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EAM Jaishankar is on a three-day visit to the Maldives and Sri Lanka to further expand bilateral engagement with the two key maritime neighbours of India.

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and Maldives President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih have jointly participated in the groundbreaking ceremony of the Hanimaadhoo international airport redevelopment project, a “historic milestone” in the robust India-Maldives development partnership.

Mr. Jaishankar is on a three-day visit to the Maldives and Sri Lanka to further expand bilateral engagement with the two key maritime neighbours of India.

Speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony, Mr. Jaishankar said India’s partnership with the Maldives is based on its genuine desire to work together for each other’s welfare and interests.

“It is a partnership that has enabled us to swiftly and effectively respond to challenges, as we saw recently during the Covid pandemic. It is a partnership that has enabled us to deliver results and bring about tangible benefits to our peoples in accordance with their wishes, aspirations and priorities,” he said on Jan. 18 evening.

“Now we all know that the current complex geopolitical environment has thrown up new disruptions which are impacting every country in the world.

“The need for cooperation and collaboration has assumed even greater importance in this context,” he said.

India has extended support to Maldives to address the evolving economic challenges, including through emergency financial assistance and strongly reaffirmed New Delhi’s firm commitment to continued cooperation to Male.

Mr. Jaishankar said the initiation of the Hanimaadhoo international airport development project marks a “historic milestone” in the robust India-Maldives development partnership.

“Joined President @ibusolih and his Ministers and local leaders at the ground-breaking ceremony of Hanimaadhoo International Airport Development Project,” he tweeted.

“This project will bridge the gap between the people of Northern Maldives and the rest of the world and bring our peoples together. And India is privileged to be with the Maldives for its implementation,” he said at the ceremony attended by a broad spectrum of Members of Parliament and representatives from the Atoll councils in the Maldives. Mr. Jaishankar said better connectivity is a prerequisite for greater prosperity and with this rationale, greater connectivity finds resonance in India’s theme for the G20 Presidency – ‘One Earth, One Family, One Future’.

“It is our endeavour to share India’s experiences, learnings and models as possible templates for others, particularly in the developing world and to promote a universal sense of oneness through enhancing connectivity,” he said.

Mr. Jaishankar later tweeted that the rising number of Indian tourists in the Maldives is a ‘reflection of our deepening ties and are outcomes of focus on infrastructure and connectivity, especially under the Modi Government.” President Solih described the airport development project as a well-planned, studied and executed project.

The historic project is the largest and most significant infrastructure project initiated outside the Male region. Funded through an MVR2.1 billion loan from the Exim Bank of India, the project is contracted to India-based firm JMC Projects, Mr. Solih said.

President Solih said the northern region would see economic progress upon the completion of the project as it would increase tourism facilities, including guesthouses and city hotels, drive job creation in the northern atolls, and transform the region into an economic hub.

He underscored that the airport project coupled with the redevelopment of the Kulhudhuffushi Regional Port and connectivity through the Raajje Transport Link (RTL) high-speed ferry services would help the administration transform northern Maldives into the perfect model of a thriving economy.

Providing details on the airport development projects underway in particular, President Solih said that while Hoarafushi Airport and Faresmaathoda Airport projects have been completed, his administration has also mobilised resources for the Maafaru International Airport project.

Earlier, Mr. Jaishankar was given a traditional Maldivian welcome when he arrived at Manadhoo, the capital of Noonu Atoll in the Maldives, on Wednesday.

The Maldives and Sri Lanka are India’s key maritime neighbours in the Indian Ocean Region and occupy a special place in the Prime Minister’s vision of ‘SAGAR’ (Security and Growth for All in the Region) and ‘Neighbourhood First’.

thehindu.com

The literary extravaganza hosts sessions by the biggest names of our time in the field of literature and ideas.

“Other literature festivals may do what they do, but no one does mayhem like we do,” declared William Dalrymple as he, Sanjoy Roy and Namita Gokhale kicked off the 16th edition of the Jaipur Literature Festival on Thursday following an electrifying music performance.

