PM Modi holds talks with French President Macron in Mumbai
New Delhi (PTI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday held wide-ranging talks with French President Emmanuel Macron to boost ties in key sectors such as trade, defence, energy and critical technologies.
Macron landed in Mumbai early this morning on a three-day visit to attend the AI Impact Summit in New Delhi and meet PM Modi.
After the talks with Modi, Macron will attend a ceremony to launch the India-France Year of Innovation.
His visit comes days after India cleared a long-pending proposal to procure 114 Rafale fighter jets under a government-to-government framework with France.
It has been billed as one of the world's biggest military procurement programmes in recent years.
It is learnt that shoring up defence cooperation and enhancing bilateral engagement in the critical technology sector are priority areas to take forward the ties.
"Welcome to India! India looks forward to your visit and to advancing our bilateral ties to new heights. I am confident that our discussions will further strengthen cooperation across sectors and contribute to global progress," Modi said on social media earlier in the day in response to a post by Macron.
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Rahul Gandhi calls Great Nicobar Island project a ‘major threat’ to environment, tribal heritage
Sri Vijaypuram (Port Blair)/ Nicobar: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi criticised the Centre’s development initiative in Great Nicobar Island on Wednesday, On his maiden visit to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Gandhi alleged that the project will lad to large-scale environmental degradation and displacement of local communities.
The Rae Bareli MP, in a post on X after visiting the island, said the project would lead to extensive deforestation and adversely impact indigenous populations.
“So I will say it plainly, and I will keep saying it: what is being done in Great Nicobar is one of the biggest scams and gravest crimes against this country’s natural and tribal heritage in our lifetime,” Gandhi added.
“The government calls what it is doing here a ‘Project’. What I have seen is not a project. It is millions of trees marked for the axe… It is communities that have been ignored while their homes have been snatched away,” Gandhi said.
Describing the initiative as “destruction dressed in development’s language”, he termed it one of the “biggest scams” against the country’s natural and tribal heritage and called for it to be stopped.
Gandhi also claimed that nearly 160 square kilometres of rainforest could be affected, raising concerns over ecological damage.
