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India is storing as much oil as it can at today's low oil prices of about $20-$30 per barrel in May 2020. With India asking the U.S. to store oil from U.S. shale producers at its strategic petroleum reserve storage facilities in the U.S. Already its existing storage facilities of 5.3 million tonnes (39 million barrels) are full, and the storage capacity will be more than doubled with an additional 6.5 million tonnes (48 million barrels) to be built quickly. About 8.5 million tonnes (62 million barrrels)  are in ships on oceans around the world. Demand is only 20% during the lockdown but is expected to reach levels of 2019 by June 2020. Only about 20% of oil consumption comes from existing storage.   That Indian oil capacity is 39 million barrels of storage shows how little was done over succeeding administrations without national aspirations for a growing country with hundreds of million of young people, when the oil storage capacity today of 39 million barrels compares with over 500 million barrels for Japan and for China. A huge Indian government aid package of $280 billion for the economy can be offset by gains in other areas such as low oil price oil storage, and gains in supply chain manufacturing, increasing the size of the domestic market for local manufacturers with incentives and loans, and new rules for stressing local manufacturing for a self-reliant economy. ...

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Health authorites in Italy, France, Britain India and the U.S, have hesitated in reopening schools. Germany and Denmark have reopened schools with no increase in infections with schools following specific policy including mandatory masks, air circulation rules, and careful preparation of schools to ensure social distancing rules are respected. Other countries reopening schools are Austria, Norway, Finland, Australia, New Zealand.

Schools in German states are reopen for about 1 month now, with a positive experience after careful preparation. Italy faces difficulty reopening its economy as people going back to work find it difficult, particularly women,with childcare provided by grandparents no longer an option, and lack of daycare. Opening of schools in Italy would help in reopening the economy, as well as provide relief to parents and children, when done carefully.

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Nirmala Sitharaman, the Finance Minister, says India's approach to pandemic aid appears to be the right one because it avoided handouts that have in the form of large stimulus packages in the US and Germany, created high inflation. India's focus was on providing food for weaker members of society during the pandemic.  The basic idea behind the approach was to conserve capital, and use increased GST tax revenues in such a way that capital could be concentrated where it would deliver the most in projects that would take India forward in infrastructure and development for 2042. This is essentially the approach taken by first, Japan, then South Korea, then China, in becoming advanced industrial nations, increased revenues and capital concentrated on projects that would deliver in terms of industrial progress such as infrastructure, today in climate change renewable energy, and other actions. Gati Shakti integrates this into a Master Plan for the country for 2042. ...

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The Indian Budget speech by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman seeks to keep the fiscal deficit on a downward trajectory from 4.9% fiscal deficit in 2024, lowering it each year 2025-2028. The total expenditures for Indian Budget 2024 are $720 billion and the total government revenues excluding borrowing $480 billion, tax revenues $390 billion. To attract investment by foreign companies in India the corporate tax rate is reduced from 40% to 35%. And abolition of angel tax for startups. capital gains tax reduced to 20% for short term gains and 12.5% for long term gains. Simplification of the Income Tax Act of 1961 within 6 months. Lowering of taxes for personal income taxes to 30% above 15 lakh rupees. Exempt 25 critical minerals from basic customs duties to assist processing in India. Reduce basic customs duties on mobile phones to 15%. Customs duties to support domestic manufacturing, export competitiveness. Simplify and rationalize the hugely beneficial GST Tax, "a success of vast proportions, reducing the compliance burden and logistics cost for trade and industry." "The gross and net market borrowings through dated securities during 2024-25 are estimated at ` 14.01 lakh crore and ` 11.63 lakh crore respectively. Both will be less than that in 2023-24. 114. The fiscal consolidation path announced by me in 2021 has served our economy very well, and we aim to reach a deficit below 4.5 per cent next year. The Government is committed to staying the course. From 2026-27 onwards, our endeavour will be to keep the fiscal deficit each year such that the Central Government debt will be on a declining path as percentage of GDP." For the year 2024-25, the total receipts other than borrowings and the total expenditure are estimated at ` 32.07 lakh crore and ` 48.21 lakh crore respectively. The net tax receipts are estimated at ` 25.83 lakh crore. The fiscal deficit is estimated at 4.9 per cent of GDP. ...

