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The 44 kilometre stretch of rail line being built in the region of West Bengal and Sikkim will for the first time provide a direct rail connection between Sikkim and India. A project that was approved years back in 2009 will be completed in 2 years by December 2022 by the federal government. The investment in the project is 89 billion rupees or $1.2 billion. It is a strategic project for India as it integrates the Himalayan region of Sikkim and Bhutan, Nepal, with India with rapid rail connectivity. The lack of reliable and modern rail infrastructure had held back economic development in the region. This is part of the Himalayan region in India's northeast, with spectacular mountains and requires modern engineering and technology for miles of tunnels through the mountains and bridges over many rivers at high altitude. This project is a combined venture of Indian Railways and its unit Northeast Frontier Railways, and the Indian Railway Construction Company (IRCON). By completing difficult rail and other infrastructure projects in time and in budget the entire development of the Himalayan region is being moved forward.   ...

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In his speech to the Indian  parliament following the Motion of Thanks for the President's address Mr. Modi points to gains in infrastructure, in addressing the pandemic, building India's new role  in the world's supply chain,  Gati Shakti Master plan for development. He says this was a way to make Gandhi's dreams for India to come true by the 100th year of India's independence in 2047.

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C. Raja Mohan says in The Indian Express that India needs to look at the big picture of modernization in a new world for world trade in which the US is reindustrializing, Europe is reindustrializing, and India is on the road to modernization by 2040 over the next 15 years. All three processes are happening at the same time. 

The old order of world trade destroyed the industrial base of the US and Europe, it also neglected India's modernization, happening with the unwitting cooperation and connivance of the business interests of the US and Europe. It will do little for India. India must also change it's industrial structure and modernization effort to fit into this new world and bring it's strengths to build a new world in which the US, EU and India modernize their economies, manufacturing base, and infrastructure in a win-win for all sides.

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The Times has this editorial on the fighting at the border between Ladakh and Aksai Chin region in the Himalayas between Indian and Chinese troops. It says China has occupied 50 square kilometres inside the Indian LAC and India is building its infrastructure to match China's in the region. It also points out that the border has no standing in international law, from the period of British rule and the Sikh Confederacy of Punjab region in the 1840's no real effort was made to demarcate the border, a dangerous situation that also arises from Tibet ceasing to be a buffer that existed for centuries between Indian side of the Himalayas and China's western provinces. This means infrastructure building is the only way India can maintain the Line of Actual Control.

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Indian foreign minister Jaishankar tells a conference in Begaluru that what happens outside India affects each and every Indian. Inflation with prices of fertilizer, foodgrains and oil are affected by the war in Ukraine, coronavirus started in Wuhan, China, the incursions since 2020 in the Himalayas were started at our borders by China and began with its invasion of Tibet, what is happening on the border in Kashmir with crossborder terrorism happens with China's support of Pakistan.  Gaining access to pools of US and European capital and technology will involve action taken by foreign investors from outside India's borders in lands far away. This will affect the infrastructure and the speed and scale of India's industrialization and modernization, and will affect every Indian. It will also help India compete with other industrialized countries including China, and emerge as a leader of the Free World along with US and European Union. The world is where everything takes place and India's place is in the Free World. ...

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Three finance ministers, Mr. Sinha, Mr. Chidambaram and Ms. Sitharaman, have favored strong action on PMLA, the preventing money laundering law, saying that it is of serious importance for the integrity and sovereignty of the country, says the Indian Supreme Court as it reproduces these statements. All have argued at different periods in favor of the interpretation of the law consistent with the judgement given by a special bench of the Indian Supreme Court last week.  It has significance in another respect, which is in restoring the faith of hundreds of millions of ordinary citizens in the local, state and federal governments. A faith that has been seriously eroded since independence and which affects the development of infrastructure and modernization of India, and the building of the defense capabilities of the country that rest on making India an advanced economy similar to China. India cannot build up its own financial and human resources to tackle that task with the constant erosion of trust in the management of development and infrastructure and in delivery, that has and is taking place in the country today. ...

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Bringing together all ministries and parts of government into an integrated planning and execution sought under the Indian prime minister's Gati Shakti Master plan for infrastructure is likely to bring a change in the culture of ministries and government at every level in India. Before for the years since independence in 1947 no attention was given to this idea of one team of many teams all working under one master plan at every level of government, much of the activity was conducted for development in separate silos. This massive culture change will accelerate development and ensure every rupee or dollar is spent to get the most out of infrastructure building efforts that benefit the public in India.

