Brazil says that it will no longer require Indians, Chinese to have visa to visit the country

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October 25, 2019

By: Talat Mohsin

On Thursday, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro announced that the country would no longer require Indians and Chinese citizens to have visa to visit it.

The Brazilian President had made it a policy to reduce visa requirements from a number of developed countries. Earlier this year, Brazil had ended visa requirements from the United States, Canada, Japan, and Australia. However, these countries have not in return dropped the visa requirements from Brazilian citizens.

Bolsonaro announced the news on his official visit to China. This policy is being viewed as the first towards developing countries.

After the announcement, the Brazilian embassy said-“The Government of Brazil intends to bring in a policy to facilitate easier entry for Indian tourists and business persons from India as we want to boost people to people contact between the two countries and increase foreign investment into Brazil.”

The announcement from the South American country has come just before the BRICS summit, which is expected to boost intra-BRICS ties.

India wins the last test match too, clean sweeps South Africa in the test series

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Sugat Srivastava

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October 22, 2019

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By: Talat Mohsin

India has defeated South Africa in the 3 rd test match of the series, winning the whole test series against the visitors by 3-0. The victory was achieved on day 4 of the match when South Africa when Shahbaz Nadim was able to dismiss the last two players of the South African batting line up in within the second over of the morning.

This is the first time ever that India has been successful in whitewashing the Africans in a test series. It was a 202 run victory and an inning. After his smashing performance in the series, Rohit Sharma was awarded both Man of the Match and Player of the Series award.

This is India’s sixth-biggest victory. With this series, this is India’s fifth consecutive win in the ICC test championship with a total of 240 points on the scoreboard. At this stage, it’s at the top of the table. It was also India’s eleventh successive series triumph at home.

In the post-match presentation, the star of the series Rohit Sharma said-“the support of the coach and captain helps. I am thankful for the opportunity to the management for that opening slot.”

India the lowest ranking Asian country at the Hunger Index 2019; ranked 102 out of 117

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Sugat Srivastava

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October 20, 2019

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By: Talat Mohsin

The Hunger Index is out now, and it doesn’t look good for India. According to the report, India is on 102 nd rank out the total 117 countries. It’s been left behind by its counterparts Pakistan, Nepal, and Bangladesh.

The GHI score reflects on the data provided by the countries from the years 2014 to 2019 and they were judged on four parameters- undernourishment, child wasting, child stunting and child mortality rate under 5 years. The GHI scores the countries on a 100 point severity scale where zero is the place with no hunger and 100 is the worst. India’s score was 30.3.

Not only was India the lowest-ranked Asian countries, at some parameters it performed even worse than some of the Sub-Saharan African countries. The report says: “Because of its large population, India’s GHI indicator values have an outsized impact on the indicator values for the region. India’s child wasting rate is extremely high at 20.8%- the highest wasting rate of any country in this report.”

In 2000, India was at the 83 rd spot among 113 countries. After steady improvement, India’s rank began deteriorating from 2015 when it was on the 93 rd rank. Nepal and Bangladesh have performed exceedingly well in the Index. Even Pakistan, who was the only South Asian country behind India, has improved its rank.

Seventeen countries with a GHI of less than 5 tied for the first rank. They included the names of Belarus, Kuwait, Ukraine, Turkey, and Cuba. The report has stated that there’s no denying the fact that the world has come a long way since 2000, the world still has a lot to do to achieve its “zero hunger” target.

IAF surprises everyone by flying the same aircraft that Pakistan claimed to have shot down

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Sugat Srivastava

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October 8, 2019

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By: Talat Mohsin

On Airforce Day, IAF debunked Pakistan’s claim of shooting down Sukhoi-30MKI by making it fly with the other aircrafts today. Pakistan, had claimed that it had shot down the aircraft in the air battle on February 27, a day after Indian jets had bombed Balakot to attack the terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed.

Not only this, the aircraft, whose call name is Avenger 1, was piloted by the same two man crew who flew the Sukhoi-30MKI on the day of the battle. The IAF has said that Pakistan claims were a way to hide the loss it suffered by the destruction of its own American made F-16 which wing commander Abhinandan Vartaman had shot down before getting shot down. The wing commander was awarded the Veer Chakra for shooting down the F-16.

The Avenger1 aircraft flew in the Avenger formation. In the formation three nimble french origin Mirage-2000 flanked by two larger Sukhoi-30MKI, the extreme Sukhoi being the “Avenger1”.

Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria acknowledged the crowd today at the Hindon Airforce Station by saying-“We acknowledge the contributions of all personnel of commands, stations and units who silently and professionally contribute to the success of the airstrikes on the terrorist camps at Balakot earlier this year.”

World Boxing Championship: Amit Panghal becomes the first Indian Boxer to win the silver medal

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Sugat Srivastava

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September 21, 2019

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By: Talat Mohsin

Amit Panghal became the first Indian to clinch the silver medal in the world boxing Championship. He was defeated by Shakhodin Zoirov 5-0 in men’s 52 kg league. It was Panghal’s first meeting with Zoirov.

Panghal created history on Friday when he became the first Indian to qualify in the finals of the championship. He defeated Kazakhstan’s Saken Bibbisinov by split decision (3-2) in the semis. Uzbekistan’s Zoirov secured his place in the final after winning the semi-finals against France’s Billal Bennama.

India’s Manish Kaushik also reached the semi-finals, where he was knocked out 5-0 by Cuba’s Andy Cruz Gomez in the 63 kg bout. He became the fifth Indian Boxer win the bronze medal, after Vijender Singh (2009), Vikas Krishan (2011), Shiva Thapa (2015) and Gaurav Bidhuri (2017). Both Panghal and Kaushik are Naib Subedars in the Indian army.

“Hum dono bhaiyo ne yahi socha ki poora zor laga dena hai, desh ke liye medal ka colour change karna hai (we both had decided to give it our all in the semis and change the colour of the medal for the country. It’s unfortunate that Manish lost the match but it is a great journey that Manish had here on his debut. Debut par medal hamesha khaas hota hai”
Panghal after winning the semis (as stated in the Times of India).

Tata Sumo discontinued in India after 25 years

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Sugat Srivastava

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September 18, 2019

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By: Talat Mohsin

The UV, once a runaway success in India, has now been discontinued in the country. Its production was stopped in April this year and the sumo will not be sold at Tata dealerships from now. The vehicle was priced between ₹7.39 lakhs to ₹8.77 lakhs.

Its non-compliance with the latest safety standards and the upcoming BS-6 norms left no other choice but for the car to be discontinued. It also does not meet with the standards set by the BNVSAP (Bharat New Vehicle Safety Assessment Program). The car also does not comply with the new AIS 145 safety norms and also did not receive updates for the same.

As compared to modern cars, the technology used in the UV was also pretty outdated. Additionally, it catered to a very specific section of society. All these factors together bought the doom for Tata Sumo.
Sumo’s successor Sumo Grande was launched in 2008 with a completely new look and modern interiors and exteriors. But it failed to garner the success earned by its predecessor and was discontinued in 2016.

Several other vehicles have also been pulled out due to similar reasons. This list contains the name of aging vehicles such as Maruti Omni, Gypsy, Tata Nano, etc.

Soon, driverless cars to turn into a reality for Indians

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Sugat Srivastava

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September 17, 2019

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By: Talat Mohsin

In one of the most ambitious projects to ever be announced, researchers and scientists from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and engineers from Wipro have joined hands to develop driverless cars for Indian roads. The cars are expected to roll out in March 2020.

The car is being developed keeping in mind the average road conditions in India. Generally, Indian roads are filled with potholes, cattle and traffic. The traffic rules are also not followed and the drivers drive their cars irresponsibly.

“In Europe or the US, there is discipline. There is laned traffic. Here, nobody bothers- you have humans, cycles, autos going. If we have an autonomous vehicle in these conditions it has to take care of all these factors, plus, the zero infrastructure, the potholes and the fact that everything is random,” said Prof AG Ramakrishnan from the department of electrical engineering at IISc, key investigator in the project.

The initiative is a part of the ongoing three year old project at WIPRO, where data from European and American roads was being analysed for development of a suitable autonomous vehicle for the roads. The data from these roads could not be used for India as unsurprisingly, the conditions are not at all the same. Hence, the researchers have come up with “cutting edge” algorithms that are specific to Indian roads.

According to the team members, every component of the car is being built from scratch. The total number of members from this project is 200, which includes professors from six different IISc departments. For collecting raw material, an autonomous car is being run on Bengaluru roads for the past six months.

Neuromorphic computer chips will be used in the cars to mimic neural processing of the brain and use less power in favour of a high power computer system. 28 censors will be put on the car.

