1.

A Land Boundary Agreement has been signed b/w India &

Bangladesh to settle the decades-old boundary dispute. The pact is to
facilitate exchange of enclaves, transfer of adversely possessed areas
and demarcation of un-demarcated border.
- India will transfer 111 enclaves to Bangladesh once the LBA is
implemented. Under the LBA, 51 Bangladeshi enclaves, all located in
Cooch Behar of West Bengal, comprising 7,110 acres of land and a
population of 14,215, will be transferred to India by Bangladesh.
- In respect of adversely possessed land, India will get 2,777.038 acres
and transfer 2,267.682 acres to Bangladesh.
- Fenny river is on India-Bangladesh border.
2. Charlie Hebdo - is a French satirical weekly magazine, featuring
cartoons, reports, polemics, and jokes. Irreverent and stridently nonconformist in tone, the publication describes itself as above all secular
and atheist, far-left-wing, and anti-racist publishing articles about the
extreme right (especially the French nationalist National Front party),
religion (Catholicism, Islam, Judaism), politics, culture, etc. According to
its former editor Stphane Charbonnier ("Charb"), the magazine's
editorial viewpoint reflects "all components of left wing pluralism, and
even abstainers".
- The magazine has been the target of two terrorist attacks, in 2011
and in 2015, presumed to be in response to a number of controversial
Muhammad cartoons it published. In the second of these attacks, 12
people were killed, including Charbonnier and several contributors.
The magazine is published every Wednesday, with special editions
issued on an unscheduled basis.
3. GOODS AND SERVICES TAX: GST is a Value Added Tax (VAT) to be
implemented in India, from April 2016 and is proposed to be a
comprehensive indirect tax levy on manufacture, sale and consumption
of goods as well as services at the national level. It will replace all
indirect taxes levied on goods and services by the Indian Central and
State governments. It is aimed at being comprehensive for most goods
and services..
India is a federal republic, and the GST will thus be implemented
concurrently by the central and state governments as the Central GST
and the State GST respectively.
The Bill proposes to empower both States and the Centre to levy the
GST, which will subsume the services tax, excise duties, stamp duties,
entry tax and central sales tax.
It proposes that the Centre be empowered to tax sales of goods and
States get to tax services.It has been estimated that the efficiency and
savings from the shift to a well-designed GST regime can boost Indias
growth by up to 2.5% age points.
4. China has said it is eager to cooperate with India on deep seabed
mining in the Indian Ocean where its deep diving vessel reported to
have discovered large deposits of precious metals like gold and silver.
With quickening oceanic development and increasing mineral
exploration in the Indian Ocean, China is eager to cooperate with India
on deep seabed mining.

5. David Cameron and his Conservative Party promised in their

manifesto to support Indias demand for a permanent Security Council
seat.
European Union: headquarters at Brussels (capital of Belgium)
- A supranational organisation created in the 1950s to bring the nations
of Europe into closer economic and political connection. As of 2013, 28
member nations are Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech
Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece,
Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, The
Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain,
Sweden, United Kingdom.
6. The U.K. would like to increase its investments in India, which are
currently of the order of $22 billion and growing (these are cumulative
investments from 2000 to 2015). Bilateral trade has however stalled at
the level of $ 15-16 billion.
The U.K attracts more Indian investment than the rest of the EU put
together. There are 800 Indian-owned businesses in the U.K. which
together employ 110,000 people, with the Tatas emerging as the
largest employer. In 2013-2014, according to figures provided by the
U.K. Trade and Investment, India had 74 Foreign Direct Investments
projects in the U.K.
7. South Korea has decided to provide $10 billion to India for
infrastructure, development of smart cities, railways, and power
generation. The two countries have also agreed to upgrade their
bilateral relationship to a Special Strategic Partnership.
Both Countries have agreed to increase their defence and security
cooperation and have also inked seven agreements, including on
avoidance of double taxation and for cooperation between their
National Security Councils.
As part of the Special Strategic Partnership, both countries would hold
annual summit meetings; hold annual joint commissions led by their
foreign ministers and boost cooperation between their defense
education institutions.
8. After a gap of 19 years, India has assumed presidency of the 68th
Session of the World Health Assembly (WHA), the top decision-making
body of the World Health Organisation. Union Health Minister J P Nadda
presided over the WHA session.
India would contribute $2.1 million to the World Health Organisation
(WHO) as a reflection of its commitment to the global health body and
its mandate.
The presidency of World Health Assembly, the top decision-making
body of the WHO, is based on a regional rotation practice and saw
India assuming the presidency after 18 years.
The World Health Assembly (WHA) is the forum through which the
World Health Organization (WHO) is governed by its 194 member
states. It is the worlds highest health policy setting body and is
composed of health ministers from member states.

The members of the World Health Assembly generally meet every year
in May in Geneva, the location of WHO Headquarters.
9. Indo-China Relation
-One of the great positives of the India-China relationship over the past
decade has been the increased business-to-business and people-topeople contacts between citizens of the two countries.
-Unlike in the 1950s when the world adopted a more benign approach
to Chinas land grab, there has been greater concern about Chinas
assertiveness in Asia which has put its leadership on notice. While the
Western leadership seems to be in disarray in responding to Chinas
smart diplomatic forays, India has pursued a balanced and wise policy
of engaging China at every possible level while remaining on full alert
in dealing with Chinese assertiveness.
-The time has come for the bilateral relationship to move well beyond
official govt-to-govt relations, precisely bcoz the bilateral relationship
has become more stable, despite episodic provocation on the border
by China. There are several reasons why China may not want to push
India beyond a point:
(a) India has demonstrated its ability to tide over a variety of political
and economic storms that have engulfed it from time to time, thereby
establishing the resilience of the Indian state;
(b) Despite all its weaknesses, the Indian economy has demonstrated
its capacity to sustain higher rates of economic growth;
(c) Indias flexible diplomacy has enabled it to widen its geopolitical
options;
(d) Chinas assertiveness in its neighbourhood has encouraged many
Asian nations to take a more benign view of Indias rise.
-China has already notched up several diplomatic successes some of
these will have an adverse impact on Indias external relations. The
transformation in China-Russia relations is clearly one. This has been
facilitated by the $400 billion gas deal, but it should not be overlooked
that Russia was possibly the first overseas destination for Mr. Xi.
-What should specially concern India and Mr. Modi, is that China and
Russia are now determined to deepen their comprehensive strategic
partnership and contribute to lasting world peace. Likewise, China
has gained a strategic beachhead in West Asia with its Iran
connection.China is reaping the reward of standing by Iran. This will
clearly put India on the back foot in a region which it has carefully
nursed for a long time.
- However, it is the further deepening of the Sino-Pak connection that
should be cause for graver concern, and Mr. Modi could seek from his
Chinese host what exactly Chinas intentions are. The $46 billion
promised by China for the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, which
would link western China with the Gwadar port in Pakistan through
Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK), by itself is worthy of Indias
attention, but it is also apparent that the quid pro quo includes China
gaining strategic access to the Gwadar port. The pivot to Pakistan in
recent months, reflects Mr. Xis personal preferences after the
equivocation of the Hu-Wen period.

- The Peace and Tranquility Accord was signed between India & China
in 1993.
- The Confidence Building Measures (CBM) Accord was signed b/w India
&
China in 1996.
10. Indo-Bangladesh Relation:
-The passage of the Bill ratifying the 1974 India-Bangladesh Land
Boundary Agreement (LBA) is a sign that Indias neighbourhood-first
policy is beginning to work. Indias decision to opt for international
arbitration to settle her maritime boundary with Bangladesh was a
similar gesture of goodwill. It signified a deliberate, a priori
relinquishment of its claims on the disputed waters, nearly 80% of
which have gone to Bangladesh.
Negotiations could never have settled this matter since the Indiaproposed median line was drawn in a way taking account of the
concave configuration of the coast that the Bangladeshi waters got
confined to a narrow triangle between India and Myanmar.
- Indias land and maritime boundary agreements with Bangladesh
also show that intractable issues can be wrapped up b/w neighbours
within an overall relationship of growing trust and friendship. It is also
instructive for the issue of J&K, which can be resolved as a function of
improved India-Pakistan relations, and not the other way around, as
sought by Pakistan.
11. India is losing strategic influence and geopolitical standing as far as
its northwestern frontier is concerned, especially Iran and Afghanistan.
Just a year ago, during the Karzai presidency, India was the most
favoured nation in Afghanistan. Today, there is a perceptible change in
the new Afghan governments attitude towards India. For instance, no
major agreements were signed during Mr. Ghanis visit and the IndiaAfghanistan Strategic Partnership Agreement of 2011, hardly figured in
the agenda.
Indeed, Indias new northwestern strategic environment, in which the
relegation of the Indo-Afghan strategic partnership is merely one
element, is undergoing a grand geopolitical transformation, but New
Delhi seems to be clueless about how to engage with it. Moreover, it is
worrisome that while the most formidable challenges to Indias national
security invariably originate from its north-western frontiers, both
historically and presently, the focus of the BJP-led govt has primarily
been on the global stage and the countrys southern and eastern
neighbours.
12. India had signed an agreement to buy 36 Rafale fighter jets for
over $6 billion.
13. India & South Korea
India and South Korea did not take much notice of each other till the
end of the 1970s. A nonaligned India pursued a policy of equal
treatment of the two Koreas, which it finally abandoned in the
1980s.The emergence of South Korea as an Asian Tiger compelled
India to look at it as a source of investment and technology.
- The dawn of real democracy in South Korea in the late 1980s brought

it ideologically closer to India. The end of the Cold War and former
Prime Minister Narasimha Raos Look East Policy opened the doors for
a rapid economic engagement with South Korea.
- In the shipbuilding sector, South Korea has world class technology,
but India has obsolescent equipment and management. Creative policy
changes would be required in India to motivate Korean private
shipbuilders to invest in India. Koreans by nature do not like joint
ventures, guard their technology carefully and demand full managerial
control.
- There is vast potential for the growth of tourism on both sides and
Indias decision to grant Visa on Arrival and e-visas to Koreans will
facilitate tourism. Indian films, cuisine and yoga are widely popular in
Korea. Korean pop music and TV serials are well known in India among
the youth, particularly in the Northeast.
14. India & European Union
- The EU is one of Indias largest trading partners and a major source of
FDI. The value of EU-India trade grew from 28.6 billion in 2003 to
72.5 billion in 2014, while trade in commercial services rose from 5.2
billion in 2002 to 23.7 billion in 2013.
- The EU identified India as a strategic partner in 2004. A Joint Action
Plan was signed in 2005 and negotiations on the proposed Broad-based
Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA) were launched in June 2007.
Eight years down the line, some contentious issues still remain. In the
backdrop of Prime Minister Modis visit to France and Germany in April
came the cancellation of the India-EU summit, apparently for
logistical reasons. Issues such as the EU ban on import of mangoes
from India announced in May 2014, and the legal proceedings in India
involving the Italian Marines, are also factors that have left the
relationship strained.
- With the EU the scale of the deal is more ambitious, and consequently
the disagreements. For instance, the EU is unhappy with Indias
protectionism in the automobile sector, and wants steep cuts in duties,
and tariff cuts in things such as wine, spirits and dairy products. But
tariff cuts in the agricultural sector would mean Europes heavily
subsidised agro industry will dump its surplus here, hitting Indian
farmers.
- Indias generic drug market also raises intellectual property concerns
for European pharmaceutical corporations. India, on the other hand, is
unhappy with the EU not recognising it as a data secure nation, and
with what the EU has to offer in the area of IT/BPO/KPO services (Mode
1) and the movement of skilled professionals (Mode 4). But the EU is
no doubt keen on partnering with India in programmes such as Make in
India, Swachh Bharat and Smart City projects.

15. Rohingyas :
- are Indo-Aryan peoples from the Rakhine State, Burma, who speak
the Rohingya language. According to Rohingyas and some international
scholars, they are indigenous to Rakhine State, while the Burmese
historians claim that they migrated to Burma from Bengal primarily
during the period of British rule in Burma, and to a lesser extent, after
the Burmese independence in 1948 and Bangladesh Liberation War in
1971.

- The Rohingya people have been described as among the worlds

least wanted and one of the worlds most persecuted minorities.
They have been denied Burmese citizenship since the Burmese
nationality law was enacted.
- They are not allowed to travel without official permission and were
previously required to sign a commitment not to have more than two
children, though the law was not strictly enforced.
- Their population has largely been spreaded in south-east Asia,
preferably in Bangladesh, Myanmar, et al. which includes India, Pak,
Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, and Indonesia. Rohingya are among
the most persecuted minorities in the world according to the UNHCR.
16. Eurozone:- officially called the euro area, is a monetary union of 19
European Union (EU) member states that have adopted the euro () as
their common currency and sole legal tender.
- The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland,
France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg,
Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Spain.
- Countries of EU that have not adopted euro as their currency or do
not come under Eurozone are : Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic,
Denmark, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Sweden & U.K.
- Other EU states (except for Denmark and the United Kingdom) are
obliged to join once they meet the criteria to do so. No state has left,
and there are no provisions to do so or to be expelled.
- Monetary policy of the zone is the responsibility of the European
Central Bank (ECB) which is governed by a president and a board of
the heads of national central banks.
- The euro convergence criteria (also known as the Maastricht criteria)
are the criteria which European Union member states are required to
meet to enter the third stage of the Economic and Monetary Union
(EMU) and adopt the euro as their currency.
17. India and Bangladesh:
- Kolkata-Dhaka-Agartala bus service wa started b/w India &
Bangladesh.
- India and Bangladesh also startedDhaka-Shillong- Guwahati bus
service.
- Kolkata-Agartala service will have to pass two international
checkpoints at Petrapole b/w West Bengal & Bangladesh & at Akhuara
on Tripura-Bangladesh border. The bus will also have to cross river
Padma at Goalanda Ghat on a barge.
- Bangladesh honoured former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee with the
"Friends of Bangladesh Liberation War" award for his outstanding
support for the countrys independence from Pakistan in 1971 when he
was a Lok Sabha member.
- The Palatna project (in Tripura) will be operational and 100 MW of
power will go to Bangladesh, while overall supply will be augmented
from 500 to 1,000 MW
- Both sides also claimed to have made substantial advance in
connectivity. India will get access to its north-eastern States through
Bangladesh, while Bangladesh will have access to Nepal and Bhutan.

