UPSC Magazine Vol 20 December 2010 Www.upscportal.com

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Dear Aspirants, it is the time, when you should be serious aboutyour goal. If you serious, things will take a shape in a way thatsuccess will be yours. But it is true that often-ordinary peoplelose their confidence, when it is very important to do achievesomething. But you should be very clear that Civil Services is notfor ordinary people, it is for the best, so you should have every-thing best in you. It may be strategy, confidence, perseveranceand hard work and intellect-each of this must be of best qualityin you. So at this juncture, when you are at the opening gate ofsuccess, do not lose confidence. Confidence comes from rightthinking. So now have a positive attitude and it comes from rightthinking.On this point Orison Swett Marden is correct in some extent. Hebelieved that our thoughts influence our lives and our life circum-stances. So I would like to quote him -“The finding of the largerpossibilities of man, the unused part, and the undiscovered partis the function of the New Philosophy. It may be covered underall sorts of debris—doubt, lack of self-confidence, timidity, fear,worry, uncertainty, anxiety, hatred, jealousy, revenge, envy, self-ishness. These may all be neutralized by right thinking.”He further says “How often it happens that people who have longbeen “down-and-out,” who have been considered “nobodies,”“good-for-nothings,” not well balanced, have changed suddenly, asthough touched by a magic wand, and have quickly become men orwomen of power, inspirers, and helpers of others! Something hap-pened that quickened their spirit, and from miserable liabilitiesthey have suddenly been converted into valuable assets to theircommunity.”In this 20th Volume of UPSC PORTAL Magazine, we have pre-sented the Articles India-America Relation, G-20 Seoul summit2010, Burmese General Election, XVI Asian Games 2010, Strategyfor Civil Services Preliminary Examination, Indo-Afghan Relationand in the section of Hot topics Malawian President Visit to India,India - Japan Annual Summit. Also Current Affairs and Sports &awards are included. And for the best preparation of Civil Serv-ices Pre examination 2011 we have presented very special packagefor India and Relation with Neighbour’s.So dear aspirants have a right thinking and do the best. UPSCPORTAL Magazine is with you. Before conclude I would like to sayall of you a very happy New Year.

Ram Kumar Pandey AndUPSCPORTAL Team.

Our thoughts influence our lives andour life circumstances

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Ram Kumar Pandey

India-America Relation

S President Barack Obamaarrived in India on 6 Nov,2010, on a three-day visit

during which about 18 announce-ments has been made on a widerange of areas covering economy,security and poli4cal spheres in-cluding possible easing of exportcontrols on dual use items.

Obama, the sixth US Presi-dent to visit India and the third in10 years, arrived along with hiswife Michelle, cabinet colleagues,Na4onal Security Adviser Tom

Donilon and 200 business lead-ers, the largest such delega4onever.

Joint StatementReaffirming their na4ons’ sharedvalues and increasing conver-gence of interests, Prime MinisterManmohan Singh and PresidentBarack Obama resolved in NewDelhi to expand and strengthenthe India-U.S. global strategicpartnership.

The two leaders welcomedthe deepening rela4onship be-tween the world’s two largestdemocracies. They commendedthe growing coopera4on be-tween their governments, ci4-zens, businesses, universi4es andscien4fic ins4tu4ons, which havethrived on a shared culture ofpluralism, educa4on, enterprise,and innova4on, and have bene-fited the people of both coun-tries.

Building on the transforma-

American President Barak Obama Visit to India

U

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4on in India-U.S. rela4ons overthe past decade, the two leadersresolved to intensify coopera4onbetween their na4ons to pro-mote a secure and stable world;advance technology and innova-4on; expand mutual prosperityand global economic growth;support sustainable develop-ment; and exercise global leader-ship in support of economicdevelopment, open governmentand democra4c values.

The two leaders reaffirmedthat India-U.S. strategic partner-ship is indispensable not only fortheir two countries but also forglobal stability and prosperity inthe 21st century. To that end,President Obama welcomedIndia’s emergence as a major re-gional and global power and af-firmed his country’s interest inIndia’s rise, its economic prosper-ity, and its security.

A Global StrategicPartnership

Prime Minister Singh and Presi-dent Obama called for an effi-cient, effec4ve, credible andlegi4mate United Na4ons to en-sure a just and sustainable inter-na4onal order. Prime MinisterSingh welcomed PresidentObama’s affirma4on that, in theyears ahead, the United Stateslooks forward to a reformed UNSecurity Council that includesIndia as a permanent member.The two leaders reaffirmed thatall na4ons, especially those thatseek to lead in the 21st century,bear responsibility to ensure thatthe United Na4ons fulfills itsfounding ideals of preservingpeace and security, promo4ngglobal coopera4on, and advanc-ing human rights.

Prime Minister Singh and

President Obama reiterated thatIndia and the United States, asglobal leaders, will partner forglobal security, especially as Indiaserves on the Security Councilover the next two years. Theleaders agreed that their delega-4ons in New York will intensifytheir engagement and work to-gether to ensure that the Councilcon4nues to effec4vely play therole envisioned for it in theUnited Na4ons Charter. Bothleaders underscored that allstates have an obliga4on to com-ply with and implement UN Secu-rity Council Resolu4ons, includingUN sanc4ons regimes. They alsoagreed to hold regular consulta-4ons on UN ma5ers, including onthe long-term sustainability ofUN peacekeeping opera4ons. Asthe two largest democracies,both countries also reaffirmedtheir strong commitment to theUN Democracy Fund.The two leaders have a shared vi-sion for peace, stability and pros-perity in Asia, the Indian Ocean

region and the Pacific region andcommi5ed to work together, andwith others in the region, for theevolu4on of an open, balancedand inclusive architecture in theregion. In this context, the lead-ers reaffirmed their support forthe East Asia Summit and com-mi5ed to regular consulta4ons inthis regard. The United Stateswelcomes, in par4cular, India’sleadership in expanding prosper-ity and security across the region.The two leaders agreed todeepen exis4ng regular strategicconsulta4ons on developments inEast Asia, and decided to expandand intensify their strategic con-sulta4ons to cover regional andglobal issues of mutual interest,including Central and West Asia.

The two sides commi5ed tointensify consulta4on, coopera-4on and coordina4on to promotea stable, democra4c, prosperous,and independent Afghanistan.President Obama appreciatedIndia’s enormous contribu4on toAfghanistan’s development and


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welcomed enhanced Indian assis-tance that will help Afghanistanachieve self-sufficiency. In addi-4on to their own independent as-sistance programs in Afghanistan,the two sides resolved to pursuejoint development projects withthe Afghan Government in capac-ity building, agriculture andwomen’s empowerment.

They reiterated that successin Afghanistan and regional andglobal security require elimina-4on of safe havens and infra-structure for terrorism andviolent extremism in Afghanistanand Pakistan. Condemning terror-ism in all its forms, the two sidesagreed that all terrorist networks,including Lashkar e-Taiba, mustbe defeated and called for Pak-istan to bring to jus4ce the per-petrators of the November 2008Mumbai a5acks. Building uponthe Counter Terrorism Ini4a4vesigned in July 2010, the two lead-ers announced a new HomelandSecurity Dialogue between theMinistry of Home Affairs and the

Department of Homeland Secu-rity and agreed to further deepenopera4onal coopera4on, counter-terrorism technology transfersand capacity building. The twoleaders also emphasized the im-portance of close coopera4on incomba4ng terrorist financing andin protec4ng the interna4onal fi-nancial system.

In an increasingly inter-de-pendent world, the stability of,and access to, the air, sea, space,and cyberspace domains is vitalfor the security and economicprosperity of na4ons. Acknowl-edging their commitment toopenness and responsible inter-na4onal conduct, and on thebasis of their shared values, Indiaand the United States havelaunched a dialogue to exploreways to work together, as well aswith other countries, to developa shared vision for these cri4caldomains to promote peace, secu-rity and development. The lead-ers reaffirmed the importance ofmari4me security, unimpeded

commerce, and free-dom of naviga4on, inaccordance with rele-vant universallyagreed principles of in-terna4onal law, includ-ing the United Na4onsConven4on on theLaw of the Sea, andpeaceful se5lement ofmari4me disputes.The transforma4on inIndia-U.S. defense co-opera4on in recentyears has strength-ened mutual under-standing on regionalpeace and stability, en-hanced both coun-tries’ respec4vecapaci4es to meet hu-manitarian and other

challenges such as terrorism andpiracy, and contributed to the de-velopment of the strategic part-nership between India and theUnited States. The two Govern-ments resolved to furtherstrengthen defense coopera4on,including through security dia-logue, exercises, and promo4ngtrade and collabora4on in de-fense equipment and technology.President Obama welcomedIndia's decision to purchase U.S.high-technology defense items,which reflects our strengtheningbilateral defence rela4ons andwill contribute to crea4ng jobs inthe United States.

The two leaders affirmed thattheir countries’ common ideals,complementary strengths and ashared commitment to a worldwithout nuclear weapons givethem a responsibility to forge astrong partnership to lead globalefforts for non-prolifera4on anduniversal and non-discriminatoryglobal nuclear disarmament inthe 21st century. They affirmedthe need for a meaningful dia-logue among all states possessingnuclear weapons to build trustand confidence and for reducingthe salience of nuclear weaponsin interna4onal affairs and secu-rity doctrines. They supportstrengthening the six decade-oldinterna4onal norm of non-use ofnuclear weapons. They expresseda commitment to strengthen in-terna4onal coopera4ve ac4vi4esthat will reduce the risk of terror-ists acquiring nuclear weapons ormaterial without reducing therights of na4ons that play by therules to harness the power of nu-clear energy to advance their en-ergy security. The leadersreaffirmed their shared dedica-4on to work together to realizethe commitments outlined at the

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April 2010 Nu-clear SecuritySummit toachieve thegoal of secur-ing vulnerablenuclear mate-rials in thenext fouryears. Bothsides ex-pressed deepconcern re-garding illicitnuclear traf-ficking andsmuggling and resolved tostrengthen interna4onal cooper-a4ve efforts to address thesethreats through the IAEA, Inter-pol and in the context of the Nu-clear Security SummitCommuniqué and Ac4on Plan.The two sides welcomed theMemorandum of Understandingfor coopera4on inthe Global Centrefor Nuclear En-ergy Partnershipbeing establishedby India.

Both sides ex-pressed deepconcern aboutthe threat of bio-logical terrorismand pledged topromote interna-4onal efforts toensure the safetyand security of bi-ological agents and toxins. Theystressed the need to achieve fullimplementa4on of the Biologicaland Toxin Weapons Conven4onand expressed the hope for a suc-cessful BWC Review Conferencein 2011. The United States wel-comed India’s destruc4on of itschemical weapons stockpile in ac-cordance with the provisions of

the ChemicalWeapons Con-ven4on. Bothcountries af-firmed theirshared com-mitment topromo4ng thefull and effec-4ve imple-menta4on ofthe CWC.

The twoleaders ex-pressed regretat the delay in

star4ng nego4a4ons in the Con-ference on Disarmament for amul4lateral, non-discriminatoryand interna4onally and effec-4vely verifiable treaty banningthe future produc4on of fissilematerial for nuclear weapons orother nuclear explosive devices.

India reaffirmed its unilateral

and voluntary moratorium on nu-clear explosive tes4ng. TheUnited States reaffirmed its test-ing moratorium and its commit-ment to ra4fy the Compre-hensive Test Ban Treaty and bringit into force at an early date.

The leaders reaffirmed theircommitment to diplomacy to re-solve the Iranian nuclear issue,

and discussed the need for Iranto take construc4ve and immedi-ate steps to meet its obliga4onsto the IAEA and the UN SecurityCouncil.

Technology, Innova-tion and Energy

Recognizing that India and theUnited States should play a lead-ership role in promo4ng globalnonprolifera4on objec4ves andtheir desire to expand high tech-nology coopera4on and trade,Prime Minister Singh and Presi-dent Obama commi5ed to worktogether to strengthen the globalexport control framework andfurther transform bilateral exportcontrol regula4ons and policiesto realize the full poten4al of thestrategic partnership betweenthe two countries.

Accordingly, the two leadersdecided to take mu-tual steps to expandU.S.-India coopera4onin civil space, defense,and other high-tech-nology sectors. Com-mensurate with India’sn o n p r o l i f e r a 4 o nrecord and commit-ment to abide by mul-4lateral export controlstandards, these stepsinclude the UnitedStates removing Indianen44es from the U.S.Department of Com-

merce’s “En4ty List” and realign-ment of India in U.S. exportcontrol regula4ons.In addi4on, the United States in-tends to support India’s full mem-bership in the four mul4lateralexport control regimes (NuclearSuppliers Group, Missile Technol-ogy Control Regime, AustraliaGroup, and Wassenaar Arrange-

India reaffirmedits unilateral and

voluntary moratorium onnuclear explosive testing.The United States reaf-firmed its testing morato-rium and its commitment toratify the Compre- hensiveTest Ban Treaty and bringit into force at anearly date.

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ment) in a phased manner, and toconsult with regime members toencourage the evolu4on ofregime membership criteria, con-sistent with maintaining the coreprinciples of these regimes, asthe Government of India takessteps towards the full adop4on ofthe regimes’ export control re-quirements to reflect its prospec-4ve membership, with bothprocesses moving forward to-gether. In the view of the UnitedStates, India should qualify formembership in the AustraliaGroup and the WassenaarArrangement according to exist-ing requirements once it imposesexport controls over all items onthese regimes’ control lists.

Both leaders reaffirmed theassurances provided in the le5ersexchanged in September 2004and the End-Use Visit Arrange-ment, and determined that thetwo governments had reached anunderstanding to implementthese ini4a4ves consistent withtheir respec4ve na4onal exportcontrol laws and policies. ThePrime Minister and Presidentcommi5ed to a strengthened andexpanded dialogue on exportcontrol issues, through fora suchas the U.S.-India High TechnologyCoopera4on Group, on aspects ofcapacity building, sharing of bestprac4ces, and outreach with in-dustry.

The possibility of coopera4onbetween the two na4ons inspace, to advance scien4ficknowledge and human welfare,are without boundaries and lim-its. They commended their spacescien4sts for launching new ini-4a4ves in climate and weatherforecas4ng for agriculture, navi-ga4on, resource mapping, re-search and development, andcapacity building. They agreed to

con4nuing discus-sions on and seek ways to collab-orate on future lunar missions,interna4onal space sta4on,human space flight and datasharing, and to reconvene theCivil Space Joint Working Groupin early 2011. They highlightedthe just concluded Implemen4ngArrangement for enhanced mon-soon forecas4ng that will begin totransmit detailed forecasts tofarmers beginning with the 2011monsoon rainy season as an im-portant example of bilateral sci-en4fic coop-era4on advancingeconomic devel-opment, agricul-ture and foodsecurity.

The two lead-ers welcomed thecomple4on ofsteps by the twogovernments forimplementa4on ofthe India-U.S. civilnuclear agree-ment. They reiter-

ated their commitment to buildstrong India-U.S. civil nuclear en-ergy coopera4on through thepar4cipa4on of the U.S. nuclearenergy firms in India on the basisof mutually acceptable technicaland commercial terms and condi-4ons that enable a viable tariffregime for electricity generated.They noted that both countrieshad enacted domes4c legisla-4ons and were also signatories tothe Conven4on on Supplemen-tary Compensa4on. They furthernoted that India intends to ra4fythe Conven4on on Supplemen-tary Compensa4on within thecoming year and is commi5ed toensuring a level playing field forU.S. companies seeking to enterthe Indian nuclear energy sector,consistent with India’s na4onaland interna4onal legal obliga-4ons.

India will con4nue to workwith the companies. In this con-text, they welcomed the com-mencement of nego4a4ons anddialogue between the Indian op-erator and U.S. nuclear energycompanies, and expressed hopefor early commencement of com-mercial coopera4on in the civilnuclear energy sector in India,which will s4mulate economic

The possibilityof cooperationbetween the

two nations in space, toadvance scientificknowledge and humanwelfare, are withoutboundaries and limits.They commended theirspace scientists forlaunching new initia-tives in climate andweather forecastingfor agriculture, naviga-tion, resource mapping,research and develop-ment, and ca-pacity building.


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growth andsustainable de-velopment andgenerate em-ployment inboth countries.

Just asthey havehelped de-velop thek n o w l e d g eeconomy, Indiaand the United States resolved tostrengthen their partnership increa4ng the green economy ofthe future. To this end, bothcountries have undertaken jointresearch and deployment ofclean energy resources, such assolar, advanced biofuels, shalegas, and smart grids. The twoleaders also welcomed the pro-mo4on of clean and energy effi-cient technologies through thebilateral Partnership to AdvanceClean Energy (PACE) and ex-panded coopera4on with the pri-vate sector. They welcomed theconclusion of a new MoU on as-sessment and explora4on ofshale gas and an agreement toestablish a Joint Clean Energy Re-search Center in India as impor-tant milestones in their rapidlygrowing clean energy coopera-4on.

The leaders discussed the im-portance of working bilaterally,through the Major EconomiesForum (MEF), and in the contextof the interna4onal climatechange nego4a4ons within theframework of the UNFCCC tomeet the challenge of climatechange. Prime Minister Singh andPresident Obama reiterated theimportance of a posi4ve resultfor the current climate changenego4a4ons at the forthcomingconference of the United Na4onsFramework Conven4on on Cli-

mate Change(UNFCCC) inMexico anda ffi r m e dtheir supportfor theCopenhagenA c c o r d ,which shouldco nt r i b u teposi4vely toa successful

outcome in Can-cun. To that end, the leaders wel-comed enhanced coopera4on inthe area of climate adapta4onand sustainable land use, andwelcomed the new partnershipbetween the United States andIndia on forestry programs and inweather forecas4ng.

EconomicCooperation

The two leaders stressed thatIndia and the United States, an-chored in democracy and diver-sity, blessed with enormousenterprise and skill, and endowedwith synergies drawn from India’srapid growth and U.S. global eco-nomic leadership, have a naturalpartnership for enhancing mutual

prosperity and s4mula4ng globaleconomic recovery and growth.They emphasize innova4on notonly as a tool for economicgrowth and global compe44ve-ness, but also for social transfor-ma4on and empowerment ofpeople.

Prime Minister Singh andPresident Obama celebrated therecent growth in bilateral tradeand investment, characterized bybalanced and rapidly growingtrade in goods and services. Theynoted posi4vely that the UnitedStates is India’s largest tradingpartner in goods and services,and India is now among thefastest growing sources of foreigndirect investment entering theUnited States. The two leadersagreed on steps to reduce tradebarriers and protec4onist meas-ures and encourage research andinnova4on to create jobs and im-prove livelihoods in their coun-tries.

They also welcomed expand-ing investment flow in both direc-4ons. They noted growing 4esbetween U.S. and Indian firmsand called for enhanced invest-ment flows, including in India’s in-frastructure sector, clean energy,

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Prime MinisterSingh and Presi-dent Obama cele-

brated the recent growthin bilateral trade and in-vestment, characterizedby balanced and rapidlygrowing trade ingoods and serv-ices.

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energy efficiency, avia4on andtransporta4on, healthcare, foodprocessing sector and educa4on.They welcomed the work of theU.S.-India CEO Forum to expandcoopera4on between the twocountries, including in the areasof clean energy and infrastruc-ture development. They also en-couraged enhanced engagementby Indian and American small andmedium-sized enterprises as acri4cal driver of our economic re-la4onship. They looked forwardto building on these develop-ments to realize fully the enor-mous poten4al for trade andinvestment between the twocountries.

Partnership forDemocracy andDevelopment

Consistent with their commit-ments to open and responsivegovernment, and harnessing theexper4se and experience that thetwo countries have developed,the leaders launched a U.S.-IndiaOpen Government Dialogue thatwill, through public-private part-nerships and use of new tech-nologies and innova4ons,promote their shared goal of de-

mocra4zing access to informa4onand energizing civic engagement,support global ini4a4ves in thisarea and share their exper4sewith other interested countries.This will build on India’s impres-sive achievements in this area inrecent years and the commit-ments that the President made toadvance an open governmentagenda at the United Na4onsGeneral Assembly. The Presidentand Prime Minister also pledgedto explore coopera4on in supportof efforts to strengthen elec4onsorganiza4on and management inother interested countries, in-cluding through sharing their ex-per4se in this area.Taking advantage of the globalnature of their rela4onship, andrecognizing India’s vast develop-ment experience and historicalresearch strengths, the two lead-ers pledged to work together, inaddi4on to their independentprogrammes, to adapt shared in-nova4ons and technologies anduse their exper4se in capacitybuilding to extend food securityto interested countries, includingin Africa, in consulta4on withhost governments.

Prime Minister Singh andPresident Obama concluded that

their mee4ng is a historic mile-stone as they seek to elevate theIndia-U.S. strategic partnership toa new level for the benefit oftheir na4ons and the en4remankind. President Obamathanked President Pa4l, PrimeMinister Singh, and the people ofIndia for their extraordinarywarmth and hospitality during hisvisit. The two leaders looked for-ward to the next session of theU.S.-India Strategic Dialogue in2011.

India-U.S. tradetransactions

As part of the Na4onal Export Ini-4a4ve, President Obama notedthat India — with its tremendouseconomic growth and its largeand growing middle class — is akey market for U.S. exports.Those exports are genera4ng jobsin every corner of the UnitedStates and across every majorsector. These involve some of ourcountry’s largest companies, butalso an increasing number ofsmall and medium-sized enter-prises.

On the margins of the Presi-dent’s trip, trade transac4onswere announced or showcased,exceeding $14.9 billion in totalvalue with $9.5 billion in U.S. ex-port content, suppor4ng an es4-mated 53,670 U.S. jobs. Thesecross-border collabora4ons, bothpublic and private, underpin theexpanding U.S.-India strategicpartnership, contribu4ng to eco-nomic growth and developmentin both countries. Notable exam-ples include:L Heavy Transport Aircra� :

The Boeing Company and theIndian Air Force have reachedpreliminary agreement on thepurchase of 10 C-17 Globe-master III military transport


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aircra$, and are now in theprocess of finalizing the de-tails of the sale. Once all havebeen delivered, the Indian AirForce will be the owner andoperator of the largest fleet ofC-17s outside of the UnitedStates. Boeing, headquar-tered in Chicago, Illinois, is theaircra$ manufacturer. Boeingreports that each C-17 sup-ports 650 suppliers across 44U.S. states and that this orderwill support Boeing’s C-17produc4on facility in LongBeach, California, for an en-4re year. This transac4on isvalued at approximately $4.1billion, all of which is U.S. ex-port content, suppor4ng anes4mated 22,160 jobs.

L Engine Sale for the LightCombat Aircra� : On October1,the General Electric Com-pany, headquartered in Fair-field, Connec4cut, wasdeclared the lowest bidderand selected to nego4ate acontract to provide the IndianAeronau4cal DevelopmentAgency with 107 F414 en-gines to be installed on theTejas light combat aircra$.Upon finalizing the contract,General Electric’s facility inLynn, Massachuse5s, andother sites across the UnitedStates will be posi4oned toexport almost one billion dol-lars in high technology aero-space products. Thistransac4on is tenta4vely val-ued at approximately $822million, all of which is U.S. ex-port content, suppor4ng anes4mated 4,440 jobs.

L Commercial Aircra� Sale :Boeing Company, headquar-tered in Chicago, Illinois, andSpiceJet, a leading private air-line in India, concluded a de-

fini4ve agreement for the saleof 30 B737-800 commercialaircra$. SpiceJet currently op-erates 22 Boeing aircra$ andhas several 737 deliveries re-maining from previous agree-ments. This new agreementwill enable SpiceJet to offermore domes4c routes and tobegin offering interna4onalflights to neighboring coun-tries. This transac4on is val-ued at approximately $2.7billion, based on catalogueprices, with an es4mated $2.4billion in U.S. export content,suppor4ng an es4mated12,970 jobs.

L Gas and Steam Turbine Sale:The General Electric Com-pany, headquartered in Fair-field, Connec4cut, wasselected to supply six ad-vanced class 9FA gas turbinesand three steam turbines forthe 2,500-megawa5 Samalkotpower plant expansion to beconstructed by ReliancePower Ltd., a division of theReliance Anil Dhirubhai Am-bani Group, one of the largestconglomerates in India. Gen-eral Electric purchases equip-

ment from 240 suppliersacross the United States—anes4mated 14 percent ofwhich are small- andmedium-sized enterprises—for every 9FA gas-fired tur-bine, which are assembled inGreenville, South Carolina.The combined equipmentand maintenance contractsare valued at approximately$750 million, with an es4-mated $491 million in U.S. ex-port content, suppor4ng anes4mated 2,650 jobs.

L Reliance Power and U.S. Ex-Im Bank Agreement: ReliancePower Ltd., the flagship com-pany of the Reliance AnilDhirubhai Ambani Group, andthe Export – Import Bank ofthe United States announceda Memorandum of Under-standing (MOU). This MOUwill indicate Ex-Im Bank’s will-ingness to provide up to $5billion in financial support toReliance Power for the pur-chase of U.S. goods and serv-ices to be used in thedevelopment of up to 8,000megawa5s of gas-fired elec-tricity genera4ng units and up


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to 900 megawa5s of renew-able (solar and wind) energyfacili4es.

L Diesel Locomo)ve Manufac-turing Venture : The UnitedStates has worldwide leadersin diesel locomo4ve manufac-turing, and the Indian Min-istry of Railways announcedthe prequalifica4on of thesole two bidders—GE Trans-porta4on (Erie, Pennsylvania)and Electro-Mo4ve Diesel (La-Grange, Illinois)—for a ven-ture to manufacture andsupply of 1,000diesel locomo-4ves over 10years. The es4-mated U.S. con-tent of thiscontract is ex-pected to exceed$1B.

L Motorcycle As-sembly Plant:Harley-DavidsonMotor Company,headquartered inMilwaukee, Wis-consin, anno-unced thatprepara4ons are underway toopen a new plant in India forthe assembly of Harley-David-son motorcycles from U.S.-built “complete knock-down”kits. This investment by thecompany entails job crea4onin both the United States andIndia, and it will allow thecompany to reduce the tariffburden on its motorcycles forsale in the Indian market,driving sales growth by mak-ing its motorcycles more ac-cessible to Indian consumers.

L Sale of U.S. Mining Equip-ment and Related SupportEquipment : On October 21,the Export – Import Bank of

the United States announcedthe approval of more than$900 million in export financeguarantees to Sasan PowerLtd., a subsidiary of ReliancePower Ltd., suppor4ng thesale of U.S. mining equipmentand services from Bucyrus In-terna4onal of South Milwau-kee, Wisconsin, and otherU.S. vendors, in associa4onwith the 3,960-megawa5coal-fired Sasan power plantin Madhya Pradesh, India.This financial commitment

supports $641 million in U.S.export content, suppor4ng anes4mated 3,460 jobs.

L Tunneling Equipment for Un-derground Water Channel :On July 22,Robbins Company,headquartered in Solon, Ohio,announced an agreementwith UNITY-IVRCL, a large in-frastructure engineering andconstruc4on conglomerate,to provide tunnel-boring ma-chines, conveyer equipment,and associated technical serv-ices for the construc4on oftunnels to convey water forthe city of Mumbai. Sepa-rately, through a contractsigned in 2008 with

Jaiprakash Associates, a largeinfrastructure conglomerate,the Robbins Company is al-ready supplying high technol-ogy tunnel-boring machinesand technical assistance tobore some of the longest un-derground tunnels in theworld underneath a pro-tected 4ger sanctuary inAndhra Pradesh, which will in-crease irriga4on for the pro-duc4on of co5on and otheragricultural products. TheMumbai contract alone is val-

ued at $10 mil-lion, with $7million in U.S.export content,suppor4ng anes4mated 35jobs.L M a h a -rashtra Home-land SecurityPilot Projects :Palan4r Tech-nologies, asmall SiliconValley so$waredevelopmentfirm, an-

nounced a strategic partner-ship agreement with theMaharashtra State Police, alaw enforcement agency inIndia, to conduct a pilot pro-gram, whereby Palan4r’s end-to-end analy4cal so$warepla3orm will be used on atrial basis to iden4fy and alertauthori4es to security threatsin order to help keep the ci4-zens of Mumbai and Maha-rashtra safe.

L Medanta Duke Research In-s)tute (MDRI) : Duke Medi-cine, located in Durham,North Carolina, one of theleading academic health sys-tems in the United States, and


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Medanta Medicity, located inGurgaon, Haryana, a hospitaland medical research com-plex, are announcing a jointventure agreement to launchthe MDRI, a proof-of-conceptclinical research facility withinMedanta’s hospital. DukeMedicine will provide scien-4fic and opera4onal leader-ship, while Medanta willcontribute financial resourcesand clinical and opera4onalservices. Duke Medicine alsowill be partnering with Jubi-lant Life Sciences, headquar-tered in U5ar Pradesh, toconduct research studies andco-develop promising discov-eries, with significant fundingand in-kind support providedby Jubilant. Subsequent com-

mercializa4on is expected toresult in licensing revenue forDuke Medicine.

L Long-range Antenna Systemfor Rural Telecommunica-)ons : SPX Communica4onTechnology, a division of SPXCorpora4on opera4ng out ofRaymond, Maine, is in thefinal phase of the pilot de-ployment of its long-range an-tenna system with twoleading Indian mobile opera-tors. This innova4ve technol-ogy has been shown to offer asignificantly greater coveragearea. Once implemented, it isexpected to create significanteconomies of scale, therebyimproving the economic via-bility of rural wireless net-works and making wireless

communica4ons available forpeople who either could notafford service or who live inareas that lack coverage. Thevalue of the ini4al trial equip-ment is expected to generateapproximately $1 million,with 100 percent U.S. exportcontent, suppor4ng an es4-mated 5 jobs.The pace of trade between

the United States and India is ac-celera4ng. Between 2002 and2009, U.S. goods exports to Indiaquadrupled, growing from $4.1billion to more than $16.4 billion.Through the first eight months of2010, U.S. merchandise exportsto India totaled $12.7 billion, up18 percent from the same periodin 2009. With economic growthes4mates at about 9.7 percent in


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2010, India is a key market for theObama Administra4on’s Na4onalExport Ini4a4ve, which aims todouble U.S. exports in five years.U.S., India ‘construc4ng paradigmbeyond Nuclear Non-Prolifera-4on Treaty'

In commi6ng itself to sup-por4ng India's full membership inthe Nuclear Suppliers Group andother mul4lateral export controlregimes, the Obama administra-4on has finally opened a door forthe country to transcend the legalconfines of a treaty that has de-fined global a6tudes towards nu-clear weapons for over fourdecades: the NPT.

The American decision tosupport India's membership inthe NSG, the Missile TechnologyControl Regime, the AustralianGroup and the WassenaarArrangement was made public onSaturday by Deputy Na4onal Se-curity Adviser Mike Froman andis condi4onal on these clubs de-ciding, by consensus, to changetheir rules on who can join.“As the membership criteria ofthese four regimes evolve,” saidMr. Froman, “we intend to sup-port India's full membership inthem. And at the same 4me,India will take steps to fully adoptthe regime's export control re-quirements to reflect its prospec-4ve membership.”

The current membershiprules of the NSG, though not for-mally stated, require adherenceto the Nuclear Non-Prolifera4onTreaty or a regional nuclearweapons free zone (which in turnrequires NPT membership). Andthe same treaty requirement ap-plies in the case of the MTCR andthe Wassenaar Arrangement — acartel of 40 states which governsthe export of conven4onalweapons and dual-use goods and

technologies. But Mr. Fromansaid the U.S. would “encouragethe evolu4on of a membershipcriteria of these regimes consis-tent with maintaining their coreprinciples.”

Asked how the United Statesand India hoped to square the cir-cle of compulsory membership ofthe Nuclear Non-Prolifera4onTreaty that the NSG and othercartels insist on, a senior Indianofficial told The Hindu: “We areconstruc4ng a paradigm beyondthe NPT.”

Though President BarackObama and his senior officialshad upset India over the pastyear by signing on to calls at theUnited Na4ons and elsewhere forthe universality of the NPT, Wash-ington is acutely aware thatIndia's accession to a treatywhich would require it to give upits nuclear weapons is an impos-sibility. It is in this light that Mr.Froman's reference to new mem-bership criteria acquires enor-mous significance.

The Bush administra4on's ini-4a4ves from 2005 to 2008 sawthe U.S. helping to peel away ex-port restric4ons that were neveroriginally a part of the NPT itself.That is why the NSG was able togive India an exemp4on from itsexport restric4ons without get-4ng into the trickier issue of whatIndia's legal status in rela4on tothe treaty actually was. But withNSG membership essen4ally 4edto the NPT, any new joining crite-ria will effec4vely establish fornuclear-armed India — in clearerlegal terms than anything else sofar has done — a parallel statusequivalent to that of the five nu-clear weapons states which arepart of the NPT.

Apart from easing Indian ac-cess to sensi4ve high technology

items, membership of these clubs— “which will come in a phasedmanner” — will give New Delhi asay in their rule-making process.Under the terms of the NSG's2008 waiver, India is today in theanomalous posi4on of being obli-

gated to abide by

future guidelines thatNSG and even MTCR membersmay adopt without being part oftheir formal decision-makingprocess. The MTCR deals the ex-port of missiles with a rangegreater than 300 kilometres whilethe Australian Group regulatesthe export of materials that couldbe used for manufacturing chem-ical and biological weapons. ˜


The pace oftrade betweenthe United

States and India is ac-celerating. Between2002 and 2009, U.S.goods exports to Indiaquadrupled, growing from$4.1 billion to more than$16.4 billion. Throughthe first eight months of2010, U.S. merchandiseexports to India totaled$12.7 billion, up 18 per-cent from the same pe-riod in 2009. Witheconomic growth esti-mates at about 9.7 per-cent in 2010, India is akey market for theObama Administration’sNational Export Initia-tive, which aims to dou-ble U.S. exportsin five years.

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The 2010 G-20 Seoul Sum-mit was the fi%h mee4ngof the G-20 heads of gov-

ernment, to discuss the global fi-nancial system and the worldeconomy, which took place inSeoul, South Korea on November11–12, 2010. Korea was the firstnon-G8 na4on to host a G-20Leaders Summit. The theme ofthe summit was "G-20's Role inthe Post-Crisis World."

The G20 leaders agree to

strengthen global financial safetynets and financial sector reform,according to the joint commu-nique.

"Strengthened global finan-cial safety nets can help countriesto cope with financial vola4lity,reducing the economic disrup4onfrom sudden swings in capitalflows and the perceived need forexcessive reserve accumula4on,"said the communique.

The G20 countries will

strengthen global financial safetynets through four measures, in-cluding the enhancement of theFlexible Credit Line (FCL), the cre-a4on of the Precau4onary CreditLine ( PCL) as a new preventa4vetool, the improvement of globalcapacity to cope with shocks of asystemic nature, the dialogue toenhance collabora4on betweenregional financing Arrangementsand IMF.

As the global economy be-

G-20 Seoul Summit 2010G-20's Role in thePost-Crisis World


UDr. Divya

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came more interconnected andintegrated, the size and vola4lityof capital flows increased signifi-cantly. The increased vola4litywas a source of instability duringthe financial crisis. It even ad-versely affected countries withsolid fundamentals and the ef-fects were greater on those withmore open economies.

The G20 Summit also deliv-ered the core elements of thenew financial regulatory frame-work to transform the global fi-nancial system. The G20endorsed the landmark agree-ment reached by Basel Commit-tee on Banking Supervision(BCBS) on the new bank capitaland liquidity framework, whichincreases the resilience of theglobal banking system.

The leaders reaffirmed thatno firm should be too big or toocomplicated to fail and that tax-payers should not bear the costsof resolu4on. Collec4vely, the G-20 economies comprise 85 per-cent of global gross na4onalproduct and 80 percent of worldtrade, including EU intra-trade.

A5ending the two-day SeoulSummit were leaders from theG20 member countries, the Euro-pean Union, the IMF, the WorldBank, the UN, the World TradeOrganiza4on, the OECD, theAfrican Union, and the Interna-4onal Labor Organiza4on, as wellas from five non-G20 countries --Ethiopia, Malawi, Singapore,Spain, Vietnam.

AgendaThe summit leaders addressedseveral mid- and long-term policyissues, includingL Ensuring global economic re-

coveryL Framework for strong, sus-

tainable, and balanced globalgrowth

L Strengthening the interna-4onal financial regulatory sys-tem

L Modernizing the interna4onalfinancial ins4tu4ons

L Global financial safety netsL Development issuesL The risk of a currency war

Representa4ves met in ad-vance of the leaders' summit.These sherpas were tasked todra% a closing statement for thesummit. The debate over cur-rency exchange rates and imbal-ances was reported to have been"heated."

AttendancePar4cipants of the summit gatherfor a conven4onal "family photo"The par4cipants of the Seoulsummit included the leaders andrepresenta4ves of core membersof the G-20 major economies,which comprises 19 countriesand the European Union which isrepresented by its two governingbodies, the European Council andthe European Commission, Rep-

resenta4ves from other na4onsand regional organiza4ons wereinvited to take part in the sum-mit.

The South Korean govern-ment declined to invite theNetherlands, which had been in-vited to a5end all four previousG20 summits. A Koreanspokesman said that "a certainregion had been over-repre-sented" in the past; and for thisAsian summit, Singapore was in-vited.

This was the first summit atwhich there were four womenamong the leaders. In addi4on toPresident Kirchner of Argen4na,Prime Minister Gillard of Aus-tralia, and Chancellor Merkel ofGermany, the president-elect ofBrazil, Dilma Rousseff, accompa-nied her na4on's delega4on.The was the first G-20 summit forAustralia's Prime Minister Gillard,who was only elected shortly be-fore the Toronto summit. Thiswas also the first opportunity forPrime Minister Lee Hsien Loongof Singapore to listen and tomake his voice heard at the G-20leaders' mee4ngs.


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Legacies of the G20Seoul Summit

The G20 Seoul Summit drew to aclose on Nov. 12, 2010 with worldleaders adop4ng a communiquéthat contained new guidelines onsustainable and balanced growth.Agreements were reached onvarious agenda items, but thesearch for a resolu4on to the cur-rency dispute, which was themost important issue, was post-poned un4l the next G20 Summitin Cannes, France next year.