 

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This report in the WSJ on the Indian economy says the impact of growth in India's largest state of Uttar Pradesh with 240 million people will play a big part in the growth rate of the Indian economy. It fails to say why. The answer is good governance, investment in infrastructure, logistics and manufacturing, a huge pool of tens of millions of engineers and hundreds of millions of factory workers. The lack of a large enough investment pool of investment funds and  failure to eliminate leakages from corruption, the lack of a plan such as the current Master Plan Gati Shakti for the whole Indian economy, lack of governments at the state and federal level combining setting targets and delivery dates for infrastructure roads, bridges, airports, logistical hubs, factory for advanced industry, lack of governance entirely focussed on delivery and timelines, were the missing pieces in development in India for 5 decades since the 1960's, a period in which as Mr. Modi says repeatedly Japan, Korea, China moved ahead and India fell behind. Does this potential exist only for Uttar Pradesh? India's industrialization model started in Gujarat, population of 72 million under Modi as head of the state government from 2001-2014. It now covers the western region of Gujarat, Maharashtra population 128 million and Rajasthan population 82 million  the region around Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Jaipur of about 282 million people. This will be the fastest growing region and the engine that will propel the Indian economy in the years ahead. Uttar Pradesh in the north is integrated into this development. So is another region Bihar population 104 million and Orissa 46 million, Assam 35 million states in the northeast of the country with a total of 185 million people. What do all 3 regions of over 700 million people have in common? The answer is state and federal government working using the Gujarat tested and proven model for development, rapid delivery, good governance, government working with industry, large investments in infrastructure and modernization, Make in India hubs for manufacturing, digitization. ...

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Chancellor Merz New Year Message to Germany 2025, reflects on the events of 2025 with the DJT US administration distancing itself from Europe in favor of a peace agreement in the Ukraine war- with Europe left to take responsibility for defending it's region. By December 2025 the US asserted the Monroe Doctrine and made securing the western hemisphere the top priority, not Europe. Merz and SPD's Lars Klingsbeil removed the constitutional brake on spending placed by Merkel and passed a bill in parliament by December 2025 for a one trillion dollar infrastructure buildup and defense buildup. “Germany is a great country that has, time and again, reinvented itself, emerged stronger from crises, given rise to new cohesion and offers all of its citizens a livable and lovable home.” “We are not the victims of extraneous circumstances. We are not at the mercy of great powers. Our hands are not tied.” A similar situation is happening in South Asia as India faces China over a long border in the Himalayas and India puts up roads, bridges, tunnels and airstrips in the Himalayan border regions.   ...

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Indian foreiign minister S Jaishankar meets with his counterpart Wang Yi in Dushnabe, Uzbekistan, to restore peace in border region of Ladakh after the violent clash in 2020. Jaishankar tells China not to view ties with India through "the lens of a third country." China agrees. Jaishankar was actively involved in setting up cultural and other Sino-Indian contacts in Chinese cities when he was Indian ambassador to China. Jaishankar also tells China that India China relations set the tone for peace in Asia. China says it agrees with this idea. India's strong response to China's border infrastructure building and its moving forces close to the border line of control, has led to China reconsidering its policy following deteriorating relations with Australia, US and UK. China now sees that it has little to gain with worsening India relations and border issues or clashes, when the US and UK, Australia, are moving forces into the Indo-Pacific region and in the seas around Taiwan. ...

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Pfizer and Moderna's plans to make mRNA vaccines in Africa, Asia or Latin America may take much longer than 2022. The solution to producing an mRNA vaccine in Asia that could be mass manufactured and distributed throughout Africa, Asia and Latin America is now at hand. Gennova based in India, is partnering with Seattle startup HDT Bio to attack the problem of temperature and scalability in manufacturing for a mRNA vaccine that acts as a global solution using India's manufacturing capabilities. Dr Singh who founded Gennova, says- "We wanted to solve the problem of the scalability issue, and the temperature issue. If we can solve these problems, we are building a solution not just for India, but also a global solution." Gennova received seed funding from the Indian government. Other companies in Brazil and South Africa lack the manufacturing capabilities or financing needed that exist in India. The Indian government has achieved an initial goal of one billion vaccinated in just 6 months. The next step for India in its health infrastructure buildup is a mRNA vaccine that is an improvement over Pfizer and Moderna vaccines that can be stored easily, adapted for variants, and manufactured in large quantity as a global solution. ...