Moreover, the Bangladesh shipping industry will substantially gain from

an agreement on waterways connectivity.
- India has also agreed to remove all barriers to ensure unfettered
bilateral trade to narrow the trade imbalance. India will now provide a
second credit line of $2 billion to Bangladesh.
India and Bangladesh barter power, bandwidth
- In exchange for 10 GBPS Internet bandwidth from Bangladesh, India
will supply 100 MW electricity from Tripura, which comes as a major
stride into bilateral relationship in the warm ambiance of Holi festival in
India.
- Bangladesh and Tripura, share historic relations as the tiny Indian
State had given millions of Bangladeshis shelter during the nations
liberation war in 1971.
- Bangladesh allowed the transport of over-dimensional cargo through
its territory during the construction of the Palatana power plant in
Tripura in 2011.
Cooperation in the field of Space :
- It is Indias earnest desire that India wants to be with Bangladesh in
the Bangabandhu satellite [project].
- Bangladesh hopes to launch the Bangabandhu-1 Satellite by the end
of 2017.
18. Global Credit Rating Agencies- S&P (Standard & Poor's), Moody's,
Fitch.
19. CERN :
- The European Organization for Nuclear Research, known as CERN, is a
European research organization that operates the largest particle
physics laboratory in the world. Established in 1954, the organization is
based in a northwest suburb of Geneva on the FrancoSwiss border,
(46143N 6319E) and has 22 member states. Israel is the first (and
currently only) non-European country granted full membership.
- CERN's main function is to provide the particle accelerators and other
infrastructure needed for high-energy physics research as a result,
numerous experiments have been constructed at CERN as a result of
international collaborations. CERN is also the birthplace of the World
Wide Web.
20. Higgs Boson :
- The Higgs boson or Higgs particle is an elementary particle in the
Standard Model of particle physics. Observations of the particle allows
scientists to explore the Higgs fielda fundamental field of crucial
importance to particle physics theory.

21. India & Japan:

- India & Japan Signed Action Plan To Double Investments In 5 Years an
agreement on April 30, 2015 for doubling of Japanese investment in
Indian firms in the next five years, and boosting two-way trade.
- The plan was categorised into five broad areas:
(a) development of selected townships in India,
(b) promotion of investment and infrastructure development,

(c) further development and cooperation in information technology,

(d) enhancing cooperation in strategic sectors and
(e) Asia- Pacific economic integration.
- Signing of the action plan is seen as a step further in improving the
trade relationship between India & Japan.
- The agenda was in line with PMs Make in India plan that will have
further investments from Japan into the countrys manufacturing
sector.
- Japan is the 4th largest foreign direct investment (FDI) contributor to
India, with major interests in pharmaceuticals, automobiles, and
services sectors accounting for 7.46 % of total FDI equity inflows into
India. Mauritius has overtaken Singapore as the largest source of
foreign direct investment (FDI) in India
India and Japan signed agreement for doubling of Japanese
investment into Indian firms in the next five years and boosting twoway trade.
Earlier, Japan had set a target of 3.5 trillion yen ($33.5 billion) of
public private investment and financing from Japan to India in five
years.
There are 1,209 Japanese firms operating in India, of which 137
started their operations after October 2013.
22. India & Canada:
- India Canada Ink Landmark Uranium Deal. On April 15, 2015, they
signed a nuclear agreement on supply of uranium to India.
- Canada agreed to supply 3,000 metric tonnes of uranium to energyhungry India from this year under a $254 million five- year deal to
power Indian atomic reactors, four decades after bilateral cooperation
in this sector was frozen over Indias nuclear programme.
- Canada is the third country to supply uranium to India after Russia
and Kazakhstan. The supplies will be under the International Atomic
Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards.
- The uranium will be sourced from Camecos operations in northern
Saskatchewan. Cameco Corporation, the worlds largest uranium
producer, will make first deliveries in late 2015 anf will last till 2020.
- India, in response, announced visa on arrival for Canadians to
promote people- to-people contacts between the two countries.
Canadians could apply online and would be eligible for visas for 10
years.
23. What is UN ECOSOC (Economic & Social Council) and what are its
functions ?
- ECOSOC, one of the six main organs of the United Nations established
by the UN Charter in 1946, is the principal body for coordination, policy
review, policy dialogue and recommendations on economic, social and
environmental issues, as well as for implementation of the
internationally agreed development goals.
- ECOSOC serves as the central mechanism for the activities of the
United Nations system and its specialized agencies, and supervises the
subsidiary and expert bodies in the economic, social and
environmental fields.
- ECOSOC engages a wide variety of stakeholders policymakers,

parliamentarians, academics, major groups, foundations, business

sector representatives and 3,200+ registered non-governmental
organizations in a productive dialogue on sustainable development
through a programmatic cycle of meetings.
- The Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) is the United Nations
central platform for reflection, debate, and innovative thinking on
sustainable development.
- India has been elected to 4 key subsidiary bodies of the United
Nations agency on economic and social issues, continuing its
impressive record of winning elections at the world body.
- India was elected by acclamation, a form of election that does not use
a ballot, to the subsidiary bodies of the UN Economic and Social
Council (ECOSOC) during its coordination and management meeting on
April 9, 2015. With the election wins, India maintained its 100 % record
of winning elections held in the UN Headquarters.
(i) It was elected, along with 13 other nations, to the Executive Board
of the United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF) for a three-year term
beginning January 2016. UNICEF addresses the needs of children with
emphasis on giving long-term benefits to children everywhere,
particularly those in developing countries.
(ii) India was also re-elected to the Executive Board of the World Food
Programme (WFP) for the 2016-18 term along with five other nations.
WFP is the food assistance arm of the UN which provides food
assistance to around 90 million people in 80 countries in a year.
(iii) It was among the 20 nations to be elected to the Commission on
Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (CCPCJ) for a three- year term,
beginning January 2016. Apart from India, other nations elected to
CCPCJ include Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Austria, France, Sweden and
the US. The CCPCJ provides policy guidance to UN Member States on
crime prevention and criminal justice and develop, monitor and review
implementation of the UN crime prevention programme.
(iv) India also got re-elected to the Governing Council of the UN Human
Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) for the term 2016-19.
- UN-Habitat is mandated by the UN General Assembly to promote
socially and environmentally sustainable towns and cities with the goal
of providing adequate shelter for all.
- The Council elected a total of 14 members for a four-year term,
beginning January 2016 for UN-Habitat. In October last year, India had
overwhelmingly won its re-election to ECOSOC, garnering the highest
number of votes in the Asia- Pacific group.
24. Inda & USA
India, US sign FATCA to curb tax evasion
- India and the US will start sharing information about bank accounts or
financial investments made by their citizens in each others countries.
This move will help curb offshore tax evasions.
- Both countries signed an Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) to
implement the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) to promote
transparency on tax matters.
- This will bring in greater transparency in tax administration and
enforcing tax compliance as well as prevention of offshore tax evasion.
This is a major step in the Governments resolve to fight the menace of
black money.
- the Union government approved two major defence deals between

the two countries. Cabinet Commitee on Security cleared the purchase

of 22 Apache attack helicopters and 15 Chinook heavy-lift choppers
from Boeing. The move is expected to give a boost to bilateral defence
ties.
25. India & Pakistan has been accorded the full membership of SCO at
Ufa summit in Russia in 2015. Technically, India will become the
member of SCO by 2016 after completion of certain procedures.
- This membership will help India to work with the 6 members grouping
to enhance connectivity, combat terror and create an environment for
boosting trade by easing barriers.
- Other 6 members of SCO are: Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Russia,
Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.
- In economic view, it will Open up trade, energy sector and strategic
transit routes for India between Russia, Central Asia and China. As Iran
has observer status in the SCO, it will serve as a platform for India to
boost trade through the Iranian ports of Bandar, Abbas and Chabahar.
These ports are considered as Indias gateway to Central Asia through
International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC).
26. Meaning of a very famous phrase "hot pursuit" : crossing over
boundaries in pursuit of terror groups.
e.g.- Indian Armys recent operations in which forces were said to have
crossed into Myanmar territory to raid Nationalist Socialist Council of
Nagaland (Khaplang) camps. It was a 'hot pursuit' by India.

27. BCIM:
- China and India are adding fresh momentum to the establishment of
the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM) economic corridor, which
is expected to develop gradually.
- Unlike in the past, when it was perceived to be dragging its feet, India
is now showing enthusiasm over the project, which will link Kolkata
with Kunming, the capital of Chinas Yunnan province, passing through
Myanmar and Bangladesh, with Mandalay and Dhaka among the focal
points.
- The focus on linking provinces and States in this case, Yunnan and
West Bengal seems to have given a new impulse to galvanising the
plan. Kunming is at the centre of the plans to develop the corridor.
28. India and Chabahar port:
- India had recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Iran
for the development of the Chabahar port. India is keen to tap the
trading potential with countries in the region and has been pushing for
providing connectivity.
- Chabahar port is suitably located to serve Indias outreach in the
region to Afghanistan and beyond as well as link with INSTC
(International North-South Transport Corridor) to which India is one of
the initial signatories.
International North-South Transport Corridor:
- INSTC is the ship, rail, and road route for moving freight between
India, Russia, Iran, Europe and Central Asia. The route primarily

involves moving freight from India, Iran, Azerbaijan and Russia via ship,
rail and road.
- The objective of the corridor is to increase trade connectivity between
major cities such as Mumbai, Moscow, Tehran, Baku, Bandar Abbas,
Astrakhan, Bandar Anzali and etc. Russia, Iran & India signed the INSTC
agreement in 2002.
29. New NASA project to help monitor environment:
- NASA and the US Agency for International Development (USAID) have
launched SERVIR-Mekong project to strengthen regional environmental
monitoring in five countries in the lower Mekong region of Southeast
Asia (The 5 countries are Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and
Vietnam).
- This joint project will provide timely weather, climate and other Earth
related data to five countries in Southeast Asia, enabling them to
better address issues of natural resource and disaster management.
30. AIIB (Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank :
- Total no of members: 57, India being one of the founding member and
2nd largest shareholder after China.
- Total authorised capital: $100 billion.
- Headquarters: Beijing
- The purpose of the multilateral development bank is to provide
finance to infrastructure projects in the Asia-Pacific region.
- China, India and Russia are the three largest shareholders. In March
2015, United Kingdom became the first of G7 nations to join the bank.
- Voting pattern: The voting shares are based on the size of each
member countrys economy and not contribution to the banks
authorised capital.
31. Indian Coffee exports :
- India exports both Arabica and Robusta varieties, besides instant
coffee. Major export destinations for coffee are Italy, Germany, Turkey,
Russia and Belgium, among others.

32. With Chinas economy in a tough phase, the U.S. economy, which
grew at an impressive 3.7 % in the second quarter of 2015, and now
has unemployment down at 5.1 %, is acting as a bit of an engine for
the world.
- The world economy today is too enormous to run on a single engine
and needs other driversInterestingly, the country that looks best
placed to provide the second engine for the world economy is India.
- It is possible for India to step up its exports, be a hub of global
education, and take major strides in the manufacturing sector but for
all this a combination of policies is needed, ranging from exchange rate
management to micro-level stimuli.
33. Japan, Germany, Brazil and India the G4 wants expansion of the
U.N. Security Council and permanent seats for themselves. In 2013 and
2014, G4 Foreign Ministers met on the sidelines of the UNGA and called
for urgent reforms.
- The U.N.s Inter-Governmental Negotiations (IGN) that have been
under way since 2008 finalised over the weekend a negotiating text for
U.N. reforms, qualitatively changing the nature of the debate, though
concrete action on it is unlikely to be immediate.

- There are many opponents to the expansion of the UNSC, but the
most vociferous of them all on Monday were China and Pakistan. The
G4 took shape in 2004 which has 15 members.
- India and other G4 members hope that, with the negotiations now
moving to a text-based one, there will be more clarity on the
respective positions of countries.

