After 11 yrs of on & off talks, India &Australia finally signed phase 1 of ECTA to allow greater flow of goods & services, reducing Canberra’s dependence on Chinese goods.
Estimates of online sales of smartphones show Indians primarily shopped from five brands this October, including 4 Chinese companies Xiaomi, Vivo, realme and Oppo.
A group of ministers set up to promote Indian manufacturing has flagged various ways through which Chinese goods are evading duties and other restrictions.
According to a survey by LocalCircles, only 29 per cent respondents bought Chinese products this year, which is a 19% decline compared to the purchases made last year.
Micromax is the only homegrown company that broke into India’s Chinese dominated smartphone market. But no one came to its rescue when it was in trouble.
Chinese-origin Kenbo bikes are mostly brought to Mizoram from across the border in Myanmar, with law enforcement agencies claiming they are mostly used for smuggling.
The US has been pushing foreign companies to move supply chains out of China, and publicly floated the need for a group of friendly Asian nations that could help produce essential goods.
Ashwani Mahajan, the national co-convenor of Swadeshi Jagran Manch, says the objective of the digital signature campaign is to arouse awakening & commitment for swadeshi.
Beyond the immediate protection of Israel and its borders, which the USA could reasonably commit itself to, it did not need to get into every war in the Muslim world.
When conflict with Iran ends, says the report, area’s key players are likely to reexamine longstanding assumptions & alliances as they determine how best to advance their interests.
Rating democracies is a tricky business. I am only using the simple metric of who in the Indian subcontinent has had the most peaceful, stable, normal political transitions and continuity.
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