Eight killed in fire at textile manufacturing unit in Maharashtra's Solapur
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, condoling the deaths, has announced an ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh from the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund to the next of kin of the deceased and Rs 50,000 to those who were injured.
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Indian Express
41 minutes ago
- Indian Express
Jawed Ashraf writes: India and Europe can anchor a multipolar world
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar's second visit to Europe within a month reflects a deepening India-Europe engagement even as the two sides deal with volatile US policies, era-shaping geopolitical shifts, terrorism from Pakistan and escalating conflict in Europe. Highlights include Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to France to co-chair the AI Action Summit and the visit by the re-elected European Commission President, Ursula Von der Leyen, and the college of commissioners to India in February. The MEA-supported Raisina Dialogue also makes a debut this week in the strategic port city of Marseille. Europe faces extraordinary challenges. War has returned. Economic difficulties, concerns over security and immigration, and rising issues of identity and culture are reshaping politics. The European Union's (EU's) many internal stresses and faultlines have made managing the European project more complex, though Brexit has dissuaded even the most nationalist governments from abandoning the EU. The external challenges are greater. Europe must contend with US President Donald Trump's disdain for NATO and near dismantling of long-adrift transatlantic relations, the rupture in relations with Russia, and the geopolitical and economic strain in ties with China. Multilateralism, Europe's refuge for order and its instrument of international influence, is crumbling. Europe risks strategic irrelevance and a rising gap with the US and China in innovation and competitiveness. The world's most open major economy faces an upturned global trade regime. And, as it happens in continental landmasses, to Europe's east, the lines that define the political and cultural geography of what constitutes Europe are perennially contested. But the EU has shown remarkable cohesion and resilience in its response to Covid, the Ukraine war and Trump's onslaught. Its project of horizontal and vertical integration continues. Relations with the UK are improving. Europe is waking up to the need for independence in foreign and security policy, the pursuit of industrial and digital sovereignty, a resilient internal supply chain and a stronger defence industrial base. It has the intellectual, industrial and investment capacity for that. But Europe cannot do it by itself. It needs new patterns of alignment. Equally, global uncertainty has reinforced India's traditional proclivity for a diversified portfolio of partnerships. Engagement with Europe involves two levels. With the EU in its areas of exclusive and shared competences, there is a long tradition of summits, and now, expansion of strategic dialogues, including in trade, technology, security and foreign policy. With older and major member states, ties are strengthening and acquiring new dimensions. The Nordic region is the new frontier and attention has returned to the dynamic east. The EU is a leading and growing trade and investment partner for India. According to a Institut Montaigne study on the EU's ties in the Indo-Pacific, Eurostat data shows that between 2015 and 2022, EU27 FDI stock registered the strongest growth in India at 96 per cent, exceeding Taiwan's 93 per cent and China's 52 per cent. From France alone, the FDI stock grew a whopping 373 per cent. In trade, too, between 2015 and 2023, EU27 exports to India grew 47 per cent, behind 83 per cent to Taiwan and 54 per cent to China. EU imports from India grew by over 100 per cent, second behind Taiwan from the Indo-Pacific. Surveys indicate a trend toward diversification away from China, though less than that of US companies. The EU must conclude the EU-India trade and investment agreements quickly, starting with an early harvest, and also waive the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism for India in view of India's progress in green energy. These will accelerate IMEC, the great new strategic initiative that reprises an old India-Europe corridor, and will survive the current instability in the Middle East. It aims to be not just a trade route but a new global corridor of investment, innovation, enterprise and energy. India must invest more in Europe. India and Europe converge on the public character and purpose of digital technology and in preventing a global duopoly. As Modi said at the AI Action Summit, we can collaborate in innovation, application, regulation, governance, standards and serving public good globally. That also applies to digital public infrastructure. India can benefit from Europe's leadership in deeptech, digital manufacturing, enterprise technologies and key areas of the semiconductor chain. Indeed, science, technology and innovation should drive our partnership — to lead industries of the future and address global priorities, including diverse clean energy sources, climate resilience, health and food security, biodiversity and the sustainability of Earth and its oceans. This also requires a comprehensive mobility programme of higher ambition for students, scholars and scientists. Europe is a significant source of armaments for India. Europe, seeking to rearm itself, and India pursuing atmanirbharta, must prioritise collaboration and full transfer of technology in joint design, development and manufacturing of defence equipment. We have robust cooperation in the areas of maritime, underwater, space and cyber security, as also in counter-terrorism with many European partners. Beyond technical and intelligence cooperation, Europe, hit by Islamist terrorism, and sometimes with the provenance of Pakistan, needs to do more to penalise Pakistan for terrorism. Great powers believe they can bend the world to their will but often cause chaos. Middle powers need to leverage partnerships and institutions to resist and maximise their roles. India and the EU have a broader global agenda that rises beyond differences on Ukraine or Pakistan. India and a united, cohesive Europe, with an independent voice and capabilities, can build a stable multipolar world, anchored in international law, underpinned by the discipline of multilateralism and free from territorial ambitions. India and Europe approach challenges through coalitions, not unilateral initiatives or the use of asymmetric bilateral power. That calls for collaboration, not the EU's prescriptive approach on its norms. For the Global South, partnerships can protect our interests against mounting competition and also mitigate global fragmentation. In the Indo-Pacific region, while France is a key security partner for India, working with others and the EU, India can help countries avoid coercion by one hegemon or a forced choice between two major powers. Attention and time, imagination and ambition, and sensitivity to each other's concerns transform relationships. Europe and India need more of that despite other immediate preoccupations in Brussels, Delhi and European capitals. We must involve all stakeholders and also reshape media stereotypes and public perceptions. The author is a retired Indian ambassador
