Bharat Rakshak

ramana wrote:Folks I had heard of contract farming in Kenya and Somalia by Indians. Do we have any news reports?

In a major blow to Chinese President Xi Jinping's pet project Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the Government of Tanzania has suspended the construction of the $10 billion Bagamoyo port which was to be constructed with funds from China, reports Economic Times.

The project had been signed by President Jinping in March 2013. However, the newly elected Tanzanian President John Magufuli refused to move ahead with the project, calling the conditions 'exploitative' and 'awkward'.

"Chinese financiers set tough conditions that can only be accepted by mad people," said President Magufuli.

As per the agreement, the port, once built, would have been leased to China for a period of 99 years, during which Tanzania would not have had any say on who else could come and invest in the port upon its operationalisation.

The project was a major connectivity initiative being pursued by China in East Africa under its BRI programme. The project included construction of several rail lines and roads to oil fields. The Bagamoyo port was intended to be built as the biggest port in all of East Africa.

Struck by liquidity crunch, low foreign exchange, African nations want to swap copper, gold for infra projects

At least three countries — Zambia, Ghana and Rwanda — have approached India with a proposal to export minerals in return for project import. Among the commodities that could be part of the barter deal are copper and gold. Two Indian companies, Ircon International and the State Trading Corporation of India (STC), are already in talks with these countries for a commodity-project swap deal.

The concept of nation states in Africa is only a bit over a century old, arising after the 1884 Berlin Conference and the subsequent Scramble for Africa by European superpowers of the time. It is therefore not surprising that the names of most African countries are remnants of a colonial legacy.

Nearly every country on earth is named after after one of four things—a directional description of the country, a feature of the land, a tribe name or an important person, most likely a man. For the most part, Africa mirrors this trend with a few exceptions. The stories of how African countries got their names ranges from the more mundane, to the fantastical and sometimes even the mind-boggling.

Cameroon, a country that has the complicated legacy of first having been colonized by the Germans, then later partitioned by the French and British, was actually named by a Portuguese explorer in the 15th century. Coming across the Wouri river, one of Cameroon’s largest rivers, he renamed it, Rio dos Camarões (shrimp river,) for the abundance of shrimp in it. The name stuck and evolved to become the country name.

Another 15th century Portuguese explorer would find his way further West where either the mountains that looked like a lion’s teeth or the impressive roar of thunderstorms would lead him to name the place, Sierra Lyoa (lion mountains.) In time, the name would change to Sierra Leone.

Centuries later, another mountain would yield a country’s name in East Africa, when the British came upon an imposing snow-capped mountain that the Kikuyu people called Kirinyaga (Where God dwells.) As they struggled to pronounce, Kirinyaga, they called it Mt. Kenya – the country would be named after this mountain.

Elsewhere it was not linguistic challenges that led to a country’s misnaming, but actually a sort of clerical error. Marco Polo, the 13th century Italian explorer never visited Madagascar, but is believed to be responsible for mistaking it for Mogadishu and including it in his memoirs. This is the first written reference to Madageiscar. Thus, the corrupted Italian transliteration of Mogadishu, Madageiscar, eventually gave the world’s second largest island country its name.

Mali derives its name from the original Bambara word for hippopotamus that evolved to mean “the place where the king lives.” In Malian culture, the hippopotamus signifies strength. There is a particularly fascinating Malian legend about how the founder of the Malian empire, Sundiata Keita, changed himself into a hippopotamus upon his death and continued dwelling in the Sankarani River, a tributary of the Niger River.

Close to Mali, two other countries got their name from Western Africa’s principal river, the Niger river. Niger (former French colony to the north of Nigeria) and Nigeria (a former British colony) were both named for the Niger river that flows through them. It was originally called Ni Gir (River Gir) in one of the local languages though there’s also the theory it was named for the Latin adjective for black, as in Black River.