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New five year broadcasting deals for the Indian Premier League that will bring in 5 billion pounds over five years. With 74 matches this comes to 14 million pounds per match, a record for world cricket and bigger than soccer. Disney's Star network gets television rights, TV18 and Paramount venture gets the digital rights. Much of this revenue will be used by India's cricket organization Board of Control for Cricket in India to build infrastructure and improve the experience of fans, spruce up facilities.

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Indian finance minister Sitharaman discusses Gati Shakti master plan for India's infrastructure development with CEO's of American companies including IBM's Arvind Krishna, and the head of Fedex, after discussions at the IMF, World Bank meetings in the US.

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Why the BBC would in 2023 bring back events from 2002 is mind boggling and shows its lack of respect for India's institutions and a colonial mindset, including a lack of respect for India's Supreme Court, says Shashi Vempati. Coming at a time when India is working hard under Sab ka Sath, Sab ka Vikas, everyone's support for everyone's development, and is catching up to the western nations in technology and scientific progress, investments in modern infrastructure, the BBC falls into a colonial era trap of underestimating the potential of the Indian people for advancement in the modern world.

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Three tankers held off the coast of Mumbai by India's Cost Guard have been sanctioned for carrying Iranian oil. India stopped buying Iranian oil in DJT's first term 2016-2020. In his second term DJT wanted India to stop buying sanctioned Russian oil as a way to reduce funding for Russia's invasion of Ukraine now in its fourth year. India has stopped buying Russian oil as part of the goodwill effort to reach trade agreements with the US, EU, and Germany. The seizing of the oil tankers is part of a new effort by India to support bringing Russia to the negotiating table to end the Ukraine war. Russia has demanded Ukraine turn over Donetsk region to end the war, which is a major stumbling block as Ukraine says there are Ukrainians living in Donetsk region. Germany's increase in its defense budget and investment in its armed forces has led to Germany+ (Germany plus UK and France) acting as the chief supporter of Ukraine, after the US has taken more of a neutral stand. The US basically wanting to end the war in 2026 so that the US can address the situation in the western hemisphere with drug and migrant trafficking gangs in Mexico, Venezuela and Columbia, and rebuild its economy to bring back manufacturing from China. For India the guiding principle of its foreign policy is Gandhiji's thinking and advice for fairness and peaceful coexistence - it does not believe in a British inspired NATO expanding on the borders of Russia, and at the same time does not see how a war on a neighboring Russian speaking region is in Russia's continued interest for a fourth year with bombing of energy infrastructure to leave Kviv in darkness. Non -alignment was Nehru's not Gandhiji's idea- the ideas of respect and fairness are basic to Gandhiji's thinking and India will remain true to his ideas in world relations. One aspect of this change in world affairs is missed by all and the media, that is that with the EU and US+ Japan, and India+ Indonesia there is a population of 1 billion of western peoples, and about 2 billion of Asian peoples, for a total of 3 billion people. This is a region three times the size of China, which with its access to capital and technology, labour and good governance is in a position to industrialize and reindustrialize, and bring manufacturing/science and technology to the core of this economic region by 2035. An industrialized India with 2X-3X the size of its current GDP will still be governed on Gandhiji's ideas for world relations in 2047. ...

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Greg Ip in the WSJ says India is shifting towards  becoming an important partner with the US and the European Union in trade under the Modi government. This report reflects the situation upto 2021 and the changes in Indian and American perceptions during the pandemic. It does not reflect the rapidly evolving situation under president Biden.US president Biden and Jake Sullivan National Security Advisor see rapidly expanding US trade and investment in India. The recent Raisina Dialogue  brings together 26 countries- named after Raisina Hill in New Delhi where India's administration is located- in dialogue with Indian leaders. Finance Minister Sitharaman in an interview at Raisina Dialogue stated that Janet Yellen, US Treasury Secretary, was with her during a G-20 meeting, and Yellen called for friendshoring- foreign investment in democracies that respect the rule of law and provide the right conditions for investment. The right conditions are now being created in India, including infrastructure and logistics, trade practices, and assistance to foreign companies, to invest in Indian manufacturing. The conditions are being created for shifting significant number of manufacturing facilities to India in a complete redesign of the supply chain. A look at the period 1950-2015 in US-EU India relations says little of the newly evolving situation in trade in the way that looking at the US-EU China relations 1950-1990 during the Cold War would tell one little about how that relationship evolved in trade after 1990 in the 1990-2019 period for massive trade with China. The pandemic and the inflation from existing supply chain bottlenecks has led to a realization in US-EU that the existing concentration of manufacturing in one country  was a mistake and is a serious problem that needs correction.  This means an acceleration in the effort to build rapidly over the next 5-10 years a strong US-EU manufacturing presence in India for advanced technologies. India under prime minister Modi is creating the infrastructure and logistics for this to happen with large domestic investment, the help of Denmark's Maersk in port logistics, and from other countries.  Fo India manufacturing and infrastructure building is the only way to create the jobs needed to meet the aspirations of its young population. For the US-EU the redesign of the supply chain is the highest priority to cut inflation, remove potential bottlenecks, and provide a stable supply chain.    ...

