‘India should be an APEC member '

Shadow Minister for Trade Jason Clare on India’s growing economic might, following his maiden visit there

Prior to his first visit to India, Shadow Minister for Trade Jason Clare expressed his surprise that Australia does almost the same level of trade with New Zealand as they do with India, even though New Zealand has but a quarter of the population of Delhi.

“Australian companies are comfortable doing business with South Asian countries such as Japan and Korea, unfortunately they have not included North Asia in their plans. And I find that surprising as India in North Asia is one of the world’s fastest growing economies,” he told Indian Link.

During his tour of India, he said that with trade becoming fundamental for global peace and stability and preventing the US-China kind of trade wars, it is vital to push for an Indo-Pacific free trade zone like the AsiaPacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) that should include India.

APEC is a free trade agreement among 21 Pacific Rim member economies to which India has been seeking admission. It includes Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Thailand, the US and Vietnam.

Australia has been pushing India's case for induction into the APEC, as well as in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). Promoting Indian membership of these bodies has bipartisan support in Australia irrespective of the party in power, Clare revealed.

"The world is different today from what it was years ago when the United Nations was founded. India is poised to become the world's third largest economy and requires to be represented at the UNSC... it has Australia's support," Clare said.

He referred to the report released last year by the Australian government titled "India Economic Strategy to 2035: Navigating from potential to delivery" authored by its former High Commissioner in New Delhi Peter Varghese which argues that India should be brought into the APEC.

"For Australia, India is a partner in seeking to forge regional institutions in the IndoPacific and so needs to be part of the APEC. India needs to represent the Indo-Pacific in APEC, which doesn't make sense without India," Clare said.

"As partners in the Indo-Pacific we are each grappling with the implications of the fading of US strategic predominance in the region," he added.

In this connection, the Australian politician pointed to the revival of the quadrilateral initiative - “Quad” - that was revived a year ago involving India, Australia, Japan and the US as a "welcome initiative on strategic issues."

The Quad of democratic countries advocate a free and open Indo-Pacific for shared peace and prosperity.

"If countries like India, China, Australia need to achieve their growth goals we need peace and stability in the region. Over the long term we need to aim for an APEC free trade agreement that involves the major powers like US, China, India, Australia,

Indonesia," Clare said.

Referring to the ongoing US-China trade war, he said that a "lot of people in the US and UK are worried about trade endangering jobs", but for Australia it is important to grow its trade with countries of the region.

"Both Australia and India see China as an important part of inclusive regional institutions," the Australian Shadow Trade Minister said.

On India's chances of APEC membership, he pointed to the hopeful fact of APEC members also being involved in the negotiations for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) that includes India. RCEP is a proposed free trade agreement (FTA) between the ten member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the six Asia-Pacific states with which ASEAN has existing free trade agreements (Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand).

"APEC members are involved in the RCEP discussions, so it is a logical next step for India to becoming part of APEC," Clare said, adding that he is hopeful about the RCEP negotiations concluding this year.

According to the "India Economic Strategy" report, no single market over the next 20 years will offer more growth opportunities for Australia than India.

The report targets Australian exports to India to grow from $15 billion in 2017 to around $45 billion by 2035 and outward Australian investments to India rise from $10.3 billion to over the $100 billion mark, reflecting a transformational expansion of the relationship. "Australians have been hesitant about doing business outside the country and they have to be bold about seizing opportunities overseas," Clare said.

One of the ways to engage more with India, Clare had said in his interview prior to his departure, is to have more frequent direct flights between India and Australia.

“Currently there is only one airline which is flying direct between the two countries,” he pointed out. “With China, there are 10 direct daily flights, and there are 14 flights a day to Singapore.”

But when pressed on whether the Federal government should offer incentives to airlines to increase frequency, Clare deflected it back to the state governments to take a lead in this matter.

But the Shadow Minister did promise that should the Labor party come into power this year, there will be double the number of trade missions going to India.

“We will also encourage and implement internship programmes where young Australians and Indians can go and live and work between the two countries. That will build up good understanding and hopefully business opportunities,” he said.

In New Delhi, the Shadow Minister also took part in a CII sponsored meeting with representatives of Indian industry like Wipro, Aditya Birla Group, and Vikram Solar, as well as institutions like Amity University which have either an established presence in Australia or are looking to do business here.

