Ahead of Trump meeting, Modi connects with Musk, top US officials, talks tech and trade

Ahead of his meeting with US President Donald Trump, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met key members of his team-National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and billionaire Elon Musk-in Washington DC. Among the issues discussed were: "intelligence cooperation in counter-terrorism, cybersecurity "defence, technology and security", cooperation in "Al, semiconductors and space". Modi and Waltz also discussed "strategic technologies", as well as "defence industrial cooperation and civil nuclear energy with an emphasis on small modular reactors, and counter-terrorism". A new defence framework, a fair trade deal in 2025 and continuation of the cooperation on critical technologies are on the table at the meeting between Modi and Trump on Thursday afternoon local time (early Friday India time).

President's rule in Manipur, Assembly under suspended animation: Centre

Four days after N Biren Singh resigned as Manipur Chief Minister, the Centre announced that President's rule had been imposed in the state and the Assembly placed under suspended animation. The state has been roiled by ethnic violence since May 2023. Before the imposition of President's rule, a security plan was prepared and the state police and intelligence agencies were said to be monitoring movements of certain individuals to prevent any untoward incident.

UP, Maharashtra & Bengal lead Rlys push for station makeovers

An ambitious plan to turn railway stations across the country into city centres has got an impetus in the recent Union Budget, with the Centre setting aside over Rs 12,000 crore towards it in the financial year 2025-26. Of the 1,337 stations identified for a makeover, Uttar Pradesh has the most (157). The Indian Railways spent Rs 8,000 crore on the project in FY 2023-24 and allocated Rs 12,993 crore in FY 2024-45.

TANGO WITH PARIS

Talks Between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron, held this week on the sidelines of the multilateral Al Action Summit in Paris co-chaired by the two leaders - signalled significant progress made in key areas. These include nuclear energy, defence cooperation and joint projects in third countries. Nuclear collaboration has emerged as a corner-stone of India-France ties. Both countries have committed to jointly developing nuclear reactors, as reflected in the signed letter of intent on small modular reactors and advanced modular reactors. This aligns with the Indian government's target of generating 100 gigawatts of nuclear energy by 2047, as outlined in the 2025-26 Union Budget by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. French energy giant Électricité de France (EDF) is already working with the Nuclear Power Corporation of India to develop next-generation reactors, including the Jaitapur nuclear plant, which is set to become the world's largest with a proposed capacity of 9,900 megawatts

IN THE LIGHT

Even Though Unresolved issues persisted around the management and governance of waqf properties after the Waqf Act of 1995, the Waqf Amendment Bill (2024) came under a cloud because it was seen to be formulated without consultation with stakeholders, including and especially the All India Muslim Personal Law Board. The decision to refer the Bill to a Joint Committee of Parliament was, therefore, welcome. It was hoped that this would ensure a diversity of voices and inputs. In this context, the furore as the panel's report was tabled -the Opposition insisted that its dissenting remarks had been redacted from the report; the Treasury benches issued a strong denial is unfortunate. It threatens to derail debate on an issue that needs to be discussed seriously and openly in the country's highest deliberative forum.-12

AFTER TRUMP'S CALL WITH PUTIN

Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, prospects for peace have emerged following a phone call between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Trump said that negotiations to end the war would begin "immediately" after the "lengthy and highly productive" phone call. He even expressed optimism about reaching a peace agreement. But even while advocating negotiations, the author of The Art of the Deal seems to have sacrificed leverage by revealing the American position. The Ukrainians worry that if Russia is given control of the economically and militarily important Donbas region, it could adversely affect their ability to defend itself in the future. In any case, Kyiv has seen Moscow break the post-Cold War security guarantees offered by the Budapest Memorandum and forcibly occupy Ukrainian territory. As for Russia, it retains a grudge against NATO for breaking its oral commitment not to expand eastwards.

Space cameras to paint: A slice of ISRO mission tech in daily lives

The Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre (IN-SPACe), an independent body under the Department of Space to regulate and promote private space industry in India, has identified at least 166 technologies developed for various ISRO missions that can be shared with industry to be utilised for other purposes. While some materials and sensors are already being utilised by space start-ups in their own launch vehicles or satellites, several technologies have been offered to industries like automotive and construction. So far, 79 memorandums of understanding all non-exclusive have been signed with private companies for transfer of such technology. Since all these agreements are non-exclusive, this technology can be shared with multiple companies, though ISRO continues to hold the intellectual property rights. 

