Making Indian Presence felt in the Pacific Islands Mr. Modi Announces $75 Million Credit Line to Fiji

Concluding his 10 day tour Indian Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi, addressed the special session of the Fiji Parliament and left for India. The tour is being looked at as an exercise to build stronger ties with nations which can be strategic partners in the Indian growth story.

Shri Narendra Modi arrived in Fiji, at the crack of dawn and was greeted by his Fijian counterpart Mr. Bainimarama, at the Nausori International Airport in Fiji. this is the third and final leg of Mr. Modi's 10 day long trip.

Mr. Modi, was accorded a ceremonial guard of honour at the airport before he went on to attend a traditional welcome ceremony at Albert's Park, near the Fijian Parliament. This is a first visit by any Indian Prime Minister to Fiji, in 33 years and it coincides with Mrs. Indira Gandhi's Birth Day, who visited Fiji in 1981.

Mr. Modi, expressed his intent to help Fiji, to make it "Digital Fiji", the Prime Minister announced, Visa on arrival for tourists from Fiji. This came along with announcements of a $75 Million, credit line to Fiji. Pacts were also signed to increase Security and Military co-operation between the two countries. Discussion regarding co-generation of power and up-gradation of Sugar industry in Fiji were also held, India has announced a fund of US$5 million, towards betterment of villages in the island nation.

Mr. Modi, went on to call Fiji as a strong voice in the region and also amongst the developing world. India has offered assistance to Fiji, in the field of defence training and other aspects, to better equip the island nation.

Mr. Bainimarama, also congratulated India on the Mars Mission, and went on to say that they are looking for to Indian support and co-operation for the development of Fiji in future. He also invited the Indian film industry to come forward and shoot Bollywood movies in the region. He also added that Fiji is looking forward to increasing co-operation in the field of renewable energy.

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Fiji Opposition Party Boycotts Modi Speech at Fiji Parliament....

In a shocking turn of events in Fiji, where Indian Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi addressed a special session at the Fiji Parliament, the main opposition party Social Democratic Liberal Party boycotted the event as they were upset since they came to know that there leader Ms. Ro Tiemumu Kepais, is not being mentioned in the thank you note at the end of the event.

Fiji Prime Minister Mr. Voreqe Bainimarama, apologised for the step taken by the opposition Party and called it "inexcusable behaviour"

The other opposition party National Federation Party, although is an ally to Ms. Tiemumu's party did not support the move to boycott the special parliamentary session being held on Wednesday at the Fiji Parliament.

The Fijian premier further went on to say that, "(boycott by opposition is an) insult to the people of Ba town and Fijians."

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India - Bhutan, ties set to conquer new heights...

India's Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, chose to visit Bhutan as the first nation after becoming the Prime Minister. The visit is very important for India's foreign policy which has suffered a policy paralysis and things have become pretty stagnant in the past.

Mr. Modi seems to have understood the need of strengthening ties with it's neighbours before it moves on further away from his borders to enhance ties. Bhutan has been a strategic partner of India for long and has always stood alongside India whenever need be. Mr. Modi have defined the relations as B2B -> Bharat to Bhutan.

During the visit Mr. Modi addressed the Bhutan Parliaments combined session, he also met with the King of Bhutan, who inturn have assured the PM that action wil be taken in order to sweep out any anti-India camps that might be operating on Bhutan soil. During the visit Mr. Modi also inaugurated the Bhutan Supreme Court which has been funded by the Indian Government. Mr. Modi has made a lot many commitments towards Bhutan during the visit to increase Indian influence on Bhutan, which is being wooed by China as well. It may be noted that the Bhutan arny is being trained  at the Indian Military Training Camp, in Bhutan which was setup by the Indian Army and is still operating in full force.

During his address to the combined session in the Bhutan Parliament, Mr. Modi also emphasised on the need of a stronger India, and how it will help the SAARC nations to grow further. Mr. Modi said that a stronger India would bring prosperity to the region.

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Modi seems to be stuck on Hindi...

As per sources in the foreign office, Mr. Modi has decided to use Hindi as the language of communication from his side. This has called for the use of an interpreter, in all the talks. Although Mr. Modi is pretty conversant in English, he has chosen to use the services of the interpreter in all his meeting, apart from the leaders who were able to speak in Urdu/Hindi.

