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India Tag

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Israel yesterday for a 3-day tour of the Jewish State, the first ever by an Indian Premier. Following his red carpet welcome at the Ben Gurion Airport, Modi engaged in some serious bilateral diplomacy with the Israeli government. Both countries signed a series of agreements in the fields of agriculture, water, and space exploration. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accompanied Modi to the Holocaust memorial Yad Vashem, located on the slopes of the Mount of Remembrance near Jerusale, where the Indian leader laid a wreath in the Hall of Remembrance in memory of over six million Jews killed in the Holocaust. Both leaders made an impromptu stop at the grave of Theodor Herzl, the founding father of modern Zionism. The visit has attracted enormous media and public interest in both the countries, with #ModiInIsrael became the leading hashtag on Twitter in both Israel and India.

With economic and diplomatic ties at all-time high, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi will embark on a 3-day visit to Israel starting tomorrow, making it the first ever visit by an Indian premier to the Jewish State. The historic visit comes as both countries mark the 25th anniversary of the establishment of full diplomatic relations. India-Israel "relations are upbeat holding huge potential," said Dr. Anju Kumar, Deputy Chief of Mission at the Indian Embassy in Israel. "India and Israel are complementary economies. India, given its huge population has lot of demand for technology in order to increase agricultural productivity, water efficiency and recycling, post-harvest treatment, digitisation and making its cities smart. Israel has many such innovative technologies which can be adapted to Indian requirements."

Just days ahead of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s historic visit to Israel, an Israeli-Indian partnership has announced the creation of a funding platform to help start-ups find investors in each other’s country. Israel’s equity crowdfunding firm OurCrowd and India's leading start-up platform LetsVenture have joined hands to create an 'India Fund' for Israeli and Indian start-ups, seeking to rope in big investors, family funds and OurCrowd’s own global network of investors. “India is a critical growth market for our business with a huge number of very exciting startup investment opportunities in a range of sectors,” OurCrowd CEO Jon Medved said.

Combatting Islamist terror was high on the agenda when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the White House on his first official visit since President Donald Trump took office. "We are both determined to destroy terrorist organizations and the radical ideology that drives them. We will destroy radical Islamic terrorism," President Trump said in his joint statement with the Indian Prime Minister at the Rose Garden. "We discussed the serious challenges of terrorism, extremism, and radicalisation, which are the major challenges facing the world today.  And we have agreed to enhance our cooperation in fighting against these scourges," Prime Minister Modi said.

Amid growing strategic and defense ties, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and U.S. President Donald Trump will hold their first bilateral meeting in Washington on Monday. "Donald Trump will host visiting Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a "working dinner" on Monday, the first for a foreign leader by the US President at the White House in his five-month term," leading Indian daily India Express reported. Ahead of Monday’s meeting, President Trump took to Twitter to welcome Indian Prime Minister, calling him a 'true friend.'

Away from the media limelight, away from the centre-stage of international diplomacy -- a revolution is taking place. Today, Israeli agricultural technology is transforming the way millions of farmers across India cultivate and harvest. Almost 25 years after the establishment of diplomatic relations, agricultural cooperation has undoubtedly emerged as the cornerstone of India-Israel ties. In 2008, Israel launched the India-Israel Agriculture Project (IIAP) aimed at setting up specialised agriculture centres across India. Today, 15 such Centres of Excellence (CoE) are operational in India, being jointly run by MASHAV, Israel’s agency for international development and India’s Ministry of Agriculture. Additionally, 12 more centres are expected to be launched in coming years, taking their number to 27.

With the recent flaring of violence in India’s Muslim majority region of Kashmir, leaders of the Muslim world and the Western mainstream media have rushed to defend the violent Islamist mobs running amok in the Himalayan province. Earlier this week, Turkey’s President Recep Erdogan called for "multilateral dialogue" with his direct involvement to settle the question of Islamist separatism in Kashmir. After last year's power grab in Ankara, Erdogan speaks in his newly acquired capacity as the ruler of Turkey, who wants to take his country back to the days of Ottoman Caliphate, when Turkey claimed to speak for the entire Islamdom. Erdogan promotes a ‘Kashmir group’ within the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to air Islamic grievances. OIC is a forum for Islamic countries -- an exclusive club of military despots and Islamic theocrats -- to bash India. India with all its flaws is at least a democracy.

With the change of administration in Washington, the U.S. and India are strengthening their defense and strategic ties. National Security Adviser H. R. McMaster met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and senior members of his government in New Delhi this week to talk bilateral cooperation in the defense sector and combatting global terrorism. “The United States and India reaffirmed a strategic partnership that involves not only a growing defense relationship but also shared perspectives of the region.” Indian newspaper Economic Times reported. Last month, India’s National Security Advisor Ajit Doval was in Washington to meet the U.S. Secretary of Defence James Mattis. These high level visits are expected to lay the groundwork for Prime Minister Modi's visit to the Washington later this summer. New Delhi-based Economic Times writes:
The United States and India reaffirmed a strategic partnership that involves not only a growing defence relationship but also shared perspectives of the region.

In what is being described as the largest single defense deal in Israel’s history, Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) has secured a defense contract worth almost $2 billion from India. Under the contract, IAI will equip the Indian Armed Forces with long and medium-range missile defense systems that have been developed through a joint Israeli-Indian partnership. IAI has been supportive of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s efforts to strengthen the Indian manufacturing base, also known as ‘Make in India’ initiative. "The current contracts represent an enormous expression of confidence by the Government of India in IAI's capabilities and advanced technologies which are being developed with our local partners as part of the Indian Government's 'Make in India' policy." IAI's CEO Yossi Weiss said.

