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India and Germany significantly upgraded their strategic partnership this week with a wide-ranging bilateral engagement between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, resulting in 27 outcomes across defence, energy, technology, education and migration.  This marked Merz’s first official visit to India and Asia since taking office, and came as both nations confront an unstable global order that has prompted a recalibration of partnerships rooted in democratic resilience and technological sovereignty. Sabarmati Ashram stands as a powerful reminder of Mahatma Gandhi’s ideals. Via: PM NaMo Chancellor Merz’s choice to begin his Asia diplomacy with India was framed by both governments as a signal of trust and alignment, with Modi describing the visit as “a strong testament” to the relationship.  The two leaders met in Ahmedabad on January 12, where they jointly participated in symbolic events such as a visit to Sabarmati Ashram and the International Kite ...

When Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived at Somnath today, the event was freighted with far more than religious symbolism. The timing, one thousand years after Mahmud of Ghazni's first sack of the shrine , and the choreography, drone shows, Om chanting, and a Shaurya Yatra honouring nameless defenders, served as a carefully constructed statement about how India sees itself in a world full of flux.  In Modi’s own telling, Somnath is a civilisational anchor in the midst of global fragmentation, a site where the ancient speaks to the modern without contradiction. Image Source: PM NaMo Unlike the memory politics common to many post-colonial states, where the past is often a burden to be managed or rewritten, Modi’s articulation is rooted in a different register that positions civilisational continuity as strength.  India, he suggests, does not move forward by severing its past, but by deepening its relationship with it. In this, Somnath is a statement that what survives, not desp...

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni projected a careful balance between major powers during her New Year’s press conference on 9 January 2026, positioning Italy as a pragmatic actor navigating intensifying US-Russia tensions.  While the US military action in Venezuela drew strong condemnation from much of the international community—including sharp statements from India and UN leadership—Meloni refrained from aligning unequivocally with Washington. Instead, she focused on protecting Italian national interests and reaffirmed a preference for multilateral diplomacy. Image Source: GreenpeaceItalia Responding to questions about the continued detention of Italian nationals in Venezuela, Meloni confirmed that her government had worked “daily” over the past 400 days using “political, diplomatic and intelligence channels.”  She welcomed the unilateral decision by Venezuelan interim President Delcy Rodríguez to release Biagio Pilieri and expressed “confidence” about further releases....

India has once again stated its strategic autonomy in sourc ing energy and dismissed external pressure to align its oil purchases with geopolitical expectations, as the Ministry of External Affairs addressed a broad spectrum of international issues during its weekly media briefing.       MEA Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal; Via: Nayanima Basu In a direct response to mounting commentary from Western leaders, including U.S. lawmakers and the Polish foreign minister, India made clear that its decisions are guided by affordability, availability, and national interest. Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal, addressing a wide range of questions, noted that India’s approach to energy sourcing is shaped by "the evolving dynamics in the global market" and the "imperative to provide affordable energy to 1.4 billion people."  He added, "Whatever we do will be guided by these two imperatives," firmly resisting assertions that recent reductions in Russian oil imports were aimed at...

✍️ Written by Saket Suman There are some words that a civilisation carries for centuries and in due course of time it becomes a part of our living memory. Karuna is one such word in India.  It does not translate cleanly into “compassion” because it asks much more of us than sympathy, charity, or even kindness. Karuna is an obligation. It is the unsettling recognition that somebody else’s suffering is not separate from our own and therefore cannot be ignored without cost to the self. In the Indian philosophical imagination, Karuna holds together ethics, community, and governance in ways that are both simple and righteous. To speak of Karuna, then, is not to speak of benevolence in the abstract but of the moral mechanics by which a society chooses to function or fail. Reprsentational Image of Aloka, the peace dog! Via: Bobby Devito Across India’s spiritual traditions, compassion has never been passive, or at least that is what I found in my limited readings. In Buddhist thought, K...

✍️ Written by Saket Suman In a development likely to intensify global scrutiny over energy trade during wartime, a new dataset analyzed by German NGO Urgewald reveals that European Union member states funneled an estimated €7.2 billion to Russia in 2025 alone through imports from the Yamal LNG project.  The findings, backed by Kpler shipping data and released today, show that 76.1% of Yamal LNG exports, roughly one in every seven ships docking at European LNG terminals, were destined for the EU. File Photo; via FNNG Alliance This revelation carries sharp geopolitical consequences. With the EU having committed to a full ban on Russian LNG by 2027, the 2025 data illustrates a contradiction between stated policy and actual practice.  Despite a reduction in overall volumes, the EU’s proportional dependence on Yamal gas has deepened, and it casts doubts on Europe’s enforcement of sanctions amid Russia’s ongoing conflict in Ukraine. In an exclusive interview to IndianRepublic.in , ...

India's External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar’s ongoing visit to France and Luxembourg from January 4–9, 2026, comes at a time of significant global upheaval. US military action in Venezuela has intensified global debate over sovereignty, legality, and great power behavior.  Jaishankar’s engagements across Europe are positioned to firmly underline India’s commitment to a multipolar world order, strategic autonomy, and a rules-based international system rooted in the UN Charter. EAM Jaishankar with Prime Minister Luc Frieden of Luxembourg. Via: MEA In Paris, Jaishankar participated in the first-ever India–Weimar Triangle format—bringing together France, Germany, Poland, and India—marking a notable shift in European geopolitical outreach beyond the Atlantic alliance. The French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot, emphasizing the urgency for “bridges between centers of stability,” made it clear that India's inclusion was deliberate and timely: France holds the G7 presidency, ...

There has been a visible impact of IndianRepublic.in ’s reporting . More than two days after this publication documented a serious marketplace misrepresentation, Amazon India has now removed the misattributed reviews and ratings from the Kindle listing of The Sage Who Reimagined Hinduism: The Life, Lessons, & Legacy of Sree Narayana Guru by Shashi Tharoor .  But the correction is incomplete and the silence surrounding it is louder than ever. ; Representational Meme Source: MJ__Speaks on X As of this writing, the Kindle product page for Tharoor’s book (ASIN: B0G6Z7858F) continues to display the biographical description of another author, Amitava Kumar , under product description. This is a misleading artefact that remains live despite the removal of the reviews. The result is a listing that no longer carries borrowed ratings but still presents incorrect author information to readers under product description . Tharoor’s Kindle edition now has zero ratings and zero reviews. But...

The Indian National Congress, India's main Opposition party, has issued a sharp rebuke of the United States’ military intervention in Venezuela by calling it a violation of international norms and a threat to global stability.  In an official statement posted by the party’s Foreign Affairs Department, the Congress expressed "grave concern" over what it described as “unilateral actions” undertaken by the United States in the Latin American nation over the past 48 hours.  Image Source: Kharge on X The party emphasized that such actions “transgress the settled principles of international law” as established in the United Nations Charter and other international treaties. The statement stressed the importance of respecting national sovereignty and peaceful coexistence, warning that bypassing these principles without explicit United Nations sanction risked returning the world to “primordial rules of statecraft.”  It underscored that the will of the Venezuelan people must remain...