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Few in India heard the name of Doka La or Doklam, a tiny sleepy village in the Sikkim sector near the India-Bhutan-China trijunction, until a few weeks ago. The same may be true about the people in China. China is engaged in a military standoff with India at Doka La over the latter’s objection to a Chinese road building initiative there. The Chinese army in the area is waiting for the command to attack India. Unusually, its naval submarines have suddenly gathered in good numbers in the Indian Ocean. India’s defence forces, on their part, are ready to protect the country’s territory. India is also treaty-bound to protect the territory of the neighbouring Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan from external infiltration or attack. Bhutan does not have full diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China. The Chinese army’s provocative bid to expand a road connection at the trijunction is not acceptable to India. The latest military standoff at Doka La is most unfortunate and uncalled for.

PATNA: In politics, the ruling party does not always malign and implicate its opponents for sending them to jail but mainly to convey a larger message to the polity, to other political outfits; that they could be destroyed if they are not cautious. Actually this is exactly what has been going on in Bihar in recent days. The BJP targeting Lalu Yadav and his sons and daughter is part of the grand design to force him to shut his mouth ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Few in India know how Israel has come up, the struggle and hardship it has to face. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the first Indian Prime Minister to visit Israel and it is a wise decision. It is a small country, surrounded by hostile neighbours but lives on its own terms. Israel’s population is mere 80 lakhs; it is surrounded by 56 Arab countries having population of 150 crores.

The bonhomie in Tel Aviv between ‘dosts’ marks a tectonic shift in India’s so-called appeasement policy on the domestic front, while it unleashes the energy of a nuclear explosion in bilateral relations with Israel. The two countries have inked a number of deals to cooperate in technology, water and agriculture in all of which the Israelis enjoy unmatched supremacy and opens the prospects of the two countries working together in more areas, including nuclear and defence technologies. Already bilateral trade is expected to increase from the present $5 billion to $20 billion in five years.

The Chinese media rang the warning bell to the Chinese investors in India over the recent tension in Sino-India border in Sikkim, Bhutan –Tibet tri junction. Quoting the example in Vietnam in 2014, the Global Times – a Chinese daily – sent a precautionary alertness to the Chinese investors in India, augmenting the fear of ant-China protest in India. In 2014, several Chinese nationals were killed and more than 100 Chinese were injured in Vietnam in the protest when the media report revealed that China fired water cannon to a Vietnam vessel, which obstructed China’s extraction of oil in the South China sea.

NEW DELHI: The first National Level Consultative Meet on choking demand for commercial sexual exploitation of children has resolved to create an inter ministerial framework to ensure better and effective implementation of policy pronouncements on the ground.

Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar’s sneer against the Congress that it is incapable of building a good anti-BJP coalition, and it fails to find the nuances to set the agenda, while sounding bizarre, appears more like a desperate attempt to retrieve lost ground. A closer look at the tenor and punch of the accusation would make it clear that Nitish is trying to send a message to the Congress and the opposition parties that they must repose faith in his leadership.

If Israel had to wait for seven decades before an Indian prime minister visited the country, as the Israeli premier, Benjamin Netanyahu, has said, the reason is the change that has taken place in recent years in India.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Pinarayi Vijayan Government’s handling of the TP Senkumar issue is a classic example of how not to police the police. Senkumar retired as the police DGP on June 30 enduring the many humiliations he was subjected to.

The Modi government has unfeigned fascination over things digital as it believes that this technology is a savior and a salutary agent for positive change to alter the topography of governance for bringing immeasurable benefits to the Indian people. No doubt, the digital economy is a key driver of growth and development.