India Narrative

Actress Kangana Ranaut says Chinese manufacture everything “sasta and cheap”, and that people should not go by their products. Kangana’s message to fans comes after the Indian Government issued an interim order to block Chinese apps in India. “The government has banned Chinese apps and I think most people are celebrating because China is like we all know, it’s a communist country and the way they have gone deep into our economy and our system… the data is scary, how much our business was dependent on China and this year apart from being the originator of coronavirus and giving the world the biggest adversity of recent times. In the midst of this adversity, now they are messing with our borders in Ladakh and they don’t only want Ladakh. In the scheme of things, they want Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim. They also want your Assam and it’s never-ending,” said Kangana. “You can see the greed of these people and of course even the world is astonished by their ways of life and by the

“ China is strongly concerned about the relevant notice issued by the Indian side. Indian government has the responsibility to uphold the legitimate and legal rights of the international investors including Chinese ones,” said Zhao Lijian, the Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson, Tuesday after India banned 59 apps developed by the Chinese firms. china news An authoritarian regime, which can’t even tolerate pictures of a honey-loving cartoon bear, trying to preach the principle of legitimacy to a democratic nation is as weird as it gets. Some years ago, Winnie the Pooh vanished from the Chinese tv channels, social media and the Shanghai Disneyland just because people started comparing President Xi Jinping to the fictional teddy bear character created by English author A.A. Milne. Google, Wikipedia, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Blogger and thousands of other popular social media apps, search engines and websites are banned in China since long. Is China uph

The IIT Alumni Council has announced elimination of Chinese systems and software in all its initiatives, including MegaLab. For data security, privacy and assured data integrity, the IIT Alumni Council will facilitate the design of a Blockchain protected public cloud infrastructure to handle real time Covid diagnostic and treatment data. Research and relevant public policy data will also be uploaded on the blockchain protected public Cloud system for sharing among the authorized users. All Chinese systems and software used in the RTPCR industry will be removed with immediate effect and replaced by indigenous technologies. The Council has been working actively for the last few weeks with various Technical Institutes of Excellence and research institutions for developing indigenous and cost-effective solutions to replace the Chinese systems and software. These include an initiative with IIT Roorkee to recycle all the plastic disposables used in the RTPCR process, includ

Continuing with its expansionist agenda, China has now created a new border dispute with Bhutan , one of India’s traditional ally. At a virtual meeting of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) in the first week of June, Beijing objected to the grant for Sakteng Wildlife Sanctuary (SWS) in eastern Bhutan’s Trashigang district bordering India and China, claiming that the location was disputed. BhutanNews Even as the rest of the world is struggling with the coronavirus pandemic, which originated in Wuhan city of China’s Hubei province, Beijing has been aggressively attempting to alter the status quo in the East China Sea, South China Sea and with India in Arunachal Pradesh and Ladakh. As per Strat News Global, the GEF Council gathered to decide on funding for various environmental projects across the world, was shocked by China’s objection, and instantly rubbished it. The majority of the GEF council members supported Bhutan’s view and the draft summary of the chair was appr

China today reached out to India, expressing anxiety about the ban imposed by the Indian government on popular Chinese mobile applications like TikTok and WeChat , among others. During a daily news briefing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told reporters in Beijing, “China is strongly concerned about the relevant notice issued by the Indian side. We are checking on and verifying the situation.” “We want to stress that the Chinese government always asks the Chinese businesses to abide by international and local laws and regulations,” Zhao said, adding that India also has a responsibility to uphold the rights of Chinese businesses. “The practical cooperation between China and India is actually mutually beneficial and win-win,” he said. In a diplomatic reaction to the Chinese aggression along the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh, where 20 Indian soldiers and an unknown number of Chinese troops were killed two weeks ago, India yesterday banned over 50 Chinese

