Following the recent raids earlier this week by NIA at 76 locations across eight states to bust known terrorist-gangster-drug smuggler nexus, six people, including Lucky Khokhar alias Denis, who is a close associate of Canada based ‘designated terrorist’, Arshdeep Singh alias Arsh Dalla have been arrested.

The others who were arrested in the raids, which were carried out in Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, UP, Delhi, NCR, Maharashtra, and MP, include associates of gangsters Lawrance Bishnoi, Jaggu Bhagwanpuria and Goldy Brar.

Khokhar, a resident of Bhatinda, Punjab, who was nabbed from Sri Ganganagar, Rajasthan, on Feb 21 , was in  direct & frequent contact with Arsh Dala in Canada, and had carried out recruitment for him and received funds from him for carrying out terror related activities. He had provided arms and ammunition to Arsh Dala’s associates in Punjab on his directions, which were also used for carrying out the recent killing in Jagraon, Punjab on directions of Arsh Dala.

NIA had registered a suo-moto case on Aug 20 last against seven people, including Harwinder Singh alias Rinda, Lakhbir Singh Sandhu alias Landa, and Arshdeep Singh. One person, Deepak Ranga, was earlier arrested in the case by NIA.

According to a NIA spokesperson, Khokhar was working for Dala, who has been involved in smuggling arms, ammunition, explosives, IEDs etc. across international and inter-state borders in India for several Khalistani terror outfits, including the Khalistan Liberation Force, Babbar Khalsa International and International Sikh Youth Federation.

Besides Khokhar, the NIA also arrested Lakhvir Singh, Harpreet, Dalip Bishnoi, Surinder alias Chiku Chaudhary and Hari Om alias Titu . All except Hari Om (Haryana),  are residents  of Punjab.

The NIA has so far arrested 9 accused, inlcuding Kaushal Choudhary, Amit Dagar, Sukhpreet Singh, Bhupi Rana, Neeraj Bawana, Naveen Bali and Sunil Balyan, in this case.

Expanding the network of information sharing to further the existing cooperation in maritime safety and security, the Indian Navy-affiliated IFC-IOR signed an MoU with the Seychelles-based Regional Coordination Operations Centre (RCOC) on Feb 22.

The IFC-IOR (Information Fusion Centre-Indian Ocean Region) is a regional maritime centre hosted by the Navy. During the MoU signing, both the directors of RCOC and IFC-IOR unanimously upheld the need to enhance information sharing and analysis to cue actions at sea. The directors highlighted that this MoU will enhance trust and improve synergy between the centres towards furthering collaborative maritime safety and security in the Indian Ocean Region .

India is set to sign a Rupee-Dirham trade deal with the United Arab Emirates. Top Indian banking and finance officials are in Abu Dhabi for the three-day trip from February 21-23 to hammer out the details of the deal.

The  central bank and finance department officials of the two countries have been working together since late last year to put in place a Rupee-Dirham payment mechanism. The officials of the Reserve Bank of India and UAE Central Bank have already done the groundwork for the introduction of bilateral trade in local currencies. The deal would soon be announced by the top leaders of the two countries.

India-UAE relations have strengthened over the years and the two countries signed a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement last February to facilitate an easier flow of goods and services between them. The UAE is India’s third largest trading partner after the US and China.

The two countries currently use the US dollar to settle payments. The replacement of the dollar with local currencies will result in savings on account of foreign currency conversion fees and facilitate an easier flow of capital, including remittances. It would also help India save precious foreign exchange. Trade under this new India-UAE pact will be conducted through vostro accounts of banks of the two countries.

India has embarked on an ambitious journey to reduce the use of the dollar and promote the rupee for bilateral trade. It is in an advanced stage of talks with several other countries for trade in local currencies. The decision will boost free trade between India and partner countries.

The Union Education Ministry has once again “reiterated” and directed all states and union territories to “align” their age for admission to class I at six years in line with the National Education Policy 2020.

In a letter, the Education ministry’s Department of School Education and Literacy has “reiterated directions to all the state governments and UT administrations to align their age to admission with the policy and provide admission to class I at the age of 6+ years.” The letter was issued on February 9.

Officials said so far, they haven’t received any communication from any state that they are not in favour of raising the age of admission to six years.

According to officials, the Kendriya Vidyalaya schools had already changed their policy and made the minimum age six instead of five years.  The NEP 2020 recommends strengthening children’s learning at the ‘foundational stage’ as a national priority.

The foundational stage consists of five years of learning opportunities for all children (3-8 years of age) which includes three years of preschool education and two years of early primary classes I and II. The ministry recently launched learning material for foundational years.