Celebrating the “power of literature, art and culture with a focus on Indian languages”, the festival, which is being held completely in person for the first time since the COVID-19 outbreak, features sessions on 21 Indian and 14 international languages across five venues at Hotel Clarks Amer. It features 350 participants speaking on subjects including climate justice, the female voice, crime fiction, memoir, translation, poetry, economics, tech morality and Artificial Intelligence, the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the violence unleashed by the British Empire, Partition, geopolitics and art.

The literary extravaganza hosts sessions by the biggest names of our time in the field of literature and ideas, including Abdulrazak Gurnah, Geetanjali Shree, Shehan Karunatilaka, Tanuj Solanki, Ashok Ferry, Ashwin Sanghi, Avinuo Kire, Bernadine Evaristo, Chigozie Obioma, Daisy Rockwell, Deepti Naval, Christopher Kloeble, Alex von Tunzelmann, B.N. Goswami, Gulzar, Javed Akhtar, Ruth Ozeki, Katherine Rundell and Marlon James.

Nobel Laureate Gurnah delivered the keynote address on ‘writing as a form of resistance’. He spoke of resistance not so much to tyrannical rule, as is widely understood, but to the more ordinary things in life. Writing, he said, is a “form of resistance to forgetfulness, to distraction, to neglect, to let what we know and what we remember to pass away”.

Every year, the festival recognises a poet of repute with the Mahakavi Kanhaiyalal Sethia Award for Poetry. The winner this year is the modern poet, critic, editor, translator, and academic K. Satchidanandan. The festival concludes on January 23.

thehindu.com

Houston, Jan 17 (PTI) Janani Ramachandran, a 30-year-old Indian-American attorney, has emerged as the youngest and the first queer woman of colour to take oath as the Oakland City Council member in the US state of California.
     Ramachandran took the ceremonial oath wearing a saree as the Oakland City Council member for District 4 in an inauguration ceremony held on January 10.
     “WE WON! Honored to be the next City Councilmember for Oakland District 4!! I will officially be the youngest Council member in Oakland’s history, the 1st #LGBTQ woman of color & 1st South Asian to serve on Oakland City Council,” the public interest attorney tweeted.
     She took to Twitter to express her gratitude and said, “Immensely grateful for all those who believed in me and helped build our movement. Honored to have my loved ones by my side as I took the ceremonial oath!”
     Ramachandran describes herself as “a daughter of immigrants from a small village in South India.
     Ramachandran currently serves on the California Commission on Asian and Pacific Islander American Affairs and has previously served as a Commissioner at the City of Oakland Public Ethics Commission, according to her website.
     The Stanford University and University of California, Berkeley pass-out has worked in several legal non-profits.
     As a first-time candidate in her 2021 run for State Assembly, she shocked political experts by advancing to the special election runoff, coming out on top amongst a field of previously elected officials, her website said.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)

theweek.in

RRR’s win at the Golden Globes is not just a win for SS Rajamouli and his team, but a win for Indian cinema. Now, all eyes are on the Oscars and what’s next for the celebrated filmmaker.

In Short

• RRR has its sights on the Oscars now.
• Rajamouli has signed with Hollywood’s premier talent agency CAA.
• The RRR director has said that a sequel is in the works.

By Latha Srinivasan: Director SS Rajamouli, Ram Charan, Jr NTR, and composer MM Keeravaani are over the moon with the historic win at the Golden Globes 2023. Following the prestigious award win, the Indians are rejoicing around the world. The big win by Team RRR not just made history for the Indian and Telegu cinemas, but has made it a force to reckon with.

The career path for the Baahubali director has now split wide open and Rajamouli is likely to become the first Indian director to be working in mainstream Hollywood. How did Jakanna, as he is fondly called, get to this incredible moment in his career?

