The Bihar results were out even before polling began: Bihar has lost, whoever the victor in the Assembly elections. With well over one crore women being paid Rs 10,000 crore by the incumbent government, supposedly for self-employment ventures, and promises of future fiscal support for such enterprises, the political economy of state handouts had been entrenched before polling began.
The Bihar results are astounding, with National Democratic Alliance (NDA) sweeping an unprecedented 202 seats (83%) out of 243. Political analysts and correspondents covering the elections have proved to be utterly wrong. Most of them expected it to be a close fight.
The Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) sector is often referred to as the backbone of the Indian economy, contributing significantly to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), industrial production, and employment generation. However, MSMEs have historically struggled with inadequate infrastructure, limited access to finance, and a lack of technological expertise.
The Acting Foreign Minister of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, Amir Khan Muttaqi, will be traveling to New Delhi between October 9-16, after having received a waiver from the UNSC sanctions committee. His previous bid to secure the waiver back in September was not successful. During his visit, he is expected to meet the External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and will arrive in New Delhi after having participated in the Moscow Format Dialogue in Russia.
In a sign of how desperate the situation has become on the US-Russia front, the president of the United States of America, Donald Trump, was forced to up the ante against the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, by announcing new sanctions targeting two of Russia’s largest oil companies and postponing his planned meeting with Putin in Budapest indefinitely.
It is an opportunity for both India and Canada to make gains from the crisis that the world is going through by reaffirming trust in each other
In international relations, pauses have a value of their own. Be it misunderstanding, estrangement, skirmish or even a war, a temporary freeze can allow the much-needed legroom for countries to step back and reset. As Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand arrived in New Delhi for a three-day visit, it is precisely such a moment for India-Canada relations.
India’s recent defence engagement with Australia reached a new milestone during Defence Minister Rajnath Singh’s visit to Canberra and Sydney earlier this month for the inaugural Australia-India Defence Ministers’ Dialogue. The visit, the first by an Indian Defence Minister to Australia in over a decade, produced key defence agreements that upgrade the relationship from declaratory strategic convergence toward greater operational cooperation. The discussions included a Joint Maritime Security Collaboration Roadmap to advance maritime cooperation, as well as renewing and strengthening the Joint Declaration on Defence and Security Cooperation.