The Arab legacy on the continent was also the source of some of the names of African countries. In Mozambique, it would be an Arab Sheikh, whose name would remain with the country. Mussa Bin Bique ruled the area at the time when the Portuguese arrived, and the Portuguese would call this country, Mozambique. Sudan would get its name from the Arabic phrase, Bidad as-Sudan (land of the blacks).

Comoros derives its name from 10th century Arab traders who called it kamar or kumr, meaning moon, perhaps because of the half-moon shape that the four original islands of Comoros form.

Gabon, would also be named based on a shape of a place. The country’s first European visitors were Portuguese traders who arrived in the 15th century and named it Gaboa (coat,) based on the shape of the Como River Estuary, where they first explored, that looked to them like a coat with sleeves and a hood.

In the South, Zimbabwe would reclaim its name in 1979 just ahead of independence from the 13th-15th century kingdom of Zimbabwe removing its colonial legacy name of Rhodesia, after Cecil Rhodes. The British colonialist, whose legacy on the continent and beyond is called to question these days, headed the British South Africa company that during colonial times, “owned” present-day Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Ghana on its part would also reclaim its name at independence from the Ancient West African Kingdom of Ghana after its British colonial legacy when it was known as the Gold Coast. Recently, in multicultural and multiracial South Africa, there have also been some calls to shake off the colonial legacy of its naming by changing its name to Azania. Interestingly, even this name has no African origin. It was the name used by 1st century Greek explorers to refer to Southern Africa.

Even a country without colonial heritage find its names have roots in Europe, such is the case with Ethiopia, which was never colonized but whose name also has Greek roots from the words “burnt-face” as a noun or “red-brown” in as an adjective. Liberia, the continent’s oldest republic which was established as independent country in 1847 by freed former African-American slaves was obviously named for liberty.

A large number of cancer patients from Africa are travelling to India every year in search of treatment.

Medical tourism from Africa is thought to be worth around $1bn a year.

In this BBC Life Clinic film, Esther Wafor explains why she travelled from her home country of Cameroon and why she chose India for her treatment.

To complicate matters, the country’s once-reliable and cheap electricity has become the single biggest threat to the economy. Eskom, the state power utility, has struggled to keep the lights on for many months, as one plant breakdown after another have made the electrical grid woefully expensive and unstable.

Eskom authorities have turned to enacting forced blackouts to prevent total system collapse, hitting the economy as businesses and households alike have scrambled for more expensive back-up options like diesel generators – or risk staying in the dark. In December, Eskom was forced to shed so much power from the grid that even vital mining operations in the country were temporarily halted, impacting the country’s most critical sector.

Amid the blackouts, Pretoria has thrown billions of dollars at the problem, but to little avail. This is because constructing new plants and improving the existing decrepit infrastructure will take several years, meaning that South Africa’s fight to keep the lights on will continue to harm the economy for the foreseeable future. The consequences will be felt well beyond the electrical sector as Moody’s Financial Services, the last of the big three credit agencies to not downgrade South Africa to junk status, will review its position in November. It is likely that Moody’s will downgrade.

An indictment of South Africa': whites-only town Orania is booming

October in Orania can be charming. When the sun sets, long ribbons of burnt orange settle on the horizon. The flies and mosquitoes that come with the oppressive summer heat haven’t arrived yet. It is Magdalene Kleynhans’ favourite time of year. “You can sit outside until late into the night,” says the businesswoman, whose family spend much of their time outdoors. Her children fish from the banks of the Orange River whenever they choose. Kleynhans leaves the house unlocked. “It’s a good life. It’s a big privilege.”

But there is much more to this small Northern Cape town than the bucolic ideal painted by Kleynhans. Incredibly, 25 years after the fall of apartheid, Orania is a place for white people only.

South Africa is in a state of chaos and unrest ever since the arrest of former President Jacob Zuma on July 7. As riots, arson, violence and lootings escalate in the country, the Indian community living there faces dangers to their homes and businesses. In a desperate attempt to protect their businesses from looting, Indians have now stepped up their fight against the arsonists and looters.

Zuma, once known for his fight against apartheid, was imprisoned in the Estcourt Correctional Center for 15 months for disobeying court’s orders.

