His spirit of service continues to inspire: PM Modi's tributes to iconic statesman Vajpayee
Atal Bihari Vajpayee was born on December 25, 1924, in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh. He was a statesman, poet, and writer from India who held the position of Prime Minister, initially for 13 days in 1996, then for 13 months from 1998 to 1999, and finally for a complete term from 1999 to 2004.
Taking to X, PM Modi posted, "Remembering Atal Ji on his Punya Tithi. His dedication and spirit of service towards the all-round progress of India continue to inspire everyone in building a Viksit (developed) and Atmanirbhar (self-reliant) India."
Vajpayee was the first Prime Minister since Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru to have become Prime Minister of India with two-successive mandates.
A veteran Parliamentarian whose career stretched over four decades, Vajpayee was elected to the Lok Sabha (House of the People) nine times and to the Rajya Sabha (House of the States) twice, a record by itself.
As India's Prime Minister, Foreign Minister, Chairperson of various important Standing Committees of Parliament and Leader of Opposition, he was an active participant in shaping India's post-Independence domestic and foreign policy, according to the Prime Minister of India's official website.
Vajpayee first encountered nationalist politics during his student days when he joined the Quit India Movement of 1942, which accelerated the end of British colonial rule.
As a political science and law student, Vajpayee cultivated a strong interest in foreign affairs during his college years. This enthusiasm was effectively utilised by the former External Affairs Minister while representing India at various multilateral and bilateral forums.
Vajpayee began his career in journalism, but it was cut short in 1951 when he joined the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, the predecessor of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Born into the family of a humble schoolteacher, Vajpayee became a leader respected for his liberal worldview and commitment to democratic ideals.
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The Hindu
42 minutes ago
- The Hindu
Chilling past, warm present
On August 15, U.S President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin concluded a historic summit in Alaska. After friendly greetings and two-and-a-half-hour-long talks at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, they left without announcing any deal, but claimed to have made progress on many issues. The selection of Alaska as the backdrop for this summit, the first since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, was significant in more than one manner. Alaska was under Russian control for 125 years before being sold to the U.S. in 1867. Alaska is separated from Russia by a distance of 88 km, while the Russian Island of Big Diomede is located just 4 km from the U.S. Little Diomede Island, with the Bering strait separating the two. Also read: Trump-Putin Alaska Summit Highlights Alaska has been populated by Indigenous peoples, including the Athabaskans, Unangan (Aleuts), Inuit, Yupiit (Yupik), Tlingit, and Haida, for centuries. In the early 18th century, Danish explorer Vitus Bering was pressed into service by Russian Tsar Peter the Great to explore the regions to the east of Russia's border. In 1728, Bering sailed through the strait separating the Russian mainland and North America (the strait is now named after him). During his second voyage in 1741, Bering spotted the peak of Mount St. Elias, part of an Alaskan mountain range, from his ship St. Peter. His 'discovery' of Alaska was confirmed later during the voyage of Englishman Captain James Cook, who mapped the area in 1778. Trading outposts Russian traders — the Promyshlenniki — soon set up outposts in Alaska, interested in seal-hunting and otter fur trade. The first Russian colony was set up in 1784 on Kodiak island at Three Saints Bay. In 1799, Tsar Paul I established the Russian American company, and in 1806, their capital was moved from Kodiak to Sitka. The Russians had to contend with opposition from the Alaskan natives, including an armed battle in Sitka in 1804 between Tlingit and Russian forces. British and later American trade interest in the region was also a challenge to the growth of 'Russian America'. Over decades, overexploitation of seals and sea otters in Alaska meant that their populations shrank, gutting profitability for Russian traders. Further, Russia was defeated by the British in the Crimean war (1853-1856). Viewing Alaska as a hard-to-defend territory which was also becoming economically untenable, Tsar Alexander II decided to give it up. Despite British interest, the U.S. emerged triumphant in its bid for Alaska in 1867. Russia sold the parcel of land, measured 665,000 sq. miles, to the U.S for $7.2 million, in a deal brokered by U.S. Secretary of State William Henry Seward. The deal, dubbed as 'Seward's Folly', was widely criticised, since Alaska was viewed as a barren frozen wasteland. The subsequent discovery of natural gas reserves and rare earth minerals, however, changed the public perception. In 1896, gold was found in Yukon and prospectors arrived to seek their fortunes in the Klondike gold fields. In 1959, Alaska officially became the 49th State of the U.S. Traces of its Russian past persist in Alaska till day. Several Orthodox churches, with characteristic ornate decor and onion-shaped domes, dot the region. The Orthodox diocese in Alaska is reportedly the oldest in North America, and it maintains a seminary on Kodiak island, the site of the first Russian settlement. Local dialects, now fast-vanishing, arose from a melange of Russian and local indigenous language, and persisted in regions surrounding Anchorage. Russian, too, is taught in some areas, such as the Kenai peninsula. Alaska is also a strategically important region. Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, the site of Friday's summit, was a forward front of American defence during the Cold War. Given the region's imperial Russian past, it was hardly a surprise that Anchorage was picked as the venue for the Putin-Trump meet — an American town acceptable for the Russians. When Mr. Putin met Mr. Trump on the tarmac of the joint base, he greeted him, saying, 'Good afternoon, dear neighbour.'