The communiqué only saysG20 member countries vowed tostart "moving toward more mar-ket-determined exchange ratesystems, enhancing exchangerate flexibility to reflect underly-ing economic fundamentals, andrefraining from compe44ve de-valua4on of currencies." Whilereconfirming the agreementsmade at the G20 Finance Minis-ters and Central Bank GovernorsMee4ng in Gyeongju last month,it added a new pledge to enhance"exchange rate flexibility."

The world leaders agreed tocome up with guidelines by the

first half of next year on how tomanage their current accountsurpluses or deficits, which wouldoffer a solu4on to the currencydispute. Although they managedto take one step further from thepoints agreed in Gyeongju, con-crete agreements have been putoff.

For Korea as the host, the re-sults leave something to be de-sired. But solving the currencydispute and se6ng guidelines forcurrent account balances werenot the only goals of the summit.Milestones were set by 4ghtenedregula4ons to prevent another

global financial crisis, and agree-ments to create a global financialsafety net, seek macroeconomicpolicy coordina4on among differ-ent countries, and get the ballrolling on economic support fordeveloping countries.

Regarding a coopera4ve sys-tem for "sustainable and bal-anced growth" as agreed at theG20 Summit in Pi5sburgh lastyear, world leaders included in anannex to the communiqué policypledges by individual countriesfor currency, trade, fiscal budgets,financial reforms and structuralchanges. Individual countries


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have embarked on coopera4veefforts to correct the imbalancesof the global economy. Policy rec-ommenda4ons were made to4ghten regula4ons governinglarge banks.

There was notable progressin the crea4on of a global finan-cial safety net and providing sup-port for developing countries,which had been proposed byKorea. World leaders fine-tunedthe Interna4onal MonetaryFund's loan system so it can pro-vide emergency rescue funds be-fore financial crises break out,and they also agreed to boost co-opera4on between the IMF andregional financial safety nets.

The first-ever G20 BusinessSummit was another notableevent. It was a5ended by 120 topCEOs from around the world, andbrought poli4cal leaders andbusiness execu4ves under oneroof to discuss the direc4on theglobal economy should take. IMFstake reforms that were agreed inGyeongju last month are beinghailed as the first step towardremapping the global powerstructure.

The communiqué dubbed theSeoul Declara4on contains meas-ures to realize the agreementsreached during four G20 summitsthat were held since November2008, when the first summit washeld in Washington just a%er theglobal financial crisis erupted.While reflec4ng changing globaleconomic condi4ons since the fi-nancial crisis, it also containsmeasures aimed at embracing amajority of the world's emergingand developing countries.

But it remains to be seenwhether the G20 will truly be-come the world's top economicdecision-making body, becauseconsensus about the economic

crisis and a sense of urgencyamong G20 countries are dimin-ishing.

The Seoul Summit was thefirst G20 summit hosted by acountry not in the old G7 that en-compassed the U.S., Japan, Ger-many, France, the U.K., Italy andCanada. The foreign press saidthe event was a "coming-of-ageceremony" for Korea in the globalarena. It was an historic event fora country that rose from theashes of war and colonial occupa-4on to be able to provide the set-4ng for the discussion of globaleconomic policies.

Korea also demonstratedleadership by media4ng and fine-tuning conflic4ng issues betweenmajor countries. It showed theworld that it can play a centralrole in global diplomacy and wasa huge confidence builder. Thoseare probably the biggest legaciesof the G20 Seoul Summit.Highlights of G20 Seoul Declara-

4onThe long-awaited commu-

niqué of the G20 Seoul Summit isannounced, but didn't get to putoff controversies around theglobe.

Rather, the conflict overmajor agenda items now evolvedto contradictory evalua4ons overthe outcome by media and ex-

perts.While the Seoul declara4on

may fall short of expecta4ons inthe Western Hemisphere, withsome media calling it "toothless,"those in the emerging marketgroup seem to be rela4vely sa4s-fied with it.

Adding some 12 more statesto the exis4ng G7 governance,the G20 structure was shaped tobe5er reflect a change in globalgovernance, be5er serving the in-terest of emerging countries.

On the back of their be5er-than-ever performance in termsof economic and financial dimen-sions, emerging countries soughta bigger say in the global commu-nity, which contributed to thebirth of the G20 and further tothe Seoul Declara4on.

Despite some harsh cri4queon the communiqué, it is hard todeny agreements in Seoul is goodnews to emerging countries inmany ways, or "big progress" as

the South Korean President hasput it.

Restructuring IMFGovernance :

Changes Spread toSubstructure

Achieving at the latest ministerialmee4ng a quota share shi% and a


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change in board composi4on, theG20 got to guarantee emergingmarket and developing countrieswith quota shares of over 6 per-cent and two seats at the Execu-4ve Board.

In line with such moves, theIMF's doubling quota was alsoagreed upon in Gyeongju, allow-ing the Fund with greater powerthan ever.

Meanwhile, making theagreement more concrete, theG20 financial leaders were alsospecified a 4meline, recommend-ing a review of the quota formulaby January 2013 and the nextgeneral review by January 2014.

All the amendments were en-dorsed at the IMF's board meet-ing, held a week ahead of theSeoul Summit, brightening theprocess of IMF reform discussionon the summit discussion table.

Accordingly, on the Seoulcommuniqué, more provisionswere se5led regarding the issue,recommending the IMF to reporton the progress to period G20ministerial mee4ngs.

Concluding the Gyeongjumee4ng, IMF Managing DirectorStrauss- Kahn told reporters itwas the biggest-ever change theFund met with.

The chairman's remarks canbe interpreted in various view-points, including that of globalgovernance.

"Over a long period of 4me,the core of the global governancehas been dominated by advancedna4ons," Yoon Deok-ryong, sen-ior research fellow and head ofG20 research team at the KoreaIns4tute for Interna4onal Eco-nomic Policy (KIEP), told Xinhua.

"While the launch of the G20system reflects that the growingpower of emerging countriesstarted being reflected in global

governance, the recent IMF re-form indicates that the moodbegan to spread to the substruc-ture from the top level," Yoonsaid, evalua4ng the change as aposi4ve sign.

Possibly with the help from arenewed IMF, enabled by theG20's ac4ve interven4on, emerg-ing economies are eyeing tospeak out in the global commu-nity and to add more inputs interms of policy coordina4on.

Forex Rate to Remainas Key Issue

Held amid a deepening conflictover currency debates, theGyeongju mee4ng reached acompromise on the exchangerate issue, crossing out the term"market-oriented exchange rate"from the Toronto communiquéand instead inser4ng a fresh termof "market- determined exchange

rate.""Although changes seem triv-

ial to many stakeholders, it is adras4c change if seen from aneconomic perspec4ve," LeeChang- yong, vice-chief of theG20 prepara4on commi5ee, ex-plaining it narrowed room for au-thori4es to intervene.

The currency standoff, de-spite the official's comments, didnot seem to end even a%er theGyeongju mee4ng, with thequan4ta4ve easing of the U.S.pumping more hot money intoglobal financial markets and caus-ing vola4le moves in small-sizedemerging markets.

Thus, the leaders con4nuedthe heated debate in Seoul,which gave birth to a new agree-ment "to enhance exchange rateflexibility to reflect underlyingeconomic fundamentals and re-frain from compe44ve devalua-4on of currencies."

Although leaders once con-templated the controversialphrase of "undervalua4on," thewording was changed at the lastminute as its advocates seem-ingly gave into requests fromthose who opposed the under-valua4on theory, local media re-ports said.

As for all the more controver-sial issue, indica4ve guideline, theSeoul communiqué stated that itshould be composed of a range ofindicators "to serve as a mecha-nism to facilitate 4mely iden4fi-ca4on of large imbalances thatrequire preven4ve and correc4veac4ons," without clarifying the


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components, or even possiblecandidates.

One important step forwardover the issue can be the 4meframe, making it mandatory for aworking group to develop moreconcrete versions of the guidelineand report it to the finance minis-ters and central bank governorsby the first half of 2010.

In light of such points, it mayseem as if the Seoul communiquédoes not contribute to ending thecurrency war or lead to any vir-tual outcome at all, contrary towhat South Korean President toldthe public in his closing remarks.

"The biggest harvest of theSeoul Declara4on is that westarted linking the exchange rateissue with trade imbalance,which is broader in scope and ad-dresses the core of the problem,"Lee Chang-yong told reporters,opposing against such views.

"Unless we came up with theidea of indica4ve guidelines re-garding trade imbalance, the cur-rency debate may have ended ina disrup4ve way," added Lee,highligh4ng the currency debatecan now be solved in a moremacroeconomic approachthrough con4nued dialogue.

Whatever ra4onale is used toevaluate the results, it seems ob-vious the G20 leaders s4ll has along way to go before it finallyhits a breakthrough in the debate- either it is of exchange rate ortrade imbalance.

MacroprudentialPolicies Allowed inFinancial Market

Added to the exchange rateclause on the Seoul Declara4on isa new concept of "macro pruden-4al measures," to which notmuch a5en4on has been given.

According tothe Seoul Ac-4on Plan,emerging mar-ket economieswith "adequatereserves and in-creasingly over-valued flexibleexchange rates"are allowed toconduct policyresponses, in-cluding "care-fully designedmacro pruden-4al measures."

Earlier inthe day, at abriefing beforethe release ofthe commu-niqué, ShinH y u n - s o n g ,senior advisor to the president,emphasized "macro pruden4alpolicy frameworks to mi4gate theimpact of excessive capitalflows," hin4ng that a majorchange will be added to the state-ment regarding the issue.

The talks on macro pruden4alpolicy frameworks regarding cap-ital overflows were brought tothe discussion table in order toaddress the perspec4ve ofemerging countries in financialregulatory reforms, Shin said.

Shin, however, warned thatthe new recommendatory regu-la4on has li5le to do with capitalcontrol, but is more dealing withfinancial market stabiliza4on,par4cularly of emerging markets.

"The clause has reflectedgreater voice from the emergingmarket group," Lee Chang-yongsaid, pu6ng stress on thechange.

"This clearly is 'shockingnews' and a radical change, as it

addresses countries with 'over-valued flexible exchange rates,'expanding the issue from ex-change rates to capital marketstability," added Lee.

Emerging MarketFriendly KoreaInitiatives

"South Korea, as chair, wantsto be a representa4ve of emerg-ing countries," Sakong Il, presi-dent of the prepara4oncommi5ee, repeatedly told re-porters before the Summitstarted.

The chairman also pointed toagenda items categorized as theso- called Korea Ini4a4ves, devel-opment and global financialsafety nets (GFSN), throughwhich the chair country sought toreflect emerging countries' needsin the global agreements.

With respect to develop-


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ment, the leaders endorsed theSeoul Development Consensusfor Shared Growth and its Mul4-year Ac4on Plan on Develop-ment, both of which addressesleaders' will to strengthen andleverage development efforts.

Also, as for GFSN, the leadersaccepted the mandate to en-hance the exis4ng Flexible CreditLine (FCL), while crea4ng the Pre-cau4onary Credit Line (PCL) as anew, ex-ante tool.

Newly added during theSeoul talks was a provision toallow " synchronized approval ofthe FCLs for mul4ple countries,by which a number of countriesaffected by a common shockcould concurrently seek access toFCL."

While there has been opposi-4on among some advancedcountries, who argued thechange may provoke a problemof moral hazard, South Koreapushed through the deal, achiev-ing results obviously more bene-ficial to small-sized, openeconomies, officials said at aclosed-door briefing.

It is true some stakeholdersmay not welcome the news fromSeoul, but one thing is clear:

emerging countries will con4nueto be advocates of the G20framework, with more power andbenefits given to them throughthe Seoul communiqué.

G-20 MajorEconomies

The Group of Twenty FinanceMinisters and Central Bank Gov-ernors (G20, Group of Twenty) isa group of finance ministers andcentral bank governors from 20economies: 19 countries plus theEuropean Union, which is repre-sented by the President of theEuropean Council and by the Eu-ropean Central Bank. Their headsof government or heads of statehave also periodically conferredat summits since their ini4almee4ng in 2008. Collec4vely, theG-20 economies comprise 85% ofglobal gross na4onal product,80% of world trade (including EUintra-trade) and two-thirds of theworld popula4on.

The G-20 was proposed byformer Canadian Finance Minis-ter Paul Mar4n (later, Prime Min-ister) for coopera4on andconsulta4on on ma5ers pertain-ing to the interna4onal financial

system. It studies, reviews, andpromotes discussion (among keyindustrial and emerging marketcountries) of policy issues per-taining to the promo4on of inter-na4onal financial stability, andseeks to address issues that gobeyond the responsibili4es of anyone organiza4on. With the G-20growing in stature since the 2008Washington summit, its leadersannounced on September 25,2009, that the group will replacethe G8 as the main economiccouncil of wealthy na4ons.

The heads of the G-20 na-4ons have met semi-annually atG-20 summits since 2008. Themost recent was held in Seoul onNovember 11–12, 2010. Star4ngin 2011, G-20 summits will beheld annually.

SummitsThe G-20 Summit was created asa response both to the financialcrisis of 2007–2010 and to agrowing recogni4on that keyemerging countries were not ad-equately included in the core ofglobal economic discussion andgovernance. The G-20 Summitsof heads of state or governmentwere held in addi4on to the G-20Mee4ngs of Finance Ministersand Central Bank Governors whocon4nued to meet to prepare theleaders' summit and implementtheir decisions. A%er the debutsummit in Washington, D.C. dur-ing 2008, G-20 leaders met twicea year in London and Pi5sburghin 2009, Toronto and Seoul in2010.

Beginning in 2011, whenFrance will chair and host the G-20, the summits will only be oncea year. Mexico will chair and hostthe leader’s summit in 2012. ˜


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Mul2-party general elec2onswere held in Burma (officiallyMyanmar) on 7 November 2010,in accordance with the new con-s2tu2on which was approved in areferendum held in May 2008.The date of the elec2on, 7 No-vember, was announced by theSPDC on 13 August.

The general elec2on formsthe fi#h step of the seven-step"roadmap todemocracy" pro-posed by the StatePeace and Devel-opment Council(SPDC) in 2003,the sixth and sev-enth steps beingthe convening ofelected represen-ta2ves and thebuilding of a mod-ern, democra2cna2on, respec-2vely. However,the Na2onalLeague forDemocracy boy-co3ed the elec-2on.

The Union Sol-idarity and Devel-opment Partydeclared victory,a#er at least twoopposi2on par2es conceded. TheUnited Na2ons and Western

countries have condemned theelec2ons as fraudulent.

BackgroundAr2cle 59F of the new cons2tu-2on bars from the Presidency(not public office in general) peo-ple who are married to ci2zens ofstates other than Myanmar.Some commentators claim that

this means Aung San Suu Kyi willbe unable to contest the elec2on,

but since her husband is de-ceased, she would not appear tobe barred on this basis. TheUnited Na2ons, members ofASEAN and Western na2ons haveinsisted that the elec2ons will notbe credible without the par2cipa-2on of Suu Kyi.The Na2onal League for Democ-racy (NLD) had set a number ofcondi2ons for par2cipa2ng in the

poll, including changes to thecons2tu2on to reduce the army's


Burmese General ElectionNow Burma is on Track of Democracy

Article

Sant Prasad Gupta


influence, interna2onal supervision forfree and fair polls, and freeing all po-li2cal prisoners including Suu Kyi. Sen-ior General Than Shwe, leader of theruling military junta, has pledged to re-lease poli2cal prisoners in an amnestybefore the elec2on, though he has notstated when this would occur. On 11August 2009, Suu Kyi was sentenced toimprisonment for three years withhard labour over a trespass incident.This sentence was commuted by themilitary rulers to further house arrestof eighteen months. The NLD later an-nounced they would not take part inthe elec2on due to the elec2on laws.

Key ministries including jus2ce, de-fence and the interior will remainunder the control of the military andunder the 2008 cons2tu2on, a quarterof the 440 parliament seats will be re-served for the military officials. Peopleholding military posi2ons are not per-mi3ed to contest the elec2on; as such,20 members of the junta, includingPrime Minister Thein Sein, re2redfrom their posts to par2cipate in theelec2on.

New election lawsThe first of five elec2on laws was an-nounced in March 2010, concerningthe crea2on of an elec2on commis-sion. The Union Elec2on Commission

Law states that the military government will ap-point all members of the commission and havethe final say over the elec2on results. Membersof the commission must be "an eminent person,to have integrity and experience, to be loyal tothe state and its ci2zens". A 17-member elec2oncommission was later named, headed by a for-mer military officer.

The second law bans anyone currentlyserving a prison term from belonging to a poli2-cal party, and therefore over 2,000 poli2cal pris-oners will not be able to par2cipate, possiblyincluding Aung San Suu Kyi (depending onwhether her house arrest is deemed to fall underthe defini2on of "serving a prison term"). The Po-li2cal Par2es Registra2on Law also bars members


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of religious orders, members ofinsurgent groups 'as defined bythe state' and foreigners fromjoining poli2cal par2es. This sep-ara2on of Buddhism and poli2csis a long-standing feature ofBurmese poli2cs, da2ng back tobefore independence, and wasincorporated in the 1947 inde-pendence Cons2tu2on at the re-quest of the monkhood.

The other laws s2pulate thatanyone currently serving a prisonterm is barred from running orvo2ng in the elec2ons for theupper and lower houses. A 224-member House of Na2onali2eswill have 168 elected candidatesand 56 nominated by the militarychief, while the 440-memberHouse of Representa2ves willhave 330 elected civilians and110 military representa2ves. Atthe same 2me, the results of the1990 elec2ons were annulled asthey did not comply with the newelec2on laws.

The new laws have been de-scribed as a "farce" by the Philip-pines and a "mockery" by theUnited States.

Political PartiesPar2es are required to have atleast 1,000 members to par2ci-pate in the elec2on and had toregister by 6 June. 40 par2es havebeen approved by the ElectoralCommission to contest the elec-2ons, some of which are linked toethnic minori2es.

The Na2onal League forDemocracy, which overwhelm-ingly won the previous 1990 elec-2ons but were never allowed totake power, decided not to par2c-ipate. Nonetheless, some seniormembers have formed the Na-2onal Democra2c Force to con-test the elec2ons, claiming that a

boyco3 would play into thehands of the government.

The government has estab-lished the Union Solidarity andDevelopment Party, the succes-sor to the mass organiza2onUnion Solidarity and Develop-ment Associa2on, which claimsto have around half the popula-2on as members. The Na2onalUnity Party, which contested the1990 elec2on as the main pro-government party and won 10seats, has also registered to run.Reuters es2mates that six par2esin total are allied to the govern-ment.

The new Democra2c Party,established by Mya Than ThanNu, the daughter of former PrimeMinister of Burma, U Nu and NayYe Ba Swe, the daughter of for-mer Prime Minister Ba Swe, isaiming to take part in the elec-2on. Mya Than Than Nu will runas General Secretary of the party.Media coverage of the party hasbeen banned by the military gov-ernment.

Another new party is beingformed comprising members of aceasefire group and a party thatwon seats in the 1990 elec2ons.

Five former members of the NewMon State Party (NMSP) and fivemembers of Mon Na2onal Demo-cra2c Front (MNDF) togetherwith five other Mon elites, whomake up the new party, foundeda 15-member commi3ee andlater announced that they are notgoing to par2cipate in the up-coming elec2on.

The Shan Na2onali2esLeague for Democracy, a Shan po-li2cal party that came second inthe 1990 elec2on, is par2cipa2ngin the elec2on as the Shan Na-2onali2es Democra2c Party.

The SPDC has not answeredopposi2on calls to amend the2008 cons2tu2on or state clearlyhow the electoral process will bemanaged and the terms that newpoli2cal par2es can organise. In aspeech to military re2rees, ThanShwe said that the transi2on to aparliamentary system meant var-ious par2es with different opin-ions would appear, but hewarned that the new par2esshould "avoid anything that leadsto harming state interests".The cons2tuencies available forcontes2ng are 330 civilian seatsin the House of Representa2ves


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(out of 440) and 168 civilian seatsin the House of Na2onali2es (outof 224). The remaining seats aredesignated for military officialsand to be selected by the militarychief.

During an East Asian summitin Vietnam, Foreign MinisterNyan Win confirmed Than Shwewould not be running in the elec-2on.

External PoliticalResponses

The United Na2ons has ex-pressed concern about the fair-ness of the elec2on and UnitedNa2ons Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed "grave concern"that Aung San Suu Kyi would notbe released before the elec2onand thus it would "lack credibil-ity." He accused the governmentof being "slow and incomplete"to meet poli2cal commitments,and said it was "deeply frustrat-ing" that the government wouldnot hold talks with the "interna-2onal community."

The Chinese Foreign Ministryspokeswomen, Jiang Yu, com-mented on the elec2on duringThan Shwe's visit to China. "Theinterna2onal community can pro-vide construc2ve help and refrainfrom any nega2ve impact on thedomes2c poli2cal process ofMyanmar and on regional peaceand stability."

The following day, US Secre-tary of State Hillary Clinton spoketo the US Senate Appropria2onsCommi3ee Subcommi3ee onState and Foreign Affairs whereshe men2oned that the trialagainst Aung San Suu Kyi was al-legedly "baseless charges." Shealso added that the governmentwas "con2nuing resistance to afree and open electoral process.If they stay on the track they'reon, their elec2ons in 2010 will betotally illegi2mate and withoutany meaning in the interna2onalcommunity." UK Foreign MinisterWilliam Hague said that "holdingflawed elec2ons does not repre-sent change."

MonitorsBurma barred for-eign observers andthe interna2onalmedia from the elec-2on. The elec2oncommission chief,Thein Soe, did add,however, that diplo-mats and represen-ta2ves from UNorganisa2ons in thecountry would be al-lowed to observethe elec2on. He jus-2fied the decisionsaying "We are hold-ing the elec2on forthis country. It's notfor other countries

... We will have credibility a#erholding the elec2on in front of allthe people."

ElectionThe elec2on was held amid 2ghtsecurity. Ini2al reports pointed toa light turnout across the country,possibly as low as 20% in someareas, and the possibility of irreg-ulari2es. The Guardian reportedthat independent local observerswere repor2ng "widespreadvoter in2mida2on and bribery" inthe elec2on.

The Union Solidarity and De-velopment Party (USDP) took 80percent of the seats that were upfor elec2on. The two largest op-posi2on party, the Na2onal Dem-ocra2c Front and the Democra2cParty (Burma) conceded defeat,however, along with four otheropposi2on par2es, filed formalcomplaints about fraud with theelec2on commission.

On November 11, state radioannounced the results for 147


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cons2tuencies in the LowerHouse, with the USDP winning133. The USDP won 81 of 86races newly announced for theUpper House.

The new and previously an-nounced results show the USDPgained majori2es in both housesof parliament: 190 out of the 219(86%) seats announced for the330-seat lower house, and 95 outof 107 (88%) seats announced forthe 168-seat upper house.

ReactionsThan Nyein, the chairman of theNa2onal Democra2c Force,claimed the elec2on was marredby irregulari2es. "We have ourevidence. Some candidates com-plained ... because there wasvote chea2ng." Khin Maung Swe,the leader of the opposi2on Na-2onal Democra2c Force alleged:"We took the lead at the begin-ning but the USDP later came upwith so-called advance votes andthat changed the results com-pletely, so we lost."

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon claimed vo2ng condi2onshad been "insufficiently inclusive,par2cipatory and transparent."

The People's Republic ofChina's Foreign Ministry said theelec2on was "a cri2cal step for

Myanmar in implemen2ng theseven-step road map in the tran-si2on to an elected government,and thus is welcome."

India was conspicuouslysilent with segments of the In-dian media ques2oning if princi-ple gave way to expediency.

Russian Foreign MinisterSergey Lavrov welcomed the voteand characterized it as a "stepforward in the democra2sa2on ofBurmese society."

During a speech to the Indianparliament, US President BarackObama said of the elec2on that"When peaceful democra2cmovements are suppressed – asin Burma – then the democraciesof the world cannot remain silent... It is unacceptable to steal anelec2on as the regime in Burmahas done again for the world tosee."

AnalysisThe relevance of Aung San SuuKyi was ques2oned in light of theelec2on. Prior to the elec2on, shewas regarded to be "the icon ofthe country's struggling democ-racy movement" outside thecountry. It was asked that follow-ing the elec2on: "How muchpower and reach would she s2llhave to rally her followers barely

a week a#er the south-east Asianna2on's first general elec2on intwo decades?" One such reasonwas because the NLD's boyco3may have failed if it does not playthe right cards in dealing with atleast a semblance of an electedopposi2on in a "semi-legi2mate"parliament. Pending her releasefrom jail, the poli2cal atmos-phere would have changed be-cause of a new militaryleadership that may not be as"cosmopolitan" and "prac2cal" indealing both with her and exter-nal players. The Bri2sh ambassa-dor to Myanmar, Andrew Heyn,also said: "What they [the junta]do when Suu Kyi is released willsend a message. She is well in-formed and commi3ed andwants to stay involved."

Key facts aboutMyanmar

Myanmar's military rulers freedlong-detained Nobel Peace Prizelaureate and democracy cam-paigner Aung San Suu Kyi on Nov13, 2010 a#er her house arrestterm expired.

Here are some key factsabout Myanmar, a resource-richformer Bri2sh colony that hasspent most of its post-indepen-dence history under authoritar-ian military dictatorships.

COUNTRY NAME: It waschanged last month to the Re-public of the Union of Myanmar.Previously it was the Union ofMyanmar, having been changedfrom the Union of Burma in 1989in what the junta said was to ap-pease minority non-Burman eth-nic groups. A new flag andna2onal anthem were also intro-duced last month.

POPULATION: About 50 mil-


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lion: es2mates vary from 48 mil-lion to 58 million. The biggestethnic group is Burman (about 68percent), followed by Shan (9percent) and Karen (7 percent).The popula2on is mostly Ther-avada Buddhist (89 percent), therest being Chris2an, Muslim,Hindu and animist.

AREA : At approximately678,000 sq km (261,800 sqmiles), it is the second largestcountry in Southeast Asia. Lessthan two percent of land is underpermanent crops and pasture.About 15 percent is arable.Forests make up nearly 50 per-cent.

BORDERS : Myanmar hasborders with Bangladesh (193km, 120 miles), China (2,185 km,1,360 miles), India (1,463 km, 910miles), Laos (235 km, 145 miles)and Thailand (1,800 km, 1,120miles). It also has nearly 2,000 km(1,240 miles) of coastline on theAndaman Sea and Bay of Bengal.

CAPITAL : Naypyitaw. In 2005,the military government movedthe capital 390 km (240 miles)north from colonial-era Yangon(formerly known as Rangoon) toremote, purpose-built Naypyitaw.However, Yangon remains theeconomic hub.

ARMED FORCES : Ac2veforces es2mated at 375,500 in2006, making the country's mili-

tary one of Asia's largest a#erChina and India. The military re-lies mostly on older Russian andChinese technology and enjoy ahuge slice of the na2onal budget.

ECONOMY : Long-isolatedMyanmar joined the Associa2onof South East Asian Na2ons(ASEAN), comprising its majortrade partners, in 1997. It em-barked on a market economy in1988 a#er 26 years of centralplanning. Though impoverished,Myanmar is rich in natural re-sources, including petroleum,natural gas, 2mber, 2n, zinc, cop-per and precious stones. Theeconomy relies heavily on the ex-port of natural gas, agricultural,marine and forest products andtex2les. Its biggest trade partnersare Thailand, China and India.

The country's proven gas re-serves doubled in the pastdecade to 570 billion cubic me-ters, equivalent to almost a fi#hof Australia's, according to the BPSta2s2cal Review. Revenues fromthose reserves are 2ghtly heldamong the ruling military elitewhose cronies dominate otherbusinesses.

There are few accurate eco-nomic sta2s2cs available and thecountry has a large black-marketeconomy. Independent econo-mists say decades of corrup2onand mismanagement by the mili-

tary have le# Myanmar with neg-ligible growth, rampant infla2onand a currency, the kyat, consid-ered worthless outside the coun-try. Myanmar has undergone abig sell off of hundreds of stateassets in recent months, but theprocess has been highly opaqueand it appears most have endedup in the hands of junta cronies.

POLITICS : Myanmar hasfaced poli2cal and economic iso-la2on since the military refusedto recognize the results of a dem-ocra2c elec2on in 1990, won bySuu Kyi pro-democracy Na2onalLeague for Democracy.

It held its first elec2on sincethen. The parliamentary poll waswon convincingly by the military-backed Union Solidarity and De-velopment Party, whose victorywill ensure the armed forces hascontrol of the new legislature.Cri2cs say the poll was hugelyflawed and the poli2cal process isa facade of democracy that willbring no real change to the statusquo.

Foreign donors are reluctantto help Myanmar, saying itshuman rights record is abysmal.Many Western countries, includ-ing members of the EuropeanUnion, the United States and Aus-tralia, maintain economic andmilitary sanc2ons on the country,but they could be reviewed nowthat Suu Kyi, who has reversedher pro-sanc2ons stance, hasbeen released.

Neighboring China is itsbiggest poli2cal and economically and has capitalized on theWest's reluctance to trade withthe junta. It relies heavily onMyanmar for its energy needsand has ensured the regime hasits backing in the interna2onalarena. ˜


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he 2010 Asian Games,also known as the XVIAsiad, is a mul4-sport

event in Guangzhou, China thatbegan on 12 November and fin-ished on 27 November 2010.Guangzhou is the second Chinesecity to host the Games, a%er Bei-jing in 1990. A total of 476 eventsin 42 sports have been contestedby athletes, making it the largestevent in the history of theGames. It was also be the last it-era4on of the Games to have fea-tured such big events, as theOlympic Council of Asia (OCA)

have enforced new hos4ng rulesfor future games, beginning withthe 2014 Games.

Guangzhou was awarded theright to host the Games on July 1,2004, as the sole bidding city. Thiscame a%er the withdrawal of sev-eral ci4es, Amman, Kuala Lumpurand Seoul. The games were alsobe co-hosted by Dongguan, Fos-han and Shanwei, the threeneighbouring ci4es.

OrganisationBid

On July 1, 2004, The Guangzhouwas awarded the right to host theGames; the decision was an-


XVIAsianGames2010Asian great sports event

successfully ended

TAvadhesh Kumar Pandey


nouncedin Doha, Qatar. Thisdecision came a%er several otherci4es withdrew due to separatereasons. Seoul withdrew a%erconsidering the short span of4me between 2002 and 2010,because South Korea hosted the2002 Games eight years before inBusan. Kuala Lumpur was forcedto withdraw its bid a%er it wasboyco5ed by the cabinet due tothe high cost of hos4ng theGames, leaving Guangzhou as thesole bidder.

MarketingThe 2010 Asian Games' officialemblem was unveiled at Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall on November26, 2006. It is a stylized goat,which, in Chinese tradi4on, is ablessing and brings people luck. Itis also a representa4ve symbol ofthe host city Guangzhou, which iscalled the "City of Rams" or "Cityof the Five Rams".

Five sporty rams, dubbed "LeYangyang," will serve as the mas-cots of the Games. They were un-veiled on April 28, 2008 at theGuangzhou Baiyun Interna4onalConven4on and Exhibi4on Cen-ter. The five rams are named AXiang, A He, A Ru, A Yi and Le

Yangyang,and are a play onGuangzhou's nickname, "City ofGoats". Moreover, the Chinesecharacter "yang," or "goat," isalso an auspicious symbol be-cause, when read together, theChinese names of the five ramsare a message of blessing, liter-ally meaning "harmony, bless-ings, success and happiness".

CostsSeveral statements were madeprior to the official statementabout the cost. On March 11,2005, Lin Shusen of theGuangzhou Municipal Commi5eeof the Communist Party of China(CPC) said the Games "will notcost more than ￥2 billion", instark contrast to an earlier report,which had claimed that the costcould exceed￥200 billion.In March 2009, the director ofthe marke4ng department of theGames, Fang Da’er, claimed thatthe Games were short of funds,due to lack of sponsorship andthe global financial crisis. An in-formal es4mate put the Games'

ex-penditure atabout US$420 million andrevenue at US$450 million.On October 13, 2010, Mayor ofGuangzhou Wan Qingliang offi-cially revealed in a press confer-ence that the total cost of stagingthe Asian Games and Asian ParaGames is about ￥122.6 billion($17 billion), with ￥109 billionspent on infrastructure,￥6.3 bil-lion on the venues and some￥7.3 billion spent on Games' op-era4on.

VenuesThere were 53 compe44on ven-ues and 17 training venues avail-able for the Games, with fourvenues held outside theGuangzhou. These include theAsian Games Town, which con-sists of the Athletes' Village, Tech-nical Officials' Village, MediaVillage, Main Media Center andInterna4onal Broadcast Center.Organisers revealed that the totalinvestment is over￥15 billion.


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On April 19, 2009, organiserschose Haixinsha Island, alongwith the Pearl River, as the venuefor the opening and closing cere-monies, the only venue which notserve as purpose for compe44on.

The official theme song wasreleased on September 30, 2010,and is called "Reunion" (in Chi-nese, "Chongfeng"), and wascomposed by Wu Liqun, withlyrics wri5en by Xu Rongkai,while the English version wastranslated by Chen Ning Yang, aChinese-American physicist, andhis wife, Weng Fan. The song wasalso performed by Sun Nan andBella Yao. Sun Nan then per-formed it again with Mao Aminfor a music video.

Torch relayTwo torch designs were short-listed in September 2009 for the2010 Asian Games. A designnamed The Tide was chosen overone named Exploit by the organ-isers as the torch of the Games.The Tide weighs 98g and is 70 cmlong, and is tall and straight inshape, while dynamic in terms ofimage.The torch relay route was un-veiled on March 4, 2010. For fi-nancial reasons, the torch relaydura4on around Guangdong and

two other ci4esoff Guangdongare 30 days. Theflame of thetorch was lit inthe Great Wallof China on Oc-tober 9, 2010,and travelledaround theTemple ofHeaven in Bei-jing. 21 ci4eswere present inthe list of relay,

with 2,010 torchbearers expectedto carry it from October 12 to No-vember 12, 2010; however, twoci4es were added later in theroute for a single day on October15, 2010, the host of 2007 AsianWinter Games and 2012 AsianBeach Games, making the num-ber of torchbearer increase to2,068 people.

The relay in Harbin was heldin the main venue of the 1996Asian Winter Games, the HarbinIce Hockey Rink, while the relay

on October 22, 2010 was affectedby Typhoon Megi as it was heldunder the rain. The relay fromNovember 6–8 was acted asdemonstra4on relay.

SportsCompared to the 28 events in theOlympic Games, the 2010 AsianGames were featured 42 eventsthroughout the 16 days of thecompe44on, with added disci-plines in some events. 28 and fivegold medalists are emerged dur-ing the opening day and final dayrespec4vely, while a total of 48gold medalists have beenawarded on November 25, 2010,the most in single day.Twenty20cricket was among the debutantsports, with dance sport, dragonboat, weiqi and roller sportadded as unique to the Games.Bodybuilding was dropped due tojudging controversy in the 2006Games.

ParticipationAll 45 members of Olympic Coun-cil of Asia par4cipated in theGames. All Na4onal OlympicCommi5ees were ordered tohave submi5ed their entry beforeSeptember 30, 2010. Organisers

allow eachNOC to submitaddi4onal en-tries and in-j u r yreplacementsa%er the dead-line. A%er thefinal registra-4on deadline,some 9,704athletes, aswell as some4,750 team of-

ficials, took part in the Games, anincrease of 184 athletes from pre-vious Asian Games in Doha. Ac-cording to the Games' officialwebsite, Kuwai4 athletes par4ci-pated the Games under theOlympic flag because the KuwaitOlympic Commi5ee was sus-


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pended due to poli4cal interfer-ence in January 2010.

Cricket AbsencesCricket was among the five debu-tant sports in the Games. How-ever, India, despite its historicalrecord, decided not to send itscricket team to the Games. Ac-cording to the Board of Controlfor Cricket in India, the decisionwas due to earlier "interna4onalcommitments". However, itsmain rivals, Pakistan and SriLanka, confirmed their par4cipa-4on.

Asian GamesThe Asian Games, officiallyknown as Asiad, is a mul4-sportevent held every four yearsamong athletes from all overAsia. The Games were regulatedby the Asian Games Federa4on(AGF) from the first Games inNew Delhi, India, un4l the 1982Games. Since the 1982 they havebeen organised by the OlympicCouncil of Asia (OCA), a%er thebreak up of the Asian Games Fed-era4on. The Games are recog-nised by the Interna4onalOlympic Commi5ee (IOC) and aredescribed as the second largestmul4-sport event a%er theOlympic Games.

Thailand has hosted fourAsian Games, more than anyother na4on, a%er twice havingsecured the Games from crisis. Inits history, only nine na4ons havehosted the Asian Games. 46 na-4ons have par4cipated in theGames, including Israel, whichwas excluded from the Gamesa%er their last par4cipa4on in1974.

HISTORY

Prior FormationBefore the Asian Games wereheld, there was a gatheringknown as the Far Eastern Gameswhich was first mooted in 1912between Empire of Japan, thePhilippine Islands and China. Thefirst Games were then held inManila in 1913 and ten furthergatherings were held un4l 1934.However, against the backdrop ofthe second Sino-Japanese War in1934, in the face of Japan's insis-tence on including Manchu Em-pire as compe4tor na4on in theGames, China announced itswithdrawal from par4cipa4on.The Games scheduled for 1938were cancelled and the organisa-4on was discon4nued therea%er.

FormationA%er World War II, a number ofAsian countries became inde-pendent. Many of the newly in-dependent Asian countrieswanted to see a new type of com-pe44on where Asian dominancewould not be shown by violencebut would be strengthened by

mutual understanding. Duringthe 1948 Summer Olympics inLondon, a conversa4on betweensportsmen from China and thePhilippines raised the idea ofrestoring the Far Eastern Games.However, the Indian Interna4onalOlympic Commi5ee representa-4ve Guru Du5 Sondhi thoughtthat the restora4on of the Gameswould not be sufficient to showthe spirit of unity and level ofachievement in Asian sports, soproposed to sports leaders theidea of having discussions aboutholding a wholly new compe4-4on — the Asian Games. Thisgave rise to the agreement toform the Asian Athle4c Federa-4on. A preparatory commi5eewas set up to dra% the charter forthis new body. On 13 February1949, the Asian Athle4c Federa-4on was formally inaugurated inNew Delhi, alongside the nameAsian Games Federa4on, withNew Delhi announced as the firsthost city of the Asian Gameswhich were scheduled to be heldin 1950.

