India has reportedly decided not to join the US–led counter to China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The US initiative, which is a trilateral one involving Japan and Australia seeks to fund infrastructure projects in the region. India has opted to stay out of this initiative and thus maintain a fine balance between the US and China.
The recent decision of the central government to allow lateral entry for joint secretary-level posts comes in the wake of a long-pending need for administrative reform.
Recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a tour of Rwanda, Uganda and South Africa which reiterates the growing importance of Africa for India and will go a long way towards revitalising relations with the continent.
Mikhail Gorbachev began a new era in Sino-Russian relations by resorting to reconciliation with China through trade and economic cooperation, regular contact between the two govts, a visit to Beijing.
China and US had been extremely hostile towards each other since the Korean War and seemed to remain so while the Americans backed Chiang Kai-shek and the Nationalists in Taiwan, and while Chinese backed Ho Chi Minh.
The Border Roads Organisation, which helps build Bhutanese roads under Project Dantak, when decided in July to make the highway markers - the reflective stickers on railings that guide traffic on Bhutan’s steep mountain roads - in shades of the Indian tricolour, it raised red flags among the Bhutanese.
The State Finance Commission (SFC) is a unique institution created by the 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendments (CAs) to rationalise and systematise State/sub-State-level fiscal relations in India. It has few parallels in other federal systems.
Climate change has the potential to disrupt and reshape lives. There are several alarming predictions about its impact. The UN Sustainable Goals Report, 2018 notes that climate change is among the key factors in rising hunger and human displacement.
Chief Election Commissioner O.P. Rawat has aired his view that it is not possible to hold simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and the State Assemblies.
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