April 22, 2023, marked three important dates: Earth Day, Eid ul Fitr, and Lenin’s birth anniversary. All these three dates are important in the ongoing evolutionary process of our planet Earth. The United Nations started observing Earth Day in 1970 and this is the 53rd edition of the event.
China will be an ongoing challenge for the Indian foreign and security policy establishment. Its hegemonistic ambitions are clearly evident from the fact that its territorial ingress and disputes are with more countries than it shares a border with.
After the perfidious war of 1962, India became wiser and focussed on creating stronger defences against Chinese designs which have become far more robust during the past few years as greater focus on creating state of the art border infrastructure and quick response mechanisms have been created.
Despite an increased share (30%) of livestock in the agricultural GDP, most of the big-ticket budget items in agriculture, such as food subsidy and fertiliser subsidy, cater to the crop sector.
ANIMAL husbandry, the practice of breeding and nurturing domesticated animals, has been an essential part of agriculture since ancient times. It played a crucial role in the development of human societies by providing milk, meat, wool and leather. Now its role in producing and exporting dairy-based products (cheese, butter, ice cream etc.), meat and meat products, eggs and leather is increasing.
Hackers seem to have acquired a new heft and respect even from the State actors. Hackathons are conducted to crack the codes. Friends spy not only on enemies and adversaries but also on friends, proving that there are no permanent friends or enemies but interests. Any leaks, therefore, cause international embarrassment and can make friendly leaders even more nervous as many understandings and assessments are made and shared even at the highest level in great confidence.
The longing for home is known to every person who is fond of Hindi film songs. Ask them the song’s name, and they will speak of Manna Dey’s voice, Prem Dhawan’s lyrics, and Balraj Sahni acting as Abdul Rehman Khan in the film based on Rabindranath Tagore’s short story – Kabuliwala or the person from Kabul.
Geo politics is the art of the possible as they say there are no permanent friends or enemies but only interests. But in today’s fast changing global and regional dynamic especially in the volatile West Asia which is still nursing the impact of Arab Spring, economic downturn and pandemic apart from festering hotspots, the US, that had been the arbiter of security in the region, does not seem to inspire the same confidence among the major players in the region.
Recently, numerous articles have been written on the demise of the dollar. The argument is that China, the second largest economy after the US, is increasingly convincing the world’s largest suppliers of energy, including Russia, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Venezuela, to trade in Chinese yuan. This, according to the commentators, will usher in the demise of the ‘petrodollar’. It would then be a matter of time before the US economy crumbles, they argue.