It seems that Mr. Modi is poised to bring the glory of Hindi, that it truly deserves. Mr. Modi is not the first person to use Hindi as the official language of conversation, even in the past leaders from our country have used Hindi whenever  the language of communication from the other side has not been English or Hindi.

Mr. Atal Bihari Vajpayee, also made it a point to use Hindi as the language of communication at all the international forums. In the past a lot of leaders have used Hindi, but have always resorted to the use of English during Bi-lateral talks.

Mr. Modi, would the first Prime Minister of India to use Hindi at all forums. The practice would not be unique to Indian PM, most of the international leaders prefer to use their mother tongue at all times during conversation and use the services of an interpreter.

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The Black Money Trail, Governments Attempt to trace it...

The government of India today announced setting up of a Special Investigation Team, to look into the trail of Black Money that is parked outside India. The Supreme Court, had asked the government to setup a SIT invetigate into the Black Money, based on the writ petition filed by the former Law Minister and senior advocate Ram Jethmalani in July, 2011.

                                                                              Graphic CourtseyThe Hindu

The government has setup a  high profile SIT team is being headed by retired Supreme Court Judge M.B. Shah, and Arijit Pasayat as vice-chairman. The other members of the team include Secretary revenue, deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of India, director of the Intelligence Bureau, director of the Enforcement Directorate, director of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), chairman of the Central Board of Direct Taxes and director of the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW).

Based on the graphic below that has been circulated widely on the internet as being published by Wikileaks (as per internet sources), the total money stashed in the Swiss bank accounts only for the selected few accounts amounts to a whopping 313.45 billion dollars, if we peg the Indian Rupee at Rs. 50 per Dollar.



If we are able to bring back even a part of this money back, it would do wonders for the Indian economy, the current dollar reserves of India stand at $287.18 billion. The government if is able to trace the source and provide a route to bring it back it would mean a lot for the development of India. As per our understanding, the following routes can be used to bring this money back:

1. Ask the Swiss Government to hand over the money to Indian Government: This route seems to be impossible as Swiss banks have got very stringent security and privacy policies.

2. Create a scheme to offer the offenders to pay a tax amount and retain the remaining money as white money, this will not only help the system in terms of extra tax revenue. The money converted as white money would be invested back in the markets either in the form of industries or share markets, which will inturn result in better liquidity and help the country grow.

The overall scenario in terms of the black money is very vague and we need to look at how the SIT and the government goes about it.

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Foreign Affairs!! Where are we headed??

India needs to take a stand of what all is happening in it's neighbourhood, but what is the right way of doing the same. In a first of its kind invitation Shri Narendra Modi, the PM designate had extended an invitation for the swearing in ceremony to be held on the 26th of May, 2014, to all the SAARC nation leaders.

                                                             Source:www.IndianExpress.com

Yesterday the Pakistani PM Mr. Nawaz Sharif had accepted the invitation and Bangladesh is being represented by the Speaker of the House Dr. Shirin Sharmin Chaudhary. In a first of its kind invitation it seems Mr. Modi is looking forward to creating stronger ties with all the neighbouring countries right from day one. What needs to analysed is that due to certain decisions taken by the previous government, Indian ties with neighbouring countries have weakened.

Dr. Shirin Sharmin Chaudhary, Lands in Delhi along with delegates

Source:www.siasat.com

A countries foreign policy needs to take in consideration various factors, while deciding on its course of action pertaining to the countries that surround it. There is a lot of action that is taking place in South East Asia lately and China has been trying hard to isolate India, thus our foreign policy needs to focus on our neighbours in order to maintain cordial relationships on every front; it is important for India not  only to focus on its internal strengthening but also its surroundings, as it will not only help India grow in terms of business but also a world power.

In a recent run of events a group of Tamil students started protesting against the invitation sent to to the Sri Lanka, President Mr. Rajapaksa, what these small groups are missing out on is that, India can only influence Sri Lanka, to have a better approach towards Tamil Residents, if they have cordial relationships. To further the Tamil cause in Sri Lanka, Indian government needs to create stronger ties with them in order to demand better conditions. As per reports by PTI, Sri Lanka has released a group of Indian fishermen as a goodwill gesture ahead of Mr. Modi's swearing in ceremony, this should be considered as sign of good thing in future.

Over all what we all need to see is what does Mr. Modi do in terms of foreign policy after taking the hot seat, as in the past decade India seems to have lost a lot of ground on that front. 

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