It was the month of Ramadan in 1974, and the northern city of Lucknow, a hub of India’s Shia community, was on the boil.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has decided to let lapse a $23 billion program to incentivize domestic manufacturing, just four years after it launched the effort to woo firms away from China, according to four government officials.

Long, long ago, there was a country called India and for some time it was fortunate to have a wise ruler named Dr Manmohan Singh. For 10 years he ran the affairs of the country with prudence, humility and grace. And, the world marvelled how could a country of one billion people be governed by such a soft-spoken man, a Prime Minister who defied all the traits associated with a strong leadership model. How could an educated, learned and erudite man like him cope with the demands of a cantankerous democracy, yet would not allow his soul to be darkened by the dark players all around him? When he became Prime Minister a second time in 2009, the western world saw his elevation as the triumph of meritocracy. Very true. 

NEW DELHI - The country’s first Sikh prime minister, he introduced free-market reforms that turned India into an economic powerhouse and sought reconciliation with Pakistan. Manmohan Singh, a soft-spoken and cerebral former Indian prime minister who was credited with far-reaching changes that propelled his country’s emergence as an economic powerhouse able to compete with China, died on Thursday in New Delhi. He was 92.

CALCUTTA - Shyam Benegal, one of India’s greatest filmmakers who was a prominent name in global cinema and a pioneer of the parallel film movement of the ’70s and ‘80s, passed away on Monday evening. He was 90. Benegal had been suffering from kidney problems that required dialysis a couple of times a week.

DHAKA, Bangladesh —  has sent a formal letter to India to extradite ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who fled to New Delhi in August amid the student-led protests that ended her 15 years in power, the country’s foreign affairs adviser said. The move likely to further complicate the already frosty Dhaka-New Delhi relationship.

NEW DELHI - The iconic picture of India’s greatest military victory — a painting of the Pakistani army signing the Instrument of Surrender in Dhaka on December 16, 1971 — has been removed from the India Army Chief’s Sena Bhavan. Military veterans have castigated the Narendra Modi government and the military top brass for removing the painting from the wall of the army chief’s office and replacing it with another painting.

President-elect Donald Trump has threatened to adopt a tit-for-tat approach against India’s high tariffs that have stymied US exports to one of the world’s largest consuming economies. Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida that his administration would hit back with high tariffs if India continued to slap high levies on American goods and services.

SAN FRANSISCO - Renowned tabla maestro and composer Zakir Hussain passed away on Sunday, December 15, 2024, at the age of 73 in San Francisco. Son of the iconic tabla maestro Ustad Allah Rakha, the 73-year-old legendary musician was admitted in ICU due to heart and lung-related ailments for the last two weeks.

NEW DELHI - Switzerland has announced that it will suspend the most favoured nation (MFN) clause in its double taxation avoidance agreement (DTAA) with India, starting from January 1, 2025. This will have far reaching consequences on the trade and commerce relations between India and Switzerland. This move will double the withholding tax rate on dividends paid to Indian tax comapnies to 10 per cent from 5 per cent.