Amid demands for a separate state carved out of Bengal by some Bharatiya Janata Party leaders, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday asserted that she is ready to shed her own blood, if need be, to thwart attempts to divide the state.

One priority for Delhi (for the new foreign secretary in particular) is to have an in-depth discussion with Dharamsala as soon as possible, suggests Claude Arpi.

Bharatiya Janata Party president JP Nadda interacted on Monday with a group of foreign envoys, including from the US, Australia and Israel, during which it was suggested that the BJP should increase party-to-party interaction with other countries.

Lt Gen Baggavalli Somashekar Raju will take over as the next vice chief of the Army Staff on May 1, the defence ministry said on Friday.

India has been raising with China the plight of approximately 22,000 Indian students enrolled in Chinese universities who are unable to go back for physical classes. However, the neighbouring country has till date refused to let them enter.

'Ashwin himself was asking from the field as well, and we had discussed it just before that, as to what we would do.'

India on Thursday abstained in the UN General Assembly on a vote moved by the US to suspend Russia from the UN Human Rights Council over allegations that Russian soldiers killed civilians while retreating from towns near the Ukrainian capital Kyiv.

'If the Chinese were keen to mend fences with India, they would merely have to withdraw their troops in Eastern Ladakh.' 'They have not done so and they have not said that they will do so.'

Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a $1 million ad-hoc grant for the operational budget for the BIMSTEC secretariat and another $3 million assistance to revive the grouping's centre for weather and climate.

What is it that China seeks and why has the Ladakh border become and remained hot for two years and what is going on in Arunachal Pradesh?, asks Aakar Patel.

Hollywood's biggest stars attended the 94th Annual Academy Awards.

A quick look at the winners of the 94th Annual Academy Awards.

If the visit takes place, it will be the first trip by a senior Chinese leader to India after the eastern Ladakh standoff between the two countries began in May 2020.

'The richness of Buddhism makes it possible for us to create these stories and to interpret them.'

'How is it to live in a place that does not have electricity or a telephone connection, where people do not have any concept of what the world is beyond the mountains?'

India has made it clear to China that peace and tranquillity in border areas is essential for the development of overall bilateral ties and the relationship has to be based on the 'three mutuals' of respect, sensitivity and interest, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla said.

The nominees for the Academy Awards enjoyed a special Oscar luncheon at the Fairmont Century Plaza in California on March 7, 20 days before the big day on March 27.

Officials said on Thursday that the force recently issued a circular also asking its troops and other staff to avoid sharing official orders on WhatsApp and desist from discussing and sharing operational matters over social media.

It is learnt that the camp office in Lviv would be able to coordinate the evacuation of Indians to Poland and Hungary while the one at Chernivtsi would facilitate exit to Romania.

India and Indians can ignore Pakistan, but that cannot be said of other nations in the neighbourhood, where New Delhi's 'Neighbourhood First' policy constantly reverberates. Four of the eight SAARC member-nations are Muslim -- Afghanistan and Pakistan, Bangladesh and the Maldives. The rulers decide the nation's India or anti-India policy in the first two, and street-opinion contributes to the same in the latter two, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.

ISRO, in a tweet, said EOS-04 was placed into an intended sun synchronous polar orbit of 529 km altitude at 6.17 am.

'India has to prepare for future warfare where kinetic use of force at the border will be limited. War will take place in the realms beyond the border.'

The results for the People's Choice Award for the Wildlife Photographer Of The Year are in.

The launch of Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C52) is scheduled at 05:59 hours on Monday from the First Launch Pad of Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, the Bengaluru-headquartered space agency said.

The Power Of The Dog and Dune lead the pack while films like King Richard, Belfast and West Side Story grab quite a few noms.

India batter Shreyas Iyer, spinner Yuzvendra Chahal along with Australian dasher David Warner are expected to be the top draws as over 1,200 players registered themselves for the Indian Premier League mega auction scheduled for next month.

'In India, a deadly wave of infection with the Delta variant stole 240,000 lives between April and June and disrupted economic recovery. Similar episodes could take place in the near term,' said the report.

India shifted gears in rejuvenating strategic ties with its major partners like the US and Russia and focused on drumming up global support for its distinct strategy in the Indo-Pacific to check Beijing's increasing muscle-flexing in the region.

The 2016 SAARC Summit was originally planned to be held in Islamabad on November 15-19, 2016. But after a terror attack on an Indian Army camp in Uri in Jammu and Kashmir on September 18 that year, India expressed its inability to participate in the summit due to "prevailing circumstances". The summit was called off after Bangladesh, Bhutan and Afghanistan also declined to participate in the Islamabad meet.

Pebbles, India's official entry in the international feature film category at the 2022 Academy Awards, is out of the Oscars race.

Situated at a height of 15,200 feet above sea level, the pass sits on the top of a craggily formed Himalayan range that separates the Tibetan plateau from the Indian sub-continent.

India had earlier registered comfortable victories over Sri Lanka and Bhutan.

The prime minister tweeted that he admires Bhutan for its unique model of sustainable development and the deeply spiritual way of life.

Bhutan Prime Minister Lotay Tshering said on social media that he was overjoyed to hear "His Majesty pronounce Your Excellency Modiji's Narendra Modi name for the highest civilian decoration, Ngadag Pel gi Khorlo".

...with extravagant claims in both the eastern and western sectors, observes Ambassador Talmiz Ahmad, as India is fixated on asserting its border claims based on the McMahon Line.

President Ram Nath Kovind on Thursday attended the Victory Day Parade as the 'Guest of Honour' in Dhaka as Bangladesh marked 50 years of victory in the Liberation War against Pakistan by showcasing its military might which included spectacular aerobatics and display of defence acquisitions.

Aseem Chhabra lists his favourite films, most of them shown at international film festivals held virtually (Berlinale and Rotterdam), hybrid (Toronto) or physical (Cannes and Venice).

China has long coveted Arunachal Pradesh, which it calls Southern Tibet. But, as Venkataraghavan Subha Srinivasan explains, in 1947, the present state of Arunachal Pradesh constituted the North East Frontier Tract of Assam. When India adopted its Constitution on 26 January 1950, NEFT became 'a separate politico-administrative entity' although it was constitutionally still a part of Assam. Its administration was brought directly under the President of India with the Governor of Assam acting as his agent. A revealing excerpt from his book The Origin Story of India's States.

'We have not had one discussion on the border incursions or the subsequent report of the building of Chinese villages on Indian territory in Arunachal Pradesh.'

In a letter to the chief minister, Dhankhar urged Banerjee to take appropriate steps urgently and address the issue in public and national interest.