Biswajit Choudhury in India and Pawan Luthra in Sydney

At peace in the madding crowd: Taking a holy dip at the Kumbh

It is the largest spiritual, cultural and religious congregation of its kind and attracts crores of devotees from India and abroad at the Sangam - the confluence of the Ganga and Yamuna rivers and the mythical Saraswati. The historic city of Praygaraj, which was recently renamed from Allahabad, is witnessing the coming together of saints, seers and devotees in numbers that can blind the human eye.

Everywhere in the city, from its by-lanes to the bathing ghats, all one can see is devout believers headed in one direction. Upon arriving in the city, the first sights are those of folks arriving from the rural regions of the country. Their sheer belief in the faith they practise resonates from their eyes like vapour arising from a snow-clad mountain in the morning sky, lulling the environment of the city in a spiritual mood.

As you walk down the road that leads to the Sangam, you will encounter thousands of people, wearing different costumes, talking in different languages and chanting prayers as they walk. The city has itself been decorated to welcome the visitors.

Paintings, depicting scenes from ancient Indian scriptures, adorn the walls along the roads and the underpasses. And then there are elements of the great Indian circus that evoke curiosity among the visitors. Jaadugars displaying their myriad tricks, astrologers predicting the future to a gathering and medicine sellers attracting customers by enthusiastically speaking into their microphones, are the sights that keep one company in the long walk to the river bank.

As the river makes its appearance in the distant horizon, numerous sadhus and mystics, in their myriad avatars, are seen in their respective tents. They have all gathered at the banks of the river and these holy men display their unusual practices in full glory.

Seated at one of the tents near the pontoon bridges that lead the visitors to Sangam, for example, is a holy man showing off his nearly three-metre long moustache, which he claims to have grown over a decade. Dozens of devotees throng his tent. Some seek photographs and selfies.

Barely a few steps away from him is "Selfie Baba", clad in a spiritual attire and equipped with a selfie stick attached to a smartphone. His appearance, in his own words, signifies the meeting of mythology and technology.

Along the way to the Sangam, several temples make their appearances, with a distinct bhajan playing in each of them. The visitors are offered prasad at several of them, before they finally reach the destination.

The very sight of Sangam is refreshing; its water clean, for a change, and despite the huge crowd, it somehow seems to accommodate all. For safety, personnel have been deployed on the bathing ghats and ropes demarcating the bathing areas can be seen. The water level in most permissible areas is mild and there is a rope for visitors to hold on to while they take the holy dip.

It's a sight worth seeing - and an experience worth living. All tensions that inflict the human mind seem to lose their relevance the moment one goes fullbody-down under the holy water, which, according to the legends, opens the doors to heaven. The icy-cold water sends jitters through the nerves but its impact is felt only for a few seconds. By the time one rises out, both the sensation of the chilly winter and the cold water is gone.

Opening one's eyes after the holy dip introduces one to a world slightly different than the one before. The picture is more clear, the sounds more vibrant, and the mind so peaceful: call it the impact of the churlish chidings of the winter's wind or a divine force at play but there is surely something extraordinary that the devout undergo after the holy dip.

The chants of Har Har Mahadev and Har Har Gange resonate in the air as one steps out and offers a prayer to the Sun god.

The holy dip is symbolic of a new beginning: the devotees seek forgiveness for their errors and make a fresh start after it.

Saket Suman

India scaling up defence diplomacy in extended neighbourhood

Keeping regional security in mind, India has scaled up its defence cooperation with its extended neighbourhood in the last three years under New Delhi's Neighbourhood First, Act East and Look West policies. Informed sources in New Delhi claim there has been an emphasis on defence exports with 'Made in India' products being a priority area.

In the Maldives, where political turmoil took much of last year, the Indian establishment is now seeing the situation as getting stable as the Indian Ocean archipelago nation is critical for regional security from New Delhi's perspective.

The year 2018 started off on a wrong note in the neighbourhood with then Maldivian President Abdulla Yameen, seen to have been distancing himself from India and leaning towards China, imposing a state of emergency in February.

Yameen's move was in defiance of a Supreme Court ruling that ordered the release of nine opposition leaders, including former President Mohammed Nasheed.

Pro-India Nasheed, who was in exile at that time, requested New Delhi to send an envoy, "backed by its military", to secure the release of judges and political detainees, including former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.

Though the Indian Army did not set its boots on the Indian Ocean archipelago nation, New Delhi kept calling for restoration of all democratic institutions there.

The crisis came to an end in September when Ibrahim Mohammed Solih, put up as the joint opposition candidate, defeated Yameen in the presidential election.

After India signed a bilateral action plan with the Maldives in 2016, the country's defence minister is set to visit India later this week.