It soon escalated to arson, and killings on the streets of Gauteng, and KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) provinces.

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Willem Petzer, the Chairman of Taxpayers Union of South Africa, tweeted, “I have to say, after watching everything that happened today, I am looking at the Durban Indian community in a whole different light. These guys showed us they are willing to go all the way to defend their communities when they are threatened, whatever it takes.

White people & Indians have declared war. In the war there are no rules. When our people target their children & their mothers,fathers it won’t be nice and no I’m not calling for violence but our people didn’t not kill or beat up anyone. If they are wrong police must arrest them

India has raised concern over the recent attacks on the Indian expats and people of Indian-origin in South Africa.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar is said to have spoken with his South African counterpart Naledi Pandor to convey India's concern over the violence against the Indian-origin people amid the unrest in the country, reports Times of India.

Further, MEA secretary Sanjay Bhattacharya also met with the high commissioner of South Africa to India Joel Sibusiso Ndebele and expressed reservations about the issue, official sources were quoted in the report as saying.

“South African side assured that their government was doing its utmost to enforce law and order... They expected the situation to improve soon,” a source was quoted as saying.

"Regarding reports of arson and looting against Indians and Indian-origin South Africans, the South African side conveyed that opportunistic elements were taking advantage of the situation to engage in violence,” the source added.

It should be noted that the violence erupted in South Africa last Wednesday after the imprisonment of former president Jacob Zuma. As many as 72 people have reportedly been killed in the violence.

Among areas affected by the rioting and looting are Durban, Pietermaritzburg and Johannesburg, all of which have a sizeable population of Indian expats. Further, businesses owned by Indians and Indian-origin South Africans are reportedly also being targeted by looters.

As rioting and looting swept the country this summer, Indians in the suburb of Phoenix set up roadblocks to police their streets. Dozens of Black people passing through wound up dead.

Since the second coup in May 2021 and the arrival of Prime Minister Choguel Maiga, tension has grown between the transitional authorities in Mali and the French government. The situation worsened when some European countries, including France, claimed that Mali had deployed mercenaries from the Russian company Wagner.

Mali has been battling an Islamic insurgency in the north since 2012, and in 2013 France intervened in its former colony to stop jihadists who had seized swaths of the sprawling country, also at the request of Malian leaders.

Mali's Interim Prime Minister Choguel Kokalla Maiga said foreign forces will need to be agreed by the government before deploying after it asked Denmark to take back its special forces.

Bamako on Monday asked Denmark to take home its contingent of hundreds who were recently deployed to the country to take part in a French task force intended to accompany Malian soldiers against Jihadist groups.

"We told the Danes 'If you want to come to Mali then it's an agreement between the Danes and the Malians'. We will no longer accept that people come to our country. Above all when they say they will put in place a standby force. Why are they coming? Are they not coming to prepare something against our country. So we will not accept this. That's why we have asked the Danes to go home," said Choguel Kokalla Maiga, the Malian interim Prime Minister.

The force, whose deployment was announced in April 2021, is stationed in Menaka in eastern Mali. Its mandate was due to run until early 2023. The Malina government insisted forces will no longer enter its territory through proxies.

"Nobody will come here by proxy anymore. That used to happen. But now it's finished. It won't happen any more under the authority of Assimi Goita. If someone has to come to Mali then we will come to an agreement. We will agree on what you will come here to do," said Choguel Kokalla Maiga, the Malian interim Prime Minister.

India-Africa relations prospering on mutual respects & co-operations among others


Dating back several centuries, the relations between India and African countries are driven and shaped by a number of factors, including trade and investments, cultural, historical and political engagements. A youthful demography, fast-growing economies and vast amount of natural resources are something that both sides enjoy, causing envy and interest in rest of the world. These are the things that have prompted the 5 days visit of Vice President Venkaiah Naidu from 30th of May to 3rd of June, 2022 to Gabon and Senegal. In the last leg of his visit, the Vice President will be in Qatar from 4th to 7th of June.

