The Ministry of External Affairs is going to use documentaries to showcase India in the international arena as a part of its effort to strengthen India’s “soft power”. The External Publicity & Public Diplomacy (XPD) Division of Ministry of External Affairs has invited proposals from filmmakers to make documentary on “India—a science and technology super power” and three separate documentaries that will cover the architectural, cultural and natural heritage of India.

If the idea of Brand Bengaluru conjures up images of glittering high-rises, a shining IT sector and bad traffic, think again! Brand expert Harish Bijoor, who runs a brand consulting outfit from Bengaluru, has a very different notion of the word ‘branding’. The image of a city, he maintains, is more than its infrastructure, causes and shortcomings

Kate Middleton joined the rest of the royal family at Buckingham Palace to celebrate Britain’s cultural ties with India. The Duchess of Cambridge literally shined at the reception in a metallic, mid-length dress by Erdem, pairing it with sparkling Oscar de la Renta heels. In honor of the occasion, she wore earrings by Indian designer Anita Dongre, whose pieces she also wore while playing cricket during her visit to India.

Under its new foreign policy adopted last year, Taiwan hopes to share its expertise with India in areas like smart cities and clean energy, a senior official has said. [...] Clean energy goes without saying,” she said. “Your country and mine are going in the same direction.” The Asian Silicon Valley project is a major part of Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen’s economic reforms aimed at infusing new life into Taiwan’s economy.

“I love exams. People are usually afraid of them, but I love exams,” says HR Nagendra, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s personal yoga consultant. And as a result of his efforts, along with other yoga exponents like Jaggi Vasudev, Baba Ramdev and Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, a module has been designed so that yoga teachers across India can take exams to receive government certification.

The Maulana Azad Centre for Indian Culture (MACIC), the cultural wing of the Indian Embassy in Cairo, yesterday organised a seminar on ‘Cooperation in Entrepreneurship between India and Egypt’. The seminar was part of the ‘MACIC Roundtable’, a monthly seminar series involving youth, academicians, culture lovers, civil society activists, on issues of mutual interest to India and Egypt.

Now a new initiative called Republic TV, bankrolled by the nationalistic Indian politician and media baron Rajeev Chandrasekhar, stands the best chance to break the inertia and enter the big league in the world news business. [...] Should Republic TV deliver the goods, soft-power benefits will flow to India as an open and argumentative society bringing its distinct non-Western narrative to illuminate the world’s problems and offer solutions.

Germany is one of the top ten investors in India and we want to continue this strong bond with India, said Andrea Christ, Deputy Counsel General, German Consulate, who was in the city to launch Dr. Wiesner’s product,[...] Stating that the Indo-German relations have strengthened since the Make in India initiative with cultural exchange programmes and industrial opportunities.