34. India - U.S. - Japan

- India, the U.S. and Japan are set to raise their trilateral engagement
to the ministerial level, with a meeting of External Affairs Minister
Sushma Swaraj, Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida and U.S.
Secretary of State John Kerry planned on the sidelines of the U.N.
General Assembly.
- Officials of the three countries meet twice a year, but the elevation of
the engagement to the political level will mark a new beginning in the
cooperation, with potential implications for the Indian Ocean region.
35. G4:
- The G4 nations comprising Brazil, Germany, India, and Japan are four
countries which support each others bids for permanent seats on the
United Nations Security Council.
- G4s primary aim is the permanent member seats on the Security
Council. Each of these four countries have figured among the elected
non-permanent members of the council since the UNs establishment.
- Their economic and political influence has grown significantly in the
last decades, reaching a scope comparable to the permanent members
(P5). However, the G4s bids are often opposed by Uniting for
Consensus movement, and particularly their economic competitors or
political rivals.
- The G4 took shape in 2004 when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh,
Brazilian President Luiz Incio Lula da Silva and Japanese Prime
Minister Junichiro Koizumi, along with German Foreign Minister Joska
Fischer, issued a joint statement, kicking off their campaign for U.N.
reforms, including more representation for developing countries, both
in the permanent and non-permanent categories, in the UNSC which
has 15 members.
India and UNSC:
- India, which will be competing for a permanent seat with Germany,
Japan and Brazil, has the support of Russia, France and the U.K.
- India has long held that as one of the biggest democracies and a
growing economy it is poised to take its place in the UNSC complete
with the veto. However, China remains a big roadblock as it has not
clarified its position on support for India.
- India was among the founding members of United Nations. It is the
second largest and a one of the largest constant contributor of troops
to United Nations Peacekeeping missions.
- Today, India has over 8,500 peacekeepers in the field, more than
twice as many as the UNs five big powers combined.
- India, since long time, has been demanding expansion of UNSC and
its inclusion as permanent member in it. It has been a member of
UNSC for 7 terms and a member of G-77 and G-4, so permanent
membership is a logical extension.

Recent development at United Nations

- Text based Negotiations has been accepted by UNGA on September
14, which will be basis for the future Security Council expansion. Text
contents are about what reforms are needed, role of UNSC, regional
dispersal and representations, etc.
- It is also being called Kutesa Consensus, named after the president of
General Assembly Sam Kutesa of Uganda, who completed his term on
September 15, 2015.
- India has been elected as a non-permanent member to UNSC for
seven terms, last was in 2011-12.
- Indias is a $2 trillion economy, with third largest country in terms of
purchasing power parity, a responsible nuclear power with third largest
standing army in the world, ruled by a democratic, secular
government.
36. India & South Asia :
- Economic integration with South Asia is not a top priority for India as
its economy relies more on other regions. Geo-political considerations,
however, make the area important for India.
37. Geneva Talks or Communique :
- The Geneva communique issued on June 30, 2012 calls for the
establishment of a transitional governing body in Syria with full
executive powers that could include members of the government and
opposition, and should be formed on the basis of mutual consent.
38. Mitra-Shakti : India-Sri Lanka joint Army Training Exercise.
39. India-Africa Forum Summit held once every three years. African
countries like South Africa, Zimbabwe, Sudan participate in this summit
from African side.
40. G-77 :
- The group was founded on June 15, 1964, by the "Joint Declaration of
the Seventy-Seven Countries" issued at the United Nations Conference
on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
- The Group of 77 at the United Nations is a loose coalition of
developing nations, designed to promote its members' collective
economic interests and create an enhanced joint negotiating capacity
in the United Nations.
- There were 77 founding members of the organization, but by
November 2013 the organization had since expanded to 134 member
countries
- Members of G-77 :
As of 2015, the group comprises all of UN members (along with the
Palestinian Authority) excluding the following:
i. All members of the Council of Europe (with the exception of Bosnia
and Herzegovina);
ii. All members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development (with the exception of Chile);
iii. All (full) members of the Commonwealth of Independent States
(with the exception of Tajikistan);
iv. Two Pacific microstates: Palau and Tuvalu.
41. Global North & Global South :
- The Global North refers to the 57 countries with high human

development that have a Human Development Index above .8 as

reported in the United Nations Development Programme Report 2005.
Most, but not all, of these countries are located in the Northern
Hemisphere.
- The Global South refers to the countries of the rest of the world, most
of which are located in the Southern Hemisphere. It includes both
countries with medium human development (88 countries with an HDI
less than .8 and greater than .5) and low human development (32
countries with an HDI of less than .5).
42. First World, Second World & Third World :
- First World: The First World refers to the Highly Industrialized
Countries of the world most of which are located in Western Europe,
North America, and Japan. These countries used to be called the Free
World or the West. These countries have primarily free-market
economies and democratic forms of government.
- Second World: This term used to refer to the centrally Planned
Communist Countries. Since the former Soviet Union and its Eastern
European Iron Curtain States have collapsed and adopted a semicapitalistic market economy, this term has become antiquated.
However, China, Cuba, Vietnam, and North Korea remain as communist
states with centrally planned or, at least in the case of China,
government-dominated economies.
-Third World: The Third World originally described the Non-Aligned
States that attempted to avoid being drawn into the Cold War between
the US and the USSR.
India, Indonesia, Egypt, and Yugoslavia used to be the leaders of the
non-aligned states. Most other "third world countries" were still
colonies of the Great European Empires during the early 1950s.
As more and more colonies gained their political independence, the
term was applied to the rest of the world that did not belong to the
First and Second Worlds. The term today generally refers to all the
Developing Countries of Asia, Africa, and Latin America.
43. DELHI DECLARATION 2015 :
- The India-Africa Forum Summit, the largest diplomatic gathering in
India in recent years, ended on 29 Oct 2015 with the announcement of
the Delhi Declaration 2015, which called for
(i) a global plan to combat cross-border terrorism,
(ii) better trade between India and Africa and
(iii) faster reform of the U.N. Security Council.
44. BRICS Countries Signs Moscow Declaration for Supporting
Multilateral Science Projects :
- BRICS countries- Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa agreed
for co-investment of resources for supporting multilateral R&D Projects
in mutually agreed areas at Moscow on Oct 28, 2015.
- This Declaration reflects BRICS partnership in addressing common
global and regional socio-economic challenges, utilizing such drivers as
science, technology and innovation (STI).
- BRICS STI Minister agreed on the collaboration for:
(i) Cooperation within large research infrastructures, including megascience projects; coordination of the existing large-scale national
programme of the BRICS countries.

(ii) Development and implementation of a BRICS Framework

Programme for funding multilateral joint research projects, technology
commercialization and innovation.
(iii) Establishment of BRICS Research and Innovation Networking
Platform.
(iv) Ministers also endorsed a BRICS Action Plan 2015-18 on BRICS
Science, Technology and Innovation cooperation.
45. The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030
was adopted during the Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk
Reduction held in Sendai, Japan on 14-18 March, 2015
46. India is fast-pacing its pitch for membership to the 48-member
Nuclear Suppliers Group club. The push for the nuclear clubs, whose
members can trade in and export nuclear technology, comes despite a
setback to Indias eforts in early October 2015, when the MTCR (Missile
Technology Control Regime) group met in Oslo, but failed to take up
the membership application.
- As the 48-member NSG works by consensus, not majority, India is
reaching out to every possible country, much like the push at the
UNGA for reforms.
47. The 21-member APEC, established in 1989, has nearly half of the
world trade among the members and India has been lobbying for its
membership for the last two decades. India has been an observer at
the forum since 2011. India needs to prove that its presence in APEC
will help everyone.
48. Sendai Framework :
- The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 (Sendai
Framework) is the first major agreement of the post-2015 development
agenda, with seven targets and four priorities for action.
- It was endorsed by the UN General Assembly following the 2015 Third
UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (WCDRR).
- The Sendai Framework is a 15-year, voluntary, non-binding
agreement which recognizes that the State has the primary role to
reduce disaster risk but that responsibility should be shared with other
stakeholders including local government, the private sector and other
stakeholders. It aims for the following outcome:
- The substantial reduction of disaster risk and losses in lives,
livelihoods and health and in the economic, physical, social, cultural
and environmental assets of persons, businesses, communities and
countries.
- The Sendai Framework is the successor instrument to the Hyogo
Framework for Action (HFA) 2005-2015: Building the Resilience of
Nations and Communities to Disasters.
- The Seven Global Targets
(a) Substantially reduce global disaster mortality by 2030, aiming to
lower average per 100,000 global mortality rate in the decade 20202030 compared to the period 2005-2015.
(b) Substantially reduce the number of affected people globally by
2030, aiming to lower average global figure per 100,000 in the decade
2020 -2030 compared to the period 2005-2015.
(c) Reduce direct disaster economic loss in relation to global gross
domestic product (GDP) by 2030.
(d) Substantially reduce disaster damage to critical infrastructure and

disruption of basic services, among them health and educational

facilities, including through developing their resilience by 2030.
(e) Substantially increase the number of countries with national and
local disaster risk reduction strategies by 2020.
(f) Substantially enhance international cooperation to developing
countries through adequate and sustainable support to complement
their national actions for implementation of this Framework by 2030.
(g) Substantially increase the availability of and access to multi-hazard
early warning systems and disaster risk information and assessments
to the people by 2030.
49. Chinese government looks at the Gupta empire with particular
interestas it was during this period that the Nalanda university
prospered which later on hosted Xuanzang during his visit to India
(629-645 AD).
50. Tans-Pacfic Partnership (TPP) :
- It is a 12-nation trade agreement. TPP will cover 40% of the global
commerce, and will ease trade among the participant countries
Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand,
Peru, Singapore, the U.S. and Vietnam.
51. The Heart of Asia Conference :
- It was founded on 2 Nov 2011 - Istanbul, Turkey
- The Heart of Asia-Istanbul Process presents a new vision of
cooperation and confidence building for the region with Afghanistan at
its centre.
Aim:
- The Heart of Asia-Istanbul Process articulates a set of principles, such
as respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, and promoting
cooperation in the areas of common challenges and shared interests in
the region.
- It provides a platform for discussing key regional issues among
participating states.
- Since its inception in 2011, the Heart of Asia-Istanbul Process has
been lead by two co-chairs: Afghanistan as a permanent co-chair, and
one of the Heart of Asia countries hosting the annual ministerial
meeting as the co-chair.
- As permanent co-chair of this regional process, Afghanistan has been
recognized as the main focal point/ coordinator of the Heart of AsiaIstanbul Process.
Members:
- Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, China, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,
Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, the
United Arab Emirates and Uzbekistan.
52. India and South Korea have signed a new memorandum of
understanding (MoU) on suspension of collection of taxes during
pendency of Mutual Agreement Procedure (MAP).
- This is a step towards ease of doing business in India for Korean
companies, as it will relieve economic double taxation and promote
cross-border trade and investment.
- Both the countries have also agreed that the transfer pricing cases
will be taken up for MAP under the revised Double Taxation Avoidance
Agreement (DTAA) between India and Korea.
What is MAP ?

- MAP is an alternate dispute resolution mechanism that allows

competent authorities of India and its treaty partner to negotiate a
mutually acceptable settlement.
53. G77
- The Group of 77 at the United Nations is a loose coalition of
developing nations, designed to promote its members' collective
economic interests and create an enhanced joint negotiating capacity
in the United Nations.
- There were 77 founding members of the organization, but by
November 2013 the organization had since expanded to 134 member
countries. South Africa holds the Chairmanship for 2015.
- The group was founded on June 15, 1964, by the "Joint Declaration of
the Seventy-Seven Countries" issued at the United Nations Conference
on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

54. TAPI
- The TAPI pipeline will significantly change the way India and Central
Asia are related.
- The 4 nations are trying to press a button that will forge the first
pipeline to supply Turkmen gas to Afghanistan, Pakistan and India,
(TAPI) with a final length of nearly 1,800 km by the time of its
completion in 6-7 years.
- India joined the pipeline project in 2008, and hoping to extract from it
between 15-25% of its natural gas needs.
Sharing of gas and transit fees :
- Afghanistan, which will receive about 16% of the gas (India and
Pakistan will have a share of 42% each) from the pipeline, would also
receive an estimated $200-$250 million as transit fees from Pakistan.
- Similarly, India would pay Pakistan transit fees for the pipeline that
will originate in Turkmenistans south east areas, travel through Herat,
Farah and Helmand province of Afghanistan, entering Pakistan in
Balochistan and then cutting across Pakistan Punjab to reach the
border area of Fazilka-Abohar in Indian Punjab.
Security situation
- Despite the hopes and expectations, the project faces rising risks and
added costs from the deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan.
- The cost of laying infrastructure to protect the pipeline from possible
attacks will affect the TAPIs viability. Pakistans insurgency in
Balochistan will further add to the project, whose final cost estimation
is still to be done.
Role of U.S.
- If the project has seen progress, it is because of the backing from the
United States, which is keen that the pipeline open the way for other
western countries wanting to access Central Asian energy bypassing
Russia.
- The U.S. has also pushed the TAPI as an alternative to the IPI (IranPakistan-India) project so as to bring pressure on Iran to deliver on
nuclear safeguards.
- Washington has been a strong advocate for TAPI. The project is a key
foundation for the New Silk Road initiative announced by Hillary Clinton

in India in July 2011."

