foreign relations

Question 1

US Federal Reserves rate cut and its impact on India?

Answer 1

1. The US Federal Reserve has announced a quarter-percentage-point cut in interest rates — the first rate cut by the US central bank in 11 years.
2. A rate cut in the US is good for emerging market economies and is projected to catalyse a debt and equity market rally in countries such as India.
3. Typically, emerging economies such as India tend to have higher inflation and thereby higher interest rates than those in developed countries such as the US and Europe.
4. As a result, FIIs would want to borrow money in the US at low-interest rates in dollar terms and then invest that money in bonds of emerging countries such as India in Rupee terms to earn a higher rate of interest.
5. When the US Fed cuts its interest rates, the difference between interest rates of the two countries increases, thus making India more attractive for the currency carry trade.

Question 2

India-Africa relations?

Answer 2

1. Indian diaspora in Africa: 3mn and 50000 ethnic-African diaspora in India who descended frm Bantu people of SE africa
2. India-Africa bilateral trade: 70Bn $; this has increased 20 times in past 15 yrs; India is now third largest trading partner of Africa having edged past the United States during the year 2018-19
3. Nearly 4500 Indian soldiers on grnd in Africa under various UN peacekeeping missions
4. India owned/operated companies are 2nd largest employer in Nigeria
5. India is currently spending 7.5Bn $ on infra projects in over 40countries
6. India-Africa summit which began in 2008 has seen three summits, last one being held in October 2015, where India agreed to provide concessional credit worth $10 billion during the next five years.
7. Air connectivity between India and Africa has got a boost with three new services to Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania.
8. Tourism potential: Africa is a niche and expensive destination and the new connections will facilitate more leisure travel.
9. India led the efforts to establish a Slave Trade Memorial at UN in New York and our Prez on his visit, thanked the country Benin for its support towards global recognition of the indenture labour heritage.
10. By 2017, India had cumulatively extended 152 Lines of Credit worth $8 billion to 44 African countries.
11. India has also unilaterally provided free access to its market for the exports of 33 least developed African countries.
12. Nigeria, South Africa, Egypt, Ghana, Angola and Algeria are India’s top six trading partners in Africa, accounting for nearly two-thirds of its trade and half its exports to the continent

Question 3

Operation Desert Storm?

Answer 3

During Gulf War, When Iraq under Saddam Hussein, refuesd to evacuate Kuwait by Jan 15th 1991, US led coalition forces destroyed Iraq’s air defences, oil refineries, and key infrastructure.

This was followed by Operation Desert Sabre, a ground offensive that went on to free Kuwait.

Question 4

India during the Gulf War?

Answer 4

1. New Delhi had been one of the first powers to recognise the Baathist regime when it came to power, and Baghdad, in turn, had consistently maintained a pro-India stance, especially during the era when the rest of the region was seen to have gravitated towards Pakistan.
2. When the Gulf War started, India, which at the time was led by PM Chandra Shekhar, maintained its signature non-aligned stance. However, it rejected Baghdad’s demand for linking the hostilities that were unfolding then with the Palestinian conflict.
3. Between August 13 and October 20 of 1990, India evacuated over 1,75,000 of its nationals from war-torn Kuwait, the biggest such operation by the Indian government. The feat has been mentioned in the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest number of people being evacuated by a civilian airliner

Question 5

JCPOA: signatories?

Answer 5

China

France

Germany

Iran

Russia

United Kingdom

United States (withdrawn)

European Union

Question 6

JCPOA: salient points?

Answer 6

1. limits the number and type of advanced centrifuges that it can test for 10 yrs
2. cannot enrich U above 3.67%(weapon grade threshold), cannot stockpile more than 300kg of low enriched U and can only conduct enrichment at Natanz FEP under advance safeguard tech for 15 yrs
3. submit U ore production to IAEA monitoring for 25 yrs
4. Iran is prohibited frm research that cud contribute to the development of nukes

Question 7

Which country became the first country in the world to receive a shipment of coronavirus vaccines under the COVAX program

Answer 7

Ghana

About 600,000 doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, manufactured by the Serum Institute of India (SII) in Pune (the largest vaccine manufacturer in the world), were sent to Accra in Ghana

Question 8

What is COVAX?

Answer 8

1. COVAX program is led by the vaccine alliance GAVI, WHO and Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) in partnership with UNICEF, vaccine manufacturers and WB
2. obj: to ensure equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines globally in what is being called the largest vaccine procurement and supply operation in history.
3. program wants to vaccinate roughly 20 per cent of the population in the 92 Advance Market Commitment (AMC) countries (countries with per capita GNI less than US $4000 and some other countries which are eligible under WB-IDA), which include middle and lower-income nations that cannot afford to pay for COVID-19 vaccines.
4. Out of its target of 2 billion vaccine doses, 1.3 billion doses will be delivered to the AMC countries.
5. funding: target is 6.8Bn$, sourced from high and middle-income countries (that will also receive a share of the vaccines produced for COVAX)

Question 9

San Isidro Movement (MSI)?

Answer 9

a campaign by artists and activists demanding greater freedom of expression in Cuba

Since December 2018, when Cuba first allowed access to the internet on mobile phones, internet use on the island, about two-thirds of the population now enjoys some kind of internet access which has been revolutionary as the government controls all modes of communication, and no political opposition has been permitted.

Thanks to the internet, artists and dissidents have managed to connect and amplify their message with relative ease, and challenge the government’s monopoly over cultural discourse. eg. black cuban artists came up with ‘Patria y Vida’ (country and Life) as a response to the iconic slogan ‘Patria o Muerte’ coined by Fidel Castrp in 1960

Question 10

Ex Desert FLAG VI

Answer 10

Ex Desert Flag is an annual multi-national large force employment warfare exercise hosted by the United Arab Emirates Air Force.

The Indian Air Force is participating for the first time in Exercise Desert Flag-VI along with the air forces of the United Arab Emirates, the United States of America, France, Saudi Arabia, South Korea and Bahrain.

Question 11

INSTC: about?

Answer 11

• It is a 7,200-km-long multi-mode network of ship, rail, and road route for moving freight.
• Regions involved: India, Iran, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Russia, Central Asia and Europe.
• Dry runs of two routes were conducted in 2014:
  
  • First was Mumbai to Baku via Bandar Abbas.
  • Second was Mumbai to Astrakhan via Bandar Abbas, Tehran and Bandar Anzali.
• Significance of the corridor:
  
  • Conceived well before China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), INSTC will not only help cut down on costs and time taken for transfer of goods from India to Russia and Europe via Iran but also provide an alternative connectivity initiative to countries in the Eurasian region.
  • This will also synchronize with the Ashgabat agreement, a Multimodal transport agreement signed by India, Oman, Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, for creating an international transport and transit corridor facilitating transportation of goods between Central Asia and the Persian Gulf.

Question 12

Hazaras?

Answer 12

They are a Persian-speaking ethnic group native to, and primarily residing in, the mountainous region of Hazarajat, in central Afghanistan.

Hazaras are considered to be one of the most oppressed groups in Afghanistan.

Question 13

T/F: FATF-APG recently placed Pakistan on Blacklist.

Answer 13

F

Though the Asia Pacific Group (APG) subgroup has recommended Pakistan to be downgraded to the blacklist due to its “poor performance” to tackle terror funding despite warnings, FATF has still persisted with Pakistan in ‘Dark Grey list’ the last levelbefore ‘Dark list’

Pakistan was non-compliant in 32 of the 40 Compliance Parameters on Money Laundering & Terror Financing and Pakistan was low in 10 of the 11 Effectiveness Parameters.

Pakistan was placed on the grey list by the FATF in June last year

Question 14

South-South and Triangular Cooperation?

Answer 14

1. is a broad framework of collaboration among countries of the South in the political, economic, social, cultural, environmental and technical domains.
2. Involving two or more developing countries, it can take place on a bilateral, regional, intraregional or interregional basis.
3. Triangular cooperation is collaboration in which traditional donor countries and multilateral organizations facilitate South-South initiatives through the provision of funding, training, management and technological systems

Question 15

Which country’sHighest Civilian Award is ‘Order of Zayed’:?

Answer 15

UAE

recently awardedModi ith it.

Question 16

precedents when India and Pakistan have allowed a third-party to help resolve their issues.?

Answer 16

1. Indus Water treaty: Both nations were able to reach agreements through third party mediators in case of the Indus Waters Treaty and the negotiations on the Rann of Kutch dispute.
2. Rann of Kutch Accord (mediated by British Prime Minister Harold Wilson) persuaded the combatants to end hostilities and establish a tribunal to resolve the dispute.
3. During the 1965 Indo-Pakistan war, the then USSR led mediation efforts paved the way for India and Pakistan to withdraw forces from each other’s territories while agreeing to discuss all future matters. This was followed by signing of the Tashkent Declaration in Uzbekistan.

Question 17

Bavar-373?

Answer 17

1. Iran’s new home-grown air defence system.
2. It is being touted as Islamic republic’s 1st domestically produced long-range missile defence system.
3. It is a long-range mobile surface-to-air missile system.

Question 18

Iconic Shri Krishna temple in Bahrain?

Answer 18

1. India announced a renovation project of USD 4.2 million for the iconic Shri Krishna Temple in Bahrain.
2. temple completes 200 years this year.
3. The temple is estimated to have been established around 1817 and was built by Thathai Bhatia Hindu community, and is still being managed by them.
4. It is considered to be the first and the oldest temple in the Gulf countries and has been a place of worship for a host of Hindus since centuries.

Question 19

Shaheen VIII?

Answer 19

Pakistan and China are conducting joint bilateral aerial exercise Shaheen VIII (Eagle VIII) in Chinese city of Holton.

Question 20

One Country Two Systems approach: how it came into being?

Answer 20

1. proposed by Deng Xiaoping with an aim to unify China and Taiwan.
2. On December 19, 1984, China and the U.K. signed the Sino-British Joint Declaration in Beijing, which set the terms for the autonomy and the legal, economic and governmental systems for Hong Kong post 1997.
3. Similarly, on March 26, 1987, China and Portugal signed the Joint Declaration on the Question of Macau in which China made similar promises for the region of Macau after it was handed over to Beijing in 1999
4. Their mini-Constitutions would remain valid for 50 years — till 2047 for Hong Kong and 2049 for Macau. It is unclear what will happen after this term.

Question 21

China’s One country Two systems policy?

Answer 21

1. Origin: originally proposed by Deng Xiaoping shortly after he took the reins of the country in the late 1970s. Deng’s plan was to unify China and Taiwan under the One Country Two Systems policy. He promised high autonomy to Taiwan. China’s nationalist government, which was defeated in a civil war by the communists in 1949, had been exiled to Taiwan. Under Deng’s plan, the island could follow its capitalist economic system, run a separate administration and keep its own army but under Chinese sovereignty. Taiwan, however, rejected the Communist Party’s offer.
2. Thus, HK and Macau are the ones under this approach. the Hong Kong (acquired from British) and Macau Special Administrative Regions (acquired from Portugese), both former colonies, can have different economic and political systems from that of mainland China, while being part of the PRC. regions would have their own currencies, economic and legal systems, but defence and diplomacy would be decided by Beijing. Their mini-Constitutions would remain valid for 50 years — till 2047 for Hong Kong and 2049 for Macau. It is unclear what will happen after this term.

Question 22

China-Taiwan issue: background?

Answer 22

• China and Taiwan separated amid civil war in 1949 and China considers Taiwan part of its territory to be taken control of by force if necessary.
• But Taiwan’s leaders say that Taiwan is a sovereign state.
• After decades of hostile intentions and angry rhetoric, relations between China and Taiwan started improving in the 1980s. China put forward a formula, known as “one country, two systems”, under which Taiwan would be given significant autonomy if it accepted Chinese reunification.
• In Taiwan, the offer was rejected, but the government did relax rules on visits to and investment in China.
• There were also limited talks between the two sides’ unofficial representatives, though Beijing’s insistence that Taiwan’s Republic of China (ROC) government is illegitimate prevented government-to-government contact.
• The most serious encounter was in 1995-96, when China began testing missiles in the seas around Taiwan, triggering the biggest US mobilisation in the region since the Vietnam War.
• China’s implementation of anational security law in Hong Kong in 2020 was seen by many as yet another sign that Beijing was becoming significantly more assertive in the region.

Other countries’ stance on Taiwan:

• ROC, Taiwan has diplomatic relations with 15 countries and substantive ties with many others such as Australia, Canada, EU nations, Japan and New Zealand.
• Notably USA has kept diplomatic relations with both China and Taiwan, though both in ambiguous terms. US backs Taiwan’s independence, maintains ties with Taipei, and sells weapons to it — but officially subscribes to PRC’s “One China Policy”, which means there is only one legitimate Chinese government.
• Taiwan has full membership in 38 intergovernmental organizations and their subsidiary bodies, incl WTO, APEC, ADB

Question 23

China-Taiwan issue: India’s stance?

Answer 23

• Since 1949, India has accepted the “One China” policy that accepts Taiwan and Tibet as part of China.
• However, India uses the policy to make a diplomatic point, i.e., if India believes in “One China” policy, China should also believe in a “One India” policy.
• Even though India has stopped mentioning its adherence to One China policy in joint statements and official documents since 2010, its engagement with Taiwan is still restricted due to the framework of ties with China.
  • India and Taiwan do not have formal diplomatic relations but since 1995, both sides have maintained representative offices in each other’s capitals that function as de facto embassies.
• Bloomberg has reported that talks with Taipei are ongoing to bring a $7.5-billion semiconductor or chip manufacturing plant to India.

Question 24

China-Taiwan issue: recent developments?

Answer 24

• The 2016 election of President Tsai marked the onset of a sharp pro-independence phase in Taiwan, and the current tensions with China coincided with her re-election in 2020.
• Taiwan has sought to improve its defenses with the purchase of US weapons, including upgraded F-16 fighter jets, armed drones, rocket systems and Harpoon missiles.
• In Oct 2021, China flew over 100 fighter jets into Taiwan’s air defence identification zone, jangling nerves in Taiwan and setting off alarm around the world that it was prepping to take over the island by force.
• Taiwan is entirely dependent on the US for its defence against possible Chinese aggression — and that is why every spike in military tensions between China and Taiwan injects more hostility in the already strained relationship between Washington and Beijing.
• Last year, amid worsening US-China relations over Covid and trade, the State Department sent its highest ranking delegation yet to Taipei. During the visit, the Chinese conducted a military exercise in the Taiwan Strait, which separates Taiwan from mainland China.
• Taiwan now has massive economic interests, including investments in China, and pro-independence sections worry that this might come in the way of their goals. Inversely, the pro-reunification sections of the polity, as well as China, hope that economic dependence and increasing people-to-people contacts will wear out the pro-independence lobbies.
• The AUKUS pact among the US, UK, and Australia, under which Australia will be supplied with nuclear submarines, has imparted a new dimension to the security dynamics of the Indo-Pacific. Taiwan has welcomed the pact, while China has denounced it as seriously undermining regional peace.

Question 25

% enrichment of uranium mandated in JCPOA?

Answer 25

3.67%

Question 26

List of refugees in India?

Answer 26

India has allowed Tibetans, Tamil refugees from Sri Lanka, Chakmas of Bangladesh, the Lothsampas of Nepali origin from Bhutan, Afghans, Somalis and many others into this land.

Question 27

Why India needs a ‘feminist’ foreign policy?

Answer 27

1. In the wake of worsening gender equality (Gender gap report 2021), when 104 countries still have laws preventing women from certain types of jobs, a gendered approach has to be mainstreamed into broader policy objectives incl foreign policy
2. first introduced and advocated by Sweden in 2014. Though initial appoaches can be traced to 1980s and 90s. Data indicates that the inclusion of diverse voices makes for a better basket of options in decision making and is no longer simply a virtuous standard to follow. Canada, France, Germany and Mexico have also adopted this.
3. As a non-permanent member of the UNSC and recently elected to the UN Commission on the Status of Women for a four year term in September 2020, India has a key role to play.
4. not new for India: From 2007 when India deployed the first ever female unit to the UN Mission in Libya to supporting gender empowerment programmes through SAARC, IBSA, IORA etc. Many of our overseas programmes in partner countries have a gender component, as seen in Afghanistan, Lesotho and Cambodia. At home, 2015 saw a gender budget exercise within the MEA towards development assistance.
5. What is needed is a more formal designed approach that goes beyond a purely development model to wider access, representation and decision making and backed by a better performance on home front

Question 28

change in tides of India-Nepal ties in under the recent govts of Nepal?

Answer 28

1. Nepal-India relations have been strained during Oli’s two tenures.
   
   1. blockade
   2. Nepal govt published a map including 370 sqkm with Kalapani, Lipulek and Limpiadhura
   3. Oli had openly said in his parliament that Indian officers were hatching a conspiracy to dislodge him from power
2. Of late though Oli restrained himself from criticising India
3. Oli has distanced himself from China by not promoting projects under Belt and Road Initiative that Nepal is a signatory to, and by not signing an extradition treaty as was promised during President Xi Jinping’s visit
4. China has enhanced its presence in Nepal, increasing its investment and grants especially after 2006, apparently in retaliation to India and western countries (including the US) aligning with Nepal’s pro-democracy parties to bring about radical changes. China has also been competing with India in its vaccine diplomacy by supplying vaccines, oxygen cylinders and ventilators amid a growing pandemic in Nepal.
5. In the constitutional crisis caused by dissolution of Nepal parliament by Oli (which was later overturned by Nepal SC), Oli’s govt’s survival depended on a faction led by Mahanth Thakur, who is a pro India leader in Nepal politics

Question 29

India’s tightrope walk through the decades in Israel-Palaestine issue?

