Ties in the neighbourhood will come back into focus next week as Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Male on July 25-26 for the Independence Day of the Maldives, and sources say a long-pending visit by Nepal’s Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli to New Delhi is being planned shortly after his return.

Mr. Modi was expected to travel to the U.K. to sign the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, but officials said the trip, which is still being planned for July 24, has not been “finalised” and could be delayed.

Mr. Modi is expected to land in Male on July 25, and will be given a ceremonial welcome. He will hold bilateral talks with Maldives’ President Mohamed Muizzu, who visited India in June 2024 for Mr. Modi’s swearing-in ceremony and then for a State visit in October. Among a number of development initiatives, both sides are expected to build on the launch of digital payment system UPI and mechanisms to increase tourist arrivals between both countries, officials working on the visit said.

On July 26, Mr. Modi has been invited as a guest to the Independence Day parade and other special ceremonies to mark 60 years of the Maldives getting independence from the British in 1965. The invitation was announced by Maldives Foreign Minister Abdulla Khaleel during his visit to India in May this year.

Officials said that India and the U.K. have also been discussing a short visit to London by Mr. Modi before he travels to Male, on July 24, to sign the FTA that was announced by him and Mr. Starmer on May 6. However, it is understood that some technical and “legal scrubbing” is still required to be finished, and the trip may require to be put off or held after the Male visit.

The visit to the Maldives is significant as it marks Mr. Modi’s first visit to the neighbouring country since the election of Mr. Muizzu in November 2023. Ties between India and Maldives hit a rough patch over the “India Out” campaign that Mr. Muizzu had backed during his campaign, and the “Boycott Maldives” social media campaign that followed over criticism of Mr. Modi by Maldivian Ministers.

However, the two sides subsequently resolved issues, after India agreed to replace military personnel stationed there for aircraft management with civilian engineers. India has also increased its Lines of Credit and outlay to Maldives from ₹470 crore in 2024-25 to ₹600 crore in the latest budget, and extended a much needed currency swap facility to help Maldives with its debt repayment crisis last year.

Diplomatic sources further said that India is expected to host Nepal’s Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli later this month and that discussions are on.

Mr. Oli was one of the first regional leaders to condemn the terrorist attack in Pahalgam and, subsequently, India accommodated Nepalese citizens while airlifting stranded nationals from Iran against the backdrop of the Iran-Israel conflict.

Mr. Oli in recent months, has also praised India for supporting the democratic process in post-monarchy Nepal. While plans are underway for the visit, there are also internal political developments in Nepal that will be taken into consideration at the planning stage. On Wednesday (July 16, 2025), Janata Samajbadi Party-Nepal (JSP-N), withdrew support to Mr. Oli’s government, reducing the ruling coalition to a minority in the Upper House of the Nepalese Parliament — National Assembly.

Mr. Oli’s India proposed visit has acquired heightened attention as he was sworn in on July 15, 2024 but has not visited India till now, but had visited China in December last year.

Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) Executive Officer (EO) J. Syamala Rao directed the officials to ensure basic amenities for devotees at the newly set-up SRIVANI ticket issuing counters near Annamayya Bhavan in Tirumala. The counters are scheduled to be opened to the public on July 22.

Mr. Rao, accompanied by Additional EO Ch. Venkataiah Chowdary, on Wednesday, inspected the centre and emphasised the importance of providing refreshments such as tea, coffee, milk, and drinking water to pilgrims waiting at the counters. He stressed the need for the optimum utilisation of digital display screens to effectively communicate with the pilgrims. 

He also reviewed the ongoing modernisation works at the ANC and HVC sub-enquiry offices and urged timely completion of the projects. During his inspection at the Food and Water Laboratory, he interacted with the staff to get a first-hand information regarding the testing procedures and urged them to regularly test the food and water samples without any compromise. 

The Indian Institute of Technology, Dharwad (IIT-Dh), has bagged 149 research projects in various fields worth ₹71 crore through sponsored funding.

Addressing presspersons in Dharwad on Wednesday, Dean of Research and Development at IIT-Dh Pratyasa Bhui said that along with these projects, the institute has bagged consultancy projects worth ₹5 crore, ₹9.25 crore from CSR and ₹5 crore research initiation grants.

The social impact projects include precision agriculture to improve crop yields and assist management decisions using high-technology sensors and analysis tool.

Research is also being taken up in the field of agriculture drones, android applications for periodic crop health monitoring, market, forecasts and disease and pest detection.

Prof. Bhui said that IIT-Dh focuses on indoor drones for fire fighters. “A drone prototype has been developed to locate people stuck inside the building during a fire mishap. Now, work is on developing robots for monitoring power transmission lines and pipelines,” he said.

New programmes

Elaborating on the new programmes at the institute, N.S. Punekar stated that during the current academic year IIT-Dh will start three new programmes in M.Tech and two-year M.Sc and BS in Economics from the next academic year.

At present, the institute has 983 students studying B.Tech, 120 in M.Tech and MS and 201 research scholars. In all, there are 1,312 students on campus.