Emmanuel Macron, the chief guest at this year’s Republic Day parade, today announced measures to ensure that more Indian students study in France. He said that France has an ambitious target of having over 30,000 students by 2030.

“30,000 Indian students in France in 2030. It’s a very ambitious target, but I am determined to make it happen,” Macron said in a post on X (formerly Twitter).

30,000 Indian students in France in 2030.

It’s a very ambitious target, but I am determined to make it happen.

Here’s how: pic.twitter.com/QDpOl4ujWb

— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) January 26, 2024

Elaborating on how France will aid the students, Macron said that international classes would be set up to allow students who do not speak French to study in universities there.

“We are developing the network of Alliances francaises, with new centers to learn French. We are creating international classes which will allow students, who do not necessarily speak French, to join our universities,” Macron said.

“Last but not least, we will facilitate the visa process for any former Indian students who studied in France,” the French President added.

In what could very well pass off as the real-life manifestation of Ramesh Sippy’s 1972 Bollywood blockbuster ‘Seeta Aur Geeta‘, a remarkably similar story of separation and reunion has surfaced from the eastern European country of Georgia.

Amy Khvitia and Ano Sartania, identical twins separated at birth and unknowingly living just miles apart in Georgia, found each other through a viral TikTok video and a talent show.

Their story, reported by the BBC, sheds light on a much larger issue plaguing Georgia – the alarming number of babies stolen from hospitals and sold over the decades, a scandal that remains largely unresolved.

The journey to discovery for Amy and Ano began when they were just 12 years old. Amy, engrossed in her favorite TV show, ‘Georgia’s Got Talent’, stumbled upon a girl dancing who bore an uncanny resemblance to her. Little did she know that the woman dancing was her long-lost sister.

On the other hand, Ano received a TikTok video featuring a woman with blue hair who looked remarkably like her. The woman in the video turned out to be her twin Amy. 

Aza Shoni, the twins’ birth mother, had fallen into a coma due to undisclosed birth complications in 2002. Gocha Gakharia, her husband made a devastating decision – to sell Ano and Amy to separate families.

Ano was raised in Tbilisi, while Amy grew up in Zugdidi, both completely unaware of each other’s existence. Despite participating in the same dance contest at the age of 11, where onlookers noticed the striking resemblance, the truth remained elusive.

Their lives continued on parallel paths until the fateful TikTok video and subsequent reunion. However, as the twins sought answers to their own separation, they uncovered a shocking reality – they were just two among thousands of babies stolen from Georgian hospitals and sold, with cases reported as recently as 2005.

According to the BBC report, the incident took place two years ago on the Rustaveli Bridge in Tbilisi, Georgia’s capital, where Amy and Ano met for the first time since their separation 19 years earlier.
 

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, after parting ways with the  BJP in 2022, took on the initiative of coralling all opposition forces to jointly take on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the ruling party in the national election. He hosted the first meeting of opposition parties in Patna, and it was widely believed that he would eventually be the coalition’s Convenor.

So how and why did Nitish Kumar become so disillusioned that he reached out to PM Modi, the man he wanted to defeat?

According to leaders close to the 72-year-old, the January 13 meeting of the INDIA alliance was the turning point.

In that meeting, Nitish Kumar’s name was proposed as Convenor by CPM Leader Sitaram Yechury and endorsed by almost all leaders, including Lalu Yadav and Sharad Pawar. However, Rahul Gandhi interjected and said a decision on this would have to wait as Trinamool Congress leader and Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had reservations over Nitish Kumar for the role. Tejashwi Yadav, Nitish Kumar’s deputy (now soon-to-be ex), pointed out that Mamata Banerjee had skipped the meeting and that the decision should not be subject to her approval as a majority were in favour of Nitish Kumar. Significantly, though not surprisingly, neither Sonia Gandhi nor Mallikarjun Kharge sought to overrule Rahul Gandhi. Nitish Kumar, say sources close to him, felt then that he was “never going to achieve his objective of overthrowing Modi”.  And he decided, “if you can’t beat him, join him”, the leaders said.

Nitish Kumar felt that Rahul Gandhi, instead of trying to persuade Mamata Banerjee and bring her around, humiliated him in the meeting by citing reservations over his name.

Nitish Kumar’s supporters believe that as long as Rahul Gandhi is taking all the important calls, the opposition cannot manage full unity or put up a respectable fight against the BJP.

Reports that Nitish Kumar would not join Rahul Gandhi’s yatra in Bihar were a dead giveaway that the opposition alliance is in trouble.

The INDIA bloc is unraveling furiously with its key mover making a last-minute one-eighty and deciding to partner the BJP in the coming Lok Sabha elections.

Over the last two days, two other opposition MVPs  — Mamata Banerjee and Arvind Kejriwal — have all but ended it with the INDIA bloc, ruling out any alliance with the Congress and declaring solo fights in Bengal and Punjab.