Answer 29

India-Palestine

• In 1948, India was the only non-Arab-state among 13 countries that voted against the UN partition plan of Palestine in the General Assembly that led to the creation of Israel. Bt India recognised Israel in 1950
• In 1975, India became the first non-Arab country to recognise the PLO as the sole representative of the Palestinian people, and invited it to open an office in Delhi, which was accorded diplomatic status five years later.
• In 1988, when the PLO declared an independent state of Palestine with its capital in East Jerusalem, India granted recognition immediately.
• Until 2017, India’s position was that it supported “the Palestinian cause and called for a negotiated solution resulting in a sovereign, independent, viable and united State of Palestine, with East Jerusalem as its capital, living within secure and recognised borders, side by side at peace with Israel”- this was a two- state solution.
• India dropped the references to East Jerusalem and the borders in 2017 when Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas visited Delhi.

India-Israel

• reasons: Nehru’s decided to recognise Israel citing that it was an “established fact” and that not doing so would create rancour between the two UN members.
• Bilateral relationship was limited to consulates, mainly for issuing visas. The Mumbai consulate also shut down in 1982, when India expelled the consul general for criticising India’s foreign policy. It was reopened in 1988
• INdia and Israel established full diplomatic ties only on January 29, 1992
• India is the largest buyer of military equipment from Israel, which, in turn, is the second-largest defence supplier to India, after Russia. India is also the tenth-largest trade partner of Israel, and the third-largest from Asia.

Question 30

Bhashan char?

Answer 30

Since December, Bangladesh has shifted 18,000 Rohingya refugees to the low-lying silt island of Bhashan Char from the mainland Bangladesh, where around 8,50,000 people live in squalid and cramped conditions.

Bhasan Char (Floating Island) also known as Char Piya or Thengar Char Island, is an island in Hatiya, Bangladesh.

The island was formed from a build-up of silt in the Bay of Bengal only 20 years ago, and concerns have been consistently raised about Bhasan Char’s exposure to extreme weather and distance from the mainland in emergencies.

Question 31

Section 301 investigation?

Answer 31

Section 301 of the U.S. Trade Act of 1974 authorizes the President to take all appropriate action, including tariff-based and non-tariff-based retaliation, to obtain the removal of any act, policy, or practice of a foreign government that violates an international trade agreement or is unjustified, unreasonable, or discriminatory, and that burdens or restricts U.S. commerce.

United States recently announced 25% tariffs on over $2 billion worth of imports from six nations, including India, over their digital services taxes, but immediately suspended the duties to allow time for international tax negotiations to continue. This was after a “Section 301” investigation concluded that their digital taxes discriminated against U.S. companies. The potential tariffs aim to equal the amount of digital taxes that would be collected from U.S. firms.

Question 32

Operation Sagar Aaraksha II?

Answer 32

Indian Coast Guard (ICG), in coordination with Sri Lankan authorities, has been tirelessly engaged in fighting a major fire onboard the Chemical laden container vessel MV X-Press Pearl anchored off Colombo since 25 May 2021.

This coordinated joint operation undertaken to respond to potential environmental danger has been christened as Sagar Aaraksha-II.

Question 33

PM’s remark on opening of Kartarpur corridor?

Answer 33

likened it to “falling of berlin wall” since that day, Nov 9th, also marked 30th anniversary of the event.

Question 34

karturpur corridor’s idea origin?

Answer 34

first mooted in talks in between A B Vajpayee and Nawaz Sharif in 1999 whe the former had come to Lahore on his ‘bus yatra’

Question 35

Capital of Sudan?

Answer 35

Khartoum

Question 36

Australia’s points-based visa policy: abt? benefits? issues?

Answer 36

1. points may be given for different categories ranging from age to proficiency in English and amount of work experience 2. To be granted such visas, the individual’s score must reach a cutoff fixed by the authorities. 3. For workers with an “eligible skilled occupation” there are 10 categories of visas available. Applications are tested with points awarded in various categories. One of these is “Skilled Independent Visa”. eg. it includes accountant, actor, engineer etc. 4. A migrant with this visa can live and work permanently anywhere in Australia, study in Australia, sponsor eligible relatives for permanent residence and if eligible, enrol in Australia’s health-care system and subject to eligibility, also become an Australian citizen. 1. ability to qualify without an employer sponsor and do not need permission to switch between jobs as they do in the UK and thus expected to have more bargaining power and to operate in a more competitive labour market 1. they often do not require a job offer and if workers do not have employment lined up, it is difficult to know whether they are actually employable. The system relies on the government’s perception of what skills are valuable, rather than on the views of the employers who are to recruit them. 2. eligibility criteria can be unpredictable eg. the bar for admission will be higher in periods when more other people are applying.

Question 37

What is ‘Power of Siberia’?

Answer 37

It is a massive gas pipeline (>3000km) linking one of the most remote parts of Russia with a far-flung region of China, delivering 1Tn m3 of natural gas over next 30yrs

Question 38

Areas in dispute with China: main areas headings?

Answer 38

1. Aksai Chin
2. Depsang plains
3. Demchok sector
4. Trans-karakoram tract
5. Arunachal Pradesh

Question 39

Areas in dispute with China: Demchok sector?

Answer 39

1. located near Aksai Chin
2. includes Demchok, Trig heights,Dumchele, PangongTso, Chumar, Kaurik, Shipki La, nelang, and Spanggur Gap
3. of these, only Demchok is controlled by China, remaining by India
4. includes kaurik and Shipkila in Kinnaur (HP), Demchok and Chumar in leh and nelang, Pulam Sumda, Barahoti, Sang jadhang and lapthal in uttarkashi (UK)

Question 40

Areas in dispute with China: Aksai Chin?

Answer 40

1. located in the northwestern part of the Tibetan Plateau and immediately south of the western Kunlun Mountains.
2. entirely administered by PRC as a part of Hotan county of Xinjiang Autonomous region

Question 41

Areas in dispute with China: Arunachal?

Answer 41

northern border of Arunachal Pradesh reflects the McMahon Line (1914 treaty) : Namkha Chu, Sumdorong Chu, Assaphila, Longju, Dichu, Yagtse, Fish Tail-1 & 2 in dibang Valley

Question 42

Areas in dispute with China: Trans-Karakoram sector?

Answer 42

is an area of nearly 5,800 km2 along both sides of the Shaksgam River; entirely administered by PRC. Pakistan gave up its claim to the tract under a border agreement with China in 1963 with the proviso that the settlement was subject to the final solution of the Kashmir dispute.

Question 43

Areas in dispute with China: Depsang plains?

Answer 43

1. located on the border of the Indian union territory of Ladakh and the disputed zone of Aksai Chin.
2. The Chinese Army occupied most of the plains during its 1962 war with India, while India controls the western portion of the plains.

Question 44

South China Sea: neighbouring countries?

Answer 44

1. China
2. Taiwan
3. Philippines
4. malaysia
5. Indonesia
6. brunei
7. Vietnam
8. Thailand

Question 45

South china Sea: Significance?

Answer 45

1. An estimated US$3.37 trillion worth of global trade passes through the South China Sea annually, which accounts for a third of the global maritime trade
2. 80 percent of China’s energy imports and 39.5 percent of China’s total trade passes through the South China Sea.
3. More than half of the world’s fishing vessels are in the South China Sea, and millions of people depend on these waters for their food and livelihoods.
4. estimated that the South China Sea may contain 17.7 billion tons of crude oil. dubbed by the PRC as the “second Persian Sea.”
5. wide variety of natural gas resource estimations, ranging from 190 trillion cubic feet to 500 trillion cubic feet, likely located in the contested Reed Bank”

Question 46

South China Sea: disputes?

Answer 46

1. The nine-dash line area claimed by the Republic of China, later the People’s Republic of China (PRC), which covers most of the South China Sea and overlaps with the exclusive economic zone claims of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam.
2. Maritime boundary along the Vietnamese coast between the PRC, Taiwan, and Vietnam.
3. Maritime boundary north of Borneo between the PRC, Malaysia, Brunei, Philippines, and Taiwan.
4. Islands, reefs, banks and shoals in the South China Sea, including the Paracel Islands, the Pratas Islands, Macclesfield Bank, Scarborough Shoal and the Spratly Islands between the PRC, Taiwan, and Vietnam, and parts of the area also contested by Malaysia and the Philippines.
5. Maritime boundary in the waters north of the Natuna Islands between the PRC, Indonesia and Taiwan
6. Maritime boundary off the coast of Palawan and Luzon between the PRC, the Philippines, and Taiwan.
7. Maritime boundary, land territory, and the islands of Sabah, including Ambalat, between Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines.
8. Maritime boundary and islands in the Luzon Strait between the PRC, the Philippines, and Taiwan.

Question 47

South China sea dispute: history?

Answer 47

1. Chinese claims in the South China sea are described in part by the nine-dash line. Originally an “eleven-dashed-line,” this line was first indicated by the Kuomintang government of the Republic of China in 1947, for its claims to the South China Sea.
2. The Geneva Accords of 1954, which ended the First Indochina War, gave South Vietnam control of the Vietnamese territories south of the 17th Parallel, which included the islands in the Paracels and Spratlys. It was only in the 1970s that Vietnam raised its claim after its relations with China deteriorated.
3. Other parties like Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines and Brunei claim areas based on their EEZ

Question 48

South China Sea dispute: India’s role?

Answer 48

1. Under the ‘Look East’ policy, India has been taking a higher position at the global high table.
2. In the joint statement issued in September 2014, by USA and India, they affirmed the importance of safeguarding maritime security and ensuring freedom of navigation and overflight throughout the region, especially in the South China Sea.
3. In the wake of the recent judgement by the Permanent Court of Arbitration, it is a good time for India to assert that it believes in global commons, and in freedom of navigation. India has rightfully not come out in ‘open’ support of the verdict from the tribunal, as any overt support to this verdict might run against India’s ambitions of securing membership into the NSG- where China’s support is needed.
4. India has legitimate commercial interest in the South China Sea (SCS) region. But India follows the policy of not involving itself in the disputes between sovereign nations.
5. Vietnam has offered India seven oil blocks in its territory of the SCS- this move didn’t get down well with China. India has signed energy deals with Brunei too.

Question 49

South China sea: Spratly islands dispute?

Answer 49

1. The ongoing territorial dispute is between China, Taiwan, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Malaysia concerning the ownership of the Spratly Islands archipelago and nearby geographical features like corals reefs, cays etc.
2. Brunei has contained its objections to the use of its maritime waters for commercial fishing.
3. The islands may have large reserves of untapped natural resources including oil.

Question 50

South China sea: Paracel islands dispute?

Answer 50

1. Located in the South China Sea, almost equidistant from China and Vietnam.
2. Beijing says that references to the Paracel Islands as a part of China sovereign territory can be found in 14th century writings from the Song Dynasty.
3. Vietnam on the other hand, says that historical texts from at least the 15th century show that the islands were a part of its territory.
4. With increased tensions accelerated by Colonial powers, China and Vietnam fought over their territorial disputes in January 1974 after which China took over control of the islands.
5. In retaliation, in 1982, Vietnam said it had extended its administrative powers over these islands.
6. In 1999, Taiwan jumped into the fray laying its claim over the entire archipelago.
7. Since 2012, China, Taiwan and Vietnam have attempted to reinforce their claims on the territory by engaging in construction of government administrative buildings, tourism, land reclamation initiatives and by establishing and expanding military presence on the archipelago.

Question 51

Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC)?

Answer 51

signed in 2002, China and the ten ASEAN states signed the non-binding Declaration of the Conduct (DoC) of Parties in the South China Sea.

• That document saw all eleven parties pledge their commitment to eventually conclude a binding code of conduct.
• That document noted that “the adoption of a code of conduct in the South China Sea would further promote peace and stability in the region.”

Question 52

South China Sea: UNCLOS Ruling of 2016?

Answer 52

The Ruling of 2016 was a serious blow to the Chinese claims. It was based on the UNCLOS which China had ratified.

What did it say?

• The Ruling dismissed Beijing’s claims on the entire area in the nine-dashed-line in the SCS.
• It clarified the definition of the “islands”. It found that none of the Spratlys- including Itu Aba, Thitu, Spratly Islands, Northeast Cay, and Southwest Cay- are legally islands because they cannot sustain a stable community or independent economic life.
• The Court also agreed with the Philippines that Johnson Reef, Cuarteron Reef, and Fiery Cross Reef are rocks. Hughes Reef and Mischief Reef were found to be below water at high-tide, generating no maritime entitlements.
• The Court also ruled that Second Thomas Shoal and Reed Bank are submerged and belong to the Philippines’ continental shelf thereby denying any right to China there.
• Significantly the Court also ruled against the Chinese ‘land-reclamation activity’ stating that this had caused ‘severe harm to the coral reef environment’. This imposed a stricture on China over its land reclamation activity.
• The Tribunal confirmed that China violated Philippines’ rights in seizing Scarborough Shoal, the 2012 incident that drove Manila to file a suit.
• It pointed out that China had breached the Philippines’ sovereign rights by exploring for oil and gas near the Reed Bank.

Question 53

Attempts to resolve india china border dispute?

Answer 53

1. The rapprochement between the two countries in 1976 enabled India and China to initiate High Level border talks in 1981 to find a solution to the vexed problem. After eight rounds, the talks broke down in 1987.
2. In 1988, following Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s visit to China, the Joint Working Group (JWG) was set up to look into the border problem.
3. In 1993, the Agreement on the Maintenance of Peace and Tranquility along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) was signed and the India-China Expert Group of Diplomatic and Military Officers was set up to assist the JWG.
4. In 1996, the Agreement on Confidence Building Measures (CBMs) in the Military Field along the LAC was signed.
5. In 2003, two special representatives (one each from India and China) were appointed to find a political solution to the border dispute.
6. Till 2009, these two special representatives had held 17 rounds of talks, but it seems they have not made much headway.

Question 54

Visiting Forces Agreement?

Answer 54

1. A visiting forces agreement (VFA) is an agreement between a country and a foreign nation having military forces visiting in that country.eg. one signed betn USA and Philippines
2. VFA spells out the rules, guidelines and legal status of the U.S. military when operating in the Philippines.
3. Recently, Philippines officially sent a notice terminating the VFA to the USA however, later suspended the plans. Political analysts interpreted the reversal as a sign that China’s neighbours are worried about its growing military assertiveness.

Question 55

‘Mutual Logistics Support Agreement (MLSA)’

Answer 55

recently signed between India and australia at the first-ever virtual bilateral summit between Indian and Australian PM

• The agreement will facilitate reciprocal access to military logistics facilities, allow more complex joint military exercise and improve interoperability between the security forces of the two nations.
• It allows reciprocal access to military facilities in terms of logistics support which generally include food, water, petroleum (fuel), spare parts and other components.
• The agreement will be useful during joint military exercises, peacekeeping operations, Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief operations, scheduled deployments of military platforms, and any other exigent situations that may arise.
• It will help in improving interoperability between the involved parties.

Question 56

‘Mutual Logistics Support Agreement (MLSA)’

Answer 56

recently signed between India and australia at the first-ever virtual bilateral summit between Indian and Australian PM

• The agreement will facilitate reciprocal access to military logistics facilities, allow more complex joint military exercise and improve interoperability between the security forces of the two nations.
• It allows reciprocal access to military facilities in terms of logistics support which generally include food, water, petroleum (fuel), spare parts and other components.
• The agreement will be useful during joint military exercises, peacekeeping operations, Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief operations, scheduled deployments of military platforms, and any other exigent situations that may arise.
• It will help in improving interoperability between the involved parties.

Question 57

Kohala Hydropower Project?

Answer 57

China under the multi-billion-dollar CPEC will set up a 1,124-megawatt power project- Kohala Hydropower Project- in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir despite India’s objection to it.

project will be built on the Jhelum River and aims at annually providing more than five billion units of clean and low-cost electricity for consumers in Pakistan.

Question 58

Vande Bharat mission?

Answer 58

1. Vande Bharat Mission’ will see the operation of 64 flights from May 7 to May 13 to bring back around 15,000 Indian nationals stranded abroad.
2. Once completed, it may turn out to be the largest evacuation operation ever since the 1990 airlift of 1.7 lakh people from Kuwait.
3. Approximately, 2,000 people from abroad will fly back to India daily.

Question 59

Samudra Setu operation?

Answer 59

1. The Indian Navy has launched ‘Samudra Setu’ operation as a part of the nation’s efforts to bring back Indian citizens from abroad.
2. Under the operation, INS Jalashwa and Magar have departed for the port of Male in the Maldives to begin the evacuation of Indian citizens.

Question 60

Importance of Perisna gulf region fr india?

Answer 60

1. The Gulf is an integral part of India’s ‘extended neighbourhood’, both by way of geographical proximity and as an area of expanded interests and growing Indian influence.
2. India is dependent on the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states for 42 per cent of its overall oil imports; three of the top five oil suppliers to India are Gulf states.
3. Indians make up the Gulf states’ largest expatriate community, with an estimated 7.6 million Indian nationals living and working in the region; especially in Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
4. The GCC is India’s largest regional-bloc trading partner, which accounted for $104 billion of trade in 2017–18, nearly a 7 per cent increase from $97 billion the previous year. This is higher than both India–ASEAN trade ($81 billion) and India–EU trade ($102 billion) in 2017-18.

Question 61

Sikkim- Tibet Convention of 1890?

Answer 61

• formalised between Britain and Chinese kingdom.
• It was signed at Calcutta Convention in 1890. Of the eight Articles mentioned in the treaty, Article 1 is of critical significance.
• As per Article (1), it was agreed that the boundary of Sikkim and Tibet shall be the crest of the mountain range separating the waters flowing into the Sikkim Teesta and its affluents, from the waters flowing into the Tibetan Mochu and northwards into other rivers of Tibet.
• The line commences at Mount Gipmochi, on the Bhutan frontier, and follows the above-mentioned water-parting to the point where it meets Nepal territory. However, Tibet refused to recognise the validity of Convention of 1890 and further refused to carry into effect the provisions of the said Convention.
• In 1904, a treaty known as a Convention between Great Britain and Tibet was signed at Lhasa.
• As per the Convention, Tibet agreed to respect the Convention of 1890 and to recognise the frontier between Sikkim and Tibet, as defined in Article (1) of the said Convention.
• On April 27, 1906, a treaty was signed between Great Britain and China at Peking, which confirmed the Convention of 1904 between Great Britain and Tibet.

