By TNV Desk
This is a weekly foreign media digest that tells you how India has been covered in the global media from June 04, 2023 to June 10,2023
AP – Despite a crash, Indian railways have an impressive safety record
- It was around 7pm on June 2nd when a train travelling from Kolkata in West Bengal to Chennai, 1,700km down India’s east coast, smashed at full speed into a parked freight train in the state of Odisha 250km south of Kolkata. The passenger train’s coaches were derailed and collided with the rear coaches of another train travelling in the opposite direction.
- Rail travel is not especially dangerous in India, where some 20m people take a train every day. Of the roughly 25,000 who died in train-related accidents every year before the pandemic (a number that had changed little in a decade), most were run over or fell out of trains.
- The number of serious accidents is declining
- Notwithstanding the railways’ reasonable safety record, the crash is likely to exacerbate claims that, in its push for new tracks and faster trains, his government is neglecting upgrades to existing tracks and equipment. Last year an audit of derailments by India’s comptroller general found railway officials had not spent the budget set aside for track repairs, even though it had declined.
- Even so, the tragedy in Odisha is potentially embarrassing for the government of Narendra Modi, given its heavy emphasis on developing railways and roads. This year it plans to spend the equivalent of 1.7% of gdp on them, more than four times as much as India was spending a decade ago, and around double the portion spent by most countries in Europe and America.
- Mr Modi had been due to inaugurate a new high-speed Vande Bharat service the day after the disaster. Instead he visited the crash site, where he, too, promised to find the culprit: “Whoever is found guilty will be punished severely”.
- The government denies that it is skimping on safety. It notes that it has accelerated the elimination of dangerous level-crossings, particularly on lines where trains travel at higher speeds, and begun the roll-out of an anti-collision system on some trains. In the wake of the tragedy in Odisha, it vowed to install additional security features on signalling equipment
(For detailed report click on the link – https://www.economist.com/asia/2023/06/06/despite-a-crash-indian-railways-have-an-impressive-safety-record)
Reuters – India rebukes Canada over parade float showing assassination of Indira Gandhi
- India’s foreign minister on Thursday hit out at Canada for allowing a float in a parade depicting the 1984 assassination of Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her bodyguards, perceived to be glorification of violence by Sikh separatists.
- “I think there is a larger underlying issue about the space which is given to separatists, to extremists, to people who advocate violence,” S. Jaishankar told reporters in New Delhi while commenting about the tableau in a parade.
- “I think it is not good for relationships, not good for Canada,” he said.
- Canada’s High Commissioner for India also condemned the incident at a parade by Sikh activists in the Canadian city of Brampton. Video circulated in recent days on the internet showed a tableau from the parade featuring Gandhi wearing a blood-stained white saree with her hands up as turban-clad men pointed guns at her. A poster behind the scene read: “Revenge”.
(For detailed report click on the link – https://www.reuters.com/world/india/india-rebukes-canada-over-parade-float-showing-assassination-indira-gandhi-2023-06-08/)
AP – India not planning to invite Ukraine to G20 summit in September
- India is not planning to invite Ukraine to the summit of the Group of 20 industrialized and developing nations in September, its external affairs minister said Thursday.
- “In our view, G20 participation is for members and organizations we have invited. That list we declared as soon as we assumed the G20 presidency” in December, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar told reporters.
- Ukraine is not a G20 member, while Russia with whom it is fighting a war is part of the grouping. India has avoided condemning Russia’s war in Ukraine and has sought to end it through diplomacy and dialogue.
- “It is not something that we have reviewed and it is not something very honestly which we have discussed with anybody,” Jaishankar said.
- The Ukraine war and the disruption in global food and fuel supplies are expected to be high on the agenda of the G20 summit in New Delhi.
(For detailed report click on the link – https://apnews.com/article/india-ukraine-g20-summit-7da6b781ddca801a672d76fe8e530daa)
AP – Australia plans to ban swastikas and other Nazi symbols in legislation coming next week
Australia’s government plans legislation to ban swastikas and other Nazi symbols nationwide due to an increase in far-right activity, Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said Thursday.
- While most Australian states already ban such Nazi symbols, the federal law would go further by also banning the trade in such material, Dreyfus said. “There’s been a rise in this kind of violent far right activity. We think it’s time for there to be a federal law which I’ll be bringing to the Parliament next week,” Dreyfus told Nine Network television.