Economic Times
an hour ago
- Economic Times
Putin emerges from the Alaska summit with increased stature and Trump echoing a Kremlin position
President Vladimir Putin walked on a red carpet, shook hands and exchanged smiles with his American counterpart. Donald Trump ended summit praising their relationship and calling Russia "a big power ... No. 2 in the world," albeit admitting they didn't reach a deal on ending the war in Ukraine. By Saturday morning Moscow time, Trump appeared to have abandoned the idea of a ceasefire as a step toward peace -- something he and Ukraine had pushed for months -- in favor of pursuing a full-fledged "Peace Agreement" to end the war, echoing a long-held Kremlin position. The "severe consequences" he threatened against Moscow for continuing hostilities were nowhere in sight. On Ukraine's battlefields, Russian troops slowly grinded on, with time on their side. The hastily arranged Alaska summit "produced nothing for Mr. Trump and gave Mr. Putin most of what he was looking for," said Laurie Bristow, a former British ambassador to Russia. The summit spectacle Putin's visit to Alaska was his first to the United States in 10 years and his first to a Western country since invading Ukraine in 2022 and plunging U.S.-Russia relations to the lowest point since the Cold War. Crippling sanctions followed, along with efforts to shun Russia on the global stage. In another major blow, the International Criminal Court in 2023 issued an arrest warrant against Putin on accusations of war crimes, casting a shadow on his foreign trips and contacts with other world leaders. Trump's return to the White House appeared to upend all that. He warmly greeted Putin, even clapping for him, on a red carpet as U.S. warplanes flew overhead as the world watched. The overflight was both "a show of power" and a gesture of welcome from the U.S. president to the Kremlin leader, "shown off to a friend," said retired Col. Peer de Jong, a former aide to two French presidents and author of "Putin, Lord of War." Russian officials and media reveled in the images of the "pomp-filled reception" and "utmost respect" that Putin received in Alaska. Putin has "broken out of international isolation," returning to the world stage as one of two global leaders and "wasn't in the least challenged" by Trump, who ignored the arrest warrant for Putin from the ICC, Bristow told The Associated Press. For Putin, 'mission accomplished' Putin "came to the Alaska summit with the principal goal of stalling any pressure on Russia to end the war," said Neil Melvin, director of international security at the London-based Royal United Services Institute. "He will consider the summit outcome as mission accomplished." In recent months, Trump has pressed for a ceasefire, something Ukraine and its allies supported and insisted was a prerequisite for any peace talks. The Kremlin has pushed back, however, arguing it's not interested in a temporary truce -- only in a long-term peace agreement. Moscow's official demands for peace so far have remained nonstarter for Kyiv: It wants Ukraine to cede four regions that Russia only partially occupies, along with the Crimean Peninsula, illegally annexed in 2014. Ukraine also must renounce its bid to join NATO and shrink its military, the Kremlin says. After Alaska, Trump appeared to echo the Kremlin's position on a ceasefire, posting on social media that after he spoke to Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders, "it was determined by all that the best way to end the horrific war between Russia and Ukraine is to go directly to a Peace Agreement, which would end the war, and not a mere Ceasefire Agreement, which often times do not hold up." In a statement after the Trump call, the European leaders did not address whether a peace deal was preferable to a ceasefire. The pro-Kremlin tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda described it as a "huge diplomatic victory" for Putin, whose forces will have time to make more territorial gains. The summit took place a week after a deadline Trump gave the Kremlin to stop the war or face additional sanctions on its exports of oil in the form of secondary tariffs on countries buying it. Trump already imposed those tariffs on India, and if applied to others, Russian revenues "would probably be impacted very badly and very quickly," said Chris Weafer, CEO of Macro-Advisory Ltd. consultancy. In the days before Alaska, Trump also threatened unspecified "very severe consequences" if