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New York — Prime Minister Narendra Modi was hailed at the United Nations General Assembly for his message to Russian President Vladimir Putin over the Ukraine war, by the US and France at the UNGA meeting in New York.
On the sidelines of the SCO summit in Samarkand on September 16, PM Modi had said “today’s era isn’t of war” while emphasising the need to find ways to address the problems of food, fuel security and fertilizers.
France President Emmanuel Macron and US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan on Tuesday (local time) welcomed PM Modi’s statement to Putin on Ukraine.
“Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister of India was right when he said the time is not for war. It is not for revenge against the West, or for opposing the West against the east. It is the time for a collective time for our sovereign equal states. To cope together with challenges we face,” Macron said.
Sullivan in a White House statement said: “I think what Prime Minister Modi said — a statement of principle on behalf of what he believes is right and just — was very much welcomed by the United States and for the Indian leadership, which has longstanding relationships in Moscow, from the very top all the way through the Russian government, to continue to reinforce that message that now is the time for the war to end”.
Apart from the UNGA, PM Modi’s statement became popular and was praised by international media.
American network CNN praised PM Modi’s hold on world politics and reported, “Indian leader Narendra Modi tells Putin: Now is not the time for war.”
While another US publication The Washington Post’s headline was “Modi rebukes Putin over the war in Ukraine”. “India’s Leader Tells Putin That Now Is Not an Era for War,” The New York Times said in its headline. It was the lead story on the webpage of both The Washington Post and The New York Times.
Meanwhile, Russian President Putin had said that he knows about India’s position on the Ukraine conflict.
“I know about your position on the Ukraine conflict. I know about your concerns. We want all of this to end as soon as possible,” Putin said.
“But the other party, the leadership of Ukraine has claimed… that they refuse to engage in the negotiation process. They said they want to achieve their objectives, as they say, on the battlefield militarily. We will keep you abreast of everything that is happening over there,” he added.
“The rare reproach showed the 69-year-old Russian strongman coming under extraordinary pressure from all sides,” the Post said.
Putin said that relations between Russia and India are in the nature of a privileged strategic partnership and continue to develop very rapidly. (ANI)

KATHMANDU: Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba of Nepal has extended his greetings to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his 72nd birthday on Saturday.

“On the occasion of your birthday, best wishes for good health and long life, Prime Minister @narendramodi. May Shri Pashupatinath always protect you,” tweeted Deuba.

Recently in May, PM Modi made an official visit to Nepal where the two leaders held bilateral talks in Lumbini.

Both the leaders participated in the foundation stone laying ceremony for the construction of a Centre of Buddhist Culture and Heritage in Lumbini.

Prior to this, PM Modi visited the Maya Devi Temple. He was accompanied by PM Deuba and his spouse Arzu Rana Deuba.

The PMs paid their respects at the Marker Stone inside the temple premises, which pinpoints the exact birth spot of Lord Buddha. They attended the pooja conducted as per Buddhist rituals.

The two Prime Ministers also lit lamps near the Ashoka Pillar located adjacent to the temple.

Thereafter, the two Prime Ministers watered the Bodhi tree sapling from Bodh Gaya which was gifted by PM Modi to Lumbini in 2014 and also signed the temple’s visitor’s book.

As Prime Minister, this was his fifth visit to Nepal and first to Lumbini.

Prior to this, in April PM Modi and his Nepalese counterpart Sher Bahadur Deuba met in New Delhi to launch multiple initiatives as well as signing four crucial agreements in multiple domains.

The two countries signed agreements on Nepal becoming the 105th member of the International Solar Alliance (ISA), technical cooperation in railways, supply of petroleum products and sharing of technical expertise in the petroleum sector between Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. (IOCL) and Nepal Oil Corporation Ltd. (NOC).

The two Prime Ministers also witnessed the launch of the first passenger train service between India’s Jayanagar and Nepal’s Kurtha, the hand-over of the Solu corridor transmission project by India to Nepal and the progress of the construction of 132 health facilities across 10 districts in Nepal under a Government of India (GoI) grant.

The two countries announced the launch of the Indian RuPay card in Nepal, with the domestic variant of the RuPay card (roughly 83 per cent of all RuPay cards issued) to be functional on about 1400 Point of Sale (POS) machines in Nepal.

The move makes Nepal the fourth country outside India where RuPay is functional after Bhutan, Singapore and UAE.