The one positive impact of the Covid 19 crisis is the focus by industries to switch to sustainable practices of manufacturing and supplies. Leading the way is cosmetic giant L’Oreal, which plans to be fully sustainable by 2030. The company has now launched its sustainability programme ‘L’Oreal for the future’. Under the programme, the group that owns Lancome, Armani and Garnier, aims to keep its operations within “planetary boundaries.” The plan was revealed in a recent webinar held by the group. By 2030, 100 per cent of the plastics used in L’Oreal’s products’ packaging will be either from recycled or bio-based sources. Within the same time frame, it will reduce by 50 per cent per finished product, compared to 2016, its entire greenhouse gas emissions, Jean-Paul Agon, chairman and CEO of L’Oreal announced at the press conference. By 2025, all of L’Oreal’s sites will have achieved carbon neutrality by improving energy efficiency and using 100 per cent renewable energy, she

As more people work from home due to the pandemic, the need for mentor-led, career-focused partnerships is growing amongst job-seekers and career-changers. The current transition to working remotely or from home has significantly impacted career growth and development prospects for many in India. There is a pressing need to rethink how growth and development are perceived, reveals a mentorship survey from Springboard, an online platform for workforce upskilling. Virtual mentoring programs can fill the major gaps in the current job market and help people across the world achieve their career goals, believe experts. The Survey covered 500+ professionals from various professions across metro cities in India, their experience level ranging from entry (44 per cent) to the director (2.1 per cent) level. The pandemic has pre-empted heightened needs for people to seek mentoring while learning. While 69.4 per cent of respondents feel that re-skilling is closely linked to career gr

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday extended Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) for another five months till the end of November to help the poor in view of the upcoming festivals like Diwali and Chhath. The Prime Minister made the announcement in his sixth address to the nation in four months since the novel coronavirus or COVID-19 pandemic broke out and started getting out of hand. “Friends, in our country, there are many activities in agriculture during and after rainy season. Other sectors do not have much activity. July also marks beginning of the festive season.  July 5 is Guru Purnima, then month of Saawan is starting. Then August 15 is coming, Raksha Bandhan, Sri Krishna Janmashtami,Ganesh Chaturthi, Onam will follow. Further, Kati Bihu, Navratri, Durga Puja is coming, then Dushera, Diwali and Chhath. This festive season increases necessities as well as expenditure. Keeping all these things in mind, it has been decided to extend Pradhan Mantri Garib

A Kenyan Appellate Court has halted the dragon’s African safari by pronouncing that “the $3.2 billion contract between Kenya and China for the construction of the Standard Gauge Railways (SGR) is illegal.” The recent judgment has lifted the lid on the dragon’s “debt-trap diplomacy.” china news China has built the railway line under its ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) by giving huge loans. Kenya has been under pressure to pay its debts while handling the financial implications of the Chinese virus pandemic . Since 2013, Kenya has accepted more than $5 billion loans from China for SGR construction, making it the largest infrastructure project of the country. But in its first year of operation, the project reported losses equivalent to $98 million, making Kenya’s serving of the loans unmanageable. Dragon eyes Mombasa Port The railway project is funded on the terms that could end up giving China control over some of Kenya’s most important assets. If Kenya fails to repa

The gross state domestic product (GSDP) across India is expected to contract between 1.4-14.3 per cent, according to a report by India Ratings, a Fitch group company. According to the agency’s estimate, the states that will witness a double-digit contraction in the GSDP growth in FY21 are Assam, Goa, Gujarat and Sikkim . The agency said that it has utilised the insight gained in terms of the proportion of the state economy that was dysfunctional during the lockdown, in estimating the GSDP for various states “Despite the nationwide lockdown enforced on 25 March 2020, several economic activities defined as essentials remained operational, while the lockdown impacted different sectors, namely agriculture, industry and services differently,” the ratings agency said in a statement. “Since agricultural activities were less impacted, the states having a higher share of agriculture are expected to have suffered less compared to the one where the share of agriculture is low.” A

Talks between top Indian and Chinese military delegates started on Tuesday morning to resolve the border issue in eastern Ladakh. The meeting is taking place at Chushul wherein India has put a strong message that China’s People’s Liberation Army troops have not been aided by the disengagement consensus. India news This is the third meeting between both country’s military delegates. Last two meetings at Corp Commanders level were held on June 6 and June 22. This time it’s being held in Chushul on the Indian side. Last two meetings were in Moldo on Chinese side. “All contentious areas during the current stand-off will be discussed to stabilize the situation,” a source said. China had agreed to move back in Pangong Tso but it did not. India claims Line of Actual Control at Finger 8 and Chinese are sitting between Finger 4 and Finger 5. Similar, differences exist in Depsang and Demchok areas. On June 22, the talks took place for around 11 hours between India and China mili

