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India, the European Union and five other initial co-sponsors issued a joint declaration on Monday pledging to strengthen international cooperation and reform multilateral institutions as they warned of growing conflict, polarisation and pressure on international law. The declaration, titled A Joint Commitment to Multilateralism, International Law, Peace and Prosperity , names Australia, Barbados, Brazil, Canada, the European Union, India and Kenya as its initial co-sponsors. It commits the signatories to work together on peace, sustainable development, human rights and shared prosperity. Image from UNHighLevelWeek: Via: @DrSJaishankar The signatories expressed concern about violations of international law and the increasing use of coercion, protectionism and threats or force. They also warned that economic interdependence was being used as a source of leverage, disrupting trade, supply chains, investment and development finance. The declaration did not name any country in connecti...

Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar joined the inaugural Partners for Multilateralism, International Law, Peace and Prosperity summit in New York during a series of meetings on the sidelines of the 81st United Nations General Assembly. Image via: @DrSJaishankar In the first meeting of the Visegrad Group and India in a foreign ministers’ format, the two sides agreed to hold annual meetings of their foreign ministers and an annual business forum, Jaishankar said. He also listed plans for closer cooperation in technology, research, education and defence, as well as cultural exchanges and support for multilateralism. The Visegrad Group comprises Czechia, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia.  After that meeting, Jaishankar shared a statement by Slovak Foreign Minister Juraj Blanár supporting India’s inclusion as a permanent member of the UN Security Council. Jaishankar separately said he and French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot had discussed Security Council reform, the war...

A comedian's impersonation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Rahul Gandhi's student outreach event in Indore has drawn sustained criticism from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. This has shifted attention from the recruitment and examination grievances that students raised on the same stage. The leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi held the "Chhatron Ki Goonj" programme in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, on Saturday. According to the Congress transcript of the event, Rahul Gandhi said similar programmes had been held in Kota, Dehradun and Pune, and that the Indore edition was built around the theme "system versus students". Image Source: @RahulGandhi Students who came on stage described delays in state recruitment. Akhil Bharti Kranti, an aspirant for the Madhya Pradesh Public Service Commission examinations, said 13% of posts had been held back in recruitments over the past eight years, and that candidates were cleared through preliminary, main...

India's national security adviser, Ajit Doval, drew on an obscured operation early in his intelligence career to tell graduating students at IIT Roorkee that the most important thing a person can know is where they stand, and that the answer keeps moving. Doval was the chief guest at the institute's convocation on Saturday, where 2,701 students received degrees over a two-day ceremony. He was conferred an honorary degree, Honoris Causa. The chief of defence staff, General NS Raja Subramani, attended as guest of honour. File Photo: @EOIBeijing Doval described himself as a young Indian Police Service officer in his twenties, new to intelligence work, when he was put in charge of intelligence in Sikkim. Sikkim was not then part of India, he said, and he was part of the process by which the merger took place. His responsibilities included the border areas and collecting intelligence on the movements of China's People's Liberation Army. A team he had sent across the border...

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi turned 76 on Thursday and spent the day opening SEMICON India 2026, a semiconductor conference and exhibition in New Delhi. The day brought together two priorities the Indian prime minister has increasingly put at the centre of his public message, of building manufacturing capacity at home and giving developing nations a larger voice abroad. Modi was born on 17 September 1950 in Vadnagar, Gujarat. He will soon complete 25 years in elected executive office, having first become Gujarat chief minister in 2001 before taking over as prime minister in 2014. Image Source: @narendramodi on X In that time his role has widened from state administrator to host of global summits. On 12 and 13 September, India hosted the BRICS summit in New Delhi, where leaders unanimously adopted the New Delhi Declaration. The declaration reaffirmed the bloc's commitment to consensus, cooperation, inclusive growth and a more representative international order. Modi has fra...

India's external affairs minister, S Jaishankar, inaugurated a maternal and child hospital and a bridge in eastern Bhutan and laid the foundation stone for a hydropower project in the north of the country on Wednesday, the first day of a two-day official visit. Jaishankar is visiting Bhutan on 16 and 17 September at the invitation of the country's minister of foreign affairs and external trade, DN Dhungyel, according to a statement issued in New Delhi on 16 September. Image Source: @DrSJaishankar on X The statement said Jaishankar would hold bilateral talks with Dhungyel, have a royal audience with Bhutan's king, and call on Bhutan's prime minister. It described the visit as in keeping with the tradition of regular high-level exchanges between the two countries, and as intended to strengthen their close ties of friendship and cooperation. Jaishankar arrived in Paro and was welcomed by Dhungyel, he shared in a post on X. He later met Dhungyel in Bumthang, where the tw...

India's government has reconstituted the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), naming 18 members who include actors Pankaj Tripathi, Preity Zinta and Suniel Shetty, filmmaker Priyadarshan and composer Ricky Kej, among others. The board takes effect immediately and will serve for three years or until further orders, whichever is earlier, according to a statement from the government's Press Information Bureau. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting issued the notification on 16 September 2026. Representational Image: @savagebutsassy on X The government made the appointments under section 3(1) of the Cinematograph Act, 1952, read with rule 3 of the Cinematograph (Certification) Rules, 2024. The 18 members are Vinod Anupam, Manoj Joshi, Abhishek Jain, Ricky Kej, Priyadarshan, Suniel Shetty, Hansraj Hans, Supriya Yarlagadda, Yatindra Mishra, Roopali Ganguly, Preity Zinta, Neela Madhab Panda, Pankaj Tripathi, Prosenjit Chatterjee, Pallavi Joshi, Nishigandha Wad, Waman K...

India's home ministry has declared the Shahzad Bhatti Network (SBN) a terrorist organisation under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), 1967, saying the group recruits young people and local criminals to smuggle arms, explosives and narcotics from across the border. The designation was made in a notification dated 16 September 2026 and published in the Gazette of India. It adds the group as entry 46 in the First Schedule of the Act. Under the Act, a "terrorist organisation" is any organisation listed in that schedule, or one operating under the same name as a listed organisation. Representational Image source: @AmitShah on X Amit Shah, India's home minister and minister of cooperation, announced the decision in a post on X through the handle of the Home Minister's office. "Pursuing PM Shri Narendra Modi Ji's vision of zero tolerance against terror, the MHA declares the Shahzad Bhatti Network as a terrorist organisation under the UAPA," h...

Washington issued fresh visa restrictions targeting South African officials on Sept 15, two days after South African President Cyril Ramaphosa attended the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi as a full member of the eleven-nation bloc. United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the new policy under Section 212(a)(3)(C) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, citing what Washington described as "racially motivated crime and government-sponsored discrimination" against Afrikaner and other minority populations in South Africa.  Image Source: @CyrilRamaphosa on X The restrictions target foreign nationals deemed responsible for or complicit in laws enabling uncompensated land seizures, race-based discrimination, and the incitement of violence against minority groups. The announcement cited President Trump's Executive Order 14204, "Addressing Egregious Actions of the Republic of South Africa," and stated that the South African government had "not adequat...