The inaugurated Jaynagar-Kurtha railway section is part of the Jaynagar-Bijalpura-Bardibas rail link being constructed with grant assistance of INR 548 crore from the Government of India. It is a 35 km rail section, 3 km of which lies in the Indian state of Bihar and the rest in Nepal.

The project is the first broad-gauge passenger rail link between the two countries, opening an entirely new dimension for cross-border connectivity. Till 2014, this was an existing rail service on a metre-gauge rail link between Jaynagar and Janakpur.The Solu Corridor 132 kV power transmission line and substation project is one of the major projects in Nepal undertaken under the Government of India’s Line of Credit (LoC). The 90 km 132 kV Double Circuit line connects the remote Solukhumbu, Khotang and Okhaldhunga districts of North Eastern Nepal with Nepal’s national electricity grid.

After its operationalization, the transmission line will bring electricity from existing and upcoming hydro projects in the area into the national grid, and also supply power into the rural electrification networks of nearby districts. The project is expected to be crucial for the socio-economic development in the rural part of Nepal, in addition to contributing to Nepal’s overall economic and industrial development.

Nepalese Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba also held wide-ranging deliberations with PM Modi on various topics including cooperation in the power sector, railway projects, flood control programs, as well as the border dispute between the two countries.(ANI)

SAMARKAND — During the meeting of the expanded circle of the Heads of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, Chinese President Xi Jinping congratulated India for the SCO Presidency next year in 2023.

“I congratulate India for hosting the SCO next year,” Chinese President Xi Jinping said in a statement during the summit. He further extended his support towards India and it’s presidency of SCO next year.

“We will support India for its presidency next year” the Chinese president said in SCO.

Uzbekistan is the current chair of SCO 2022 whereas India will be the next chair of the SCO for the year 2023.

Meanwhile, Russian President, Vladimir Putin, also congratulated India for assuming the presidency for the following year.

Earlier, Uzbekistan’s President Shavkat Mirziyoyev welcomed PM Modi to the Congress Centre in Samarkand for the 22nd SCO Summit. T

his is the first in-person SCO Summit after the Covid pandemic hit the world.

The last in-person SCO Heads of State Summit was held in Bishkek in June 2019.

The SCO currently comprises eight Member States (China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan), four Observer States interested in acceding to full membership (Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran, and Mongolia) and six “Dialogue Partners” (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Turkey).

The Shanghai Five, formed in 1996, became the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in 2001 with the inclusion of Uzbekistan.

With India and Pakistan entering the grouping in 2017 and the decision to admit Tehran as a full member in 2021, SCO became one of the largest multilateral organizations, accounting for nearly 30 percent of the global GDP and 40 percent of the world’s population.

SCO has potential in various new sectors, wherein all the member-states could find converging interests.

India has already pushed hard for cooperation in Startups and Innovation, Science and Technology and Traditional Medicine.

From the time of its full membership, India made sincere efforts to encourage peace, prosperity, and stability of the whole Eurasian region in general and SCO member countries in particular. (ANI)

New Delhi — Billionaire tycoon Gautam Adani has now become the world’s second richest man, replacing Bernard Arnault by a whisker on the Forbes list. The Adani Group chairman’s net worth now stands at $155.5 billion ( ₹12.37 lakh crore).

According to the Forbes Real Time Billionaires List, Adani’s net worth rose by $5.2 billion, a hike of 3.49 per cent. He is narrowly ahead of French tycoon Bernard Arnault and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. Tesla founder Elon Musk continues to occupy the top position in the rich list.

In the top 10 list, Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani is the second Indian with a net worth of $92.2 billion. The other billionaires in the top ten list include Bill Gates, Larry Ellison, Warren Buffett, Larry Page and Sergey Brin.

On 30 August, Adani had surpassed Louis Vitton boss Arnault to become the world’s third richest man. It was the first instance when an Asian was ranked among the top three billionaires.

The Adani Group’s kitchen essentials firm Adani Wilmar Ltd is now scouting for local and overseas acquisition targets to boost its food operations business, Bloomberg reported. The company’s chief executive officer and managing director Angshu Mallick told Bloomberg that the company is looking to acquire brands in staple foods and distribution companies to boost its consumer goods offering and reach.

Adani Wilmar has earmarked ₹500 crore from its initial public offering for the purchases. The additional funding will be sourced from internal accruals and the 30 billion rupees of planned capital expenditure for next year starting April, he said. The food company’s shares have more than tripled since its $486 million debut in February.

The announcement comes after Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries announced its foray into FMCG business through its subsidiary Reliance Retail in August. ( From : The Hindustan Times )