Question 62

T/F: USA has regained its positions as India’a largest trading partner in 2020-21 amid border conflict with China.

Answer 62

F

According to provisional data from India’s commerce ministry, China regained its position as India’s top trade partner in 2020 despite high border tensions between the two countries.

2019-20 was the only yr in recent times when USA usurped China to become the alrgest trading partner of INdia

Question 63

India- China trade 2020-21?

Answer 63

China regained its position as India’s top trade partner in 2020 despite high border tensions between the two countries.

The two-way trade between India and China stood at USD 77.7 billion for the year 2020.

Trade with China was USD 85.5 billion total in the previous year (2018-2019), second to USA

Total imports from China at USD 58.7 billion were more than India’s combined purchases from the USA and the UAE, which are its second- and third-largest trade partners, respectively.

a bilateral trade gap with China stood at almost USD 40 billion in 2020, making it India’s largest. India has only managed to increase its exports to China by about 11% from a year ago to USD 19 billion last year.

Question 64

USA’s withdrawal in Afghanistan: story so far?

Answer 64

1. USA declared war on Afghanistan then ruled by Taliban, weeks after 9/11. NATO coalition troops led by the U.S. quickly dislodged the Taliban regime and established a transitional government. U.S. rejected an offer from the Taliban to surrender and vowed to defeat the insurgents in every corner of Afghanistan. US’s focus shifted to Iraq invasion in 2003 while in Afghanistan, western powers helped build a centralised democratic system and institutions
2. Presidents starting from Obama, realised that the war was unwinnable and promised to bring the troops back home. But they sought face saving exit
3. 2015 Murree talks: USA sent a representative to the first-ever meeting between the Taliban and the Afghan government that was hosted by Pakistan in Murree. Did not have any substantive result as the Afghan government disclosed after the first round that Taliban leader Mullah Omar had died two years earlier.
4. President Trump appointed special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad to directly negotiate with Taliban. led to doha agreement in Feb 2020.USA effectively accepted demand of Taliban of them negotiating only with USA and not the Afghan govt, which they didn’t recognise.
   February deal dealt with four aspects of the conflict — violence, foreign troops, intra-Afghan peace talks and the use of Afghan soil by terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda and ISIS. Taliban promised to reduce violence, join intra-Afghan peace talks and cut all ties with foreign terrorist groups, while the U.S. pledged to withdraw all its troops, roughly 12,000 at the time of the signing of the agreement in February 2020, by May 1, 2021. U.S. put pressure on the Afghan government to release thousands of Taliban prisoners — a key Taliban precondition for starting intra-Afghan talks.
5. Talks between Taliban representatives and the Afghan government began in Doha in September 2020 but did not reach any breakthrough. Taliban reduced hostilities against foreign troops but continued to attack Afghan forces even after the agreement was signed. Afghanistan also saw a series of targeted killings of journalists, activists and other civil society figures

Question 65

USA’s withdrawal from afghanistan: present status (July 2021)?

Answer 65

1. On July 2, U.S. troops departed from the Bagram Air Base that coordinated the 20-year-long war in Afghanistan, effectively ending their military operations in the country
2. Ever since the remaining U.S. troops began pulling out on May 1, the Taliban have made rapid territorial advances. Taliban controlled districts increased from 73 in May to 157 in July, leaving just 79 districts firmly in the hands of the government.

Question 66

USA’s withdrawal from afghanistan: India’s role?

Answer 66

1. reports in June 2021 say that India made contacts with Taliban in doha. This signals a late but realist acknowledgement from the Indian side that the Taliban would play a critical role in Afghanistan in the coming years.
2. INdia’s interests:
   
   1. protecting its investments, which run into billions of rupees, in Afghanistan
   2. preventing a future Taliban regime from being a pawn of Rawalpindi
   3. making sure that the Pakistan-backed anti-India terrorist groups do not get support from the Taliban
3. In the past, India chose not to engage the Taliban (New Delhi had backed the Northern Alliance) and the costs were dear when the Taliban was in power. This time, New Delhi seems to be testing another policy.

Question 67

Cairn Taxdispute?

Answer 67

1. Initially, Cairn Energy’s assets in India were owned by Cairn India Holdings Ltd, which was a fully-owned subsidiary of Cairn UK Holdings (CUHL), which in turn, was fully owned by Cairn Energy PLC.
2. In 2006, through the corporate reorganization, Cairn Energy transferred its Indian assets to Cairn India. Thus Cairn India acquired entire share capital of Cairn India Holdings from Cairn UK holdings, in exchnage latter acquired a 69% stake in Cairn India
   
   • This transaction, according to the Indian tax authorities, gave Cairn Energy capital gains of ₹24,500 crores.
3. In 2012, India amended its Income Tax Act, 1961 to ensure that a transfer of shares that takes place outside India can also be taxed if the value of the shares is based on assets in India. And, this was applied retrospectively.
   
   • Retrospective taxation is ot semothing new as Countries like the US, the UK, Italy, Australia, Belgium and Canada have taxed companies retrospectively.
4. Cairn UK Holdings appealed to IT Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) and Delhi HC. The former ruled against it.
5. Then, the company initiated arbitration proceedings in the Permanent Court of Arbitration under the U.K.-India Bilateral Investment Treaty.
   
   • They argued that up until the amendments were made to tax retrospectively, there was no tax levied on indirect transfers, ie., transfer of shares by a non-resident in non-Indian companies which indirectly owned assets in India. They said that this taxation breached the UK-India Bilateral Investment Treaty.
   • India’s main defence was that irrespective of the 2012 amendment to the IT Act, the transaction in 2006 by the company was taxable.
6. PCA ruling in 2020: unanimously awarded in favour of Cairn and ruled that India had breached the UK-India Bilateral Investment Treaty. It also ordered the Indian Government to pay compensation to Cairn to the tune of about $1.2 billion. The tribunal said that the issue was not just a tax-related issue but an issue related to investment and so was under its jurisdiction.
7. After the award, Cairn had initiated proceedings against India in courts in the US, the UK, the Netherlands, Singapore and Canada to enforce the award, though notably not in Indian courts

Question 68

Seizure of Indian assets overseas under Cairn tax dispute?

Answer 68

Recently a French court authorised Cairn Energy to attach Indian assets in France

It is a terrible advertisement of iNdia as an investment destination.

This puts India in the league of countries like Pakistan, Congo, Venezuela, Russia and Argentina, who have been part of attachment proceedings overseas due to their failure to comply with international arbitral awards.

State immunity as defence: India needs to carefully study the laws on state immunity in different jurisdictions where attachment proceedings are likely to come up. State immunity can be invoked to resist the seizure of sovereign assets, but not commercial properties. Besides, fighting cases will consume an enormous amount of time, money, and resources, in addition to attracting bad press internationally

Question 69

State immunity: legal status internationally?

Answer 69

1. State immunity is a well-recognised doctrine in international law which safeguards a state and its property against the jurisdiction of another country’s domestic courts.
2. This covers immunity from both jurisdiction and execution.
3. Despite the universal acceptance of this doctrine, there is no international legal instrument in force administering its implementation in municipal legal systems of different countries.
4. Attempts are underway to create binding international law on the application of the rules of state immunity such as the United Nations Convention on Jurisdictional Immunities of States and Their Property (UNSCI). However, this convention is yet to be ratified by 30 countries — the minimum number required to bring it in force. Indiaherselfhas signed it but nt ratified it.
5. The absence of an international legal instrument results in countries dealing with questions of immunity through national legislations and domestic judicial practices.
6. Certain jurisdictions are perceived as favourable over others when it comes to the execution of investment treaty arbitration awards. This encourages “forum shopping”
7. Over the years, the doctrine of state immunity has progressed from absolute immunity (immunity from any foreign proceedings unless the state gives its consent) to restrictive immunity (immunity only for the sovereign functions of the state). The latter is now the widely used one. Under this, state property that serves sovereign functions — such as property of the diplomatic missions, central bank assets, etc. — cannot be attached.
8. But, in practice, it is not always easy to draw an exact line dividing the two types of property. To attach the assets of PSUs like Air INdia, it would have to be shown that these companies are nothing but the “alter ego” of the Indian state.

Question 70

Argument against ‘immigration as a problem’:

general?

BN-specific?

Answer 70

In ‘Good Economics for Hard times’ by Nobel Laureate abhijit Banerjee, he says that evidence suggest that even after large bouts of low-skilledmigration,earning s of other low-skilled migrants remain unaffectd. two possible reasons

1) economic migrants scavange opportunities that few locals would want
2) They not only sell labor bt also create demand and spurs the mkt.
3) most of migrants are youths and more likely to contribute to local economy.

Immigration frm BN may not be a long persisting problem in future, even it may be todaycoz

• > BN does better than india on many living stds indictaors
• > fertility rate in BN has declined frm 3.17 in 2000 to 2.1 in 2016. Reasearch finds that as FR in Latin america countries declined , emigration to USA declined as well.

Question 71

Challenges facing the world and S&T Diplomacy?

Answer 71

1) S&T interventions have to be able to address both national needs and aspirations as well as international obligations of a responsile country.
2) importance of S&T innovations in achieving SDG2030- new opportunities for cross-border collab
3) Global innovation and Tech Alliance(GITA) launched by India a few yrs back, provided an enabling platform for frontline techno-economic alliances betn both enterprises and govt of India with their counterparts frm Canada, Finland,Sweden, Italy, UK etc.
4) India led ISA
5) Global coalition for DIsaster Resilient Infrastructure(CDRI) recently announced by PM at UN Climate Action Summit in NY.. It will support in building climate and disaster resilient infra.

Question 72

Global coalition for DIsaster Resilient Infrastructure(CDRI)?

Answer 72

1) recently announced by PM at UN Climate Action Summit in NY
2) piloted by India in consultation with 35 other countries
3) will provide member countries
- >technical support and capacity dev
- > research and knowledge mgmt, and
- > advocay and partnerships
4) Aims to achieve
- > risk identification and assessment
- > urban risk and planning
- > disaster risk mgmt
- >have a +ve 3 fold impact in member countries’ policy framework and future infra investments
- > limiting losses frm climate related events and natural disasters.

Question 73

BN vs India on life qulty indicators? percapita GDP?

Answer 73

1. Life expectancy: 72 (BN) vs 69 (In)
2. infant mortality: 25 vs 30
3. incidence of poverty(3.20$/day): 53% vs 60%
4. inequality measured by Gini index: 32.4 vs 35.7 per capita GDP: 1698$ vs 2010$ bt BN is rising faster than India.

Question 74

What are areas under contention between India and Nepal?

Answer 74

1. Limpiyadhura
2. Lipulek (important for keeping an eye on chinese activities)
3. Kalapani

Question 75

areas conceded by Nepal under Sugauli treaty?

Answer 75

1. Mahakali river became the border between British India and Nepal
2. All areas that the king of Nepal had won in earlier wars like -> Darjeeling -> Sikkim ->Kumaon and Garhwal

Question 76

Armed forces at work on Kalapani borders?

Answer 76

ITBP

Question 77

Importance of Iran for India?

Answer 77

1. 2nd largest buyer of Iranian oil (1st China)
2. 4000Indians live in Iran out of a total 8 mn in west asia as a whole

Question 78

‘Quds Force’?

Answer 78

1. Overseas operations wing of Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps
2. Quds is the Arabic word for Jerusalem, and is responsible for carrying out unconventional warfare and intelligence activities.
3. The force is responsible for training, financing and providing assistance to some extremist groups overseas.
4. designated a Terrorist organisation by USA; Recently USA killed Major General Qassem Soleimani, the long serving head of Quds and IRGC commander
5. In recent years, Quds Force plots have been uncovered in countries including Germany, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Kenya, Bahrain, and Turkey.
6. Background of IRGC:
   
   • Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini set up the IRGC in 1979 after the Iranian Revolution ended to protect the Islamic order of the new Iranian government.
   • IRGC has contributed roughly 125,000 men to Iran’s forces and has the capability of undertaking asymmetric warfare and covert operations.
   • This includes the Quds Force that over the years has established links with the Hezbollah of Lebanon, Shi’ite militias in Iraq, Shi’ites in Afghanistan and the Palestinian territories.

Question 79

New and Emerging Strategic Technologies (NEST)?

Answer 79

1. new division set up in Indian Foreign Ministry
2. The division will act as the nodal point in India’s foreign ministry for all matters connected to new and emerging technologies including exchange of views with foreign governments and coordination with domestic ministries and departments.
3. It will also help assess foreign policy and international legal implications of emerging technology and technology-based resources.
4. The desk will also be involved in negotiations to safeguard Indian interests at multilateral fora like the United Nations or the G20 where rules governing the use and access to such technologies could be decided.

Question 80

India-Pakistan cross border trade?

Answer 80

1. in 1948-49, 56% of Pak’s exports were to India and 32% of its imports were frm India.
2. Frm 1948-1965, India and Pakistan used a no. of land routes for bilateral trade- there were 8 customs stations in Pak’s PJ province and 3 customs checkpoints in Sindh. the countries signed 14 bilateral agreements on trade, covering avoidance of double taxation, air services and banking etc.
3. India remained Pak’s largest trading partner until 1955-56
4. In 1965, 9branches of 6 Indian banks were operating in Pakistan.
5. 1996: India accorded MFN status to pak; Pak switched frm positive list approach to a small negative list approach in 2012.
6. Total Ino-Pak trade touched 2.6 Bn$ in 2015-16 with a +ve trade balance of 1.7Bn$. Main items of export- organic chemicals, veggies, coffee, tea and spices
7. Since 2019 tensions, trade has dropped drastically eg. trade worth 44 mn$ in July 2018 fell to 2.8mn$ in July 2019.

Question 81

India-pakistan Trade freeze: Impact?

Answer 81

In a report by Bureau of Research on Industry and Economic Fundamentals (BRIEF), titled “Unilateral Decisions, Bilateral Losses”

1. Even though ties have been much worse in the past like after the Parliament attack, trade had never been touched.
2. Now, >9000 families, roughly 50,000 people, in Punjab and about 900 families in Kashmir have been directly impacted.
3. even the relatively meagre bilateral trade of $2.56 billion in 2018-2019 dropping to $547.22 million. imports dropping from about $500 million to just $11.45 million.
4. closure of LoC trading points in Jammu and Kashmir has put small trade, handicrafts sellers, truckers, labourers, and hotel owners near the LoC in Baramulla and Poonch out of business.
5. Cross-LoC trade before the suspension order in April 2019 was about $95 million for the year. In the suspension order, MHA said trade would be resumed after “putting into place a stricter regulatory regime” in order to block misuse of the route for “weapons, narcotics and currency,” but nine months later, there are no signs of resumption of LoC trade.

Question 82

reciprocating territory?

Answer 82

1. notified by CG in the Official Gazette
2. Essentially, orders passed by certain designated courts from a ‘reciprocating territory’ can be implemented in India, by filing a copy of the decree concerned in a District Court here. The courts so designated are called ‘superior Courts’.
3. Section 44A of CPC (Civil Procedure Code), titled “Execution of decrees passed by Courts in reciprocating territory”, provides that a decree passed by “a superior Court” in any “reciprocating territory” can be executed in India by filing a certified copy of the decree in a District Court, which will treat the decree as if it has been passed by itself.
4. Limitations:
   
   • The scope of the Section is restricted to decrees for payment of money, not being sums payable “in respect of taxes or other charges of a like nature or in respect of a fine or other penalty”.
   • It also cannot be based on an arbitration award, even if such an award is enforceable as a decree or judgment.
5. Countries declared as ‘Reciprocating territories’:
   
   1. UK
   2. Singapore
   3. BN
   4. Malaysia
   5. trindad and Tobago
   6. new Zealand
   7. Cook islands (incl Niue)
   8. Trust Territories of Western Samoa,
   9. Hong Kong,
   10. Papua New Guinea,
   11. Fiji,
   12. Aden
   13. UAE (most recent)

Question 83

“Protecting Power”?

Answer 83

1. provided for under the 1961 and 1963 Vienna Conventions on Diplomatic Relations.
2. 1961 Vienna Convention states, if diplomatic relations are broken off between two States, or if a mission is permanently or temporarily recalled, the sending State may entrust the protection of its interests and those of its nationals to a third State acceptable to the receiving State.
3. eg. USA’s interests in Iran are represented by Switzerland since USA has no embassy in Iran. Similarly, Pak embassy in USA represents Iranian interests in USA

Question 84

Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) are being celebrated since?

Answer 84

2003

Question 85

revised guidelines for seeking legal assistance from foreign countries in criminal matters?

Answer 85

1. Before seeking information about a person’s e-mail account hosted on servers in foreign countries, investigating agencies will have to establish that it is linked to a crime.
2. All data, including personal, must be obtained and processed fairly and lawfully. The requested country has to be informed about the time period for which the data is required. Such period shall be consented by the requested country.
3. The transferred data shall be kept for no longer than the period required for the purpose for which it has been received and shall be returned to the requested country or deleted at the end of the period specified.
4. ‘Data preservation’ shall be the key to the investigation of cyber-offences and those involving digital evidence.
5. The G-8 countries’ 24/7 Network could be used to place request for preserving data in real time.

Question 86

G-8 24/7 Network?

Answer 86

1. It allows law enforcement agencies to make urgent preservation requests of the digital data before it perishes.
2. It is a new mechanism to expedite contacts between the Participating States or other autonomous law enforcement jurisdictions of a State.
3. It is a point to point network for urgent assistance in cybercrime matters.

Question 87

India recently helpedwhich country to tackle measles outbreak?

Answer 87

Maldives

The Indian Embassy in Male recently handed over 30,000 doses of measles and rubella (MR) vaccine to the Maldivian Health Ministry.

Question 88

Birth tourism?