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On the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti here is the podcast of President Franklin Roosevelt's Secretary of State Cordell Hull's speech on July 23, 1942 that you can hear from the US National Archives.  Roosevelt in his letter of reply to Mohandas Gandhi's letter on July 1, 1942 one month before the launch of the Quit India Movement asking for help to achieve Hind Swaraj said- "I am enclosing a copy of an address of July 23 by the Secretary of State, made with my complete approval, which illustrates the attitude of this government.

Roosevelt wrote back to Gandhi that "I am sure that you will agree that the United States has consistently striven for an supported policies of fair dealing, of fair play, and of all related principles looking towards the creation of harmonious relations between nations."

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India places a $3 billion order for 1200 electric locomotives and railway modernization with Siemens. It includes a 35 year contract for maintenance. The equivalent of 800,000 trucks can be replaced by these locomotives over the lifetime. Siemens CEO Roland Busch says "This will help India create the world's largest green rail network, as our locomotives will save the equivalent of 800 million tons of CO2 emissions over their lifecycles."

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Chancellor Scholz of Germany holds talks with PM Narendra Modi on growing ties between Germany and India in trade, clean energy and new technologies. Scholz is on a two day trip to New Delhi and Bengaluru. The trip takes place in the backdrop of G-20 talks in India.

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Chancellor Scholz's visit to India with the heads of 12 large German companies and heads of medium size company business associations will lead to increasing economic cooperation between Germany and India. Bilateral trade is about 25 billion dollars. German companies such as Siemens are suppliers of rail locomotives for modernization of India's rail network. Topics for talks include the geopolitical situation in Europe with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, cooperation on climate change, utilization of German technologies, and increasing investment by German companies in India's economy.

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As India takes on the presidency of the G20 in December the first steps are being taken by the German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock to build closer ties with India. The Hindu gives this intervew with Baerbock that shows Germany's keen interest in building the India Germany partnership. This sets the stage for the bi-annual India Germany summit meeting, with German chancellor Scholz to visit India in early 2023. Some of Baerbock's comments show energy and enthusiasm for India to work closely with Europe. "Our countries have so much to offer one another. We want to tap that enormous potential. One such example is the concrete agreement we will sign during my visit, making it a lot easier for both Indians and Germans to study, research and work in our respective countries." "Today's era is not the era of war, that was Mr Modi's message to Putin- that was the resounding message and I highly appreciate India's seminal role in achieving this." ...

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Neelman, who founded airline Jet Blue, is now starting an airline in the country where he grew up as achild of Mormon missionaries. The country Brazil is vast with a rickety transportation network, and he feels ideally suited to alow cost airline. At this time 85% of traffic in the air is controlled by 2 airlines which have no incentive to reduce prices. With 12 Embraer planes and the name Azul, Neelman is off to a start, and prices on some routes are lower than acomparable bus fare. The same approach worked to link up cities with low fares in India by pioneer Jet Airlines, though some of those fares in India are up from where they used to be with the losses in the Indian airline industry.

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The Indian prime minister has ordered that a million job vacancies be filled in the next 18 months. About 21% of job openings in the Central government have not been filled says this report in The Indian Express. According to the Annual Report of the Department of Expenditure 21.75% of the 4.1 million sanctioned posts were vacant as of March 1, 2020. It is these and other additional jobs that will be filled in mission mode. Jobs are vacant at all levels of the different departments and ministries and regions.  About 92% of the positions are in the departments of Railways with 40%, Home Affairs with 30%, Civil Defense 11%, Postal 6% and Revenue 3%. Of the employees Indian Railways had 1.25 million on March 1, 2020, and 1.20 employees on March 1, 2022. The pandemic had the effect of restricting hiring of people needed. With the expansion of the economy the hiring for government has not kept pace. In the Armed Forces, for the Army no hiring took place in 2020 and 2021 recruitment years says this report in Indian Express.  There are calls at public meetings including at Defense Minister Rajnath Singh's rallies for "sena bharti chalu karo" to start recruitment drives for the army, navy and air force. The government is responding to the public's demand for recruitment to begin as the needs of the government grow and the economy grows, to keep pace with it. ...

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There are 240 Norwegian and Finnish companies in India, says this report in The Hindu. Nordic countries are providing green technologies to India. At the Nordic-India Summit held in Copenhagen in May 2022, the five Nordic prime ministers and prime minister Modi agreed to intensify cooperation on digitalisation, renewable energy, maritime industries and the circular economy. Denmark is helping India with ports and logistics. Trade ministers of Norway and Finland visiting India together  Feb 9-10 describe the efforts to provide Nordic technology solution in green transition to India. Trade between Norway and India has doubled in the last 3 years and the Norwegian Sovereign Wealth Fund is likely to become on the largest investors in India at $17.6 billion. Vestre us Norway's Minister of Trade and Industry, Skinnari is Finnish Minister of Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade. 