In the event, the planned firstAsian Games were delayed un4l1951 due to prepara4on prob-lems. However, they were suc-


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cessfully organised from 4-11March 1951 with 489 athletesfrom 11 countries taking part.The Games grew from one meet-ing to the next. In 1958, themo5o "Ever Onward" was offi-cially announced as the officialslogan of the Games.

Crisis, Reorganisa-tion, Expansion

Star4ng in 1962, the Games werehit by several crises. First, thehost country Indonesia, refusedto permit the par4cipa4on of Is-rael and the Republic of Chinadue to poli4cal and religious is-sues. As a result, the IOC re-moved its sponsorship of theGames and terminated Indonesiaas one of the IOC members. TheAsian Football Confedera4on(AFC), Interna4onal Associa4onof Athle4cs Federa4ons (IAAF)and Interna4onal Weightli%ingFedera4on (IWF), also removedtheir recogni4on of the Games.

In 1970, South Koreadropped its plan to host theGames declined due to na4onalsecurity crisis, however the mainreason was due to financial crisis,forcing the previous host Thai-

land to administer the Gamesagain in Bangkok using fundstransferred from South Korea.Prior to the Games, Japan wasasked to host the Games, but de-clined due to Expo '70 in Osaka.This edi4on also marked the first4me the Games have a televisionbroadcas4ng throughout theworld. In 1974, the Games for-mally recognized the par4cipa-4on of China, North Korea andMongolia. Israel was allowed topar4cipate despite the opposi-4on from Arab World, while Tai-wan was permi5ed to take partdespite its status was abolished ingeneral mee4ng on November16, 1973 by Games Federa4on.

The last is 1978, Singaporedropped its plan to the Games in1973 due to financial problems.And then Islamabad also droppedits plan to host the Games in1975 due to financial crisis andpoli4cal issues. 1978 AsianGames was in jeopady of dying.Thailand offered to help and theGames were once again held inBangkok. However once again,like in 1962, Taiwan and Israelwere refused the par4cipa4on byGames Federa4on, amid poli4calissues and security fears. Several

governing bodies protest the ban,like IAAF, threaten to barred thepar4cipated players from 1980Summer Olympics, this causeseveral teams withdrew prior tothe Games.

Following this series of crises,the Na4onal Olympic Commi5eein Asia decided to revise the con-s4tu4on of the Asian Games Fed-era4on. A new associa4on,named the Olympic Council ofAsia, was created in November1981 with the exclusion of Is-rael.[19] India was already sched-uled to host the 1982 Games andthe OCA decided not to drop theold AGF 4metable. The OCA for-mally supervised the Gamesstar4ng with the 1986 AsianGames in South Korea. In the suc-ceeding Games, Taiwan (Republicof China) was re-admi5ed, butcompete with the name ChineseTaipei.

In 1994, the Games were first4me included the na4ons of for-mer Republics of the SovietUnion of Kazakhstan, Kyrgystan,Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan andTajikistan. Also to note it is thefirst 4me that the Games wereheld outside the capital city ofhost country. However, Iraq wassuspended from the Games dueto Gulf War in 1990, while NorthKorea boyco5ed the Games dueto rela4on problems. It is alsomarred by the death of Nepalesedelega4on Nareshkumar Adhikariduring the Games's opening cere-mony. The 1998 Games markedthe fourth 4me held in Bangkok,Thailand in history. Differ to De-cember 6 as opening ceremonydate to previous three occasionson December 9, the Games wereclosing on same day all 4me, De-cember 20, while all opened byBhumibol Adulyadej.


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Future ChangesThe number of compe44onevents is scheduled to shrinkdown to just 35 sports at the2014 Games to be held in In-cheon, South Korea. 2014 willalso see the Games hosted ineven-numbered year, as theOlympic Council of Asia pushedthe subsequent Games to justone year ahead of the OlympicGames. This means the 18thAsian Games which were origi-nally planned for 2018 will bepushed to 2019.

ParticipationAll 45 members affiliated to

the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA)are eligible to take part in theGames. In history, 46 Na4onalOlympic Commi5ees (NOCs)have sent compe4tors to theGames. Israel has been excludedfrom the Games since 1976, thereason cited as being due to se-curity reasons. Israel requestedto par4cipate in the 1982 Games,but the request was rejected by

the organisers due to incident in1972 Summer Olympics. Israel isnow a member of the EuropeanOlympic Commi5ees (EOC).

Due to its con4nuing ambigu-ous poli4cal status, Taiwan haspar4cipated in the Games underthe flag of Chinese Taipei since1990. Macau is allowed to com-pete as one of the NOCs in AsianGames, despite not being recog-nised by the Interna4onalOlympic Commi5ee (IOC) for par-4cipa4on in the Olympic Games.

In 2007, the President of OCA,Sheikh Ahmed Al-Fahad Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah, rejected theproposal to allow Australia topar4cipate in the Games. Hestated that while Australia wouldadd good value to the AsianGames, it would be unfair to theother NOCs in Oceania.

Only seven countries, namelyIndia, Indonesia, Japan, thePhilippines, Sri Lanka, Singaporeand Thailand have competed inall edi4ons of the games. ˜


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s per the decision of Gov-ernment of India, thereshall be change in the syl-

labus and pa0ern of the Prelimi-nary Examina/on from 2011 inthe scheme of the Civil ServicesExamina/on. The Preliminary Ex-amina/on shall now comprise oftwo compulsory Papers of 200marks each and of two hours du-ra/on each. Detailed below is thenew syllabus and pa0ern of thePreliminary Examina/on, which is

brought to the no/ce of theprospec/ve candidates intendingto appear at the Civil Services Ex-amina/on (CSE) in 2011 onwards:

Paper I - (200 marks)Duration: Two HoursL Current events of na/onal

and interna/onal importanceL History of India and Indian

Na/onal MovementL Indian and World Geography

- Physical, Social, Economicgeography of India and theWorld.

L Indian Polity and Governance– Cons/tu/on, Poli/cal Sys-tem, Panchaya/ Raj, PublicPolicy, Rights Issues, etc.

L Economic and Social Develop-ment – Sustainable Develop-ment, Poverty, Inclusion,Demographics, Social SectorIni/a/ves, etc.

L General issues on Environ-

Strategy for Civil ServicesPreliminary Examina�on

By: Dr. Sachchidanand

A

Changes in syllabus and pa0ern from 2011


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mental ecology, Bio-diversityand Climate Change - that donot require subject specializa-/on

L General Science.

Paper II- (200 marks)Duration: Two hoursL ComprehensionL Interpersonal skills including

communica/on skills;L Logical reasoning and analy/-

cal abilityL Decision making and problem

solvingL General mental abilityL Basic numeracy (numbers

and their rela/ons, orders ofmagnitude etc.) (Class Xlevel), Data interpreta/on(charts, graphs, tables, datasufficiency etc. -Class X level)

L English Language Compre-hension skills (Class X level).

L Ques/ons rela/ng to EnglishLanguage Comprehensionskills of Class X level (last itemin the Syllabus of Paper-II) willbe tested through passagesfrom English language onlywithout providing Hinditransla/on thereof in theques/on paper.

L The ques/ons will be of mul-/ple choice, objec/ve type.

L The prospec/ve candidatesare advised to note that nochanges are being introducedat this stage in the Civil Serv-ices (Main) Examina/on andPersonality Test in thescheme of Civil Services Ex-amina/on (CSE).

What strategy shouldbe adopted?

Modifica/on made to the newsyllabus of Civil Services Prelimi-nary Examina/on 2011 has more

focus on general studies. It re-quires early prepara/on and a re-laxed approach.The recent announcement of thenew syllabus for Civil Services

Preliminary Examina/on 2011 bythe Union Ministry of Personnel,Public Grievances and Pensions islikely to create ji0ers among as-pirants.

A closer look at the syllabusand pa0ern of the examina/onmen/oned in the text onlystresses the need for more focuson general studies and revision ofmathema/cs learned at the sec-ondary school level. Aspirants an-alyzing recent ques/on papers ofother examina/ons conducted bythe UPSC will have a be0er un-derstanding of the new pa0ernand syllabus.

According to Union Ministryof Personnel, Public Grievancesand Pensions, the Civil ServicesPreliminary examina/on will con-sist of two papers with a total of400 marks. This is different fromthe earlier pa0ern that had oneop/onal subject paper along witha general studies paper.

Herea er, the civil servicesaspirants can be much more re-laxed in their approach as the

need for studying an op/onalsubject has been dispensed withfor the preliminary. But they haveto complete two op/onal sub-jects for the mains. So balancing

the main and prelims in the com-ing months will be the challengebefore them.

Analysis of thechanges in IASExams Syllabus

Paper I is worth 200 marks andhas been allo0ed two hours. Ear-lier the pa0ern was 150 marks forthe general studies. In paper I,candidates will be tested on theirknowledge of current events ofna/onal and interna/onal impor-tance. Emphasis will be on Indianhistory, Indian na/onal move-ment, Indian and world geogra-phy, including the physical, socialand economic geography of Indiaand the world.

The candidates can startprepara/on as soon as possibleby reading newspapers and otherperiodicals to enrich their knowl-edge of current affairs. Ques/onson current affairs are likely to playa key role in scoring the requiredmarks in the new pa0ern. Ques-


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/ons will also be asked on Indianpolity and governance as well asthe Cons/tu/on, the poli/cal sys-tem, panchaya/ raj, public policyand rights issues.

Apart from NCERT books, theUnion government publica/onsthat have informa/on on latestdevelopments on these subjectsare also important. India 2011year book published by the Publi-ca/on Division, Ministry of Infor-ma/on and Broadcas/ng maycon/nue to be of use to answer alarge number of ques/ons. Thenew system is going to iden/fythe comprehensive knowledge ofan aspirant and his / her ability toapply it in decision making. Thefocus will be more on tes/ng thepersonality of the candidate.

Study MaterialCandidates will have to preparefor ques/ons on economic andsocial development, sustainabledevelopment, poverty, inclusion,

demographics and social sectorini/a/ves. NCERT books will pro-vide a chunk of answers to ques-/ons pertaining to general issueson environmental ecology, bio-di-versity, climate change and gen-eral science. Candidates areadvised to revise the class X Eng-lish language books for Englishlanguage comprehension skills ofPaper II. Appropriate IGNOUstudy material on interpersonalskills, including communica/onskills may be useful.

Study material used by aspi-rants of banking services areenough to tackle ques/ons onlogical reasoning and analy/calability, decision making and prob-lem solving as well as generalmental ability. Class X books ofNCERT should be studied in detailfor solving ques/ons on basic nu-meric skills such as numbers andtheir rela/ons, orders of magni-tude and data interpreta/on.

Solving the paper is likely tobe easy for the aspirants who go

though the previous ques/onsasked by the UPSC for other ex-amina/ons such as NDA, par/cu-larly those conducted recently.

Spending at least six hours aday for solving such ques/ons iscrucial. Analysing the previousques/ons of examina/ons con-ducted by Reserve Bank of Indiaand other banks is also likely tothrow light on the new pa0ern ofexamina/on.

What has notchanged in the new

syllabus?Some things which many candi-dates for the IAS exam were fear-ing have fortunately remaineduntouched. Here is a short list.Age limit remains 30 yrs. Oldercandidates can heave a sigh of re-lief. Number of a0empts have notbeen reduced. So those on the3rd and 4th a0empts can rejoice.IAS mains exam pa0ern has notbeen changed from 2011 but will

be changed a er afew years mostprobably.

The name of theexam. This is thebiggest joke.Everyone roo/ngfor CSAT and allthose who startedweb sites on this/tle might be curs-ing themselvesnow. GeneralStudies paper orPaper 1 is more orless the same.Only thing is thatmental ability hasnow been in-cluded in Paper 2instead.


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BenefitsCandidates who were againstUPSC's scaling system due to vari-able difficulty level of op/onalpapers can feel happy now as op-/onals have been removed from2011 IAS prelims. As both paperswill be common to all, there willbe fair play and equal opportu-nity to all candidates. From nowon what you score is what yousee in terms of final results(whether qualified or not for IASmains). Candidates who couldnot mug up or rote will also cheerthe changed IAS syllabus as nowwide studies on different topics isrequired and second paper willfocus on decision making, logicalreasoning, mental ability, Englishcomprehension.

None of these can bemugged up but have to be prac-/ced, understood, tackled usingcommon sense and presence ofmind but not mugging up. Finally,candidates who haven't takencoaching can also feel relieved ascoaching will make less of a dif-

ference now than in the pastwhere op/onals could be crackedsimply by mugging up the coach-ing class notes. Now paper 2 willrequire individual efforts ratherthan coaching notes.

ChallengesGS has always been a toughpaper to clear and now candi-dates will have to clear two GS

papers with moreques/ons in less/me (just twohours). So /memanagement willbe the most crucialfactor in IAS pre-lims from now on.Also, the secondpaper will betougher for thosewho ignored men-tal ability and werenever too keen ondata analysis andlogical reasoning.These cannot beskipped any longerbut will need to bea0empted in orderto clear the IASprelims. Candi-

dates from non-English back-ground will face a toughchallenge as there will be Englishcomprehension passages and notransla/on will be provided forthe same so they need to be readin English only. Ques/ons oninter-personal skills and commu-nica/on skills will test a candidatefurther and only those who aregood at both can now answerques/ons confidently. ˜

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ndia and Afghanistan arebuilding a partnership be-tween the world’s largest

and most recent democracies.Both countries are composed ofmyriad tradi2ons and are joinedtogether by history and civilisa-2onal contacts. Their close rela-2ons are based on culturalaffini2es, the shared values of

mul2ethnicity and pluralism andthe common quest of our peo-ples for peace and development.India has been one ofAfghanistan’s foremost develop-ment partners since end-2001.

India shares the collec2vecommitment of the interna2onalcommunity to the unity, integrityand prosperity of Afghanistan. A

peaceful and stable Afghanistanis in India’s interest, as also the in-terests of the region and theWorld. The trauma and the de-struc2on Afghanistan faced in the1990s requires a comprehensiveeffort to rebuild and reconstructa war torn society and economy.India as a close neighbour andfriend has sought to play its role

Dr. Sachchidanand

I


Indo-AfghanRelation

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Reaching out to Afghanistan


in this effort.India’s expanding partnership

with Afghanistan has grown intomul2-sectoral ac2vi2es in allparts of Afghanistan. India’s re-construc2on and developmentalprogrammes in Afghanistan fol-low priori2es of the Afghan Gov-ernment and people. Theseencompass educa-2on, medical services,transport, telecom-munica2ons, civil avi-a2on, agriculture,irriga2on, power gen-era2on, industry, andrural development.India is building inAfghanistan struc-tures from public toi-lets to transmissionlines.

A strong poli2calrela2onship under-writes this partner-ship.

One of India’s important in-frastructure projects in South-Western Afghanistan, thehighway from Zaranj to Delaram,was inaugurated by PresidentHamid Karzai and India’s ExternalAffairs Minister Pranab Mukher-jee on 22nd January, 2009. Builtat the cost of precious Afghanand Indian lives lost in the courseof its construc2on, the highway isa symbol of India’s commitmentto Afghanistan.

India in AfghanistanIndia and Afghanistan are not justneighbours, joined together byhistory and civilisa2onal contactsstretching over the millennia, butalso strategic partners. Our closerela2ons are based on culturalaffini2es, the shared values ofmul2ethnicity and pluralism andthe common quest of our peo-

ples for peace and developmenthave ensured that the rela2on-ship between our two peoples re-mains warm and friendly. A primeexample of India’s partnershipwith the people of Afghanistan isthe construc2on of a 218-kmroad between Delaram inAfghanistan to Zaranj on

Afghanistan’s border with Iranwhich began in 2005. The roadwas an ambi2ous project andwould link up to the “garland”highway stretching all the way toKabul. The road would beAfghanistan’s “lifeline” to Iran,giving the land-locked country anextra avenue to reach out.

Over the next few years, Indiaand Afghanistan to3ed up a grimsta2s2c: roughly one human lifewas lost to Taliban a3acks forevery 1.5 km of road built. Butwhen Pranab Mukherjee, thenExternal Affairs Minister, handedover the road to Afghan PresidentHamid Karzai in January 2009,India kept the faith with almost adozen Indians and 130 Afghanswho sacrificed their lives duringthe project.

It was the strongest tes2-mony to India’s commitment tohelping Afghanistan find its feeta#er decades of being ba3ered

by war.With the fall of the Taliban

regime, India immediatelyreached out to the friendly peo-ple of Afghanistan involving itselfwith its civilian prowess: helpingAfghanistan reconstruct itself, re-build its sha3ered economy, in-frastructure and ins2tu2ons, help

Afghans find a placefor themselves, freeof externally-imposedextremist religiousideology. As a large,diverse, mul2culturaland mul2-ethniccountry with a millen-nia-old ethos of toler-ance, India supportedthe Afghans in mak-ing their own reli-gious, social andeconomic choices.

Over the years,India has become the

sixth largest donor inAfghanistan, with a bilateral assis-tance programme of $1.3 billion.The bo3omline for Indian proj-ects is that they have to benefitthe common man, and benefit allsec2ons of the society.

Go to school,beat the hunger

The Indian assistance programmecan be broadly classified into fourcategories. The first is humanitar-ian, which includes medical andfood assistance. Among the firstthings that India sent toAfghanistan in the winter of2001-2002, was protein-for2fiedbiscuits. These were high-proteinbiscuits sent via the World FoodProgramme, which had the salu-tary effect of sending children,par2cularly girls, back to school invarious parts of Afghanistan, be-cause these biscuits provide chil-


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dren the necessary nutrients toprevent short-term hunger andencourage school a3endance.

Every day, over 2 million chil-dren get a supply of 100 gms ofthese for2fied biscuits under theWFP’s School Feeding Pro-gramme. It started, ironically,with a resource crunch by theWFP - India suggested conver2ngits wheat dona2on into high-pro-tein biscuits. It was done by an In-dian biscuit company, and starteda trend. By 2008-09, 32,000 tonsof biscuits were supplied to chil-dren in 33 out of 34 provinces inthe country.

In January 2009, asAfghanistan ba3led with a foodcrisis, India announced assistanceof 250,000 metric tons of wheat,of which 150,000 tons would addto Afghanistan’s strategic re-serves. The grain could not betransported overland throughPakistan because of that coun-try’s intransigence, even in a hu-manitarian ma3er of this nature.Transporta2on proved to be a lo-gis2cs nightmare, because theonly alternate route would haveinvolved movement by sea to Iranand then overland toAfghanistan, by the same roadthat India built.

Foreign secretary, NirupamaRao elaborated on the ra2onalebehind India’s assistance toAfghanistan. “India is engaged indevelopmental and humanitarianwork to assist the Afghan peopleas they build a peaceful, stable,inclusive, democra2c and plural-is2c Afghanistan. The landscapeof destruc2on must change. Indianeither sees Afghanistan as a bat-tleground for compe2ng na2onalinterests nor assistance to Afghanreconstruc2on and developmentas a zero sum game.”

It is an important statement,

because India’s efforts inAfghanistan are not aimed at un-dermining anybody. The bo3om-line for India’s involvementremains the fact that India con-siders extremist ideologies to bevery dangerous and a na2onal se-curity threat. To that extent, Indiawants to u2lize its developmentprogramme in Afghanistan to(deny such ideologies space togrow) help Afghanistan stabilizeand emerge as an economic hublinking South and Central Asiathrough a network of trade andtransit linkages that would bene-fit the people of the en2re re-gion.

HumanitarianAssistance

In 2002, when Afghanistan wass2ll in the throes of war, India hadrushed across 13 doctors andp a r a m e d i c s ,which went onto give ar2ficiallimbs to war-wounded andlandmine vic-2ms throughoutA fg h a n i s t a n .Since then, 5 In-dian medicalmissions havebeen at work inKabul, Herat,Jalalabad, Kan-dahar andMazar-e-Sharifa3ending to pa-2ents and givingout medicinesto over 30,000pa2ents everymonth. Theytarget the poor-est sec2ons ofsociety, even asthey facilitate

those be3er off to make the trekto India for further, more sophis-2cated treatment. In 2009, over310,000 Afghans, par2cularlywomen and children havetrekked long distances to avail offree medical treatment.

The Indira Gandhi Ins2tutefor Child Health (IGICH) in Kabulis a unique treasure - the largestpediatric hospital in Afghanistan.With a three-storied surgicalblock (completed in 2005), apolyclinic and now a diagnos2cblock with CT scan and MRI facil-i2es, this is an important part ofKabul’s health infrastructure. Tothe extent that Kabul doctors(many being trained by the AllIndia Ins2tute of Medical Sci-ences) actually asked Indian engi-neers to change the colour of thewalls from the standard issuepale green to a bright and happypink!


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Security imperativesForeign Secretary Rao stressedthe security impera2ves that un-derline India’s development assis-tance in Afghanistan. “Thesecurity of Afghanistan and whathappens there impacts us, as acountry in the region, as a closeneighbour whose 2es with theAfghan people stretch into an2q-uity. A stable and se3ledAfghanistan, where therank and file of the Tal-iban has given up vio-lence against thegovernment, and thepeople, cut all linkswith terrorism, sub-scribe to the values ofthe Afghan Cons2tu-2on and its laws, andwhere development isthe hard ra2onale, iswhat we seek andquest for. It is impor-tant also that for sucha structure to bedurable and enduring,Afghanistan’s neigh-bours, and regionalpartners, will need tobe in the picture –both by consulta2onand by adherence tothe principle of non-inter-ference in the country’s affairs,ensuring that it thrives as a tradeand transit hub for the region,and by eradica2ng transna2onalterrorism.”

Underlining the Indian pres-ence is India’s strong poli2calpartnership with the Afghan gov-ernment. India has stood solidlybehind the government, under-taking its development projectsonly in consulta2on with the Gov-ernment and as per the wishes ofits people. India is convinced that

Afghans understand their na2onand future best.

Roads to a betterfuture

The Zaranj-Delaram highway willbe a true logis2cal boon when itconnects up to the Chahbaharport in Iran. That will giveAfghanistan a shorter access tothe sea, increase its a3rac2ve-ness as a trade and transit hub as

well.But quite apart from the

highway, Indian teams have built58 km of inner-city roads, 40 kmin Zaranj, 10 km in Gurguri and 8km connec2ng Gurguri to Razai.

The road building itself was ahuge exercise in logis2cs: 339 en-gineers and workers from Indiaand many more in Afghanistanwere involved. But they keptcosts down – the project cost amere $150 million.

As a result of the highway,

land prices there have gone upnow, while the popula2on ofZaranj town increased from55,000 in 2004 to over 100,000today. Buses and taxis are alwayson the road, and the journey,which was comparable to a bone-crushing ride of over 12 hours,now takes barely more than acouple of hours. Trucks and con-tainers are the heaviest users, aswas expected, averaging over 50trucks a day, which also means

higher customs rev-enues at Zaranj.

As External Af-fairs Minister S.M Kr-ishna said in January,“Afghanistan shouldemerge as a trade,transporta2on andenergy hub linkingtogether the coun-tries of the region,from Central toSouth Asia. Unfet-tered transit andtransport linkagesb e t w e e nAfghanistan and thecountries of SCO andSAARC could providelarger markets forAfghan products.Growing economicinterdependence

could catalyze peaceand prosperity in the region atlarge and in Afghanistan in par2c-ular.”

Powering livesIn 2005, India began construc2onof an ambi2ous project – a 220KV double circuit transmissionline (202 km) from Pul-e-Khumrito Kabul and a sub-sta2on inChimtala near Kabul. The line tra-versed heavily snowed-in areasand passes over the Salang rangeat a height of 4000 m. The project


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had been turned down as beingtoo difficult by other countries,but it took intrepid engineersfrom India to step up to the task.Kabul was lit up with electricityfrom Uzbekistan with this projectin summer of 2009. External Af-fairs Minister SM Krishna said,“This is an outstanding exampleof regional and interna2onal co-opera2on in Afghanistan.”

Meanwhile, a#er being re-quested by the Afghan govern-ment, India started construc2onof the Salma Dam Power projecton river Hari Rud east of Herat.This will be commissioned in2011 and will provide 42 MWelectricity.

A#er the presiden2al elec-2ons of 2004, the Afghan cons2-tu2on struck roots and the needwas felt to build a parliamentbuilding that would be the ex-pression of Afghan’s democra2cprocesses. In 2005, Zahir Shah,Baba-e-Millat laid the founda2onstone of the building. Among theart that will decorate the buildingwill be examples of Gandharaschool of Buddhist art, emphasiz-ing Afghanistan’s ancient histori-cal moorings. The design wasapproved by Afghan designers,but the contours are clear: theKabul building, unlike the one inDelhi, the Kabul building will havethree blocks, housing two housesof parliament and a secretariat.

The Wolesi and Meshrano Jir-gas have maintained regular con-tacts with the Indian parliament,while officials are being trained inIndia’s Bureau of ParliamentaryStudy and Training.

In fact, as India’s coopera2onwith Afghanistan matures, Indiais now turning to assist buildingins2tu2ons within the country.For instance, the Afghan Elec2onCommission has regular ex-

changes, studies etc with the In-dian Elec2on Commission.

With the people,by the people

The most innova2ve assistanceprojects by India are not the bigdams or highways. Its the “smalland community-based develop-ment projects” or SDPs that Indiahas spread out across some ofthe worst militancy-affected dis-tricts in Afghanistan.

Started in 2005, these aresmall-scale, quick-impact projectsin sectors like agriculture, ruraldevelopment, educa2on, health,voca2onal training, with budgetsof less than $1 million. This ishow they work: let’s say, a villagewants a school building, or fivetube wells, or a small bridge.These projects are based on whatthe local people want and o#enexecuted by local contractors.India funds them and providestechnical assistance. This meansdevelopment ini2a2ves are or-ganic and villagers take owner-ship of both concep2on, andexecu2on.

These are designed as quick-impact projects typically takingnot more than between 6-12months. Most of these projectshave been undertaken in theprovinces worst hit by terrorist vi-

olence - Kunar, Nangarhar, Pak2a,Pak2ka, Khost, Nimroz, Nooris-tan, Badakshan, Balkh and Kanda-har.

The first Mughal emperorBabur’s tomb in Kabul is a specialtourist draw. India responded torequests from two specific NGO-supported projects each cateringto different socio-economicneeds.

With the Turquoise MountainFounda2on, India is contribu2ngto renegera2on of Murad Khane,the oldest surviving part of thehistoric city on the north bank ofthe Kabul river. It is a unique ef-fort to preserve Afghanistan’spast because this area containssome of the finest surviving 18thand 19th century homes in Kabul,including the Ziarat of Abu Fazl.This should not only help to pre-serve Afghan history and culturebut also provide avenues for in-come through tourism.

In Balkh, India is sharing itsbest prac2ces in micro-financethough self-help groups, which ishelping to mobilise rural peopleinto common interest groups topromote savings and build entre-preneurship based on the experi-ences in Tamil Nadu and MadhyaPradesh. At the end of the projectperiod, over 75000 people shouldhave been mobilised and 15,000

jobs created.SEWA (Self Em-

ployed Women’sA s s o c i a 2 o n ) ,India’s largestunion of self-em-ployed women isimpar2ng voca-2onal training to1000 women inthe CommunityLearning and Busi-ness ResourceCentre at Bagh-e-


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Zanana in Kabul.Most of the women being

trained are war widows, illiterateand des2tute. They are beingtrained in making garments, em-broidery, building nurseries, plan-ta2ons, greenhouse plants andfood processing. Interes2nglythey are being trained, not by In-dians, but by 32 Afghan mastertrainers who have been trainedby SEWA.

Since 2007, Indian civil ser-vants have been deputed toAfghan government departmentsto assist in capacity building ofprofessional bureaucra2c skills inpublic administra2on. They guideand develop training modules forAfghan administrators - they nei-ther advise nor perform line func-2ons - thereby maintainingIndia’s resolve that the develop-ment be Afghan-led and Afghan-owned. India has also conveyedits strong support to depu2ng In-dian experts as part of UNDP’sNa2onal Ins2tu2on Building Proj-ect in Afghanistan (NIBP).

Continue SupportIn April, 2010, Prime MinisterManmohan Singh told AfghanPresident Karzai that India was“ready to augment its assistancefor capacity building and for skillsand human resources develop-ment to help strengthen publicins2tu2ons in Afghanistan.”

In January, 2010, at the Lon-don Conference, External AffairsMinister Krishna announced Indiawould provide 100 fellowships“every year for the next five yearsfor Afghans to pursue Mastersand PhD programmes in Indianuniversi2es (in agriculture stud-ies). We will also support sending200 fresh students to India eachyear, for five years, for degree

programmes in agriculture andrelated areas.”

India is now a favoured des2-na2on for Afghan students, whichis helped by Indian assistance to-wards Afghan capacity building.More than 1300 scholarshipsunder the ITEC programme andthe ICCR are being offered annu-ally to Afghans in different disci-plines for capacity building.

Hear Afghans say it(or sing it!)

It would be impossible to talk ofIndia building equi2es inAfghanistan without acknowledg-ing the influence of India’s music,films and TV soaps, which arequite popular in Afghanistan. Itwas the Amir Khan starrer Bolly-wood blockbuster, Lagaan, that apost-war Afghanistan asked for.India shipped over numerouscopies of the movie whichrestarted Afghanistan’s love affairwith India’s films and then movedover to Indian soap operas. TheAfghan version of the wildly pop-ular TV reality show, AmericanIdol, has Afghan par2cipantssinging Hindi songs!

In November 2009, GallupSurvey polled Afghans for theiropinions on a variety of subjects,but what was most revealing was

how Afghanssaw theworld. India isby far themost popularcountry inAfghanistan.More re-cently, an-other opinionpoll commis-sioned by theBBC, ABC andARD found

that India had the highest cacheacross all ethnic groups inAfghanistan. India topped the listof countries viewed favourably byAfghans at 71% outstrippingother countries and organiza2ons

Security imperativefor development

As analysts see it, India at presentprovides the crucial second 2er ofa counter-insurgency strategy of“clear, hold, build and transfer,”with India providing the last two.But all of this is being done atIndia’s own expense, withoutbeing part of an interna2onalconsor2um, and within India’smeans. India reckons this will bethe most important facets of re-building Afghanistan, and be3erintegra2on with SAARC.

Ul2mately, of course, this de-velopment can only bear fruit ifthe interna2onal community ad-equately assists the Afghans inaddressing the challenge of secu-rity and stability. The principalproblem here is that Taliban arecoming from an unending well ofmilitants, funded, armed andgiven sanctuary outsideAfghanistan. That’s the core prob-lem that the world needs to ad-dress. ˜


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Malawian Presidentvisit to India

t the invita2on of thePresident of India Smt.Pra2bha Devisingh Pa2l,

the President of Malawi His Excel-lency Ngwazi Prof. Bingu waMutharika undertook a State Visitto India from November 2 - 7,2010. H.E. Prof. Mutharika wasaccompanied by Madame CallistaMutharika & 6 ministers and a45-member business delega2on.During the visit H.E. Prof.Mutharika held frui1ul discus-sions with the President of theRepublic of India, the Vice Presi-dent Shri Hamid Ansari, and thePrime Minister Dr. ManmohanSingh. During talks, the two sidesdiscussed issues of mutual inter-est- bilateral as well as regionaland interna2onal.

Mutharika and Pa2lhave discussed a widerange of subjects of bilat-eral interest covering eco-nomic coopera2on, tradeand investment, infrastruc-ture, mining, coal, agricul-ture, micro, small andmedium enterprises, andhuman resource develop-ment. India provided a lineof credit of 30 million USdollars to Malawi in 2008that was used for irriga2on,grain storage and tobaccothreshing.

Another line of credit of50 million US dollars wasannounced during the visit

of Vice-President Hamid Ansari inJanuary 2010.Both the countries planned onmeasures to boost bilateral tradethat currently stands at 185 mil-lion US dollars.

Joint StatementDuring the visit, both sidesagreed to strengthen the histori-cal and friendly rela2ons be-tween India and Malawi. TheIndian Prime Minister announcedthe reopening of the Indian mis-sion in Lilongwe. The Malawianside welcomed this ini2a2ve ofIndia and saw in it the manifesta-2on of a clear desire to enhanceengagement between India and

Malawi. Malawi had opened itsMission in Delhi in February,2007.

The Malawian side recalledthe recent visit of the Vice-Presi-dent of India, Shri Hamid Ansari,to Malawi in January 2010. Thatvisit served to revitalise India’s re-la2onship with Malawi by estab-lishing high level poli2cal contact,increasing development cooper-a2on and crea2ng a larger matrixof economic engagement. Grantsof US $ 5 million offered at that2me to support Malawi’s devel-opment of the social sectors areunder u2lisa2on. Projects underthe line of credit of US $ 50 mil-lion have been iden2fied and aloan agreement could be signed

A

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soon. A protocol for Consulta-2ons between the Ministry ofForeign Affairs of the Republic ofMalawi and the Ministry of Exter-nal Affairs of the Republic of Indiawas signed to strengthen diplo-ma2c rela2ons between the twocountries. Consulta2ons underthis were held between the twoForeign Ministries in October2010.

The Indian leaders felicitatedthe President of Malawi for hissuccessful leadership of theAfrican Union. India commi3editself to con2nue to enhance co-opera2on and support the devel-opment of Africa. The Malawianside noted with sa2sfac2on thestrengthening of 2es betweenIndia and the African Union, es-pecially a"er the India AfricaForum Summit -2008. The IndianPrime Minister emphasised thatIndia looks forward to the nextIndia Africa Forum Summit (IAFS)to be held next year in Africa. TheMalawian President welcomedthe ini2a2ve and its next summitin Africa. He noted that India’s ca-pacity building support to Africawas contribu2ng to the develop-ment of Africa’s future and thegrowing economic engagementfor mutual benefit was widelywelcomed in Africa. It was alsonoted that India has offered toestablish 20 capacity building in-s2tu2ons in Africa including 4 PanAfrican ins2tu2ons.

India and Malawi a3ach greatimportance to the expansion ofopportuni2es for human re-source development in Africa.Malawi welcomed the doublingof scholarships, the increase inIndia Technical and Economic Co-opera2on (ITEC) training posi-2ons, the introduc2on of C.V.Raman Science ScholarshipScheme emana2ng from the de-

cisions of India-Africa ForumSummit. India commi3ed itself tofurther expansion of such facili-2es in the future.

India supports human re-source development and capacitybuilding in Malawi through theITEC/SCAAP Programme. A"erthe India-Africa Forum Summit2008, India enhanced the trainingslots for Malawi from 15 to 30 in2008-09 and subsequently to 36in 2010-11. Since 2002-03, over100 Malawian na2onals haveavailed of the civilian training fa-cili2es in India, including throughthe Special Courses organisedduring IAFS-2008. India has alsooffered several new scholarshipsto Malawi under the decisions ofthe India Africa Forum Summitfor use by Malawian students.

Malawi thanked India for ex-tending two lines of credit to-talling US $ 80 million so far tosupport its developmental goals.It was using the credit for devel-oping agriculture, the greenbeltini2a2ve and the one-village-one-product schemes which havecontributed to the fulfilment ofMalawi’s development goals.India has offered a special creditline of US $ 100 million to furthersupport Malawi’s developmentalpriori2es. India has also offered a

special grant of US $ 5 million forcapacity building in Malawi in-cluding the establishment of asmall industry incubator.

The Indian Prime Ministerstated that he was happy to notethat Malawi had acceded to theDuty Free Tariff PreferenceScheme offered by India for 33Least Developed Countries inAfrica to provide greater marketaccess. Malawi welcomed thisopportunity to enhance her ex-

ports. It was par2c-

ularly noted that Malawihad increased its capacity to pro-duce pulses which were findinggreater market access in India. Itwas agreed to pursue sustainabletrading rela2onships by findingcomplementari2es among oureconomies.

The bilateral trade betweenIndia and Malawi in 2009-10 hasincreased by almost 100 per centsince 2008-09. Imports fromMalawi to India have shown a re-markable growth during this pe-riod, increasing from US $ 7million in 2008-09 to US $ 103million in the year 2009-10. Bothsides reiterated the need to fur-ther increase trade between thetwo countries as well as expandthe trade basket of products and


India supportshuman resourcedevelopment and

capacity building in Malawithrough the ITEC/SCAAPProgramme. After theIndia-Africa Forum Sum-mit 2008, India enhancedthe training slots forMalawi from 15 to 30 in2008-09 and subsequentlyto 36 in 2010-11.

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to increase bilateral trade to $300 million by 2013.

The Malaw-ian side com-mended the PanAfrica e-NetworkProject of Gov-ernment of Indiato facilitate tele-educa2on, tele-medicine andvideo-conferenc-ing facili2es be-tween India andAfrica. This proj-ect has beencompleted inMalawi at threesites - VVIP VideoConferencing fa-cility in Lilongwe,Tele-medicine fa-cility at the Ka-muzu Central

Hospital, Lilongwe and Tele-edu-ca2on facility at the Chancellor

College, Zomba. The project wasofficially launched on 16 August,2010.

Leaders on both sides notedwith sa2sfac2on the strengthen-ing of the growing partnershipbetween the two countries withthe signing of the following Bilat-eral Agreements / MoUs duringthe visit:a) General Coopera2on Agree-

ment;b) MOU on Coopera2on in the

field of Mineral ResourcesDevelopment;

c) MOU on Coopera2on in thefield of Rural Development;

d) MOU on Coopera2on in thefield of Health and Medicine.Both sides noted that in a

rapidly changing world, an impor-tant dimension of India-AfricaPartnership is our mee2ng ofminds on pressing global issues.These issues include the reformof the United Na2ons, comba2ng

interna2onal terrorism, ClimateChange, WTO, reform of interna-

2onal financial ins2tu2ons, com-ba2ng diseases, eradica2on ofhunger and poverty and promo-2on of inclusive democra2c soci-e2es and poli2es.

The Indian Prime Minister ex-pressed his gra2tude to Malawifor its support to India for thenon-permanent UNSC seat forthe 2011-2012 term and forIndia's candidature for a perma-nent seat in the expanded UNSC.