Answer 88

1. Pregnant couple entering USA whose “primary purpose” is to give birth there.
2. There are no records of how many babies are born to US visitors each year, but various groups have issued estimates. About 10,000 babies were born to a foreign resident in 2017, acc to USCDCP. That no. was 7800 in 2007.
3. Recentlt USA imposed new ‘birth tourism’ visa rules.
   
   • Presently, pregnant women can enter the US even up until birth, according to US Customs and Border Protection. But the prospective mother’s travel may be restricted if there is reason to believe she intends to remain in the US beyond the time allowed by her visa, or plans for US taxpayers to foot the bill for her childbirth.
   • In the new rules, pregnant women applying for US visitor visas may need to prove they have a specific reason for travel other than giving birth on US soil.
   • The new rules applies to visitors seeking B visas, which are issued to non-immigrants.

Question 89

Operation Vanilla?

Answer 89

Indian navy’s HADR ops in Madagascar, launched to provide assistance to the affected population of Madagascar post devastation caused by Cyclone Diane.

Question 90

West Asia Peace plan by USA?

Answer 90

1. It proposes an independent Palestinian state and the recognition of Israeli sovereignty over West Bank settlements.
2. As per the plan, Israel would be allowed to annex the Jewish settlements on the West Bank as well as the Jordan Valley.
3. The Palestinian refugees, who were forced out from their homes during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war that followed the declaration of the state of Israel in the historic Palestine, would not be allowed to return. They could move to the future Palestinian state, be integrated into the host countries or settled in other regional countries.
4. Land swap: The plan proposes some land swap for the Israeli annexation of the West Bank Jewish settlements. It seeks to enlarge Gaza and connect the strip with the West Bank through a tunnel.
5. US has also proposed $50 billion in investment over 10 years should Palestine accept the proposals. In the final settlement, Palestine would get control over more land than what it currently controls.

Question 91

World is in the midst of another cold war: USA-China?

Answer 91

• The second Cold war or the New Cold War is used to describe the heightened post cold war era political and military tensions between USA and China. In April 2021, Joe Biden called for forging “an alliance of democracies against the world’s autocracies”
• arguments in support of it being a cold war:
  
  • While not a struggle between capitalism and communism, the current rivalry over governance models is no less ideological in nature or important to the world. USA criticized CHina for its actions in Xinjiang, Hong Kong, and Taiwan; aggression in the East and South China seas; and cyberattacks against the US; China attacked US fr interfering in CHina’s internal affairs
  • coalitions are being formed: Quad as anti-China forum; Blue Dot netweork to counter Chinese loan diplomacy via BRI
  • while there have been no armed conflicts or proxy wars involving China, hostility in cyberspace has already started—with Russia and China spreading online disinformation to destabilize many Western countries and conducting large-scale hacking operations against Western governments and businesses.
  • Trade wars
• arguments against it being a cold war:
  
  • USA and China are not leading alliances that could foster proxy wars and precipitate nuclear crises
  • global economy has become so integrated that it cannot be separated into blocs. China herself is the largest creditor to USA
  • ideological competition is not as starkly defined as in cold war. China is a peculiar capitalist state herself.
• Some describe China’s US policy into 3 phases: From 1989 to 2008, China’s strategy was to blunt US power, prevent it from inflicting harm on China. It economically engages and participates in international institutions to protect itself. From 2009, especially with the onset of the global financial crisis, China goes into a building mode. It creates its own international institutions, its military acquires more offensive capabilities, and it asserts itself more politically. It has now entered an expansionist phase, where the objective is to resolve all territorial disputes in its favour, acquire bases around the world, evict the US from Asia, and create the world order in its relatively more illiberal image.

Question 92

UNSC’s debate on maritime security: body?

Answer 92

Sustaining international cooperation to enhance maritime security requires three supportive frameworks

1. An effective legal policy framework must underpin a rule-of-law based approach to securing the maritime domain. UNCLOS is a ggo starting point. Need for better application of the convention and addressing the new emerging challenges to peace and security including from non-state actors such as terrorists, pirates and criminal gangs engaged in drug trafficking.
   
   • enforcement of its provisions on freedom of navigation, the sustainable exploitation of maritime resources, and the peaceful resolution of disputes.
   • in July 2014, India accepted an UNCLOS tribunal award on the maritime boundary arbitration between India and Bangladesh, contributing a new impulse to effective international economic cooperation among the littoral states of the Bay of Bengal (BIMSTEC).
2. Securing the sea lanes of communication (SLOCs) that traverse the oceans is of central importance to enhancing maritime security. must focus on ensuring equal and unrestricted access to SLOCs by states while resolving differences through peaceful means.

In the Indian Ocean, three major SLOCS that play a crucial role in the energy security and economic prosperity of states include the SLOC connecting the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean through the Bab al-Mandab (that transports the bulk of Asia’s international trade with its major trading partners in Europe and America), the SLOC connecting the Persian Gulf to the Indian Ocean through the Strait of Hormuz (transporting the bulk of energy exports to major import destinations like India, ASEAN, and East Asia), and the SLOC connecting the Indian and Pacific Oceans through the Straits of Malacca (integral to the smooth flow of trade with ASEAN, East Asia, Russia’s Far East and the US).

3. Sharing data on threats to commercial shipping is an important component of enhancing maritime security.
   
   • India’s initiative to establish an International Fusion Centre (IFC) for the Indian Ocean region in Gurugram in 2018, jointly administered by the Indian Navy and Indian Coast Guard, serves the objective of generating Maritime Domain Awareness on safety and security issues.

Way forward:

Must acknowledge the increasing role of the private sector in the maritime domain, whether it is in shipping, sustainable development through the Blue Economy, or using the maritime domain to provide the critical submarine fibre-optic cables supporting the Digital Economy.

Question 93

UNSC’s debate on maritime security: intro?

Answer 93

1. convened by India, as a non-permanent member to UNSC in Aug 2021
2. IOR transports 75 per cent of the world’s maritime trade and 50 per cent of daily global oil consumption.
3. INdia’s initiatives for maritime security in IOR
   
   1. creation of an Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System by the UN in 2005, in the aftermath of 2004 Tsunami
   2. Faced with the increased threat from piracy originating off the coast of Somalia since 2007 to shipping in the western Indian Ocean, the Indian Navy participated robustly as part of a UNSC mandated 60-country Contact Group on Piracy off the coast of Somalia.
   3. SAGAR

Question 94

INdia’s Maritime policy: SAGAR?

Answer 94

India’s Security and Growth for All (SAGAR) policy, unveiled by PM Modi during a visit to Mauritius in March 2015, proposes an integrated regional framework to meet such an objective in the Indian Ocean. The five pillars of SAGAR are

1. India’s role as a net security provider in the IOR
2. active engagement with friendly countries in the IOR. India would continue to enhance the maritime security capacities and economic resilience of these countries
3. developing a network to take effective collective action for advancing peace and security in the region
4. a more integrated and cooperative focus on the future of the IOR, which would enhance the prospects for the sustainable development of all countries in the region
5. the primary responsibility for peace, stability and prosperity in the IOR would be on those “who live in this region”.

Question 95

“Turkey’s overweening ambitions presents India with opportunity to widen outreach to the west of the subcontinent”: body?

Answer 95

• Turkey’s ambitions:
  
  • Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s assertive claims for the leadership of the Islamic world
  • Turkey’s growing alignment wih Pakistan, especially since 6th Aug 2019 (Art 370 abrogation)
  • At Pakistan’s behest, Erdogan is also blocking India’s entry into the Nuclear Suppliers Group.
  • The discovery of new hydrocarbon resources in the eastern Mediterranean, the renewed territorial disputes between Ankara and Athens, and the Turkish quest for regional dominance has drawn Greece and the UAE closer.
  • Erdogan’s support for the Muslim Brotherhood, which seeks to overthrow the current political order in the region, has deeply angered the governments of Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
  • Although Erdogan’s Islamic radicalism might appeal to the Arab street, the Arab elites are not about to let Erdogan reimpose the Ottoman imperium over their lands.
• opportunity for INdia
  
  • Although Delhi had relations with Abu Dhabi and Tel Aviv for many years, they certainly have acquired political depth and strategic character in recent times. Further after the signing of Abrahamic Accords between israel and UAE, a trilateral relationship of India-Israel-UAE can act as the potential nucleus of a wider regional coalition
  • Turkey’s quest for regional dominance has also widened the Indo-Abrahamic convergence to the eastern Mediterranean to include Greece and Cyprus. INdia and Greece have begun defence exchanges recently as well.
  • Egypt: Having ousted the Muslim Brotherhood from power in 2014, the Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi is trying to revitalise the nation’s economy and reclaim its regional leadership role. India can build upon the historical close relations between the two nations (Nehru-Abdal nassser relations led the foundation of NAM).
• Middle east is a churning cauldron of identities too complex to be reduced to religious or ideological lines
  
  • Abrahamic accords along with improvingties of India with moderate Arab states point to a geopolitical alignment based on far more than religion
  • Arabs do empathise with the Palestinians’ plight, but many of them are no longer willing to let the Palestinians veto their normalisation of relations with Israel.
  • Nor do all Arabs see the conflict with Israel as the principal contradiction in the region. For some, non-Arab powers like Iran and Turkey pose a bigger threat than Israel.
  • The region witnesses complex interplay between competing versions of a common faith, the quest for profit, and diverging political interests within the region.
  • its traditional subdivision into the Gulf, West Asia, and North Africa makes little sense today. Nor can the region be separated from Southern Europe and the Mediterranean at one end and the Subcontinent on the other.
  • The familiar regional institutions like the Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation might endure but are incapable of addressing the region’s contradictions.

Question 96

INdia’s ‘Pluliteralism’ foreign policy?

Answer 96

In his recent book titled The Indian Way, FM S Jaishankar, wrote: “It is time for us to engage America, manage China, cultivate Europe, reassure Russia, bring Japan into play, draw neighbours in, extend the neighbourhood and expand traditional constituencies of support.”

Plurilateralism relies on the will to partner with countries that were not partners themselves. It is defined as a parallel pursuit of multiple priorities, some of whom could be contradictoryeg.

• India’s simultaneous involvement in QUAD as well as SCO
• involved with USA and Japan (JAI summit) as well as trilateral summit with Russia and CHina (RIC)
• a Houston rally with USA President as well as Mamallapuram and Vladivostok Summit
• cooperation with Iran as well as Saudi Arabia
• dehyphenation of relations with Israel and Palestine

It is based on willingness t look beyond dogma and enter real world of convergences. It can be better understood as something beynong simple arithmetic of friend or foe but instead based on calculus like infinetesimal convergence of ideas on different subjects

However, this stand of India is facing its most formidable challenge in the case of Afghanistan where fresh demarcation of two blocks are emerging: while the Taliban regime is more or less being accepted by Pakistan, China as well as Russia and Iran, the West is more hell bent on saving its tattered reputation. India’s own anti-terrorism interests are more aligned with West but right now it stands alone. India was even left out in Doha talks by USA, hinting at the minimal value USA places on India’s role in afghanistan.

Question 97

Sikhism in Afghanistan?

Answer 97

1. The roots of Sikhism in Afghanistan date back to the 16th Century, when Guru Nanak visited the country to spread the message of “peace, brotherhood and tolerance”.”
2. As per his travel history recorded in the earliest Janamsakhis, during his fourth udaasi (travel) between 1519-1521, Guru Nanak visited present-day Kabul, Kandahar, Jalalabad and Sultanpur with Bhai Mardana.
3. Soon, Guru Nanak’s followers grew in these parts and many Sikhs followers from Kabul began to visit Punjab to pay their respects to Sikh gurus.
4. Later, the seventh Sikh Guru Har Rai also played a pivotal role in sending Sikh missionaries to Kabul and a dharamsaal (gurdwara) was established in the city.
5. From an estimated one-two lakh in the 1970s, the number of Hindus and Sikhs in Afghanistan has been dwindling since 1992, following the Soviet War when the government fell and Mujahideen rebels took over Kabul. Between 1992 and 2001, the communities faced persecution at the hands of both the Mujahideen and then the Taliban, and many members took refuge in Canada, Austria, the US and UK.
6. their clothes, language, food and culture all bear a distinct Afghan identity. The Sikhs from the region can be broadly divided into three categories:
   
   1. Pashtun Sikhs, who hail from provinces such as Khost and Paktia and speak Pashto and Dari;
   2. Sikhs from Kabul, Nangarhar, Ghazni, Kundoz, Laghman and Logar, who speak the Hindko dialect of Punjabi; and
   3. the Siraiki-dialect speaking Sikhs from Kandahar, Urugzan.
7. The way they wrap their turbans too is different from Indian Sikhs, and their food, with delicacies such as Ashak and Mantu, has more in common with other Afghan communities than with the cuisine of Punjab. Attan Milli, an Afghani dance on Dari and Pashto songs, usually performed at weddings and other celebrations, also forms a part of their culture.

Question 98

China’s new maritime rules?

Answer 98

designed to control the entry of foreign vessels in what Beijing calls “Chinese territorial waters”

far-reaching consequences for passage of vessels, both commercial and military, in the disputed South China Sea, East China Sea and Taiwan Strait, and is likely to escalate the existing tension with the US and its neighbours in the region.

features of law:

• Foreign vessels, both military and commercial, will be henceforth required to submit to Chinese supervision in “Chinese territorial waters,”
• operators of submersibles, nuclear vessels, ships carrying radioactive materials and ships carrying bulk oil, chemicals, liquefied gas and other toxic and harmful substances are required to report their detailed information upon their visits to Chinese territorial waters
• vessels that “endanger the maritime traffic safety of China” will be required to report their name, call sign, current position and next port of call and estimated time of arrival. The name of shipborne dangerous goods and cargo deadweight will also be required.

This follows Feb 2021 law that authorised the Chinese Coast Guard to use weapons on foreign vessels and to demolish economic structures in disputed areas effectively making China’s coast guard a “quasi military organisation under PLA’s chain of command”

Question 99

One Country, two Systems?

Answer 99

• “One country, two systems” is a constitutional principle of the People’s Republic of China describing the governance of Hong Kong and Macau since they became Special Administrative Regions (SARs) of China in 1997 and 1999 respectively.
• formulated in the early 1980s during negotiations over Hong Kong between China and the United Kingdom.
  
  • HK was a colony of UK for 156 yrs from 1841 until 1997, when it was reverted to Chinese sovereignty
  • China agreed to some conditions including adoption of HK’s “mini-constitution” Basic Law, which ensured that HK will retain its capitalist economic system and own currency, legal system, legislative system and Human rights and freedom, as a Special Administartive Region of CHina for 50 yrs.
• It provided that there would be only one China, but that these regions could retain their own economic and administrative systems, while the rest of Mainland China uses the socialism with Chinese characteristics system.
• Under the principle, each of the two regions could continue to have its own governmental system, legal, economic and financial affairs, including trade relations with foreign countries, all of which are independent from those of the Mainland.
• The PRC has also proposed to apply the principle in the unification it aims for with Taiwan.
• Since the passing of the National Security Law by Hong Kong in July 2020 however, many observers such as the United States have claimed that Hong Kong has reverted to a de facto “one country, one system.”

Question 100

INternational Border map in J&K area?

Answer 100

Question 101

Senkaku islands?

Answer 101

The Senkaku Islands are located in the East China Sea between Japan, the People’s Republic of China, and the Republic of China (Taiwan). The archipelago contains five uninhabited islands and three barren rocks, ranging in size from 800 m2 to 4.32 km2.

What are the grounds for Japan’s territorial sovereignty over the Senkaku Islands?

The Senkaku Islands were not included in the territory which Japan renounced under Article 2 of the San Francisco Peace Treaty of 1951 that legally defined the territory of Japan after World War II.

• Under Article 3 of the treaty, the islands were placed under the administration of the United States as part of the Nansei Shoto Islands. The Senkaku Islands are included in the areas whose administrative rights were reverted to Japan in accordance with the Agreement between Japan and the United States of America Concerning the Ryukyu Islands and the Daito Islands that entered into force in 1972.

What is China’s claim?

China says that the islands have been part of its territory since ancient times, serving as important fishing grounds administered by the province of Taiwan.

• Taiwan was ceded to Japan in the Treaty of Shimonoseki in 1895, after the Sino-Japanese war.
• When Taiwan was returned in the Treaty of San Francisco, China says the islands should have been returned too.

Question 102

Kenya Somalia Border dispute?

Answer 102

The main point of disagreement between the two neighbours is the direction in which their maritime boundary in the Indian Ocean should extend.

• According to Somalia, the sea border should be an extension of the same direction in which their land border runs as it approaches the Indian Ocean, i.e. towards the southeast.
• Kenya, on the other hand, argues that the territorial southeast border should take a 45 degree turn as it reaches the sea, and then run in a latitudinal direction, i.e. parallel to the equator. Such an arrangement would be advantageous for Kenya, whose coastline of 536 km is more than 6 times smaller than Somalia’s (3,333 km).
• The triangular area thus created by the dispute is around 1.6 lakh sq km large, and boasts of rich marine reserves. It is also believed to have oil and gas deposits.
• Kenya rejected the jurisdiction of UN-ICJ on the dispute. It said, as a sovereign nation, Kenya shall no longer be subjected to an international court or tribunal without its express consent.

Question 103

India-Russia Defence partnership?

Answer 103

Russia has been India’s biggest Arms ssupplier for decaeds.

Sales worth 65Bn$ since early 1960s

• India and Russia have several major joint military programmes including:

1. Brahmos cruise missile programme
2. 5^th generation fighter jet programme
3. Sukhoi SU-30 MKI programme, etc.

Various military hardware purchased/leased from Russia include:

1. S-400 Triumph (purchase pending)
2. T-90S Bhishma, a 3^rd generation Russia battle tank
3. INS Vikramaditya aircraft carrier programme, etc.

Question 104

India-USA Defence partnership?

