broad consensus could be built on granting India a waiver, China would not be the one country to raise its hand and oppose the decision. And this is precisely what happened. On the morning of September 6, 2008, even before the last holdout countries like Ireland, New Zealand and Austria had formally dropped their opposition, China conveyed a message to the Indian delegation that it had decided to support the draft waiver decision.click here to fetch the details.

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Indian and Russian cultures started intermingling more closely from mid 19th century onwards. While Rabindranath Tagore’s poetry was translated into Russian, Mahatma Gandhi and Leo Tolstoy corresponded with each other on their great world views. In the 20th century, the immortal works of Nicholas Roerich and his love for India became a part of India’s rich cultural legacy. Russian writers like Dostoevsky, Pushkin and Chekov still continue to have a deep impact on Indian thought and drama.

The history of ideas is dotted with landmarks of correspondence between great minds. The interaction between Mahatma Gandhi and Leo Tolstoy is one such fascinating example.  Gandhi and Tolstoy admired each other’s philosophy of life and their minds met on common intellectual ground. Their message is as relevant today as it was in their lifetime. The world is still plagued with hunger, social injustice and political and economic oppression.click here to get more info.

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The Board of Media Lab Asia under the chairmanship of Sh. Ravi Shankar Prasad, Hon’ble Minister of Electronics & IT and Law & Justice, has approved on 16th May 2017 the proposal for fully realigning the purpose and objectives in line with Digital India vision. The approval of the Board ensures that the Digital India Corporation with a complete restructuring of its administrative components, will play the role of a leader in e-Governance space and take forward the projects and activities of Digital India and facilitate all stakeholders to realise its goals.click here to get more details.

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With the launch of Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) UDAN—–(‘Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik’) on 27thApril, the aviation sector is set to get a big boost and tap huge market of middle class flyers living in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities. This is the first-of-its-kind scheme globally which harnesses the power of the markets to provide a public good.

Apart from spurring the economic growth in hinterland, the affordable air services will ensure that the monopoly of elite on air services comes to an end. The UDAN will usher in a new era in fast growing aviation sector by  providing low cost  air connectivity  to  untapped routes and  connecting un-served and under-served airports. The UDAN will also boost regional connectivity by bringing smaller cities and towns on air map of the country through a market-based mechanism and open this sector to young professionals, small businessmen and students belonging mainly to the vast middle class populations living in these cities and towns.click here to fetch more details.

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The Global Burden of Disease Study shows that in 2013, 50% of all disease burden in India was caused by non-communicable diseases, while mental disorders accounted for about 6% of the total disease burden. A third of this is due to depression, which also significantly contributes to suicide and ischaemic heart disease. Worse, suicide is a leading cause of death in people in India aged 15-29.click here to fetch more info.

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