CINEMA FOR INDIANS

All the 12 films that SS Rajamouli has directed so far have been in Telugu and, astoundingly, all of them have been successful at the box office. This is not a simple feat to achieve. With Eega, Rajamouli tasted the success of his films in non-Telugu speaking areas as well, as the movie was dubbed and released in various languages. The success of this film made Rajamouli a household name in India. Come Baahubali, he pushed boundaries not just in terms of the story and scale and, with the marketing blitz, his team created pan-India to ensure that all Indians get to see this larger-than-life film. He used innovative promotional tactics and engaged social media and the millennials to get them hooked on his film. This strategy paid off.

Watch Naatu Naatu from RRR

With RRR, Rajamouli, his cast and their marketing team went a step further. They decided to market it to the world rather than just India. The cast flew to various places, including Japan, and made sure they interacted closely with the media and the audience in every city they visited.

Rajamouli has always said his stories connect emotionally with the audiences and that’s what he strives for – RRR hit this brief 100% on the head. In the United States, moviegoers were impressed with the male bonding and the story of nationalism which emotionally struck a chord with the audience there. It became the second highest-grossing Indian in the US (after Baahubali) and Rajamouli knew that this was the opportunity he had to seize to make inroads into the American awards circuit.

Recently, Rajamouli went on the Seth Meyers and spoke about the success of RRR, stating, “I make films for Indians in India and across the globe. When appreciation came in from the West, our initial thought was that these were friends of Indians who had seen RRR. Then celebrities and story writers started talking about it.”

The momentum set forth by the success of RRR at the box office has led it to making history at the Golden Globes 2023 by getting Naatu Naatu the Best Original Song award, beating the likes of Rihanna and Taylor Swift. However, this is just the beginning for Rajamouli.

HOLLYWOOD NEXT

While Rajamouli may talk about the sequel of RRR, this will be a while in the making given the other film commitments that RRR stars Ram Charan and Jr NTR have at this point. The Magadheera director is also said to have signed a film with Telugu superstar Mahesh Babu. It is Hollywood, though, that the director has his sights firmly set on.

Rajamouli has been signed by the American talent agency Creative Artists Agency (CAA), which is the number one agency in Hollywood. American producers, filmmakers, and actors have sat up and taken notice of Rajamouli’s work and, though he has currently worked only in Indian cinema, they understand that his style of storytelling and vision is as brilliant as some of the best directors in Hollywood.

Take the case of Oscar-winning director Ang Lee. Ang Lee, who started his career with Chinese language films, got roped into Hollywood and went on to successfully straddle the world of English and Chinese cinema. This is the possible career trajectory that Rajamouli could be looking at at this point – his heart may lie with Indian cinema, but Hollywood would allow him the budget, the reach and the opportunity of creating films that could turn out to be as big as the Marvel or DC films. Collaborations with American producers and stars could also allow Rajamouli to create Indian films that appeal to both Indian and Western audiences.

For Rajamouli, RRR was a story about superheroes and not just two freedom fighters. The Yamadonga director has stated that he uses his imagination to create different worlds and his stories have always been ruled by his imagination.

South film industry insiders strongly predict that Rajamouli would definitely sign a Hollywood in the coming times. This would make him the first Indian director to sign a mainstream Hollywood film and once that happens, he will again be creating another new paradigm shift for Indian cinema and the Indian film industry.

With an Oscar prediction for RRR as well, it’s just a matter of time before Rajamouli steps foot into Hollywood.

indiatoday.in

India celebrates 75th Army Day today.

India celebrates Army Day on January 15 every year to commemorate the achievements of the first Indian Commander in Chief of the Indian Army — General (later Field Marshal) K.M. Cariappa.

On this day, Cariappa, who led Indian forces to victory in the 1947 war, took over the command of the Indian Army from General Sir FRR Bucher, the last British Commander-in-Chief in 1949 and became the first Indian Commander-in-Chief of Independent India. The Army Day is celebrated every year to honour Cariappa and the defence forces.