India’s GDP growth slows down to 5%, slowest growth in six years

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Sugat Srivastava

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August 31, 2019

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By: Talat Mohsin

India’s gross domestic product has slowed down to 5 percent in the first quarter of the fiscal year 2019-20. This has resulted in the slowest GDP growth in the last 25 quarters.

Experts have expressed their shock on this development, even saying that the economic slowdown was bigger than expected. According to government reports, weak consumer demands and private investments are being credited for the slowdown, along with weak manufacturing.

The GDP growth has now slowed for the fifth consecutive quarter. The previous low was recorded in the fourth quarter of the fiscal year 2012-13 at 4.3 percent. The GVA (gross value added) was recorded at 4.9 percent, which was also the slowest in 19-20.

The manufacturing sector grew at a rate of 0.6 percent in the first quarter of 19-20, from 12.1 percent in the same time period last year. The agriculture sector also slowed down from 5.1 per in the first quarter to 2 percent in the same period.

Meanwhile, real estate dropped down to 5.7 percent from 9.6 percent. According to Chief Economic Advisor Krishnamurthy Subramaniam: “Quarterly GDP estimates show that India’s GDP growth, while high, has shown some slowdown. This is due to both endogenous and exogenous factors. Impact comes, especially from global headwinds due to deceleration in developed economies, Sino- American trade conflict, etc.”

He added-“ similar phenomenon has also been observed previously before during Q4 (2012-13) and Q4 (2013-14) when growth was around 5 percent. Electricity and power generation, which is a leading indicator across the world, grew by 8.6 percent- a good sign of green shoots towards higher growth.” ( statement as reported in The Indian Express)

Trump backs out on his offer of mediating between India and Pakistan, calls the Kashmir issue “bilateral”

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Sugat Srivastava

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August 26, 2019

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By: Talat Mohsin

After repeatedly offering to help India and Pakistan find a common ground on the Kashmir issue, Trump has backed out on his offer, calling it a “bilateral issue”.

Trump had offered to mediate the issue on three different occasions in the past month. On all these occasions, the official US government office was in the favour of a bilateral settlement between the countries. Seems like the president and his office are on the same page again.

India has maintained its stance and has called the Kashmir issue as bilateral and scrapping of the article 370 an internal affair. Donald Trump had earlier claimed that India had asked for his help on the burning matter at hand. But the Indian government refuted the claim. Later the president’s office set the matter straight when it stated that the president had offered his help, India had not asked for it.

Prime minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to meet Trump in Biarritz, France on the side lines of the G7 summit. Even though India is not a part of the G7, the Indian premier was personally invited by the French President Emmanuel Macron to attend the summit.

After landing, Modi had his first bilateral meeting with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Modi is also expected to take a walk and have conversation with the French President. Modi also addressed a session on biodiversity on the side lines of the prestigious summit. He highlighted India’s efforts towards reducing plastic, conserving water , harnessing solar energy and protecting flora and fauna for sustainable future.

Trump talks to Modi and Imran; says tough situations, great conversations

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Sugat Srivastava

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August 20, 2019

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By: Talat Mohsin

On Sunday US President Donald Trump spoke with Indian prime minister Narendra Modi and Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan, with the aim of reducing the escalated tensions between the two nuclear-armed countries.
On Tuesday morning, Trump took to Twitter to post about the call where he said that he had talked to the premiers about “trade, strategic partnerships” and that he has also urged the two countries to work our their differences.

Spoke to my two good friends, Prime Minister Modi of India, and Prime Minister Khan of Pakistan, regarding Trade, Strategic Partnerships and, most importantly, for India and Pakistan to work towards reducing tensions in Kashmir. A tough situation, but good conversations!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 19, 2019

The relations between the two neighbors had always been sour. But the latest step taken by the Indian government to revoke article 370 in the state of Jammu and Kashmir has been severely criticized by Pakistan. In addition, Pakistan has cut all trade and transport ties with India.

PM Highlights “The Concern Over Terrorism” To Trump

The White House issued a statement on the phone call to the Indian premier. It said: “The two leaders further discussed how they will continue to strengthen US-India economic ties through increased trade, and they look forward to meeting again soon.”

On Trump’s call to Imran Khan, the White House said that the call was to “discuss the need to reduce tensions and moderate rhetoric” with India over Kashmir.

Tag: india