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Some of the most vulnerable populations in the world during coronavirus are in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and the surrounding regions, in Mexico, Argentina and Brazil, and in African countries. This report looks at the increase in poverty in Pakistan and increasing food insecurity with food prices increasing. Government priorities are a concern says this report. Malnutrition is increasing with estimates ranging and some as high as 40% of children. A PTI official of the government is cited here as saying that it could be as high as 50% of children suffering from malnutrition. One of the problems for food insecurity in the Indian region going back to the famines during the British rule in Bengal and the famines in Bihar during Congress rule after independence is that supplies are lacking of foodgrains or that the incomes have fallen so drastically that people could not afford to buy food. Governments stepped in after independence to provide foodgrains at subsidized prices. These programs need to be pushed to the forefront and and international assistance needs to be sought. Planning minister Asad Umar points out in this report in DW.com that millions of Pakistanis are falling below the poverty line increasing food insecurity at a critical time. He gives estimate that one out of four Pakistanis have had their diets reduced. There is every reason to support efforts for cross border supply of foodgrains between India and Pakistan as humanitarian approach in the coronavirus crisis even as differences exist over border regions- as such differences exist all over the world over borders but humanitarian approach has benefitted the entire region during the Bihar famines after independence with aid from the U.S. Johnson administration. At that time in 1966-67 the seriousness of the situation in Bihar was only gradually and reluctantly accepted by the institutions, officials and governments around the world, says Cambridge University Press looking back on that crisis. And it is to the great credit of the Johnson administration that it launched the subsequent efforts for the Green Revolution and foodgrain production involving Norman Borlaug and the Indian government. Something of this type needs to be launched again across the region.   ...

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This report in the Washington Post uses Frequently Asked Questions to give readers an understanding of the India China border conflict. The roots of the conflict lie in  China's claim to Tibet based on Chinese troops going to aid Tibet in 1792. This based on the Qing dynasty sending troops to aid Tibet after a Nepalese invasion of Tibet. Tibet and Nepal are neighboring countries in the Himalayan mountains,  Nepal has a border with Indian state of Bihar, and Tibet is north and northeast of Nepal, all in close proximity of several hundred kilometres from India but four thousand kilometres from Beijing near Korea and Japan. The Sino Nepalese war, called the Gurkha war in Chinese, was the result of a dispute between Nepal and Tibet over debased silver coinage supplied by Nepal to Tibet and Tibet's demand for compensation, as well as a dispute about salt supplied by Tibet to Nepal. Chinese forces were repelled by  the Nepalese Gorkhas, and eventually the conflict was settled with a peace treaty between Nepal and Tibet with Chinese mediation for the Tibetan side. When the British East India company intervened in the region in 1815 China was not present, and when Nepal and Tibet had another war in 1855 China was not present.  For the first half of the twentieth century Tibet printed its own stamps and was an independent country negotiating treaties with Britain. China's brief intervention in 1792 is the fact cited by China for its claim to Tibet. Crossing the high mountains to get to Tibet from China's western frontier was for most of history and during this 1792 intervention, a journey that took 3 or 4 months with yaks and mules. Because of the sheer logistics China was present only in a symbolic way in Tibet or Nepal, both regions far more autonomous and remote from China than say a Finland near Russia. It takes 5 hours to go from Helsinki to St Petersburg in Russia. This is about the distance between the border with Nepal in Bihar, India, to Tibetan border with Nepal. By contrast it takes four thousand kilometres journey from Beijing to Tibet and over steep mountain ranges and rivers which would took months of journey with mules and yaks all the way into the twentieth century.  Finland was part of Sweden till 1809 when it became part of Russian Empire, till 1917 when it became an independent country. The Soviet Union invaded Finland one more time before World War II and was repelled, but this is attributed to Russian fears that Finland could be used as a base for an invasion of Russia. Tibet was a buffer between the British Empire and China. Chinese Nationalists party and Communist party thinking may have changed after Japan's invasion of China in the thirties, making extending China's western frontiers to the borders of India as part of the new nationalist idea.  How else can one see Beijing in East Asia throughout its history suddenly at the border with India after its takeover of Tibet in 1950. The period in 1950 when India was just coming out of the partition and tackling millions of refugees on the border with newly created Pakistan.      ...