Answer 104

Overtook Russia in Bagging INdian deals over last 3-4yrs. Sales worth 15Bn$ since 2007, incl

• Globemaster-III strategic airlifters
• C-130J Super Hercules Aircraft
• P-8I maritime Patrol Planes
• M-777 ultra light howitzers
• apache attack and Chinook heavy lift helicopters

India and USa have signed the three foundational agreemnts

Question 105

India-USA foundational Agreements?

Answer 105

1. LEMOA (Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement):
   
   1. a tweaked India-specific version of the Logistics Support Agreement (LSA)
   2. first foundational agreement to be signed by India
   3. can be seen as more of an accounting mechanism, which allows both countries to replenish from each others designated military facilities.
   4. This includes food, water, billeting, transportation, petroleum, oil, lubricants, clothing, medical services, spare parts and components, repair and maintenance services, training services, and other logistical items and services.
   5. While India had, in the past, provided logistical support on an ad hoc basis to American ships, LEMOA formalised the process and made payment easier since it can be carried forward and crossed off against future replenishment.
2. COMCASA (Communications COmpativility and Security Agreement)
   
   1. Originally known as the Communications Interoperability and Security Memorandum of Agreement (CISMOA), the nomenclature was changed to COMCASA to make it India-specific
   2. COMCASA deals with secure military communication.
   3. This increases the ability to communicate safely with all US-made equipment used by foreign military, such as in Japan and Australia.
   4. Data acquired through COMCASA cannot be disclosed or transferred to any person or entity without India’s consent.
3. BECA (Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement)
   
   1. is an agreement between the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency of the US Department of Defense and India’s Ministry of Defence.
   2. It allows both countries to share all kinds of military information such as geomagnetic and gravity data, maps, nautical and aeronautical charts, commercial and other unclassified imagery.
   3. While most information shared will be unclassified, there are provisions for sharing classified information like sensitive satellite and sensor data, with safeguards to prevent it from being shared with any third party.
   4. This means access to such information will enhance the accuracy of Indian missiles and armed drones that need such data.

Question 106

India-USA foundational Agreements?

Answer 106

1. LEMOA (Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement):
   
   1. a tweaked India-specific version of the Logistics Support Agreement (LSA)
   2. first foundational agreement to be signed by India
   3. can be seen as more of an accounting mechanism, which allows both countries to replenish from each others designated military facilities.
   4. This includes food, water, billeting, transportation, petroleum, oil, lubricants, clothing, medical services, spare parts and components, repair and maintenance services, training services, and other logistical items and services.
   5. While India had, in the past, provided logistical support on an ad hoc basis to American ships, LEMOA formalised the process and made payment easier since it can be carried forward and crossed off against future replenishment.
2. COMCASA (Communications COmpativility and Security Agreement)
   
   1. Originally known as the Communications Interoperability and Security Memorandum of Agreement (CISMOA), the nomenclature was changed to COMCASA to make it India-specific
   2. COMCASA deals with secure military communication.
   3. This increases the ability to communicate safely with all US-made equipment used by foreign military, such as in Japan and Australia.
   4. Data acquired through COMCASA cannot be disclosed or transferred to any person or entity without India’s consent.
3. BECA (Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement)

is an agreement between the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency of the US Department of Defense and India’s Ministry of Defence.

It allows both countries to share all kinds of military information such as geomagnetic and gravity data, maps, nautical and aeronautical charts, commercial and other unclassified imagery.

While most information shared will be unclassified, there are provisions for sharing classified information like sensitive satellite and sensor data, with safeguards to prevent it from being shared with any third party.

This means access to such information will enhance the accuracy of Indian missiles and armed drones that need such data.

Question 107

Uighurs?

Answer 107

The Uighurs are a predominantly Muslim minority Turkic ethnic group, whose origins can be traced to Central and East Asia.

The Uighurs speak their own language, similar to Turkish, and see themselves as culturally and ethnically close to Central Asian nations.

• China recognises the community only as a regional minority and rejects that they are an indigenous group.
• Currently, the largest population of the Uighur ethnic community lives in the Xinjiang region of China.
• A significant population of Uighurs also lives in the neighbouring Central Asian countries such as Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan.

Uighur Muslims for decades, under the false accusation by the Chinese government of terrorism and separatism, have suffered from abuses including persecution, forced detention, intense scrutiny, surveillance and even slavery.

Credible reports indicate that over a million people have been arbitrarily detained in Xinjiang and that there is widespread surveillance disproportionately targeting Uighurs and members of other minorities and restrictions on fundamental freedoms and Uighur culture.

China denies mistreating the Uyghurs, and goes on to insist it is simply running “vocational training” centres designed to counter extremism.

Question 108

Which Carribean Country replaced British Monarchy and became a Republic recently?

Answer 108

Barbados

• Barbados is a former British colony that gained independence in 1966, the nation of just less than 300,000 had long maintained ties with the British monarchy. But calls for full sovereignty and homegrown leadership have risen in recent years.
• Barbados was claimed by the British in 1625. It has sometimes been called “Little England” for its loyalty to British customs.
• It is the Caribbean’s easternmost island.

Question 109

Carribean sea and islands map?

Answer 109

Near Florida coast: Bahamas; Cuba

Greater Antilles: Cuba, Jamaica, Haiti→ Dominican Republic→ Puerto Rico→ Virgin Islands→ St. Martin→ (Curving down) Barbuda→ Antigua→ Dominica→ St. Lucia-. Barbados→ St. Vincent→ Grenada→ Tobago→ Trinidad (touching Barcelona, Venezuela)

SW of CUba, also lies Cayman islands

Question 110

CPEC: intro?

Answer 110

• The CPEC is a bilateral project between Pakistan and China, started in 2013.
• It is intended to promote connectivity across Pakistan with a network of highways, railways, and pipelines accompanied by energy, industrial, and other infrastructure development projects.
• It aims to link the Western part of China (Xinjiang province) to the Gwadar Port in Balochistan, Pakistan via Khunjerab Pass in the Northern Parts of Pakistan.
• Originally valued at $47 billion, the value of CPEC projects is worth $62 billion as of 2020
• CPEC is a part of the Belt and Road Initiative. The BRI, launched in 2013, aims to link Southeast Asia, Central Asia, the Gulf region, Africa and Europe with a network of land and sea routes.

Question 111

CPEC: China?

Answer 111

• A solution to China’s Malacca dilemma. Approx 80% of China’s Middle Eastern energy imports pass through Malacca strait, which are frequently patrolled by US Navy.
• It will also reduce shipping costs and transit times of its energy imports. The currently available sea-route to China is roughly 12,000 kilometre long, while the distance from Gwadar Port to Xinjiang province is approximately 3,000 kilometre, with another 3,500 kilometre from Xinjiang to China’s eastern coast.
• The CPEC Alignments will improve connectivity to restive Xinjiang, thereby increasing the region’s potential to attract public and private investment
  *

Question 112

CPEC: Pakistan?

Answer 112

1. It is the largest investment Pakistan has attracted since independence and largest by China in any foreign country.
2. CPEC’s potential impact on Pakistan has been compared to that of the Marshall Plan undertaken by the United States in post-war Europe
3. Pakistani officials predict that CPEC will result in the creation of upwards of 2.3 million jobs between 2015 and 2030, and add 2 to 2.5 percentage points to the country’s annual economic growth
4. Over $33 billion worth of energy infrastructure are to be constructed by private consortia to help alleviate Pakistan’s chronic energy shortages
5. A network of pipelines to transport liquefied natural gas and oil will also be laid as part of the project, including a $2.5 billion pipeline between Gwadar and Nawabshah to eventually transport gas from Iran

Threats:

• may undermine Pakistan’s sovereignty
• CPEC’s lack of transparency ad accountability

Question 113

CPEC: India?

Answer 113

1. upgrade works to the Karakoram Highway are taking place in Gilgit Baltistan i.e PoK
2. Despite Indian objections, China and Pakistan initiated works on the $44 million Pakistan-China Fiber Optic Project on 19 May 2016 which will require passage through Gilgit-Baltistan
3. The corridor possesses deep security threat to India too. In the event of confrontations with Pakistan or two front wars with Pakistan and China, the corridor would facilitate close military cooperation, movement of forces and exchange or transfer of military aids and equipment between the two countries ,which would put India in a serious trouble
4. it is widely believed that upon CPEC’s fruition, an extensive Chinese presence will undermine India’s influence in the Indian Ocean.

Question 114

CPEC: Afghanistan?

Answer 114

Recently, Pakistan has discussed Taliban-led Afghanistan joining the CPEC

• China has proposed construction of the Peshawar-Kabul motorway as an extension of CPEC in Afghanistan.
• *Implications of Afghanistan Joining CPEC on India:**
• *Filling the Void:**
• In Afghanistan, China is trying to fill the vacuum created after the US forces left Afghanistan economically and gets its Belt and Road (BRI) initiatives going.
• Undermining Chabahar Port: The foremost concern with Afghanistan joining CPEC is that India is apprehensive of its investment in Chabahar port in Iran.
• Weakening of India’s Economic Influence: Attempts to extend CPEC to Afghanistan may undermine India’s position as economic, security and strategic partner of Afghanistan.
• Further, Afghanistan’s inclusion in the CPEC will definitely help in the economic development, but it will also help Pakistan gain the strategic advantage and upper hand in Afghanistan at the cost of India.
• With the extension of CPEC, China is also looking to exploit Afghanistan’s rich minerals and highly lucrative rare-earth mines.

Question 115

CPEC: issues?

Answer 115

• CPEC passes through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and Baluchistan, both of which are home to a long-running insurgency where it faces terrorism and security risks.
• CPEC project’s lack of transparency and accountability is a cause of concern, as it may be skewed in favor of China economically and strategically.
• China would also disseminate its ideology and culture in Pakistan through the terrestrial distribution of broadcast TV, which will cooperate with Chinese media in the “dissemination of Chinese culture”. A similar sinification is visible in the Mandalay town of Myanmar which has impacted local architecture and culture.
• The project may undermine Pakistan’s sovereignty as its foreign policy, especially with India may be dictated by China, complicating the already estranged relations and create political instability in South Asia;
• Chinese approach of not partnering with local companies will not help Pakistan create job opportunities.
• The political tension in Afghanistan also may severely impede the benefits of transit corridors in South Asia.

Question 116

China’s Belt and Road INitiative?

Answer 116

• is a global infrastructure development strategy adopted by the Chinese government in 2013 to invest in nearly 70 countries and international organizations
• The BRI forms a central component of Xi’s “Major Country Diplomacy” strategy, which calls for China to assume a greater leadership role for global affairs in accordance with its rising power and status
• “Belt” is short for the “Silk Road Economic Belt,” referring to the proposed overland routes for road and rail transportation through landlocked Central Asia along the famed historical trade routes of the Western Regions; whereas “road” is short for the “21st Century Maritime Silk Road”, referring to the Indo-Pacific sea routes through Southeast Asia to South Asia, the Middle East and Africa.
• The project has a target completion date of 2049, which will coincide with the centennial of the People’s Republic of China (PRC)’s founding
• The initiative projects receive financial support from the Silk Road Fund and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank while they are technically coordinated by the B&R Summit Forum.
• The “belt” includes countries on the original Silk Road through Central Asia, West Asia, the Middle East, and Europe. The initiative would create a cohesive economic area by building both hard infrastructure such as rail and road links and soft infrastructure such as trade agreements and a common commercial legal structure with a court system to police the agreements. Three belts are proposed. The North belt would go through Central Asia and Russia to Europe. The Central belt passes through Central Asia and West Asia to the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean. The South belt runs from China through Southeast Asia and South Asia and on to the Indian Ocean through Pakistan.
• The maritime Silk Road runs with its links from the Chinese coast to the south via Hanoi to Jakarta, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur through the Strait of Malacca via the Sri Lankan Colombo opposite the southern tip of India via Malé, the capital of the Maldives, to the East African Mombasa, from there to Djibouti, then through the Red Sea over the Suez Canal into the Mediterranean, there via Haifa, Istanbul and Athens to the Upper Adriatic to the northern Italian junction of Trieste with its international free port and its rail connections to Central Europe and the North Sea.
• In addition to the Maritime Silk Road, Russia and China are reported to have agreed to jointly build an ‘Ice Silk Road’ along the Northern Sea Route in the Arctic, along a maritime route within Russian territorial waters
• The super grid project aims to develop six ultra high voltage electrical grids across China, Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, Central Asia and West Asia. The wind power resources of Central Asia would form one component of this grid.
• The land corridors include:
  
  • The New Eurasian Land Bridge, which runs from Western China to Western Russia through Kazakhstan, and includes the Silk Road Railway through China’s Xinjiang Autonomous Region, Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus, Poland and Germany.
  • Another corridor will run from Northern China through Mongolia to the Russian Far East.
  • The China–Central Asia–West Asia Corridor, which will run from Western China to Turkey.
  • The China-Indochina Peninsula economic corridor, which will run from Southern China to Singapore.
  • The Trans-Himalayan Multi-dimensional Connectivity Network, which will turn Nepal from a landlocked to a land-linked country.
  • The China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC)

Question 117

China’s Belt and Road INitiative: issues?

Answer 117

• territorial sovereignty: India and CPEC
• Ecological issues:
  
  • A joint report by the World Wide Fund for Nature and HSBC argued that the BRI presents significant risks as well as opportunities for sustainable development. These risks include the overuse of natural resources, the disruption of ecosystems, and the emission of pollutants. Coal-fired power stations, such as Emba Hunutlu power station in Turkey, are being built as part of BRI, thus increasing greenhouse gas emissions and global warming.
  • A point of criticism of the BRI overall relates to the motivation of pollution and environmental degradation outsourcing to poorer nations, whose governments will disregard the consequences. In Serbia for instance, where pollution-related deaths already top Europe, the presence of Chinese-owned coal-powered plants have resulted in an augmentation in the country’s dependency on coal, as well as air and soil pollution in some towns.
  • According to German environmental group Urgewald, China’s energy companies will make up nearly half of the new coal plant generation expected to go online in the next decade.
• HUman RIghts accusations: According to a report by American NGO China Labor Watch, there are widespread human rights violations concerning Chinese migrant workers sent abroad. The Chinese companies allegedly “commit forced labor”
• Some observers and skeptics, mainly from non-participant countries, including the United States, interpret it as a plan for a sinocentric international trade network.
• There has been concern over the project being a form of neo-colonialism and debt-trap diplomacy. Debt traps are seen as an economic dimension of China’s salami slice strategy. China’s sovereignty slicing tactic dilutes the sovereignty of the target nations mainly using the debt trap. An example provided is Beijing pressuring Tajikistan to handover 1,158 km² territory, which still owes China US$1.2 billion out of a total US$2.9bn of debt
• A new study has found under-reported debts to the tune of $385 billion in projects carried out in dozens of countries under China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), with a rise in “hidden” debt on account of an increasing number of deals struck not directly between governments but structured through often opaque arrangements with a range of financing institutions. The total debt, was “systematically under-reported to the World Bank’s Debtor Reporting System (DRS) because, in many cases, central government institutions in LMICs [low and middle income countries] are not the primary borrowers responsible for repayment”.

Question 118

What is Balfour declaration related to?

Answer 118

The Balfour Declarationwas issued after Britain gained control during WWII, with the aim of establishing a home for the Jews in Palestine.

Question 119

Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC)?

Answer 119

signed in 2002, China and the ten ASEAN states signed the non-binding Declaration of the Conduct (DoC) of Parties in the South China Sea.

• That document saw all eleven parties pledge their commitment to eventually conclude a binding code of conduct.
• That document noted that “the adoption of a code of conduct in the South China Sea would further promote peace and stability in the region.”

Question 120

INdia-EU BTIA?

Answer 120

India- EU trade:

• Trade with India formed under 3% of the E.U.’s global trade, which is “far below” what was expected of the relationship.
• Conversely, the E.U. is India’s largest trading partner and investor, and accounts for 11% of India’s global trade.

BTIA:

• In June 2007, India and the EU began negotiations on a broad-based Bilateral Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA) in Brussels, Belgium.
• These negotiations are pursuant to the commitment made by political leaders at the 7th India-EU Summit held in Helsinki on 13th October 2006 to move towards negotiations for a broad-based trade and investment agreement
• Negotiations have been languishing since 2013 when the talks collapsed over certain demands from the EU such as greater market access for automobiles, wine and spirits, and further opening up of the financial services sector such as banking, insurance and e-commerce.
• The EU also wanted labour, environment and government procurement to be included in the talks.
• India’s demand for easier work visa and study visa norms as well as data secure status, that would make it easier for European companies to outsource business to India, were also not received enthusiastically by the EU countries.

Question 121

SAFTA?

Answer 121

• South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) is an agreement reached on January 6, 2004, at the 12th SAARC summit in Islamabad, Pakistan.
• It created a free-trade area of 1.6 billion people in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka to reduce customs duties of all traded goods to zero by the year 2016.
• SAFTA required the developing countries in South Asia (India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka) to bring their duties down to 20 percent in the first phase of the two-year period ending in 2007.
• In the final five-year phase ending in 2012, the 20 percent duty was reduced to zero in a series of annual cuts.
• The least developed countries in South Asia (Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and the Maldives) had an additional three years to reduce tariffs to zero.
• India and Pakistan ratified the treaty in 2009; the treaty became operational in 2011
• The basic principles regarding SAFTA are as follows:

1. Reciprocity and mutuality of advantages
2. Negotiation of tariff reform which will be implemented in successive stages through periodic reviews.
3. Recognition of the special needs of the LDCs
4. Inclusion of all products, manufactures and commodities in their raw forms

Question 122

T/F:

1. USA has recently entered an agreement to establish a military base in Tajikistan
2. India also has a military presence in bases in Tajikistan.

Answer 122

1. F; China will take full control of a military base in Tajikistan near the Afghan border that it has been quietly operating and will also build a new base for the Tajik Government. The base, once full control has been transferred, will become only the second known overseas Chinese security facility, after Djibouti near the Horn of Africa.
2. T; Russia and India are among countries that already have a military presence in bases in Tajikistan.