This is the first visit from India at the level of Vice President to all three countries and the first-ever high-level visit from India to Gabon and Senegal. The visits to Gabon and Senegal are set to add momentum to India’s engagement with Africa and emphasise India’s commitment to this continent as Africa is increasingly becoming important to India’s foreign policy calculations also.

Vice President completed his first leg of visit to Gabon from 30th of May to 1st of June 2022. During the visit, he held delegation level talks with Prime Minister of Gabon H.E. Rose Christiane Ossouka Raponda. Vice President also called on President of Gabon H.E. Ali Bongo Ondimba and met other dignitaries. He also interacted with the business community in Gabon and addressed Indian diaspora. Both sides held a series of bilateral engagements advancing cooperation across spheres including trade, investment, energy, ICT, capacity building, health, pharmaceuticals and more.

More than 50 Indian companies are engaged in Gabon Special Economic Zone (GSEZ), the place Vice President visited Wednesday. Both sides signed two MoUs for establishing Joint Commission and Diplomats’ training. Around 800 Indians are living in Gabon, engaged in infrastructure projects, trading and exports of timber and metal scrap.

India and Gabon are currently non-permanent members of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) and bilateral trade between the reached 1.12 US dollar in 2021-22. Under the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) and ICCR schemes, a number of Gabon nationals pursue education in India under scholarship and training programmes offered here.

Similarly, India and Senegal bilateral trade reached 1.65 billion in 2021-22 with Indian offering a total of 16 lines of credit amounting to 350 million US dollar and Buyers Credit of about 305 US dollar in various sectors. However, comparing with these African countries India has much larger trade and people to people relations with Qatar and other Muslim countries. India-Qatar bilateral trade has already cross 15 billion US dollar in 2021-22 with Qatar committing investments of over 2 billion US dollar in various Indian companies over the past two years. Besides, more than 7.5 lakh Indian are living in Qatar.

Coming back to the growing relations with Africa- not only India but rest of the globe is also far more interested in this continent today than any time in history.



India and Africa’s historical links and relations have experienced a revival in recent years and both sides understand the fact that it is a win-win situation as growing relations are mutually beneficial. India-Africa trade has grown to around 66.7 billion US dollar in 2019-20. Around 8% of Indian imports are from Africa and around 9% of Africa’s imports are from India. The investment of India’s public and private sector enterprises are increasing in Africa, making it the 8th largest investor in African.

In recent years, besides loan and investment, India has also given ample amount of aid to Africa to fight the Covid-19 pandemic. Under the Vaccine Maitri initiative, India supplied 24.7 million doses of Made of India Covid vaccines to 42 countries in Africa.

Clearly, India looks to engage with Africa meaningfully, focusing much on its core competencies like human resource development, training and skill development, IT, ITES, education and healthcare services unlike China who focuses majorly on developing manufacturing capacities and infrastructure in Africa. While, China’s economic model of engagement with Africa looks attractive and has also paid rich dividend in recent years, the fascination for India’s support for democratic practices, processes, institutions and people to people engagement is high in Africa.

India also has an advantage of language and cultural affinity. English is far more prevalent among the people in African countries than any other language, making it much easier for Indian to interact with African people. Moreover, over 3 million strong Indian diaspora in Africa also proves to a crucial strategic asset for India to further its relations with African countries.

Over half a dozen countries in Africa are among the fastest developing economies including Rwanda, Senegal, and Tanzania, making it one of the growth pole of the world. Real GDP in Africa in the past decade has grown almost twice. African continent has a population of over one billion with a combined GDP of 2.5 trillion dollars, which makes it a huge market.

Taking these all things into account, India is making consistent efforts towards strengthening relations with Africa. Launched in 2008, India’s duty-free tariff preferential scheme for Least Developed Nation has benefited 33 African states. The India–Africa Forum Summit- the official platform for the African-Indian relations, is also contributing immensely to this building up process.

In the past, the geographical proximity and easy navigability in Indian Ocean resulted in well-established trade relations between India and Africa, much before the European exploration.

