The India-US trade negotiations are at an advanced stage and a consensus on an interim deal is within reach, a key official told NDTV on Tuesday, adding that Washington's demands on agricultural products are proving to be a hurdle. Indo-American Chamber of Commerce Executive Council Member Sunil Jain spoke to the channel on Tuesday, a day after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman was reported as having said that agriculture and dairy are "big red lines" for India in the trade talks. "The deal has progressed a lot and the chief negotiators of India are extending their stay in the US and trying to complete the deal. I think the two areas where the deal is getting stuck are related to agricultural products. Agriculture is the lifeline of the Indian GDP and Indian people. It is very difficult for us to import agricultural products. There are many difficulties and sensitivities involved," Mr Jain said in Hindi. "The second thing is that the products the US...
The Manipur Police have named an armed group whose members call themselves "village defence volunteers" as responsible for the attack on the house of a senior police officer in the state capital Imphal on Tuesday night. Following the attack, the state called in central forces including the army to Imphal city, from where the Armed Forces (Special) Powers Act, or AFSPA, had been removed years ago. This law allows the security forces to conduct operations anywhere and arrest anyone without a warrant. The AFSPA is active in the hill areas due to presence of insurgents of several ethnicities along the border with troubled Myanmar. The police in a statement on Thursday said members of the Arambai Tenggol, a Meitei youth organisation whose members face allegations of looting weapons from state armouries, "carried out a targeted attack " on the house of senior police officer Moirangthem Amit Singh, who along with his team had seized two stolen cars on Tuesday. This was ...