India Gazette
43 minutes ago
- India Gazette
"Politically motivated": BRS slams PC Ghosh Commission for delaying submission of Kaleshwaram project report
Hyderabad (Telangana) [India], June 12 (ANI) Amid chaos over former Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao's appearance at PC Ghosh Commission in connection with the alleged irregularities in Kaleshwaram project, Bharat Rashtra Samith (BRS) leader KP Vivekanand Goud labelled the Commission as being 'politically motivated' and expressed reservations over the delay in submission of the report on the project. He informed that the PC Ghosh Commission was expected to submit the report on the Kaleshwaram project within 100 days, but it has been extending the deadline. 'Today, in connection with the PC Ghosh Commission inquiry, our leader, KCR, was called. The PC Ghosh Commission was supposed to submit the report on the Kaleshwaram project within 100 days. But it has only been extending the deadline, which clearly shows that this is a politically motivated commission. Out of 239 pillars, only two pairs required repairs. Just to defame KCR, they are dragging out the Commission,' Goud told ANI here. This came as KCR appeared before PC Ghosh Commission in connection with alleged irregularities in the Kaleshwaram project. Heavy police deployment was witnessed at Hyderabad's BRK Bhavan on Wednesday ahead of KCR's appearance. Previously, BRS MLA and former Irrigation minister Harish Rao and BJP MP Etela Rajender, who previously served as Finance Minister in the BRS government, appeared before the commission. Justice PC Ghose Commission on Tuesday issued summons to former Telangana CM K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR), former Minister Harish Rao, and BJP MP Etela Rajender, who also served as a minister during the BRS regime, in the ongoing investigation into alleged irregularities in the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project (KLIP). The Commission, which has been probing financial and procedural lapses in the multi-crore irrigation project, directed the three political leaders to appear for questioning in the first week of June. On June 8, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Member of Parliament Konda Vishweshwar Reddy described the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project in Telangana as the 'world's biggest engineering blunder' and termed it a 'huge scam' that has severely impacted the state's economy. Speaking to ANI, Reddy said, 'Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project in Telangana is the world's biggest engineering blunder and it's a huge scam which ruined Telangana economically. It is one of the prime reasons that the richest state of Telangana is in such a horrible economic condition. We have a loan of Rs 8 lakh crore.' 'The present Congress government does not have money to pay salaries and run the government,' he added, blaming the ruling party for the deepening financial crisis. Telangana Irrigation and Civil Supplies Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy also held that the previous BRS government was responsible for the project's failure, labelling it the 'biggest man-made disaster' since Independence and the 'most expensive engineering failure' caused by any state government in India. He said that Telangana is currently paying Rs 16,000 crore annually in interest and instalments on high-cost loans borrowed during the BRS regime for this 'faulty' project, thereby placing an enormous burden on the state's finances and its farmers. (ANI)
Indian Express
an hour ago
- Indian Express
In Bhopal, a bridge with 90-degree turn draws criticism, minister says will look into it
A railway overbridge near Aishbagh Stadium in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, has run into controversy just as it nears completion – not for delays or cost overruns, but for what some critics say is a fundamental design flaw that could make it unsafe for motorists. Concerns have been raised around the bridge's sharp, almost 90-degree turn, which vehicles must negotiate soon after ascending. With the Congress taking to social media to take a jab at the design, the state PWD Minister Rakesh Singh promised to look into the issue. 'Whenever a bridge is made, a lot of technical considerations are taken into account. So if there are such allegations, we will look into it,' he said, while dismissing the Congress party's concerns as baseless and politically motivated. Constructed at Rs 18 crore, the 648-metre-long, 8.5-metre-wide overbridge is intended to link the congested areas of Mahamai Ka Bagh, Pushpa Nagar, and the railway station zone with New Bhopal. Conceived as a relief project, it promised to eliminate long wait times at railway crossings and spare residents a circuitous detour that many have endured for over a decade. Government estimates suggested that the bridge would benefit around three lakh commuters daily. The bridge, whose construction began in March 2023, has also faced delays. Initially set for completion in 18 months, it is only now approaching readiness after more than 36 months, delayed by factors such as the shifting of electrical lines and coordination issues between the Public Works Department and the Railways. Public Works Department (Bridge Department) Chief Engineer V D Verma told PTI, 'Due to the Metro station, there is limited availability of land at the point. Due to the lack of land, there was no other option. The purpose of the RoB is to connect the two colonies.' Only light vehicles will run on this overbridge, he said, adding that heavy vehicles will not be allowed. — With PTI inputs