Mainstream media is reeling following the victory for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu-Right BJP party in nationwide state elections, with leading liberal newspapers and news outlets raising the cry of ‘Islamophobia’ in India. The UK's left-wing newspaper The Guardian called the Hindu-Right electoral gains in the biggest Indian state of Uttar Pradesh (UP), which has a population of 220 million, “a victory for anti-Muslim bigotry”. Aiming its criticism of the man elected to run the state -- a 44 year-old Hindu Monk -- Yogi Adityanath, The Guardian complained  that "[Adityanath] backs a Donald Trump-style travel ban to stop "terrorists" coming to India." According to Indian media reports, President Donald Trump called Prime Minister Modi today to congratulate him on his electoral success.

What is being seen as a sharp departure from India's longstanding Middle East policy, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will not be visiting the Palestinian Authority during his historic visit to Israel, the first ever by a sitting Prime Minister of the country.  "Contrary to expectations that Modi would include Palestine in his itinerary like many ministers did in the past, he will be travelling only to Israel", the leading Indian newspaper Time of India wrote. Prime Minister Modi is expected to visit Israel in July to mark the 25th anniversary of the establishment of formal diplomatic ties between the two countries. According to the Times of India, the Palestinian Authority's (PA) envoy to India was 'shocked' at Modi government's decision to skip the customary visit to the Palestinian Territories. "Mr. Modi is not visiting Palestine on this occasion. Inshallah [By Allah's will], our President [Mahmoud Abbas] will be here this year," PA-envoy Adnan Abu Alhaija told the Indian newspaper.

An Indian Muslim group has called for the beheading of Canadian author and broadcaster Tarek Fatah. Fatah, a prominent critic of Islam, had recently started hosting a talk show on an Indian news channel.

The Muslim organisation, All-India Faisan-e-Madina Council, placed a bounty of 1,000,786 Indian Rupees on the head of Fatah for opposing required Burqas and other Sharia practices oppressive to women. The number '786' in the bounty refers to the numerical value of the Quranic verse "in the name of Allah, the most merciful, the most beneficent". So much for the mercy and beneficence.

This week, India and Israel celebrate 25 years of bilateral diplomatic ties. On January 29, 1992, foreign ministers from Israel and India signed an agreement establishing diplomatic relations between the two countries. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to visit Jerusalem in June or July to highlight the significance of this growing bilateral relationship, India's envoy to Israel Ambassador Pavan Kapoor confirmed. "The time is ripe for our two countries to explore the full potential of commonality and the complementary nature of our respective economies and work in tandem for the mutual benefit of our peoples," Indian Embassy in Tel Aviv said in a statement marking this occasion. Israel's embassy in New Delhi also issued a statement marking 25 years of diplomatic relations:
Twenty-five years ago today, on 29 January 1992, the foreign ministers of Israel and India signed the agreement to establish diplomatic relations between the two countries.

I worked in National Security at Breitbart, which made me very grateful to live in America. Every day I covered stories describing actual oppression of females. I bet you anything those females would love to have the cost of their birth control as their only worry. Those marches made me ashamed of my sex since governments in other countries actually treat its female citizens like second class citizens. I will concentrate on three countries: Saudi Arabia, Iran, and India.

Today, Israel’s Science, Technology and Space Minister Ofir Akunis lands in India for a four-day visit aimed at strengthening bilateral cooperation in the field of science and technology. Minister Akunis is accompanied by a high-profile delegation comprised of several senior Knesset members and government officials, including the head of Israel Space Agency, Avi Blasberger. The ministerial visit comes less than a month after Israeli President Reuven Rivlin visited the South Asian country. Cooperation in technology and innovation has come a long way since both countries established full diplomatic ties nearly 25 years ago. In 2008, Indian space agency ISRO launched Israeli reconnaissance satellite TechSAR aboard its satellite launching vehicle (PSLV). A missile defense system (Barak 8) jointly developed by India's defense research agency (DRDO) and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) has already been successfully tested.

With Israel's President Reuven Rivlin touring India on an 8-day visit, Ariel University is taking this historic opportunity to connect with Indian universities and tap into South Asian country's huge talent pool. Professor Yehuda Danon, President of Ariel University, is accompanying the presidential delegation, along with fifteen other heads of Israeli universities. Along with student and faculty exchange programmes, Ariel University hopes to set up a joint research fund aimed at promoting research projects with India counterparts. Ariel University, located in Samaria hills, is already home to many Indian research scholars, working mainly in industrial and technological fields. During my visit to Israel, earlier this year, I met few of the doctoral students from India and learned about the path-breaking work they were doing in collaboration with their Israeli teammates.

Israel's President Reuven Rivlin received a ceremonial welcome at the presidential palace in New Delhi, earlier today. Prime Minister Narandra Modi and senior members of his cabinet where present at the occasion as the visiting Israeli Head of State was given a Guard of Honour by the three services of Indian military. Hundreds of Israeli and Indian flags could be seen waving side-by-side along the route taken by the presidential motorcade in New Delhi. The grand ceremony accompanied by a thundering 21-gun salute is a fry cry from the dead-of-the-night  incognito "stop over" by the then Israeli Foreign Minister Moshe Dayan on a tarmac in Delhi, 40 years ago. Israel-India bilateral contacts in those days sounded more like Cold War spy thrillers than everyday diplomacy. Diplomatic relations between the two countries have indeed come a long way.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was one of the first world leaders to congratulate President-elect Donald Trump on his stunning election victory. PM Modi wrote a series of tweets this morning expressing his hope of taking “India-US bilateral ties to a new heights” under Trump presidency. News of Republican candidate's victory also brought Hindu groups out on to the streets in India's capital New Delhi.