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Saudi Arabian deputy defense minister Prince Khalid says polls show Saudis younger than 30 years old favor improved relations with Israel. As a first step Israeli planes would be allowed to fly over Saudi Arabia and control over two islands in the region would be handed over to the Saudis.  President Biden as a candidate had concerns about human rights in Saudi Arabia. Following the war with Ukraine and improving Saudi Israel relations it now appears likely that this will have an impact in improving US relations with the Saudis. Prince Khalid visited Washington and William Burns has also visited the Middle East for the Biden administration as it seeks to get Saudi Arabia to increase oil production following the EU oil embargo on Russian oil.  Saudis under Prince Salman who heads the administration are pushing to modernize Saudi Arabia and build ties for a broader relationship with the world than the traditional ties in the Middle East of Arab countries.The Saudis are improving relations with India and India was the first country to ship vaccines to Saudi Arabia. UAE and Qatar have also improved relations with the Modi administration in India. With China  engaged in trade and technology friction with the US after US investment and aid to China during the last 2 decades and the long period of aid to China during the Japanese invasion, the US is building new relationships in Asia, the Pacific and the Middle East. The new Saudi US relationship would be different from that of the old Saudi relationship as Saudi remains a monarchy but under the new administration and a younger generation of Saudis sees itself as a modernizing influence in the region. Biden sees these new factors as it looks to rebuild relationships in Asia.   ...

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In all the coverage on the Indian election the impossible having been accomplished that of going beyond the 244 million voters in the US, beyond the 373 million voters in the European Union. The eligible voters in India 2024 are 640 million and all the counting done on one day was accomplished by the Electoral Commission and tackled under leadership of the team by Rajiv Kumar, a civil servant who earlier served as the Finance Secretary of India. The results show that the elections were free and fair as the results speak for themselves that the opposition parties did better than they expected. What was not told in media coverage in the US and EU/UK was that the Opposition and the current government are at odds on one fundamental issue that a continental country suffering from centuries of colonialism can only create a modern nation with the infrastructure enjoyed by the US, EU, China, if it creates a large enough pool of investment in the trillions of dollars, has a master plan of proven execution, with no leakages from this pool of investment. Leakages from the pool of investment only stopped after 2014, and actions of direct deposits to 400 million bank accounts or rural households was essential. For modernization to succeed another condition that had to be fulfilled was to create even through a pandemic a core of about 500 million of 1.4 billion people of the middle and lower classes who would approach the conditions o the US, EU, China consumer base for industry. This the Modi government has done with all its projects and hard work by adding the 250 million people to the consumer base pulled out of poverty. The task ahead is doing what the US, EU, China as continental nations have done to modernize and industrialize 2024-2035 to build the third largest economy ahead of the EU by 2035 and every state and city in India aspires to this transformation, from the south and northeast to the north and the west.   ...

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China and Nepal differ on the exact height of Mount Everest. Nepal says is measurement shows it at 29029 feet or 8848 metres above sea level. China calculates it to be 8844.3 metres. Nepal uses as sea level the Bay of Bengal, China uses the Yellow Sea. It varies whether the rock base is used or the variable level of snow and ice at the top. There is more climbing activity on the Nepal side than the Chinese Tibetan side. The mountain is always moving even if it is minutely. Seismic activity has raised it 5 metres. Till 1840 Kanchenjunga was considered the highest till the British surveyed the mountain. In 1856 Andrew Waugh, Surveyor General of India stated that the peak 15 of Everest was 29002 feet or 8840 metres high. In 1865 the mountain was named after Sir Colonel George Everest a fellow surveyor in the British Army. In 1955 India declared the current height given by Nepal. The Chinese occupation of Tibet by 1956 made China a neighbor of Nepal and for Mount Everest. ...

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Iranian missiles and drones flying low and close to the ground avoided detection by Saudi and American air defense systems. The missiles and drones hit Saudi oil facilities stopping about half of the Saudi oil production. Iranian cruise missile technology was used for the attack, according to U.S. officials. The attack also showed how vulnerable the oil supplies from this region are to disruption. The U.S. is not dependent on Saudis for oil as it has increased its production from shale. China, Japan, South Korea and India are dependent on Saudi oil supplies. Yet the U.S. is shouldering a greater burden for ensuring reliable supplies to Asian countries, something the Trump administration sees it should be compensated for. Tougher sanctions on Iranian oil hurt its economy, resulting in actions taken by Iran to disrupt Saudi oil supplies. The Saudi intervention in Yemen is another source of tensions in the region. The Trump administration says it is not interested in endless wars in the region, yet its tougher oil sanctions on Iran are pulling it into the conflict in unpredictable ways. China, India, and other countries had sought sanctions waivers to import Iranian oil, and see the sanctions as hurting oil supplies. India with limited supplies of its own was affected by the oil sanctions. ...