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Key points from the prime minister's Independence Day speech on August 15, 2021, as reported in The Times of India. 

The prime minister concluded by saying that 25 years from now on the 100th anniversary in 2047 the aspirations of today will be presented as accomplishments by the then prime minister. He covered many topics relating to goals for India in the next 25 years, from the environment, small farmers, and infrastructure to hydrogen and renewable energy. The thread running through the entire speech was the aspirations of the Indian people, and of Indian youth, that are irreversibly set and that nothing could stop the Indian people from achieving these aspirations with the goals set high for the first time in 50 years. The impossible had to become the reality with hard work and calm, good humored resolve, not affected by the difficulties on the way.

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Bihar unemployment and West Bengal unemployment of 3-5% a fake number as the jobs counted include unstable temporary poorly paid work. Quality Jobs are only 10% of the workforce. These figures disguise huge problems. In Bihar and West Bengal youth unemployment is high and many youth simply leave the state for states in the western part of the country such as Gujarat and Maharashtra looking for work. In West Bengal the situation is particularly dire as the state government has blocked foreign investment and it is not an investment friendly environment. In addition the idea of a cut or a fee for everything and services, encouraged by the state government, leads to an entrenched climate of corruption that keeps out investment in industry and in infrastructure. The lack of cooperation with the federal government at the West Bengal state level leads to people in the state not having access to federal programs for housing, healthcare and water, sanitation. None of this shown in the media. When the media inside India and in the US or EU covers India, it fails to even give this importance. Probably because of the huge ignorance about India, its history and struggle for industrialization and modernization for the last 50 years. It is similar to the huge ignorance in America and Europe and inside China itself during the years of Japanese occupation of China in the 1930's, and through the efforts for industrialization in the 1960's and 1980's. A BBC article on fish is an example of this shown alongside this article on Bihar (and West Bengal). Both states were part of British Bengal, which is where the British based their Empire after the British East India Company secured rights to the revenues of Bihar and West Bengal by the 1780's, that had been take earlier by the Moghuls during their invasions from Afghanistan and Iran. This was the beginning of the destruction of West Bengal's economic structures in the way it happened in China by the 1850's with the Treaty Ports secured by the same East India Company of the British merchant Navy. The process of unwinding of this enterprise goes on today even 75 years after 1950 against the roadblocks to industrialization and modernization in India set by native corrupt state administrations. ...

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Hardeep Puri writes in the Indian Express that one of the biggest problems in development in India was that government programs for development just kept getting delayed, and there were leakages of funds that could never be tracked. It is the sign of a developing country that it remain perpetually a developing country when it does not find a way to overcome this situation. Most of Asia, Japan, South Korea, China has found a way out, and it is a sign of character in a country and its administration that real implementation takes place to transform a developing country into a modern country organizing and combining the inputs of land, capital, technology and human resources. Just one example is the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana to build housing in India's cities to promote quality of living. In the last 7 years Puri writes in the Indian Express that 11.2 million houses were sanctioned, 4.9 million built and the rest to be built by March 2022. Compared to 1.2 million in the prior 10 years. To do this investment jumped by about 10 times. In the US infrastructure was neglected in the last 2 decades. In India urban infrastructure was delayed by never ending delays and leakages of funds. Across a range of projects from Metro urban transport to rail, bridges and road, infrastructure was slow and wobbly in India for most of the decades since 1947. The Smart Cities Mission is being financed with an investment planned of Rupees 2 trillion or over $200 billion to change the urban landscape with people centred priorities. As Puri writes silently, non performers are being weeded out, loopholes plugged, targets set, in scrutiny and monitoring of projects all the way to the prime minister in a way that has never happened before. There is relentless focus on monitoring the missions, problems to overcome, targets and dates of completion. Bringing to life a new national character and spirit for India during the pandemic. ...

