“A whole generation of young people who have grown up in a grid of checkpoints, bunkers, army camps and interrogation centers, whose childhood was spent witnessing ‘catch and kill’ operations, whose imaginations are imbued with spies, informers, ‘unidentified gunmen,’ intelligence operatives and rigged elections, has lost its patience as well as its fear.”

The Indian activist and novelist Arundhati Roy sees firsthand ‘Kashmir’s fruits of discord’ .

Japan and the Tamil Nadu government have signed a memorandum of understanding to take forward the Chennai-Bangalore industrial corridor project.

Since 2000, Japanese companies have invested around US$5.3 billion in Tamil Nadu.

The strategic project envisages building six lane roads, a high speed rail network and industrial estates along the route, IANS reports.

The agreement would encourage more Japanese companies to invest in Tamil Nadu and also increase networking between the business communities of the south Indian state and the Japanese prefecture of Hiroshima.

The MoU also includes exchanges between Tamil Nadu and Japanese universities.

Meanwhile, Japan and India are to undertake a bilateral initiative on rare earth materials, whose production is currently monopolised by China.

In the past five years, the Sino-India Education and Technology Alliance (Sieta) has worked to place Chinese students into universities in south India, with a special focus on Tamil Nadu’s Vellore Institute of Technology, which admitted at least 360 Chinese students this year alone.

Seven out of every 10 Chinese students in India come on Chinese government and university scholarships, and most popular areas of study are computer science, e-commerce, finance and English, reports said.

VIT has gained a good reputation for its facilities and welcoming attitude, allowing it to quickly become a hub for Chinese students, Sieta chairman Sathya Moorthy says. 

Sieta believes 2,500 Chinese are studying in India. However, this is a fraction of the 9,000 Indian students who are studying medicine or engineering in China.

China favours “democratic and patient consultations” on the question of reforming the United Nations Security Council, the government said a day after United States President Barack Obama endorsed a permanent seat for India, The Hindu newspaper reported Tuesday.

While China supported "reasonable and necessary" reforms which “give priority to developing countries”, the Foreign Ministry on Tuesday said it “understood India’s aspirations” to play a greater role in the UN, repeating its earlier position of not directly supporting India's candidature.

China was “ready to keep contact with India and other states on UNSC reforms”, a spokesman said.

Indian officials have recently called on China to review its position. External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna is expected to hold talks with his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi on November 14 and 15, along the sidelines of the Russia-India-China trilateral foreign ministers’ meeting in China.

US President Barack Obama Monday criticised India for shying away from condemning rights abuses in repressive states, saying those states with global aspirations should not remain silent and ignore "gross violations" in other countries.

"If I can be frank, in international fora, India has often shied away from these issues," Mr. Obama said.

“Speaking up for those who cannot do so for themselves is not interfering in the affairs of other countries. It is not violating the rights of sovereign nations, it is staying true to our democratic principles."

Mr. Obama’s comments, made during a key address to the Indian parliament, in which he also made clear the United States’ support for a permanent seat at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).

He then went on to say:

"Now, let me suggest that with increased power comes increased responsibility.  The United Nations exists to fulfill its founding ideals of preserving peace and security, promoting global cooperation, and advancing human rights.  These are the responsibilities of all nations, but especially those that seek to lead in the 21st century."

"And so we look forward to working with India — and other nations that aspire to Security Council membership — to ensure that the Security Council is effective; that resolutions are implemented, that sanctions are enforced; that we strengthen the international norms which recognize the rights and responsibilities of all nations and all individuals."

"... When peaceful democratic movements are suppressed, as they have been in Burma (Myanmar), then the democracies of the world cannot remain silent."

"Faced with such gross violations of human rights, it is the responsibility of the international community, especially leaders like the United States and India, to condemn it," he said.

New Delhi has an 'overriding strategic interest' in developing better relations with China, Indian National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon said this week.

As we face the big issues, we do this in a cooperative manner so that we can negotiate solutions to the problems. We have an overriding strategic interest in letting relations grow in a healthy manner,” Menon was quoted as saying by IANS.

He said it was impossible to believe that the two countries were unable to manage their ties, adding, that there is 'no zero sum game' among all major powers.

Menon's comments follow a statement by senior Communist Party of China (CPC) official Zhou Yongkang that the development of China and India provided opportunities rather than posed challenges to each other, according to a Xinhua report.

Ahead of Tuesday’s mid-term elections in the United States, the question of what the outcome might mean for US foreign policy seems to have a consensus answer: no change. An analysis in the GlobalPost website says most political analysts believe there will likely be no significant change in the direction of the Obama administration’s foreign policy.

Indeed, some analysts predict that if the Republicans take control of Congress, President Obama, just as President Clinton did, will place greater emphasis on foreign policy.

Ms. Anne-Marie Slaughter, the director of policy planning for the US State Department, emphasized to 100 international journalists the key difference between the present administration and the Bush administration: a strong belief in “a just and sustainable international order based on rights and international responsibilities.”

Meanwhile, another columnist in the GlobalPost noted that the Tea Party movement, the conservative grassroots movement which has led the charge against President Obama's government in the past year, has no foreign policy.

A Chinese company, Shanghai Electric Co Ltd, has secured a $10bn contract to supply coal-fired generators to India’s Reliance Power Ltd, in a deal financed by Chinese banks, business press reports said. 

Shanghai Electric is China’s biggest power-equipment maker by market value, and Reliance Power’s order may be the world’s largest for generators, Bloomberg reported.

Shanghai Electric will supply a total of 30,000 megawatts of generation equipment over the next three years, equivalent to about 18 percent of India’s current installed capacity.

Moreover, to support the deal, Reliance Power signed a $12 billion financing agreement with Export-Import Bank of China and other Chinese commercial banks, the Financial Times reported.

“This is not just about selling equipment,” the FT quoted Mr. Anil Ambani, the Indian billionaire and chairman of Reliance ADA, as saying. He described the deal as a strategic partnership.

Noting that the question of what is - now - driving China’s seemingly relentless economic growth is one of significance to international policy makers and business executives alike, a leading business journal has conducted new research.  Arguing that conventional wisdom of export-led growth is wrong, the McKinsey Quarterly report says :

 “We found that exports have been a major driver, but not one as dominant as commonly believed. Indeed, there are clear signs that a shift toward domestically driven economic growth is well under way.”

The picture of the Chinese economy that emerges from this new research has implications for the growth and supply chain strategies of businesses in China and elsewhere, the journal adds.