Both India and Malawi under-lined that terrorism cannot bejus2fied in any form, commi3edby whomever, wherever and forwhatever purposes. The twosides agreed on the need forgreater coopera2on amongstates in the fight against terror-ism. In this context, the two sidesurged for early finaliza2on ofComprehensive Conven2on onInterna2onal Terrorism, which isunder discussion at the UN since1996. ˜


The bilateraltrade be-tween India

and Malawi in 2009-10has increased by almost100 per cent since2008-09. Imports fromMalawi to India haveshown a remarkablegrowth during this pe-riod, increasing fromUS $ 7 million in 2008-09 to US $ 103 millionin the year 2009-10.Both sides reiteratedthe need to further in-crease trade betweenthe two countries aswell as expand thetrade basket of prod-ucts and to increase bi-lateral trade to$ 300 millionby 2013.

Article


India - JapanAnnual Summit

The Prime Minister ofIndia, Dr. ManmohanSingh visited to Japan for

the Annual Summit of the PrimeMinisters on 24-26 October 2010at the invita1on of the PrimeMinister of Japan, Mr. Naoto Kan.The two Prime Ministers held ex-tensive talks on bilateral, regionaland global issues of shared inter-est on 25 October 2010.

The two Prime Ministers reit-erated the fundamental iden1tyof values, interests and priori1esbetween Japan and India. Theyreaffirmed the poli1cal commit-

ment in both countries cu3ngacross party lines and popular de-sire for upgrading bilateral rela-1ons, and valued theircoopera1on for sustained peaceand prosperity in a changing anddynamic Asia and the world. Inthis context, they expressed theircommon desire to further consol-idate, enhance and expand theStrategic and Global Partnershipbetween them through the sec-ond decade of the 21st Century.

The two Prime Ministers ex-pressed sa1sfac1on at the steadygrowth of poli1cal exchanges, di-

alogue and policy coordina1on atall levels. They posi1vely evalu-ated Ministerial-level annual dia-logues and exchanges betweenForeign Minister, Defense Minis-ter and Minister of Economy,Trade and Industry of Japan andExternal Affairs Minister, DefenseMinister, Commerce and IndustryMinister and Deputy Chairman ofthe Planning Commission of Indiaand noted that all these ex-changes were successfully ac-complished in 2010. They alsosupported the establishment of aMinisterial Level Economic Dia-

A


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logue between India and Japan togive strategic and long-term pol-icy orienta1on to their bilateraleconomic engagement, takinginto account the regional andglobal context and to coordinateeconomic issues of cross-cu3ngnature, including infrastructuredevelopment and financing. Theywelcomed the launch of the ‘2plus 2’ dialogue at Subcabinet /Senior Official level and thelaunch of a dialogue on Africa atthe official level in 2010 as a re-flec1on of wider policy consulta-1on and coordina1on on foreignpolicy and security issues.

The two Prime Ministers wel-comed the successful conclusionof nego1a1ons on a balancedand mutually beneficial India -Japan Comprehensive EconomicPartnership Agreement (CEPA).They directed their relevant au-thori1es to work towards earlyentry into force of CEPA and itssmooth implementa1on. Theyexpressed op1mism that India-Japan CEPA will deepen their eco-nomic engagement, in terms oftrade in goods and services, in-vestment and coopera1on and

contribute to mutual prosperity.They hailed CEPA between thesetwo leading economies of Asia asan important step for �@ re-gional integra1on. They notedwith sa1sfac1on the recentgrowth in Japanese foreign directinvestment (FDI) into India andhoped that CEPA and the Memo-randum on Simplifying Visa Pro-cedures, the la2er signed today,will further facilitate the presenceof Japanese businesspersons inIndia.

The two Prime Ministers un-derlined the vital importance ofeconomic coopera1on, includingJapan’s Official Development As-sistance to India and Special Eco-nomic Partnership Ini1a1ves, instrengthening India-Japan part-nership. Prime Minister Singh ex-pressed his apprecia1on to theGovernment and the people ofJapan for Japan’s generous role inIndia's development. The twoPrime Ministers aimed for earlycomple1on of both phases of theWestern Dedicated Freight Corri-dor in India in a parallel mannerwith Japan’s financial and techni-cal assistance, and noted with

sa1sfac1on theprogress on the PhaseII of the Corridor withthe signing of the Ex-change of Notes forthe Engineering Serv-ices for Phase II in July2010. They expressedtheir desire to acceler-ate progress on theDelhi-Mumbai Indus-trial Corridor (DMIC).Prime Minister Kan ex-pressed his inten1onto enhance Japan’s in-volvement to DMICDC(Delhi-Mumbai Indus-trial Corridor Develop-ment Corpora1on)through the efforts of

related organiza1ons such asJETRO (Japan External Trade Or-ganiza1on) and AOTS (Associa-1on for Overseas TechnicalScholarship).

The two Prime Ministers pos-i1vely appraised the efforts fromboth sides to develop the Corri-dor in an eco-friendly manner as“Smart Communi1es” and wel-comed the progress of coopera-1on in the field of urbandevelopment. They took note ofthe poten1al of the DMIC projectto enhance physical connec1vityacross Asia. They encouragedgreater investment from Japaninto India including in the infra-structure sector over the nextdecade to realize this vision, andasked their respec1ve sides toengage in dialogues on public-pri-vate partnership on DMIC. PrimeMinister Singh appreciatedJapan’s decision on the extensionof the period of technical cooper-a1on programme, VisionaryLeaders for Manufacturing(VLFM) Programme. The twoPrime Ministers hoped that thisprogramme will contribute to the

Vol. - 18 47Vol. - 20 WWW.UPSCPORTAL.COM

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development of manufacturingsector in India.

The two Prime Ministers wel-comed India-Japan coopera1onin development of new and re-newable energy, and clean coaltechnology and enhancing en-ergy efficiency in India’s powersector and encouraged the India-Japan Ministerial Level Energy Di-alogue to facilitate pragma1c andmutually beneficial coopera1onin other related areas to furtherstrengthen energy security. In thiscontext, they also welcomed theestablishment of a Nuclear En-ergy Working Group under theEnergy Dialogue in April 2010 toexchange views and informa1onon their respec1ve nuclear en-ergy policies from the energy,economic and industrial perspec-1ves. They further welcomed theexchange of informa1on be-tween the nuclear energy indus-tries of the two countriesincluding through business mis-sions. The two Prime Ministersrecognized the importance ofpromo1ng coopera1on betweenthe two countries’ industries inexpanding bilateral energy coop-era1on on a commercial basis, in-cluding through the New Energyand Industrial Technology Devel-opment Organiza1on (NEDO).Recognizing the importance ofrare earths and rare metals for fu-ture industries, the two PrimeMinisters decided to explore thepossibility of bilateral coopera-1on in development, re-cyclingand re-use of rare earths and raremetals and in research and devel-opment of their industrial subs1-tutes.

The two Prime Ministers wel-comed the commencement ofnego1a1ons between India andJapan on an Agreement for Coop-era1on in the Peaceful Uses of

Nuclear Energy in June 2010.They affirmed that coopera1on inthis sector will open up new op-portuni1es for further developingthe India-Japan Strategic andGlobal Partnership. They encour-aged their nego1ators to arrive ata mutually sa1sfactory agree-ment for civil nuclear coopera1onat an early date.

The two Prime Ministers wel-comed the progress made in2010 on facilita1on of trade inhigh technology between the twocountries. They asked the rele-vant authori1es to maintain dia-logue on high technology tradeincluding respec1ve export con-trol systems and realize its full po-ten1al keeping in mind thestrategic partnership betweenthe two countries.

The two Prime Ministers de-cided to steadily expand securityand defense coopera1on be-tween India and Japan. Theyaimed to cooperate to enhancetheir capacity in responding to se-curity challenges such as mar-i1me security which entails safetyand freedom of naviga1on andcounter-piracy, humanitarian as-

sistance and disaster relief andresponse, inter alia, through bi-lateral and mul1lateral exercises,informa1on sharing, training anddialogue. In this context, theywelcomed the launch of India-Japan Shipping Policy Forum andmutual exchange of schedules ofescort opera1ons by the IndianNavy and Japan Self-DefenseForces in the Gulf of Aden. Theyinstructed relevant authori1es torealize the full poten1al of the Ac-1on Plan to advance Security Co-opera1on signed in 2009, basedon the Joint Declara1on on Secu-rity Coopera1on between Indiaand Japan.

The two Prime Ministers con-demned terrorism in all its formsand manifesta1ons, commi2edby whomever, wherever and forwhatever purpose. Prime Minis-ter Kan condemned terrorist at-tacks in and against India, such asthe bomb blast in Pune on 13February 2010 and in Kabul on 26February 2010, in which Indiansas well as other na1onals weretargeted. They decided to en-hance greater coopera1on incomba1ng terrorism through in-


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forma1on-sharing and counter-terrorism training as well as u1-lizing the India-Japan JointWorking Group on Counter-Ter-rorism. They recognized the ur-gent need to finalize and adoptthe Comprehensive Conven1onon Interna1onal Terrorism in theUnited Na1ons and called uponall States to cooperate in resolv-ing the outstanding issues expe-di1ously. Japan welcomed India’smembership of the Financial Ac-1on Task Force (FATF) and Indiaappreciated Japan’s support to-wards this.

The two Prime Ministers wel-comed the progress made in Sci-ence and Technology co-opera1on, including the India-Japan Coopera1ve Science Pro-gramme. In order to realize fullpoten1al of coopera1on in thisfield, they encouraged their re-spec1ve authori1es to promotethe coopera1ve research in thestrategic and high technologyareas such as Green Innova1onand Life Innova1on. The twoPrime Ministers welcomed theestablishment and the holding of“Commi2ee on India-Japan ICT(Informa1on and Communica1onTechnology) strategy for eco-nomic growth” and “India-Japan

ICT regulatory policy talk”. Theyshared the view that they will fur-ther enhance business 1e-ups,R&D collabora1ve ac1vi1es andpolicy coopera1on in the field ofinforma1on and communica1ontechnology through close bilat-eral coopera1on.

The two Prime Ministers rec-ognized the importance ofstrengthening cultural, academicand people-to-people exchangesbetween India and Japan to re-flect their strategic partnershipand popular goodwill. Theyhoped that the signing of theMemorandum on SimplifyingVisa Procedures will further facil-itate the movement of people be-tween India and Japan. PrimeMinister Kan appreciated India’sprovision of the Visa on Arrival fa-cility for Japanese tourists in Indiaon experimental basis for 2010.They reiterated their commit-ment to collabora1ng in the de-velopment of the Indian Ins1tuteof Technology, Hyderabad (IITH)through various contribu1onsfrom Japan including through Of-ficial Development Assistanceand encouraged�@the relevantauthori1es to work towards earlycrea1on of physical infrastructurefor IITH. They welcomed the on-

going exchanges between IITHand Japanese academia and in-dustry, including the visits of thestudents and young professors ofIITH to Japan within the frame-work of Japan-East Asia Networkof Exchange for Students andYouths (JENESYS) programme andthe kick-off of Informa1on Net-work for Natural Disaster Mi1ga-1on and Recovery under Scienceand Technology Research Part-nership for Sustainable Develop-ment (SATREPS). They alsowelcomed the fact that the col-labora1on for the developmentof the Indian Ins1tute of Informa-1on Technology, Design and Man-ufacturing Jabalpur is enhancedwith the coopera1on of Japaneseuniversi1es and companies.

The two Prime Ministers de-cided to celebrate the 60th an-niversary of the establishment ofdiploma1c rela1ons betweenIndia and Japan in 2012 in a befit-1ng manner. They directed theirofficials to bring out a calendar ofexchanges and events, aimed atbringing the two na1ons closer,to mark this important anniver-sary.

The two Prime Ministers reaf-firmed their support for the EastAsia Summit (EAS) as an open, in-clusive, transparent and outward-looking forum, striving tostrengthen global norms and uni-versally recognized values andpromo1ng peace, stability andprosperity across East Asia, ofwhich India and Japan are keymembers. In this context, theywelcomed the recent decision ofthe ASEAN Foreign Ministers toinvite the United States and theRussian Federa1on to join asmembers of the EAS. They alsosupported exis1ng achievementssuch as Comprehensive EconomicPartnership in East Asia (CEPEA)


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and its three-pillar approach forregional coopera1on. They wel-comed Japan’s Concept Paper“Ini1al Steps towards RegionalEconomic Integra1on in East Asia:A Gradual Approach”. They alsowelcomed ERIA’s “Comprehen-sive Asian Development Plan”,and recognized the importance ofhard infrastructure and industrialpolicy in the Mekong-India Corri-dor Study, whose implementa-1on could be further discussedbetween relevant authori1es anden11es. They discussed ways forenhancing greater economic inte-gra1on and connec1vity betweenIndia and the East Asian region.They encouraged their officials toexamine studies undertaken byERIA and other think-tanks in theEast Asia region rela1ng to trans-port and industrial developmentcorridors in the peninsular regionof India. Prime Minister Singhnoted with apprecia1on Japan’sini1a1ve for an East Asian Com-munity, in which India is expectedto play an important role. PrimeMinister Kan welcomed India’sini1a1ve to revive Nalanda Uni-versity and expressed Japan’scon1nued support to this ini1a-1ve which will strengthen the cul-tural and civiliza1onal bondsbetween the countries in Asia.

The two Prime Ministers ex-pressed their commitment to as-sis1ng Afghanistan to become astable, democra1c and pluralis1cna1on free of terrorism and ex-tremism. They emphasized theimportance of a coherent andunited interna1onal commitmentto Afghan-led ini1a1ves. PrimeMinister Kan expressed that sucha commitment encompasses se-curity assistance, including assis-tance towards Afghan Na1onalPolice, reintegra1on of insur-gents, and development. Prime

Minister Singh emphasized theimportance of strengthening andadequate training of the AfghanNa1onal Security Forces so thatthey can defend the sovereigntyand independence ofAfghanistan. They concurred thatthe process of reintegra1onshould not deviate from the prin-ciples expressed in the KabulConference. The two Prime Min-isters pledged to explore oppor-tuni1es for consulta1on andcoordina1on on their respec1vecivilian assistance projects, in-cluding those projects imple-mented in the neighboringcountries, that advance Afghanleadership and ownership andbuild civilian capacity.

The two Prime Ministers reaf-firmed their shared commitmentto the total elimina1on of nuclearweapons. Prime Minister Kanstressed the importance of bring-ing into force the ComprehensiveNuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) atan early date. Prime MinisterSingh reiterated India’s commit-ment to a unilateral and volun-tary moratorium on nuclearexplosive tes1ng. They supportedthe strengthening of interna-

1onal coopera1on with a view toaddressing the challenges of nu-clear terrorism and clandes1neprolifera1on and expressed sa1s-fac1on with the outcome of theNuclear Security Summit of April2010, including the establish-ment by Japan of the IntegratedComprehensive Support Centerfor Nuclear Non-Prolifera1on andNuclear Security to be estab-lished in Japan and the GlobalCentre for Nuclear Energy Part-nership to be established byIndia. The two Prime Ministersreaffirmed their commitment toworking together for immediatecommencement and an earlyconclusion of nego1a1ons on anon-discriminatory, mul1lateraland interna1onally and effec-1vely verifiable Fissile MaterialCut-off Treaty (FMCT) in the Con-ference on Disarmament. Theyfurther reiterated that nucleardisarmament and nuclear non-prolifera1on are mutually rein-forcing processes. They alsounderscored the importance ofpeaceful uses of nuclear energyand of further strengthening thenuclear non-prolifera1on efforts.They decided that both countries


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will enhance coopera1on in nu-clear disarmament and non-pro-lifera1on through closedialogues, including at regularlyheld bilateral nuclear disarma-ment and non-prolifera1onmee1ngs as well as at the Confer-ence on Disarmament.

The two Prime Ministers reit-erated the importance of a posi-1ve result for the current climatechange nego1a1ons at the forth-coming conference of the UnitedNa1ons Framework Conven1onon Climate Change (UNFCCC) inMexico, and reaffirmed their de-termina1on to work together to-wards this conference. Theystressed thatthe outcomeshould bereached in aninclusive andtransparentmanner andshould effec-1vely addressthe challengeof climatechange in ac-c o r d a n c ewith the prin-ciples and provisions of the UN-FCCC. They decided that theCopenhagen Accord should con-tribute posi1vely to such an out-come. The two Prime Ministersalso reaffirmed the importance ofstrengthening bilateral discus-sions on climate change on vari-ous occasions, including apossible establishment of aframework of comprehensive bi-lateral coopera1on.

Prime Minister Singh congrat-ulated Japan for hos1ng the 10thmee1ng of the Conference ofPar1es (COP) on Biodiversity inNagoya on 18th-29th October2010 and wished it a successfuloutcome, including the adop1on

of the Protocol on Access andBenefit Sharing. As prospec1vehost of the next mee1ng of COPon Biodiversity in 2012, Indialooks forward to a close workingrela1onship with Japan during itsPresidency and beyond Nagoya.

The two Prime Ministers reaf-firmed their resolve to realize acomprehensive reform of theUnited Na1ons (UN) SecurityCouncil, especially its expansionin both permanent and non-per-manent categories which hascommanded the maximum sup-port from UN member states inthe text-based intergovernmentalnego1a1ons in the UN General

Assembly They shared their viewthat both countries would par1c-ipate ac1vely in these nego1a-1ons and decided to acceleratetheir efforts, bilaterally as well asin close coopera1on with the G4and other like-minded countries,to achieve a meaningful resultduring the current session of theGeneral Assembly , so as to makethe Security Council more repre-senta1ve, legi1mate, effec1ve,and responsive to the reali1es ofthe interna1onal community inthe 21st century.

The two Prime Ministers rec-ognized that a posi1ve outcomeof the WTO Doha DevelopmentAgenda (DDA) of trade talks will

be instrumental in economic re-covery. They reaffirmed that aprompt, ambi1ous and balanced,as well as successful conclusionof the DDA would bolster thecredibility of the mul1lateral trad-ing system. They appreciated themomentum to rejuvenate theDDA nego1a1ons and resolved towork together towards bridgingthe remaining nego1a1ng gaps.The two Prime Ministers reaf-firmed the role of the G-20 as thepremier forum for interna1onaleconomic coopera1on and reiter-ated their commitment to worktogether and with other partnersto pursue urgent and effec1veimplementa1on of G-20 Summitdecisions. They reaffirmed theimportance of their coopera1onfor the Framework for Strong,Sustainable and BalancedGrowth. They expressed theircommitment to reform financialsector so as to prevent recur-rence of financial crisis. They ex-pressed support for the reform ofthe interna1onal financial ins1tu-1ons (IFIs) including IMF withinthe interna1onally recognized1me frame to enhance their legit-imacy, credibility and effec1ve-ness. The two Prime Ministersreaffirmed their commitment toeschewing protec1onism in all itsforms covering trade in goodsand services as well as invest-ment and financial flows.

Prime Minister Singh ex-pressed his apprecia1on for thewarm welcome and hospitality ofPrime Minister Kan. Prime Minis-ter Singh extended an invita1onto Prime Minister Kan for thenext Annual Bilateral Summit inIndia in 2011 at a mutually con-venient date to be decidedthrough diploma1c channels.Prime Minister Kan accepted theinvita1on with pleasure. ˜


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Current Affairs

CURRENTAFFAIRS

Na/onal GreenTribunal No/fied

The Na7onal Green Tribunal(NGT) was officially no7fied onOctober 19, 2010 with its Chair-person, Jus7ce Lokeshwar SinghPanta taking charge of his office.The tribunal is exclusively dedi-cated to environmental issues.

Established by an Act of Par-liament (the Na7onal Green Tri-bunal Act of 2010), it will havecircuit benches across the coun-try to try all ma8ers related toand arising out of environmentalissues. The tribunal, which shall

also consist of other members,who are experts in the field of en-vironmental and related sciences,has been empowered to issue di-rec7ons for the compensa7onand res7tu7on of damage causedfrom ac7ons of environmentalnegligence.

This is the first body of itskind that is required by its parentstatute to apply the “polluterpays” principle and the principleof sustainable development.

The erstwhile Na7onal Envi-ronment Appellate Authority hadceased to exist with the launch ofthe NGT.

Tobacco India Re-port

Global Adult Tobacco Sur-vey (GATS) for India, 2009-10, conducted on 99.9 percent of India’s popula7onin 29 States, UTs ofChandigarh andPuducherry has submi8ed

its report. According to it, India’sobsession with tobacco con7nuesdespite laws to tell the users of itslethal consequences. Though 64per cent of all adults believe to-bacco leads to heart a8acks, 35per cent (one-third) con7nue toconsume tobacco in some formor the other.

Highlights of the report

L 52 percent adults exposed tosecond hand smoke at home,highest in J&K (68%), lowestin Chandigarh (15%); 29 per-cent exposed in public places.

L Cigare8e smokers’ monthlyexpense is Rs 400, as againstRs 94 for bidi smokers.

NNaattiioonnaall AAffffaaiirrss


L Monthly cigare8e expendi-ture is highest in Arunachal(Rs 1,265), lowest in Jhark-hand (Rs 181.70).

L Mizoram has highest tobaccouse (67%), while Goa (9%),Punjab (12%), and Chandi-garh (14%) have lowest.

L Mizo women are most ad-dicted (62% use tobacco) asagainst least addicted in Pun-jab (under 1%), Chandigarh,Himachal and Goa (under5%).

L Most tobacco use is in East(45%), Northeast (44%), andlowest use is in North (19%).

India signs Conven/onon Supplementary

Compensa/on at IAEA

On October 27, 2010, Indiasigned the Conven7on on Supple-mentary Compensa7on (CSC) atthe IAEA in Vienna that will en-able the country to undertake nu-clear commerce.

The conven7on sets parame-ters on a nuclear operator’s fi-

nancial liability in the event of anuclear accident.

The conven7on was adoptedin September 1997 and openedfor signature at Vienna a few dayslater at the 41st General Confer-ence of the IAEA. The conven7onprovides for compensa7on incase of transna7onal implica7ons

of a nuclear accident and hasbeen signed by 14 countries.However, only four countries—USA, Argen7na, Morocco and Ro-mania—have ra7fied it so far.

Upon entry into force, theconven7on would establish a uni-form global regime for compen-sa7on to vic7ms in the event of anuclear accident. The CSC pro-vides for the establishment of aninterna7onal fund to increase theamount available to compensatevic7ms and allows for compen-sa7ng civil damage occurringwithin a State’s exclusive eco-nomic zone, including the loss oftourism and fisheries-related in-come.

It also sets parameters on anuclear operator’s financial liabil-ity, 7me limits governing possiblelegal ac7on, requires that nuclearoperators maintain insurance orother financial security measuresand provides for a single compe-tent court to hear claims.

All States are free to par7ci-pate in the conven7on regardlessof their involvement in exis7ngnuclear liability conven7ons orthe presence of nuclear installa-7ons on their territories. Notably,India is the only country to havesuch a provision, which wasadded a'er wide poli7cal pres-sure.

CWG Corrup/on Probe

Prime Minister Manmohan Singhhas appointed a high-level com-mi8ee headed by a formerComptroller and Auditor General,V.K. Shunglu, to go into allega-7ons of corrup7on related to theCommonwealth Games held inNew Delhi in October 2010.

The developments came asopposi7on par7es, which had

held their fire during the 12-dayevent, stepped up their demandfor thorough probe into corrup-7on charges so that those guiltycan be brought to book.

Indian Language Tech-nology Prolifera/on De-

ployment CentreLaunched

Former Union Minister for Com-munica7ons and IT A Raja andMinister of State for Communica-7ons and IT Sachin Pilot on Nov12 launched the Indian LanguageTechnology Prolifera7on and De-ployment Centre (ILTP-DC).

Speaking at the launch of theILTP-DC, at the Na7onal e-gover-nance Advisory Group Mee7ng,Mr Raja said the ILTP-DC wouldopen the doors to a new phase inlanguage technology develop-ment where the general publicwill not only be the primary ben-eficiaries, but they would play animportant role in driving thefocus of the research ini7a7ves.

Such public par7cipa7on willencourage and enhance the via-bility of language technologiesand their absorp7on among themasses, the Minister added.

The ILTP-DC portal was alsolaunched during the event. TheILTP-DC will also offer a forum for


Current Affairs


researchers and members of thegeneral public to converge on acommon pla6orm to fill the gapsthat researchers need to address.

Mr Raja said this ini7a7vewould be accepted by the mem-bers of the public and only theirac7ve par7cipa7on will ensure itssuccess.

Developed under the Tech-nology Development for IndianLanguages (TDIL) Programme ofthe Department of Informa7onTechnology (DIT) in the Ministryof Communica7ons and Informa-7on Technology (MC and IT), inassocia7on with premier partner-ing ins7tutes such as IITs, IITs,Centre for Development of Ad-vanced Compu7ng (C-DAC) etc,the primary objec7ve of the ILTP-DC is to promote the usage of In-dian languages across mul7plever7cals, and boost R and D inlanguage technology by providingpoten7al researchers with thenecessary tools and resources.

Under this mandate, the ILTP-DC will offer a host of services tousers through its portal such asEnglish to Indian Languages Ma-chine Transla7on (8 LanguagePairs), Indian Language to IndianLanguage Machine Transla7on(18 Language Pairs), as well as lin-guis7c resources and tools for re-search purpose.

The ILTP-DC will act as a

repos i tor yfor all theexcellent re-search workcarried outby premierresearch in-s7tu7ons inIndia. Thiswill go a longway towardse n s u r i n gthat lan-

guage technology tools as well asadvanced natural language pro-cessing technologies will be easilyavailable to members of the gen-eral public and the research com-munity.

Rs 6000-cr nuclear research centre soon

Saha Ins7tute of Nuclear Physics(SINP) will soon join the premierclub of five top na7ons by se9ngup a high-energy third genera7onsynchrotron source, which will fa-cilitate cu9ng edge state-of-artcross-disciplinary scien7fic re-search. The project will cost Rs6,000 crores.

“Synchrotron is the processof moving a par7cle through anelectromagne7c field in suchspeed that it provides us photonsor lights. The photons produced

through this system have a widerange spetrum-- from radiowaves to infrared light, visiblelight, ultraviolet light, X-rays andgamma rays. The synchrotronlight is used for measurements inbasic research and technologicaldevelopment all over the world,”explained M. K. Sanyal, directorof SINP.

The facility will boost indige-nous research in various areaslike drug development, automo-bile, nano technology, environ-ment pollu7on, arsenicmi7ga7on and preserva7on ofartefacts and heritage architec-ture. “The presence of a thirdgenera7on state-of-art high-en-ergy synchrotron facility in Indiawill provide beams of light withoutstanding brilliance and stabil-ity for inves7ga7on of materialsranging from medical applica-7ons to nano technology. ForIndia, which is perceived as thefuture economic leader, develop-ing this key technology is ex-tremely important,” said HelmutDosch, director general,Deutsches Elektronen-Synchro-tron (DESY), Hamburg, Germany,which will be helping India in set-7ng up the facility.

While several countries allover the world have synchrotronsources, only Japan, USA, Ger-many and European Union

( S w i t z e r -land) havethe high-en-ergy thirdgenera7onsynchrotrons o u r c e .“India will bethe fi'h na-7on to havethis facility.On Novem-ber 11 we


Current Affairs


had a mee7ng with the directorsof third genera7on synchrotronsource of the four countries. Theyhave agreed to help us setup thefacility which would be executedover the 12th and 13th plan pe-riod,” said Sanyal.

Bhabha Atomic ResearchCentre, Tata Ins7tute of Funda-mental Research, Indira GandhiCentre for Atomic Research, Vari-able Energy Cyclotron Centre andRaja Ramanna Centre for Ad-vanced technology will help SINPin se9ng up the facility.

A Raja submits resigna/on to PM

over 2G scam

Telecom Minister A Raja, at thecentre of the 2G spectrum alloca-7on scam that has stalled pro-ceedings in Parliament for thelast two days and triggered con-siderable popular outrage, has fi-

nally resigned on Nov 15, 2010. The Opposi7on has made it

clear that it wants the govern-ment to ins7tute a joint parlia-mentary commi8ee (JPC) probeto look into not only the 2G spec-trum alloca7on scam, but alsothe CWG and Adarsh Housing So-ciety scandals.

Mr Raja and the DMK leader-ship saw the wri7ng on the walla'er a determined Congressleadership made it clear to itsTamil Nadu ally that the telecom

minister will have to step down.

BlackBerry to allow In-dian government tomonitor messages

BlackBerry maker Research InMo7on (RIM) is ready to allow In-dian authori7es access to theemails and messages of its most

high-profile corporate customers.The secure communica7ons

of India's 400,000 BlackBerryowners could soon be lawfully ac-cessed by government officials,the unnamed interior ministersaid, adding that RIM is preparingfor "providing live access" to cus-tomers' encrypted servers.

However, the threat of ablackout for the 400,000 Black-Berry owners in India s7ll loomsa'er months of terse, but largelyfruitless, nego7a7ons betweenRIM and India's telecoms min-istry.

The Delhi government hasopened up a front againstGoogle, Skype and the many mo-bile carriers opera7ng in thecountry, ci7ng security fears overthe level of encryp7on employed

by the companies. Officials sus-pect the culprits of the 2008Mumbai terrorist a8ack, in which116 people died, used encryptedBlackBerry devices.

Last month RIM escaped aban on the BlackBerry communi-ca7ons of its 500,000 customersin the United Arab Emirates,while Saudi Arabia, Indonesia andLebanon have also raised con-cerns about the Canadian com-pany's security policies.

The chief concern of India,which is the world's secondlargest mobile phone market be-hind China, surrounds communi-ca7on passed between corporateBlackBerry devices using Enter-prise servers. Organisa7ons usingBlackBerry Enterprise Servers(BES) host their own server andencryp7on key – which only it canuse to unscramble encryptedemails and messages – therebyoffering a higher level of security.

RIM has publicly remaineddefiant, insis7ng that it would notoffer special deals to specificcountries and that security meas-ures for its Enterprise customerswould not be compromised.

Informa Telecoms & Mediaforecasts that there will be morethan 600,000 BlackBerry sales inIndia this year and that India'ssmartphone market will havereached approximately 12m – afigure forecast to grow to 40m bythe end of 2015.

The increasing popularity ofsmartphones running Google'sAndroid opera7ng system haseroded RIM's grip on the corpo-rate communica7ons market in2010. RIM's most recent smart-phone release, the Bold 9780,has failed to make an impressionon consumers or traders since itslaunch in October.


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Prithviraj Chavan as Maharashtra CM

Former minister of state for sci-ence and technology PrithvirajChavan was on Nov 11, 2010,sworn in as the 22nd chief minis-ter of Maharashtra, while Na7on-alist Congress Party (NCP) leaderAjit Pawar took oath as deputychief minister.

Maharashtra Governor KSankaranarayanan administeredthe oath of office and secrecy tothem at the Raj Bhawan.

Both Chavan and Pawar met

Governor Sankaranarayanan andstaked a claim to form the newgovernment in the state.

Chavan's name was formallyannounced a'er he met Con-gress president Sonia Gandhi.Chavan held several key assign-ments in the Union Cabinet.

He was closely involved in thepassage of the Indo-US nucleardeal, was monitoring importantCentral Bureau of Inves7ga7on(CBI) cases and was currentlyminister of state not only in thePMO, but also in the science andtechnology, personnel, public

grievances and pensions and par-liamentary affairs ministries.

Chavan (64) has won threeLok Sabha elec7ons from Karad inMaharashtra's Satara district. Hebecame a Rajya Sabha MP in2002.

Curable diseases caused1.5 million child deaths

in India

Five curable diseases accountedfor nearly 1.5 million child deathsin India in the year 2005, a studysaid on Nov 13.

T h estudy, pub-lished in an on-line journal,said: "Mostdeaths in Indiaoccur at homeand withoutmedical a8en-7on. Fivea v o i d a b l ecauses ofdeath, that iscurable dis-eases, were re-sponsible fornearly 1.5 mil-lion child

deaths in the country in 2005."The causes of deaths in chil-

dren were pneumonia, diar-rhoea, neo-natal or birth-relatedcomplica7ons such as low

weight, asphyxia or breathingproblems, and infec7ons.

The study was conducted bythe Registrar General of India(RGI) and co-authored by theCentre for Global Health Re-search (CGHR), and health ex-perts from public healthins7tutes worldwide.

Covering over 6.3 millionpeople in the country, the studywas carried on the basis ofhousehold inves7ga7ons, sur-veys, and hospital-based registra-7on system by the RGI.

Substan7al differences inchild mortality rates were alsofound because of gender and re-gion. "In children aged 1-59months, girls in central India hada roughly five 7mes higher mor-tality rate (per 1,000 live births)from pneumonia as compared tothe boys in south India," thestudy revealed.

The authors said in a release:"Our results suggest that almosthalf of India's neonatal deaths arecaused by birth asphyxia andbirth trauma, sepsis, pneumonia,and tetanus - most of which canbe avoided by increases in deliv-ery and postnatal care."

Expanded neonatal and ob-stetric care, case management ofdiarrhoea and pneumonia, andthe addi7on of new vaccines toimmunisa7on programmes couldsubstan7ally reduce child deathsin India, the authors suggested inthe study.

According to a report by theUN, nearly 2.35 million childrendied in India in 2005.

Unique Iden/fica/on Authority of India

The Union Cabinet has cleared anew law providing for strict penalac7on and he'y fines going up toRs 1 crore to guard against mis-


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use of data collected for allot-ment of a Unique Iden7ty Card ora Aadhar number to Indian ci7-zens.

The proposed legisla7on, 7-tled the Na7onal Iden7fica7onAuthority of India Act, seeks togive statutory powers to theUnique Iden7fica7on Authorityof India (UDAI), created as an at-tached office under the PlanningCommission.

The decision to enact a legis-la7on was taken a'er fears wereexpressed over the privacy andsecurity of data collected by theUDAI. In addi7on, several civilrights groups had also pointedout that ac7ons of the UDAIcould well be ques7oned in theabsence of a legal framework.

This scheme of providingunique iden7ty number to theci7zens of the country took off onSeptember 29 when Prime Minis-ter Manmohan Singh presentedthe first such number at a func-7on in the tribal district of Nan-durbar in Maharashtra.

Job scenario in India improves

According to the Ma Foi RandstadEmployment Trends Survey, thereis op7mism in the economic sce-nario across all sectors of Indiaand most of the new jobs havebeen created are in services. Con-ducted among 650 companiesacross 13 industry segments thatincluded eight Indian ci7es, thesurvey revealed 418,000 jobswere created between Januaryand June, 2010, with the health-care sector crea7ng 121,000 jobs,and another 63,000 in the hospi-tality sector. The top five sectorsleading the boom are healthcare,hospitality, real estate and con-

struc7on, informa7on technologyand IT-enabled services, and ed-uca7on, training and consul7ng.

Real estate and construc7onleads with the highest growth innumber of people employed. Italso expects growth in averagesalary by about four per cent, fol-lowed by pharma (3.5 per cent)and healthcare (3.4 per cent) dur-ing the third quarter.

The es7mated propor7on ofexperienced workforce is thehighest in the pharma sector, 87per cent. Healthcare is es7matedto have the highest percentage offreshers,at 38 per cent. Kolkatahas the highest es7mated per-centage of experienced work-force, at 82 per cent, and NewDelhi the highest es7mated per-centage of freshers (35 per cent).

Fund to Boost Innova/on

The Na7onal Innova7on Council(NIC), a body to promote newideas for inclusive development,has announced the se9ng up ofa Rs 1,000 crore fund to encour-age innova7on.

“A major por7on of the fundwill come fromthe private sec-tor and not thegovernment,”the chairman ofthe council, SamPitroda, said.

One of thecouncil mem-bers andrenowned film-maker, ShekharKapur, alsomooted theidea of star7nga television real-ity show that

would provide a pla6orm for theyoung minds to showcase theirinnova7ve ideas for solving theproblems of the economy.

Set up by Prime MinisterManmohan Singh, the council isaimed at energising innova7onini7a7ves so as to make thempart of the na7onal effort aimedat reducing poverty, improvinggovernance and making develop-ment more inclusive.

The aim of NIC is to herald amindset change and create apush at the grassroots level sothat more and more people areinvolved in shaping a na7onal-level innova7on strategy.

The council’s mandate alsoincludes formula7ng a roadmapon innova7on for the 2010 to2020 period, focusing on inclu-sive growth.

Munda sworn in asJharkhand Chief Minister

On September 11, 2010, BJPleader Arjun Munda became theeighth Chief Minister of the 10-year-old Jharkhand State, asleader of a coali7on with, amongothers, the Jharkhand Muk7


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Morcha. Munda, who is having ago at the top job for the third7me, will have two depu7es —Sudesh Mahato of the All Jhark-hand Union and JMM patriarchShibu Soren's son, Hemant Soren.

Although the func7on at theGovernor's house showed thedeep ri' in the BJP over the 7e-up with the JMM—the BJP's part-ner last 7me in a governmentthat lasted only for five months—Munda said he would focus onstrengthening the party's grass-root level.

Visit of President ofMozambique

On September 30, 2010, during amee7ng between President ofMozambique Armando Guebuzaand Prime Minister Manmohan

Singh, India and Mozambiqueinked three pacts and a credit lineof $500 million was extended tothat country for infrastructureprojects, agriculture and energy.

The two countries have alsodecided to create a partnershipbased on greater poli7cal en-gagement, deepening of eco-nomic coopera7on, strength-ening of defence and security co-opera7on, specially to secure sealanes against piracy, and cooper-a7on in capacity building andhuman resource development.

India would also support es-tablishment of training and plan-ning ins7tu7ons in Mozambiqueto support capacity building inthe coal industry, besides sup-por7ng capacity building for thedefence and police forces of thatcountry, the Prime Minister said.

Expressing concern over the

safety and security of sea lanes inthe Indian Ocean, Guebuza as-sured to provide all possible as-sistance to protect them.

Dhaka okays crucialhighway link to Kolkata

In major development,Bangladesh has finally agreed tostart the construc7on of a high-way that will not only providetransit facili7es, ensuring easymovement of goods, but alsodras7cally shorten the circuitousroute—crucial from the militarypoint of view—between north-eastern States and the port city ofKolkata.

