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www.newsindiatimes.com – that’s all you need to know (February 7, 2026 - February 13, 2026) February 13, 2026 8 News India Times US-India I ndia aims to diversify its energy sources amid changing global circum- stances, the country’s trade minister said onWednesday, two days after the U.S. slashed tariffs on Indian goods in exchange for New Delhi halting Russian oil purchases. U.S. President Donald Trump on Mon- day announced a trade deal with India that reduced tariffs to 18% from 50%. He said India would instead buy oil from the U.S. and potentially Venezuela. In his first statement to the parliament on the trade deal, Trade Minister Piyush Goyal did not specifically refer to shifting energy purchases away from any country. “To secure the energy needs of 1.4 billion Indians is our priority. Given the changing global circumstances, diver- sifying of energy sources is part of this strategy,” he said. He noted India had successfully pro- tected sensitive sectors such as agricul- ture and dairy. The Kremlin said it sees nothing new in India’s plan to diversify its oil supplies. “We, and not only us, but all specialists in the field of international energy affairs, are well aware that Russia is not the only supplier of oil and petroleum products to India,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters onWednesday. Indian refiners have not been told by the government to stop buying Russian oil and would need a wind-down period to complete purchases already in process, Reuters reported. The Asian market had witnessed a relief rally on Tuesday as the India-U.S. deal marked reconciliation between the two sides after months of tensions. India’s equity benchmarks, however, ended marginally higher onWednesday as losses in IT stocks dampened optimism over the trade deal. Lawmakers from India’s key opposi- tion party Congress have questioned the lack of detail regarding the deal and have sought clarification on the extent of farm access offered toWashington. “Has India compromised in any man- ner under U.S. pressure? Have we agreed to zero tariffs on American imports, as claimed by Mr. Trump?,” Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge said in a post on social media. Goyal on Tuesday said India and the U.S. would issue a joint statement on the deal after reaching a “final understanding” on the deal. -Reuters India Says Will Diversify Energy Supply After Deal With US On Russia Oil By Shivangi Acharya New Educational Technologies Needed In Teaching Hindi: World Hindi Diwas Commemoration At The UN -UNITED NATIONS T here is a need to inte- grate new technologies in the education of Hindi language to make it easy for the Indian Diaspora to learn it, although the government of India is making major efforts to popular- ize Hindi globally, said Chief Guest, India’s Minister of State forWomen and Child Development, Savitri Thakur. Thakur was speaking at the World Hindi Diwas commemora- tion held February 2, 2026, organized by the Permanent Mission of India, attended by government of India officials and diplomats, the UN of- ficials, other diplomatic corps, Hindi scholars and members of the Indian Diaspora. Important attendees included India’s Deputy Perma- nent Representative to the UNYojna Patel, Permanent Representative of Nepal Lok Bahadur Thapa, Permanent Representative of Mauritius Milan Jaya Meetarbhan, and Deputy Permanent Representative of Guyana Trishala Simantini Persaud. This was the third annual celebration of theWorld Hindi Diwas at the UN organized by the Permanent Mission of India to the UN. The first Hindi Diwas was commemorated in November 2024, with the second commemorated in October 2025. The UN has designated January 10 as theWorld Hindi Day or Vishwa Hindi Diwas. Initiated by the Government of India, this day was first established in 2006 to promote Hindi as a global language and commemorates the day Hindi was first spoken in the United Nations General Assembly in 1949. India celebrates its own national Hindi Diwas on a separate day. Speaking on the occasion, Deputy Permanent Rep- resentative of India, Yojna Patel, outlined the successful efforts by the Permanent Mission of India to include Hindi in the list of non-official languages at the UN. She elaborated on India’s partnership with the UN Depart- ment of Global Communication on the webcast of UN News in Hindi, and India’s contribution of $8 million to popularize Hindi at the UN. Speakers from the Caribbean countries and Nepal gave credit to Hindi language in preserving and promoting culture in their countries. The Hindi at UN Project which was renewed ear- lier this year for five more years, uses Hindi for public outreach through social media, newsletters and a UN News website to connect with millions of Hindi-speaking people worldwide. The Hindi so- cial media network boasts around 137,000 total followers, while ac- cumulating over 3.7 million views across all channels. Under this project, the UN Hindi news website has attracted approximately 346,000 views from 193,000 active followers, with a large portion of the audience between the ages of 18 and 34. The UN has also launched a Hindi WhatsApp channel. Last year, at the commemora- tion in October 2025, representa- tives frommember states had acknowledged the contribution of Bollywood Films in giving expo- sure to Hindi language and Indian culture, thus popularizing Hindi in countries including Russia, Egypt, Africa and Latin America. Hindi is also popularized through educational institutes including Harvard, Co- lumbia, Cornell, Chicago, Texas, Oxford and Cambridge, and in Stockholm which offer degrees and courses in Hindi. Hindi has been integrated into education in Mau- ritius since 1954 with various institutions including the Ramayan Center, the Hindi Prachar Sabha and TheWorld Hindi Secretariat continuing to promote the language. Other countries including Guyana, Suriname, Trini- dad and Tobago and Nepal also have local educational institutes offering education in Hindi at primary and secondary levels in schools, along with special courses in Hindi. Students from these countries also go to study Hindi in India. In Nepal, Hindi is the mother tongue of nearly 100,000 people and at least 25,000 use Hindi as a secondary language in his multilingual and multicultural country. By Archana Adalja PHOTOS:COURTESY PERMANENT MISSION OF INDIATOTHE UN PHOTO:REUTERS/DENIS BALIBOUSE From left, Permanent Representative of Mauritius Milan Jaya Meetarbhan, Deputy Permanent Representative of Guyana Trishala Simantini Persaud, India’s Minister of State for Women and Child Development Savitri Thakur, India’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Yojna Patel and Permanent Representative of Nepal Lok Bahadur Thapa. India’s Minister of State for Women and Child Development, Savitri Thakur, speaking at the World Hindi Diwas celebration at the UN on February 2, 2026. Piyush Goyal, India’s Minister of Railways and Minis- ter of Commerce and Industry, attends a session at the 50th World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meet- ing in Davos, Switzerland, January 21, 2020. Unted Nations, NY