55. DTTI :
- India and the U.S.have identified 17 new areas for potential
cooperation under the Defence Technology and Trade Initiative (DTTI),
a flagship scheme to enhancebilateral strategic partner-ship,
particularly in high technology, launched in 2012.
56. Results of COP 21 Paris Climate Summit:
- The text of the Agreement unveiled at the 21st meeting of the
Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention Climate
Change after two weeks of talks and an intensive threed days of
convergence negotiations was formally adopted amid cheers at the
Plenary.
- The UNFCCCprinciple of Common But Diferentiated Responsibilities
(CBDR) ensuring equity is incorporated into the Paris Agreement to
provide developing countries a cushion.
- India expressed happiness that the text addressed the concerns
raised by it in all areas mitigation of carbon emissions, adaptation to
climate change, financing, technology development and transfer,
capacity building & transparency.
- The solar alliance which the Prime Minister had launched was another
success, bringing together 120 nations and win-ning plaudits from
France.
- The Paris Agreement requires developed countries to raise finances
with $100billion per year as the floor by 2020, to help developing
nations in both mitigation and adaptation activities, while other nations
are encouraged to provide funding voluntarily.
- The Paris Agreement on climate, adopted by the member countries of
the UNFCCC, creates an enhanced transparency framework that
requires all countries to submit a national inventory of greenhouse gas
emissions arising from human activity
using standardised
methodologies accepted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change (IPCC).
- External monitoring of the National pledge on climate action to track
progress made in implementing and achieving the Nationally
Determined Contributions (NDCs), a technical review of the emissions
data submitted, and participation in a facilitative, multilateral
consideration of progress are among the provisions in the Agreement,
all of which are significant for India.
India's Pledge & INDC
- In the voluntary pledge the Intended NDCs (INDCs)submitted to
the UNFCCC, India lists investments in agriculture, water resources,
coastal regions, health and disaster management, besides major goals
such as reducing emissions intensity of the GDP by 33-35% over 2005
levels by 2030.
- New initiatives are to be launched in areas such as cleaner thermal
power generation, promoting renewable energy, reducing emissions
from transport and waste, and creating climate resilient infrastructure.
- Although Indias INDC includes a caveat that the country will not be
bound by any sector-specific mitigation, and only aims at achieving
better overall energy eiciency reflected in lower intensity, the
measurements prescribed under the transparency framework clearly

stipulate that the national inventory should be "by source.

India's issue with one Clause of Agreement:
- One of the provisions in the Paris Agreement that India was not
comfortable with during the negotiations pertains to submission of an
NDC every 5 years. - The public Indian position throughout the talks
was that it had submitted its INDC for the period between 2021 and
2030.
- Article 4 of the Agreement, however, mandates that each country
should, in five-year cycles, prepare, communicate and maintain an
NDC.
- India demanded for a decadal review of NDC compliance but did not
succeed (the UNFCCC will scrutinise them every five years).
57. Japan formally entered into the India-U.S. Malabar bilateral
maritime exercises, turning it into a trilateral initiative aimed at
ensuring peace, security and freedom of navigation in the Indo-Pacific
region.
- From now Japan will be a formal partner of the Malabar exercise.
58. The Government of India and the Government of Japan has signed
a Protocol for amending the existing Convention for the avoidance of
double taxation and for the prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to
taxes on income.
Protocol :
- The Protocol provides for internationally accepted standards for
effective exchange of information on tax matters including bank
information and information without domestic tax interest.
- It further provides that the information received from Japan in respect
of a resident of India can be shared with other law enforcement
agencies with the authorisation of the competent authority of Japan
and vice versa.
- The Protocol also provides that both India and Japan shall lend
assistance to each other in the collection of revenue claims.
59. Seychelles committed to Indian naval base :
- A plot of land for India to build its first naval base in the Indian Ocean
region has been allocated by the Seychelles government in the
Assumption Island.
- 19This is a joint project between India and Seychelles involving the
two Defence Forces in enhancing mutual security.
Benefits for India :
(1) To counter China:
- China has acquired its first African naval base in Djibouti in November
2015.
(2) Once ready, the naval base to be built by the defence forces of
India, and Seychelles will help India exercise greater control over the
Indian Oceans western region all the way to the piracy-prone eastern
African coastline.
(3) The base will be one of the major staging posts for a large maritime
security network that India is setting up with the help of the various
Indian Ocean region partner countries.

India to acquire Coastal Radar System in Seychelles :

- Apart from the naval base, India is set to acquire a fully operational
coastal radar system (CRS) based in Seychelles from March 2016.
- The CRS will provide India with the ability to gather intelligence and
assist in surveillance operations of the vital energy lanes near
Seychelles.
- The Maritime Radar Project is a major development for Seychelles
and Indias mutual desire for security in the field of maritime security.
- Both India and Seychelles have a vested interest in securitising the
Western Indian Ocean.
60. INDIA & RUSSIA
- In a major boost to strategic ties, India and Russia decided to expand
cooperation across various sectors as they signed 16 pacts, including
deals on joint manufacture of 226 military helicopters and construction
of 12 atomic plants with involvement of local companies in India.
- The 16 agreements included one to manufacture the Kamov 226
helicopter in India, which, is the first project for a major defence
platform under the flagship Make-in-India programme.
61. Some hidden issues b/w India & Pakistan :
(A) Tulbul Navigation Project & Wular Barrage :
- The Tulbul Project is a "navigation lock-cum-control structure" at
the mouth of Wular Lake.
Original Plan
- According to the original Indian plan, the barrage was expected to be
of 439 feet (134 m) long and 40 feet (12 m) wide, and would have a
maximum storage capacity of 300,000 acre feet (370,000,000 m3) of
water.
Aim :
- to regulate the release of water from the natural storage in the lake
to maintain a minimum draught of 4.5 feet (1.4 m) in the river up to
Baramulla during the lean winter months.
- The project was conceived in the early 1980s and work began in
1984.
Dispute :
-There has been an ongoing dispute between India and Pakistan over
the Tulbul Project since 1987, when Pakistan objected that it violated
the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty.
- India stopped work on the project in 1987, but has since pressed to
restart construction.
India's Stand :
- The Jhelum River through the Kashmir valley below Wular Lake
provides an important means of transport for goods and people.
- However, the stretch of 22 km between Sopore and Baramulla
becomes non-navigable during the lean winter season with a water
depth of only 2.5 ft. - For improving navigation, India had started

constructing a 439 feet long barrage at the mouth of the lake to ensure
the flow of water in winter.
- To sustain navigation throughout the year a minimum depth of water
is needed.
- India contends that this makes development of the Tulbul Project
permissible under the treaty. But, Pakistan says it is violating the Indus
Water Treaty.
(B) Sir Creek :
- A part of Pakistans coastline is adjacent to that of the Indias Gujarat
coast. But there are no bilateral agreements defining the maritime
boundaries.
- Not only these boundaries are unsettled but also there is absence of
clear fishing laws.
- Sir Creek, called Baan Ganga locally, is a 96 kilometers long estuary
in the marshes of the Rann of Katch, which lies on the border between
Indias Gujarat and Pakistans Sindh.
- Its basically a fluctuating tidal channel, not truly a flowing creek,
along which the boundary between India and Pakistan was not
demarcated.
Dispute :
- The dispute between India and Pakistan is on 3 issues:
(i) The actual demarcation from the mouth of Sir Creek to the top of
Sir Creek (ii) The actual demarcation from the top of Sir Creek
eastward to a point on the line designated on the Western Terminus.
(iii) Demarcation of maritime boundary between India and Pakistan in
Arabian Sea.
62. Brazil declares health emergency after 2,400 babies are born
with brain damage, possibly due to mosquito-borne virus.
- Brazilian health authorities are sounding the alarm about a mosquitoborne virus that they believe may be the cause of thousands of infants
being born with damaged brains.
- The pathogen, known as Zika and first discovered in forest monkeys
in Africa over 70 years ago, is the new West Nile -- a virus that
causes mild symptoms in most but can lead to serious neurological
complications or even death in others.
63. Sahyog-Kaijin
- It is an Indo-Japan Coast Guard Joint Exercise.
- Sahyog-Kaijin is held once in two years and the venue would shift
between India and Japan on alternate occasions.
- During the visit of Japanese PM Shinzo Abe to India in Dec 2015,
Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar had said that Japan would be a
permanent partner in the Malabar naval exercise along with India and
U.S. navies.
64. India to counter non-issues at WTO talks
- The government is firming up a strategy to prevent attempts by rich
nations to introduce new pro-corporate issues such as global value

chains, digital economy, labour and climate-related trade into the

World Trade Organisation (WTO) deliberations and negotiations on
mega free trade agreements.
- When the Doha Round negotiations (for a global agreement to lower
trade barriers) resume at the WTO headquarters in Geneva, India will
make it clear that discussions on any new issue can take place only
after resolving all the outstanding matters related to the Doha Round
talks.
- The outstanding issues include an efective Special Safeguard
Mechanism (or a tool to help developing countries protect the
interests of their poor farmers by temporarily increasing duties to
counter farm import increase and price fall) and a permanent solution
for the issue of public stockholding for food security purposes.
- Two criteria India will state at the WTO that any country pitching for
the introduction the new issues will first have to ensure that they
meet two criteria:
(a) to establish the relevance of these issues in the context of trade
and
(b) to ensure that there is a consensus among all 162 WTO member
countries in taking up such an agenda.
Q. What are these "new issues" ?
- These new issues that the developed world is keen to introduce into
the WTOs Doha Round talks include:
(a) global value chains,
(b) e-commerce,
(c) labour,
(d) climate-related trade (such as environmental services and goods),
(e) competition policies,
(f) investment pacts,
(g) government procurement and
(h) state-owned enterprises
- on all of these the rich nations have superior standards or rules than
the developing and poor countries.
- The developing nations feel these standards or rules might therefore
become non-tarif barriers, hurting their exports to rich nations while
the latter will be able to indirectly open up the developing markets
through an agenda that includes 'new issues'.
65. Electricity from Tripura may start flowing to Bangladesh from
February, 2016 as the two sides have finalised the tariff and resolved
other issues.
- According to the decision, Bangladesh will buy 100 MW of electricity
from Tripura at the rate of Taka 6.44 (Rs. 5.5) per kilowatt-hour.
- The Palatana project is viewed as a major example of IndiaBangladesh cooperation.
Palatana Power Project :
- ONGC Tripura Power Company (OTPC) also known as Palatana Power
Plant, is a thermal power plant station in Palatana, Udaipur in the

Gomoti district of the Northeasten Indian state of Tripura.

- It is ONGC's first power plant in India & also the biggest Plant in
Northeast India.
66. World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) :
- Headquarters : Geneva, Switzerland.
- Director General : Francis Gurry.
- It is one of the 17 specialized agencies of the United Nations.
- WIPO was created in 1967 "to encourage creative activity, to promote
the protection of intellectual property throughout the world."
- It is a global body for promotion and protection of intellectual
property rights (IPR).
Members :
- WIPO currently has 188 member states, administers 26 international
treaties.
- 186 of the UN Members as well as the Holy See and Niue are
Members of WIPO.
- Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), a part of the
commerce and industry ministry, is the nodal body at the Centre for
drafting and finalising the national IPR policy.
- In the WIPO's Global Innovation Index 2015 that surveyed 141
economies in the world, India was ranked 81.
67. Shengen Agreement :
- led to the creation of Europe's borderless Schengen Area. The
treaty was signed on 14 June 1985 by 5 European countries near
the town of Schengen in Luxembourg but was only partially
implemented until 1995.
- It proposed the gradual abolition of border checks at the
signatories' common borders.
- Measures proposed included reduced speed vehicle checks which
allowed vehicles to cross borders without stopping, allowing residents
in border areas freedom to cross borders away from fixed checkpoints
and the harmonisation of visa policies.
- In 1990 the Agreement was supplemented by the Schengen
Convention which proposed the abolition of internal border
controls and a common visa policy.
- The Schengen Area operates very much like a single state for
international travel purposes with external border controls for
travellers entering and exiting the area, and common visas, but with
no internal border controls.
Members :
- It currently consists of 26 European countries.
Original Signatories :
- France, Belgium, West Germany, Luxembourg & The Netherlands.
- Prior to 1999, the Schengen treaties and the rules adopted under
them operated independently from the European Union; however, the
Amsterdam Treaty incorporated them into European Union law,
while providing opt-outs for the only two EU member states which had

remained outside the Area: Ireland and the United Kingdom.

