Sri Lankan cabinet Tuesday approved proposal for the loan, which will be extended via EXIM Bank of India. India will also be supplying the country with 65,000 metric tonnes of urea.
Disputes with Tamil fishermen from India, coupled with the fuel crisis and price rise, have landed fishing communities along Sri Lanka’s northern coast in the middle of a perfect storm.
India is ‘closely watching’ the next ‘big step’ that Sri Lanka — in the grips of raging protests — is planning to take in terms of doing away with the presidential system of governance.
Protest village includes a kitchen, medical centre run by Sri Lankan Red Cross, library, art gallery, cinema hall & space for debate. During this week's violence, people ran to protect protestors.
Rajapaksa govt, battling an unprecedented economic crisis, has also sought India's help in extending some of the previous lines of credit till Colombo is able to negotiate a financial package with IMF.
Instability in Pakistan, economic crisis in Sri Lanka, anti-India campaign in Maldives, Taliban in Afghanistan & China’s growing footprint — all these pose long-term risks.
The Rajapaksa government should have shelved some of the China-funded infrastructure projects, which were high on debt servicing and low on revenue earnings.
China is said to be trying ‘to gain maximum advantage’ out of the crisis in Sri Lanka — marked by shortages & power cuts — and is ‘following up’ on measures India is announcing.
For an industry globally classified as hazardous, protections such as health insurance and a provident fund for workers are necessities. In Sivakasi, they remain elusive.
The industry forecasts exports are set to grow 16% in 2025-26, boosted by surplus domestic production and a drive to push into 26 underserved global markets with strong potential.
Indigenisation level will progressively increase up to 60 percent with key sub-assemblies, electronics and mechanical parts being manufactured locally.
It is a brilliant, reasonably priced, and mostly homemade aircraft with a stellar safety record; only two crashes in 24 years since its first flight. But its crash is a moment of introspection.
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