Question 123

Abraham Accords?

Answer 123

1. The Israel–UAE normalization agreement** is officially called the **Abraham Accords Peace Agreement. It was finalised in 2020
2. The UAE thus became the third Arab country, after Egypt in 1979 and Jordan in 1994, to agree to formally normalize its relationship with Israel as well as the first Persian Gulf country to do so.
3. Concurrently, Israel agreed to suspend plans for annexing parts of the West Bank.
4. Full diplomatic ties established between Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain which had a positive impact on the entire region.
5. The deal buys UAE a lot of goodwill in the US, where its image has been tarnished by its involvement in the Yemen war.
6. The agreement normalized what had long been informal but robust foreign relations between the two countries.
7. India had welcomed the agreement, saying it “has always supported peace and stability in West Asia which is our extended neighbourhood.”

Question 124

India’s policy towards with West Asia?

Answer 124

1. Over the years, India has built vibrant bilateral ties with all the countries in the grouping.
2. India and Israel:
   
   1. India and Israel share similar concerns of radicalism and terrorism
   2. while sharing values of democracy and pluralism and cultural values of ‘Vasudaiv Kutumbakam’ and ‘Tikun Olam (heal the world)’.
   3. Both have elevated bilateral relations to a strategic partnership during the historic visit of PM Narendra Modi to Israel in July 2017.
   4. India and Israel have a Joint Working Group on Counter-terrorism** and the two countries also **share real-time intelligence to deal with the menace.
   5. Israel is one of India’s top defence suppliers.
3. INdia-UAE:
   
   1. The UAE is vital for India’s energy security.
   2. The Gulf country, which hosts millions of Indian workers, has also shown interest to mediate between India and Pakistan.
4. In the past, there were three pillars to India’s West Asia policy — the Sunni Gulf monarchies, Israel and Iran.
5. Now that the gulf between the Sunni kingdoms and Israel is being narrowed, especially after the Abraham Accords**, the normalisation agreements signed between **Israel and the UAE and Bahrain under the tutelage of the Trump administration, India faces fewer challenges to a regionalist approach.
6. India, USA, UAE and Israel met in 2021, leading credence to a possibility of ‘New QUAD’.

Question 125

India and Central Asia relations: importance of Central asian regin

Answer 125

• Energy security
  
  1. substantial hydrocarbon fields, natural gas and oil reserves
  2. Kazakhstan is the leading manufacturer of uranium** and has **enormous gas and oil reserves as well.
  3. Uzbekistan is also rich in gas, and is a significant local producer of gold together with Kyrgyzstan.
  4. Tajikistan has enormous hydropower potential** and **Turkmenistan has the fourth largest gas reserves of the world.
• Regional security: to tackle the challenges of terrorism, drug trafficking and arms smuggling. Importance further increased given Taliban regime in Afghanistan
• Strategic location: central point of geopolitical manoeuvring affecting India’s relations with Pakistan, China, the US, Russia and other powers in the region.
• Commercial: offers a relatively untapped market for Indian consumer goods.
  
  1. Indian tea and pharmaceutical industries have acquired a foothold in the Central Asian market.
  2. The rapid economic development of Central Asia has sparked a construction boom and development of sectors like IT and tourism.

Question 126

India and Central Asia relations: cultural?

Answer 126

1. Ancient kingdoms like the Kushana Empire had territory in parts of both regions.
2. Both regions had been connected through the Silk route from 3rd century BC till 15th Century AD until the sea route from Europe to India was discovered.
3. The Silk Route connected both regions not only for transportation of goods like silk and spices but was also an effective channel of exchange of thoughts, ideas, religion and philosophy.
4. Buddhism travelled over this route from India to Central Asia and from there to West China.
5. The historical and civilizational linkages have spilled over into many areas including religion and culture.
6. Contacts between the both regions were further strengthened during the medieval ages with the advent of Islam and later with the establishment of Muslim rule in India, many of whose rulers had their origins in Central Asia.

Question 127

India and Central Asia relations: evolution of relationship?

Answer 127

1. After the breakup of the Soviet Union and the formation of the independent republics in Central Asia, India reset its ties with the strategically critical region.
2. India provided financial aid to the region and established diplomatic relations.
3. India signed the Strategic Partnership Agreements (SPA) with Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan to stimulate defence cooperation and deepen trade relations.
4. In 2012, India’s ‘Connect Central Asia’ policy aimed at furthering India’s political, economic, historical and cultural connections with the region.
5. However, India’s efforts were stonewalled by Pakistan’s lack of willingness to allow India passage through its territory. Further CHina’s BRI-CPEC in Central Asia, specifically in Kazhakastan, emerged as another issue for India
6. India signed MoUs with Iran in 2015 to develop the Chabahar port in the Sistan-Baluchistan province that was in the doldrums from 2003. Most of the Central Asian leaders view India’s Chabahar port as an opportunity to diversify their export markets and control China’s ambitions.
7. China’s assertive approach led to rising social discontent on the ill-treatment of their ethnic brethren in neighbouring Xinjiang.
8. INdia’s membership of SCO; However, SCO has been used by most member countries for their own regional geostrategic and securit. Its ineffectiveness in the face of reemergence of Taliban in Afghanistan puts question marks over it. As the SCO failed to collectively respond to the Afghan crisis, the Central Asian leaders met in Turkmenistan in August to voice their concerns over the Afghan situation, and also discussed the presence of Central Asian terror groups within Afghanistan and along their borders.
9. Rising anti-Chinese sentiments within the region and security threats from the Taliban allow New Delhi and Central Asia to reimagine their engagement.
10. Central Asian countries have admitted India into the Ashgabat Agreement, allowing India access to connectivity networks to facilitate trade and commercial interactions with both Central Asia and Eurasia, and also access the natural resources of the region.

Question 128

India and Central Asia relations: way forward?

Answer 128

1. The invitation to the leaders of these five countries as chief guests at the 2022 Republic Day celebration should be the opportunity to make a fresh start.
2. The time may have come to reopen the files on the TAPI and IPI gas pipeline projects. India can use its rewarmed realtions with Russia to get China to make Pakistan cooperate. Russia is well-placed to act as guarantor and help build both these pipelines, while China too will see advantages in the normalisation of India-Pakistan ties.
3. India need to undertake the completion of the 600-km railway line from Ghurian (near Herat) eastward across northern Afghanistan.
4. At the third meeting of the India-Central Asia Dialogue in delhi in 2021, EA Min Jaishankar laid out “4Cs” as pillars of a new geoeconomic partnership
   
   1. commerce
   2. capacity enhancement
   3. connectivity
   4. contact

Question 129

Recent India-Armenia ties?

Answer 129

2021 visit was the first by an Indian External Minister to Armenia

1. The Minister and his Armenian counterpart, agreed to enhance trade and cultural exchanges to boost bilateral relations.
2. Mr. Jaishankar also supported efforts for a peaceful solution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia under the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s (OSCE) Minsk group.

• In recent years, Indian-Armenian bilateral cooperation has seen rapid growth.
  • The then Vice-President of India visited Yerevan (Armenia) in 2017.
  • Armenia bought the India SWATHI military radar system in March 2020.
  • Many Indian students study in Armenian medical Universities and in recent years Armenia has witnessed an increasing flow of Indian labour migrants.
  • For Armenia, close relations with India are vitally important as India provides a counter balance to the rival strategic axis between Azerbaijan, Pakistan and Turkey.

Armenia is the only country in the region with which it has a friendship and cooperation Treaty (signed in 1995), India has received three heads of states from Armenia, but none from Azerbaijan or Georgia.

• Armenia extends its unequivocal support to India on the Kashmir issue whereas Azerbaijan not only supports but also promotes Pakistan’s narrative on this issue.

Question 130

India-Azerbaijan ties?

Answer 130

• India is part of the International North–South Transport Corridor (INSTC), a multimodal network of ship, rail, and road route for moving freight between India, Iran, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Russia, Central Asia and Europe.
• Azerbaijan is a dialogue partner ofShanghai Cooperation Organisation(SCO), which India is a member of.
• In 2018, the then Indian External affairs minister had visited Baku (Azerbaijan), the first-ever bilateral visit of an Indian External Affairs Minister to Azerbaijan.
• India’s ONGC-Videsh is an investor in Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) oil fields and Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline.
• Pakistan angle :
  
  • However, Azerbaijan supports Pakistan’s position on the Kashmir issue.
  • India has supported Armenia while Azerbaijan has been supported by Pakistan. Pakistan was the second country to recognize Azerbaijan’s independence after Turkey. Also, Pakistan is the only country that does not recognize Armenia as an independent state and fully supports Azerbaijan’s position.

Question 131

A brief history of Myanmar?

Answer 131

When British imperialists annexed what is today’s Myanmar during the 19th century, they called it Burma after the dominant Burman (Bamar) ethnic group, and administered it as a province of colonial India.
● This arrangement continued until 1937, when Burma was separated from British India and made a separate colony.
● Even after the country became independent in 1948, it retained the same name, becoming the ‘Union of Burma’.
● In 1962, the military took over from a civilian government for the first time, and amended the official name in 1974 to the ‘Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma’.
● Then in 1988, Myanmar’s armed forces again took power in the country, after suppressing a popular uprising that led to the deaths of thousands, and reversed the official name to ‘Union of Burma’.
● But a year later, the junta adopted a law that replaced Burma with Myanmar, making the country the ‘Union of Myanmar’.

Myanmar’s military Constitution:
It was the military that drafted the 2008 Constitution, and put it to a questionable referendum in April that year.
● The Constitution was the military’s “roadmap to democracy”, which it had been forced to adopt under increasing pressure from the west.
● It was also due to its own realisation that opening up Myanmar to the outside world was now no longer an option but a dire economic necessity.
● But the military made sure to safeguard in the Constitution its own role and supremacy in national affairs.
● Under its provisions, the military reserves for itself 25 per cent of seats in both Houses of Parliament, to which it appoints serving military officials.
● Also, a political party which is a proxy for the military contests elections.

Question 132

“India needs a nuanced approach wrt Myanmar and cannot afford western limited vision of democracy vs military rule”?

Answer 132

1. Myanmar has been in turmoil since February 2021 when the military seized control of the country in a coup and detained Aung San Suu Kyi and other leaders of her National League for Democracy (NLD). Aung San Suu Kyi was sentenced to 4 yrs imprisonment in Oct 2021
2. India had been categorical from the very beginning that the gains made by Myanmar over the last decades on the path towards democracy should not be undermined. expressed its hope that “keeping their nation’s future in mind, efforts would be made by all sides to advance the path of dialogue.”
3. India cannot boycott Myanmar and needs direct engagement with the State Administration Council (SAC) and other stakeholders
4. Nov 2021 deadly attack on an Assam Rifles convoy near the Myanmar border in Manipur was a reminder about the proclivity of China for creating trouble in the Northeast, especially at a time when border tensions along the LAC remain high.
5. The Covid-19 pandemic has also had an impact because of the porous border between India and Myanmar. For India, a humanitarian crisis as a result of the pandemic-induced economic crisis in Myanmar would be a lose-lose situation
6. India as the only major democratic country bordering Myanmar, should insist on demonstrable progress on the road to democratic transition, but being a neighbour, it is also aware that Myanmar has never responded well to international pressures.
7. While the West continues to condemn and sanction, China is investing and pulling Myanmar into its orbit.. Marginalising the army will only push it into China’s arms, which only has its economic and defence interests to secure from Naypyidaw. Ever since the coup, China’s economic grip over Myanmar has only become tighter with a special focus on projects critical for the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor.
8. countries like Japan, South Korea and most ASEAN members have all moved forward with engaging the military junta in Myanmar.

Question 133

Myanmar: India’s response?

Answer 133

India’s demands:

1. Myanmar’s return to democracy at the earliest.
2. Release of detainees and prisoners.
3. Resolution of issues through dialogue.
4. Complete cessation of all violence.

India is supporting ASEAN initiative on Myanmar and the ‘Five-Point Consensus’: It includes:

1. Immediate cessation of violence.
2. Dialogue among all stakeholders in Myanmar for a peaceful solution.
3. The appointment of a special Asean envoy to facilitate mediation.
4. Aid to Myanmar.
5. A visit to the country by the envoy.

Question 134

Trincomalee Oil Tank Farm deal?

Answer 134

A project being planned betn India and Sri Lanka

background

• The Trincomalee Oil Tank Farm is located in ‘China Bay’. It comprises of 99 storage tanks, with a capacity of 12,000 kilolitres each, spread across Lower Tank farm and Upper Tank Farm.
• British had built the “Trincomalee Oil Tank Farms” during the Second World War, to serve as a refuelling station. It was built adjacent to the Trincomalee port, which is an enviable natural harbour.
• The proposal to refurbish the oil farm was envisaged 35 years ago, in the Indo-Lanka accord. Despite this Accord, work barely moved until 2003. In 2003, Indian Oil Corporation set up its Sri Lankan subsidiary called Lanka IOC.

Question 135

“Thucydides trap”?

Answer 135

The US and China are currently embroiled in a “Cold War” over technology, trade, cyber issues and the South China Sea.

Harvard Professor Graham Allison draws on historical analogies to suggest they may fall into what he refers to as the “Thucydides trap” and drift into hot conflict.

Thucydides was a Greek historian and general who chronicled the Peloponnesian war between the city-states of Sparta and Athens in the 5th century BC.

At the time, Sparta was the dominant power and Athens the emergent power. The war was triggered by Sparta’s determination to prevent Athens from pushing it off its hegemonic pedestal.

The US and China appear to be in a similar face-off.

Question 136

unrest in Kazhakastan, Ukraine and other central Asian nations: themes that emerge from these developments?

Answer 136

Five broad themes stand out in the potential for rearrangement of Eurasia

1. Bumpy internal political evolution of Eurasian states
   
   1. collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 marked the failure of the grand project for the socialist modernisation of the Eurasian landmass, opening the door for new political models in the region.
   2. In Central Europe and the Baltic states, the transition to liberal democracy appeared quick while many of the former Soviet Republics drifted into rule by strong men.
   3. Both models are coming under some stress.
   4. “Democratic backsliding” in Hungary and Poland is a major concern for the West
   5. In Kazakhstan, the anger of the protestors was directed against the autocratic rule of Nursultan Nazarbayev, who has led the country since the breakup of the Soviet Union.
   6. In Belarus, mass protests last year challenged President Alexander Lukashenko, who has ruled the nation since 1994; he has survived with Kremlin’s support.
   7. religion has returned with some force in Europe as well — orthodox Christianity in Russia and the Roman Catholic church in central Europe exercise considerable political influence.
2. weaknesses of economic globalisation
   
   1. although much of Central Asia embraced economic globalisation, it has failed to prevent massive economic inequality and curb the kleptocratic elites.
   2. Autocracies inevitably breed corruption and erode the capacity for self-correction that is so critical for any society. Kazakhastan, rich in hydrocarbons as well as having small population of 19 mn is still facing heavy inequalities that ultimately led to 2021-22 protests
3. the limitations of regional institutions
   
   1. Two decades after former communist states joined the EU — the world’s most successful regional institution — the eastern and western halves of Europe continue to look vastly different and are ill at ease with each other. several issues today — relating to rule of law, migration, refugees, energy, and geopolitics – divide the two halves. There is deep resentment in the eastern half about the domination of the western half on EU policymaking.
   2. struggle to develop credible regional institutions has been harder in the former Soviet space. Moscow has launched the Eurasian Economic Union and the Collective Security Treaty Organisation to reestablish its primacy in Eurasia but these have failed to gain the credibility of EU. Moscow has also joined Beijing in setting up the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation that was to jointly stabilise the Central Asian region.
   3. Despite Russia’s imposing presence in the fromer Soviet nations, the new states value their soveriegnty. Most countries have sought to pursue pursue variants of what Nazarbayev called “multi-vector diplomacy”-engaging all major powers to strengthen their strategic autonomy. However, geography, history and institutional inertia continue to bind them to Russia. Whn crisis erupted i Kazakhastan, Almaty inevitably turned to Russia for help. But the tension between dependence on Russia for security and the political aspiration for autonomy is an enduring one.
4. constraints on powers to shape the post-Russian space
   
   1. Two great forces that have risen since the dissolution of the Soviet Union — the EU and China — have been unable to shape the political and security dynamic in Eurasia.
   2. Brussels and Beijing have not been able to lead in the resolution of the regional crises next door — Europe in Ukraine and China in Kazakhstan and Afghanistan.
   3. In Ukraine, Moscow prefers to negotiate with Washington rather than Brussels. In Kazakhstan, Russia has shown it remains the main security provider despite the considerable economic salience of China.
   4. Several other powers, including Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Pakistan, India, Korea, and Japan have sought to develop some influence in Central Asia. They all bring some unique advantages, but none of them has been able to transcend their multiple limitations.
5. Russia’s shifting great power relations:
   
   1. rapid deterioration of Russia’s relations with the West in recent years. Talks on European security between Russia and the West in Jan 2022 is an attempt at a fresh beginning
   2. Moscow’s growing political warmth and economic depth with Beijing
   3. Although Russia is the weightiest actor in Eurasia, it can’t simply reconstitute the former Soviet space unilaterally. An accommodation on European security with the West — covering such areas as Ukraine’s independence and neutrality, the de-escalation of the military confrontation in the heart of Europe through arms control, and the development of a cooperative agenda on global security — would significantly improve Moscow’s chances of leading a new Eurasian geopolitical order.

Question 137

India and INternational Law: Applying International Law?

Answer 137

1. India follows the principle of dualism (that is, international law is not directly applicable domestically, and must be implemented through a law by Parliament)
2. on certain occasions, the Supreme Court has digressed from this principle. Supreme Court has digressed from the principle of dualism and moved towards monism by holding that customary international law (CIL), unless contradictory to domestic law, is part of the Indian legal regime even without an enabling legislation enacted by the Parliament.
   
