Its founder president, Ashok Chauhan, was charged with fraud in the 1990s by authorities in Germany, where he ran a network of companies. He returned to India and was never extradited. A plastics company in the U.S. also sued Chauhan in 1995 for failing to pay $20 million in debts. "They are a subsidiary of a conglomerate of companies," said Barmak Nassirian of the American Association of State College and Universities. "This is by no means reassuring, if you ask me."   read more

The Wagah border crossing between India and Pakistan is the venue of a daily military ritual at dusk that is a spectacle of chest-thumping nationalism. Yet that changed last Sunday with a suicide attack on the Pakistani side that killed 59 people. The time has now come for intelligence sharing between India and Pakistan to face such terror attacks that target both countries.   read more

The Modi government continued its austerity drive on Thursday, this time banning first-class air travel by top bureaucrats to cut down on unnecessary expenditure and reduce the fiscal deficit. The government also barred ministries from making new financial commitments, purchasing new vehicles, creating new posts and holding conferences at five-star hotels.   read more

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has uncovered an alleged plot by banned Bangladeshi militant group Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen to assassinate Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and carry out a coup, according to Reuters. For India, these latest revelations are embarrassing as they show just how effortlessly Bangladeshi militants are using the Indian state of West Bengal as a safe haven.   read more

India and Vietnam have decided to ramp up their defence ties and raise Indian involvement in Vietnam's energy sector. Delhi will supply four naval patrol vessels to Hanoi and to increase training of its military personnel. This decision by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his visiting Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen Tan Dung is likely to irk China.   read more

The government has disclosed to the Supreme Court the names of three persons who allegedly deposited black money abroad. According to Hindustan Times, the three individuals mentioned in the affidavit submitted on Monday are: former Dabur executive Pradip Burman, bullion trader and jeweller Pankaj Chimanlal Lodhia and Goa miner Radha S Timblo. No politician’s name has been revealed so far in an issue that has gripped the political class and media.   read more

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has confirmed the view held by most analysts that the accused persons arrested in the Burdwan blast case and their associates had been preparing IEDs for possible terror attacks in Bangladesh. According to Hindustan Times, the interrogation reports reveal a larger cross-border design to destabilise Bangladesh and short-circuit its bilateral relationship with India.   read more

The government has started filing charges against individuals having accounts in Swiss banks, which will allow it to disclose names of those who have allegedly stashed black money abroad, amid media speculation that some prominent politicians may figure on this list. But the challenge will be to convince everyone that the government is acting impartially, and not using these foreign accounts to selectively target political opponents.   read more

As India faces the prospect of the global Ebola epidemic eventually arriving here, the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has issued guidelines to stop the entry and spread of the disease. But as the Indian Express reports, there is a very real shortage of the protective equipment, testing labs and professional training required to face the threat.   read more

The government has lifted state control on diesel prices, in a long-awaited move that economists say will help encourage investment in the country’s struggling fuel industry and reduce the fiscal deficit. The decision to allow state-run fuel retailers to peg the price of diesel to global market rates comes as Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeks to streamline the bureaucracy and make the economy more attractive to international investors.   read more

A startling upsurge in racial attacks has been reported in the past week from Delhi and Bangalore. The targets have been people from north-eastern states and from Africa, with locals attacking them as outsiders. This trend once again exposes Indian society as being inherently racist. According to The Economic Times, “It comes naturally to Indians to practise vicious racism at home and still wax outraged when Indians abroad come up against racial discrimination.”   read more

The environment ministry has launched a National Air Quality Index that will give real-time information of air quality in 66 cities, to put pressure on local authorities to take concrete steps to reduce pollution. But producing credible pollution data is easier said than done.   read more

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has unveiled measures to end ‘Inspector Raj’ (rule by inspectors) in labour, with a system that is expected to curb labour inspectors’ discretion and provide a single window compliance process for companies. Under the present rules factories are allegedly selected arbitrarily for inspection by government departments, leading to complaints of harassment of the owners.   read more

The crucial election in Maharashtra is clearly wearing politicians down. Just before the state went to the polls, former CM Prithviraj Chavan reportedly admitted that he could not take action against his Adarsh scam-accused predecessors as the Congress would have been “decimated in Maharashtra”. In a damning interview to The Telegraph, Chavan further reportedly claimed that he did not order proper investigations against NCP's Ajit Pawar in order to keep the Congress-NCP alliance intact.   read more

The Maharashtra election is barely days away, yet senior NCP leader and former state home minister Raosaheb Ramrao Patil has sparked a controversy by allegedly trivialising rape. He reportedly said that Sudhakar Khade, a MNS candidate jailed on rape charges, should have waited for the election to get over before committing the crime.   read more

The Nobel Prize committee delivered some good news to the Indian subcontinent on Friday when it awarded the 2014 Peace Prize to children’s rights activists Kailash Satyarthi and Malala Yousafzai. Satyarthi dedicated the award to children in slavery, pledging to "join hands" with Malala at a time when India and Pakistan are exchanging fire along the border. The Nobel Prize announcement may just give both countries the space required to de-escalate the violence.   read more

Thousands of civilians fled the areas along the international border with Pakistan and the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir as Indian and Pakistani troops continued to exchange fire and engage in their most serious confrontation in over a decade. Both countries also sparred at the United Nations over the ceasefire violations and New Delhi made it clear that its armed forces are "fully ready" to respond to "provocation".   read more