According to the sources, India now has a number of coastal surveillance radar systems (CSRS) in the Maldives.

With Bangladesh too, defence diplomacy is on the upswing after Manohar Parrikar became the first ever Indian Defence Minister to visit the eastern neighbour.

India has extended a $500-million line of credit (LoC) to Bangladesh to look at Indian defence products.

With Sri Lanka too, a similar line of credit has been extended and there has been exchange of visits by high-level military officers between India and the island nation.

India is also holding defence dialogues with Myanmar after that country's transition to a civilian-led government following the general elections in 2015.

"With Myanmar, we have worked on various issues, especially in the maritime domain," one of the sources familiar with the developments said.

Devotees take a holy dip at Sangam, the confluence of three of the holiest rivers in Hindu mythology, the Ganga, the Yamuna and the Saraswati, during Kumbh Mela festival in Allahabad, India, 21 January 2019. 120 million devotees and tourists are expected to attend the Hindu festival which concludes on 04 March 2019. Photo: AP

Under the Act East Policy, India is building its defence ties with with key Southeast Asian nations like Singapore, Vietnam, the Philippines and Indonesia.

"We now have structured dialogues with Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia," the source mentioned above said.

"We have signed an equipment-centred MoU (memorandum of understanding) with the Philippines."

Extending further east, India has also boosted its defence ties with Japan and Australia.

India, Japan and Australia, along with the US, are part of a quad revived in 2017 that seeks to work for peace and prosperity in the Indo-Pacfic, a region that stretches from the east coast of Japan to the east coast of Africa.

This comes in the face of China's increasing footprint in the region and Beijing's aggression in the South China Sea. Japan and India have held air force exercises, which is a significant development.

The two sides have also set up the first ever joint venture for defence equipment production.

With Australia, there has been a considerable forward movement in the last three years, according to the sources.

Apart from the armies and navies of the two countries participating in joint exercises, the Indian Air Force also participated in Exercise Pitch Black organised by the Royal Australian Air Force. However, the most remarkable transition in defence ties has been with India's extended neighbourhood towards the west.

The low-key defence relationship with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has grown up considerably in the last two to three years.

Apart from holding joint naval exercises, the UAE is now looking at India as a potential source of defence equipment.

There have been positive outreaches from India to Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

"We are now exploring the possibility of a joint army exercise with Egypt," one source said.

It is learnt that other countries like Jordan and Morocco are also engaging with India in a more active manner, especially in terms of counter-terrorism.

India has also boosted its defence cooperation with Central Asian nations like Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan, according to the sources.

Karnataka's 111-yearold socio-religious icon mourned

Karnataka's 111-year-old revered seer, Shivakumara Swami of the Siddaganga Mutt in Tumakuru, the most influential leader of the Lingayat community, died on 21 Jan following protracted illness.

Known among his followers as a "walking god" and an incarnation of 12th century social reformer Basava, the seer also headed the Sree Siddaganga Education Society, which runs about 130 educational institutions across the state - from engineering colleges to business schools.

Many of the institutions offer free education and boarding and lodging facilities to poor students.

Fluent in English, Kannada and Sanskrit, the seer was widely respected for his secular outlook and the charitable activities he presided over.

Thousands of grieving followers gathered at his hermitage where he was shifted to on 16 January on his request although he had not fully recovered in the hospital where he was warded. As news of his death spread, many men and women broke down outside his ashram and hundreds of people rushed to the Mutt for a last glimpse of the seer, who was kept in a sitting posture in a glass casket.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress President Rahul Gandhi, BJP President Amit Shah and scores of political leaders in Karnataka, including state Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, mourned Swami's death.

The Chief Minister also said the state government would recommend to the Centre to confer "Bharat Ratna", highest civilian award, on the seer.

Indian-American Senator Kamala Harris says she'll run for President

Kamala Harris, a Senator of Indian descent, announced on Monday that she is running for President in the 2020 elections branding herself a "fighter" for the American people.

As the daughter of an Indian mother and an African-Jamaican father, she claims both heritages and chose to declare her candidacy on the day that is observed as Martin Luther King Day, honouring the slain African-American civil rights leader who was inspired by Mahatma Gandhi's message of 'satyagraha'.

She made the announcement on a national TV program and simultaneously released a campaign video on social media with a call to "fight for American values".

"The American public wants a fighter and they want someone that's going to fight like heck for them and not fight based on selfinterest and I'm prepared to do that," she said.

