Page 161 - India

India carries successful training launch of Agni-3 missile: Report

India on Wednesday successfully carried out the training launch of Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile, Agni-3, from APJ Abdul Kalam Island, off the Odisha coast, DRDO sources said. The successful test was part of routine user training launches carried out under the aegis of the Strategic Forces Command, an official statement said, adding that the launch was carried out for a predetermined range and validated all operational parameters of the system.

Solar capacity addition falls marginally in Jul-Sep to 2.7 GW: Report

Solar capacity installations in India fell marginally by around 3 per cent to 2.7 gigawatt (GW) during July-September 2022, according to Mercom India Research. There were 2.8 GW installations during the same period in 2021, the research firm said in its report on Wednesday. However, the 10 GW of solar installations during the first nine months (9M) of 2022 were 35 per cent higher than the 7.4 GW installed in the January-September period last year, the report titled 'Q3 2022 India Solar Market Update' said. India's cumulative installed solar capacity stands at 60 GW as of September end. "With over 10 GW of solar added in the first three quarters of 2022, the Indian solar market will surpass last year's installations and is headed towards its best year. However, domestic supply and demand mismatch could hold the sector back in the short term. Until there is a clear resolution in Rajasthan, delays will continue to impede large-scale projects," said Raj Prabhu, CEO of Mercom Capital ..

India, Gulf council to launch free trade pact negotiations on Thursday

India and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) will announce the launch of negotiations for a free trade agreement on Thursday, which aims at promoting two-way commerce and investments between the regions, an official said. GCC is a union of six countries in the Gulf region -- Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain. India's exports to the GCC member countries grew by 58.26 per cent to about USD 44 billion in 2021-22, as against USD 27.8 billion in 2020-21, according to data from the commerce ministry. The share of GCC members in India's total imports rose to 18 per cent in 2021-22, from 15.5 per cent in 2020-21. Bilateral trade has increased to USD 154.73 billion in 2021-22, from USD 87.4 billion in 2020-21. "GCC officials will be here for the announcement," the official said. India has already implemented a free trade pact with the UAE in May this year. This would be a kind of resumption of FTA talks as earlier two rounds of negotiations had been held in 2006 and

Taiwan delegation's India visit a fresh boost to business ties: Report

Taiwan-India business ties got a fresh boost after a delegation from the self-governed island visited a number of Indian states earlier this month which led to the signing of three Taiwan-India MoUs

India supports strengthening maritime security in Gulf of Guinea

India vowed to support all national, regional and international efforts for strengthening maritime security, including in the Gulf of Guinea, in consultation with countries of the region

Religious freedom, related human rights in India under threat: USCIRF

Religious freedom and related human rights in India are under ongoing threat, the US Commission for International Religious Freedom alleged on Tuesday in an unusual year-end update of the status of its assessment of religious freedom in the country. India has previously rejected the USCIRF's observations, terming them as "biased and inaccurate". The US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) is a Congressional-appointed body. Its recommendations are, however, not mandatory to be implemented by the US State Department. In its 2022 Annual Report early this year USCIRF recommended that the US Department of State designate India as a country of particular concern for engaging in or tolerating systematic, ongoing, and egregious religious freedom violations, as set forth by the International Religious Freedom Act. The US State Department has refused to incorporate the commission's recommendations so far. Reiterating its recommendations of early this year, USCIRF argued t

India among top 5 countries in global climate change performance index

India is ranked among the top five countries, and the best among the G-20 nations, under the global Climate Change Performance Index, an official statement said. The index is published by German Watch, New Climate Institute and Climate Action Network International based in Germany. The CCPI aims to enhance transparency in international climate politics and enables comparison of climate protection efforts and progress made by individual countries. "India has been ranked amongst top 5 countries in the world, and the best among the G20 countries, based on its Climate Change performance," a power ministry statement said. India jumped two spots, and is now ranked 8th as per the Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI, 2023), it stated. The latest report of CCPI, released at COP27 in November 2022, shows Denmark, Sweden, Chile and Morocco as the only four small countries that were ranked above India at fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh, respectively. The first, second and third ranks wer

India well placed to lead green energy transition: Tata Group chairman

Tata Group Chairman Natarajan Chandrasekaran on Tuesday said transition to a cleaner and greener energy is an imperative that no one can wish away and India is well-placed to lead the change. He further said technological advancements have already made and should continue to make such energy transitions more affordable. The future of any business or industry, whether it is consumer facing or not, will be data-driven as the huge advancements in the field of technology has made real-time data availability both much easier as well as cheaper, he added. "The pressure to shift to green/renewable energy only will increase going forward and the transition to cleaner energy is irreversible. But we need more and newer and cleaner energy so that it becomes more affordable. We need to have hydrogen-based energy, electric batteries, storage systems, technology to reuse of industrial waste etc. "All these will be done in our own lifetime but what we need to ensure is that these solutions are mo

India moves two spots up to rank 8th in climate change performance index

India has also been ranked amongst top 5 countries in the world and the best among the G20 countries, based on its Climate Change performance

Australian Parliament okays FTA with India; to help double bilateral trade

The agreement, once implemented, will provide duty-free access to the Australian market for over 6,000 broad sectors of India, including textiles, leather, furniture, jewellery and machinery

Himayat Ali Mirza, working as socialist and helping others through his foundation

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India's fiscal consolidation trend intact; to see strong revenues: Moody's