PM Modi meets South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on sidelines of G7 Summit

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday met South African President Cyril Ramaphosa as part of the multiple bilateral meetings scheduled on the sidelines of the G7 Summit in Germany.

The talks covered the entire gamut of the existing bilateral relationship between the two nations, including expanding ties in trade, investment, defence, pharmaceuticals, health and more. The leaders also held in-depth talks on food security and agreed on further enhancing their countries close cooperation in both regional and multilateral forums, including in BRICS and IBSA.

Speaking of his meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, PM Modi said, “Glad to have met President Cyril Ramaphosa in Germany. Our talks covered diverse sectors including economic cooperation, improving connectivity and deepening ties in food processing and FinTech.”

According to the Ministry of External Affairs, the leaders during the meeting jointly expressed satisfaction over the WTO agreement reached in June 2022 that includes waiving patents for COVID-19 vaccines, thereby allowing developing countries to produce vaccines.

“We discussed the cooperation between our two countries in the fight against COVID-19 which resulted in the WTO acceptance of the TRIPS Waiver,” the South African President said.

It is pertinent to note that, ‘India and South Africa have submitted the first proposal suggesting a waiver for all WTO members on the implementation of certain provisions of the TRIPS Agreement in relation to the prevention, containment or treatment of COVID-19’.

Both sides also stressed the need for a comprehensive reform of the United Nations Security Council.

PM Modi who is on a two-day visit to Germany, at the invitation of the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, earlier also addressed the session on ‘Investing in a better Future: Climate, Energy, Health’ at G7 Summit.

Highlighting India’s efforts for green growth, clean energy, sustainable lifestyles & global wellbeing, PM Modi said, “We have achieved the target of 40 percent energy-capacity from non-fossil sources 9 years before time. The target of 10 percent ethanol-blending in petrol has been achieved 5 months before time. India has the world's first fully solar-power operated airport. India's huge railway system will become net zero in this decade.”

In his address, PM Modi further called on G7 countries to support India’s effort in clean energy technologies. “The scale that India can provide for every new technology can make that technology affordable for the whole world,” PM Modi said.

People under thirty constitute 70 percent of Nigeria’s population but, until the current election cycle, the country’s youth have been checked out of the political process.

The general elections scheduled for February 25, however, could see a change—a surge in voter registration by young people could very well determine the outcome and usher in a new and younger national leadership. While young voters have typically made up the majority of registered voters, they have seldom voted. In the 2023 general election, however, one of the three leading candidates, Peter Obi, has attracted the attention of youthful voters, and while it is not by any means a sure thing, seems poised to set Nigerian politics on a new course. Nigeria is Africa’s largest economy and most populous country with over 216 million people,

The current front runner is Obi, a member of the social democratic Labour Party and former governor of Anambra state. At sixty-one, Obi is the youngest of the three main candidates in a field of sixteen total contenders. Formerly a member of the opposition People’s Democratic Party. Obi resigned shortly before the primaries in July 2022, and became the Labour Party candidate. Obi seems to have the best understanding of what young Nigerians want and can speak the language of the young and the diaspora. An Igbo from the country’s southeast, his support, from young people and celebrities, transcends ethnic and socio-economic divisions.

Obi has attracted support from younger voters who have traditionally been apathetic, and has also won the support of a number of celebrities, including former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who publicly declared his support on January 1 in an open letter to the youth of Nigeria. In addition to praising Obi’s competence and ability to govern, Obasanjo reinforced to the young people that it was time for the young to take awa lokan (our turn), not with a sense of entitlement but with a commitment to unity and transformation. In a September 2022 poll conducted for Bloomberg News, 72 percent of decided voters of all ages, genders, and ethnicities were for Obi and 45 percent of those who were undecided still expressed a preference for Obi. Among decided voters, Tinubu got 16 percent and Abubakar 9 percent. Since declaring his candidacy, Obi has built up a base of enthusiastic supporters known as “Obidients.” Initially only online, they are increasingly talking to the streets.