Until last year, the main Army Day parade was held at the Cariappa Parade ground in Delhi where Service Chiefs paid homage to the Indian Army. The Army Day Parade showcases the evolution of various weapon systems held in the Indian Army’s inventory. Soldiers are also awareded with Gallantry awards and Sena medals on the day.

Army Day 2023

As part of an initiative to take major events to other parts of the country, away from the national capital region, the 75th Army Day will be held in Bengaluru this year.

The rationale behind the move is to bring about increased visibility of these events and secure greater engagement with the local population.

The parade on Army Day will begin with a wreath-laying ceremony by Chief of Army Staff General Manoj Pande at Madras Engineer Centre War Memorial. Gen. Pande will then review the Army Day parade. COAS unit citations will also be awarded to units for their exceptional performance.

As many as eight marching contingents including a horse-mounted contingent from the Army Service Corps and a military band comprising regimental brass bands will be a part of this year’s Army parade. The Army Day parade will also be supported by a flypast of Army aviation Dhruv and Rudra helicopters.

As a part of the Army outreach programme to build a better bond with civilians, a run was organised in Hyderabad at Necklace Road where around 1,000 people participated. A blood donation camp was also organsied in which 7,500 units of blood were donated in both Hyderabad and Secunderabad at Military hospitals.

In 2022, the Indian Army’s theme for the event was “In Stride with the Future”. It was seen as an acknowledgement of the “increasingly critical role played by niche and disruptive technologies in modern warfare”.

thehindu.com

Known as ‘Pocket Dynamo’ Khashaba Dadasaheb Jadhav won India her first individual Olympic medal after Independence at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics.

Google on January 15, 2023 honoured Indian wrestler Khashaba Dadasaheb Jadhav, who won India her first individual Olympic medal after Independence at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, on his 97th birth anniversary.

Known as ‘Pocket Dynamo’ Jadhav was born on January 15, 1926 in Maharashtra’s Goleshwar village, where he started training with his father, who was also one of the village’s wrestlers.

Following his success at State and National level events, Jadhav’s first brush with the London Olympics came in 1948. In London Jadhav was trained by Rees Gardner, a former lightweight World champion from the United States. It was Gardner’s guidance that saw him finish sixth in the flyweight section.

Jadhav spent the next four years training for the upcoming 1952 Helsinki Olympics, and moved up a weight class to bantamweight, pitting him against even more international wrestlers. His journey to Helsinki was made possible by community support, with the Maharaja of Patiala providing the break for him to qualify. The Principal of Jadahav’s college (Raja Ram College) further mortgaged his house for ₹7,000, while the shopkeepers of Karad and his friends arranged for his kit.

At Helsinki, Jadhav sailed through the first five rounds, winning almost every other bout inside five minutes. Then came a strong test in the form of Japan’s Shohachi Ishii.

Lasting more than 15 minutes, Jadhav lost the match by a point. with Ishii winning the gold. Jadhav was then asked back on the mat to fight Soviet Union’s Rashid Mammadbeyov. The rules stipulated a rest of at least 30 minutes between bouts, but no Indian official was available to press his case. And Jadhav, exhausted as he was, failed to inspire and Mammadbeyov cashed in on the chance to reach the final, leaving the former with a bronze medal.

Goleshwar celebrated the win with a procession, a parade of bullock carts carried him through the village. 

Unfortunately, Jadhav’s wrestling career ended after he injured his knee before the next Olympics. He later worked as a police officer before passing away in an accident in 1984. The Maharashtra Government posthumously awarded him the Chhatrapati Puraskar in 1992-1993. The wrestling venue built for the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games was named in his honor. 

thehindu.com

The 2023 Auto Expo in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh, introduced India’s first ‘solar car’ Eva.

The 16th edition of the Auto Expo in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh, introduced India’s first ‘solar car’ Eva. Developed by the Pune-based EV startup, Vayve Mobility, Eva targets urban commuters with a 2+1 (2 adults, 1 child) seating capacity.

(For insights on emerging themes at the intersection of technology, business, and policy, subscribe to our tech newsletter Today’s Cache.)