Harris was elected to the Senate in 2016, the same year President Donald Trump, whom she has been fighting, was elected. She became the first person of IndianAmerican descent elected to the Senate and the second woman of African-American descent.

Harris will have to first win the Democratic Party nomination next year battling several candidates, including Tulsi Gabbard, the first Hindu elected to Congress, Senator Elizabeth Warren and former Housing Secretary Julian Castro.

A lawyer, Harris was elected California State Attorney-General before coming to the Senate.

Her role in law enforcement has drawn criticism from some in the Democratic Party and the New York Times published a scorching op-ed denouncing her as "often being on the wrong side of history" because of her tough anti-crime policies and not progressive enough on criminal justice reform.

But that could also be a plus for her, strengthening her credentials as more of a centrist who could appeal to a broader voter base while also advancing a progressive agenda.

Her tough prosecutorial background was on display on the Senate the Judiciary Committee when she grilled Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who had been accused of sexual harassment by several women, when his nomination to the top court was under consideration.

And if she were to ultimately run against Trump in 2020, she would need all toughness she can muster.

Harris is campaigning on universal healthcare, providing government health insurance for all and large tax cuts for the middle class. She is an advocate for immigrant rights and a campaigner protecting women's rights.

Her campaign said that it would not accept donations from political action committees set up by corporations to fund candidates.

Harris' mother, Shyamala Gopalan, was a cancer researcher from Chennai and her father, Donald Harris, is a Stanford University economics professor.

India to be global growth leader in 2019-20: IMF

The International Monetary Fund's (IMF) World Economic Outlook Update released by chief economist Gita Gopinath has said that India's economy is expected to grow by 7.5 per cent in the 2019-20 fiscal year, keeping an upward trajectory as the rest of the world slumps.

India will continue to be the world's fastest growing major economy, the report said.

The IMF's flagship report said that India's growth was estimated to be 7.3 per cent for the current fiscal year and forecast to rise to 7.7 per cent in 2020-21.

"India's economy is poised to pick up in 2019, benefiting from lower oil prices and a slower pace of monetary tightening than previously expected, as inflation pressures ease," the report said.

At the launch of the report in Davos, Switzerland, Gopinath said, "The global expansion is weakening and at a rate that is somewhat faster than expected."

She said the update projects global growth at 3.5 per cent in 2019, a downward revision of 0.2 per cent from the October report, and 3.6 per cent in 2020, a reduction of 0.1 per cent.

"We believe the risks to more significant downward corrections are rising."

However, she also said, "While this does not mean we are staring at a major downturn, it is important to take stock of the many rising risks."

Gopinath, a former adviser to the Kerala government and highly regarded professor at Harvard University, took over as the chief economist of the IMF in January, becoming the first woman to hold the key post in global economic policy-making.

She blamed the trade tensions and worsening financial conditions for the bleak outlook. "Higher trade uncertainty will further dampen investment and disrupt global supply chains," she said.

The IMF saw China's growth slipping from 6.6 per cent last year to 6.2 per cent this year.

The World Bank's projections published earlier this month for India's growth in the current and next fiscal years, match those of the IMF, but is lower at 7.5 per cent for 2020-21.

On the Indian side, the Central Statistics Office (CSO) put the current fiscal year's growth at 7.2 per cent and the Reserve Bank at 7.4 per cent.

India's first all-women's party launched, to contest LS polls

India's first-ever all-women political party - the National Women's Party (NWP) - was launched in Mumbai this month and it will contest half - 283 - of the 545 Lok Sabha seats in the 2019 elections.

The NWP, described as "a party of mothers", has been founded by a medico and social activist, (Dr) Shwetha Shetty, and will strive for 50 per cent reservation for women in the lower House.

"This party is a historic step in our mission to ensure equal representation for women in Parliament. Our ideology is to remove gender disparity in politics and thus create equal importance for females in the patriarchal Indian society," Shetty told media persons at Mumbai.

She pointed out that the battle to get reservations in Parliament is now over two decades old, but the fact is that we continue in a society where most political decisions are taken by males, with females not having an equal say in Parliament, thus diminishing the possibility of "women empowerment".

"With this initiative, the NWP plans to create an environment for full development of women which enables them to realise their full potential and help achieve the goals of empowerment," Shetty said.

The NWP will soon launch a mobile app called "Mahila Rakshak" which would provide assistance to women in distress during emergencies, since "safety is of utmost importance considering the growing incidents of crimes against them".

The party will open a Youth Parliament which would be political school for women in every state in the country to provide academic and practical training and exhort them to become involved in the country's political process, said Shetty.

Ians