- Schengen is now a core part of EU law and all EU member states
without an opt-out which have not already joined the Schengen Area
are legally obliged to do so when technical requirements have been
met. Several non-EU countries are also included in the area.
68. India may ease Visa norms for China :
- India is all set to overhaul its security cooperation agreement with
China and further liberalise visa norms for the neighbouring country.
- An MoU signed in 2005 between the Ministry of Home Afairs and the
Ministry of Public Security, Peoples Republic of China, is being revisited
to expand its scope. The MoU was signed for exchange of securityrelated information to combat terrorism.
- The new agreement will also factor in contemporary global threats
like the Islamic State, as many Chinese nationals are also learnt to
have joined the extremist outfit, especially those from the Uighur
region who are fighting for a separate state.
- India has been trying to rope in China to corner Pakistan, which
according to Indian officials, is involved in supporting terror-related
activities in this country. - As per the draft agreement, India and China
will exchange information on terrorist activities, terror groups and their
linkages and share experience on anti-hijacking, hostage-like situations
and coordinate positions on anti-terrorism endeavours at regional and
multilateral levels.
69. U.S. lifts Sanctioms on Iran :
- The U.S. removed a wide range of sanctions against Iran after the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) confirmed that Tehran had
met its commitments to roll back its nuclear programme, under an
agreement with China, France, Russia, the U.K., the U.S. and Germany
on July 14 last year.
- A/c to U.S., the entire world are safer because the threat of the
nuclear weapon has been reduced.
- The U.S. has only removed secondary sanctions that restrict the
dealings of other countries with Iran. Primary sanctions that bar U.S.
citizens and companies from business with Iran will remain.
Benefits for Iran :
(i) The removal of restrictions on its oil, petrochemicals, banking,
natural gas and port sectors will hugely benefit Iran and allow it to reenter the global market.
(ii) Iran will be able to access the huge amount of cash it has
accumulated overseas from restricted oil sales during the sanctions.
Most of this money is sitting in China, India, Japan, South Korea and
Turkey.
Fresh U.S. Actions :
- Washington had decided to target Irans ballistic missile programme
with new measures.
Cheaper oil, more trade opportunities for India :
(i) The lifting of the sanctions on Iran will benefit India with lower oil
prices and more opportunities for trade.
- There will be a further softening of global crude prices.

(ii) It should also bring the proposed India-Iran gas pipeline closer to
reality.
(iii) An added benefit would be for construction companies in India.
(iv) Apart from Iranian oil, India will also benefit from the removal of
restrictions on payments to Iranian companies that the sanctions had
imposed.
- With the removal of sanctions, we wont have difficulties in reaching
our payment dues. As a result, we can go ahead and sign commercial
deals with Iran since payment is no longer an issue.
(v) The lifting of sanctions means we can invest in Iran, which we could
not do earlier.
(vi) India has taken an interest in is the development of the Chabahar
Port. Now Indian companies will be able to get contracts for this
project.
70. It is a fact that India is in a position to be a central political
player in the West Asian/ Middle Eastern neighbourhood as it
enjoys good relations with all the major players in the region.

71. Balkan Countries:

- It includes: Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, Serbia,
Montenegro, Kosovo, Macedonia, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, Greece,
and the European part of Turkey.
Balkan Route for Syrian Refugees to Europe :
- TAGS : Turkey, Austria, Greece and Serbia.
72. W20 (Women- 20) :
- It is a grouping of female leaders of the worlds 20 leading
economies.
President : Gulden Turktan.
Aim : empowering women & to boost the role of women in global
economic growth.
- W20 engagement group under the auspices of the G20
focuses on promoting gender inclusiveness and gender
equality, essentially making a significant contribution towards a
strong, sustainable and balanced growth trend globally.
- Formed under the Turkish term presidency of the G20, the W20 is set
to organise its first global event in light of the Summit during Fall 2015.
With the main theme being the empowerment of women, the
engagement group will focus on overcoming contemporary
challenges regarding gender inclusivity within the global
economy.
- Gender inclusiveness and gender equality are essential for a
strong, sustainable and balanced growth.
- Women make up over half of the worlds population, but their
contribution to economic growth is far below its potential.

- Gender inequality also restricts development and poverty eradication

efforts in developing countries.
73. India & France : A Strategic Relationship
India and France signed 14 agreements, including an
intergovernmental agreement for the purchase of 36 Rafale fighter
jets, nuclear reactors, French railway locomotives and a major
commitment to counter terror cooperation.
- India & France will jointly produce 800 electric locomotives in
Bihar.
- In recent years, India has entered into more than three dozen
strategic partnerships, but France remains the original one.
- In May 199, when India conducted a series of nuclear weapon tests
France was the first major power to open a dialogue with India.
Robust strategic partnership :
- This is the strategic dialogue that became institutionalised at the
level of the National Security Advisers. The agenda has also expanded
to include counter-terrorism, intelligence sharing and cyber-security
issues, in addition to the original nuclear, space and defence related
matters.
- To mark 50 years of India-France space cooperation, new projects for
cooperation between the ISRO and the French government space
agency, Centre national dtudes spatiales (CNES) have been
announced, dealing with environment and weather monitoring,
mapping of water resources and a joint Thermal Infrared Earth
observation mission.
Make in India in Defence Sector
- Joint ventures (JV) have been proposed to be set up between private
sector entities in both countries that can provide a much needed boost
to Make in India in defence.
- This should give greater content to the Agreement on Defence
Cooperation, originally signed in 2006 and now extended till 2026,
providing a framework for cooperation in defence production, research
and development and procurement of defence materials.
Maritime Security :
- Maritime security in the Indian Ocean region is another sector ripe for
greater cooperation, given French presence by virtue of its territories
(the Reunion Islands) for maintaining safety of sea lanes, tackling
piracy and enhancing maritime domain awareness.
Business and educational ties :
- Two areas that have been lagging are economic and trade relations as
well as the people-to-people exchanges. The Hollande visit has sought
to fix these by announcing a range of new measures.
- Bilateral trade between the two countries has been languishing at $8
billion, well below potential. French FDI has picked up and there are
more than 800 French enterprises operating in India.
- With a large number of MoUs signed in sectors like urban
development, solar energy, sewage and sanitation, urban transport
including railways, water supply and entertainment, there appears to
be a determined effort to make the business-to-business link more

robust.
- Dovetailing the Smart Cities initiative is a good move in this regard.
Nagpur, Chandigarh and Puducherry have been identified as three
cities where French technical assistance and funding has also been
promised.
- Allowing larger number of French youth to intern in enterprises in
India and easing visa norms for Indian students to work for two years
after completing their education in France are steps in the right
direction.
Requirements :
- What are needed are initiatives that can strengthen business-tobusiness linkages and people-to-people contacts which can, in turn,
provide a broader underpinning to the overall bilateral relationship.
74. Financial Action Task Force :
-FATF is an inter-government body that sets the standards for
measures to counter terror financing, money laundering and other
threats to international financial system.
- founded in 1989 on the initiative of the G7 to develop policies to
combat money laundering. In 2001 the purpose expanded to act on
terrorism financing.
- The FATF Secretariat is housed at the headquarters of the OECD in
Paris.
75. G7 :
- It is an international group consisting of Canada, France, Germany,
Italy, U.K, U.S and Japan.
- The European Union is also represented within the G7. These
countries are the seven major advanced economies as reported by
the International Monetary Fund.
- The G7 countries represent more than 64% of the net global wealth
($263 trillion).
76. Uniting for Consensus :
- Uniting for Consensus (UfC) is a movement, nicknamed the Coffee
Club, that developed in the 1990s in opposition to the possible
expansion of permanent seats in the United Nations Security
Council. Under the leadership of Italy.

Current Aim :
- to counter the bids for permanent seats proposed by G4 nations
(Brazil, Germany, India, and Japan) and is calling for a consensus
before any decision is reached on the form and size of the Security
Council.
Members :
- Italy, Canada, Spain, Pakistan, Costa Rica, South Korea, Mexico,
Turkey, Argentina, Indonesia, Colombia, Malta & San Marino.
77. Threat of Zika Virus :
- It is a kind of Microcephaly (a foetal deformation). It is a neurological
disorder in which the person affected has an abnormally small head

due to a failure of brain growth.

- the spread of the mosquito borne disease had gone from a mild
threat to one of alarming proportions through the Americas (esp. in
Brazil).
Vaccination & Detection :
- There is no vaccine or treatment for Zika, which is a close cousin of
dengue and chikungunya and causes mild fever, rash and red eyes. An
estimated 80% of people infected have no symptoms, making it diicult
for pregnant women to know whether they have been infected.
Most Affected Region :
- Brazil has reported 3,893 suspected cases of microcephaly, 30 times
more than in any year since 2010 and equivalent to 1-2 % of all
newborns in the state of Pernambuco, one of the worst-hit areas.
- Zika has spread to more than 20 nations and territories in the
Western Hemisphere, a/c to WHO, illustrating how quickly the epidemic
can expand even without a big international gathering.
In Context of India :
- India has been, till date, out of reach of Zika Virus.
- On the heels of the WHO's warning on Zika virus, the govt said it has
constituted a special, technical group to monitor the spread of the
virus in other countries.
- Aedes mosquito which transmits dengue also transmits Zika virus.
The govt note emphasised an increased focus on prevention to control
the spread of the Aedes mosquito that breeds in clean water.
- There have been no reports of outbreaks of Zika in India though there
is concern that given the ubiquity of air-travel, carriers of the virus may
arrive in India.
Latest News :
- WHO declared the threat posed by Zika virus a global public health
emergency.
- The Union Health Ministry has sounded an alert for Zika and
appointed the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) as the nodal
agency for investigation of any outbreak of the viral infection in India.
- This comes in the backdrop of the World Health Organization
designating the virus and its suspected complications in newborns as a
public health emergency of international concern.
- The virus is transmitted through the bite of an infected Aedes
mosquito, which is also known to transmit infections such as dengue
and chikungunya.
78. IMF reforms: India, China, Brazil get more voting rights
- In long-pending reforms that came into effect recently, emerging
economies gained more influence in the governance architecture of the
International Monetary Fund (IMF).
- Indias voting rights increase to 2.6% from the current 2.3 %, and
Chinas to 6 % from 3.8.
- Russia and Brazil are the other two countries that gain from the
reforms. More than 6 % of the quota shares will shift to emerging and
developing countries from the U.S. and European countries.
India's Concern :

- These reforms were agreed upon by the 188 members of the IMF in
2010, in the aftermath of the global financial meltdown, and their
delayed implementation has been a major concern for India.
- Among the reasons for the delay has been the time it took the U.S
Congress to approve the changes. U.S voting share will marginally
drop, from 16.7 % to 16.5 %.
79. The Millennium Project
- It was commissioned by the United Nations Secretary-General in
2002. Their final report was titled, Investing in Development: A
Practical Plan to Achieve the Millennium Development Goals.
- At the Millennium Summit in September 2000 the largest gathering of
world leaders in history adopted the UN Millennium Declaration,
committing their nations to a new global partnership to reduce
extreme poverty and setting out a series of time-bound targets, with
a deadline of 2015, that have become known as the Millennium
Development Goals.
80. Rio+20 Conference :
- The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development
(UNCSD), also known as Rio 2012, Rio+20, or Earth Summit
2012 was the 3rd international conference on sustainable
development aimed at reconciling the economic and
environmental goals of the global community.
- Hosted by Brazil in Rio de Janeiro from 13 to 22 June 2012, Rio+20
was a 20-year follow-up to the 1992 Earth Summit / United
Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) held in
the same city, and the 10th anniversary of the 2002 World Summit on
Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg.
81. Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty :
- CTBT is a multilateral treaty by which states agree to ban all
nuclear explosions in all environments, for military or civilian
purposes.
- It was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 10
September 1996 but has not entered into force as eight specific
states have not ratified the treaty yet.
Signatories and Ratifiers :
- opened for signature in New York on 24 September 1996, when it was
signed by 71 States, including 5 of the 8 then nuclear-capable states.
- The CTBT with its 183 signatories and 164 ratifications is one of
the most widely supported arms-control treaties. This near universal
support is due to the treatys non-discriminatory nature, where
everyone has the same obligation never to conduct a nuclear
explosion.
India's Stand
- India is not a signatory to CTBT. Indias stand on signing the CTBT
raises many questions on Indias intent to make the world nuclear
weapon free.
- However Indias argument places the treaty as discriminatory
and finds it weak in its present format with the mighty nuclear
nations not ratifying the treaty.
- India, North Korea & Pakistan have not signed it. China, Egypt, Iran,

Israel and the United States have signed but not ratified the Treaty.