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As winter approaches pollution reaches dangerous levels in New Delhi causing a public health emergency. Millions of anti-pollution masks are now distributed at schools, colleges, hospitals and local markets. As the weather cools a thick haze from car emissions and coal power plants builds up over New Delhi making it hard to see. The cool weather appears to trap the pollutants in northern India against the Himalayan mountains creating a stifling haze. Construction dust and smoke from paddy crop burned in the Punjab adds to the problem. This year it is getting worse than ever. Pollution levels are about 20 times what is considered healthy by the WHO. The air quality index hit 494 on November 3, 2019. Some parts of the city hit 1000 on the index. Over 500 is considered dangerous and "hazardous" to health. The government of Delhi and the state and federal authorites have taken some action to close schools, ban work at construction sites, implemented odd even license plates rule for cars entering New Delhi. A survey shows about 40% of residents of New Delhi wanted to move to some other city, and 16% want to travel this time of the year to escape pollution. ...

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Under new proposed changes carbon emissions permits would be sold to industry and heavier polluters would have to pay more. And to make it fair to European companies exporters in other countries like China would have to buy these carbon permits to be able to export to Europe. There is similiar discussion about this in the USA which expects caps on greenhouse gas emissions in a few years. These changes wouldn't go into effect till 2013 at the earliest and industry will be trying to create a level playing field by then. Countries like China and India because they are developing have been exempt from the greenhouse caps under the Kyoto Protocol which expire 2012. Under the Kyoto Protocol which Europe signed and the USA did not sign, European companies are giving carbon permits free to emit a certain amount of greenhouse gas every year, the heavier polluters have to buy the permits from the ones that pollute less creating an incentive for companies to reduce emisssions.

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The 2022 industrial trade fair in Hanover, Hanover Messe, is covered here in DW.com with 2500 exhibitors showing how they are responding to a changed world after the pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine with support from China. Export oriented companies have to rethink their strategy says Thilo Brodtmann, the executive director of the German Engineering Federation, Supply chain disruptions and the pandemic have led to many German companies reexamining their reliance on Chinese suppliers. Human rights and democracy are now part of the reorienting of business in a new direction. The war in Ukraine is also having an impact. Reducing CO2 emissions is also a major part of the reexamination. Chancellor Scholz told the Hanover Fair at the opening ceremony -"We need to bring along with us emerging and developing countries, whose demographics and economic dynamics are turning them into new centers of power." Brodtmann says the solution is "to become independent and to have a completely different value chain." The head of the German Associaltion of Electrical and Electronics Industry Wolfgang Weber says "I'm quite sure that German companies are ready to invest in any of these countries in Asia, Latin America, and Africa to diversify their supply chains." However such new markets are not very well represented at the Hanover Fair, so that policymakers and German business have a lot of work to do to open up new markets across the world in Asia, Latin America and Africa. India, Indonesia and Vietnam are considered to offer good prospects for diversifying Germany's supply chain and a lot of work needs to be done. ...

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Maleeha Lodhi, a former Pakistani ambassador to the U.S. and Britain, has edited a collection of essays in a new book titled- Pakistan: Beyond the "Crisis State." It tries to form a new construct to move the debate on Pakistan into a future in which Pakistan can exist as a "normal country" free of a paranoia about India that affects its outlook, and free from the military connections that have shifted the focus from development that a friendly neighborly coexistence with India would provide. Intriguing essays include one by Saadat Hasa Manto who goes back to 1951, when the Cold War was at its peak and the U.S. formed a relationship with Pakistan based on military assistance, with only small fraction of aid going into development programs. Syed Rifaat Hussain, professor of strategic studies at Quaid-i-Azam University in Islamabad puts it directly: Pakistan needs to become a normal state and the only way to to do this is for the rivalry and obsession with India to be resolved and put behind it. As it now stands the U.S., India and Pakistan all stand to gain tremendously in such an outcome- the U.S. disengagement from Afghanistan and the Taliban because at its core the Taliban issue goes back to the Pakistan rivalry with India, Pakistan and India because it puts the focus on development, infrastructure building, and economic gains....