- Displaying symbols for religious, educational or artistic purposes would be among a range of exclusions from the ban. It will not affect the use of the swastika for people observing Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism.
- Dreyfus, who is Jewish, said the number of neo-Nazis was small, but the main domestic spy agency, the Australian Security Intelligence Organization, had raised concerns about their activity in the past three years.
(For detailed report click on the link – https://apnews.com/article/swastikas-australia-nazi-symbols-16d821e089a09f6f395a7bdbbbaff692)
The Guardian – Walking and yoga ‘can cut risk of cancer spreading or returning’
- Three studies add weight to growing evidence that physical activity can help patients who have the disease
- In the second study, also led by the University of Rochester Medical Centre, researchers examined yoga’s impact on fatigue and quality of life.
- One hundred and seventy-three patients aged 60 or older were enrolled on the trial. Again, the participants were split into two groups. They attended 75-minute yoga or health education classes twice a week for four weeks.
- Yoga was found to be better at helping relieve fatigue and maintain quality of life, the research found.
- Jim Burt, the executive director of programmes at the UK’s National Academy for Social Prescribing, who was not involved with the studies, said: “This research supports the growing body of evidence that demonstrates the vast and varied benefits of exercise for physical and mental health.”
(For detailed report click on the link –https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/jun/06/walking-and-yoga-can-cut-risk-of-cancer-spreading-or-returning#:~:text=Walking%20for%2030%20minutes%20a,people%20develop%20cancer%20every%20year.
Reuters – Thyssenkrupp, India’s Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders sign submarine MoU
- Germany’s Thyssenkrupp (TKAG.DE) and India’s Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders (MAZG.NS) have signed an agreement to participate in a submarine tender by the Indian Navy that source said has a value of around $5.2 billion.
- As part of the planned cooperation, Thyssenkrupp would take care of engineering and design, while Mazagon would be in charge of construction and the delivery of six submarines the Indian Navy has tendered, Thyssenkrupp said.
- In March, India approved a budget of 560 billion rupees ($6.8 billion) for its navy, which has 16 conventional submarines, 11 of them more than two decades old, along with two indigenous nuclear-powered submarines.
- Signing of the MoU took place in Mumbai in the presence of German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius, who a day earlier signalled that Thyssenkrupp was likely to bid for the project.
(For detailed report click on the link – https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/thyssenkrupp-indias-mazagon-dock-shipbuilders-sign-submarine-mou-2023-06-07/)
Reuters – Biden aide Sullivan heads to India to prep for Modi state visit
- S. President Joe Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, is headed to India next week for final preparations ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s state visit to Washington later this month, the White House confirmed on Wednesday.
- Washington is working to deepen ties with the world’s largest democracy, forging military and industrial links with the South Asian country as a key counterweight to China’s dominance, even as the two democracies differ on how to deal with Russia’s Ukraine invasion.
- A spokesperson for the White House’s National Security Council said Sullivan would “meet with Indian officials to discuss deepening collaboration across critical areas of importance between the US and India” ahead of Modi’s June 22 state visit. The statement confirmed an earlier Reuters story.
- Last May, Biden and Modi announced a bilateral “initiative on critical and emerging technology,” dubbed an “iCET,” directing their governments to work together on advanced technology from artificial intelligence (AI) to semiconductor chips and quantum computing, especially in defense.
(For detailed report click on the link – https://www.reuters.com/world/biden-aide-sullivan-heads-india-prep-modi-state-visit-sources-2023-06-07/)
Bloomberg – Altman Says AI Can Improve Government Service and Deserves Backing
- Countries such as India should back research on artificial intelligence in ways that can improve government services like health care, OpenAI Inc. Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman said.
- “Some nationally funded AI effort feels like a good idea,” Altman said Wednesday at a New Delhi event host by India’s Economic Times newspaper. India is the latest stop for Altman on his world tour, and he is scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other government officials. He will be in South Korea on June 9.
- India, which currently holds the presidency of the group of industrialized and emerging economies known as the G20, can play a major role in shaping global AI regulations, Altman said. He has previously called for more regulations and said his “greatest fear” is that the technology would cause significant harm.