Besides, the policy will focus on the availability of qualified teachers trained in the age and developmentally-appropriate curriculum and pedagogy for the foundational stage. Under NEP 2020, the National Curriculum Framework for Foundational Stage was also launched last year.

US President Joe Biden on  Feb 22 said Russia's decision to suspend a nuclear arms reduction treaty with Washington was a "big mistake".

He spoke a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the suspension of Moscow's participation in the New START arms treaty.

Biden made the brief comment in Warsaw ahead of a meeting with the leaders of several countries on NATO's eastern flank to discuss support for war-torn Ukraine.

New START, the last nuclear arms control pact between Russia and the United States, commits them to limiting their stockpile of nuclear warheads.

Following Putin's announcement, Russian lawmakers on Feb 22 unanimously approved the suspension of Moscow's participation in the treaty.

Russia's foreign ministry said it would still comply with the treaty until it expired in early 2026.

The  US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called Russia's decision "deeply unfortunate and irresponsible" but said Washington was still willing to talk about the issue.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Russia's move meant that "the whole arms control architecture has been dismantled."

Seattle has become the first US city to outlaw caste discrimination after its local council passed a resolution, moved by an Indian-American politician and economist, to add caste to its non-discrimination policy.

The resolution moved by Kshama Sawant, an upper-caste Hindu, was approved on  Feb 21 by the Seattle City Council by six to one vote.

The results of the vote could have far-reaching implications on the issue of caste discrimination in the US.

Hours ahead of the vote, Indian-American Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal lent her support to the move.

The Hindu American Foundation, which had campaigned against the resolution, said singling out South Asians and the addition of 'caste' to the non-discrimination policy violates the very policies it now amends.

Many Indian Americans fear that codifying caste in public policy will further fuel instances of Hinduphobia in the US.

Over the last three years, ten Hindu temples and five statues, including those of Mahatma Gandhi and Maratha emperor Shivaji, have been vandalised across the US as an intimidation tactic against the Hindu community.

Indian Americans are the second-largest immigrant group in the US.

According to data from the 2018 American Community Survey (ACS), which is conducted by the US Census Bureau, there are 4.2 million people of Indian origin residing in the United States.

India banned caste discrimination in 1948 and enshrined that policy in the Constitution in 1950.

Foreign direct investment (FDI) inflow into India fell by a significant 15% to $36.75 billion during the April-December period of on-going financial year 2022-2023(FY23), according to the latest Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade data.

FDI inflows stood at $43.17 billion during the corresponding period of the previous fiscal. Total FDI inflows, which include equity inflows, re-invested earnings and other capital, declined to $55.27 billion during the nine month period of the current fiscal year as against $60.4 billion in the year-ago period.

Month-on-month, FDI inflow doubled in December to $4.4 billion versus November’s $2.4 billion inflow. During April-December FY23, Singapore was the top investor with $13 billion FDI. It was followed by Mauritius ($4.7 billion), the US (about $5 billion), the UAE ($3.1 billion), the Netherlands ($2.15 billion), Japan ($1.4 billion), and Cyprus ($1.15 billion), the data showed.

Historically, Singapore and Mauritius have dominated FDI inflow in India, accounting for nearly half of the total investment made from April 2000 to December 2022. The computer software and hardware sector attracted the highest inflows of $8 billion during the nine-monthperiod.

This was followed by services sector ($6.6 billion), trading ($4.14 billion), drug & pharmaceutical ($1.8 billion) and chemicals ($1.5 billion). Among states, Maharashtra ($10.7 billion) and Karnataka ($8.7 billion) attracted maximum FDI inflow between April-December FY2023. Gujarat’s FDI inflow stood at $4.1 billion while Delhi attracted investment of $6.1 billion during the period.

India’s FDI inflow was reported at $58.7 billion in the financial year 2022 and a record $59.6 billion in FY21. However, total foreign direct investment into India grew by 2% to highest ever $83.57 billion in FY2022.

US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo will be leading a big business delegation to India in the second week of March to discuss ways to further boost trade and investment ties between the countries.

Raimondo has scheduled to co-chair the US-India CEO Forum and US-India Commercial Dialogue meetings with her Indian counterpart Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal.

The US is its top trading partner of India.

The bilateral trade between the two nations has increased to USD 65.39 billion during April-January this fiscal against USD 62.27 billion a year ago.

Imports too rose to USD 42.9 billion during the ten months of this fiscal as compared to USD 34.34 billion during April-January 2021-22.

India has received about USD 5 billion in Foreign direct investment (FDI) from the US during April-December 2022-23.