Eva is a battery-driven single door car that looks familiar to the Tata Nano. Interestingly, riders can opt for a solar roof panel which can be fitted on top of the car. The solar roof helps in charging while the car is kept isolated in the open. The solar roof will be sold separately.

The electric car is under testing and will be ready by early 2024 for the commercial launch. Eva features a 6 kW liquid-cooled electric motor that can produce 16HP power and 40Nm of peak Torque.

The electric/solar car gets its power from a 14 kWh battery pack. The car claims to offer a 250km range on a single charge. It has a 15A socket for charging. The Eva also has an IP68-certified powertrain. For connectivity, Eva has Android Auto and Apple CarPlay on offer.

Vayve Mobility will start rolling out Eva next year in Pune and Bangalore. The prices for bookings and accessories, including the car itself, will be announced later.

thehindu.com

It will cost ₹ 25,000 to ₹ 50,000 a day, with the total cost for the 51-day journey totalling to around ₹ 20 lakh for each passenger, the cruise’s Director Raj Singh said.

Here’s your 10-point guide to this big story:

1. The PM inaugurated a ‘Tent City’, developed on the lines of similar setups in Gujarat’s Kutch and Rajasthan, on the banks of the Ganga in Varanasi. Over 200 tents will offer tourists a panoramic view of the famed ghats of the holy city on the other side of the river along with live classical music, ‘aarti’ in the evening, and yoga sessions. He also laid the foundation for several inland waterways projects, worth over ₹ 1,000 crore.
2. “With this cruise, many places of eastern India will now figure in world tourism map… What can be more unfortunate that since Independence the banks of the Ganga did not develop and thousands of people living along the Ganges had to migrate for job,” the PM said.
3. MV Ganga Vilas is the first cruise vessel to be made in India. It will travel 3,200 km in 51 days. The 32 tourists from Switzerland, who will take the first journey, were welcomed at the Varanasi port with garlands and tunes of shehnai. They will visit various religious and historical places in Varanasi before setting out on the cruise.
4. The cruise’s Director Raj Singh told news agency PTI that this five-star moving hotel has 18 suites with the capacity of 36 tourists. Apart from this, it has accommodation for 40 crew members. The modernist ship is 62 meters in length and 12 meters wide and requires a draft of 1.4 meters. 
5. It will take tourists across 27 river systems and will cruise through various prominent destinations. According to a statement from Uttar Pradesh Tourism Minister Jaiveer Singh issued in Lucknow, the cruise will cover 50 tourist destinations including world heritage sites, national parks, river ghats, and major cities like Patna in Bihar, Shahiganj in Jharkhand, Kolkata in West Bengal, Dhaka in Bangladesh, and Guwahati in Assam.
6. The cruise has also been fitted with facilities such as spa, salon, and gym. It will cost ₹ 25,000 to ₹ 50,000 a day, with the total cost for the 51-day journey totalling to around ₹ 20 lakh for each passenger, Raj Singh said. The cruise is equipped with a pollution-free system and noise control technology, he added.
7. There is a Sewage Treatment Plant on this cruise so that no sewage flows into the Ganges, as well as a filtration plant which purifies the Ganga water for bathing and other purposes, the cruise director said.
8. “The journey will give the foreign tourists an opportunity to embark upon an experiential voyage and indulge in the art, culture, history, and spirituality of India and Bangladesh,” Union Minister for Port Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal told news agency ANI.
9. Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav has criticised the initiative. In a tweet in Hindi with a photograph of the cruise, Mr Yadav said, “Now will the BJP take away the jobs of the sailors as well? BJP’s policy of earning money by making religious places tourist sites is condemnable. People from all over the world come to experience the spiritual splendour of Kashi, not for luxury. BJP will no longer be able to cover the darkness of real issues with external glare.” 
10. “India has everything that you can imagine. It has a lot beyond your imagination. India cannot be defined in words. It can only be experienced from the heart,” PM Modi said in his message for tourists.

ndtv.com