Not too long ago, Brand India was riding high. Now, it is fast losing some of its sheen. The country has been beset with a series of scams and governance issues; foreign investors are plagued by uncertainties in taxation; and recently, the Central Statistical Office has pegged the country’s GDP growth for the current fiscal 2012-2013 at 5% — the lowest since 2002-2003. In fact, last year, credit rating agency Standard and Poor’s (S&P) released a study titled, “Will India be the first BRIC fallen angel?”

The Indian embassy in Cairo was quick to spot the rising fame and popularity of Gandhi among young Egyptians during and after the Egyptian revolution that overthrew former president Hosni Mubarak's long-time rule in 2011. Seizing the opportunity, the embassy in Cairo supported by INDIAFRICA: A Shared Future and the Public Diplomacy Division, ministry of external affairs, Government of India, announced a competition for children: 'Did you sense the spirit of Gandhi in Tahrir Square?'

Renewing its pitch for fresh investments, India on Wednesday launched a sector-wise investment guide specifically targeted towards Chinese companies at an investor forum in Beijing.

Few Australians are aware that Indian contingents fought alongside the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps at Gallipoli that is so central to the founding myth of Australian (and New Zealand) identity. As cricket legend Rahul Dravid noted in the 2011 Bradman Oration at the Australian War Memorial, appropriately enough, 1,300 Indian soldiers lost their lives at Gallipoli. Indians fought alongside Australians also in “El Alamein, North Africa, in the Syria-Lebanon campaign, in Burma, in the battle for Singapore” during the Second World War.

India will launch its first space mission to Mars this year, President PranabMukherjee said on Thursday. "Several space missions are planned for 2013, including India's first mission to Mars and the launch of our first navigational satellite,"

Two US athletes, Major League Baseball Hall-of-Famer Barry Larkin and Olympian Natasha Watley, are headed to India as sports envoys to encourage youth participation in sports. During their Feb 12-18 trip to India, Larkin and Whatley will lead baseball and softball clinics in New Delhi and Imphal for underserved youth and their coaches, as well as engage in dialogue on sports and diversity, the State Department announced Tuesday.

British Prime Minister David Cameron is not only leading his country's biggest ever trade mission to India, including Rolls-Royce and BP, he is also showing how to mix business and politics by announcing faster business visas, lifting of limits on Indian students and promoting cultural links. In the federation that is Australia, our biggest missions are now led by state premiers and while the numbers are great, the political level lacks real clout.

As the Obama administration rethinks its strategy for South Asian engagement, and Senator John Kerry assumes his duties as Secretary of State, a more "naturalized" approach to diplomacy should be considered. Despite their many differences, South Asia's acrimonious nations are tied together by ecological factors which can provide fertile ground for regional cooperation, thereby building trust in other areas and reducing chances of greater conflict.