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Ram Manohar Lohia is the Gandhian with a world view having been educated at Humboldt University in Germany, who took Gandhi's idea of the equality of all men and women into the India of the post 1950's. He mentored Mulayam Singh Yadav and other leaders who brought tribals, the lower castes, women, Muslims and others into the mainstream of Indian society in the 1990's and afterwards. He also created the first opposition movement in India giving Indian democracy a good framework. Mr. Modi has in his own way brought forward some of the ideas of Mr. Lohia and Mulayam Singh Yadav as he struggles to modernize a nation of 1.2 billion and bring Clean India, Water through Har Ghar Jal, and electricity, cooking gas, digital banking, agricultural support, food rations during covid, and infrastructure building,  to hundreds of millions of people.

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Indian finance minister Sitharaman announces Rs. 60 billion ($857 million) in equity for the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund to provide Rs. 1000 billion  ($14.2 billion) debt financing for infrastructure to 2025. This is part of a wide ranging stimulus 3.0 package for creating jobs, providing aid to borrowers during the pandemic, aid to farmers, and aid for the informal economy including street vendors and small retail. With the largest population in the world the Indian Ocean region of India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Burma, and Indonesia from the former British and Dutch empires, requires a resilient response to the coronavirus pandemic. This is crucial for the future revival of the world economy. 

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The India China border clashes in the Tawang area of Arunachal are covered in this discussion by experts in United States Institute of Peace. The Tawang area it says is unique because of connections with the Dalai Lama of Tibet and China has special concerns about this area that go back to its invasion of Tibet in the 1950's soon after the British left India and the civil war in China ended with Mao and Communist China in 1949 taking control with the defeat of the Japanese. That chaotic period and Indian unpreparedness along a border that stretches for as long as the US border with Mexico. The lack of Indian infrastructure and roads and military modernization from that period to the last decade is now being corrected on the Indian side in an accelerated effort. Global trade and the economic needs of China in relation to the US, and India's efforts to focus on modernization, common challenges of climate change and pandemics, are leading to a new dimension that is being recognized by all sides. This limits the extent of the clashes and the swift return to normalcy of sorts. ...

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India is an attractive place for foreign investors with the country moving up 23 places in the ease of doing business rankings of the World Bank. Growth is faster than China since 2015, and GDP is expected to double to $5 trillion by 2030, according to government think tank NITI Aayog. Corporate deal making from foreign investors exceeds that in China. Mergers and acquisitions targeting Indian companies reaching a total of $93.7 billion in 2018, up 52% from last year, according to Dealogic. Overseas purchases were $39.5 billion for India in 2018 compared to $32.8 billion for China. In comparison to China where trade tensions are increasing, India under the Modi government has improved the ease of doing business- implementing a new bankruptcy code, easing foreign direct investment rules, introduced a nationwide goods and services tax to replace a hodge podge of taxes in different states. In the consumer sector Unilever NV made purchase of a malted drink brand Horlicks from GlaxoSmithKline PLC as part of a $3.75 billion deal. Softbank led a $1 billion investment in OYO Hotels. In infrastructure Tata Steel made a $8.3 billion acquisition of steelmaker Bhushan Steel. Reliance Jio's aggressive push in mobile with low prices is leaving the telecom industry ripe for mergers and consolidation- Bharti Infratel acquired Indus Towers for $6.5 billion. Closely held family companies are also selling out their controlling stakes. ...

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S&P forecast is for India's economy to be the third largest by 2030 at 6.3% annual growth. Positive consumer sentiment, domestic demand and increasing state investment are increasing growth to 7.8% and 7.6% in the second and third quarter 2023. A stable government that is focused on economic growth and capital investment projects increases the economic prospects of the Indian economy into 2024. Most of the northern and northwestern, and middle Indian states have investment coming from a coordinated push by state and federal government run economic sectors. Underlying this effort is building of infrastructure, shipping, transport and logistics, that will support growth of key industries to 2030, when the Indian economy is expected to be the third largest in the world.