   1. CIL refers to international law norms derived from a custom that is a formal source of international law.
   2. Supreme Court in Vellore Citizens Welfare Forum v. Union of India held that CIL which is not contrary to the municipal law shall be deemed to have been incorporated in India’s domestic law.
   3. The apex court in Research Foundation for Science v. Union of India, relying on the Vellore Citizen case, declared that the precautionary principle, an environmental law concept, is part of CIL and thus part of Indian law.
3. In some instances, not only CIL but international treaties, inlcuding some that India has not even signed, have benn judicially incorporated.
4. apex court incorporating CIL as part of the domestic legal regime is consistent with the practice of other common law countries.
5. However, issues arise when the question comes up whether a given principle is part of CIL itself. For eg. the precautionary principle, accepted as CIL by SC in Research Foundation for Science vs UoI, is debated as whether it is part of CIL or not. Determination of whether a particular provision indeed constitutes a binding customary norm under international law requires the double requirement of state practice (the actual practice of the states) and opinio juris (belief that the custom is part of the law). The apex court rarely conducts such an analysis.
6. Also, the apex court hasn’t been consistent in incorporating CIL. In a 2021 case, Mohamad Salimullah v. Union of India, the court appallingly refused to rule against the deportation of Rohingya refugees to Myanmar despite the principle of non-refoulment being part of CIL. The principle of non-refoulment prohibits a country from returning refugees to countries where they face a clear threat of persecution. But curiously the court did not incorporate this principle into Indian law.
7. judicially incorporating international law without parliamentary scrutiny legitimises such a democratic deficit. Accordingly, judicial incorporation of international law is questioned because it amounts to the judiciary riding roughshod over the Parliament.
8. The Parliamentary committee which published a report on India and International Law in 2021, recommended that the executive should take note of the vacuum in domestic legislation on customary norms in international law and develop adequate domestic laws is an important one. India should enact domestic laws that are harmonious with CIL.

Question 138

India and INternational Law: Extradition Treaties?

Answer 138

1. Extradition is a process for surrender, upon request, of a person who is alleged to have committed an offence and is wanted for trial in one country, and is found residing in another.
2. India has singed extradition treaties with 50 countries and extradition arrangements with 11 countries.
3. Delay is still experienced in extradition from such countries with which India has signed the extradition treaty.
4. Further offenders often escape to other countries where they are safe from extradition

Question 139

India and INternational Law: Mutual Legal Assistance Treaties (MLATs)?

Answer 139

1. Under MLATs, requests can be made for assistance in matters such as identifying and locating persons, taking evidence, and obtaining statements.
2. India has signed MLATs with 40 countries
3. 845 such requests are pending with various countries.

Question 140

India and INternational Law: Asylum issues?

(‘cyber security’ aspect cobered in f/c cyber security)

(‘financial crimes’ aspect covered in f/c Economy)

Answer 140

1. An individual seeking international protection from persecution is called an asylum seeker. A country may grant refugee status to an asylum seeker.
2. existing domestic laws regulating the entry, stay and exit of foreign nationals in normal circumstances are inadequate to deal with refugees.
3. in the absence of a domestic law for refugees and asylum seekers, there should be a domestic protocol on their status, assigning specific responsibilities to specific agencies. This will ensure prompt response and enhance accountability.
4. India is not a signatory to the United Nations’ 1951 Convention on the status of refugees and the 1967 Protocol amending it. India believes in the concept of shared responsibility of all countries in refugee crises, however, the Convention and the Protocol do not contain this concept.

Question 141

Sir Creek Dispute?

Answer 141

The dispute lies in the interpretation of the maritime boundary line between Kutch and Sindh.

Before India’s independence, the provincial region was a part of the Bombay Presidency of British India. But after India’s independence in 1947, Sindh became a part of Pakistan while Kutch remained a part of India.

1. Pakistan claims the entire creek as per paragraphs 9 and 10 of the Bombay Government Resolution of 1914 signed between then the Government of Sindh and Rao Maharaj of Kutch.
2. The resolution, which demarcated the boundaries between the two territories, included the creek as part of Sindh, thus setting the boundary as the eastern flank of the creek popularly known as Green Line.
3. But India claims that the boundary lies mid-channel as depicted in another map drawn in 1925, and implemented by the installation of mid-channel pillars back in 1924.
4. In its support, it cites the Thalweg Doctrine in International Maritime Law, which states that river boundaries between two states may be divided by the mid-channel if the water-body is navigable.

About Sir Creek:

• Sir Creek is a 96-km strip of water disputed between India and Pakistan in the Rann of Kutch marshlands.
• Originally named Ban Ganga, Sir Creek is named after a British representative.
• The Creek opens up in the Arabian Sea and roughly divides the Kutch region of Gujarat from the Sindh Province of Pakistan.

What’s the importance of Sir Creek?

Apart from strategic location, Sir Creek’s core importance is fishing resources. Sir Creek is considered to be among the largest fishing grounds in Asia.

Another vital reason is the possible presence of great oil and gas concentration under the sea, which are currently unexploited thanks to the impending deadlock on the issue.

Question 142

Russia-Ukraine crisis?

Answer 142

• Tensions between Ukraine and Russia, both former Soviet states, escalated in late 2013 over a landmark political and trade deal with the European Union. After the pro-Russian then-President, Viktor Yanukovych, suspended the talks, weeks of protests (Euromaidan protests) in Kiev erupted into violence.
• Then, in March 2014, Russia annexed Crimea, an autonomous peninsula in southern Ukraine with strong Russian loyalties, on the pretext that it was defending its interests and those of Russian-speaking citizens.
• Shortly afterwards, pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk regions declared their independence from Kiev, prompting months of heavy fighting.
• Despite Kiev and Moscow signing a peace deal in Minsk in 2015, brokered by France and Germany, there have been repeated ceasefire violations.
• As of February 2019, 7% of Ukraine’s territory is classified by the Ukrainian government as temporarily occupied territories
• In late March–early April 2021, the Russian military moved large quantities of arms and equipment from western and central Russia, and as far away as Siberia, into occupied Crimea. Russian military also built up near Belarus-Ukraine border.
• Russian concern:
  
  • Ukraine’s potential membership of NATO: In September 2021, Ukraine conducted military exercises with NATO forces.
  • stationing of NATO weapons in Ukraine:The Kremlin warned that NATO expanding military infrastructure in Ukraine would cross “red lines” for President Putin. President Putin stated that an expansion of NATO’s presence in Ukraine, especially the deployment of any long-range missiles capable of striking Moscow or missile defence systems similar to those in Romania and Poland, would be a “red line” issue for the Kremlin.

Question 143

Russia-Ukraine crisis: India’s concerns?

Answer 143

1. World War scenario: Any conflict- where the U.S. and its European allies are ranged against Russia will impact the whole world- economically and in terms of security, and India, as a partner to both Moscow and Washington will either have to take sides, or be prepared to deal with unhappiness from both sides.
2. Nearly 20000 Indians are in Ukraine.
3. S-400 delivery and US waiver: The crisis comes precisely as India’s purchase of the Russian S-400 missile system is under way- and New Delhi hopes for a waiver of U.S. sanctions on this. Conflict will complicate both the delivery of the system, and the possibility of a presidential waiver.
4. Moves focus from China: Just as U.S. and Europe had grown more focussed on their Indo-Pacific strategy that puts India centre-stage, and India grapples with Chinese aggression and land-grab at the Line of Actual Control, and 100,000 troops along the boundary on both sides, the world’s attention is diverted from China to Russia.
5. Brings Russia China closer- the Crisis will make Moscow more dependent on friends like China, and build a regional bloc of sorts that India is not a part of. In Beijing this week, the future seems evident- as India has announced a diplomatic and political boycott of the Olympic games- while Putin, Central Asian Presidents, and Pakistan PM Imran Khan are all in Beijing to stand in solidarity with Xi Jinping.
6. Energy crisis: In any conflict- Europe worries Russia will turn down gas and oil supplies- driving energy prices up. Already tensions have pushed oil prices up 14% in a month past $90 and analyst say they could hit $125 a barrel if the situation is not resolved.

Question 144

Nord stream pipeline?

Answer 144

• Nord Stream consists of two pipelines, which have two lines each.
  
  • Nord Stream 1 was completed in 2011 and runs from Vyborg in Leningrad (Russia) to Lubmin near Greifswald, Germany.
  • Nord Stream 2 which runs from Ust-Luga in Leningrad to Lubmin was completed in September 2021 and has the capacity to handle 55 billion cubic meters of gas per year once it becomes operational.
• The twin pipelines together can transport a combined total of 110 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas a year to Europe for at least 50 years.
• The Nord Stream crosses the Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs) of several countries including Russia, Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Germany, and the territorial waters of Russia, Denmark, and Germany.
• In Germany, the pipeline connects to the OPAL (Baltic Sea Pipeline) and NEL (North European Pipeline) which further connects to the European grid.
• Importance for Europe and Russia:
  
  • Europe:
    
    • Europe requires more than 100 billion cubic metres (bcm) of natural gas each year and around 40% of its gas comes from Russia.
    • Over the last few years, Europe has become more dependent on gas imports because of a decrease in domestic gas production. Reducing dependence on Russian gas is difficult as there are no easy replacements.
    • Many European businesses have large investments in Nord Stream 2 and there is pressure on governments from these businesses. Finally, a reduction in gas from Russia would increase already high gas prices and that would not be popular domestically.
  • Russia:
    
    • As for Russia, which has the largest natural gas reserves in the world, around 40% of its budget comes from sales of gas and oil.
    • Nord Stream 2 is important because it eliminates the risks related with sending gas through transit countries, cuts operating costs by doing away with transit fees and gives direct access to its most important European customer, Germany.
    • It increases Europe’s dependence on Russia while giving it a reliable customer.
• Objections to the Pipeline:
  
  • By Germany:
    
    • According to environmentalists, it does not fit in with German efforts to cut dependence on fossil fuels and fight climate change.
    • Nord Stream 2 has not yet started operating because Germany says it does not comply with German law and has suspended its approval. The project is also awaiting approval from theEuropean Commission.
  • Strategic Objection:
    
    • The strategic objection, particularly from the U, is that it will make Europe too dependent on Russia, increasing Russia’s influence in Europe.
      
      • Moreover, there is concern that Russia could use it as a geopolitical weapon.
    • Ukraine has objected because it will lose around USD 2 billion in transit fees once the pipeline becomes operational.
      
      • Moreover, so long as Russian gas transits through Ukraine, Russia is unlikely to intervene and cause instability in Ukraine and Europe will stay invested in its security.
    • Countries like Poland and Belarus also stand to lose transit fees and hence oppose the pipeline as it will bypass existing pipelines running through them.

Question 145

Present position of PoK?

Answer 145

● PoK is called “Azad Jammu & Kashmir” (“AJK” in short).
● It came into being after the 1949 ceasefire between India and Pakistan.
● It comprises the parts of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir that were occupied by the Pakistani forces.
● Pakistan’s constitutional position on PoK is that it is not a part of the country, but the “liberated” part of Kashmir.
However, Article 257 of Pakistan’s Constitution says: “When the people of the State of Jammu and Kashmir decide to accede to Pakistan, the relationship between Pakistan and the State shall be determined in accordance with the wishes of the people of that State.”

Political structure and how is it administered?
● The constitution of Pakistan lists the country’s four provinces — Punjab, Sind, Balochistan, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
● For all practical purposes, PoK is run by the Pakistan government through the all-powerful Kashmir Council, a nominated 14-member body headed by the Prime Minister of Pakistan.
● The Assembly has a five-year term. The legislators elect a “prime minister” and a “president” for the territory.
● While PoK is ostensibly an autonomous, self-governing territory, the Pakistan Army is the final arbiter
on all matters Kashmir.

Question 146

Indo-Pacific?

Answer 146

The idea of the Indo-Pacific as a single strategic space is an outgrowth of China’s growing influence in the Indian Ocean region. It signifies the interconnectedness of the Indian and Pacific Oceans, the importance of the oceans to security and commerce.

Importance of Indo-Pacific region:

1. The Indo-Pacific is the fastest growing region in the world, accounting for two-thirds of global economic growth over the past five years and home to half the world’s population.
2. Peace here is important in Maintaining regional stability.
3. China’s increasingly active presence in the Indian Ocean region as well as its efforts to expand geopolitical reach in Asia and beyond by the use of trade and military are posing challenges in the region. Hence, coordination among Quad countries is necessary.
4. For adhering to freedom of navigation, adherence to rules-based order and stable trade environment, peace in Indo Pacific region is important.
5. For free sea and air lanes, connectivity and upholding international rules and norms.

Question 147

India-UAE CEPA?

Answer 147

India and the United Arab Emirates have signed a CEPA.

As per the CEPA signed between India and the UAE:
90% of India’s exports will have duty-free access to the Emirates.

It covers goods, services and digital trade.
Benefits:
● The bilateral trade pact is India’s first in the region and the first comprehensive trade agreement with any country in a decade.
● The CEPA is likely to benefit about $26 billion worth of Indian products that are currently subjected to 5% import duty by the UAE, India’s third-biggest trading partner behind the US and China.
● It is expected that the CEPA will lead to an increase in bilateral trade from the current $60 bn to $100 bn in the next 5 years.
● Through the pact, Indian exporters will also get access to the much larger Arab and African markets.

Question 148

India-UAE relations: overview?

Answer 148

1. Trade:
   
   1. increased from 180mn$ in 1970s to 58Bn$ in 2016 (33Bn$ Indian Exports to UAE and 26Bn$ UAE exports to India)
   2. UAE is INdia’s top trading partners (3rd after China and USA)
2. UAE investments in India worth 10Bn$ of which 3.3 Bn $ is FDI
3. India was the UAE’s largest export destination and second-largest trade partner in 2019 and the eighth biggest investor with a cumulative foreign direct investment of nearly $11 billion so far

Question 149

T/F: India is designated as a Major non-NATO Ally (MNNA)?

Answer 149

F

Question 150

India’s cultural linkages with east and SE Asia: some examples?

Answer 150

1. Angkor Wat:
   
   1. perhaps the greatest Hindu temple ever built anywhere in the world — and in Cambodia, not in India.
   2. exquisite sculptures recounting tales from the Ramayana and the Mahabharata
   3. symbols protecting the shrine — the naga, the simha, and the garuda, corresponding to today’s navy, army, and air force
   4. Hinduism was brought to Cambodia by merchants and travellers more than a millennium ago. It has long since disappeared, supplanted by Buddhism, also an Indian export. But at its peak, Hinduism profoundly influenced the culture, music, dance, and mythology of the Cambodian people.
2. Indonesia and Cambodia are the last outpost of Indic civilisation in a world increasingle being Sinified
   
   1. To this day, the kings of Thailand are crowned in the presence of Brahmin priests;
   2. the Muslims of Java still bear Sanskritised names, despite their conversion to Islam, a faith whose adherents normally bear names originating in Arabia;
   3. Garuda is Indonesia’s national airline, and Ramayana its best-selling brand of clove cigars;
   4. even the Philippines has produced a pop-dance ballet about Rama’s quest for his kidnapped queen.
   5. Many Southeast Asian countries also mirror the idea of a ‘sacred geography’: the old Thai kingdom of Ayutthaya derived its name from the Indian Ayodhya, and places in Thailand are associated with events in the Ramayana epic, such as a hill where Hanuman was sent to find the Sanjeevani. Since 1782. The Javanese city of Yogyakarta in Indonesia is also a transliteration of Ayodhya
   6. Thai kings are still named Rama in continuation of the Ramayana tradition; the current monarch, Vajiralongkorn, is styled Rama X.
3. the pioneering French Indologist, Sylvain Lévi, spoke and wrote of ‘ le monde Indien’ or ‘greater India’, a concept echoed by American scholar Sheldon Pollock in his ‘the Sanskrit cosmopolis’. Both terms refer to countries whose cultures were Indic in the sense of having been strongly influenced by Sanskrit language and literature. Both these ideas speak of civilisational idea of India to be far wider than geographical or political idea of India.
4. Countries like Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Java, Sumatra or Bali, at least during large parts of the first millennium CE, were ‘culturally as much Indian as Andhra Pradesh or Bangladesh during that very period’, argues the French Indologist, Gérard Fussman. ‘In these countries, non-Sanskritic languages were spoken and local gods were worshipped. But the language of culture and politics was Sanskrit as in India proper, or Pali; the upper strata’s cults were Hindu or Buddhist, as in India proper; artists and architects followed the precepts of Sanskrit technical treatises.’

Question 151

Armenia-Azerbaijan war?

Answer 151

1. AKA “2nd Nagorno-Karabakh war” or “Fourty-Four Days war” or “2nd Artsakh war”
2. Diag:
   
   1. https://1drv.ms/u/s!AvN_8sA-Zf0djhqVdiexky8_InLG?e=1Gq6cx
   2. https://1drv.ms/u/s!AvN_8sA-Zf0djhs4B1-zmzUTdFhc?e=EUjC83
3. background
   
   • 1920: Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region was established within Azerbaijan by the then Soviet Union.
   • 1988: Nagorno-Karabakh legislature passed a resolution to join Armenia despite the region’s legal location within Azerbaijan’s borders.
   • 1991 : The autonomous region officially declared that it would not join either of the countries after a referendum which was boycotted by Azerbaijan. War erupted between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the region, leaving roughly tens of thousands of casualties and hundreds of thousands of refugees.
   • 1994: Russia mediated a cease-fire which has remained in place since.
   • 2016: In April 2016, the region was particularly tense because of violent fighting between the two countries, which was known as the Four Day War.
   • Apart from this, intermittent ceasefire violations between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops have caused hundreds of deaths in the past decade.
4. Causes:
   
   • Territorial: Nagorno-Karabakh region has 95% of the population as ethnically Armenian and is controlled by them but it is internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan.
   • Religious: Armenia is Christian majority, while Azerbaijan is Muslim majority country.
   • Domestic Politics: The leaders of both the nations have fueled the issue time and again for their vested political interests.

Question 152

Armenia-Azerbaijan war: significance?

