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Sheikh Hasina, prime minister of Bangladesh, concluded a visit to India with an agreement for cross border electricity and rail lines. Bangladesh borders the Indian state of West Bengal, and 53 rivers flow into Bangladesh from India making sharing of river waters a major issue, which remain unresolved especially for the Teesta river. Bangladesh signed agreements for $5 billion in loans, including $1 billion for a Russian built nuclear plant and $500 million for arms imports.

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No other nation has such an amazing diviersity of languages, and equally amazing is the vitality of the free press in 11 major languages- Punjabi, Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi, Assamese, Oriya, in the north, and Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Karnataki in the south.

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After a weeks long standoff both sides disengage expeditiously in the India's border dispute with China over construction of a road in the Doklam plateau region of Bhutan. In this NYT report experts in Hong Kong point out that it is not in China's economic interest with an aging population and debt crisis, tense economic relations with the U.S., and for India struggling with modernization issues, to turn a remote border issue into an open conflict. It would also complicate relations in the Asian region with Japan and economic relations with the U.S, countries with whom China's economy is intertwined through supply chains and other ways. Disputes with China and South Korea have in the past affected the Chinese economy, and China has developed trade with India as its companies look for growing markets. India's Modi administration is focussed on the economy. In this context of broader relations the road construction in Doklam appears to be an aberration that is hard to explain except as a miscalculation and poor understanding of the best interests of the region and of the world.   ...

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Iran's economy following the naval blockade- WSJ cites assessment by Miad Maleki who led Treasury's sanctions campaign on Iran in 2025. Loss of $435 million of economic activity per day and oil shut ins in 2 weeks. As the Europeans sit out this naval blockade and US rethinks its participation in NATO, as the poorer countries in the world are affected by the shortages including Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka and others around the world, the one baffling aspect is how far a nation (Iran)could let its economic prospects be affected to continue uranium enrichment. It is about the failure of another Middle Eastern nation to modernize and improve the living standards of its people, (after Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Syria and Iraq),  wasting a once in a centuries opportunity to do this wasting an oil dividend that will only last to 2035 when renewable energy may replace fossil fuels. Instead leaving the region with intermittent wars and destruction from the wars since 1950, falling behind in a world that is rapidly modernizing in China and India with about 3 billion people committed to modernization. ...

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In a major move president Biden backs suspending IP protection for Covid vaccines, therapeutics and tests. In fall 2020 India and South Africa submitted a resolution to WTO to suspend IP protection for Covid vaccines, therapeutics and tests, From the Indian perspective this decision comes a bit late when India has already vaccinated over 1 billion people using the Astra Zeneca Oxford vaccine. The Oxford vaccine was made available to Indian manufacturing companies to make locally in a way the could be done at low cost to meet needs of over 1 billion people in India. From the perspective of pharmaceutical companies this is giving away technology even if this was a public health emergency, as shown in this editorial from WSJ.

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Covaxin vaccine from Bharat Biotech in India is found to be 81% effective at protecting people from coronavirus in clinical trials. India's first Made in India vaccine for coronavirus will play a major role in India's effort to produce enough vaccine to vaccinate 1.2 billion people. With enough vaccine supplies coming from many Indian pharmaceutical makers who will now have access to Bharat Biotech's science and vaccine making technologies. The Indian government has stepped in to coordinate this effort. Covaxin and Covishield will play a major role when new vaccine supplies come into the field in July to December 2021. The target is to vaccinate 1.2 billion people by December 2021. This is an important moment for Indian science in the field of medicine.

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The World Health Organization lists the world's most polluted cities with the highest level of PM2.5 particulate matter as 1. Kanpur, India     173 2. Faridabad          172 3.  Varanasi            151 4.  Gaya                  149 5. Patna                   144 6.  Delhi                    143 7.  Lucknow                 138 8.  Agra                        131 9.  Muzzaffarpur           120 10.  Srinagar                113 11.   Gurgaon                113 12.  Jaipur                     105 13.  Patiala                      101 14.  Jodhpur                     98 15.  li Subah ali Salem      94 A look at the cities most polluted shows that most of the cities are in or near New Delhi, (Gurgaon, New Delhi, Faridabad, Agra) in the state of Uttar Pradesh (Lucknow, Kanpur, Varanasi, Agra). The cities on the list that one does not expect are cities such as Jodhpur in the Thar desert, and Srinagar in the mountainous region of Kashmir. Srinagar is on the list because of inadequate sewage facilities to treat sewage. The Dal lake is polluted from houseboats and tourist hotels dumping sewage into the lake and not connecting to the sewage system. Jodhpur is polluted from auto exhaust and vehicular pollution.. The WHO says India's efforts to control pollution need to follow the steps taken by China recently. In response to citizen pressure and outrage about health conditions China has closed down polluting factories, and is shifting away from coal, away from coal stoves. India's efforts are inadequate and scattered says the WHO. This includes stopping fireworks sales that aggravated toxic conditions in Delhi. A program giving 37 million poor Indian women free gas connections helps a shift from use of dung fired clay ovens or coal ovens. Pollution kills 7 million people each year says WHO, and over half or 3.8 million people die from use of unhealthy cooking stoves which create indoor air pollution. Of cities above 14 million Delhi ranks first, Cairo, Egypt second, Mumbai, India fourth and Beijing fifth in air pollution levels.  ...

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India reports over 300,000 cases for the fourth day in a row. German chancellor Merkel passes legislation that gives the federal government the power to set curfews to control the spread of coronavirus. Cases reach 166 per 100,000 in Germany and the government sees lockdowns to be in place till the end of May. Streets in Dusseldorf and other German cities are shown deserted at night.  The European Union deal signed with Pfizer for 1.8 billion doses including booster doses of the Pfizer vaccine, provides new hope for the vigorous vaccination drive needed in Germany and the rest of Europe. 

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A Pew Research Center poll in September 2016 finds 81 percent of Indians have a favorable opinion of Narendra Modi in 2016, compared to 87 percent in 2015. Even among supporters of the opposition Indian National Congress a majority say they have a favorable opinion of Mr. Modi. The author of the poll, Bruce Stokes, says the opinion of frustration of the Indian elites and media about the Modi administration is not reflected in public opinion. Recently the Modi government passed legislation for a national Goods and Services Tax replacing overlapping state and federal taxes that are seen as holding up growth.  Issues the Indian public ranks high are corruption, unemployment and terrorism.

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A 110 aircraft $15 billion deal is being negotiated by India with Boeing and other manufacturers. This deal requires all aircraft be assembled in India to create jobs, and requires transfer of technology so that India can build up its own defense industry for exports. The U.S. sees India as a counterpoint to China in the Indian Ocean as China expands in that region, and transfer of technology is being done to increase Indian capabilities. In the past India has sourced defense needs including aircraft from Russia, and this is an effort to improve ties with India. Lockheed is considering building F-16 aircraft in India with Indian partner Tata.