Union Information & Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar hailed the Modi government ’s decision to ban 59 Chinese applications, connecting the move to ‘ Atmanirbhar Bharat ’. Taking to social media, Javadekar remarked, “The whole country has appreciated the decision of the @narendramodi govt to ban 59 Chinese Apps. This will give fillip to Indian Startups & they will come up with better versions very soon. This is a right step towards #AtmaNirbharBharat”. The Modi government on Monday banned 59 Chinese apps including TikTok, WeChat and UC Browser and Xiaomi’s Mi Community over national security concerns amid strained India-China relations after the death of 20 Indian soldiers in the Galwan Valley clash with Chinese PLA troops in eastern Ladakh. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has issued a list of 59 Chinese apps that are now banned in the country. “These measures have been undertaken since there is credible information that these

By banning 59 Chinese mobile apps, the Narendra Modi government has made it clear that it is in mood to further placate the Xi Jinping regime. This decision, however, should be seen as just one of the first measures in confrontation with China. Many more, and much more substantial, measures need to be adopted to strengthen India. The Ministry of Information Technology yesterday proscribed the apps, including TikTok, UC Browser, and Baidu map. According to an official press release, these apps “are engaged in activities which is prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of state and public order.” The Ministry said that it had received many complaints from various sources, including several reports, about misuse of some mobile apps available on Android and iOS platforms. These apps have been stealing and surreptitiously transmitting users’ data in an unauthorized manner to servers which have locations outside India. “The compilation of th

Chingari app , an Indian rival to Chinese TikTok, has witnessed lakhs of downloads and over 2 million views per hour after the government banned 59 Chinese apps over security concerns. Founded by Bengaluru-based programmers Biswatma Nayak and Siddharth Gautam last year, Chingari was trending at the top spot on Google Play Store. Not just the public, the app has been given a thumbs-up by investors also. “As Chingari is setting new benchmarks, a lot of investors are showing interest in our app. We are holding crucial discussions to get a good investor(s) on board so as to scale up our free-of-cost social platform,” Nayak said in a statement. Industrialist Anand Mahindra, an active social media user, “who never used TikTok” has downloaded Chingari and tweeted about it, saying “More power to you”. Chingari, which is available in many Indian languages – English, Hindi, Bangla, Gujarati, Marathi, Kannada, Punjabi, Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu – allows a user to download and uplo

Officials from Saudi Arabian and the US have called on the international community to extend a UN arms embargo on Iran, warning that the expiry would allow Tehran to destabilize the region. Saudi news Saudi Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel Al-Jubeir and US Special Representative for Iran Brian Hook held a joint press conference, where weapons, including drones and missiles, which were used in recent Houthi attacks on Saudi cities, were displayed, reports Xinhua news agency. Al-Jubeir said that Saudi Arabia is consulting with all the countries on the UN Security Council on the dangers of letting the arms embargo on Iran expire. Hook warned if the UN arms embargo against Iran is lifted, Tehran will be able to further develop its military capabilities and acquire new sensitive technologies and re-export to its proxies in the region. “The weapons that we see here today are all the evidence we need that the arms embargo on Iran must not be lifted,” Hook added, highl

Delays in port clearance due to manual inspection of import consignments is expected to impact vehicle manufacturing in the country, Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) has said. According to SIAM President Rajan Wadhera, inordinate delays in clearance due to congestion at ports could eventually impact manufacturing of vehicles in India. “The industry is piecing itself together as growth is limping back; any further disruption at this juncture is best avoided,” he said. With the Centre taking a tough stand on imports from China amid border tensions, several industries that depended on inputs from that country are facing delay in getting their supplies as the goods are held up at ports and airports and are being subjected to stricter customs scrutiny. Several industry bodies, from apparel to electronics, have written to the government urging faster Customs clearance as delays might affect the manufacturing process. Citing the gravity of situation, many in