Answer 152

• Direct human impact: An estimated 28,000–38,000 people were killed between 1988 and 1994 and hundreds of thousands displaced
• energy interruptions: energy-rich Azerbaijan has built several gas and oil pipelines across the Caucasus (the region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea) to Turkey and Europe
  
  • This includes the Baku-Tblisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline (with a capacity of transporting 1.2 billion barrels a day), the Western Route Export oil pipeline, the Trans-Anatolian gas pipeline and the South Caucasus gas pipeline.
  • Some of these pipelines pass close to the conflict zone (within 16 km of the border)
• The conflict exposed the weakness of NATO and the European Union to help its ally at the time of crisis. NATO was seen as a divided house, incapable of taking decisive action against the biggest threat to its allies.
• The biggest loss of reputation is for Russia, which chose to play neutral selling arms to both the parties to the conflict, despite a military pact with Armenia and a base there but had insisted it would not get involved in the conflict with Azerbaijan unless Armenian territory itself came under threat.
• China could emerge as one of the main beneficiaries of the ceasefire – gaining a new route for the BRI plus leverage over Iran during crucial negotiations. The corridor between Nakhchivan and Azerbaijan would offer Beijing a second route to Europe in the South Caucasus bypassing Iran.

Question 153

Armenia-Azerbaijan war: India;s stance?

Answer 153

• India has adjusted its position on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict as the situation has evolved over the years.
• In the initial stages of the conflict in 1993, India had endorsed the concept of respect for territorial integrity.
• For quite some time now, India’s emphasis has been on a peaceful resolution of the conflict through diplomatic negotiations.
• It is difficult for India to publicly endorse Nagorno-Karabakh’s right for self-determination in view of the possible repercussions it can have repercussions for India.

Question 154

Armenia-Azerbaijan war: Changing nature of warfare?

Answer 154

Back in the 1990s, it was the Armenians who had trumped Azerbaijan. But decades later the tables turned

(This) is actually the first war in the history of modern warfare that has been won almost entirely on the strength of drone warfare,

While Armenia only fought with tanks, artillery and air defence systems, Azerbaijan relied heavily on drones, specifically the Turkish-made Bayraktar TB2 and the Israeli-made Kamikaze drones. The two drones can carry bombs of up to 55 kg and 15 kg respectively. These are drones that are expensive, but very useful when it comes to targeting your adversaries, missile batteries particularly, your adversaries’ air defence radars, because all of those emit radiation

The expanding array of relatively low-cost drones can offer countries air power at a fraction of the cost of maintaining a traditional air force. The situation in Nagorno-Karabakh also underscored how drones can suddenly shift a long-standing conflict and leave ground forces highly exposed.

Drones offer small countries very cheap access to tactical aviation and precision guided weapons, enabling them to destroy an opponent’s much-costlier equipment such as tanks and air defense systems

Armed drones have increasingly become part of warfare since the Pentagon deployed its Predator in Afghanistan following the 9/11 attacks. Missile-firing drones are now produced in many countries including Turkey, China and Israel, and have been used by various sides in battles including Libya’s proxy war.

It also highlighted the vulnerabilities of even sophisticated weapons systems, tanks, radars and surface-to-air missiles without specific drone defenses. And it has raised debate on whether the era of the traditional tank could be coming to an end.

In the early stages of the war, Azerbaijan used 11 slow Soviet-era An-2 aircraft that had been converted into drones and sent them buzzing over Nagorno-Karabakh as bait to Armenian air defense systems — tempting them to fire and reveal their positions, after which they could be hit by drones.Azerbaijan used surveillance drones to spot targets and sent armed drones or kamikaze drones to destroy them

Question 155

Israel: electoral process and significance?

Answer 155

• going to see fifth election as the parliament was dissolved in June 2022
• electoral process
  
  • Israel does not have a written constitution, and according to its Basic Laws, elections to Parliament are held every four years, unless the Knesset decides by an ordinary majority to dissolve and trigger early elections.
  • Unlike in India, Israeli voters vote for parties, not specific candidates.
  • All Israeli citizens aged 18 and older are eligible to vote. Palestinians living on Israeli occupied territory cannot vote.
  • There are 120 seats in the Knesset, and to form the government, a party needs at least 61. However, no party has ever won a majority on its own, and ruling alliances comprising 8-12 parties have been the norm.
  • These parties represent interests of specific groups, and the constituents of a coalition may hold positions that are contradictory or competing.
  • After the members of the Knesset have been elected, Israel’s President chooses the candidate that he believes has the best chance of forming a coalition. The candidate, often the leader of the largest party, is given 28 days, with a possible extension of a fortnight, to form the government.
• In the Israeli system, the only way to break a deadlock is to keep holding elections until someone gets a majority, leading to 4 elections in last 3 yrs

Question 156

Western Sahara dispute?

Answer 156

• Map: https://1drv.ms/u/s!AvN_8sA-Zf0djh4GMnJLW1Wr38cB?e=Y6Por2
• The dispute started with colonisation of the region by Spain in 1884.
• When Spain announced its withdrawal from Western Sahara in 1975, the region descended into a conflict between Mauritania, Morocco and the Polisario Front – with all three trying to control the region.
• The Polisario Front declared the establishment of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) in Western Sahara on the very day Spain left. However, the SADR did not get Western recognition despite going on to become a member of the African Union.
• ICJ in 1975 ruled that neither Morocco nor Mauritania could claim sovereignty over Western Sahara. The ICJ called for decolonization of the region. Notwithstanding the ICJ’s decision, the Moroccan Sultan began the “Green March” towards Western Sahara causing an influx of thousands of Moroccans in the region.
• The Polisario Front kept fighting both Morocco and Mauritania. The Front signed a ceasefire with Mauritania in 1979. The fighting with Morocco continued and finally ended when both Morocco and the Polisario Front agreed to a UN-proposed peace deal.
• Post this 1991 Agreement, Morocco controls about 80 per cent of the Western Sahara, with the Polisario Front-led SADR operating primarily from the eastern flank of the region and from refugee camps in Algeria.
• In 2007, the Moroccan government proposed limited autonomy under which the Sahrawis would be free to run their government, but under the shadow of overarching Moroccan sovereignty. The Polisario Front rejected it arguing that Morocco would continue to control key areas related to phosphate reserves and fisheries, defence, and foreign affairs. The Front continues to push for complete independence with support from Algeria.
• Recently Spain changed its official position. Spain’s official position for years has been to back a UN-sponsored referendum to settle the region’s decolonization. However, Spain recently lent its support to Morocco’s 2007 limited autonomy proposal
  
  • this shift is seen in conection with Morocco reducing border controls to the Spanish city of Ceuta on the coast of NOrth Africa causing abt 10000 immigrants enter the country. The shift in Spain’s stance is a likely bid to end for good its long-running dispute with Morocco.
• Algeria has been a committed supporter of the Polisario Front, after it recognised the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic in 1976. Over 1.7 lakh Sahrawi refugees live in camps in Algeria’s Tindouf province after fleeing Moroccan violence. It has termed Spain’s repositioning was “unjustifiable” and was “contributing directly to the degradation of the situation”.
• On June 8, Algeria announced that it was immediately suspending its 20-year-old treaty of “friendship, good neighbourliness, and co-operation” with Spain, signed in 2002. Spain’s gas supply might be in jeopardy, given Algeria has been the country’s primary supplier of the same. There are fears that the deadlock might cause a spike in inflation in Spain. The European Union has urged the Algerian government to “reverse their decision” and revoke the suspension of the cooperation treaty with Spain.

Question 157

Sri Lanka crisis: Economic causes?

Answer 157

• When Sri Lanka emerged from a 26-year long civil war in 2009, its post-war GDP growth was reasonably high at 8-9% per annum till 2012. However, its average GDP growth rate almost halved after 2013 as global commodity prices fell, exports slowed down and imports rose.
• Sri Lanka’s budget deficits were high during the war and the global financial crisis of 2008 drained its forex reserves which led to the country borrowing a 2.6 billion dollars loan from theInternational Monetary Fund (IMF) in 2009. It again approached the IMF in 2016 for another USD 1.5 billion loan, however the conditionalities of the IMF further deteriorated Sri Lanka’s economic health.
• Fertiliser Ban
  
  • In 2021, all fertiliser imports were completely banned and it was declared that Sri Lanka would become a 100% organic farming nation overnight.
  • This overnight shift to organic fertilisers heavily impacted food production. The policy led to a massive drop in agricultural output by about 50%.
  • In November 2021, Sri Lanka was forced to abandon its policy to become the world’s first organic farming nation
• a series of policy miscalculations such as imposing tax cuts took a heavy toll on government revenues. This was part of a populist agenda that was used to win the 2019 presidential election and the subsequent 2020 parliamentary elections. The cuts in taxes led to budget deficits soaring from 5% in 2020 to 15% in 2022.
• Recent economic shocks
  
  • tourism sector (formed 10% of GDP) suffered due to
    
    • COVID
    • Easter bomb blasts of April 2019 in churches in Colombo
  • Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 impacted exports of tea, rubber, spices, garments and the tourism sector.
  • China’s Debt Trap Policyplayed a significant role in economic instability in Sri Lanka.
  • Russia-Ukraine war: for foodgrain import, tourism as well as Russia is also the second biggest market to Sri Lanka when it comes to tea exports.
• Crisis in Sri Lanka is triggered due to a shortage of foreign exchange (forex) reserves, which have dropped by 70% over the last two years to just USD 2 billion by the end of February 2022. Meanwhile, the country has foreign debt obligations of about USD 7 billion in 2022.

Question 158

Sri Lanka crisis: political factors?

Answer 158

• Political corruption and Nepotism: almost 50% of central cabinet belonged to Rajapaksa family.
• Haphazard implmentation of economic emergency
• political vaccum

Question 159

Sri Lanka crisis: impact on India?

Answer 159

Adverse:

• Economic:
  
  • Sri Lanka’s share in India’s total exports has declined from 2.16% in FY15 to just 1.3 per cent in FY22.
  • Automotive firms like Tata Motors and TVS Motors have stopped exports of vehicle kits to Sri Lanka and halted production at their Sri Lankan assembly units due to its unstable forex reserves and fuel shortages.
• Refugee
  
  • India may find it difficult to handle significant refugee influx and needs a robust policy in place to handle the crisis.

Opporrtunities:

• Tea
  
  • Amid the sudden halt of tea supply by Sri Lanka to the global tea market, India is keen to plug the supply gaps.
  • India could strengthen its footprint in Iran and as well as new markets such as Turkey, Iraq.
  • As a result, at recent Kolkata auctions, the average price for orthodox leaf saw an increase of up to 41 per cent compared to corresponding sales last year.
• Apparel market:
  
  • Many apparel orders from the United Kingdom, European Union, and Latin American countries are now being diverted to India.
  • Several orders have been given to companies in Tirupur, the hub of the textile industry in Tamilnadu.
• Since mid-March, over 270,000 metric tonnes of diesel and petrol have been delivered to Sri Lanka.
• In addition, around 40,000 tonnes of rice have been supplied under the recently extended USD 1 billion credit facility.

Strategic importance of Sri Lanka

• Sri Lanka has been a strategically important partner for India. India can make use of this opportunity to balance its diplomatic ties with Sri Lanka, which have been distant owing to Sri Lanka’s proximity with China.
• As the disagreement between Sri Lanka and China intensified on the fertiliser issue, India’s fertiliser delivery to Sri Lanka on the latter’s request is seen as a positive development in the bilateral relations.
• Extending diplomatic ties with Sri Lanka will ease India’s effort to keep the Sri Lankan archipelago out of China’s‘string of pearls’ game in the Indo-Pacific.
• India, which has followed the “Neighbourhood First policy” to cement bonds with its neighbours, can walk that extra mile to help Sri Lanka out of the current crisis and help Sri Lanka towards realising its potential, to reap the rewards of a stable, friendly neighbourhood.

Question 160

Arab Spring: about?

Answer 160

1. The Arab Spring was a series of anti-government protests, uprisings, and armed rebellions that spread across much of the Arab world in the early 2010s.
2. It began in response to corruption and economic stagnation and was first started in Tunisia
3. From Tunisia, the protests then spread to five other countries: Libya, Egypt, Yemen, Syria, and Bahrain, where either the ruler was deposed (eg. Abidine Ali of Tunisia, Muammar Gaddafi of Libya, Hosni Mubarak of Egypt and Abdullah Saleh of Yemen) or major uprisings and social violence occurred including riots, civil wars, or insurgencies. Sustained street demonstrations took place in Morocco, Iraq, Algeria, Lebanon, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Sudan
4. A major slogan of the demonstrators in the Arab world was “the people want to bring down the regime”
5. In the news, social media has been heralded as the driving force behind the swift spread of revolution throughout the world, as new protests appear in response to success stories shared from those taking place in other countries.
6. The wave of initial revolutions and protests faded by mid-2012. Also resulted in
   
   1. Syrian Civil war
   2. rise of ISIS
   3. insurgency in Iraq and following civil war
   4. Egyptian crisis and Coup
   5. Libyan civil war
   6. Yemeni crisis

Question 161

Arab Spring: Tunisia?

Answer 161

Fruit seller Mohammed Bouazizi set himself on fire on Dec. 17, 2010 after a local official confiscated his barrow. Protests spread from his town, Sidi Bouzid, across the country, turning deadly.

President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali fled on Jan. 14, 2011, inspiring revolts elsewhere.

Tunisia held a first democratic election that October, won by the moderate Islamist Ennahda which had been banned under Ben Ali. A new constitution establishing a parliamentary system was agreed in 2014, and Tunisians choose their lawmakers and president in free and fair elections, most recently in 2019.

However, economic troubles caused hardship and disillusionment. Illegal emigration to Europe increased. The economy, heavily dependent on tourism, was hit particularly hard by COVID-19.

In July 2021, President Kais Saied froze parliament and sacked the government – moves his opponents called a coup but which were welcomed by those Tunisians who were fed up with political bickering and paralysis.

A year later, Saied called a referendum on a new constitution that strengthened the presidency, capping what his opponents called a march to one-man rule. Saied has said freedoms will be protected.

Question 162

Arab Spring: Egypt?

Answer 162

President Hosni Mubarak had been in power since 1981, but massive anti-government protests began on Jan. 25, 2011 as activists called a “day of rage”, inspired by Tunisia.

As hundreds of thousands of protesters massed after Friday prayers three days later, Mubarak deployed the military. Protests gathered momentum, police were pulled from the streets and the army stood back until Mubarak stepped down – to be tried in August on charges of abusing power and killing demonstrators.

The once-banned Muslim Brotherhood won the 2012 election but a year later the military, encouraged by anti-Brotherhood protests, toppled the new president, Mohamed Mursi, who was put in prison and died in 2019. Army chief Abdel Fattah el-Sisi replaced him as president. Rights groups documented abuses in a crackdown on dissent and the military faced a long-running insurgency from Islamist militants in Sinai. Mubarak died a free man in 2020 aged 91, the case against him having been dropped in 2014.

Question 163

Arab Spring: Yemen?

Answer 163

Crowds took to the streets against President Ali Abdullah Saleh from Jan. 29, 2011, aggravating splits in the army and between political blocs. Saleh was hurt in an assassination attempt in June 2011, forcing him to seek treatment in Saudi Arabia.

Gulf states brokered a transition deal including a “national dialogue” aimed at resolving Yemen’s problems, with Saleh’s old deputy Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi to be president until elections.

With an al Qaeda insurgency raging in the east, Sanaa faced new problems in the north from the Iran-allied Houthi group and from a revived southern secessionist movement.

In 2015, after the Houthis seized Sanaa, Saudi Arabia and its allies began a military campaign to keep Hadi in power – a war that soon reached bloody stalemate, aggravating food shortages and cholera outbreaks. Ex-president Saleh was killed in a roadside attack in 2017 after switching sides, abandoning the Iran-aligned Houthis for the Saudi-led coalition.

A U.N.-backed ceasefire took effect in April, 2022 and Hadi, who had spent years in exile in Saudi Arabia, was replaced by a presidential council.

Question 164

Arab Spring: Libya?

Answer 164

• In first Benghazi and then Misrata, protests broke out in February, 2011, soon turning to armed revolt against Muammar Gaddafi’s 42-year rule. In March, the United Nations Security Council declared a no-fly zone to protect civilians from Gaddafi’s forces and NATO started air strikes to halt their advance on Benghazi. By August, rebels had seized Tripoli and in October Gaddafi was captured hiding in a drainpipe outside his hometown of Sirte and killed.
• Local militias seized hold of territory and, as chaos took hold, the country split in 2014 between western and eastern factions.
• The U.N. helped broker a political agreement in 2015, but in practice the country stayed divided and Islamic State seized control of Sirte for more than a year. In 2019 eastern commander Khalifa Haftar launched a new war, assaulting Tripoli for 14 months before his forces turned back. By now the conflict was international, with Russia, the UAE and Egypt backing Haftar and Turkey the Tripoli government.
• A U.N.-backed election – part of a peace process aimed at knitting Libya back together – was cancelled in December, 2021 for reasons including disputes over the rules.
• In March 2022, the Sirte-based parliament appointed a new prime minister but the government based in Tripoli refused to step down, leaving Libya split between rival administrations.

Question 165

Arab Spring: Bahrain?

Answer 165

On Feb. 14, 2011, the biggest protests in years erupted in Bahrain as demonstrators echoed the Egyptian crowd’s call for a “day of rage” to demand the ruling monarchy grant democracy.

As protesters and police clashed over the coming weeks, sectarian tensions rose in a country where many majority Shi’ite Muslims had long chafed against the Sunni ruling dynasty.

On March 14, neighbouring Sunni kingdom Saudi Arabia sent tanks across the causeway linking it to Bahrain to guard major installations. The authorities declared martial law and cleared protesters from the camp that had become their symbol. Protests continued for months, leading to at least 35 deaths, but the monarchy suppressed the uprising and restored control.