http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7635280.stm
It seems the nuclear deal between the US and India isn't home and dry just yet. The US government has a week to get it through Congress, at a time when Congress has the more difficult matter of the crisis to debate. This might well be left till much later.

From a link on the BBC page (to here), it seems that the US could lose out on important trade deals with India. ey need Congressional approval to trade in nuclear goods with India but there is nothing to stop other countries getting a head start. The Indian PM is concerned however, so maybe it is in India's interest to favour the Americans.

Still, it would be poetic justice.

Europe should look to increasing ties with India in my opinion. If ever there was a knowledge economy it is India - they produce more engineering graduates annually than there are people in Ireland.

Whilst there is instability in India I believe it is going to enjoy greater stability over the next century than China owing to the fact that many of the social structures which are currently suppressed in China are already in place in India.

There remains strong links between India and Europe owing to the colonial period with many Indians travelling to Europe to study each year. This is a vital trade opportunity to create a strong partner in the region which should not be overlooked by the EU. I would not be surprised if it is India, rather than China which is the true super power of the next century.

There are many additional reasons why trade between particularly Ireland and Britain and India would be far easier than with China provided fiscal barriers are eroded. Included in this is the fact that English is a widely spoken language in India and the similarities of our legal systems making it far more understandable for Irish companies to invest in India and vice versa.

The US is looking for a bridgehead to China. Spent a jolly half hour recently watching stuff on the Chinese space programme. They are playing catch up fast.

johnfas is right, India is projected to have a bigger population than China in 20 years time - the world's biggest by far.

If we don't strip search them all when they come here on hollyers and trade visits, the prospects for partnership are good.

I am hoping to head out to India once I get an opportunity, but work just seems to mushroom here so keep delaying until order is imposed.

India is a great place, land of the eccentric. Where else would you meet a government minister on a train and find out his passion in life was love letters? Or a major industrialist who brings a small tool box with him and makes flies for fly fishing! I got a real lecture on the different types of bait for different rivers. Where else would a chief executive in a regional railway remember your booking and meet you when your train arrives as he happens to be in the station?

The problem with doing business in India is the paperwork and government restrictions and rules. You employ people to fill the forms in and do whatever is necessary to make progress. You need to as corruption can be a problem.

Superb craftsmen in India. If you want a lot of complicated woodwork done or furniture made it is the place to go. Draw it out and they will make it exactly to size and often with minimal machinery. You name it and they will make it, from jewellery to fabric prints and cloths.

(I'll try to be careful what I write tonight, having made an embarrassing boo-boo on an earlier Pakistan thread (lateness, tiredness!) . In fact, i'll come back to this at the weekend).

( Delhi and Lucknow are definitely on my list of places to visit, hopefully in about 18mths time, following up some potentially interesting family history. )

Have recently read two books which I heartily recommend to you all -

Pankaj Mishra's Temptations of the West: How to be Modern in India, Pakistan and Beyond. Following up some of the points in the book, he wrote the following article in the Guardian -

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/aug/07/terrorism.islam

Did you know that the death toll from "terrorist activity" in India between Jan 04 and March 07 was 3,674? - second only to Iraq. The article is titled " Violence runs through this "stable" India, built on poverty and injustice".

The second book is Amartya Sen's The Argumentative Indian: Writings on Indian Culture, History and Identity. This is a collection of various Sen essays over the last 10 or so years, updated where necessary, and is hugely interesting. Ultimately, Sen echoes Mishra's worries about ever-increasing Hindu nationalism. Sen's essays assert a wider more open-minded Indian past to that narrow exclusively Hindu past being propagated by the BJP etc. However, they have the tone of something really quite desperate - a rearguard action by that secular India which has enticed us all but which maybe is not the Indian future.

I really don't have time tonight, but I promise I'll post a few summaries from Sen's book over the weekend - it [/i]is[i] interesting.

NDTV (the Indian TV station available for you Sky News package users) currently very excited about the Singh / Zardari meeting in New York today -all that Punjabi body language and they reckon Zardari was suitably respectful!

... while BBC confirm that India is quickly following up on China's space activities ...

I read the Guardian piece and some of the comments. A post colonial situation is something we should be able to relate to.

I am assuming that the US interest in India has a lot to so with its location in relation to China. I have read that China has done much better than India in addressing poverty and population growth. I would be very interested in your summaries of "The Argumentative Indian".

I saw the Chinese guys in space this evening on France 24.

No problem, Saturday is sort of clear for me, so I'll write them up and post them - the allotment will have to wait til Sunday!

PS - I have to say i've only watched France 24 a very few times but really quite liked what I saw. Dunno if I was just lucky.

Atticus wrote:

No problem, Saturday is sort of clear for me, so I'll write them up and post them - the allotment will have to wait til Sunday!

PS - I have to say i've only watched France 24 a very few times but really quite liked what I saw. Dunno if I was just lucky.

Good international news. France 24 and Al Jazeera would give a good spread between them.

Things don't look great in Bihar.