The project—to be primarilyfinanced by India—is part of thelarger Asian Highway networkproject connec7ng the Asian na-

7ons. The highway proj-ect between India andBangladesh had beenhanging fire for morethan five years, withDhaka stalling it for onereason or the other—pri-marily due to pressurefrom Pakistan and China.The change came a'erthe Sheikh Hasina Gov-ernment came to powerand in July 2009 Indiannego7ators managed topush Bangladesh to inkthe inter-governmentalagreement. The first route will enterfrom Bengal intoBangladesh at the exist-ing Benapole land porton the border and runacross eastwards via Jes-sore and Dhaka; passingthrough Sylhet, locatedon the north-easternedge of Bangladesh, it


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will enter Assam/Meghalaya.The second axis will start

from North Bengal and enterBangladesh at Panchgarh and runsouthwards via Srirajganj toDhaka and further southeast toCox Bazar and Chi8agong beforeentering into Myanmar. India willbe able to use both routes.

Once ready, the highway willsolve India’s major problem ofmoving goods into north-easternStates of Nagaland, Tripura, Mizo-ram and Manipur. At present, itcan take up to five days for atruck from Kolkata to reach theseareas, adding up to the costs, be-sides the 7me delay.

Crucial military pact withSouth Korea

Signalling a drama7c change in itsstrategic posi7oning, especiallyvis-à-vis China, India, on Septem-ber 3, 2010, entered into a crucialjoint research and manufacturingagreement with South Korea toco-develop and co-produce mili-tary equipment.

Both countries are neigh-bours of China and have a rathertesty and tense rela7onship withit.

On the military front the im-portance of the agreement canbe gauged from the fact thatIndia has such agreements for co-developing and co-producing mil-itary equipment with itstradi7onal “friend” Russia andother ally, Israel. It also has prod-uct-based coopera7on for jointproduc7on of key military equip-ment with the French and Ital-ians. Following the agreement,experts have placed India-SouthKorea military rela7ons at parwith Indian rela7ons with Russiaand Israel.

Memorandums of Under-standing were signed following a90-minute discussion betweenhigh-level delega7ons led by De-fence Ministers, AK Antony andKim Tae-young, respec7vely. Thiswas the first-ever visit of an In-dian Defence Minister to SouthKorea.

Visit of Polish PrimeMinister

Polish Prime Minister DonaldTusk visited India on September

7, 2010. The Indo-Polish defencecoopera7on figured prominentlyduring talks between the visi7ngdignitary and Prime MinisterManmohan Singh.

Since most of the Indian mili-tary hardware was acquired inthe 1970s from the then SovietUnion, Poland, which was a keyally of former USSR, has thespares and the technology for up-grading the equipment with theIndian forces.

Poland is keen to sell tank re-covery vehicles to India. The pro-posal was made during Antony’s

visit to Warsaw in April for amee7ng of the joint workinggroup (JWG) on defence coopera-7on between the two countries.

A tank recovery vehicle is atype of armoured figh7ng vehicleused to repair ba8le or minedamaged as well as broken downvehicles during combat opera-7ons, or to tow them out of thedanger zone for more extensiverepairs.

Apart from making these ve-hicles available to India, Polandhas shown interest in providing toNew Delhi its sophis7cated mili-

tary hardware up-grada7on andmaintenance tech-nology. It is also in-terested in jointventures with In-dian companies.

Poland can alsohelp India upgradeIndian T-72 tanks,BMP II infantrycombat vehiclesand a variety of airdefence systemspurchased fromthe former SovietUnion.

But more thandefence 7es, it is

the prospect of a quantum jumpin economic 7es with Poland thatexcites New Delhi. Poland, a keymember of the European Union(EU), is considered by India as agateway to Europe and CentralAsia.

Babri Masjid-RamJanambhoomi dispute

On September 30, 2010, themuch-awaited judgement of theLucknow Bench of the AllahabadHigh Court unanimously ruled


Current Affairs


that the idols of ‘Ram Lalla’ in themakeshi' temple at the disputedsite in Ayodhya cannot be re-moved.

The three-judge Bench of Jus-7ces S.U. Khan, Sudhir Agarwaland Dharamveer Sharma sepa-rately delivered the historic ver-dict. In a 2-1 majority verdict,Jus7ces Khan and Agarwal de-creed that the 2.7-acre land com-prising the disputed site shouldbe divided into three equal partsand be given to Sunni WaqfBoard, Nirmohi Akhara and theparty represen7ng ‘Ram Lala Vi-rajman’ (Ram deity).

However, the third judge Jus-7ce D.V. Sharma ruled that thatthe disputed site is the birth placeof Lord Ram and that the dis-puted building constructed byMughal emperor Babur was builtagainst the tenets of Islam anddid not have the character of themosque. The Bench directedmaintenance of status quo at thesite for three months and invitedsugges7ons from all the par7esfor demarca7on of the land.

The judges also dismissed theclaims of the Sunni Central WaqfBoard over the Babri Mosque dueto limita7on or becoming 7mebarred as well as the claim of theNirmohi Akhara.

With a 2-1 majority, theBench held that all the three par-7es, namely Muslims, Hindus andNirmohi Akhara were joint 7tle-holders of the property in dis-pute. Both Jus7ces SudhirAggarwal and SU Khan made itclear that the share of the Mus-lim par7es shall not be less thanone third of the total area of thepremises. “...If while allo9ngexact por7ons some minor ad-justment in the share is to bemade then the same will bemade and the adversely affected

party may be compensated by al-lo9ng some por7on of the ad-joining land,” observed Jus7ceKhan.

The area under the erstwhilecentral dome where the idols areplaced in the makeshi' templehas been allo8ed to the Hindus.The inner courtyard has beengiven to both the communi7es“since it was being used by bothsince decades and centuries”,noted Jus7ce Aggarwal.

The ‘Ram Chabootra’, ‘SitaRasoi’ and ‘Bhandar’ area in theouter courtyard will go to the Nir-mohi Akhara. The outer court-yard is once again to be shared bythe Nirmohi Akhara and the Mus-lim par7es.

Highlights

L 2.7 acre disputed site to bedivided in three equal parts.

L Two por7ons to be handedover to Hindus, Muslims willget one.

L All three par7es—Muslims(Sunni Waqf Board), NirmohiAkhara and the par7es repre-sen7ng ‘Ram Lalla Viraj-man’—declared joint 7tle-holders.

L The por7on below the cen-tral dome, where the idol ofLord Rama is presently keptin makeshi' temple, belongsto Hindus.

L All three par7es may u7lisethe area to which they areen7tled to by having separateentry for egress and ingressof the people without dis-turbing each other’s rights.The par7es may approachCentre which shall act in ac-cordance with the direc7onsand also as contained in theSC verdict.

Historical Background

The ‘first 7tle suit’ was filed onJanuary 19, 1885. It was submit-ted by Mahant Raghubirdas inthe court of Faizabad sub-judge,seeking permission for “puja”(worship) rights over a “cha-bootra” (pla6orm) in front of themosque which he claimed wasRam’s birthplace.

In his February 24, 1885,order, the judge said: “It (cha-bootra) was so close to the exist-ing masjid that it would becontrary to public policy to granta decree authorising plain7ff tobuild a temple as desired by him.”

Sub-Judge Hari Kishan said:“It is most unfortunate that amasjid should have been built onland specially held sacred by theHindus, but as the event occurred356 years ago, it is too late nowto remedy the grievance. All thatcan be done is to maintain thestatus quo. In such a case as thepresent one any innova7on couldcause more harm and derange-ment of order than benefit.”

Then Raghubirdas moved tothe Faizabad district judge,Colonel J.E.A. Chambier, who,a'er a spot inspec7on, dismissedthe appeal on March 17, 1886, onthe same grounds.

Raghubirdas then filed an ap-peal before the Oudh JudicialCommissioner, W. Young, whoalso declined his plea in his judg-ment of November 1, 1886.

Young observed: “This spot issituated within the precincts ofthe grounds surrounding amosque erected some 350 yearsago, owing to the bigotry andtyranny of the emperor who pur-posely chose this holy spot, ac-cording to Hindu legend, as thesite of his mosque.” ˜


Current Affairs


EU bows to German callfor debt mechanism

German Chancellor AngelaMerkel has won European Unionbacking for a rewrite of EUtrea7es to create a permanentdebt-crisis mechanism by 2013,to prevent a repeat of theGreece-led shock that jolted theEuro. As the biggest contributorto Euro 860 billion ($1.2 trillion)

in loans and pledges to stem2010-s debt crisis, Germanywants to spare taxpayers thecosts of any future opera7ons torescue financially distressedStates.

Bonds in Greece, saved fromthe brink of default by EU and In-terna7onal Monetary Fund loansin May, led a decline by so- calledperipheral European securi7es asGermany’s triumph spurred con-cern that the EU mechanism willforce bond holders to bear thecosts of future bailouts. The extrayield investors demand to hold

Greek 10-year debt over Germanequivalents rose to 813 basispoints. German bonds advancedas investors sought safer assets,paring their weekly drop.

G-20 raises developingna/ons’ quota in IMF

The Group of 20 Finance leadersstruck a landmark deal on Octo-ber 22, 2010, to boost developing

countries’ power inthe Interna7onalMonetary Fund,even as they failedto set targets for awide-ranging globaleconomic rebalanc-ing. The IMF dealwas hailed by fundMD DominiqueStrauss-Kahn as a‘historical’ momentthat will see Euro-

peans give up two seats on its 24-strong board to powerful

developing countries and transfer6 percent of votes to them.

India is world’s thirdlargest carbon emi0er

India is now world’s third biggestcarbon dioxide emi9ng na7ona'er China and the US. The newemission data from the UnitedNa7ons was a cause of worry forIndia’s climate nego7ators at thenext round of talks in Tianjin inChina, held in October 2010.

China, in 2009, moved to thetop posi7on while contribu7ng23 per cent of the total globalemissions and India, in 2010, sur-passed Russia to take the thirdposi7on with five percent.

The saving grace is that thedifference in total carbon emis-sions between the US (22 percent) and India is s7ll huge. Rus-sia's emissions have been fallingbecause of economic slowdown.

India's per-capita carbonemission is s7ll lowest in the

world (about 4.5 tonnes)but the demand for energyis rising, especially amongthe middle-class.

The pressure on Indiaand China to reduce emis-sions is rising. US chief cli-mate nego7ator Todd Sterntold a mee7ng of majoreconomies forum that alegally binding climatetreaty was not possible un7lIndia and China take “obliga-7on” to reduce emissions.


IInntteerrnnaattiioonnaall EEvveennttss

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ASEAN Summit

The 17th ASEAN Summit washeld in Hanoi, Vietnam, on Octo-ber 28-30, 2010. The mee7ngwas considered a success, with allmembers agreeing to cooperate

with one another in solving theregion’s economic downturn.

The 17th ASEAN Summit fo-cused on the contents of buildingthe community and implement-ing the ASEAN Charter, externalrela7ons and key role of the body,sustainable development andcoping with global challenges.

Myanmar Junta releasesAung San Suu Kyi

Myanmar's junta on Nov 13, re-leased opposi7on leader AungSan Suu Kyi from house arrest, al-most a week a'er staging a gen-eral elec7on widely cri7cised bythe interna7onal community forbeing neither free, fair, nor inclu-sive.

Suu Kyi appeared briefly out-side her house looking happy andrelaxed, promp7ng her elatedsupporters to break out in a joy-ous rendi7on of the na7onal an-

them. "Mother, mother", criedone young woman, tears stream-ing down her face.

The Nobel Peace laureateand pro-democracy icon, who hasspent 15 of the past 20 years indeten7on, promised to talk to hersupporters. A'er briefly address-

ing the crowd she returned to hercompound for a mee7ng with theexecu7ve commi8ee of the Na-7onal League for Democracy(NLD) opposi7on party, which sheleads.

Suu Kyi was serving an 18-months of house arrest imposedby a criminal court in July 2009for breaking the terms of her pre-

vious incarcera7on by allowing anuninvited US na7onal to swim toher lakeside home.

Suu Kyi, 65, is the daughter ofMyanmar independence heroAung San. Myanmar's junta chief,Senior General Than Shwe, is theonly person empowered to orderher release.

There were doubts the coun-try's unpredictable generalswould grant freedom to Suu Kyi,who con7nues to pose a threat totheir grasp on power which hasnow been cemented by the re-sults of a general elec7on held onNov 7 - the first in two decades.

Ini7al results from the pollsshow that the Union Solidarityand Development Party (USDP),the proxy party of the regime, haswon by a landslide, albeitthrough dubious means.

The USDP, packed with ex-military men and governmentministers, is set to dominate thenext three-chamber parliamentwhen it is set up three monthsfrom now, essen7ally perpetuat-ing the regime rule in a countrythat has been under military dic-tatorships since 1962.

"They probably concludedthat Suu Kyi is no longer in a posi-7on to rock the boat," analystMaung Zarni said. "But the juntamay be overes7ma7ng the waythings are going." He said it washighly unlikely that the junta,fresh from its electoral victory,would consider opening a poli7-cal dialogue with Suu Kyi.

Suu Kyi has the support ofwestern democracies, who havealready wri8en off the elec7onresults as being neither free, fairnor inclusive. There have beenwidespread accusa7ons that theUSDP tampered with advancevotes, bribed and in7midatedpeople into vo7ng for their candi-


Current Affairs


dates.Suu Kyi was barred from par-

7cipa7ng in the polls because shewas under house arrest. Herparty, which won the 1990 pollsby a landslide but was blockedfrom power for the past 20 years,decided to boyco8 last week'svote.

China and Myanmar's South-east Asian neighbours have, ingeneral, accepted the polls as atenta7ve step forward.

"The junta may be givingChina and ASEAN (Associa7on ofSouth-East-Asia Na7ons) some-thing to work with by releasingSuu Kyi but the West will not befooled," Zarni opined.

The interna7onal communityhas been calling for her release -along with that of 2,100 other po-li7cal prisoners languishing inMyanmar jails.

US President Barack Obamawelcomed her release and calledfor more of the country's poli7calprisoners to be freed.

Profile of Aung San Suu Kyi

A leader of interna7onal repute,Suu Kyi had entered the poli7calarena at home following the Au-gust 8, 1988, mass uprising acrossMyanmar, demanding establish-ment of a democra7c govern-ment, which was violentlysuppressed, leaving behind thou-sands death.

She has since then beenfigh7ng for the democra7c rightsof her countrymen, spendingmore than 15 of the last 20 yearsin prison or under house arrest.

The junta rulers denied entryvisa to her ailing husbandMichael Aris, who died of pros-trate cancer on March 27, 1999.

Though the government had al-lowed Suu Kyi to visit him in UK,she chose to stay back as shefeared that she won't be allowedre-entry into her country.

The last 7me they met wasduring Christmas in 1995 whenMichael had visited Myanmar.Suu Kyi was awarded the NobelPeace Prize in 1991. The decisionof the Nobel Commi8ee men-7ons:

"The Norwegian Nobel Com-mi8ee has decided to award theNobel Peace Prize for 1991 toAung San Suu Kyi of Myanmar(Burma) for her non-violentstruggle for democracy andhuman rights.

"Suu Kyi's struggle is one ofthe most extraordinary examplesof civil courage in Asia in recentdecades. She has become an im-portant symbol in the struggleagainst oppression. "In awardingthe Nobel Peace Prize for 1991 toAung San Suu Kyi, the NorwegianNobel Commi8ee wishes to hon-our this woman for her unflag-ging efforts and to show itssupport for the many peoplethroughout the world who arestriving to a8ain democracy,human rights and ethnic concilia-7on by peaceful means."

Biography

1945 (June 19): Aung San Suu Kyiborn in Rangoon, third child infamily. "Aung San" for father,"Kyi" for mother, "Suu" for grand-mother, also day of week of birth.1947 (July 19): General Aung Sanassassinated. Suu Kyi is two yearsold. Daw Khin Kyi (Suu Kyi'smother) becomes a prominentpublic figure, heading social plan-ning and social policy bodies.L 1948 (January 4): The Inde-

pendent Union of Burma isestablished.

L 1960: Daw Khin Kyi appointedBurma's ambassador to India.Suu Kyi accompanies motherto New Delhi.

L 1960-64: Suu Kyi at highschool and Lady Sri Ram Col-lege in New Delhi.

L 1964-67: Oxford University,B.A. in philosophy, poli7csand economics at St. Hugh'sCollege (elected HonoraryFellow, 1990).Bri7sh "parents" are LordGore-Booth, former Bri7shambassador to Burma andHigh Commissioner in India,and his wife, at whose homeSuu Kyi meets Michael Aris,student of Tibetan civiliza-7on.

L 1969-71 : She goes to NewYork for graduate study, stay-ing with family friend MaThan E, staff member at theUnited Na7ons, where U.Thant of Burma is Secretary-General. Postponing studies,Suu Kyi joins U.N. secretariatas Assistant Secretary, Advi-sory Commi8ee on Adminis-tra7ve and BudgetaryQues7ons. Evenings andweekends volunteers at hos-pital, helping indigent pa-7ents in programs of readingand companionship.

L 1972 (January 1) : MarriesMichael Aris, joins him in Hi-malayan kingdom of Bhutan,where he tutors royal familyand heads Transla7on De-partment. She becomes Re-search Officer in the RoyalMinistry of Foreign Affairs.

L 1973 : They return to Englandfor birth of first child Alexan-der in London.

L 1977 : Birth of second son,Kim at Oxford.


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While raising her children,Suu Kyi begins wri7ng, re-searches for biography of fa-ther, and assists Michael inHimalayan studies.

L 1985-86 : Visi7ng Scholar,Center of Southeast AsianStudies, Kyoto University, re-searching father's 7me inJapan. Kim with her, Alexan-der with Michael, who hasfellowship at Indian Ins7tuteof Advanced Studies at Simlain northern India.

L 1988 (March 31) : Informedby telephone of mother's se-vere stroke, she takes planenext day to Rangoon to helpcare for Daw Khin Kyi at hos-pital, then moves her to fam-ily home on UniversityAvenue next to Inya Lake inRangoon. Periods under de-ten7on

L 1989 (20 July) : Placed underhouse arrest in Yangoonunder mar7al law that allowsfor deten7on without chargeor trial for three years.

L 1995 (10 July): Released fromhouse arrest.

L 2000 (23 September): Placedunder house arrest.

L 2002 (6 May): Released a'er19 months.

L 2003 (30 May): Arrested fol-lowing the Depayin massacre,she was held in secret deten-7on for more than threemonths before being re-turned to house arrest.

L 2007 (25 May): House arrestextended by one year despitea direct appeal from U.N. Sec-retary-General Kofi Annan toGeneral Than Shwe.

L 2007 (24 October): Reached12 years under house arrest,solidarity protests held at 12ci7es around the world.

L 2008 (27 May) : House arrest

extended for another year,which is illegal under both in-terna7onal law and Burma'sown law.

L 2009 (11 August): House ar-rest extended for 18 moremonths because of "viola-7on" arising from the May2009 trespass incident.

Gillard manages to retain power in Australia

elec/ons

On September 7, 2010, endingweeks of poli7cal uncertainty,

Australia’s first woman PrimeMinister Julia Gillard staked claimto form a new government a'ertwo king-maker independentMPs extended support to herLabour party, giving it a wafer-thin one-seat majority in the first

hung Parliament in nearly 70years.

Labour now controls 76 seatsin Parliament’s 150-memberHouse of Representa7ves, withthe opposi7on Coali7on of Lib-eral party leader Tony Abbo8having 74 seats.

Gillard said her minority gov-ernment would be held to higherstandards of accountability as aresult of the deal struck with theindependents. She added thather government will spend $9.9billion on development projectsas part of the deal with the ruralindependents.

US andBritain differ over Afghan

combat exit in 2014

Nato leadersagreed a plan toend the West’swar inAfghanistan overthe next fouryears, pledging tomake the Afghansresponsible fortheir own secu-rity.

The Prime Minis-ter, DavidCameron, said thetransi7on dealwould “pave theway for Bri7shcombat troops tobe out of Afghan

by 2015.” The alliance’s plan to build up

the Afghan army and police andgive them responsibility for secu-rity will be bolstered by a newNato co-opera7on deal with Rus-sia.


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Under an agreement signedin Lisbon between Nato and theAfghan government, Nato willstart handing over control ofAfghan provinces next year, aim-ing to complete the “transi7on”process by the end of 2015.

Western troops have been inAfghanistan since 2001. A total of345 Bri7sh service personnelhave died there, 100 of them thisyear.

Yet even as alliance leadershailed the plan as the start of a“new phase” in the Afghan cam-paign, there were signs of a po-ten7al difference between Britainand America about what they dothe year a'er transi7on is due tobe completed.

Mr Cameron insisted hewould s7ck to a pledge to takeBri7sh forces off the frontline be-fore the next general elec7on.

By contrast, US officials in-sisted that the Nato transi7onplan did not guarantee an end toAmerican combat opera7ons. USforces could go on figh7ng theTaliban in Afghanistan even a'ertransi7on, they said.

As well as the Afghan7metable, the Nato summit alsoagreed to deepen Nato/Russiaco-opera7on. Moscow was in-vited to par7cipate in a US-ledmissile defence programme in-tended to intercept long-rangea8acks launched from Iran.

The agreement will also haveimplica7ons for the Afghan cam-paign, because Russia will allowgreater use of its territory fortranspor7ng Nato supplies forAfghanistan.

An exis7ng supply route dealwill be expanded, increasing therange of goods that Nato canmove across Russian territory.

Under the Nato deal, Russiawill also help fund more trans-

port helicopters in Afghanistan. However, the White House

warned that US domes7c poli7cscould yet hamper the Nato-Russ-ian deal.

Mr Obama wants to ra7fy anew nuclear-arms treaty withRussia, but Republican senatorsare threatening to delay anyagreement.

Poli/cal Crisis in NepalCon/nues

On September 26, 2010, Nepal's

Cons7tuent Assembly failed forthe eighth 7me, during the pastfour months, to elect a newPrime Minister. The deadlockcon7nues, partly because othermainstream par7es do not trustthe single, largest party, UnifiedCommunist Party of Nepal(Maoist), because it con7nues toput its faith in one-party rule andcon7nues to threaten it would re-sume armed struggle.

The last 20 years have seenNepal move from a Hindu king-dom to a democra7c and secularrepublic. The 239 year old monar-


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chy was cast aside in 2006 andpeople voted for a Cons7tuentAssembly and an interim govern-ment in 2008. Maoists emergedas the largest single party but fellshort of a majority.

In the 601-member House,two seats are vacant and if theSpeaker and the Deputy Speakerare excluded, it has an effec7vestrength of 597 members. Thebreak-up is as follows : UnifiedCPN (Maoists): 237, Nepali Con-gress: 114, UML: 108, four Mad-hes based par7es: 82, smallerpar7es & others: 56.

Unified CPN (Maoist) con7n-ues to say it has no faith in parlia-mentary democracy, believes inone-party rule and insists on ab-sorbing its underground mili7ainto the Nepalese Army. It alsotried to take arbitrary decisionsand sought the removal of thePresident and the Army Chief.Other par7es are not sure itwould change its spots.

The Cons7tuent Assemblyhas failed to finalise the Cons7tu-7on as mandated. The Assemblyextended its own life by one yearto complete the task. But differ-ences persist. In the absence of aconsensus between par7es,there is a caretaker governmentwith few powers.

Having failed to sack the thenArmy Chief over the integra7onof the armed Maoist guerrillas,Prachanda resigned as Prime Mi-noster and Maoists pulled out ofthe government in 2009; thenthey forced the next governmentheaded by Madhav Kumar Nepalof UML to also quit.

China-Japan spat

China suspended high-level ex-changes with Japan on Septem-

ber 19, 2010, and promisedtough counter-measures a'er aJapanese court extended the de-ten7on of a Chinese captainwhose trawler collided with twoJapanese coastguard ships.

The spat between Asia’s twolargest economies has flaredsince Japan arrested the captain,accusing him of deliberately strik-ing a patrol ship and obstruc7ngpublic officers near uninhabitedislets in the East China Sea. Bei-jing viewed the deten7on as il-legal and invalid.

UN conven/on on terrorism moves a step

forward

Rocked by a wave of audaciousterrorist a8acks in the last twoyears, Pakistan has finally realisedthe fu7lity of opposing the pro-posed Comprehensive Conven-7on on Interna7onal Terrorism(CCIT) just because India was inthe forefront of ini7a7ng it at theUnited Na7ons in 1996.

Pakistan, along with someother Organisa7on of the IslamicConference (OIC) countries, hadled the campaign against the pro-posed conven7on on various

grounds. It had argued that self-determina7on should be outsidethe purview of the conven7on. Ithad also insisted that interna-7onal humanitarian laws shouldbe taken into account while final-ising the text of the conven7on.Both these objec7ons were seenas aimed at embarrassing Indiaon Jammu and Kashmir since Is-lamabad has been demandingthe right to self-determina7on forKashmiris and seeking interna-7onal interven7on on the issue.

The opposi7on to the con-ven7on had also come from theUS and Israel with the la8er in-sis7ng that ac7ng against terror-ists indulging in killing innocentpeople be brought under itspurview.

The global treaty seeks tocriminalise all forms of interna-7onal terrorism and deny terror-ists, their financers andsupporters access of funds, armsand safe havens.

he situa7on has considerablychanged with just a handful ofcountries s7ll not convinced whythey should back it. “Most coun-tries are now in favour of theearly adop7on of the conven7onbut there is a small number ofholdouts, may be 10 to 15…ef-

forts are on toconvince themalso to sup-port it so thata strong mes-sage goes outto all terroristorganisa7onsthat the inter-na7onal com-munity isunited and de-termined tojointly fightthe menace ofterrorism. ˜


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Scien/sts unveil secretsof exploding plasma

clouds on Sun

Scien7sts have shed light on theexplosion of plasma clouds onthe Sun. The Sun sporadically ex-pels trillions of tons of million-de-gree hydrogen gas in explosionscalled coronal mass ejec7ons(CMEs).

Such clouds are enormous insize and are made up of magnet-ized plasma gases, so hot that hy-drogen atoms are ionized.

CMEs are rapidly acceleratedby magne7c forces to speeds ofhundreds of kilometres per sec-ond to upwards of 2,000 kilome-

tres per second in several tens ofminutes.

CMEs are closely related tosolar flares and, when they im-pinge on the Earth, can triggerspectacular auroral displays.

They also induce strong elec-tric currents in the Earth's plasmaatmosphere (i.e., the magnetos-phere and ionosphere), leadingto outages in telecommunica-7ons and GPS systems and eventhe collapse of electric powergrids if the disturbances are verysevere. In 2006, an interna7onaltwin-satellite mission calledSTEREO was launched to con7n-uously observe the erup7ngplasma structures from the Sunto the Earth.

Now, using the data fromSTEREO, new research by scien-7sts at the Naval Research Labo-ratory (NRL), has demonstratedfor the first 7me that the ob-served mo7on of erup7ngplasma clouds driven by mag-ne7c forces can be correctly ex-plained by a theore7cal model.

The theory is based on theconcept that an erup7ng plasmacloud is a giant "magne7c fluxrope," a rope of "twisted" mag-ne7c field lines shaped like a par-7al donut.

The findings will be pre-sented at the 52nd Annual Meet-ing of the APS Plasma PhysicsDivision.

Large Hadron Colliderrecreates 'mini Big Bang'

Researchers at the Large HadronCollider (LHC) have succeeded inrecrea7ng the Big Bang on aminiature scale.

The Telegraph reports thatthe collisions were produced byfiring lead ions - atoms with theirelectrons removed - at incrediblespeeds in opposite direc7onsaround the LHC's undergroundtunnel at CERN, the European Or-ganiza7on for Nuclear Research,near Geneva.

The heavyweight par7cle col-lisions follow seven months ofearlier experiments crashing pro-


SScciieennccee TTeecchhnnoollooggyy&& EEnnvviirroonnmmeenntt

Current Affairs


tons - which are 200 7mes lighterthan lead ions - at near-lightspeeds.

The reac7on created temper-atures a million 7mes ho8er thanthe centre of the Sun, which havenot been reached since the firstbillionths of a second followingthe Big Bang. This was expectedto cause atomic par7cles such asprotons and neutrons to melt,producing a 'soup' of ma8er in astate previously unseen on Earth.

Scien7sts, including Bri7shpar7cle physicists, will now studythe par7cles in the hope of dis-covering what holds atoms to-gether and gives them theirmass.

The latest experiment atCERN went ahead despite warn-ings by a group called Heavy IonAlert that it could trigger a cata-strophic chain reac7on that mightdestroy the Earth.

Earth-like planets 'maynot be life-friendly'

A new study has revealed thatplanets like the Earth that wethought could support life, mightnot be life-friendly, and lack aprotec7ve magne7c field.

According to New Scien7st,Super-Earths lack what makes lifein Earth possible, a protec7vemagne7c field.

Planets are thought to owe

their magne7c fields to an ironcore that is at least partly molten.But a simula7on of super-Earthsbetween a few 7mes and 107mes Earth's mass suggests thathigh pressures will keep the coresolid, according to GuillaumeMorard of the Ins7tute of Miner-alogy and Physics of CondensedMa8er in Paris, France, and histeam.

Without a magne7c field, theplanets would be bathed in harm-ful radia7on, and their atmos-pheres would be eroded away bypar7cles streaming from theirstars. So life would have troublege9ng started on super-Earths,even if they lie in the habitablezone around their stars.

However, Vlada Stamankovicof the German Aerospace Centerin Berlin said it was too early torule out molten iron cores - andmagne7c fields - for super-Earths.

"Their interiors might get hotenough to melt iron. Actual tem-peratures could be much largerthan assumed - we simply do notknow," he said.

Nanotechnology couldhelp smuggle drugs into

the gut

Nanotechnology can be used todeliver drugs to intes7nal target,according to a new study.

There are several drugs thatwould have more beneficial ther-apeu7c effects if they could betargeted at absorp7on by thelower intes7ne.

However, in order to targetthe colon for trea7ng colon can-cer for instance, medica7on de-livered by mouth must surmountseveral barriers including stom-ach acidity, binding to mucus lay-ers, rapid clearance from the gut,

and premature uptake by cellshigher up the gastrointes7naltract.

Being able to deliver a drugby mouth has several benefitsover injec7on or suppository:ease of dosing, for instance, andbe8er pa7ent compliance. Vari-ous methods have been tried, in-cluding coa7ng drug moleculeswith a polymer shell.

However, Kevin P. O'Donnell

and Robert O. Williams III of theUniversity of Texas, reviewed thevarious techniques on offer andsuggested that encapsula7ng adrug molecule within nanopar7-cles offers the best op7on forcontrolling drug delivery and tar-ge7ng the colon.

The Texas team reviewed thestate of the art in nanotechnol-ogy for delivery of therapeu7cagents to the colon.

They explained that advancesin par7cle engineering tech-niques have recently made it pos-sible to make drug products onthe nanoscale. Techniques suchas spray drying, an7solvent meth-ods, dialysis methods, emulsionmethods and cryogenic methodsare all now available for drug for-mula7on.

Conver7ng a drug powderinto nanopar7cles can o'en ren-


Current Affairs


der a compound that is poorlysoluble in water soluble or in-crease bioavailability simplythrough an increase in the sur-face area to volume ra7o.

Smaller par7cles mean a big-ger surface area to interact withabsorbing surfaces in the gas-trointes7nal tract. Indeed, fa8ybut solid nanopar7cles of thecompound querce7n (a healthsupplement) are absorbed al-most 6 7mes more effec7vely bythe gut in nanopar7cle form thanthe common drug suspensionformula7on.

The researchers explainedthat nanopar7cle drug deliverycould be par7cularly beneficialfor pa7ents suffering from in-flammatory bowel diseases in-cluding Crohn's Disease,ulcera7ve coli7s and irritablebowel syndrome, all which o'enrequire long-term treatment.

However, they also addedthat because there are no diges-7ve enzymes in the colon and itsneutral pH it is a prime target forthe delivery of therapeu7c pro-teins, pep7des, viral vectors, andnucleo7des for a wide range ofdisease not simply those associ-ated with the colon.

The findings are published inthe Interna7onal Journal of Nan-otechnology.

Scien/sts develop ‘e-skin’

Biotech wizards have engineeredelectronic skin that can sensetouch, in a major step towardsnext-genera7on robo7cs andprosthe7c limbs. The lab-testedmaterial responds to almost thesame pressures as human skinand with the same speed. Impor-tant hurdles remain but the ex-

ploit is an advance towards re-placing today’s clumsy robots andar7ficial arms with smarter,touch-sensi7ve upgrades.

The “e-skin” comprises a ma-trix of nano-wires made of ger-manium and silicon rolled onto as7cky polyimide film. The re-searchers then laid nano-scaletransistors on top, followed by aflexible, pressure-sensi7ve rub-ber. The prototype, measuring 49square cen7metres, can detectpressure ranging from 0 to 15kilopascals, comparable to theforce used for such daily ac7vi7esas typing on a keyboard or hold-ing an object.

The achievements are “im-portant milestones” in ar7ficialintelligence. In the search to sub-

s7tute the human senses withelectronics, good subs7tutes nowexist for sight and sound, but lagfor smell and taste. Touch,though, is widely acknowledgedto be the biggest obstacle. Evenrou7ne daily ac7ons, such asbrushing one’s teeth, turning thepages of a newspaper or dressinga small child would easily defeattoday’s robots.

Ar/ficial kidney to be areality soon

An ar7ficial kidney implant thatwould work as well as a natural

organ is in the offing. The firstprototype of the device unveiledby the US researchers could do

away with the need for dialysis ordonor organs.

The device comprises thou-sands of microscopic filters to re-move toxins from the blood anda bio-reactor to mimic the meta-bolic and water-balancing roles ofa real kidney.

The implant is being devel-oped jointly by engineers, biolo-gists and physicians led by ShuvoRoy at the University of Califor-nia, San Francisco.

The treatment has alreadybeen proven to work for the sick-est pa7ents, using a room-sizedexternal model.

The process relies on thebody's blood pressure to performfiltra7on, without needing pumpsor an external electrical powersupply.

Tissue engineering will beused to grow renal tubule cells toprovide other biological func7onsof a healthy kidney. This wouldremove the need for immunesuppressant medica7ons a'er it


Current Affairs


was implanted, allowing the pa-7ent to live a more normal life.

Mind reading machineon its way

Scien7sts who claim to have dis-covered a way of transla7ng peo-ple’s thoughts into words aresoon coming out with a mind

reading machine. An interna-7onal team, led by Prof BradleyGreger of Utah University, hasbeen able to translate, for thefirst 7me, brain signals intospeech using sensors a8ached tothe brain.

The experimental break-through, which is up to 90 percent accurate, offers a way tocommunicate for paralysed pa-7ents who cannot speak andcould eventually lead to beingable to read anyone thoughts.

The team achieved the exper-imental breakthrough when it at-tached two bu8on sized grids of16 7ny electrodes to the speech

centres of the brain of an epilep-7c pa7ent who had part of hisskull removed for another opera-7on.

Using the electrodes, the sci-en7sts recorded brain signals asthe pa7ent repeatedly read eachof 10 words that might be usefulto a paralysed person: yes, no,hot, cold, hungry, thirsty, hello,goodbye, more and less. Then

they got him to repeat the wordsto the computer and it was ableto match the brain signals foreach word 76 per cent to 90 percent of the 7me.

GE Engines for Tejas

GE Avia7on of USA has baggedthe contract for supplying en-

gines for the Light Combat Air-cra' MK-2 (LCA MK-2 or TejasMK-2). The aircra' is being devel-oped by the DRDO with the Hin-dustan Aeronau7cs Limited (HAL)being the implemen7ng agencyfor the project.

Installa7on of the new enginewill pave the way for acquisi7onof the indigenous mul7-rolefighter jet by the IAF.

The necessity fora new engine arosea'er the LCA’s pres-ent engine, also sup-plied by GE (GE F404IN20), failed to meetthe IAF require-ments.

Installa7on ofthe new engine willnecessitate majormodifica7ons to theLCA, especially thefuselage. The ADA ex-pects the Tejas MK2to fly in 2014.

IAF launchesAFNET for bet-

ter communica-/ons

The Indian Air Force, in a signifi-cant development, launched onSeptember 14, 2010, its state-of-the-art digital informa7on systemthat will provide real 7me data,voice and images to commanderson the ground, as well as to pilotsin the air.

It will connect all IAF’s, fight-ers, choppers, transport planes,satellites and UAV’s with groundand command sta7ons which willin turn have the posi7on of theground-based air defence gunsdeployed at airbases. The newsystem will make the IAF networkcentric force.


Current Affairs


The Air Force Network(AFNET) has replaced the IAF’sold communica7on network set-up using the “tropo-sca8er” tech-nology that was first devised inthe 1950s.

New series of horned di-nosaurs found in Utah

Fossil hunters have uncoveredthe remains of an ancient beastthat can lay claim to the dubious7tle of the horniest animal everto walk the Earth. The creaturelived 76 million years ago in thewarm, wet swamps of southernUtah and was remarkable inbearing 15 full-sized horns on itshead. The animal, named Kosmo-ceratops, had one horn over itsnose, one over each eye, one pro-truding from each cheek boneand a row of ten across the frill atthe back of its head. As opposedto earlier belief, many palaeontol-ogists now believe that di-nosaurs’ horns were o'en morefor sexual display.

Climate change willmake India ho0er, bring

heavier rain

By 2030, India can expect a 1 to1.5 degree Celsius rise in temper-ature and more intense spells ofrain. However, the number ofrainy days will be fewer.

This phenomenon will di-rectly impact water conserva7onmaking it a necessary prac7ce,experts from the Indian Ins7tuteof Tropical Meteorology (IITM),Pune have said.

It was also observed thatover the last 30-40 years, nighttemperature has gone up andsuch condi7ons have damaged

the rice yield in the country.IITM is one of the ins7tutes

involved in forecas7ng climatechange for NATCOM. The ins7-tute provided inputs for the re-port Climate Change Assessmentfor 2030,' which was released bythe minister of environment andforests Jairam Ramesh recently.

IITM scien7st Krishna Kumar,who leads the team, said a re-gional climate model was used toassess the future climate.

"The UK meteorological of-fice's regional climate model PRE-CIS (providing climateinves7ga7on studies) was used.Unlike global models, this re-gional model can capture theorography (forma7on and reliefof mountains) be8er. It tookthem nine months to come upwith these model simula7ons,"he said.

These indicate that there will

be 8-10% more rainfall in Indiaand, the temperature will in-crease between 1 and 1.5 degreeCelsius by 2030, Kumar added.Kumar said that rainfall pa8ernswill undergo change. For exam-ple, if a place receives 60 cm sea-sonal rainfall in 30 days, climatechange can ensure that the sameamount of seasonal rainfall oc-curs in 20-25 days resul7ng in anincreased intensity of rainfall onany rainy day.