(For detailed report click on the link – https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-06-07/altman-says-ai-can-improve-government-service-deserves-backing?leadSource=uverify%20wall#xj4y7vzkg)
WSJ – U.S. Nears Deal to Produce GE Jet-Fighter Engine in India
- The U.S. and India are expected to reach a deal during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Washington this month to manufacture jet-fighter engines in India, U.S. and Indian officials and defense executives said.
- The planned assembly at plants in India of General Electric engines for India’s Tejas jet fighter is a key part of India’s effort to bolster its domestic defense industry and wean itself from a longstanding reliance on Russia for equipment to deter an emboldened China, defense analysts said.
- “India’s the only country that’s actually fighting with China,” said Richard Rossow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, an independent U.S. think tank.
- Still, Russia remains India’s largest supplier of military aircraft, helicopters and other equipment, including advanced S-400 missile -defense systems. India accounted for almost one-third of Russian arms exports from 2018 to 2022, said the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
(For detailed report click on the link – https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-nears-deal-to-produce-ge-jet-fighter-engine-in-india-9434145d?mod=Searchresults_pos1&page=1 )
Reuters – Russia’s Sakhalin invites India and China to tap energy resources
- The local governor of Russia’s Pacific Island of Sakhalin has invited companies from India and China to tap the region’s energy resources following the departure of European and American oil and gas majors.
- India’s ONGC Videsh Limited (ONVI.NS) also already has an equal stake in the project.
(For detailed report click on the link – https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/russias-sakhalin-invites-india-china-tap-energy-resources-2023-06-06/
Khaleez Times – AI, democracy, and the global order
- Future historians may well mark the second half of March 2023 as the moment when the era of artificial intelligence truly began. In the space of just two weeks, the world witnessed the launch of GPT-4, Bard, Claude, Midjourney V5, Security Copilot, and many other AI tools that have surpassed almost everyone’s expectations.
- The thematic focus of tech diplomacy implies the need for new strategies of engagement with emerging powers.
- For example, how Western economies approach their partnerships with the world’s largest democracy, India, could make or break the success of such diplomacy.
- India’s economy will probably be the world’s third largest (after the United States and China) by 2028. Its growth has been extraordinary, much of it reflecting prowess in information technology and the digital economy.
- Engaging with India is a priority for both the US and the European Union, as evidenced by the recent US-India Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET) and the EU-India Trade and Technology Council, which met in Brussels this month.
(For a detailed report click on the link – https://www.khaleejtimes.com/opinion/ai-democracy-and-the-global-order)
DW – Nepal, India strike cross-border infrastructure deals
- Nepal and India are working to increase cross -border connectivity and energy cooperation, sealing a number of deals, including a long -term energy cooperation plan that paves the way for Nepal to export up to 10,000 megawatts of electricity to India within a decade.
- Before the deal was closed, the Indian side had insisted on buying electricity only from those projects developed by India or an Indian joint venture company. Now, New Delhi has become more flexible.
- Nepal runs a massive trade deficit with India, its largest trading partner. In the fiscal year 2021 -2022, Nepal imported $10 billion (€9 billion) worth of goods and services from India, while exporting $1.3 billion, according to the statistics compiled by the Customs Department.
- In 2015, India and Bangladesh resolved a long -standing border dispute through a historic land swap agreement.
For detailed report click on the link – https://www.dw.com/en/nepal-india-strike-cross-border-infrastructure-deals/a-65829555
Saudi Gazette – Prince Fahd: India did ‘great job’ in giving everyone chance in StartUp20 meet
- India did a great job in putting together the recommendations of everyone and giving everyone the chance to collaborate and share their suggestions, said Prince Fahd Bin Mansour Bin Nasser at the G20-StartUp20 Engagement Group meeting in Goa on Sunday.
- There are about 8,50,000 startups across the G20 countries, out of which over 98,000 recognized startups are in India. There are about 1600 unicorns in these economies and about 108 are in India.
(For detailed report click on the link – https://saudigazette.com.sa/article/633099/World/Asia/Prince-Fahd-India-did-great-job-in-giving-everyone-chance-in-StartUp20-meet)
(This report has been compiled by Dr Vinay Nalwa)
TAGS :