Moody's Investors Service on Tuesday said the trend of gradual fiscal consolidation remains intact for India and going forward the country will see strong revenue performance and debt stablisation. Moody's Investors Service Senior Vice President Christian de Guzman said India's 'Baa3' sovereign rating balances its strength of relatively high economic growth and weakness of one of the most highly indebted emerging market sovereigns. The country's healthy financial system is reflected in deleveraging by Indian corporates. "We expect that India is going to be the fastest growing G-20 economy next year... (but) high inflation pose a downside risk to India's growth as households and businesses have less purchasing power," Guzman said in a Moody's virtual event 'Sovereign Deep Dive'. Moody's had earlier this month cut India's growth projection for 2022 to 7 per cent, from 7.7 per cent projected earlier. It expects growth to decelerate to 4.8 per cent in 2023 and then to rise to around 6.4

India-UK trade pact high priority; next round of talks slated in Dec: Goyal

The proposed free trade agreement (FTA) between India and the UK is a high priority for both the countries and the next round of negotiations for the pact is slated to happen next month, commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal said on Tuesday. He said that things are progressing well and it will yield good results. "We are all very well aware that it was progressing very fast until we had a little bit of a blip because of political happenings in the other country. Fortunately, we have a stable government. I believe in office now (in the UK) and I am already in touch with my (UK) counterpart. We are working together to possibly have an in person meeting also very soon but our teams are already engaged. Next month, the next round of negotiations are slated to happen," Goyal said here at a steel industry event. He said that industry support is required for the agreement and it should be a fair, equitable and balanced FTA. He also said that there should not be any strict timelines

Nepal should develop relations with India, China for prosperity: NC leader

Prakash Man Singh, a senior leader of the ruling Nepali Congress, has said that the new government in Nepal should develop cordial and friendly relationships with both India and China and seek support from all friendly countries for the landlocked Himalayan nation's prosperity. Singh, a former Deputy Prime Minister, won the House of Representatives election with a margin of just 127 votes against former BBC Nepali Service journalist Ravindra Mishra, a candidate fielded by the pro-monarchy Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) in the November 20 general elections. If an appropriate opportunity comes, I will contest the election to the Parliamentary Party leader to head the new government, Singh told PTI while responding to a question at his residence here shortly after winning the election. He said that "the new government needs to develop cordial and friendly relationships with both the neighbours, India and China and seek the support, assistance from all the friendly countries for ...

Five bacteria types claimed 680,000 lives in India in 2019: Lancet study

Five bacteria types -- E. coli, S. pneumoniae, K. pneumoniae, S. aureus and A. baumanii -- caused nearly 6.8 lakh deaths in India in 2019, according to a study published in The Lancet journal. The analysis found that common bacterial infections were the second-leading cause of death in 2019, and were linked to one in eight deaths globally. There were 7.7 million (77 lakh) deaths in 2019 associated with 33 common bacterial infections, with five bacteria alone connected to more than half of all deaths, the researchers said. The deadliest bacterial pathogens and types of infection varied by location and age, they said. In India, five bacteria -- E. coli, S. pneumoniae, K. pneumoniae, S. aureus and A. baumanii -- were found to be the deadliest, causing 6,78,846 (nearly 6.8 lakh) deaths in 2019 alone, the researchers found. E. Coli was the most deadly pathogen, claiming 1,57,082 (1.57 lakh) lives in India in 2019, according to the study. Globally, bacterial infections were second only

Rozgar Melas in NDA-ruled states benefit of double engine governments: PM

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday handed out job appointment letters to more than 71,000 youngsters, saying similar campaigns have been held in NDA-ruled states and union territories in the past one month. "This is the double benefit of double engine governments. The campaign to hand over appointment letters to the youth shall continue in a sustained manner," Modi said addressing the second 'Rozgar Mela' (employment fair) organised by the central government. Double engine government has been a campaign issue for the BJP in several assembly elections, including the recently concluded in Himachal and the upcoming polls in Gujarat. The prime minister distributed a total of 71,056 appointment letters to new recruits via video conferencing. Physical copies of appointment letters were handed over at 45 locations across the country, except Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh where the Model Code of Conduct is in force. Modi said in the past one month alone union territories and NDA-ruled

Committed to nomination of US envoy to India, ties important: White House

The United States continues to seek the expeditious confirmation of the Los Angeles Mayor, as the ambassador to India, following a long delay in the confirmation of his nomination.

India in talks with Fiji to set up language lab to promote Hindi

In a bid to promote Hindi, officials from India and Fiji are in talks to set up a modern language laboratory in the South Pacific nation, Indian High Commissioner to Fiji Palaniswamy Karthigeyan said

India condemns recent intercontinental ballistic missile launch by N Korea

India has joined the US and a dozen other nations to condemn North Korea's recent intercontinental ballistic missile launch, with New Delhi voicing concern over the proliferation of nuclear and missile technologies, saying they have an "adverse impact" on peace and security in the region, including on India. India's Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Ruchira Kamboj told the UN Security Council meeting on North Korea on Monday -- the Council met for the second time this month on the issue -- that New Delhi condemns the recent intercontinental ballistic missile launch by North Korea. The latest North Korean missile launch on November 18 which landed about 125 miles from Japan's coastline came after other ballistic missile launches in the preceding months. Kamboj said these launches constitute a violation of the resolutions of the Security Council relating to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and affect the peace and security of the region and beyond. US Ambassador

Global intellectual property filings touch record levels in 2021: UN

The UN agency said that despite the disruption of the coronavirus pandemic, this bucked previous economic downturn trends.