82. Non-Proliferation Treaty :

- The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, commonly
known as the Non-Proliferation Treaty or NPT, is an international
treaty whose objective is to prevent the spread of nuclear
weapons and weapons technology, to promote cooperation in
the peaceful uses of nuclear energy, and to further the goal of
achieving nuclear disarmament and general and complete
disarmament.
- Opened for signature in 1968, the Treaty entered into force in 1970.
- India is not a signatory to this.
- 4 UN member states have never joined the NPT: India, Israel,
Pakistan and South Sudan.
- The treaty recognizes five states as nuclear-weapon states: the
United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, and China (also the
5 permanent members of the UNSC).
83. Turn down the heat is a series of reports released by the World
Bank.
- "The International Migration Outlook is an annual report released by
the Organisation for Economic Cooperation & Development (OECD).
84. Kashmir willow set to cross LoC, boost trade with Pak. :
- Despite the Pathankot terror attack destabilising the normalisation of
ties with Pakistan, India may soon begin a diferent kind of cricket
diplomacy to boost the bilateral trade across the Line of Control (LoC)
and as a major confidence-building measure (CBM).
- The list of tradable items is likely to be substantially expanded from
the current 21 (of mainly garments, handicrafts, carpets, agricultural
items), by allowing, among others, Kashmiri willow used to make
cricket bats.
- Other items that could be included in the list are leather goods,
spices, pulses, jams and fruit juices.These were included among the
probable trade items on the request of the late CM of J&K, Mufti
Mohammad Sayeed.
- The new list will include goods that can be exported to Pakistan
mainly from J&K to ensure that the State benefits economically.
85. WHO declares Zika a global emergency :
- The WHO has announced that the explosive spread of the Zika virus
in the Americas is an extraordinary event that merits being declared
an international emergency.
86. Asian Waterbird Census :
- AWC programme is the largest water bird census in Asia and
Australasia.
- It is carried out simultaneously once a year in January across 27
countries by a national network of volunteers and partner
organisations.
- It records overall water bird diversity with population and wetland site

information to maintain an overview of the population size, status and

trends of water birds.
- The AWC 2016 was carried out at Delhi zoo in January by a team of
AWC volunteers in coordination with AWC Delhi State Coordinator and
ecologist T. K. Roy. The Delhi zoo has registered an increase in the bird
population.
- Painted storks migrate at Delhi zoo every year in August for breeding
and leave sometime in the months of February/March.
87. Mdecins Sans Frontires (MSF) :
- It is an international, independent, medical humanitarian
organisation that delivers emergency aid to people affected by
armed conflict, epidemics, natural disasters and exclusion from
healthcare.
- MSF offers assistance to people based on need, irrespective of race,
religion, gender or political affiliation.
- MSF was founded in Paris, France in 1971. It is a non-profit, selfgoverned organisation.
88. India & Thailand :
- India-Thailand collaboration is necessary to ensure freedom of
navigation and connectivity in the Southeast Asian region.
- As maritime neighbours, both countries have a shared interest in the
security of international sea lanes of communication and commerce.
- Their resolution to strengthen their bilateral engagement in the areas
of security and defence will help the Southeast Asian region as a whole
and promote regional economic integration and connectivity.
In Context of South China Sea :
- Indian has concerns about freedom of navigation in the region due to
growing maritime disputes between China and several other regional
countries over South China Sea.
Cobra Gold 2016 :
- India will participate in Cobra Gold 2016 [multilateral amphibious
exercise] and Operation Maitri [counter-insurgency] operations.
89. AsiaEurope Meeting (ASEM) :
- It was officially established in 1996 at the first summit in Bangkok,
Thailand, as an exclusively Asian-European forum to enhance relations
and various forms of co-operation between the then 15 members of
the European Union (EU) and its Commission, the then 7 members of
the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and the individual
countries of China, Japan, and South Korea.
- A series of enlargements saw additional EU members join as well as
India, Mongolia, Pakistan, and the ASEAN Secretariat in 2008, Australia,
New Zealand and the Russian Federation in 2010, Bangladesh, Norway,
and Switzerland in 2012, Croatia and Kazakhstan in 2014.
- India was not among the founding members.
- The main components of the ASEM process rest on the following 3 socalled pillars:
(i) Political Pillar,
(ii) Economical Pillar and

(iii) Social, Cultural and Educational Pillar

90. Re-Drawal of the High Risk Area in the Indian Ocean :
- It is a Major Gain for India on Global Maritime Stage, to Save About
Rs. 1500 crore per Annum for Merchant Ships.
- The International bodies have agreed to Indias efforts to push back
the High Risk Area (HRA) from 78 degrees East longitude to the 65
degrees East longitude. - This will result in huge savings for Indias
EXIM trade and consumers on account of reduced insurance premium
and consequently freight costs.
- Piracy off the coast of Somalia / in the Gulf of Aden / Horn of Africa
(East Africa) had surged very significantly from 2008 to 2012, leading
to innumerable attacks and hijackings of merchant vessels and their
crew.
- These vulnerable areas were defined as High Risk Area (HRA),
characterized by piracy attacks and / or hijackings.
- In 2008, the HRA line in the Indian Ocean region was designated at
East of 65 degrees East longitude which was quite far away from
Indias West Coast.
- Later, in 2011, HRA was extended to 78E longitude (very near to the
west coast of India).
91. The Quartet Roadmap is
- A peace plan Proposed by USA, the EU, Russia and the UN to resolve
the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
92. Kyoto Protocol :
- It is an international treaty, which extends the 1992 United
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
that commits State Parties to reduce greenhouse gases emissions,
based on the premise that :
(a) global warming exists and
(b) man-made CO2 emissions have caused it.
- The Kyoto Protocol was adopted in Kyoto, Japan, on 11
December 1997 and entered into force on 16 February 2005.
- There are currently 192 Parties (Canada withdrew effective
December 2012) to the Protocol.
Kyoto Protocol in terms of CBDR (Common But Differentiated
Responsibility) :
- The Protocol is based on the principle of CBDR.
- It puts the obligation to reduce current emissions on
developed countries on the basis that they are historically
responsible for the current levels of greenhouse gases in the
atmosphere.
- The Protocols first commitment period started in 2008 and
ended in 2012. A 2nd commitment period was agreed on in
2012, known as the Doha Amendment to the protocol, in which
37 countries have binding targets:
- Few big countries like USA, Japan, New Zealand and Russia have
participated in Kyoto's first-round but have not taken on new targets in
the second commitment period.

- As of November 2015, 59 states have accepted the Doha

Amendment, while its entry into force requires the acceptances
of 144 states. Of the 37 countries with binding commitments, 7 have
ratified.
- India had not ratified Doha Amendment till date.
Clean Development Mechanism :
- CDM is one of the Flexible Mechanisms defined in the Kyoto Protocol
(IPCC, 2007) that provides for emissions reduction projects which
generate Certified Emission Reduction (CER) units which may be
traded in emissions trading schemes.
- 2 objectives:
(1) to assist parties not included in Annex I (i.e. developing
countries) in achieving sustainable development and in contributing to
the ultimate objective of the UNFCCC, which is to prevent dangerous
climate change; and
(2)
to
assist
parties
included
in
Annex
I
(i.e.
developed/industrialized countries) in achieving compliance with their
quantified emission limitation and reduction commitments (greenhouse
gas (GHG) emission caps).
- The CDM addresses the 2nd objective by allowing the Annex I
countries to meet part of their emission reduction
commitments under the Kyoto Protocol by buying Certified
Emission Reduction units from CDM emission reduction
projects in developing countries.
- This mechanism is also called as Cut Carbon and Earn Cash
Mechanism. This is for developing (non-Annex I) countries.

93.
Montreal
Protocol
The
Protocol

:
Montreal
on

Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer (a protocol to the Vienna

Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer) is an international
treaty designed to protect the ozone layer by phasing out the
production of numerous substances that are responsible for
ozone depletion.
- It was agreed on 16 September 1987, and entered into force on 1
January 1989, followed by a first meeting in Helsinki, May 1989.
- As a result of the international agreement, the ozone hole in
Antarctica is slowly recovering. Climate projections indicate that
the ozone layer will return to 1980 levels between 2050 and 2070.
- Due to its widespread adoption and implementation it has been
hailed as an example of exceptional international co-operation.

- It has been universally ratified and all the 197 countries of the
world are Parties to the Vienna Convention and its Montreal
Protocol.
- India became Party to the Vienna Convention and the Montreal
Protocol on 18th March, 1991 and 19th June 1992 respectively.
Substances causing Ozone Depletion :
- All of the ozone depleting substances contain either chlorine or
bromine (substances containing only fluorine do not harm the ozone
layer).
94. India ratifies Nuclear Accident Liability Convention :
- India ratified an international convention on nuclear energy accident
liability, the final piece in its efforts to address the concerns of foreign
nuclear suppliers and draw them into a market worth billions of dollars.
- Nuclear reactor makers such as General Electric (GE.N) have been
reluctant to set up plants in India because of a 2010 liability law that
makes equipment suppliers potentially accountable for
accidents, not just the plant operators as is the global norm.
- This marks a conclusive step in the addressing of issues related to
civil nuclear liability in India.
India's forthcoming nuclear projects :
- Energy-starved India plans to construct about 60 nuclear reactors and
has been in talks with various International companies for setting them
up at sites already selected around the country.
- Russia is separately building 6 reactors in southern India and is in
talks for another six. The total size of the Indian market is
estimated at $150 billion dollars, making it equal to or just behind
China's.
95. International Fleet Review 2016 :
- It is an International Military Exercise hosted and conducted
by Indian Navy on behalf of the President of India.
Objective :
- to enhance mutual trust and confidence with neighbouring
navies by inviting their ships to participate in the event.
- Indian Navy is to display its maritime capabilities.
- The last International Fleet Review by Indian Navy was conducted in
January 2001 at Mumbai.
- This review was done at a larger scale from 4 to 8 February 2016 in
Visakhapatnam on the vast expanse of the Bay of Bengal.
96. India Development Foundation of Overseas Indians (IDFOI) :
- It is a not-for-profit trust registered by the Ministry of Overseas
Indian Affairs,
Aim :
- to provide a credible window for Overseas Indian Philanthropy in
Indias Social Development.
- to facilitate philanthropic activities by Overseas Indians
through innovative projects and instruments such as micro credit
for rural entrepreneurs, self help groups for economic empowerment of

women, best practice interventions in primary

technology interventions in rural health care delivery.

education

and

97. India speeds up its trade pact with Russia-led EAEU bloc :
- Indias free trade agreement (FTA) with the Eurasian Economic Union
(EAEU) gives greater access to India for Russian and its neighborhoods
market.
- India has exchanged the first draft of the joint study group (JSG)
report on the feasibility of such a pact with the five-nation bloc.
About EAUA
- The EAEU came into force on 2nd January 2015 integrating Russias
market with that of Kazakhstan, Belarus, Armenia, and Kyrgyzstan.
- It offers a large and mostly unexplored market with a joint population
size of 180 million and a GDP of an estimated $4 trillion.
India & EAUA
- India is interested in an extensive FTA with the region covering most
goods, services as well as investments, and has mentioned it in the
draft submitted to the EAEU.
- The pharmaceuticals, textiles, agriculture items and energy are the
areas where India stands to gain by getting into a trade pact with the
EAEU.
- The Commerce Ministry is also simultaneously working on the nogo areas of the proposed pact.
98. Sendai Framework in succession to the Hyogo Framework :
- The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 is the
1st major agreement of the post-2015 development agenda, with 7
targets and 4 priorities for action.
- It was endorsed by the UN General Assembly following the 2015 3rd
UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (WCDRR).
- The Sendai Framework is a 15-year, voluntary, non-binding
agreement which recognizes that the State has the primary role to
reduce disaster risk but that responsibility should be shared with other
stakeholders including local government, the private sector and other
stakeholders.
- The Sendai Framework is the successor instrument to the Hyogo
Framework for Action (HFA) 2005-2015 which aimed for: Building
the Resilience of Nations and Communities to Disasters.
The Seven Global Targets :
(a) Substantially reduce global disaster mortality by 2030.
(b) Substantially reduce the number of affected people globally by
2030.
(c) Reduce direct disaster economic loss in relation to global GDP by
2030.
(d) Substantially reduce disaster damage to critical infrastructure and
disruption of basic services, among them health and educational
facilities, including through developing their resilience by 2030.
(e) Substantially increase the number of countries with national and
local disaster risk reduction strategies by 2020.

(f) Substantially enhance international cooperation to developing

countries through adequate and sustainable support to complement
their national actions for implementation of this Framework by 2030.
(g) Substantially increase the availability of and access to multi-hazard
early warning systems and disaster risk information and assessments
to the people by 2030.

The Four Priorities for Action :

Priority 1. Understanding disaster risk.
Priority 2. Strengthening disaster risk governance to manage disaster
risk.
Priority 3. Investing in disaster risk reduction for resilience.
Priority 4. Enhancing disaster preparedness for effective response
and to Build Back Better in recovery, rehabilitation and
reconstruction.
99. Sahel :
- Sahel is a semi-arid region of western and north-central
Africa extending from Senegal eastward to The Sudan. It forms a
transitional zone b/w the arid Sahara (desert) to the north and the
belt of humid savannas to the south.
100. India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) signed 9 agreements
covering cooperation in the fields of currency swap, culture,
investments in the infrastructure sector, renewable energy, space
research, insurance supervision, cyber security, skill development and
commercial information sharing.
101. The Horn of Africa :
- It is a peninsula in Northeast Africa. It juts hundreds of kilometers into
the Arabian Sea and lies along the southern side of the Gulf of Aden.
The area is the easternmost projection of the African continent.
Countries it includes :
-Djibouti
Eritrea
Ethiopia
Somalia.
- Djibouti is strategically located on the junction of the Indian Ocean
and the Red Seaa gateway to the Suez Canal via the Strait of Bab AlMandab.
102. A military base in Djibouti along with major port development
projects in Myanmar and Sri Lanka are defining the contours of Chinas
Maritime Silk Roadan oceanic connectivity project, of which, the
Indian Ocean is the core.
- China will soon commence work on the naval base.
- Djibouti would become an ideal location for securing sea lanes, in the
vicinity, which radiate from this area towards Africas Indian Ocean
coastline and the Arabian Sea.

103. Track II diplomacy :

- It refers to "non-governmental, informal and unofficial contacts
and activities between private citizens or groups of individuals,
sometimes called 'non-state actors'".
- It contrasts with track I diplomacy, which can be defined as official,
governmental diplomacy that occur inside official government
channels.
- However, track II diplomacy is not a substitute for track I
diplomacy. Rather, it is there to assist official actors to manage and
resolve conflicts by exploring possible solutions derived from the public
view and without the requirements of formal negotiation or bargaining
for advantage.
- In addition, the term track 1.5 diplomacy is used by some analysts
to define a situation where official and non-official actors cooperate in
conflict resolution.

104. Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) :

- It is a proposed free trade agreement (FTA) b/w the 10 member
states of the ASEAN (Brunei, Myanmar, Cambodia, Indonesia,
Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam)
& the 6 states with which ASEAN has existing FTAs (Australia,
China, India, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand).
- RCEP negotiations were formally launched in November 2012 at the
ASEAN Summit in Cambodia.
- It is viewed as an alternative to the TPP trade agreement, which
includes the United States but excludes China.
105. ASEAN :
- It is a political and economic organization of 10 Southeast Asian
countries.
Formation :
- It was formed on 8 August 1967 by Indonesia, Malaysia, the
Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand.
- Since then, membership has expanded to include Brunei, Cambodia,
Laos, Myanmar (Burma), and Vietnam.
Aims :
(i) accelerating economic growth, social progress, and sociocultural
evolution among its members.
(ii) protection of regional stability and
(iii) opportunities for member countries to resolve differences
peacefully.
106. Exchange for Change :
- Routes 2 Roots (R2R), an Indian non-profit organization in
collaboration with The Citizens Archive of Pakistan (CAP), working for
peace and dialogue b/w India and Pakistan, has launched
Exchange for Change 2013 2015 in Karachi, Pakistan.
- It was launched in September 2010 between 2400 students from 10
schools in Delhi, Mumbai, Karachi and Lahore. After its spectacular
success the project was expanded in 2012 to 3500 students from 17
schools in Delhi, Chandigarh, Mumbai, Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi.

Aim :
- to help students in both countries realize that a sustained dialogue is
the only means to encourage them to form their opinions.
- During the life of this project, a sustained exchange of written, visual
and oral histories will take place between the students.
106. Delhi Dialogue :
- It is an annual event where policymakers, diplomats, and
ministers from India and the ASEAN member-countries meet to
discuss the economic, security, and political issues.
- Apart from economic affairs, the Dialogue is expected to feature
discussions on cyber security, counter-terror, and political coordination
for multilateral platforms like the U.N.
India-Myanmar-Thailand Trilateral Highway :
- The highway project, which is to run from Moreh in Manipur to
Mae Sot in Thailand via Mandalay in Myanmar, will ensure that
Indias eastern border is opened to a new bus route from
Imphal to Mandalay, which would enable travellers to board a bus
from Imphal to reach Mandalay in just over 14 hours.
- The trilateral highway project, along with the Kaladan multi-modal
transit transport model, is one of the cornerstones of the new
governments Act East plan.
- - In order to make the India-Asean Trilateral Highway a live
highway and economically sustainable, both the sides are expected to
discuss the soft infrastructure required, including customs and tariffs,
at the Delhi Dialogue starting in New Delhi on February 17-19, 2016.
Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport Project :
- It will connect Kolkata with Sittwe seaport in Myanmar by sea;
it will then link Sittwe seaport to Lashio in Myanmar via Kaladan
river boat route and then from Lashio on to Mizoram in India
by road transport.
- India and Myanmar had signed a framework agreement in 2008 for its
implementation. The construction of a critical section of a port-cuminland waterway Sittwe port with India is about three-quarters
complete and is likely to be completed and fully operational by
2016.
- The project is of critical economic and strategic importance to India.
107. Mekong :
- It is a trans-boundary river in Southeast Asia. It is the world's 12thlongest river and the 7th-longest in Asia. Its estimated length is 4,350
km.
- From the Tibetan Plateau the river runs through China's Yunnan
province, Burma, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.
- In 1995, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam established the
Mekong River Commission to assist in the management and
coordinated use of the Mekong's resources.
108. Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) :
- It is a forum for 21 Pacific Rim member economies that promotes
free trade throughout the Asia-Pacific region.
- It was established in 1989 in response to the growing

interdependence of Asia-Pacific economies and the advent of

regional trade blocs in other parts of the world;
- to encounter fears that highly industrialised Japan (a member of G8)
would come to dominate economic activity in the Asia-Pacific region;
and
- to establish new markets for agricultural products and raw materials
beyond Europe.
- APEC is an organisation which is consensus based. So each of the
APEC members has to agree to expansion of the APEC membership.
- India has been an observer at the forum since 2011 and is
trying to get its membership.
109. There are currently 4 Multilateral Export Control Regimes, to
none of which India has so far been granted membership.
(a) The Wassenaar Arrangement on Export Controls for
Conventional Arms and Dual-Use Goods and Technologies.
(b) The Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), for the control of nuclear
related technology.
(c) The Australia Group (AG) for control of chemical and biological
technology that could be weaponised.
(d) The Missile Technology Control Regime for the control of
rockets and other aerial vehicles capable of delivering weapons of
mass destruction.
110. South Asia Regional Information and Coordination Center
(SARICC) :
- It is a regional platform for exchange of information/intelligence
on drug trafficking and related matters.
- It is not a South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (SAARC)
initiative.
- India is in the lead position on this forum.
- This platform would initially comprise the founding members
Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka besides
India, and later on would be open to inclusion of other
countries/international organization as decided by the founding
members, based on shared concerns.
111. "Migration and Development briefs or the Migration and
Development Outlook provide information on development
implications of current migration and remittances issues.
- This publication is brought out by World Bank.
112. Cabinet approval for tradefacilitation pact ratification :
- The Cabinet approved a proposal for ratification of the Trade
Facilitation Agreement (TFA) of WTO, aimed at easing customs
rules for expediting global trade flow of goods.
NCTF :
- To facilitate domestic co-ordination and implementation of the TFA,
the Cabinet meeting chaired by PM also cleared the proposal to set up
a National Committee on Trade Facilitation (NCTF).
- to be jointly chaired by the Commerce and Revenue Secretaries.
- These objectives are also in consonance with Indias Ease of

Doing Business initiative.

- The WTO member-countries in Nov 2014 adopted a protocol of
amendment to incorporate the TFA on goods in the overall WTO
Agreement.
Mandate required for Implementation of TFA :
- For the TFA to be operational, 2/3rd (or 108) of the 162 WTO
members will have to ratify it.
- However, only 69 countries have ratified it so far.
- The TFA also contains measures for efective co-operation between
customs and other appropriate authorities on trade facilitation and
customs compliance issues.
Impact on India's interests at WTO :
- A/c to trade experts, ratifying the agreement so early could lead
to India losing a bargaining chip to secure its interests.
- That includes :
(a) finding a permanent solution to the issue of public stockholding
for food security purposes, and
(b) a mechanism to safeguard poor farmers from sudden import
surge of farm products. However, Commerce Minister dismissed the
criticism saying - India has been in favour of the facilitation
agreement as it will benefit the country.
113. High-level Independent Panel on UN Peace Operations
(HIPPO):
- Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon established a High-level Independent
Panel on UN Peace Operations on 31 October 2014, to make a
comprehensive assessment of the state of UN peace operations today,
and the emerging needs of the future.
- A/c to him the world is changing and UN peace operations must
change with it if they are to remain an indispensable and effective tool
in promoting international peace and security.
- The 16-member Panel was chaired by Mr. Jose Ramos-Horta of
Timor-Leste with Ms, Ameerah Haq of Bangladesh as Vice-Chair.
114. SDR :
- IMF created the SDR in 1969 to boost global liquidity as the Bretton
Woods system of fixed exchange rates unraveled. SDR is not
technically a currency. It gives IMF member countries the right to
obtain any of the currencies in the basket currently the dollar, euro,
yen and pound to meet balance-of-payments needs.
- Holders of SDRs can obtain the above mentioned currencies in
exchange for their SDRs in two ways: first, through the arrangement of
voluntary exchanges between members; and second, by the IMF
designating members with strong external positions to purchase SDRs
from members with weak external positions.
- In addition to its role as a supplementary reserve asset, the SDR
serves as the unit of account of the IMF and some other international
organizations.

115. BIS :
- The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) is the worlds oldest
international financial organization. It was established in May 1930. It
is based in Basel, Switzerland, with representative offices in Hong Kong
and Mexico City.
- It has 60 member central banks, representing countries from around
the world that together make up about 95% of world GDP.
- The mission of the BIS is to serve central banks in their pursuit of
monetary and financial stability, to foster international cooperation in
those areas and to act as a bank for central banks.
- BIS elects Raghuram Rajan as its vice-chairman.
116. 7-Point Deal :
- Nepal and India sealed a seven-point deal during a meeting b/w Nepal
PM KP Sharma Oli and Indian PM.
- These nine agreements and Letters of Exchange that are incorporated
in a seven point deal are on a wide range of bilateral issues, including
energy trade, transit facilities, cultural exchanges as well as road
construction and post-earthquake reconstruction support.
- Most of the agreements that have been signed are not new though.
They are related to continuation and execution of previous pledges
between the two sides.
117. First Raisina Dialogue :
- The Ministry of External Affairs co-hosted the first Raisina Dialogue
with the Observer Research Foundation on 1-3 March 2016, in New
Delhi.
- Visualized as India's flagship international dialogue, the Raisina
Dialogue had more than 450 participants from around 40 countries.
- The theme of the conference was Asian connectivity, which India
said was central to the globalisation process and particularly
important for Asias growth and development.
- Focusing on the theme of 'Asia: Regional and Global Connectivity', the
dialogue enabled the MEA to reach out to a wider international
multidisciplinary audience.
- The conference is being seen as the governments attempt to rival
conferences around the world that attract global players such as the
Shangri-La dialogue in Singapore, and the Munich Conference on
national security.
- There was consensus among the participants on how mistrust, a lack
of political will and poor regional security are the biggest impediments
in the way of a fully economically integrated South Asian region.
118. Mekong-Ganga Cooperation (MGC) :
- The MGC is an initiative by 6 countries India + 5 ASEAN
countries, namely, Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand and
Vietnam for cooperation in tourism, culture, education, as well as
transport and communications.
- It was launched in 2000 at Vientiane, Lao PDR. Both the Ganga
and the Mekong are civilizational rivers, and the MGC initiative
aims to facilitate closer contacts among the people inhabiting these

two major river basins.

- The MGC is also indicative of the cultural and commercial linkages
among the member countries of the MGC down the centuries.
119. India's National Solar Mission & WTO Dispute :
NSM & Related Compulsion for Solar Power Producers (may be
foreign) :
- Indias national solar programme, launched in 2010, aims to
establish India as a global leader in solar energy, by creating
the policy conditions for its difusion across the country as quickly as
possible.
- To incentivise the production of solar energy within the country, the
government under the programme agrees to enter into long-term
power purchase agreements with solar power producers, efectively
guaranteeing the sale of the energy produced and the price that
such a solar power producer could obtain.
- Thereafter, it would sell such energy through distribution utilities to
the ultimate consumer.
- However, a solar power producer, to be eligible to participate under
the programme, is required compulsorily to use certain domestically
sourced inputs, namely solar cells and modules for certain types of
solar projects.
- In other words, unless a solar power producer satisfies this domestic
content requirement, the government will not guarantee the purchase
of the energy produced.
Actual Dispute :
- In 2013, the U.S. brought a complaint before the WTO arguing that
the domestic content requirement imposed under Indias national solar
programme is in violation of the global trading rules.
- Specifically, it said, India has violated its national treatment
obligation by unfavourably discriminating against imported solar cells
and modules.
- In other words, India was discriminating between solar cells and
modules which were otherwise identical on the basis of the national
origin of the cells and modules, a clear violation of its trade
commitment.
WTO Ruling :
- In a significant ruling a WTO panel found that the domestic content
requirement imposed under Indias national solar programme is
inconsistent with its treaty obligations under the global trading regime.
120. Force 18 :
- Multinational Field Training Exercise (FTX) Exercise FORCE 18,
involving ASEAN Plus countries, was held at Pune displaying true
jointmanship and team spirit.
- This is the largest Ground Forces Exercise ever conducted on Indian
soil and was conducted from 02 to 08 March 2016.
Themes of this Joint Excercise :
- Humanitarian Mine Action and Peacekeeping Operations.
- The spectacle is an elaborate and ambitious military training exercise

involving Army units from 18 countries, often locked as adversaries in

the arena of global realpolitik.
18 Members :
- They include 9 out of 10 members of the ASEAN (excluding Myanmar)
and 8 observer States: India, Japan, Korea, China, Russia, the United
States, Australia, and New Zealand.
- Myanmar was compelled to back out owing to elections and security
issues pertaining to border infiltration.
Objectives of Force 18 :
(a) to build common understanding and achieve inter-operability
among the 18 ASEAN-Plus countries.
(b) reaffirming Indias expertise as the lead agency in Southeast Asia
for Peacekeeping Operations and Humanitarian Mine Action.
A unique facet of the exercise :
- The Indian Army contingent of 40 soldiers is being led by Lt Col
Sophia Qureshi, a woman officer from the Corps of Signals, who now
has the rare distinction of becoming the first woman officer to lead an
Indian Army training contingent in such a multinational exercise.
- The officer also happens to be the only Woman Officer Contingent
Commander amongst all other ASEAN Plus contingents present for the
exercise.
121. Maastricht Treaty :
- to form the European Union (EU) in1992.
- The treaty prescribed 4 criteria which EU members had to comply to
be eligible to adopt the Euro as the common currency.
- One criterion was the 3 % fiscal deficit limit the others being limits
on inflation, long-term interest rates and public debt.
122. The Marshall Islands :
- It is an island country located near the equator in the Pacific Ocean,
slightly west of the International Date Line. Geographically, the country
is part of the larger island group of Micronesia.
- It is spread out over 29 coral atolls.
Micronesia :
- It is a sub-region of Oceania, comprising thousands of small islands in
the western Pacific Ocean. It has a shared cultural history with two
other island regions, Polynesia to the east and Melanesia to the south.
123. United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is monitoring the
implementation of the SDGs by 2030.
124. Navy's Aircraft on mission in Seychelles :
- Signalling Indias deepening naval engagement in the Indian Ocean,
the Indian navy has for the first time deployed one of its advanced
maritime reconnaissance aircraft to Seychelles for surveillance of the
island nations Exclusive Economic Zone.
- It is the first such deployment of the Boeing P 8I to a foreign country.
The aircraft has been in Seychelles since March 20, 2016, according to
the Navy.
- The move is in accordance with the MoU between the Governments

of India and Seychelles.

