| Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena to arrive in New Delhi today |
 Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena will arrive in New Delhi today on a four day visit to India. He will be given ceremonial reception at the forecourts of Rashtrapati Bhawan tomorrow morning. Later in the day he will hold discussions with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Mr. Sirisena and Mr. Modi would also explore steps to enhance economic cooperation and Indian investments in the island nation. Mr Sirisena is also expected to assure that Colombo would not take any steps that is detrimental to India's security interests in the region. After the talks, some agreements are expected to be signed in the field of culture, people-to-people contact and agriculture. President Pranab Mukherjee will host a banquet in the honour of Mr.Sirisena. On Tuesday, the visiting dignitary will travel to Bodh Gaya and later to Tirupati. The President is expected to depart from Tirupati for Colombo early on Wednesday. This is his first overseas visit and substantive talks are expected between top leaders of two countries during the visit. Replying to a media query External Affairs Ministry spokesperson said reconciliation and reconstruction in Sri Lanka will figure during the talks. |
Save Dissent to Save Democracy THE rising instances of physical violence and threats against political opponents and the inability to accept dissent must raise huge concerns amongst all of us who see democracy as perhaps the really stellar achievement since Independence. AAP’s attack on BJP headquarters and acts of arson committed under the very noses of their elite leadership; the attacks on Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia in Gujarat in the last two days; the recent manhandling of the caretaker of journalist Siddharth Varadarajan’s house by some garden variety thugs; and the violence and threats meted out regularly to their political opponents by political parties is surely deplorable and condemnable. This is a fatally flawed trend which will destroy the very foundations of our democratic institutions if not pushed back with all the strength and condemnation that the civil society can mobilise. Replaying the past To begin with, it must be clarified that we should ...
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