"Hence we have to changethe way we conserve water. It hasto be fine-tuned as the presentprac7ce may not be enough,''Kumar said.

It was also observed thatnight temperature rise is morecompared to day temperatureover the last 20-30 years. The In-dian Agricultural Research Ins7-tute (IARI) study observed thathigh night temperature in Punjab


Current Affairs


and Haryana has affected thequality of Basma7 rice grownthere.

"We have to see whetherthere will be any change in thetracks of monsoon depressions orin the onset of the monsoon. Wemust also assess the impact of cli-mate change on socio-economyfronts too,'' said Kumar.

But there are many uncer-tain7es in the projec7ons. "Onehas to assume the amount ofemissions in future. Hence, pro-jec7ons in climate change willalso have uncertain7es. It is obvi-ous that there is going to be cli-mate change, the ques7on is,how can we mi7gate it?" Kumarsaid.

"Reducing emissions, captur-ing carbon and storing it or bychanging the albedo (reflec7vity)of the atmosphere can help.Many geo-engineering methodsinvolving mi7ga7on techniquesare being explored now, but weshould assess their likely impacton our monsoon climate,'' hesaid.

Global climate change has al-ready begun to affect the envi-ronment. Glaciers have shrunk,ice on rivers and lakes is breakingup earlier, plant and animalranges have shi'ed and trees areflowering sooner, according tothe US-based Na7onal Aeronau-7cs and Space Administra7on.

Surveillance system foran/bio/c resistance

The Centre has decided to put inplace soon a Na7onal Surveil-lance System for an7bio7c resist-ance. Union Minister for Healthand Family Welfare Ghulam NabiAzad said that a task force was re-viewing the current situa7on re-

garding manufacture, use andmisuse of an7bio7cs in the coun-try and was expected to submitits report by the month-end.

In a wri8en reply, the minis-ter informed Parliament that atask force was cons7tuted to rec-ommend specific interven7onsand measures such as ra7onaluse of an7bio7cs and an7bio7cspolicies in hospitals which can beimplemented as early as possible.He said that the task force wouldalso recommend the design forcrea7on of a Na7onal Surveil-lance System for an7bio7c resist-ance and would ini7ate studies

documen7ng prescrip7on pat-terns and establish a monitoringsystem for the same.

“An7bio7c resistance is a uni-versal evolu7onary phenome-non, as bacterias are survivingboth in environment and humanbodies. Within the human body,due to prolonged use of an7bi-o7cs, bacteria may start variousdefensive mechanism like muta-7on, conjuga7on, transduc7on ortransforma7on. so that it cancounter the assault of an7bio7c,resul7ng in an7bio7c resistance.

˜


Current Affairs


India-ASEAN Summit

Keen on India's deeper and en-hanced integra7on with SouthEast Asia, Prime Minister Man-

mohan Singh pressed for earlycomple7on of free trade agree-ment in Services and Investmentand implementa7on of such apact on Goods signed last year.

Singh also announced visa-on-arrival facility to na7onals ofCambodia, Vietnam, Philippinesand Laos from January next yearand a slew of other measures likese9ng up of a Centre for Trackingand Data Recep7on and an Imag-ing facility for the ASEAN coun-tries.

Speaking at the India-ASEANSummit which came out with afive-year 'Plan of Ac7on' outliningroadmap for enhanced mul7-faceted coopera7on, Singh saidIndia's economy was expected towitness a sustained growth rateof 9-10 per cent in the coming

years, which would offer manyopportuni7es for trade and in-vestment.

"Our experience of imple-menta7on shows that we need towork very hard at all levels if wehave to accelerate the pace of en-

gagementas outlinedin the 'Planof Ac7on',he told theleaders of10 ASEANm e m b e r sassembledhere forthe annualSummit.

The Planof Ac7on

contains 82 points iden7fied forimplementa7on to tap the vastpoten7al in various fields.

Describing it as an "ambi7ousroadmap" for implementa7on of'partnership of peace, progressand shared prosperity' betweenthe two sides, Singh said it showsthe desire to develop a mul7-faceted India-ASEAN rela7onship.

" India believes that ASEAN isthe core around which theprocess of economic integra7onof the Asia-Pacific region shouldbe built," he said.

"The conclusion of a Servicesand Investment Agreement willbe an important step in our goalof comprehensive economic co-opera7on," the Prime Ministersaid about the pact nego7a7onsfor which are going on.

The India-ASEAN Trade inGoods (TIG) Agreement wassigned in Bangkok on August 13last year a'er six years of nego7-a7ons and it came into force onJanuary 1 this year.

Seen as the world's largestFTA, covering a market of almost1.8 billion people with a com-bined GDP of USD 2.8 trillion, theIndia-ASEAN pact envisages tariffliberalisa7on of over 90 per centof products traded between thetwo dynamic regions. Tariffs onover 4,000 product lines will beeliminated by 2016, at the earli-est.

Services and Investmentscould not be included in that freetrade agreement as the two sidesfailed to reconcile their differ-ences in 7me and it was decidedto have a separate pact on thesesectors.

India, Rwanda to cooperate in health care

India and the eastern African na-7on of Rwanda on Nov 12 signed

IInnddiiaa && WWoorrlldd


Current Affairs


a memorandum of understanding(MoU) on coopera7on in thefields of health and medicine.

The MoU, signed by Healthand Family Welfare Minister Ghu-lam Nabi Azad and his Rwandancounterpart Richard Sezibera,covers mul7ple fields like inte-grated disease surveillance, med-ical research, emergency relief,drugs, laboratory and diagnos7cs,and pharmaceu7cal products andtradi7onal medicine.

According to an official state-ment from the health ministry,the coopera7on will also extendto fields like hospital manage-ment, health tourism, telemedi-cine and training of humanresource.

"The coopera7on is likely totake form of collabora7on in ex-change of informa7on in the fieldof health and medicine, exchangeof experts in the field of health,health manpower developmentin the field of epidemiology andoutbreak, diagnos7c laboratorysupport through tes7ng clinicalsamples during outbreak situa-7on training in the mutuallyagreed iden7fied areas, deputa-7on of experts to a8end interna-7onal mee7ngs held in eithercountry, technical support in es-tablishing laboratories/ hospitalsand research in mutually iden7-fied areas," a health ministry offi-cial said.

The Rwandan minister is on ashort visit to India. The MoUcomes as part of the growing bi-lateral 7es between the twocountries.

DBT signs MoU WithUK's Bio-Technology

Council

The Department of Biotechnol-

ogy (DBT), Government of Indiaand the Indian Council of Agricul-tural Research (ICAR) have en-tered into a Memorandum ofUnderstanding (MoU) withBiotechnology and Biological Sci-ence Research Council (BBSRC),U.K. and Dep8. for Interna7onalDevelopment (DFID).

The MoU was signed byM.K.Bhan, Secretary, Dep8. ofBiotechnology in the presence ofMinister of Science and Technol-ogy Kapil Sibal and the visi7ngU.K Science Minister David Wil-le8s.

The le8er of intent to launcha new ini7a7ve on "Food secu-rity: Sustainable crop produc7onresearch for interna7onal devel-opment" also agreed to establisha joint funding ini7a7ve with theaim of underpinning scien7ficknowledge that will increase foodsecurity and alleviate poverty.

The ini7a7ve is expected toforge produc7ve global partner-ships between scien7sts in theU.K, India and other developingcountries to leverage high qualitybiological and biotechnologicalresearch for sustainable crop pro-duc7on in South Asia and Sub-Sa-haran Africa.

The total value of the ini7a-

7ve is es7mated to be Pound 20million over a period of five years.This fund will be used to supportthe development of scien7ficknowledge and the building ofsustainable research capacitythat will benefit emergingeconomies and the developingworld.

The le8er of intent will subse-quently be followed up by a jointcall for proposals on sustainablecrop produc7on which will beopen for research proposals frominterna7onal teams of scien7stsfrom India, U.K, South-Asia andSub-Sahara Africa.

Kapil Sibal and David Wille8sreiterated the commitment oftheir respec7ve countries to-wards closer coopera7on and acohesive rela7onship in this area.

They hoped that the collabo-ra7on on global food securitywould harness the exper7seavailable in U.K, India, sub-Saha-ran Africa and the south-eastAsian region for providing globalsolu7ons to the formidable chal-lenge of food security.

They also hoped that thiswould create a founda7on for fu-ture collabora7ons in this area. ˜


Current Affairs


India to receive $55 billion remi0ances in

2010

Indian expatriates are ex-pected to remit about $55 billioninto the country this year as thenumber of emigrants from thena7on is likely to clock 11.4 mil-lion, a new World Bank reportsaid.

India is likely to stay as the

top receiver of remi8ances in2010, as inflows of $51 billion toChina keeps it a place down, withMexico at third spot, expec7ng$22.6 billion from its overseaspopula7on.

The World Bank in its 'Migra-7on and Remi8ances Factbook2011' report said worldwide in-flows are expected to reach $440billion by the year end, with re-mi8ances to developing na7onsare likely to reach a record $325

billion from the 2009 figure of$307 billion.

The top remi9ng countries in2009 were United States ($48.3billion), Saudi Arabia ($26 billion)and Switzerland ($19.6 billion).

Remi8ances remained a re-silient of external financing dur-ing the recent global financialcrisis and were steady despite thepangs of financial reconstruc7onin the developed world, the re-port said.

EEccoonnoommyy


Current Affairs


As high-income countries re-main the main source of remit-tance flows, migra7on to thedeveloped economies groupingsaw an increase.

India ranks second in the topthree emigra7on countries with11.4 million of its popula7onchose overseas des7na7ons.Mexico tops the chart with 11.9million figure and Russia ge9ngthird posi7on having 11.1 millionpeople working in other coun-tries.

India-UAE is among the top10 migra7on corridors with 2.2million migrants. Mexico-US is ex-pected to be the largest migra-7on corridor in the world,followed by Russia-Ukraine,Ukraine-Russia and Bangladesh-India.

World Bank said majority ofexpatriates in the Gulf hail fromIndia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Egypt,Philippines, Bangladesh, Yemen,Iran and Sudan.

According to the Factbook2011, the top migrant des7na7oncountry remainsthe United Statesthat kept 42.8million immi-grants, followedby Russia (12.3million), Ger-many (10.8 mil-lion, Saudi Arabia(7.3 million),Canada (7.2 mil-lion), UnitedKingdom (7.0 mil-lion), Spain (6.9million), France(6.7 million), Aus-tralia (5.5 mil-lion), India (5.4million), Ukraine(5.3 million), Italy(4.5 million) andPakistan (4.2 mil-

lion).The top immigra7on coun-

tries rela7ve to popula7on areQatar - 87%, Monaco - 72%, UAE- 70%, Kuwait - 69% and Andorra- 64%.

30th India Interna/onalTrade Fair

Union Minister for Commerceand Industry Anand Sharma inau-gurated the 30th edi7on of IndiaInterna7onal Trade Fair (IITF) inthe na7onal capital on Nov 14,2010 at the Praga7 Maidan.

This year at least 23 countriesincluding China, Japan, Korea andseveral western and easterncountries showed their productsin the fortnight long trade fair.

This year the theme of this fa-mous annual trade fair to be heldbetween (November 14 to 27)was 'Clean and Energy EfficientTechnology, Products and Serv-ices'. Japan and Uganda werepar7cipated for the first 7me.

RBI’s mid-term review

The RBI, in its first mid-quarter re-view of its monetary policy, in-creased repo and reverse reporates leaving the cash reservera7o (CRR) unchanged as it bat-tles to contain infla7on.

The central bank noted thatfood infla7on has risen to 15.10per cent for the week ending Sep-tember 4, thus making it neces-sary to rein in liquidity. As aresult, RBI raised short-term bor-rowing rate (reverse repo) by0.50 percentage points to 5 percent and lending rate (repo) by0.25 percentage points to 6 percent. The increased rates aim tomake financing costly thus curb-ing consump7on.

However, the RBI said that in-fla7on rates have reached aplateau. The apex bank also sig-nalled banks to raise fixed depositrates and also noted that the gov-ernment was on target to containthe fiscal deficit.


Current Affairs


CBSE to introduce ap/-tude test

In order to assess the ability ofstudents, the CBSE will introducea psychological ap7tude test for

class X on the lines of similarexams held in other parts of theworld. The test will be known asStudents Global Ap7tude Index(SGAI). The main aim of holdingthe exam is to know about thestudents' interest, their psychol-ogy and their skill levels. Thisexam is based on a scien7ficindex.

South Asian Universitybecomes opera/onal

With the visa issue concerningPakistani students having beense8led, the South Asian Univer-sity (SAU), a dream project ofPrime Minister Manmohan Singh,has finally taken off. The univer-sity launched its first academicsession on August 26, 2010, start-ing two courses—MA in Develop-ment Economics and Masters ofComputer Applica7ons.

There are 25 students in eachcourse. Of the total 50 students,36 were from India and 14 fromfive other SAARC countries—Pak-istan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutanand Sri Lanka. As of now, there isno student from the rest of thetwo SAARC na7ons, the war-af-fected Afghanistan and the Mal-dives.

The present faculty includesBangladeshi na7onals as well asAustralian na7onals of Indian ori-gin. The faculty would be gradu-ally increased when courses inother disciplines are launchedfrom the next academic year be-ginning in July 2011.

Though the university, thefirst of its kind in the region, hasbeen allo8ed land in the capitalfor its campus, classes for the firstsession are being held at theJawaharlal Nehru University(JNU).

The concept of a world-classuniversity in South Asia was ini7-ated by the Indian Prime Ministerduring the 13th SAARC Summit atDhaka in 2005, while a formalagreement for establishing the in-s7tute was signed in April 2007during the 14th Summit in NewDelhi.

Two Naval Bases okayed

In an apparent bid to counterChina’s growing presence in theBay of Bengal, especially its newforays in Bangladesh and Myan-

mar, the Indian government hasokayed two new naval bases onthe eastern coast—Paradip (Odd-isa) and Tu7corin (Tamil Nadu).These will be the first major navalbases other than Vizag on theeastern coast. The Navy hassmaller sta7ons but no big basesthat typically provide all logis7cssupport like supplies, replenish-ment, repair and maintenance.

China has announced its in-ten7on to build a deep sea portat Sonadia near Cox BazarBangladesh. It is also buildingports in Myanmar. All these are inthe Bay of Bengal and face India.

Most of country’s missiletests are conducted off the eastcoast. India’s “look east” policyaims at engaging smaller naviesthat are east of India. For themthis will be a huge morale boosteras all of them regularly conductexercises with India.

Rustom: Unmanned aerial vehicle

The Defence Research and Devel-opment Oganisa7on (DRDO), hassuccessfully flown the indige-nously built Unmanned Aerial Ve-hicle (UAV), named Rustom. It isa medium al7tude long en-durance UAV, developed by theAeronau7cal Development Estab-lishment (ADE), a lab of theDRDO. The ADE specialises inUAVs and flight control systems.

The subsequent flights of the

MMiisscceellllaanneeoouuss


Current Affairs


Rustom will test and demonstratecapabili7es like controlling theUAV through GPS satellites. TheRustom has been designed forendurance of 12-15 hour, with a25,000-' al7tude ceiling and 75kg payload of cameras and sen-sors. The data link for this hasbeen developed by DEAL, an-other DRDO laboratory; a privateIndian company has built the air-frame.

Llosa, Mario Vargas

Peruvian Mario Vargas Llosa, oneof the most acclaimed writers inthe Spanish-speaking world whoonce ran for President in hishomeland, has won the 2010Nobel Prize in literature.He has wri8en more than 30 nov-els, plays and essays, includingConversa7on in the Cathedraland The Green House. In 1995,he was awarded the CervantesPrize, the Spanish-speakingworld’s most dis7nguished liter-ary honour.

His interna7onal break-through came with the 1960snovel The Time of The Hero,which builds on his experiencesfrom the Peruvian military acad-emy Leoncio Prado. The bookwas considered controversial inhis homeland and a thousandcopies were burnt publicly by of-ficers from the academy. VargasLlosa is the first South Americanwinner of the pres7gious prizesince it was awarded to Colom-bian writer Gabriel Garcia Mar-quez in 1982.

Born in Arequipa, Peru, Var-gas Llosa grew up with his grand-parents in Bolivia a'er hisparents divorced. The familymoved back to Peru in 1946 andhe later went to military school

before studying literature and lawin Lima and Madrid.

In 1959, he moved to Pariswhere he worked as a languageteacher and as a journalist forAgence France-Presse and thena7onal television service ofFrance.

He has lectured and taught ata number of universi7es in theUS, South America and Europe.

Xiaobo, Liu

Jailed Chinese pro-democracy ac-7vist Liu Xiaobo has won theNobel Peace Prize, 2010, “fordecades of non-violent strugglefor human rights”.

Liu was jailed for 11 years inDecember 2009, for subversionof State power, a year a'er beingarrested as lead author of Charter08, a manifesto issued by Chineseintellectuals and ac7vists, callingfor free speech and mul7-partyelec7ons.

Liu, a former literature pro-fessor, had risen to prominenceas a strike leader during theprotests at Tiananmen Square in1989. He was later jailed for 20months and then spent threeyears in a “labour re-educa7on”camp during the 1990s, as well asmonths under virtual house ar-rest.

World’s longest tunnelcompleted

A giant drilling machine punchedits way through a final sec7on ofAlpine rock on October 15, 2010to complete the world’s longesttunnel, a'er 15 years of construc-7on. In a stage-managed break-through, a8ended by some 200dignitaries 30 km inside the tun-nel and broadcast live on Swisstelevision, engineers from bothsides shook hands a'er the borehad pummelled through the final1.5 metres of rock.

The 57 km high-speed raillink, which will open in 2017, willform the lynch-pin of a new railnetwork between northern andsouth-eastern Europe and helpease conges7on and pollu7on inthe Swiss Alps.

It is the third tunnel to bebuilt through the snowbound StGo8hard area and is 3 km longerthan a rail link between twoJapanese islands, the currentrecord holder at 53.8 km.

Flower has world’slongest genome

Researchers at London's KewGardens say they've discoveredthe longest genome in the worldand that it belongs to a rather or-dinary-looking white flower. Thescien7sts say the Paris japonicahas a gene7c code 50 7meslonger than that of a humanbeing and edges out its nearestcompe7tor, the marbled lungfish.

A genome is the full comple-ment of an organism's DNA, com-plex molecules that direct theforma7on and func7on of all liv-ing organisms.

Current Affairs



China launches un-manned lunar probe

On October 1, 2010, Chinalaunched its second unmannedlunar probe to test so'-landingtechnologies as part of its ambi-7ous plans to put a man on themoon in 2013, the same yearwhen India plans to launch Chan-drayaan-II.

A'er a text book launch ofthe probe Chang'e II on the coun-try’s 61st Na7onal Day, the rocketsuccessfully placed the lunar or-biter in its intended orbit in 20minutes.

The Chinese satellite waslaunched by a 54.84-metre longMarch 3C rocket, weighing about345 tonnes, from Xichang Satel-lite Launch Centre in SichuanProvince.

Chang'e II, named a'er Chi-nese mythical moon goddess, willorbit 100 km above the moon,compared with 200 km of itspredecessor Chang'e I, the firstlunar probe launched by China in2007.

BharatBerry: India’s answer to BlackBerry

If BlackBerry creates problems forcorporate e-mail users on themove because it cannot complywith the security monitoringnorms of the government, a

home-grown firm is ready to offera similar service with that prob-lem removed.

BharatBerry, dubbed as “anIndia compliant end-to-end serv-ice” is a venture started by AjayData,36, from Rajasthan. Bharat-Berry service (in which handsetsare not made by the firm) aims toaddress one million BlackBerryusers if Research In Mo7on failsto comply with government re-quirements that it must allow in-terven7ons to help law enforcerstrying to check abuse of confi-den7al corporate mail by terrorgroups.

It might not be quite thething for mul7-na7onals with aglobal foot-print, but the afford-ability makes it quite Indian as itis available for monthly fee that isa frac7on of base-level Black-Berry offers.

“We have tested the servicethoroughly on all BlackBerrymodels and it works well with allof them. It is a completely secure,fully tested and totally reliableservice for as low as Rs 250 amonth,” Data said.

Graphene: 21st Cen-tury’s Silicon

Graphene is a form of carbon thatcomprises a single layer of atomsarranged in a honeycomb-shapedla9ce, the thinnest substance inexistence.

Though chemically simple, itis incredibly strong—200 7me the

strength of steel and tougherthan diamond. It conducts elec-tricity be8er than copper and isexcellent at dissipa7ng heat.

Graphene will help in replac-ing the silicon chip and allowcomputers to become smallerand more powerful for decadesto come. Graphene transistorswill run at far higher speeds andcope with much higher tempera-tures than now. It is also moresuitable for touch screens, lightpanels and solar cells. It can alsobe used as composite material insatellites, air-planes and cars.

Graphene has been discov-ered by Andre Geim, 51, and Kon-sta7n Novoselov, 36, for whichthey have been awarded theNobel Prize 2010 for Physics.

Novoselov is the youngestNobel laureate since 1973. Geimand Novoselov were both born inRussia and collaborated as Ph.D.supervisor and student in theNetherlands before moving toManchester University, one ofBritain's top physics ins7tutes.

The scien7sts’ breakthroughcame from a decep7vely simpleexperiment in 2004 that involveda block of carbon and someScotch tape. The two used thetape to strip off layers of carbonthat were only one atom thick.These thin wafers of carbon,known as graphene, were foundto have extraordinary proper7es.

Graphene consists of carbonatoms held together in a flat lat-7ce like chicken wire. Drawing apencil across a sheet of paperproduces thin sheets of graphite,but Geim and Novoselov man-aged to find a way to reliably sep-arate these sheets into wafersonly a single atom thick. Thereare around three million sheetsof graphene in a millimetre-thickgraphite layer. ˜

Current Affairs




Sports

Advani wins India's first gold atAsiad 2010

Defending Asian Games billiards cham-pion Pankaj Advani made it a Super Sun-day for India in Guangzhou by winningthe first gold of the Asian Games 2010for his country in the English BilliardsSingles event Nov 14, 2010.

Advani came back from 1-2 downto first even the match at 2-2 and then clinch the

final frame to beat his opponent fromMyanmar, NayThway.Thway won thefirst frame 33-100but lost the second100-61, before win-ning the third hand-somely with a12-101 margin.

Advani, though,con4nued to fight toclinch the one-sided


fourth frame 101-4, before takingthe gold 100-45 by winning thedeciding fi%h frame.

Earlier on Sunday, Advanistormed into the final with aniden4cal 3-2 victory over anotherMyanmar challenger Kyaw. Ad-vani beat Kyaw 100-28, 0-100,100-77, 11-100, 101-0 in thesemifinal.

Advani's opponent in thefinal, Thway, came into the gold-medal match by upse6ng Singa-pore's veteran Peter Gilchrist102-39, 101-71, 93-100, 43-100,102-4.

India wins gold in fourthleg of World Cup

The Indian men's recurve team ofJayanta Talukdar, Tarundeep Raiand Rahul Banerjee won gold inthe fourth leg of the World Cuparchery in Shanghai. The triowhipped Japan, who had beatenthe formidable Koreans in the

semi-final.Talukdar won bronze in the

individual event defea4ng AthensOlympic champion Marco Gali-azzo of Italy 7-3.

Deepika Kumari lost thewomen’s recurve final, but the sil-

ver medal ensured Deepika hermaiden place in the grand final inEdinburgh.

Mary Kom wins WorldChampionship

India’s woman boxer MC MaryKom claimed a historic fi%h suc-cessive world championship 4tle

on September 18, 2010, bea4ngSteluta Duta of Romania 16-6.This mother-of-two from Ma-nipur remains the only boxer tohave won a medal in each edi4on

of the world championship.

T20 Champions League,2010

IPL champions Chennai Super

Kings, led ably by MahendraSingh Dhoni, defeated the War-riors of South Africa by eightwickets to win the Airtel Champi-ons League, played in SouthAfrica.

J.P. Atray Trophy

ONGC posted a six-wicket victoryover Air India to winthe 17th J.P. Atray Me-morial Cricket tourna-ment.

E n g l a n d - Pa k i s t a nOne-Day seriesEngland defeated Pak-istan by 121 runs inthe fi%h and finalmatch to win the se-ries3-2.

DLF Masters

Ashok Kumar won the DLF Mas-ters Golf. Gaganjeet Bhullar wonthe second spot.

Women’s World Cup

Argen4na defeated reigningWorld and Olympic championsNetherlands 3-1 to win their sec-ond field hockey world 4tle. Theyhad earlier won the 4tle in 2002in Australia. The championshipwas held at Rosario, Argen4na.

Ronjon shoots gold atISSF World Cup

India’s Ronjon Sodhi clinched agold at the double trap in the ISSFWorld Cup finals in Izmir, Turkeywith a stunning score of 195 outof 200.


Sports


US Open, 2010

Rafael Nadal of Spain defeated

Novak Djokovic (Serbia) to winthe men’s singles 4tle. The wingave him his first US open 4tleand was his ninth Grand Slamwin.

Kim Clijsters of Belgium de-feated Vera Zvonareva (Russia) totake the women’s singles 4tle.

The men’s doubles 4tle waswon by Mike and Bob Bryan ofUSA who defeated Indo-Pak teamof Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-ul-Haq.

The women’s doubles 4tlewas won by Vania King (USA) andYaroslava Shvedova (Kazakhistan)while the mixed doubles 4tle waswon by Liezel Huber (USA) andBob Bryan (USA).

India enters Davis CupWorld Group

In a stunning turnaround,Somdev Devvarman and RohanBopanna powered India to theelite Davis Cup World Group by

scrip4ng a sensa4onal 3-2 winover Brazil. The matches wereplayed in Chennai.

Sushil becomes first In-dian to win World Cham-

pionship gold

Wrestler Sushil Kumar has be-come the first Indian to win agold medal in the WorldWrestling Championships, held inMoscow. He defeated AlanGogaev in the 66-kg freestyle cat-egory.

XIX CommonwealthGames, New Delhi

Conven4onal fervour, gli5er, gai-ety and a rich cultural bonanzaclimaxed into a magnificent cere-mony that brought curtains downon the Commonwealth Games atthe massive Jawahar Lal NehruStadium on October 14, 2010. Itwas real Chak De India as musicof universal love made the sta-dium reverberate to some of thebest Bollywood beats and thetheme song by A.R. Rahman. Un-like conven4onal ceremonies thatleave many athletes and officialswith moist eyes, Delhi bade a joy-ous farewell to all par4cipants.

Athletes and officials de-parted to meet againin 2014 atGlasgow. Members of the 2014

Commonwealth Games, in abrief, but impressive flag han-dover ceremony, extended anopen invita4on to all to enjoy thenext edi4on of the fes4val of theCommonwealth.

President of Sri Lanka wasamong the dignitaries whowatched the nearly three-hourlong ceremony, along with Vice-President Ansari, Prime MinisterManmohan Singh and the UPAPresident Sonia Gandhi.

The music of universal loveended with a pyro burst that litup the sky in colour. Before the


Sports


music blast, an amazing lasershow held the audience spell-bound. Singer Shaan came withShera, the mascot of the games,to bid goodbye and touch anemo4onal chord with the audi-ence. Vande Matram was sung byschool children of Delhi and musi-cal band display by pipe and brassbands of the defence forces gavean immaculate start to the cere-mony.

Earlier, on October 3, 2010,Delhi gave full-throated vent toits pleasure to usher in the 19thCommonwealth Games, whichwere declared open by Britain’sPrince Charles, at a packed Jawa-harlal Nehru Stadium. Immedi-ately a%erwards, PresidentPra4bha Pa4l said: “Let theGames begin.”

A total of 6,081 athletes from71 Commonwealth na4ons anddependencies competed in 21sports and 272 events. It was thelargest interna4onal mul4-sportevent to be staged in Delhi andIndia, eclipsing the Asian Gamesin 1951 and 1982.

Australia topped the medalstally, with 74 gold, 55 silver and48 bronze medals. India was sec-ond on the medals tally list with38 gold, 27 silver and 36 bronze

medals. India was followed byEngland, Canada and SouthAfrica.

Mascot

The official mascot for the 2010Commonwealth Games wasShera, an anthropomorphised4ger.

Official song

The official song of the 2010Commonwealth Games was JiyoUtho Bado Jeeto. It was com-posed and performed by the A.R. Rahman. The song's 4tle wasbased on the slogan of thegames, "Come out and play". Thesong was penned by Mehboob in

Hindi with a sprinkling of Englishwords.

India’s performance

Indian compe4tors came outwith flying colours. A recordmedal haul of 38 gold, 27 silverand 36 bronze medals, the best-ever harvest for the country inthe Games history, helped Indiaclimb to the record-high secondposi4on and end the mul4-disci-pline event on a thumping note.The main haul of these 101medals came from the shoo4ngrange, wrestling mat, boxing ring,archery range and, to everyone'ssurprise, the track and fieldevents.

Rifle-shoo4ng ace GaganNarang scooped up four goldmedals, but could not achieve thefeat of overhauling five-gold heroof the 2006 Melbourne Games—Samresh Jung.

Teenage woman archerDeepika Kumari, daughter of anauto-rickshaw driver, who heldher nerves even as the more sea-soned Dola Banerjee wilted, tocome up with a golden double inthe women's recurve event.

The track and field eventswitnessed India's first gold medalin 52 years when Krishna Poonialed a clean sweep of the women'sdiscus throw, Harwant Kaur andSeema An4l won the silver andbronze. The women's 4x400mrelay squad struck an unexpectedgold with a superb display thatpushed Nigeria and England tosecond and third places.

The women shu5lers, led bySaina Nehwal, brought two goldmedals to bring down the cur-tains on the country's compe4-4ve show with a bang. Those twogold medals in badminton were


Sports


vital to help India push England tothe third place by the skin of theirteeth.

Saina Nehwal created historyby becoming the first Indianwoman to win the singles gold inbadminton at the Common-wealth Games. LegendaryPrakash Padukone (1978) and thelate Syed Modi (1982) were thetwo men players to win the sin-gles gold in the Games. JwalaGu5a and Ashiwni Ponnappascripted history by becoming thefirst Indian pair to win the gold atCommonwealth Games.

The men's hockey team,whose fortunes are followedclosely by the sports fans of thecountry, made history by makingit to the final for the first 4me be-fore coming a cropper againstworld and defending championsAustralia in the summit clash. The8-0 defeat was huge and one ofthe biggest suffered by the coun-try.

Wrestling con4ngent also didvery well, winning 19 medals inthe 21 designated event. Amongthe 19 medals, there were 10gold, five silver and four bronzemedals. Sushil Kumar literallywalked his way to gold, while thewomen wrestlers, par4cipa4ng inthe Games for the first 4me, stolethe show with a memorable per-formance. In the six events forwomen, India won three gold,

two silver and a bronze medal toshow their supremacy in thefreestyle category.

The trio of Alka Tomar, Geetaand Anita won their final bouts

with ease, while Babita Ku-mari and Nirmala Devi missedout on gold, losing their finalrounds, but their perform-ance drew praise from all.Geeta became the first Indianwomen wrestler to bag a goldmedal in the CommonwealthGames.India achieved unprece-dented success in athle4cs bybagging 12 medals, including

two gold. India's 12 medals weretwo more than the number itwon in all the earlier edi4ons.

Krishna Poonia created his-tory by breaking India's 52-year-old Commonwealth Games goldmedal jinx by winning the goldmedal in women's discus throw.

Harwant Kaur and SeemaAn4l bagged silver andbronze, respec4vely.

Poonia also became thefirst Indian woman to bag aCommonwealth Gamesgold a%er 'Flying Sikh'Milkha Singh won themen's 440 yards race in1958 edi4on in Cardiff,Wales.

The women's 4X400m relayteam of Manjeet Kaur, Sini Jose,Ashwini Akkunji and MandeepKaur added another gold in amemorable race, bea4ng strongteams like Nigeria and England.

Fancied fis4cuff exponentsVijender Singh and Akhil Kumarwere ousted early but Indian box-ers s4ll delivered a historic goldenpunch to come up with theirbest-ever campaign in the Gameshistory. With a hat-trick of goldplus four bronze medals, the In-dian ring stylists recorded theirbest medal haul at the quadren-nial mul4-discipline sports event,be5ering the 2006 campaign atMelbourne by two.

Ashish Kumar of India cre-ated history by winning a bronzemedal in Gymnas4cs, the firstever medal in gymnas4cs forIndia in the CommonwealthGames.

World Championship

Bobby Singh of Imphal, a clerk atthe North Fron4er Railway,scripted history by becoming theworld champion at the second


Sports


WBPF World Bodybuilding Cham-pionship, held at Varanasi. Indiahas won a world BodybuildingChampionship a%er 22 years.

Anand regains NumberOne Spot

World Champion Viswanathan

Anand played out a hard-foughtdraw with Magnus Carlsen ofNorway to finish second in theBilbao Final Masters chess tour-nament. The silver lining for theIndian ace was the fact that hedethroned Carlsen from the num-ber one ranking in Live ra4ng listfor the first 4me since January2010 and ended up as the topplayer in ra4ngs too.

Vladimir Kramnik of Russiawon the Final Masters a%er set-tling for an easy draw with AlexeiShirov of Spain.

Bangladesh -New Zealand

One Day Series

Rubel Hossain grabber four wick-ets as Bangladesh completed asweep with a thrilling three-runvictory in the fi%h and final oneday match. The 4-0 series win isBangladesh’s first sweep againsta major team.

India-AustraliaTest Series

Debutant Cheteshwar Pujarastruck a sparkling 72 as India de-

feated Australia by seven wicketsin the second and final Test,played at Bangalore, to sweepthe series, win the Border-Gavaskar trophy and consolidatetheir world number one status.


India-Australia One Day Series

India won the three-match series 1-0 a%er the third and final ODIwas abandoned because of rain. The first match also had to beabandoned because of rain. This was the first one-day series victoryover Australia in over two decades.

India beat Australia by wickets in the second ODI. The highlightof the match was the match-winning 118 runs by Virat Kohli.

Sports


Man of the series Sachin Ten-dulkar followed up his first in-nings double century with anunbeaten 53 to help India chasedown the 207-run target.

Earleir, India won the firstTest at Mohali by one wicket. A81-run ninth wicket stand be-tween V.V.S. Laxman and IshantSharma set up the opening win.Laxman scripted an unbeaten 73runs and Ishant Sharma chippedwith a contribu4on of 31 runs.

Sachin first to make14,000 runs in Tests

Sachin Tendulkar has become theonly player to make 14,000 runsin Test cricket. At 12,178 runs,Australian skipper Ricky Pon4ngremains his nearest rival.

Surjit HockeyTournament

Indian Oil, Mum-bai, have clinchedthe overall trophyin the 27th IndianOil Surjit Hockeyt o u r n a m e n t .They defeated AirIndia, Mumbai via4e-breaker.

ICC Awards

Indian ba6ng icon Sachin Tendulkar has bagged hismaiden ICC Cricketer of the Year trophy along with thePeople's Choice Award, while compatriot Virender Se-hwag has been named the Test Cricketer of the Year.

India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni was namedcaptain of the ICC's World Test XI, while Australia waschosen as the best ODI team of the period betweenAugust 2009 and 2010.

South African AB de Villiers clinched the ICC ODIPlayer of the Year award.

England fast bowler Steven Finn, who played in six Test matches in the vo4ng period and took 27wickets at an average of 21.85, won the ICC Emerging Player of the Year Award.

New Zealand swashbuckler Brendon McCullum's blistering 56-ball unbeaten 116 against Australia inChristchurch was adjudged the ICC Twenty20 Interna4onal Performance of the Year.

Spirit of the Game Award went to New Zealand and Aleem Dar of Pakistan won the ICC Umpire ofthe Year trophy.

Ryder Cup Golf, 2010

The 38th Ryder Cup Golfmatches were held at theCel4c Manor Resort in thecity of Newport, Wales. Itwas the first 4me the com-pe44on was staged inWales. With the USA as thedefending Cup holder theevent was played on thenewly-constructed Twenty10 course, specifically de-signed for the Ryder Cup.Team Europe won the com-pe44on.

Sports



Dayawa# Modi Art, Cul-ture and Educa#on

Award

Former ambassador to the USand MP Karan Singh has beeen

conferred the Dayawa1 Modi Art,Culture and Educa1on Award.The award carries a cash prize ofRs.201,000, a scroll of honourand a silver shield.

Singh has wri2en 20 bookson subjects ranging from poetry

to poli1cs.He is currently

the chairman,ethics commi2ee,of the upperhouse of parlia-ment. He alsoheads the govern-ing body of theAuroville Founda-1on and is presi-dent of the Indian

Council for Cultural Rela1ons.The award is given by the

Modi group in the memory of itsfounder's late wife Dayawa1Modi.

Indian industriesawarded innova#on

awards

Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd(BHEL), Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd,Council of Scien1fic and IndustrialResearch (CSIR) and Na1onal In-s1tute of Immunology (NII) havebeen awarded for their innova-1on in research and developmentin India.

Awards



BHEL bagged the award forhi-tech corporate category whileCSIR won the hi-tech academicaward. NII and Ranbaxy Laborato-ries Ltd won pharma academicand pharma corporate awards re-spec1vely.

All enterprises headquar-tered in India are considered forthe award. The recipients wereselected by analysing their inno-va1on patented technology asrecorded in Thomson Reuterspatent informa1on services.

The criteria included thenumber and impact of patents,the efficiency and effec1venessof research and the impact of in-nova1on as measured by patentcita1ons.

Business India's ' BestBank' Award

Bank of Baroda (BOB) was pre-sented the 'Business India BestBank 2010' award by Union Min-ister for Road Transport and High-ways, Kamal Nath.

M D Mallya, Chairman andManaging Director, Bank of Bar-oda, accepted the Award on be-half of the bank.

BOB has entered new ver1-cals like insurance and invest-ment banking. Its recent foray,into the insurance space resultedin over 100,000 policies sold innine months of opera1on, andplans to collect new business pre-mium of Rs 700 crore, in the first

year of opera1on. BOB Capital,the investment banking arm, hasalso been revived. Refurbishedbranches under 'BarodaNext' areexpected to touch 34 na1onwide.