Putin does not agree to stop the war. But whether those consequences will materialize remains unclear. Asked about it in a post-summit interview with Fox News Channel, Trump said he doesn't need "to think about that right now," and suggested he might revisit the idea in "two weeks or three weeks or something." Alexandra Prokopenko of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center and a former adviser at the Russian Central Bank, posted on X that it was "an important tactical victory for Putin" that gives Moscow "an opportunity to build alternatives and be prepared." More pressure on Ukraine In a statement after the summit, Putin claimed the two leaders had hammered out an "understanding" on Ukraine and warned Europe not to "torpedo the nascent progress." But Trump said "there's no deal until there's a deal." In his Fox interview, Trump insisted the onus going forward might be on Zelenskyy "to get it done," but said there would also be some involvement from European nations. Zelenskyy will meet Trump at the White House on Monday. Both raised the possibility of a trilateral summit with Putin, but Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said it wasn't discussed in Alaska. The Kremlin has long maintained that Putin would only meet Zelenskyy in the final stages of peace talks. "Trump now appears to be shifting responsibility towards Kyiv and Europe, while still keeping a role for himself," Tatiana Stanovaya of the Carnegie Russia and Eurasia Center wrote on X. Fiona Hill, a senior adviser on Russia in his first administration, told that Trump has met his match because "Putin is a much bigger bully." Trump wants to be the negotiator of "a big real estate deal between Russia and Ukraine," she said, but in his mind he can "apply real pressure" only to one said - Kyiv. Hill said she expects Trump to tell Zelenskyy that "you're really going to have to make a deal" with Putin because Trump wants the conflict off his plate and is not prepared to put pressure on the Russian president. Far from the summit venue and its backdrop saying "Pursuing Peace," Russia continued to bombard Ukraine and make incremental advances on the over 600-mile (1,000-kilometer) front. Russia fired a ballistic missile and 85 drones overnight. Ukraine shot down or intercepted 61 drones, its air force said. Front-line areas of Sumy, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk and Chernihiv were attacked. Russia's Defense Ministry said it had taken control of the village of Kolodyazi in the Donetsk region, along with Vorone in the Dnipropetrovsk region. Ukraine did not comment on the claims. Russian forces are closing in on the strongholds of Pokrovsk and Kostiantynivka in the Donetsk region, which Moscow illegally annexed in 2022 but still only partially controls. "Unless Mr. Putin is absolutely convinced that he cannot win militarily, the fighting is not going to stop," said Bristow, the former ambassador. "That's the big takeaway from the Anchorage summit."
Time of India
2 hours ago
- Time of India
SCERT says Bose ‘fled to Germany out of fear', corrects error
Thiruvananthapuram: Following protests over alluding to the element of 'fear' behind Subash Chandra Bose 's travel to Germany during the independence struggle in a draft copy of a teacher's handbook, the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) carried out an immediate correction. The draft of the teachers' handbook prepared by SCERT for the fourth standard was published on the council's website for teachers' reference. In the book dealing with the portion of the Indian independence struggle, it was stated that Bose served as Congress president and later resigned from the organization to form a new party, the Forward Bloc. However, in the later part of the description, it was stated, "Bose fled to Germany, fearing the British. " SCERT sources said the handbook was not a final version, and the correction was made as soon as the undesirable allusion to Bose's exit to Germany was noted in the PDF version. The attempts to portray Bose as a coward who fled to Germany, fearing the British, caused much flutter, especially when the CPM and Congress persistently attack the BJP govt in the Centre and Sangh Parivar for their alleged attempts to alter the narrative of the Indian independence struggle. Stay updated with the latest local news from your city on Times of India (TOI). Check upcoming bank holidays , public holidays , and current gold rates and silver prices in your area.