India's presence in the region :
- The aircraft deployment, which followed earlier surveillance missions
of the Seychellois EEZ by naval ships, reflects Indias increased
maritime engagement in the region.
- India has been reaching out to the smaller Indian Ocean island
nations through various Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA) exercises
that include Search and Rescue (SAR) support, oil pollution response
exercises, and assistance in legal matters.
- Besides supplying naval vessels and aircraft, the Indian navy has
supported countries such as Sri Lanka, Mauritius, Maldives and
Seychelles with training, hydrographic surveys, surveillance operations
and counter-terror patrols.
With reference to China :
- India and China are locked in efforts to widen their respective spheres
of influence in the strategically vital Indian Ocean.
- What we are seeing is China and India trying to expand their
presence in the extended Indian Ocean region.
India- A natural choice of these archipelago in the region :
- India is of course the natural choice for the smaller nations because
of geography and politics.
- The Indian Navy has, in the past, undertaken surveillance missions in
the Seychellois EEZ twice a year, but by deploying naval ships. The P8I
is a cheaper, economical, faster and more effective option than the
naval ships, and sends a signal about navys overall ambition and
capabilities.
Significance & Benefit of this deployment of P-81 Aircraft :
(i) It is an indicator of Indias commitment towards ensuring the
security of Seychelles EEZ.
(ii) This deployment would assist in curbing illegal activities and piracy
and contribute towards security and stability in the Indian Ocean
Region.
# The deployment will remain till March 23, 2016.
125. National Human Rights Commission Chairperson Justice H.L. Dattu
has been appointed a member of the Bureau of International
Coordinating Committee (ICC) of National Human Rights Institutions
(NHRIs) in Geneva.
126. Nuclear Security Summit (NSS) :
- Its a biennial summit.
- Indian PM will be in Washington, DC for the Nuclear Security Summit
(NSS), the 4th and the last in a series that was launched by U.S.
President Barack Obama in Washington in 2010.
Earlier Summits :
(i) In Washington DC in 2010,
(ii) In Seoul in 2012,
(iii) In The Hague in 2014 and
(iv) In Washington DC in 2016 (it is the last summit in the current
format).

Role of India :
- India has played an active role in the process with former PM
Manmohan Singh attending the first two summits.
- Indias profile in the NSS process is natural given our concerns about
global terrorism and the growing threat posed by terrorists seeking to
acquire weapons of mass destruction.
- Since 2002, India has been introducing a resolution on terrorism and
weapons of mass destruction in the UNGA, adopted by consensus
every year. It laid the groundwork for the legally binding Security
Council Resolution 1540 adopted in 2005.
- A voluntary contribution of a million dollars to the Nuclear Security
Fund has been made. More significant has been the initiative for
establishment of a Global Centre of Excellence for Nuclear Energy
Partnership, which has already conducted more than a dozen national
and international courses in relevant fields.
Contribution of Sherpas :
- After this years summit, the network of sherpas, or the expert
officials from diferent countries, who have been helping their leaders
prepare for these summits, will continue to coordinate with each other
as a Nuclear Security Contact Group.
127. Dirty Bomb :
- Terrorists could acquire radioactive material from civilian sources such
as hospitals or university laboratories that could be mixed with
conventional explosives to make a radioactive dispersal device or dirty
bomb.
128. Security experts have identified at least four types of specific
threats that terror outfits pose.
(i) These groups could acquire a nuclear weapon from the arsenal of a
nuclear state;
(ii) they could acquire enough fissile material to construct an
improvised nuclear device this know-how exists outside govts too;
(iii) they could acquire radioactive material from civilian sources such
as hospitals or university laboratories that could be mixed with
conventional explosives to make a radioactive dispersal device or dirty
bomb.
(iv) Terror groups could also sabotage a nuclear facility leading to
large-scale loss of lives and destruction.
129. START Treaty :
- START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) was a bilateral treaty
between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist
Republics (USSR) on the reduction and limitation of strategic offensive
arms. The treaty was signed on 31 July 1991 and entered into force on
5 December 1994.
130. On Earth Day 2016 (22 April), the landmark Paris Agreement is
scheduled to be signed by the United States, China, and some 120
other countries.
- This signing satisfies a key requirement for the entry into force of
the historic draft climate protection treaty adopted by

consensus of the 195 nations present at the 2015 United

Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris.
- The Paris Agreement, reached in December, is the first global accord
to commit nearly every nation to take domestic actions to tackle
climate change.
- To promote the accord, Ban Ki-moon, the UN Secretary General,
planned the signing ceremony for April 22, Earth Day, although
world leaders will have a year afterward to sign.
Condition for the Accord to come into force :
- The Paris Agreement will enter into legal force only when enough
countries have signed on: together they have to be responsible
for causing 55% of the worlds greenhouse gas emissions.
131. 1267 Committee :
- The 1267 Committee, also known as the al-Qaeda Sanctions
Committee, is one of three United Nations Security Council committees
dealing with counter-terrorism.
# Nihilism : A Russian movement of the 1860s that rejected all
authority and promoted the use of violence for political change.
132. India's West Asia Policy :
- Historically, Indias West Asia policy has been multi-directional.
During the Cold War years, India maintained close economic
cooperation with both Saudi Arabia and Iran, the rival poles in regional
geopolitics.
- Even when New Delhi warmed up to Israel in the 1990s as part of the
countrys efforts to diversify its diplomatic engagement in the post
Soviet world, it was careful not to jeopardise the traditional relations
with Muslim countries.
- The bi-directional approach has been expanded to a tri-directional
foreign policy to accommodate the three key pillars of West Asia
Saudi Arabia, Iran and Israel.
133. India & Saudi Arabia :
- To be sure, theres a consensus in Indias foreign policy establishment
that maintaining vibrant ties with Saudi Arabia is imperative to its
national interest.
- Today, Saudi Arabia is Indias largest supplier of crude oil. That India
is dependent on imports to meet around 70 per cent of the countrys
energy demand itself makes Riyadh a vital player in the countrys
quest for energy security.
- Besides, India is the largest recipient of foreign remittances from the
kingdom. Of the 11 million Indians working in West Asia, nearly three
million are in Saudi Arabia. Therefore, stability in the region, and
particularly in Saudi Arabia, is high on Indias core agenda.
- But bilateral relations have gone beyond the economic realm in
recent years, acquiring a strategic sense and pushing both countries to
beef up their security partnership.
- For decades, India was a passive player in West Asia a beneficiary
of good relationships with multiple actors. Despite the growing
economic ties, political contacts between Saudi Arabia and India were
at minimum till the Manmohan Singh government took office in 2004.

- The January 2006 visit of the late King, Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, to
Delhi set a new tone for bilateral ties. Dr. Singh reciprocated the visit in
2010 the first Indian PM visiting Saudi Arabia in nearly 30 years
and signed the Riyadh Declaration, which set the framework for
enhanced cooperation in the security, defence and economic spheres.
- Since then, there has been marked improvement in security
cooperation and intelligence sharing between India and Saudi Arabia.
Riyadh also extradited several terror suspects to India in a clear
departure from its established policy towards New Delhi.

- The main focus of Mr. Modi's trips to both the UAE and Saudi Arabia
was counterterrorism. Both Abu Dhabi and Riyadh are Pakistans
historical allies.
- The joint statements, issued in August with the UAE and this week
with Riyadh, are unsurprisingly similar. And both have indirect
references to Pakistans dual policy towards terrorism.
- It is clear that Mr. Modi is giving a Pakistan spin to the Act West Asia
policy of his predecessor. Indias objective appears to be to build a
counter-terror narrative in diplomatic engagements with Pakistans
close allies which could complicate the latters foreign policy.
- India would also not prefer to sit on the margins at a time when China
is raising its profile in West Asia. Chinese President Xi Jinping recently
visited Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Iran. The relationship between Beijing
and Tehran is particularly going strong.
The Sore Points :
(i) The Saudis may like to use their growing relations with India to put
pressure on Pakistan to join Saudi Arabias war coalition that has been
bombing Yemen for the past one year in the name of fighting the Iranbacked Shia rebels.
- But a structural overhaul of Riyadhs South Asia policy is not on the
cards. Pakistan, after all, is the country with an Islamic bomb, a
historic ally of the Saudis.
- So if India, while reactivating its West Asia policy, looks only through
the Pakistan prism, it might end up making strategic mistakes.
(ii) Another sore point is the growing Saudi-Iran rivalry, which has
always influenced West Asian geopolitics.
- By skewing its West Asia policy towards the Saudis, even though it
might help meet its short-term goals, New Delhi also runs the risk of
antagonising Iran at a time when the country is emerging a stronger
player in West Asia post the removal of sanctions.
134. SAARC Satellite Project :
- SAARC satellite project was proposed in November 2014 by PM
Narendra Modi for all member countries of the regional grouping. Mr.
Modi, spoke about the space technology benefits of telemedicine,
disaster management, land records management, GIS enabled
watershed management and of providing satellite navigation system to
cover the whole of South Asia. But Pakistan decided to opt out of the
Project.
135. India will institute its first Indian Council for Cultural Relations

(ICCR) chair in the Arab world at Ain Shams University (ASU) in Cairo,
Egypt.
136. Renovation of the Nuclear Applications Laboratories project
(ReNuAL) :
- It is an IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) initiative focussing
mainly on modernization of the nuclear applications laboratories.
- The countries provide funds to this initiative. India also has made a
voluntary contribution of US$ 100,000 in 2015 for the modernization of
IAEAs nuclear applications laboratories in Seibersdorf, Austria under
the ReNuAL project.
137. India got the right to mine Manganese nodules from the
bed of Indian
Ocean :
- International Seabed Authority (ISA), headquartered in
Kingston, Jamaica, which grants the exploration rights, has
granted rights to India to harvest the nodules from the seabed of
Central Indian Ocean in about two years, when the technology is fully
developed. India has been a pioneering investor in this research.
- India has been allocated 150,000 sq. km in the Central Indian
Ocean Basin (CIOB) by ISA for pursuing developmental activity for
mining for polymetallic nodules.
- Of the total amount, manganese may account for about 92.60 mmt.
The other minerals like cobalt, nickel and copper account for 0.56 mmt,
4.70 mmt and 4.30 mmt respectively.
- National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT), Chennai is the
agency that has been developing the technology for deep-sea mining.
- The way these minerals will be used is well known cobalt in
medical treatment and nickel in batteries, for instance. Mining for
these is of strategic importance as there is no terrestrial source of
these metals in India.
#. International Development Association (IDA) is the assistance
programme of World Bank for developing countries.
138. Recent earthquake in Ecuador was caused by the floor of the
Pacific Ocean being subducted under South America.
- Ecuador lies near a shifting boundary between tectonic plates and
has suffered seven earthquakes of magnitude 7.0 or higher in the
region of the quake since 1900.
#. World Economic Outlook is published by IMF.
139. Exercise Malabar :
- Exercise Malabar is a trilateral naval exercise involving the
United States, Japan and India as permanent partners.
- Originally only a bilateral exercise between India and the U.S., Japan
became a permanent partner of the exercise in 2015. Past nonpermanent participants are Australia and Singapore.
- The annual Malabar series began in 1992, and includes diverse
activities, ranging from fighter combat operations from aircraft carriers,
through Maritime Interdiction Operations Exercises.

#. Ajit Doval is the Indias Special Representative to the 19th round of

boundary talks with China.
#. Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA)- b/w India
& USA.

140. Paris Climate Treaty: A hugely expensive way of doing very little.
It is extremely Imp. from Mains point of view. Plese refer the below
link :
http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/paris-treaty-a-lot-of-cost-fordoing-very-little/article8505297.ece

141. Malabar exercise :

- It is a naval exercise in which Navies of India, USA and Japan
participate.
Last December, India and the U.S announced formal expansion of the
bilateral exercises into a trilateral format with the addition of Japan.
- Australia has repeatedly expressed interest in joining Malabar on a
permanent basis and the United States had been pushing its inclusion,
but India has so far resisted the move so as not to antagonise China.
142.