During Financial Year 2009-10, the bank was fourth biggest inIndia by total assets, fourth mostprofitable, third by total business,and fourth by advances.

All its 3,200 branches arecore banking solu1on-enabled,with plans to add another 350branches by March 2011.

Jnanpith Award, 2007and 2008

Eminent Malayalam li2erateurO.N.V. Kurup has been chosen forthe 2007 Jnanpith award. NotedUrdu poet Akhlaq Khan Shahryarhas been chosen for the 2008award.

Born in 1931 in Kerala’s Kol-lam district, Kurup is a leadingvoice among the contemporaryMalayalam poets. He has rein-vented the narra1ve transi1on ofMalayalam poetry through his

long poems like ‘Ujjayini’ and‘Swayamvaram’.

Born in 1936 in a Muslim Ra-jput family in U2ar Pradesh’sBareilly district, Shahryar shapedhimself as an “intellectual poet”,whose poetry strongly expressesan “ideological non-commit-ment”. His roots lie in his desirefor self-realisa1on and his at-tempt to understand modernproblems. Among his famouscomposi1ons is: “Seene MeinJalan, Akhon Mein Toofan SaKyon Hai”.

57th Na#onal FilmAwards

Best feature film: Ku2y Srank(Malayalam).

Best Director: Rituparno Ghoshfor Abohoman (Bengali).

Best Actor: Amitabh Bachchanfor Paa (Hindi).

Best Actress: Ananya Cha2erjeefor Lahore (Hindi).

Best suppor#ng actor: FarooqueSheikh for Lahore (Hindi).

Best suppor#ng actress: Arund-ha1 Naag for Paa (Hindi).

Indira Gandhi award for bestdebut film of a director: Lahore(Hindi) by Sanjay Puran SinghChauhan.

Best popular film providingwholesome entertainment: 3 Id-iots (Hindi).

Nargis Du$ award for best fea-ture film on na#onal integra#on:Delhi 6 (Hindi).

Vol. - 18 3Vol. - 18 WWW.UPSCPORTAL.COM88 WWW.UPSCPORTAL.COM Vol. - 20

Awards


Best film on social issues: WellDone Abba (Hindi).

Best Music Director: Amit Trivedifor Anurag Kashyap's “Dev-D”.

Best Lyrics: ‘Beh1 hawa sa thawoh’ from “3 Idiots”, wri2en bySwanand Kirkere.

Best playback singer (male):Rupam Islam, for his rendering of‘Kolakata’ in the Bengali film“Mahanagar”.

Best playback singer (female):Nilanjana Sarkar, for Bengalimovie “Houseful”.

Best children’s film: Shared by“Putaani Party” in Kannada and“Keshu” in Malayalam.

Best child actor: Jeeva and AnbaKaraus share the award.

Dada Saheb PhalkeAward, 2009

Telugu film actor-producer D. Ra-manaidu has been selected forthe pres1gious Dada SahebPhalke Award for 2009 for hisoutstanding contribu1on to In-dian cinema.

The award comprises of aSwarn Kamal, a cash prize of Rsone million and a shawl.

The industry veteran, whoentered the film world in 1963with "Anuragam", is listed as themost prolific producer with 110films by the Guinness Book ofRecords. He has the dis1nc1on ofproducing movies in Hindi, Ben-gali, Oriya, Assamese, Malayalam,Tamil, Kannada, Gujara1, Marathiand Bhojpuri.

Some of his well-known filmsare “Premanagar”, “Dildar” and“Bandish” in Hindi, “SrikrishnaTulabharam”, “Preminchu” and“Ramudu Bheemudu” in Teluguand “Asukh” and “Sudhu EkbarBolo” in Bengali.

Man Booker Prize, 2010

Howard Jacobson has beennamed the winner of the £50,000

Man Booker Prize for Fic1on forThe Finkler Ques1on, publishedby Bloomsbury.

London author and columnistHoward Jacobson has been long-

listed twice forthe prize, in2006 for KalookiNights and in2002 for Who'sSorry Now, butwas nevershort-listed.

The Fin-kler Ques1on isa novel aboutlove, loss andmale friendship,

and explores what it means to beJewish today. Said to have “someof the wi3est, most poignantand sharply intelligent comicprose in the English language”,The Finkler Ques1on has beendescribed as “wonderful” and“richly sa1sfying” and as a novelof “full of wit, warmth, intelli-gence, human feeling and under-standing”.

Dewang Mehta Award

Lt-Gen Dr D.D.S. Sandhu, Vice-Chancellor of Kurukshetra Uni-versity, has been selected for theDewang Mehta Award for his out-standing contribu1on to educa-1on.

The Dewang Mehta Award isconferred upon outstanding edu-ca1onists and administrators whohave made significant contribu-1on in the field of leadership ineduca1on and management.

Indira Gandhi Award forNa#onal Integra#on,

2009

Music maestro A.R. Rahman andChha3sgarh-based RamakrishnaMission have been given theaward for their services in pro-mo1ng and preserving na1onalintegra1on in India.


Awards



India-Pakistanrelations

Rela8ons between India and Pak-istan is defined by the violent par-88on of Bri8sh India in 1947, theKashmir dispute and the numer-ous military conflicts fought be-tween the two na8ons.Consequently, even though thetwo South Asian na8ons sharehistoric, cultural, geographic, andeconomic links, their rela8onshiphas been plagued by hos8lity andsuspicion.

A(er the dissolu8on of theBri8sh Raj in 1947, two new sov-ereign na8ons were formed —the Union of India and the Do-minion of Pakistan. The subse-quent par88on of the formerBri8sh India displaced up to 12.5million people, with es8mates ofloss of life varying from severalhundred thousand to a million.India emerged as a secular na8onwith a Hindu majority popula8onand a large Muslim minoritywhile Pakistan was established asan Islamic republic with an over-whelming Muslim majority popu-la8on.

Soon a(er their independ-ence, India and Pakistan estab-lished diploma8c rela8ons butthe violent par88on and numer-ous territorial disputes wouldovershadow their rela8onship.

Since their independence, thetwo countries have fought threemajor wars, one undeclared warand have been involved in nu-merous armed skirmishes andmilitary standoffs. The Kashmirdispute is the main center-pointof all of these conflicts with theexcep8on of the Indo-PakistanWar of 1971 which resulted in thesecession of East Pakistan (nowcalled Bangladesh).

There have been numerousa9empts to improve the rela8on-ship — notably, the Shimla sum-mit, the Agra summit and theLahore summit. Since the early1980s, rela8ons between the twona8ons soured par8cularly a(erthe Siachen conflict, the intensi-fica8on of Kashmir insurgency in1989, Indian and Pakistani nu-clear tests in 1998 and the 1999Kargil war. Certain confidence-building measures — such as the2003 ceasefire agreement andthe Delhi–Lahore Bus service —were successful in deescala8ngtensions. However, these effortshave been impeded by Pakistan'salleged involvement in variousterrorist ac8vi8es in India. The2001 Indian Parliament a9ack al-most brought the two na8ons onthe brink of a nuclear war. Addi-8onally, the 2008 Mumbai at-tacks (which was carried out byIslamic terrorists from Pakistan)

resulted in a severe blow to theongoing India-Pakistan peacetalks.

Seeds of conflictAbout half a million Muslims andHindus were killed in communalriots following the par88on ofBri8sh India. Millions of Muslimsliving in India and Hindus andSikhs living in Pakistan emigratedin one of the most colossal trans-fers of popula8on in the modernera. Both countries accused eachother of not providing adequatesecurity to the minori8es emi-gra8ng through their territory.This served to increase tensionsbetween the newly-born coun-tries.

According to the Bri8sh planfor the par88on of Bri8sh India,all the 680 princely states wereallowed to decide which of thetwo countries to join. With theexcep8on of a few, most of theMuslim-majority princely-statesacceded to Pakistan while mostof the Hindu-majority princelystates joined India. However, thedecisions of some of the princely-states would shape the Pakistan-India rela8onship considerably, inthe years to come.

Special Study PackageIndia and Rela8on with Neighbour’s

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Junagadh DisputeJunagadh was a state on thesouthwestern end of Gujarat,with the principali8es of Man-avadar, Mangrol and Babriawad.The Arabian Sea stood between itand Pakistan. The state had anoverwhelming Hindu popula8onwhich cons8tuted more than 80%of its ci8zens, while the ruler ofthe state was a Muslim. On Au-gust 15, 1947, the ruler of thestate, Nawab of Junagadh Maha-bat Khan acceded to Pakistan.Pakistan confirmed the accept-ance of the accession in Septem-ber 1947. India did not accept theaccession as legi8mate.

The Indian point of view wasthat since Junagadh was a statewith a predominantly Hindu pop-ula8on it should be a part ofIndia. Addi8onally, since the statewas encircled by Indian territoryit should have been a part ofIndia. Indian poli8cians alsostated that by giving Pakistan apredominantly Hindu region togovern, the basis of the two na-8on theory was contradicted.

The Pakistani point of viewwas that since Junagadh had aruler and governing body whochose to accede to Pakistan, theyshould be allowed to do so. Juna-gadh, having a coastline, couldhave maintained mari8me linkswith Pakistan. Addi8onally, Pak-istani poli8cians stated that thetwo na8on theory did not neces-sarily mean a clear division ofland and absolute transfer ofpopula8ons as the sheer magni-tude of such a proceeding wouldwreak havoc upon millions.

Neither of the ten stateswere able to resolve this issueamicably and it only added fuel toan already charged environment.

Sardar Patel, India's then

Home Minister, felt that if Juna-gadh was permi9ed to go to Pak-istan, it would create communalunrest across Gujarat. The gov-ernment of India gave Pakistan8me to void the accession andhold a plebiscite in Junagadh topre empt any violence in Gujarat.Samaldas Gandhi formed a gov-ernment-in-exile, the Arzi Huku-mat of the people of Junagadh.Patel ordered the annexa8on ofJunagadh's three principali8es.

Kashmir DisputeKashmir was a princely state,ruled by a Hindu king, MaharajaHari Singh. The Maharaja of Kash-mir was equally hesitant to joineither India–, because he knewhis Muslim subjects would notlike to join a Hindu-based andHindu-majority na8on or Pak-istan– which as a Hindu he waspersonally averse to. Pakistancoveted the Himalayan kingdom,while Indian leader MahatmaGandhi and Indian PM JawaharlalNehru hoped that the kingdomwould join India. Hari Singhsigned a Stands8ll Agreement(preserving status quo) with Pak-istan, but did not make his deci-sion by August 15, 1947.

Rumours spread in Pakistanthat Hari Singh was trying to ac-cede Kashmir to India. Alarmedby this threat, a team of Pakistaniforces were dispatched into Kash-mir, fearing an Indian invasion ofthe region. Backed by Pakistaniparamilitary forces, Pashtuns in-vaded Kashmir in September1947. Kashmir's security forceswere too weak and ill-equippedto fight against Pakistan. Troubledby the deteriora8ng poli8calpressure that was being appliedto Hari Singh and his governance,the Maharaja asked for India's

help. However, the Cons8tu8onof India barred the Indian ArmedForces' interven8on since Kash-mir did not come under India's ju-risdic8on. Desperate to getIndia's help and get Kashmir backin his own control, the Maharajaacceded Kashmir to India (whichwas against the will of the major-ity of Kashmiris), and signed theInstrument of Accession. By this8me the raiders were close to thecapital, Srinagar. On October 27,1947, the Indian Air Force air-dropped Indian troops into Srina-gar and made an interven8on.The Indian troops managed toseize parts of Kashmir which in-cluded Jammu, Srinagar and theKashmir valley itself, but thestrong and intense figh8ng,flagged with the onset of winter,made much of the state impassa-ble. A(er weeks of intense fight-ing between Pakistan and India,Pakistani leaders and the IndianPrime Minister Nehru declared aceasefire and sought U.N. arbitra-8on with the promise of aplebiscite. Sardar Patel had ar-gued against both, describingKashmir as a bilateral dispute andits accession as jus8fied by inter-na8onal law. In 1957, north-west-ern Kashmir was fully integratedinto Pakistan, becoming AzadKashmir (Pakistan-administeredKashmir), while the other por8onwas acceded to Indian control,and the state of Jammu and Kash-mir (Indian-administered Kash-mir) was created. In 1962, Chinaoccupied Aksai Chin, the north-eastern region bordering Ladakh.In 1984, India launched Opera-8on Meghdoot and capturedmore than 80% of the SiachenGlacier.

Pakistan maintains Kashmiris'rights to self-determina8onthrough a plebiscite in accor-


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dance with an earlier Indianstatement and a UN resolu8on.Pakistan also points to India's fail-ure of not understanding its ownpoli8cal logic and applying it toKashmir, by taking their opinionon the case of the accession ofJunagadh as an example (that theHindu majority state should havegone to India even though it hada Muslim ruler), that Kashmirshould also righ7ully and legallyhave become a part of Pakistansince majority of the people wereMuslim, even though they had aHindu ruler. Pakistan also statesthat at the very least, the prom-ised plebiscite should be allowedto decide the fate of the Kashmiripeople.

India on the other hand as-serts that the Maharaja's deci-sion, which was the norm forevery other princely state at the8me of independence, and sub-sequent elec8ons, for over 40years, on Kashmir has made it anintegral part of India. This opinionhas o(en become controversial,as Pakistan asserts that the deci-sion of the ruler of Junagadh alsoadhered to Pakistan. Due to allsuch poli8cal differences, this dis-pute has also been the subject ofwars between the two countriesin 1947 and 1965, and a limitedconflict in 1999. Thestate/province remains dividedbetween the two countries bythe Line of Control (LoC), whichdemarcates the ceasefire lineagreed upon in the 1947 conflict.

Other TerritorialDisputes

Pakistan is locked in other territo-rial disputes with India such asthe Siachen Glacier and KoriCreek. Pakistan is also currentlyhaving dialogue with India re-

garding the Baglihar Dam beingbuilt over the River Chenab inJammu and Kashmir.

Bengal refugeecrisis

In 1949, India recorded close to 1million Hindu refugees, whoflooded into West Bengal andother states from EastPakistan(Now Bangladesh),owing to communal violence, in-8mida8on and repression fromauthori8es. The plight of therefugees outraged Hindus and In-dian na8onalists, and the refugeepopula8on drained the resourcesof Indian states, which were un-able to absorb them. While notruling out war, Prime MinisterNehru and Sardar Patel invited Li-aquat Ali Khan for talks in Delhi.Although many Indians termedthis appeasement, Nehru signeda pact with Liaquat Ali Khan thatpledged both na8ons to the pro-tec8on of minori8es and crea8onof minority commissions. Al-though opposed to the principle,Patel decided to back this Pact forthe sake of peace, and played acri8cal role in garnering supportfrom West Bengal and acrossIndia, and enforcing the provi-sions of the Pact. Khan and Nehrualso signed a trade agreement,and commi9ed to resolving bilat-eral disputes through peacefulmeans. Steadily, hundreds ofthousands of Hindus returned toEast Pakistan, but the thaw in re-la8ons did not last long, primarilyowing to the Kashmir dispute.

1971 BangladeshLiberation War

Pakistan, since independence,was geo-poli8cally divided intotwo major regions, West Pakistan

and East Pakistan. East Pakistanwas occupied mostly by Bengalipeople. In December 1971, fol-lowing a poli8cal crisis in EastPakistan, the situa8on soon spi-ralled out of control in East Pak-istan and India intervened infavour of the rebelling Bengalipopulace. The conflict, a brief butbloody war, resulted in an inde-pendence of East Pakistan. In thewar, the Pakistani army swi(ly fellto India, forcing the independ-ence of East Pakistan, which sep-arated and became Bangladesh.The Pakistani military, being athousand miles from its base andsurrounded by enemies, wasforced to give in.

Simla AgreementSince the 1971 war, Pakistan andIndia have made only slowprogress towards the normalisa-8on of rela8ons. In July 1972, In-dian Prime Minister Indira Gandhiand Pakistani President ZulfikarAli Bhu9o met in the Indian hillsta8on of Simla. They signed theSimla Agreement, by which Indiawould return all Pakistani person-nel (over 90,000) and capturedterritory in the west, and the twocountries would "se9le their dif-ferences by peaceful meansthrough bilateral nego8a8ons."Diploma8c and trade rela8onswere also re-established in 1976.

Afghanistan crisisA(er the 1979 Soviet war inAfghanistan where Soviet Unionmilitary Occupied Afghanistan,new strains appeared in Indo-Pakistani rela8ons. Pakistan ac-8vely supported the Afghanresistance against the SovietUnion, which was a close ally ofIndia, which brought opposing


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poli8cal opinions.The Taliban regime in

Afghanistan was strongly sup-ported by Pakistan - one of thefew countries to do so - beforethe September 11 a9acks. India,on the other hand, firmly op-posed the Taliban and cri8cisedPakistan for suppor8ng it.

Agreements, talks,and confidence build-

ing measuresIn the following eight years, Indiavoiced increasing concern overPakistani arms purchases, U.S.military aid to Pakistan, and aclandes8ne nuclear weaponsprogramme. In an effort to curtailtensions, the two countriesformed a joint commission to ex-amine disputes. In December1988, Prime Ministers BenazirBhu9o and Rajiv Gandhi con-cluded a pact not to a9ack eachother's nuclear facili8es. Agree-ments on cultural exchanges andcivil avia8on were also ini8ated.

In 1997, high-level Indo-Pak-istan talks resumed a(er a three-year pause. The Prime Ministersof Pakistan and India met twiceand the foreign secretaries con-ducted three rounds of talks. InJune 1997, the foreign secretariesiden8fied eight "outstanding is-sues" around which con8nuingtalks would be focused. The dis-pute over the status of Kashmir,(referred by India as Jammu andKashmir), an issue since Inde-pendence, remains the majorstumbling block in their dialogue.India maintains that the en8reformer princely state is an inte-gral part of the Indian union,while Pakistan insists that UN res-olu8ons calling for self-determi-na8on of the people of thestate/province must be taken into

account. It however refuses toabide by the previous part of theresolu8on, which calls for it to va-cate all territories occupied.

In September 1997, the talksbroke down over the structure ofhow to deal with the issues ofKashmir, and peace and security.Pakistan advocated that the is-sues be treated by separateworking groups. India respondedthat the two issues be taken upalong with six others on a simul-taneous basis. In May 1998 India,and then Pakistan, conducted nu-clear tests.

A(er Manmohan Singh be-come prime minister of India thePunjab provincial Governmentdeclared it would develop Gah,his place of birth, as a model vil-lage in his honour and name aschool a(er him. There is also avillage in India named Pakistan,despite occasional pressure overthe years to change its name thevillagers have resisted.

2001 Gujarat Earth-quake in India

Pakistani President PervezMushrraf sent a plane load of re-lief supplies to India from Islam-abad to Ahmedabad. That carried200 tents and more than 2,000Blankets. Furthermore the Presi-dent called Indian PM to expresshis 'sympathy' over the loss fromthe earthquake.

2005 Earthquake inPakistan

India offered generous aid to Pak-istan in response to the 2005Earthquake. Indian and PakistaniHigh Commissioners consultedwith one another regarding coop-era8on in relief work. India sent25 tonnes of relief material to

Pakistan including food, blanketsand medicine. Large Indian com-panies such as Infosys have of-fered aid up to $226,000. OnOctober 12, an Ilyushin-76 cargoplane ferried across seven truck-loads (about 82 tons) of armymedicines, 15,000 blankets and50 tents and returned to NewDelhi. A senior airforce officialalso stated that they had beenasked by the Indian governmentto be ready to fly out anothersimilar consignment. On October14, India dispatched the secondconsignment of relief material toPakistan, by train through theWagah Border. The consignmentincluded 5,000 blankets, 370tents, 5 tons of plas8c sheets and12 tons of medicine. A third con-signment of medicine and reliefmaterial was also sent shortly af-terwards by train. India alsopledged $25 million as aid to Pak-istan. India opened the first ofthree points at Chakan Da Bagh,in Poonch, on the Line of Control(LoC) between India and Pakistanfor the 2005 Kashmir earthquakerelief work. (Rediff) Such gener-ous gestures signalled a new agein confidence, friendliness andcoopera8on between both Indiaand Pakistan.

2007 Samjhauta Ex-press bombings

The 2007 Samjhauta Expressbombings was a terrorist a9acktargeted on the Samjhauta Ex-press train on the 18th of Febru-ary. The Samjhauta Express is aninterna8onal train that runs fromNew Delhi, India to Lahore, Pak-istan, and is one of two trains tocross the India-Pakistan border.


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2008 Mumbai attacksThe 2008 Mumbai a9acks by tenterrorists killed over 173 andwounded 308. The sole survivinggunman Ajmal Kasab who was ar-rested during the a9acks wasfound to be a Pakistani na8onal.This fact was acknowledged byPakistani authori8es. In May2010, an Indian court convictedhim on four counts of murder,waging war against India, conspir-acy and terrorism offences, andsentenced him to death.

India blamed the Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistan-based militantgroup, for planning and execu8ngthe a9acks. Islamabad resistedthe claims and demanded evi-dence. India provided evidence inthe form of interroga8ons,weapons, candy wrappers, Pak-istani Brand Milk Packets, andtelephone sets. Indian officialsdemanded Pakistan extradite sus-pects for trial. They also said that,given the sophis8ca8on of the at-tacks, the perpetrators "musthave had the support of some of-ficial agencies in Pakistan".

Terrorism in Jammuand Kashmir

Terrorist a9acks on Jammu &Kashmir State Assembly: A carbomb exploded near the Jammuand Kashmir State Assembly onOctober 1, 2001, killing 27 peopleon an a9ack that was blamed onKashmiri separa8sts. It was oneof the most prominent a9acksagainst India apart from on theIndian Parliament in December2001. The dead bodies of the ter-rorists and the data recoveredfrom them revealed that Pakistanwas solely responsible for the ac-8vity.• 1997 Sangrampora massacre:

On March 21, 1997, 7 Kash-miri Pandits were killed inSangrampora village in theBudgam district.

• Wandhama Massacre: In Jan-uary 1998, 24 Kashmiri Pan-dits living in the cityWandhama were killed by Is-lamic terrorists.

• Qasim Nagar A9ack: On July13, 2003, armed men be-lieved to be a part of theLashkar-e-Toiba threw handgrenades at the Qasim Nagarmarket in Srinagar and thenfired on civilians standingnearby killing twenty-sevenand injuring many more.

• Assassina8on of Abdul GhaniLone: Abdul Ghani Lone, aprominent All Party HurriyatConference leader, was assas-sinated by an uniden8fiedgunmen during a memorialrally in Srinagar. The assassi-na8on resulted in wide-scaledemonstra8ons against theIndian occupied-forces forfailing to provide enough se-curity cover for Mr. Lone.

• July 20, 2005 Srinagar Bomb-ing: A car bomb explodednear an armoured IndianArmy vehicle in the famousChurch Lane area in Srinagarkilling four Indian Army per-sonnel, one civilian and thesuicide bomber. Terroristgroup Hizbul Mujahideen,claimed responsibility for thea9ack.

• Budshah Chowk a9ack: A ter-rorist a9ack on July 29, 2005at Srinigar's city centre, Bud-shah Chowk, killed two andle( more than 17 people in-jured. Most of those injuredwere media journalists.

• Murder of Ghulam Nabi Lone:On October 18, 2005 sus-pected Army man killed

Jammu and Kashmir's theneduca8on minister GhulamNabi Lone. No Terrorist groupclaimed responsibility for thea9ack.

Terrorist activitieselsewhere

The a9ack on the Indian Parlia-ment was by far the most dra-ma8c a9ack carried out byPakistani terrorists. India blamedPakistan for carrying out the at-tacks, an allega8on which Pak-istan strongly denied and onethat brought both na8ons to thebrink of a nuclear confronta8onin 2001-02. However, interna-8onal peace efforts ensured thecooling of tensions between thetwo nuclear-capable na8ons.

Apart from this, the most no-table was the hijacking of IndianAirlines Flight IC 814 en routeNew Delhi from Kathmandu,Nepal. The plane was hijacked onDecember 24, 1999 approxi-mately one hour a(er take offand was taken to Amritsar airportand then to Lahore in Pakistan.A(er refueling the plane took offfor Dubai and then finally landedin Kandahar, Afghanistan. Underintense media pressure, NewDelhi complied with the hijackers'demand and freed Maulana Ma-sood Azhar from its cap8vity inreturn for the freedom of the In-dian passengers on the flight. Thedecision, however, cost NewDelhi dearly. Maulana, who is be-lieved to be hiding in Karachi,later became the leader of Jaish-e-Mohammed, an organisa8onwhich has carried out several ter-rorist acts against Indian SecurityForces in Kashmir.

On December 22, 2000, agroup of terrorists belonging tothe Lashkar-e-Toiba stormed the


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famous Red Fort in New Delhi.The Fort houses an Indian mili-tary unit and a high-security in-terroga8on cell used both by theCentral Bureau of Inves8ga8onand the Indian Army. The terror-ists successfully breached the se-curity cover around the Red Fortand opened fire at the Indian mil-itary personnel on duty killingtwo of them on spot. The a9ackwas significant because it wascarried out just two days a(er thedeclara8on of the cease-fire be-tween India and Pakistan.

Two Kashmiri terrorists be-longing to Jaish-e-Mohammedraided the Swami Narayan tem-ple complex in Ahmedabad, Gu-jarat killing 30 people, including18 women and five children. Thea9ack was carried out on Sep-tember 25, 2002, just few daysa(er state elec8ons were held inJammu and Kashmir. Two iden8-cal le9ers found on both the ter-rorists claimed that the a9ackwas done in retalia8on for thedeaths of thousands of Muslimsduring the Gujarat riots.

Two car bombs exploded insouth Mumbai on August 25,2003; one near the Gateway ofIndia and the other at the famousZaveri Bazaar, killing at least 48and injuring 150 people. Thoughno terrorist group claimed re-sponsibility for the a9acks, Mum-bai Police and RAW suspectedLashkar-e-Toiba's hand in thetwin blasts.

In an unsuccessful a9empt,six terrorists belonging toLashkar-e-Toiba, stormed the Ay-odhya Ram Janmbhomi complexon July 5, 2005. Before the terror-ists could reach the main dis-puted site, they were shot downby Indian security forces. OneHindu worshipper and two po-licemen were injured during the

incident.

Alleged Humanrights violations

by IndiaA report by the Human RightsWatch, stated two main reasonsfor the improving human rightscondi8on in the region: First, sin-cere efforts were made by thenew Jammu and Kashmir stategovernment headed by Mu(iMuhammad Sayeed to inves8-gate cases of human rightsabuses in the state and to punishthose guilty including Indian sol-diers. More than 15 Indian armysoldiers were convicted by the In-dian government in 2004 for car-rying out human rights abuses inthe state. Second, the decrease incross-border infiltra8on into Indiaby armed insurgents.

Developments since2004

Violent ac8vi8es in the region de-clined in 2004. There are twomain reasons for this: warming ofrela8ons between New Delhi andIslamabad which consequentlylead to a ceasefire between thetwo countries in 2003 and thefencing of the LOC being carriedout by the Indian Army. More-over, coming under intense inter-na8onal pressure, Islamabad wascompelled to take ac8ons againstthe militants' training camps onits territory. In 2004, the twocountries also agreed upon de-creasing the number of troopspresent in the region.

Under pressure, Kashmiri mil-itant organisa8ons have made anoffer for talks and nego8a8onswith New Delhi, which India haswelcomed.

India's Border Security Force

blamed the Pakistani military forproviding cover-fire for the ter-rorists whenever they infiltratedinto Indian territory from Pak-istan. Pakistan has in turn hasalso blamed India for providingsupport for terrorist groups insidePakistan such as the MQM

In 2005, Pakistan's informa-8on minister, Sheikh Rashid, wasalleged to have run a terroristtraining camp in 1990 in N.W.Fron8er, Pakistan. The Pakistanigovernment dismissed thecharges against its minister as ana9empt to hamper the ongoingpeace process between the twoneighbours.

Both India and Pakistan havelaunched several mutual confi-dence-building measures (CBMs)to ease tensions between thetwo. These include more high-level talks, easing visa restric-8ons, and restar8ng of cricketmatches between the two. Thenew bus service between Srina-gar and Muzaffarabad has alsohelped bring the two sides closer.Pakistan and India have also de-cided to co-operate on economicfronts.

A major clash between IndianSecurity Forces and militants oc-curred when a group of insur-gents tried to infiltrate into theIndian-administered Kashmirfrom Pakistan in July 2005. Thesame month also saw a Kashmirimilitant a9ack on Ayodhya andSrinagar. However, these devel-opments had li9le impact on thepeace process.Some improvements in the rela-8ons are seen with the re-open-ing of a series of transporta8onnetworks near the India–Pakistanborder, with the most importantbeing bus routes and railwaylines.An Indian man held in Pakistani


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prisons since 1975 as an accusedspy walked across the border tofreedom March 3, 2008, an un-condi8onal release that Pakistansaid was done to improve rela-8ons between the two countries.In 2006, a "Friends Without Bor-ders" scheme began with thehelp of two Bri8sh tourists. Theidea was that Indian and Pak-istani children would make penpals and write friendly le9ers toeach other. The idea was so suc-cessful in both countries that theorganisa8on found it "impossibleto keep up". The World's LargestLove Le9er was recently sentfrom India to Pakistan.In April 2010 a high profile Pak-istani cricketer, Shoaib Malik mar-ried the Indian tennis star SaniaMirza. The wedding receivedmuch media a9en8on and wassaid to transfix both India andPakistan.

Kargil crisisA9empts to restart dialogue be-tween the two na8ons weregiven a major boost by the Febru-ary 1999 mee8ng of both PrimeMinisters in Lahore and theirsigning of three agreements.These efforts have since beenstalled by the intrusion of Pak-istani forces into Indian territorynear Kargil in Jammu and Kashmirin May 1999. This resulted in in-tense figh8ng between Indianand Pakistani forces, known asthe Kargil conflict. Backed by theIndian Air Force, the Indian Armysuccessfully regained Kargil. Asubsequent military coup in Pak-istan that overturned the demo-cra8cally elected Nawaz Sharifgovernment in October of thesame year also proved a setbackto rela8ons.

In 2001, a summit was called

in Agra; Pakistani President Per-vez Musharraf turned up to meetIndian Prime Minister Atal BehariVajpayee. The talks fell through.

On June 20, 2004, with a newgovernment in place in India,both countries agreed to extenda nuclear tes8ng ban and to setup a hotline between their for-eign secretaries aimed at pre-ven8ng misunderstandings thatmight lead to a nuclear war.

As of early 2005, both coun-tries are commi9ed to a processof dialogue to solve all outstand-ing issues. Baglihar Dam issuewas a new issue raised by Pak-istan in 2005.

Sporting tiesCricket and hockey matches be-tween the two (as well as othersports to a lesser degree such asthose of the SAARC games) haveo(en been poli8cal in nature.During the Soviet invasion ofAfghanistan Generah Zia-ul Haqtraveled to India for a bout of"cricket diplomacy" to keep Indiafrom suppor8ng the Soviets byopening another front. PervezMusharaff also tried to do thesame more than a decade laterbut to no avail.

Diasporic relationsIndians and Pakistanis living inthe Britain are said to havefriendly rela8ons with one an-other. There are various ci8essuch as Birmingham, Blackburnand Manchester where bothcommuni8es live alongside eachother in peace and harmony.Both Indians and Pakistanis livingin the UK fit under the categoryof Bri8sh Asian. The UK is alsohome to the Pakistan & Indiafriendship forum.

The MEP Saj Karim is of Pak-istani origin. He is a member ofthe European Parliament Friendsof India Group, Karim was also re-sponsible for opening up Europeto free trade with India. He hasgiven his full support to the In-dian government for a death sen-tence to be given to Ajmal Kasab,who was involved in the 2008Mumbai a9acks.

Afghanistan–Indiarelations

Bilateral rela8ons between theRepublic of India and the IslamicState of Afghanistan have beentradi8onally strong and friendly.While the Republic of India wasthe only South Asian country torecognise the Soviet-backedDemocra8c Republic ofAfghanistan in the 1980s, its rela-8ons were diminished during theAfghan civil wars and the rule ofthe Islamist Taliban in the 1990s.India aided the overthrow of theTaliban and became the largestregional provider of humanitar-ian and reconstruc8on aid. In thea(ermath of the 2008 Indian em-bassy bombing in Kabul, theAfghan Foreign Ministry quotedIndia as a "brother country" andthe rela8onship between the twoas one which "no enemy canhamper". While the Gilgit-Bal8stan region of Kashmir whichborders Wakhan is under Pak-istani control, it is claimed byIndia as a border between the na-8ons.

HistoryIndia has been ruled by Afghankingdoms in the past, before theMughal era although theseAfghan kingdoms were chiefly


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iden8fied as Pashtun, contrary tothe current defini8on of the de-nonym "Afghan" now. India holdsIndian Muslims of Pashtun origin,used to iden8fy themselves asIndo-Afghans. Some Pathans ofIndia, including the Rohillas iden-8fy their ancestral roots to pres-ent day Afghanistan, such asKabul, while others iden8fy theirroots such as Peshewar and con-sidered themselves Afghan be-fore the Durrand agreement.Many prominent Indians iden8-fied themselves chiefly as"Afghans" but considered the his-torical Pashtun defini8on, not thelater ci8zenship-like defini8on ofAfghans today which includedafghanistan inhabi9ants and ex-cludes Pashtuns not indegenousto the present borders ofAfghanistan. Such are Shah RukhKhan, a well known celebrity whois Afghan(Pashtun) by ethnicity.even though establishing claims,some Indian Muslims being to-tally from ancestral regions suchPeshawar which is not part ofAfghanistan anymore, wouldiden8fy as Indo-Afghans, fromhistorical folktales preceding par-88on of Afghanistan.

The Suri dynasty and theKhilji dynas8es were 2 known dy-nas8es from India, that ruled dur-ing the middle-ages as Islamicstates, and were chiefly iden8fiedas Afghan/Pashtun, un8l overruled by Mughals. Eventually, thelast dynasty was the Durrani em-pire, which had bi9er rela8on-ships with the Mughals, ceased topower, a(er being overrun by theSikh Empire during an a9empt toannex Amritsar, causing the Dur-rand agreement by the Bri8shEmpire, leaving Afghanistan in it'spresent state a(er failed at-tempts to colonize further intoAfghanistan.

BackgroundAfghanistan borders the North-West Fron8er Province (NWFP)which prior to 1947 was part ofBri8sh India and dominated bythe Indian Congress party, it con-tains a significant Pashtun popu-la8on that par8cipatedextensively in the Indian inde-pendence movement. Everythingchanged and a(er 1947 theNWFP became a part of Pakistan,the Republic of India and themodern State of Afghanistanmaintained significant culturaland economic links. Films andmusic of India are widely popularin Afghanistan and Afghan prod-ucts such as carpets, nuts andfruit are exported to India. Formost of their independent his-tory, both na8ons have enjoyedtradi8onally friendly rela8onsand have cooperated over re-spec8ve conflicts with Pakistan.Since April 2007, Afghanistan iseighth member of SAARC a(erIndia endorsed Afghan full mem-bership.

Civil wars andTaliban

The Republic of India was theonly South Asian na8on to recog-nise the Soviet-backed Demo-cra8c Republic of Afghanistanand the Soviet Union's militarypresence in Afghan territories,and provided humanitarian aid tothe country. Following the with-drawal of the Soviet armed forcesfrom Afghanistan in 1989, repub-lic of India and the interna8onalcommunity supported the coali-8on government that took con-trol, but rela8ons and contactsended with the outbreak of an-other civil war, which brought topower the Taliban, an Islamistmili8a supported by Pakistan. The

Taliban regime was recognisedonly by Pakistan, Saudi Arabia,and the United Arab Emirates(UAE). The rise of Islamism inAfghanistan and the prolifera8onof Afghan mujahideen in the mil-itancy in Indian-administeredKashmir turned the Taliban andAfghanistan into a security threatfor the Government of India. Thedestruc8on of the Bamiyan Bud-dha monuments by the Talibanled to outrage and angry protestsby India, the birthplace of Bud-dhism. In 1999, the Indian Air-lines Flight 814 hijacked byPakistani Muslim ISI agentslanded and stayed in Kandahar inAfghanistan and the Taliban andPakistan's Inter-Services Intelli-gence (ISI) were suspected ofsuppor8ng them. India becameone of the key supporters of thean8-Taliban Northern Alliance.

Post-2001During the U.S.-led invasion ofAfghanistan in 2001, India offeredintelligence and other forms ofsupport for the Coali8on forces.A(er the overthrow of the Tal-iban, India established diploma8crela8ons with the newly-estab-lished democra8c government,provided aid and par8cipated inthe reconstruc8on efforts. Indiahas provided US$ 650-750 millionin humanitarian and economicaid, making it the largest regionalprovider of aid for Afghanistan.The Indian Army's Border RoadsOrganisa8on is construc8ng amajor road in the remote Afghanprovince of Nimroz. India's sup-port and collabora8on extends torebuilding of air links, powerplants and inves8ng in health andeduca8on sectors as well as help-ing to train Afghan civil servants,diplomats and police. India also


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seeks the development of supplylines of electricity, oil and naturalgas.

Both na8ons also developedstrategic and military coopera8onagainst Islamic militants. Owingto the killing of an Indian na8onalby Taliban militants in November2005, India deployed 200 soldiersof the Indo-Tibetan Border Police(ITBP) to provide security for In-dian na8onals and the projectssupported by India. Afghanistanstrengthened its 8es with India inwake of persis8ng tensions andproblems with Pakistan, whichwas suspected of con8nuing toshelter and support the Taliban.India pursues a policy of close co-opera8on in order to bolster itsstanding as a regional power andcontain its rival Pakistan, which issuppor8ng Islamic militants inKashmir and other parts of India.

Three MoUs (memorandumof understanding) for strengthen-ing coopera8on in the fields ofrural development, educa8onand standardiza8on between theBureau of Indian Standards(BIS)and Afghan Na8onal Standardiza-8on Authority were signed be-tween India and Afghanistanduring Hamid Karzai's visit toIndia during 9–13 April 2006. Anagreement providing $50 millionto promote bilateral businessesbetween India and Afghanistanwas signed during the visit of theAfghan Foreign Minister Dr.Spanta between 29 June – 1 July2006. During the same year, Indiaraised its aid package toAfghanistan by $150 million, to$750 million. India also sup-ported Afghanistan's bid to be-come a member of the SouthAsian Associa8on for RegionalCoopera8on (SAARC).