Draft amendment to Advocates Act proposes court boycotts' ban, Centre's nominees in BCI

The Union government proposed an amendment to the Advocates Act, 1961, which, among other things, would prohibit advocates from boycotting and abstaining from courts' work, and have three members nominated by the central government in the Bar Council of India. The draft Advocates (Amendment) Bill, 2025 was published by the Law and Justice Ministry. The draft amendment introduces a new Section 35A: "No as-sociation of advocates or any member of the association or any advocate, either individually or collectively, shall give a call for boycott or abstinence from courts' work or boycott or abstain from courts' work or cause obstruction in any form in courts' functioning or in court premises."

What's new in I-T Bill, 2025

The income-tax Bill, 2025, which was introduced in Lok Sabha, intends to simplify India's six-decade old structure of direct taxation by streamlining provisions, removing obsolete references, and creating a crisper and simpler legal framework. Once passed by Parliament, the new law will likely come into effect on April 1, 2026. There is no major change in the direct taxation structure, ensuring continuity and stability. The Bill differs from the existing Act in one significant way: while it specifies deductions for rent paid, life and health insurance premia, contribution to provident fund, and home loan among others, it does not provide a table for the tax rates for the old tax regime. Tax slabs in the new tax regime are provided in tabular format. 

Defence to energy, deepening of India-France ties amid geopolitical shifts

The PM's visit had two key dimensions: the Al Action Summit which he co-chaired with President Macron, and consolidating India-France ties, which were elevated to the strategic partnership level in 1998. The two countries also reviewed the 'Horizon 2047' Roadmap agreed two years ago. The Russian aggression against Ukraine, however, pushed such ideas to the background. Finland and Sweden joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) following the invasion of Ukraine. But with Trump in the White House, EU nations may be forced to reassess their strategic autonomy and defence preparedness. French views have traditionally converged with the Indian preference for a multipolar world, making India a reliable partner for France. Additionally, the two countries share a strong commitment to addressing climate change. With Trump having announced the withdrawal of the US from the Paris Agreement, France could look to India for even closer collaboration in this area.

Few takers for sovereign green bonds as investors seek to avoid lower yields

India's Push to fund green investments through Sovereign Green Bonds (SGrBs) is facing muted investor demand, restricting the Union government's ability to secure a meaningful green premium-lower yields compared to regular bonds-from the debt market. When the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) auctioned two new SGrBs worth Rs 10,000 crore in November and January, bonds valued at Rs 7,443 crore remained unsold and were devolved to primary dealers as investors sought high yields. This came despite a rule change allowing NRIs and foreign portfolio investors to participate without restrictions.

SGrBs are issued by the Union government to fund green investments, mainly for producing electric locomotives and implementing metro projects. Without a 'green premium', these bonds of fer no financial advantage over regular bonds, making them less attractive to issuers.

Trump-Modi meeting: As tariffs take centre stage, a look at what India trades with US

Amid a Whirlwind of US tariff threats, adding uncertainty to global trade, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to meet US President Donald Trump in an effort to avert a tariff war and maintain market access to the largest export destination for a range of Indian goods-from labour- intensive products such as garments to capital-intensive goods like electronics and engineering products. India's imports from the US over the past five years have grown at a slower pace compared to its exports. US exports to India reached $42.19 billion in 2023-24, up from $35.81 billion in 2019-20, with the bulk concentrated in five categories: mineral fuels (the largest segment), followed by precious and semi-precious stones, nuclear reactors, electrical machinery, and aircraft and parts. While most items imported from the US do not attract high tariffs-duties on the top 30 imported goods, including crude oil, LNG, coal, diamonds, and aero-planes, range from 0 per cent to 7.5 per cent-high-end cars and motor vehicles have historically been subject to higher BCD.

Trai plan to flag spammers: High call volumes, short durations, low incoming-outgoing ratios

India's Telecom regulator has moved to bring in a fresh set of rules to safeguard people from pesky communication from marketers, requiring telecom operators to analyse call and SMS patterns to identify potential spammers in real time, and fining them for any violations. As per an amendment to the Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations (TCCCPR), 2018, issued by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) Wednesday, telecom operators like Airtel, Jio and Vi will have to report the number of spam calls and messages on their network. The revised regulations are Trai's fresh at-tempt to deal with evolving methods of misuse of telecom resources, and enable a more transparent commercial communication ecosystem for consumers.