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Morning News Wrap: Vibrant Gujarat, Changes In Sri Lanka, Massive Rally In France

Morning News Wrap: Vibrant Gujarat, Changes In Sri Lanka, Massive Rally In France
FILE - In this Jan. 11, 2013 file photo, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, fourth right, poses with business leaders and other delegates during the inauguration of 6th Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit (VGGS) in Gandhinagar, India. To some, the man in pole position to be Indiaâs next prime minister is a visionary reformer, while to others heâs an autocrat in bed with big business cronies. Perhaps nowhere are opinions of Narendra Modi more polarized than in Gujarat, the western state heâs led for more than decade and that is now touted as a model of prosperity for all of India to emulate.(AP Photo/Ajit Solanki, File)
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FILE - In this Jan. 11, 2013 file photo, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, fourth right, poses with business leaders and other delegates during the inauguration of 6th Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit (VGGS) in Gandhinagar, India. To some, the man in pole position to be Indiaâs next prime minister is a visionary reformer, while to others heâs an autocrat in bed with big business cronies. Perhaps nowhere are opinions of Narendra Modi more polarized than in Gujarat, the western state heâs led for more than decade and that is now touted as a model of prosperity for all of India to emulate.(AP Photo/Ajit Solanki, File)

Main News

Prime Minister Modi amplified the scope of the Vibrant Gujarat Summit to the international league by promising a hassle-free environment to the world’s industries to do business in India. Like previous years, several businessmen committed, in principle, to invest billions even as US Secretary of State John Kerry said he was eager for a deep business partnership with a Modi-led India.

However, concerns were raised about clamping down on environmental groups when a senior campaigner with Greenpeace India, an environmental NGO, was stopped from boarding a flight to London on Sunday. She said she was to attend a meeting to discuss concerns over certain coal blocks in India.

Meanwhile, across the Palk Straits, Outgoing Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa may have to prepare for restless days ahead as the new President Maithripala Sirisena has said he will investigate reports of an attempted coup by Rajapaksa to try to stay in power when results showed he was losing last week's election. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu joined a rally in France, along with several other world leaders, to condemn the killings at French publication, Charlie Hebdo. They leaders were part of a 3.7-milion-strong crowd and said to be perhaps the largest gathering in France’s recent history. The crucial black box, that is expected to reveal more of the circumstances that led to the crash of the AirAsia jet was on Sunday found in the Java Sea stuck under debris from the plane’s fuselage and will be retrieved on Monday

Off The Front Page

The government appears confused over what to do with IIT Delhi director RK Shevgaonkar. One one hand moves are afoot to blame him for irregularities in starting an IIT-ofshoot at Mauritius but on the other hand, they want him to continue as director.

Roger Federer registered his 1,000th ATP career win, becoming only the 3rd in history to do so after Jimmy Connors and Ivan Lendl.

The government is considering a Hindutva glue to bring the India’s Northeast closer to the Centre. The torurism ministry is preparing to map a new Hindu pilgrimage circuit by linking ancient temples and other places in the region that are mentioned in mythology. According to the plan, the temples in the Northeast related to the mythology of Krishna will be linked with the established pilgrimage circuit in Mathura, Vrindavan and Gujarat.

Jammu and Kashmir is unlikely to see a stable government until the Delhi elections as the BJP doesn’t want to appear to have contradiction in its Kashmir policy.

Will the ‘Kerala model’ improve rural internet connectivity in the country? Kerala’s hilly district Idukki will be declared on Monday as India’s first district with high-speed rural broadband network.

The romantic association of universities in West Bengal with Left wing radicalism and politics may be on the wane with the blood red now acquiring a distinct saffron tinge.

The government has asked states to deploy an open source Linux-based operating system—meant to run official computers—called BOSS, an acronym for Bharat Operating System Solutions as a ‘homegrown’ alternative to the Microsoft Windows operating system, which is the predominant OS in use across Central and state government computer systems

An unlikely awardee at the Pravasi Bharati summit was Ashraf Palarakunnummal, who is neither a CEO nor business magnate but has made a name reuniting bereaved Indian families with bodies of their kin, who’ve died abroad.

Days after BJP MP Sakshi Maharaj called for Hindu women to have at least four children to protect their religion, a leader of the VHP said there should be a ‘hum do-humaare chaar’ law to realise “the dream of a Hindu nation”.

An LTTE leader wanted in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, is said to have fled from Colombo to either China or Pakistan—countries that were favourable to the erstwhile Rajapaksa regime—with alleged assistance from Gotabaya Rajapaksa, brother of the former Sri Lankan President. This was amid apprehensions of the changed political climate in Sri Lanka.

Is the Congress party going through a rough patch financially? Congress President Sonia Gandhi has ordered a spate of austerity measures to rein in party spending, sparking off speculation about a financial crisis in the party.

The Narendra Modi government plans to raise about Rs 24,000 crore within the next month by selling a 10% stake in Coal India. This will, according to the government’s calculations, help reign in the fiscal deficit.

Opinion

Manu Joseph argues that free speech and expression in India can be protected only if those who promote it have a serious commercial stake.

Are cities subversively destroying the idea of a village, asks TM Krishna. "The etymology for the word “city” leads us to some archaisms. But “city” implies a capitalist-centric, economic magnet. This may be the primary attraction, but it is a far more complex social animal in which the idea of culture plays a central role. In the grammar of economics, the city is a symbol of opportunity and in the poetic phraseology of culture, a symbol of equality. Both perceptions are not just flawed, they are concocted to establish the dominance of a certain class. But these beliefs have driven and continue to drive people to the city.

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.