On 7 July 2008 the Indian em-bassy in Kabul was a9acked by a

suicide car bomb - the deadliesta9ack in Kabul since the fall ofthe Taliban in 2001. The bombingkilled 58 people and wounded141. Senior Indian Army officerBrigadier Ravi Da9 Mehta wasentering the embassy gates in acar along with V. VenkateswaraRao when the a9ack took place.Both were killed in the blast. TheAfghan government had claimedthat Pakistan's ISI was involved inthe a9ack.This claim has beenbolstered by the recent leaks ofclassified informa8on by Wik-ileaks.

During the 15th SAARC sum-mit in Colombo, India pledged an-other USD $450 million alongwith $750 million alreadypledged for ongoing and forth-coming projects. In August 2008,Afghan President Hamid Karzaivisited New Delhi. This visit fur-ther strengthened bilateral rela-8ons, and Prime Minister Singhpledged further aid forAfghanistan.

On 18 October 2009, the In-dian Embassy in Kabul was at-tacked again by a car bomb, li9lemore than a year a(er the previ-ous a9ack. The a9ack killed atleast 17 people.

Indians inAfghanistan

Indians in Afghanistan consist ofprofessionals working in variousconstruc8on projects, as part ofIndia's strategic ventures in thedevelopment of Afghanistan.These workers are es8mated tobe anywhere between 3,000 and4,000. In recent 8mes, Indianshave faced increasing securitythreats in the country with kid-nappings and many a9acks, suchas the February 2010 Kabul at-tack, directly intended towards

them.Migra8on from India to

Afghanistan occurred during thelast several centuries, mainlyfrom the Punjab region. The em-igrants mostly belonged to thecategory of retail shopkeepersand general merchants dealing inclothes and consumer items.They se9led down in variousparts of Afghanistan, in par8cularKabul and Jalalabad. In 1990, itwas es8mated that there were45,000 persons of Indian descentin Afghanistan and most of themhad become naturalised Afghanci8zens.

From the take over of the Tal-iban, most residents fled toneighbouring countries and onlya mediocre popula8on of 1,000was le(, 600 of these in Jalalabadand the remaining 400 in Kabul.Many of the Afghan Hindus andSikhs were historically of Indianorigin and were se9led inAfghanistan as a result of theirancestors' migra8on to the land.They had moved out ofAfghanistan prior to the Septem-ber 11 a9acks into Pakistan andsome had a desire to migrate toIndia.

Burma–Indiarelations

Bilateral rela8ons betweenBurma (Union of Myanmar) andthe Republic of India have im-proved considerably since 1993,overcoming strains over drugtrafficking, the suppression ofdemocracy and the rule of themilitary junta in Burma. Burma issituated to the south of the statesof Mizoram, Manipur, Nagalandand Arunachal Pradesh in North-east India. The proximity of thePeople's Republic of China givesstrategic importance to Indo-


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Burmese rela8ons. The Indo-Burmese border stretches over1,600 kilometers.

BackgroundIndia was one of the leading sup-porters of Burmese independ-ence and established diploma8crela8ons a(er Burma's independ-ence from Great Britain in 1948.For many years, Indo-Burmeserela8ons were strong due Burmapreviously having been aprovince of India, due to culturallinks, flourishing commerce, com-mon interests in regional affairsand the presence of a significantIndian community in Burma.India provided considerable sup-port when Burma struggled withregional insurgencies. However,the overthrow of the democra8cgovernment by the Military ofBurma led to strains in 8es. Alongwith much of the world, Indiacondemned the suppression ofdemocracy and Burma orderedthe expulsion of the Burmese In-dian community, increasing itsown isola8on from the world.Only China maintained close linkswith Burma while India sup-ported the pro-democracy move-ment.

A major breakthrough oc-curred in 1987 when the then-In-dian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhivisited Burma, but rela8ons wors-ened a(er the military junta'sbloody repression of pro-democ-racy agita8ons in 1988, which ledto an influx of Burmese refugeesinto India. However, since 1993the governments of the IndianPrime Ministers P.V. NarasimhaRao and Atal Bihari Vajpayeechanged course and began cul8-va8ng 8es with Myanmar, as partof a wider foreign policy ap-proach aimed to increase India's

par8cipa8on and influence inSoutheast Asia and to counteractthe growing influence of the Peo-ple's Republic of China.

Commercial relationsIndia is the largest market forBurmese exports, buying aboutUSD 220 million worth of goodsin 2000; India's exports to Burmastood at USD 75.36 million. Indiais Burma’s 4th largest tradingpartner a(er Thailand, China andSingapore, and second largest ex-port market a(er Thailand, ab-sorbing 25 percent of its totalexports. India is also the seventhmost important source ofBurma’s imports. The govern-ments of India and Burma had seta target of achieving $1 billionand bilateral trade reached USD650 million U.S. dollars by 2006.The Indian government hasworked to extend air, land andsea routes to strengthen tradelinks with Myanmar and establisha gas pipeline. While the involve-ment of India's private sector hasbeen low and growing at a slowpace, both governments are pro-ceeding to enhance coopera8onin agriculture, telecommunica-8ons, informa8on technology,steel, oil, natural gas, hydrocar-bons and food processing. The bi-lateral border trade agreement of1994 provides for border trade tobe carried out from three desig-nated border points, one each inManipur, Mizoram and Nagaland.On February 13, 2001 India andBurma inaugurated a major 160kilometre highway, called theIndo-Myanmar Friendship Road,built mainly by the Indian Army'sBorder Roads Organisa8on andaimed to provide a major strate-gic and commercial transportroute connec8ng North-East

India which connects South Asiawith Southeast Asia.

Development ofstrategic ties

India's move to forge close rela-8ons with Burma are mo8vatedby a desire to counter China'sgrowing influence as a regionalleader and enhance its own influ-ence and standing. Concerns andtensions increased in India overChina's extensive military cooper-a8on and involvement in devel-oping ports, naval andintelligence facili8es and indus-tries, specifically the upgrading ofa naval base in Si9we, a majorseaport located close to the east-ern Indian city of Kolkata. India'sengagement of the Burmese mil-itary junta has helped ease theregime's interna8onal isola8onand lessen Burma's tradi8onal re-liance on China. Both na8onssought to cooperate to counter-act drug trafficking and insurgentgroups opera8ng in the borderareas. India and Myanmar areleading members of BIMSTEC andthe Mekong-Ganga Coopera8on,along with Vietnam, Laos, Cam-bodia and Thailand, helping Indiadevelop its influence and 8esamongst Southeast Asian na-8ons. India was slow and hesitantin reac8ng to the 2007 Burmesean8-government protests thathad drawn overwhelming inter-na8onal condemna8on. Indiaalso declared that it had no inten-8on of interfering in Burma's in-ternal affairs and that theBurmese people would have toachieve democracy themselves.This low-key response has beenwidely cri8cised both within Indiaand abroad as weakening India'screden8als as a leading demo-cra8c na8on.


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Sino-Indianrelations

Sino-Indian rela8ons, also calledIndo-China rela8ons, refer to the8es and rela8ons between thePeople's Republic of China andthe Republic of India. The eco-nomic and diploma8c impor-tance of China and India, whichare the two most populous statesand the world's fastest growingmajor economies, has in recentyears increased the significanceof their bilateral rela8onship.

Rela8ons between China andIndia date back to ancient 8mes.China and India are two of theworld’s oldest civiliza8ons andhave coexisted in peace for mil-lennia. Trade rela8ons via the SilkRoad acted as economic contactbetween the two regions. How-ever, since the early 1950s, theirrela8onship has been character-ized by border disputes, resul8ngin military conflict (the Sino-In-dian War of 1962, the Chola inci-dent in 1967, and the 1987Sino-Indian skirmish).

Both countries have in recentyears successfully a9empted toreignite diploma8c and economic8es, and consequently, the twocountries' rela8ons have becomecloser. Today, China is India'slargest trading partner, and hasrecently reverted its stance onIndia's bid for a UNSC seat, a(erChinese assistant Foreign Minis-ter Kong Quan formally declaredthat China will back India's UNSCbid. Today, India is a main sellerof Iron ore to China, and fills thedesperate need of natural re-sources for the na8on.

Today, China and India bothhave close economic and military8es. In 2005, China and India an-nounced a "strategic partner-

ship". China and India con8nue tostrengthen their rela8ons. Tradebetween China and India con8n-ues to grow. Many have agreedthat Sino-Indian rela8ons haveentered maturity period.

Geographicaloverview

China and India are separated bythe formidable geographical ob-stacles of the Himalayan moun-tain chain. China and India todayshare a border along the Hi-malayas and Nepal and Bhutan,two states lying along the Hi-malaya range, and ac8ng asbuffer states. In addi8on, the dis-puted Kashmir province (claimedby Pakistan) borders both thePRC and India. As Pakistan hastense rela8ons with India, Kash-mir's state of unrest serves as anatural ally to the PRC.

Two territories are currentlydisputed between the People'sRepublic of China and India: AksaiChin and Arunachal Pradesh.Arunachal Pradesh is locatednear the far east of India, whileAksai Chin is located near thenorthwest corner of India, at thejunc8on of India, Pakistan, andthe PRC. However, all sides in thedispute have agreed to respectthe Line of Actual Control andthis border dispute is not widelyseen as a major flashpoint.

Early history

AntiquityIndia and China had rela8vely lit-tle modern poli8cal contact be-fore the 1950s. However, bothcountries have had extensive andclose historical cultural contactsince the first century, especiallywith the transmission of Bud-

dhism from India to China. Traderela8ons via the Silk Road actedas economic contact between thetwo regions.

China and India have also hadsome contact before the trans-mission of Buddhism. Referencesto a people called the Chinas,now believed to be the Chinese,are found in ancient Indian litera-ture. The Indian epic Mahab-harata (c. 5th century BC)contains references to "China",which may have been referring tothe Qin state which later becamethe Qin Dynasty. Chanakya (c.350-283 BC), the prime ministerof the Maurya Empire and a pro-fessor at Takshashila University,refers to Chinese silk as "cinam-suka" (Chinese silk dress) and"cinapa9a" (Chinese silk bundle)in his Arthashastra.

In the Records of the GrandHistorian, Zhang Qian (d. 113 BC)and Sima Qian (145-90 BC) makereferences to "Shendu", whichmay have been referring to theIndus Valley (the Sindh provincein modern Pakistan), originallyknown as "Sindhu" in Sanskrit.When Yunnan was annexed bythe Han Dynasty in the first cen-tury, Chinese authori8es re-ported an Indian "Shendu"community living there.

Middle AgesA(er the transmission of Bud-dhism from India to China fromthe first century onwards, manyIndian scholars and monks trav-elled to China, such as Batuo (fl.464-495 AD)—founder of theShaolin Monastery—and Bodhid-harma—founder of Chan/ZenBuddhism—while many Chinesescholars and monks also travelledto India, such as Xuanzang (b.604) and I Ching (635-713), both


of whom were students at Na-landa University in Bihar. Xuan-zang wrote the Great TangRecords on the Western Regions,an account of his journey to India,which later inspired WuCheng'en's Ming Dynasty novelJourney to the West, one of theFour Great Classical Novels ofChinese literature.

Tang and Harshadynasties

During the 7th century, Tang Dy-nasty China gained control overlarge por8ons of the Silk Roadand Central Asia. Wang Xuancehad sent a diploma8c mission tonorthern India, which was em-broiled by civil war just followingthe death of Emperor Harsha(590–647). A(er the murder of30 members of this mission byusurper claiments to the throne,Wang fled, and returned with al-lied Nepali and Tibetan troops toback the opposing claimant. Withhis forces, Wang besieged andcaptured the capital, while hisdeputy Jiang Shiren captured theusurper and sent him back to Em-peror Tang Taizong (599-649) inChang'an as a prisoner.

During the 8th century, theastronomical table of sines by theIndian astronomer and mathe-ma8cian, Aryabhata (476-550),were translated into the Chineseastronomical and mathema8calbook of the Trea8se on Astrologyof the Kaiyuan Era (Kaiyuan Zhan-jing), compiled in 718 AD duringthe Tang Dynasty. The KaiyuanZhanjing was compiled by Gau-tama Siddha, an astronomer andastrologer born in Chang'an, andwhose family was originally fromIndia. He was also notable for histransla8on of the Navagraha cal-endar into Chinese.

Ming dynastyBetween 1405 and 1433, theMing Dynasty China sponsored aseries of seven naval expedi8ons.Emperor Yongle designed themto establish a Chinese presence,impose imperial control overtrade, and impress foreign peoplein the Indian Ocean basin. He alsomight have wanted to extend thetributary system, by which Chi-nese dynas8es tradi8onally rec-ognized foreign peoples.

Admiral Zheng He was dis-patched to lead a series of hugenaval expedi8ons to explorethese regions. The largest of hisvoyages included over 317 shipsand 28,000 men, and the largestof his treasure ships were over126.73 m in length. During hisvoyages, he visited numerous In-dian kingdoms and ports. On thefirst three voyages, Zheng He vis-ited southeast Asia, India, andCeylon. The fourth expedi8onwent to the Persian Gulf and Ara-bia, and later expedi8ons ven-tured down the east Africancoast, as far as Malindi in what isnow Kenya. Throughout his trav-els, Zheng He liberally dispensedChinese gi(s of silk, porcelain,and other goods. In return, he re-ceived rich and unusual presentsfrom his hosts, including Africanzebras and giraffes that endedtheir days in the Ming imperialzoo. Zheng He and his companypaid respects to local dei8es andcustoms, and in Ceylon theyerected a monument (Galle Trilin-gual Inscrip8on) honouring Bud-dha, Allah, and Vishnu.

Sino-Sikh WarIn the 18th to 19th centuries, theSikh Confederacy of the Punjabregion in India was expandinginto neighbouring lands. It had

annexed Ladakh into the state ofJammu in 1834. In 1841, they in-vaded Tibet with an army andoverran parts of western Tibet.Chinese forces defeated the Sikharmy in December 1841, forcingthe Sikh army to withdraw fromTibet, and in turn entered Ladakhand besieged Leh, where theywere in turn defeated by the SikhArmy. At this point, neither sidewished to con8nue the conflict,as the Sikhs were embroiled intensions with the Bri8sh thatwould lead up to the First Anglo-Sikh War, while the Chinese wasin the midst of the First OpiumWar with the Bri8sh East IndiaCompany. The Chinese and theSikhs signed a treaty in Septem-ber 1842, which s8pulated notransgressions or interference inthe other country's fron8ers.

After independenceJawaharlal Nehru based his visionof "resurgent Asia" on friendshipbetween the two largest states ofAsia; his vision of an interna8on-alist foreign policy governed bythe ethics of the Panchsheel,which he ini8ally believed wasshared by China, came to griefwhen it became clear that thetwo countries had a conflict of in-terest in Tibet, which had tradi-8onally served as a geographicaland poli8cal buffer zone, andwhere India believed it had inher-ited special privileges from theBri8sh Raj.

However, the ini8al focus ofthe leaders of both the na8onswas not the foreign policy, butthe internal development of theirrespec8ve states. When they didconcentrate on the foreign poli-cies, their concern wasn’t one an-other, but rather the UnitedStates of America and the Unionof Soviet Socialist Republics and


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the alliance systems which domi-nated by the two superpowers.

1950sOn October 1, 1949 the People’sLibera8on Army defeated theKuomintang (Na8onalist Party) ofChina in a civil war and estab-lished the People's Republic ofChina. On August 15, 1947, Indiabecame an independent domin-ion under Bri8sh Commonwealthand became a federal, demo-cra8c republic a(er its cons8tu-8on came into effect on January26, 1950. Mao Zedong, the Com-mander of the Libera8on Armyand the Chairman of the Commu-nist Party of China viewed Tibetas an integral part of the ChineseState. Mao was determined tobring Tibet under direct adminis-tra8ve and military control ofPeople’s Republic of China andsaw Indian concern over Tibet asa manifesta8on of the IndianGovernment's interference in theinternal affairs of the People’s Re-public of China.

The PRC sought to reassertcontrol over Tibet and to endLamaism (Tibetan Buddhism) andfeudalism, which it did by force ofarms in 1950. To avoid antagoniz-ing the People's Republic ofChina, Nehru informed Chineseleaders that India had neither po-li8cal nor territorial ambi8ons,nor did it seek special privilegesin Tibet, but that tradi8onal trad-ing rights must con8nue. With In-dian support, Tibetan delegatessigned an agreement in May1951 recognizing PRC sovereigntybut guaranteeing that the exist-ing poli8cal and social system ofTibet would con8nue. Direct ne-go8a8ons between India and thePRC commenced in an atmos-phere improved by India's media-

8on efforts in ending the KoreanWar (1950–1953).

Meanwhile, India was the16th state to establish diploma8crela8ons with the People's Re-public of China, and did so onApril 1, 1950.

In April 1954, India and thePRC signed an eight-year agree-ment on Tibet that set forth thebasis of their rela8onship in theform of the Five Principles ofPeaceful Coexistence (or PanchShila). Although cri8cs called thePanch Shila naive, Nehru calcu-lated that in the absence of eitherthe wherewithal or a policy fordefense of the Himalayan region,India's best guarantee of securitywas to establish a psychologicalbuffer zone in place of the lostphysical buffer of Tibet.

Thus the catch phrase ofIndia's diplomacy with China inthe 1950s was Hindi-Chini bhai-bhai, which means, in Hindi, "In-dians and Chinese are brothers".Up un8l 1959, despite borderskirmishes and discrepancies be-tween Indian and Chinese maps,Chinese leaders amicably had as-sured India that there was no ter-ritorial controversy on the borderthough there is some evidencethat India avoided bringing up theborder issue in high level meet-ings.

In 1954, India published newmaps that included the AksaiChin region within the bound-aries of India (maps published atthe 8me of India's independencedid not clearly indicate whetherthe region was in India or Tibet).When an Indian reconnaissanceparty discovered a completedChinese road running throughthe Aksai Chin region of theLadakh District of Jammu andKashmir, border clashes and In-dian protests became more fre-

quent and serious.In January 1959, PRC premier

Zhou Enlai wrote to Nehru, re-jec8ng Nehru's conten8on thatthe border was based on treatyand custom and poin8ng out thatno government in China had ac-cepted as legal the McMahonLine, which in the 1914 SimlaConven8on defined the easternsec8on of the border betweenIndia and Tibet. The Dalai Lama,spiritual and temporal head ofthe Tibetan people, sought sanc-tuary in Dharmsala, HimachalPradesh, in March 1959, andthousands of Tibetan refugeesse9led in northwestern India,par8cularly in Himachal Pradesh.The People's Republic of Chinaaccused India of expansionismand imperialism in Tibet andthroughout the Himalayan re-gion. China claimed 104,000 km²of territory over which India'smaps showed clear sovereignty,and demanded "rec8fica8on" ofthe en8re border.

Zhou proposed that China re-linquish its claim to most ofIndia's northeast in exchange forIndia's abandonment of its claimto Aksai Chin. The Indian govern-ment, constrained by domes8cpublic opinion, rejected the ideaof a se9lement based on uncom-pensated loss of territory asbeing humilia8ng and unequal.

1960s

Sino-Indian WarBorder disputes resulted in ashort border war between thePeople's Republic of China andIndia in 20 October 1962. ThePRC pushed the unprepared andinadequately led Indian forces towithin forty-eight kilometres ofthe Assam plains in the northeast

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and occupied strategic points inLadakh, un8l the PRC declared aunilateral cease-fire on 21 No-vember and withdrew twentykilometers behind its contendedline of control.

At the 8me of Sino-Indianborder conflict, a severe poli8calsplit was taking place in the Com-munist Party of India. One sec8onwas accused by the Indian gov-ernment as being pro-PRC, and alarge number of poli8cal leaderswere jailed. Subsequently, CPIsplit with the le(ist sec8on form-ing the Communist Party of India(Marxist) in 1964. CPI(M) heldsome contacts with the Commu-nist Party of China in the ini8alperiod a(er the split, but did notfully embrace the poli8cal line ofMao Zedong.

Rela8ons between the PRCand India deteriorated during therest of the 1960s and the early1970s as Sino-Pakistani rela8onsimproved and Sino-Soviet rela-8ons worsened. The PRC backedPakistan in its 1965 war withIndia. Between 1967 and 1971,an all-weather road was builtacross territory claimed by India,linking PRC's Xinjiang Uyghur Au-tonomous Region with Pakistan;India could do no more thanprotest.

The PRC con8nued an ac8vepropaganda campaign againstIndia and supplied ideological, fi-nancial, and other assistance todissident groups, especially totribes in northeastern India. ThePRC accused India of assis8ng theKhampa rebels in Tibet. Diplo-ma8c contact between the twogovernments was minimal al-though not formally severed. Theflow of cultural and other ex-changes that had marked the1950s ceased en8rely. The flour-ishing wool, fur and spice trade

between Lhasa and India throughthe Nathula Pass, an offshoot ofthe ancient Silk Road in the thenIndian protectorate of Sikkim wasalso severed. However, the bi-weekly postal network throughthis pass was kept alive, which ex-ists 8ll today.

Later Skirmishes

Indian SkirmishIn late 1967, there were two skir-mishes between Indian and Chi-nese forces in Sikkim. The firstone was dubbed the "Nathu Laincident", and the other the"Chola incident". Prior to theseincidents had been the Naxalbariuprising in India by the Commu-nist Naxalites and Maoists.In 1967 a peasant uprising brokeout in Naxalbari, led by pro-Maoist elements. A pronuncia-8on by Mao 8tled "SpringThunder over India" gave fullmoral support for the uprising.The support for the revoltmarked the end for the rela8onsbetween CPC and CPI(M). Naxal-bari-inspired communists organ-ized armed revolts in severalparts of India, and in 1969 theyformed the Communist Party ofIndia (Marxist-Leninist). However,as the naxalite movement disin-tegrated in various splits, the PRCwithdrew its poli8cal support andturned non-commi9al towardsthe various Indian groups.

On 11 September 1967,troops of the Indian Army's 2ndGRENADIERS were protec8ng anEngineering Company that wasfencing the North Shoulder ofNathula, when Chinese troopsopened fire on them. This esca-lated over the next five days to anexchange of heavy ar8llery andmortar fire between the Indians

and the Chinese. 62 Indian sol-diers, from the 2nd Grenadiersand the Ar8llery regiments werekilled. Brigadier Rai Singh Yadav,the Commanding Officer, wasawarded the MVC and Capt PSDager was awarded a VrC(posthumous) for their gallant ac-8ons.The extent of Chinese casu-al8es in this incident is notknown.

In the second, on 1 October1967, a group of Indian GurkhaRifles soldiers (from the 7th Bat-talion of the 11th Regiment) no-8ced Chinese troops surroundinga sentry post near a boulder atthe Chola outpost in Sikkim. A(era heated argument over the con-trol of the boulder, a Chinese sol-dier bayoneted a Gurkharifleman, triggering the start of aclose-quarters knife and fire-fight, which then escalted to amortar and HMG duel. The Chi-nese troops had to signal a cease-fire just a(er three hours offigh8ng, but later scaled Point15450 to establish themselvesthere. The Gurkhas ou7lankedthem the next day to regain Point15450 and the Chinese retreatedacross the LAC. 21 Indian soldierswere killed in this ac8on. The In-dian government awarded VirChakras to Rifleman Limbu(posthumous) and ba9alion com-mander Major K.B. Joshi for theirgallant ac8ons. The extent of Chi-nese casual8es in this skirmish isalso not known.

1970sIn August 1971, India signed itsTreaty of Peace, Friendship, andCoopera8on with the SovietUnion, and the United States andthe PRC sided with Pakistan in itsDecember 1971 war with India.By this 8me, the PRC had just re-

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placed the Republic of China inthe UN where its representa8vesdenounced India as being a "toolof Soviet expansionism."

India and the PRC renewedefforts to improve rela8ons a(erthe Soviet Union invadedAfghanistan in December 1979.The PRC modified its pro-Pakistanstand on Kashmir and appearedwilling to remain silent on India'sabsorp8on of Sikkim and its spe-cial advisory rela8onship withBhutan. The PRC's leaders agreedto discuss the boundary issue,India's priority, as the first step toa broadening of rela8ons. Thetwo countries hosted each oth-ers' news agencies, and MountKailash and Mansarowar Lake inTibet, the mythological home ofthe Hindu pantheon, wereopened to annual pilgrimagesfrom India.

1980sIn 1981 PRC minister of for-

eign affairs Huang Hua was in-vited to India, where he madecomplimentary remarks aboutIndia's role in South Asia. PRCpremier Zhao Ziyang concurrentlytoured Pakistan, Nepal, andBangladesh.

In 1980, Indian Prime Minis-ter Indira Gandhi approved a planto upgrade the deployment offorces around the Line of ActualControl to avoid unilateral redefi-ni8ons of the line. India also in-creased funds for infrastructuraldevelopment in these areas.

In 1984, squads of Indian sol-diers began ac8vely patrolling theSumdorong Chu Valley inArunachal Pradesh (formerlyNEFA), which is north of theMcMahon Line as drawn on theSimla Treaty map but south of theridge which Indian claims is

meant to delineate the McMa-hon Line. The Sumdorong Chuvalley "seemed to lie to the northof the McMahon line; but issouth of the highest ridge in thearea, and the McMahon line ismeant to follow the highestpoints" according to the Indianclaims, while the Chinese did notrecognize the McMahon Line aslegi8mate and were not preparedto accept an Indian claim lineeven further north than that. TheIndian team le( the area beforethe winter. In the winter of 1986,the Chinese deployed theirtroops to the Sumdorong Chu be-fore the Indian team could arrivein the summer and built a Heli-pad at Wandung. Surprised bythe Chinese occupa8on, India'sthen Chief of Army Staff, GeneralK.Sundarji, airli(ed a brigade tothe region.

Chinese troops could notmove any further into the valleyand were forced to move side-ways along the Thag La ridge,away from the valley. By 1987,Beijing's reac8on was similar tothat in 1962 and this promptedmany Western diplomats to pre-dict war. However, Indian foreignminister N.D. Tiwari and PrimeMinister Rajiv Gandhi travelled toBeijing over the following monthsto nego8ate a mutual de-escala-8on.

A(er the Huang visit, Indiaand the PRC held eight rounds ofborder nego8a8ons between De-cember 1981 and November1987. These talks ini8ally raisedhopes that progress could bemade on the border issue. How-ever, in 1985 the PRC s8ffened itsposi8on on the border and in-sisted on mutual concessionswithout defining the exact termsof its "package proposal" orwhere the actual line of control

lay. In 1986 and 1987, the nego8-a8ons achieved nothing, giventhe charges exchanged betweenthe two countries of military en-croachment in the SumdorungChu Valley of the Tawang tract onthe eastern sector of the border.China's construc8on of a militarypost and helicopter pad in thearea in 1986 and India's grant ofstatehood to Arunachal Pradesh(formerly the North-East Fron8erAgency) in February 1987 causedboth sides to deploy new troopsto the area, raising tensions andfears of a new border war. ThePRC relayed warnings that itwould "teach India a lesson" if itdid not cease "nibbling" at Chi-nese territory. By the summer of1987, however, both sides hadbacked away from conflict anddenied that military clashes hadtaken place.

A warming trend in rela8onswas facilitated by Rajiv Gandhi'svisit to China in December 1988.The two sides issued a joint com-muniqué that stressed the needto restore friendly rela8ons onthe basis of the Panch Shila andnoted the importance of the firstvisit by an Indian prime ministerto China since Nehru's 1954 visit.India and the People's Republic ofChina agreed to broaden bilateral8es in various areas, working toachieve a "fair and reasonablese9lement while seeking a mutu-ally acceptable solu8on" to theborder dispute. The communiquéalso expressed China's concernabout agita8on by Tibetan sepa-ra8sts in India and reiteratedChina's posi8on that Tibet was anintegral part of China and thatan8-China poli8cal ac8vi8es byexpatriate Tibetans was not to betolerated. Rajiv Gandhi signed bi-lateral agreements on scienceand technology coopera8on, on

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civil avia8on to establish direct airlinks, and on cultural exchanges.The two sides also agreed to holdannual diploma8c consulta8onsbetween foreign ministers, and toset up a joint ministerial commit-tee on economic and scien8ficcoopera8on and a joint workinggroup on the boundary issue. Thela9er group was to be led by theIndian foreign secretary and theChinese vice minister of foreignaffairs.

1990sAs the mid-1990s approached,slow but steady improvement inrela8ons with China was visible.Top-level dialogue con8nuedwith the December 1991 visit ofPRC premier Li Peng to India andthe May 1992 visit to China of In-dian president R. Venkataraman.Six rounds of talks of the Indian-Chinese Joint Working Group onthe Border Issue were held be-tween December 1988 and June1993. Progress was also made inreducing tensions on the bordervia confidence-building meas-ures, including mutual troop re-duc8ons, regular mee8ngs oflocal military commanders, andadvance no8fica8on of militaryexercises. Border trade resumedin July 1992 a(er a hiatus of morethan thirty years, consulates re-opened in Bombay (Mumbai) andShanghai in December 1992, and,in June 1993, the two sidesagreed to open an addi8onal bor-der trading post. During SharadPawar's July 1992 visit to Beijing,the first ever by an Indian minis-ter of defence, the two defenseestablishments agreed to de-velop academic, military, scien-8fic, and technological exchangesand to schedule an Indian portcall by a Chinese naval vessel.

Substan8al movement in re-la8ons con8nued in 1993. Thesixth-round joint working grouptalks were held in June in NewDelhi but resulted in only minordevelopments. However, as theyear progressed the long-stand-ing border dispute was eased asa result of bilateral pledges to re-duce troop levels and to respectthe cease-fire line along theIndia-China border. Prime Minis-ter Narasimha Rao and Premier LiPeng signed the border agree-ment and three other agree-ments (on cross-border trade,and on increased coopera8on onthe environment and in radio andtelevision broadcas8ng) duringthe former's visit to Beijing inSeptember. A senior-level Chi-nese military delega8on made asix-day goodwill visit to India inDecember 1993 aimed at "foster-ing confidence-building measuresbetween the defense forces ofthe two countries." The visit,however, came at a 8me whenpress reports revealed that, as aresult of improved rela8ons be-tween the PRC and Burma, Chinawas expor8ng greater amounts ofmilitary matériel to Burma'sarmy, navy, and air force andsending an increasing number oftechnicians to Burma. Of concernto Indian security officials was thepresence of Chinese radar techni-cians in Burma's Coco Islands,which border India's Union Terri-tory of the Andaman and NicobarIslands. Nevertheless, movementcon8nued in 1994 on troop re-duc8ons along the Himalayanfron8er. Moreover, in January1994 Beijing announced that itnot only favored a nego8ated so-lu8on on Kashmir, but also op-posed any form of independencefor the region.

Talks were held in New Delhiin February 1994 aimed at con-firming established "confidence-building measures" anddiscussing clarifica8on of the"line of actual control", reduc8onof armed forces along the line,and prior informa8on aboutforthcoming military exercises.China's hope for se9lement ofthe boundary issue was reiter-ated.

The 1993 Chinese militaryvisit to India was reciprocated byIndian army chief of staff GeneralB. C. Joshi. During talks in Beijingin July 1994, the two sides agreedthat border problems should beresolved peacefully through "mu-tual understanding and conces-sions." The border issue wasraised in September 1994 whenPRC minister of na8onal defenseChi Hao8an visited New Delhi forextensive talks with high-level In-dian trade and defense officials.Further talks in New Delhi inMarch 1995 by the India-ChinaExpert Group led to an agree-ment to set up two addi8onalpoints of contact along the 4,000km border to facilitate mee8ngsbetween military personnel. Thetwo sides also were reported as"seriously engaged" in definingthe McMahon Line and the lineof actual control vis-à-vis militaryexercises and preven8on of air in-trusion. Talks in Beijing in July1995 aimed at be9er border se-curity and comba8ng cross-bor-der crimes and in New Delhi inAugust 1995 on addi8onal troopwithdrawals from the bordermade further progress in reduc-ing tensions.

Possibly indica8ve of the fur-ther relaxa8on of India-China re-la8ons, at least there was li9leno8ce taken in Beijing, was theApril 1995 announcement, a(er

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a year of consulta8on, of theopening of the Taipei Economicand Cultural Center in New Delhi.The center serves as the repre-senta8ve office of the Republic ofChina (Taiwan) and is the coun-terpart of the India-Taipei Associ-a8on in Taiwan; both ins8tu8onshave the goal of improving rela-8ons between the two sides,which have been strained sinceNew Delhi's recogni8on of Beijingin 1950.

Sino-Indian rela8ons hit a lowpoint in 1998 following India's nu-clear tests in May. Indian DefenseMinister George Fernandes de-clared that "China is India's num-ber one threat", hin8ng that Indiadeveloped nuclear weapons indefense against China's nucleararsenal. In 1998, China was oneof the strongest interna8onal crit-ics of India's nuclear tests andentry into the nuclear club. Rela-8ons between India and Chinastayed strained un8l the end ofthe decade.

2000sWith Indian President K. R.Narayanan's visit to China, 2000marked a gradual re-engagementof Indian and Chinese diplomacy.In a major embarrassment forChina, the 17th Karmapa, UrgyenTrinley Dorje, who was pro-claimed by China, made a dra-ma8c escape from Tibet to theRumtek Monastery in Sikkim. Chi-nese officials were in a quandaryon this issue as any protest toIndia on the issue would mean anexplicit endorsement on India'sgovernance of Sikkim, which theChinese s8ll hadn't recognised. In2002, Chinese Premier Zhu Rongjireciprocated by visi8ng India,with a focus on economic issues.2003 ushered in a marked im-

provement in Sino-Indian rela-8ons following Indian Prime Min-ister Atal Bihari Vajpayee'slandmark June 2003 visit toChina. China officially recognizedIndian sovereignty over Sikkim asthe two na8ons moved towardresolving their border disputes.2004 also witnessed a gradual im-provement in the interna8onalarea when the two countries pro-posed opening up the Nathulaand Jelepla Passes in Sikkimwhich would be mutually benefi-cial to both countries. 2004 was amilestone in Sino-Indian bilateraltrade, surpassing the $10 billionmark for the first 8me. In April2005, Chinese Premier Wen Ji-abao visited Bangalore to pushfor increased Sino-Indian cooper-a8on in high-tech industries. In aspeech, Wen stated "Coopera8onis just like two pagodas (temples),one hardware and one so(ware.Combined, we can take the lead-ership posi8on in the world."Wen stated that the twenty-firstcentury will be "the Asian centuryof the IT industry." The high-levelvisit was also expected to pro-duce several agreements todeepen poli8cal, cultural andeconomic 8es between the twona8ons. Regarding the issue ofIndia gaining a permanent seaton the UN Security Council, on hisvisit, Wen Jiabao ini8ally seemedto support the idea, but had re-turned to a neutral posi8on onthe subject by the 8me he re-turned to China. In the SouthAsian Associa8on for RegionalCoopera8on (SAARC) Summit(2005) China was granted an ob-server status. While other coun-tries in the region are ready toconsider China for permanentmembership in the SAARC, Indiaseems reluctant.

A very important dimension

of the evolving Sino-Indian rela-8onship is based on the energyrequirements of their industrialexpansion and their readiness toproac8vely secure them by in-ves8ng in the oilfields abroad - inAfrica, the Middle East and Cen-tral Asia. On the one hand, theseventures entail compe88on(which has been evident in oilbiddings for various interna8onalprojects recently). But on theother hand, a degree of coopera-8on too is visible, as they are in-creasingly confron8ng biggerplayers in the global oil market.This coopera8on was sealed inBeijing on January 12, 2006 dur-ing the visit of Petroleum andNatural Gas Minister ManiShankar Aiyar, who signed anagreement which envisagesONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL) and theChina Na8onal Petroleum Corpo-ra8on (CNPC) placing joint bidsfor promising projects elsewhere.This may have important conse-quences for their interna8onalrela8ons.

On July 6, 2006, China andIndia re-opened Nathula, an an-cient trade route which was partof the Silk Road. Nathula is a passthrough the Himalayas and it wasclosed 44 years prior to 2006when the Sino-Indian War brokeout in 1962. The ini8al agreementfor the re-opening of the traderoute was reached in 2003, and afinal agreement was formalizedon June 18, 2006. Officials saythat the re-opening of bordertrade will help ease the economicisola8on of the region. In Novem-ber 2006, China and India had averbal spat over claim of thenorth-east Indian state ofArunachal Pradesh. India claimedthat China was occupying 38,000square kilometres of its territoryin Kashmir, while China claimed

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the whole of Arunachal Pradeshas its own. In May 2007, Chinadenied the applica8on for visafrom an Indian Administra8veService officer in ArunachalPradesh. According to China,since Arunachal Pradesh is a ter-ritory of China, he would notneed a visa to visit his own coun-try. Later in December 2007,China appeared to have reversedits policy by gran8ng a visa toMarpe Sora, an Arunachal bornprofessor in computer science. InJanuary 2008, Prime MinisterManmohan Singh visited Chinaand met with President Hu Jintaoand Premier Wen Jiabao and hadbilateral discussions related totrade, commerce, defense, mili-

tary, and various other issues.Un8l 2008 the Bri8sh Govern-ment's posi8on remained thesame as had been since the SimlaAccord of 1913: that China heldsuzerainty over Tibet but not sov-ereignty. Britain revised this viewon 29 October 2008, when itrecognised Chinese sovereigntyover Tibet by issuing a statementon its website. The Economiststated that although the Bri8shForeign Office's website does notuse the word sovereignty, offi-cials at the Foreign Office said ‘itmeans that, as far as Britain isconcerned, 'Tibet is part of China.Full stop.’ This change in Britain'sposi8on affects India's claim to itsNorth Eastern territories which

rely on the same Simla Accordthat Britain's prior posi8on onTibet's sovereignty was basedupon.In October 2009, Asian Develop-ment Bank formally acknowledg-ing Arunachal Pradesh as part ofIndia, approved a loan to India fora development project there. Ear-lier China had exercised pressureon the bank to cease the loan,however India succeeded in se-curing the loan with the help ofthe United States and Japan.China expressed displeasure atADB for the same.

In April 2010, the secondBRIC summit was held in Brasilia.

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Documents

UPSC Magazine Vol 20 December 2010 Www.upscportal.com