Narendra Modi has trumpeted a new era of friendship with Barack Obama but experts say the Indian premier will be careful not to alienate traditional ally Russia or giant rival China.

The U.S. president was the chief guest at India's Republic Day parade on Monday after accepting an invitation that is one of the biggest honors a country can bestow on a foreign leader.

U.S. President Barack Obama will on Monday be chief guest at India's Republic Day parade, a spectacular projection of the nation's military might and cultural diversity.

Here are five things you need to know about India's 66th Republic Day:

U.S. President Barack Obama and India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi broke the deadlock on a long-stalled nuclear pact Sunday as they hailed a new era of friendship between the world's two largest democracies.

After greeting Obama with a bear hug as he stepped off Air Force One, Modi then trumpeted the "chemistry" with his fellow leader on the first of a three-day visit to the Indian capital.

Indian police have re-arrested a human rights campaigner staging a 14-year hunger strike just hours after she was released on court orders, drawing condemnation from fellow activists.

Irom Sharmila, known as the Iron Lady of Manipur for her unwavering and non-violent protest against human rights abuses in India's northeast, has spent years in judicial custody over her fast.

U.S. President Barack Obama has cancelled plans to visit the Taj Mahal during his upcoming trip to India, a local government official told Agence France Presse on Saturday.

Obama was scheduled to go to India's famed monument to love with First Lady Michelle Obama on Tuesday, at the end of a three-day visit to the country.

Clashes between protesters and police erupted in Indian Kashmir's main city of Srinagar after Friday prayers amid a general shutdown called over the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.

The closure of shops and businesses was ordered by a leading Muslim organization and several separatist groups to protest the "blasphemous" caricatures in the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo whose offices were attacked by Islamist gunmen on January 7.

A female bomber blew herself up and killed a police officer outside a court in the Indian state of Bihar Friday as part of an escape bid by two murder suspects who are now on the run, police said.

More than a dozen people were also injured in the explosion in Bihar's Bhojpur district which occurred amid a general heightened state of alert in India ahead of a visit by U.S. President Barack Obama which begins on Sunday.

An Indian court Thursday reordered the release of a campaigner staging a hunger strike for more than 14 years to protest human rights abuses in the country's remote northeast, her lawyer said.

Irom Sharmila, known as the Iron Lady of Manipur for her unwavering and non-violent protest, has spent years in judicial custody over her fast, intended to draw attention to abuses allegedly committed by the military.

Pakistani marine forces have arrested 38 Indian fishermen for violating territorial waters in the Arabian Sea, police said on Thursday.

Pakistan's Maritime Security Agency (MSA) detained the fishermen on Wednesday after they strayed into Pakistani waters, and they were handed over to local police in the port city of Karachi, a senior police official told AFP.

A court in New Delhi Tuesday ordered the government to unblock thousands of dollars of Greenpeace India's funds after they were frozen following accusations that foreign-funded campaign groups were hurting India's economy.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government tightened controls on foreign fund transfers to Greenpeace India in June following an intelligence report accusing activist groups of "stalling development projects" by protesting against power projects, mining and genetically modified food.