(Study Notes) Current Affairs: National/Social Issues: 09 - 16 Jan 2010 By Dialogue India

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(Study Notes) Current Affairs: National/Social Issues: 09 - 16 Jan 2010 By Dialogue India

CAG Weekly
(Current Affairs & GK)
By Om Prakash (goldy sir) 

Indo- Bangladesh
India and Bangladesh signed five pacts to add impetus to the bilateral ties that had been on the upswing since the last one year.
The five agreements relate to

1. mutual legal assistance in criminal matters,
2. transfer of sentenced persons,
3. fight against terror, organized crime and illegal drug trafficking,
4. power cooperation and
5. Cultural exchange programmes.

• The intention is to put in place mechanisms that would be irreversible regardless of the nature of the regimes in both countries.
• For instance, the pact on power sector envisaged a transmission grid between the two countries that would enable Dhaka to import electricity and pave the way for the entry of Indian public sector power companies to Bangladesh.
• These agreements will lead to a long-term, stable and durable relationship as well as addresses issues that have not been taken up in the past.

India to give Bangla $1bn line of credit

• PM Manmohan Singh on Monday announced a $1 billion line of credit for Bangladesh, the highest onetime line of credit assistance to any country by India.
• Authorities described the aid as an apt reciprocation to the cooperation received from Bangladesh in dealing with terrorism and insurgency since Sheikh Hasina came back to power.
• The credit will aid infrastructural development, including building railway bridges, supply of locomotives and assistance in dredging.
• Sheikh Hasina assured that no anti-India activity would be allowed to be carried out from the country. Sources said security was one of the most important issues on which the two sides agreed to actively cooperate.
• In another goodwill gesture, India said it would stop work on the Tipaimukh dam project which had caused resentment in Bangladesh. India had earlier announced construction of a 1,500MW hydroelectric dam on the Barak river in the northeast. The river flows into Bangladesh before emptying into the Bay of Bengal. Apart from that, India will also supply 250MW of electricity to Bangladesh over and above the 100MW agreed to last year.
• visit had opened a new chapter in India-Bangladesh ties leading to “complete unity of heart and mind”.

The talks focused on terror, trade and investment, boundary and particularly water sharing. At the banquet held in her honour, Sheikh Hasina stressed on a water agreement, reminding India of the Ganges water treaty of 1996.

line of credit

An arrangement in which a bank or vendor extends a specified amount of unsecured credit to a specifiedborrower for a specified time period. also called credit line.

Voting right to NRIs

• This disenfranchising of Non-Resident Indians is a serious weakness in the electoral process, something that has been repeatedly pointed out by the NRIs as well as civil rights activists in India.
• Prime Minister Manmohan Singh ’s hope that Indian citizens living abroad will be able to vote in the next general election promises to redress a longstanding grievance and terminate a blatantly discriminatory provision in the electoral law.
• Under Article 19 of the Representation of the People Act 1950, only those “ordinarily resident” in a constituency are eligible to be registered in the electoral rolls.
• Since most NRIs either study or work abroad, often for extended periods, they lose their status as ordinary residents under Section 20 of the Act and are liable to be struck off the electoral rolls. As for those who remain on the electoral rolls, by virtue of not being struck off before the next revision, the only way is to cast a ballot in person, which means returning home (which may not quite be home).

This is not simply an unreasonable provision; it is an utterly iniquitous one.

• Under the Conduct of Election Rules 1961, the ordinary NRI is excluded while various classes of people are given the facility to cast absentee or postal ballots.
• They include not only ‘special voters’ such as the President, Vice-President, Governors, and Union and State Ministers, but also ‘service voters,’ a category that includes armed forces personnel and staff in diplomatic missions.
• A number of countries, from the United States and Canada to Argentina and the Philippines, make it possible for their overseas citizens to vote.
• The Government of India must waste no time in reintroducing the Representation of the People (Amendment) Bill in Parliament. The Bill, which sought to amend the RP Act 1950, by inserting a sub-section that classifies citizens who take up “employment, education or otherwise outside India” as ordinary residents, was introduced in the Rajya Sabha in 2006. Evidently it made a number of political interests uneasy, so it was referred to a parliamentary standing committee and the Union Law Ministry has been ‘examining’ it ever since.
• The facility to vote must be seen not as a favour done to ordinary Indian citizens living abroad — but as their right. Once the conceptual and legal shift takes place, the Election Commission of India will need all the time it can get to set up necessary mechanisms to allow them to vote in 2014.

Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI)OCI Scheme is operational from 02.12.2005

Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) commonly known as ‘dual citizenship’.

• Persons of Indian Origin (PIOs) are those who migrated from India and acquired citizenship of a foreign country other than Pakistan and Bangladesh, are eligible for grant of OCI as long as their home countries allow dual citizenship in some form or the other under their local laws.
• Persons registered as OCI have not been given any voting rights, election to Lok Sabha/Rajya Sabha/Legislative Assembly/Council, holding Constitutional posts such as President, Vice President, Judge of Supreme Court/High Court etc.
• Registered OCIs shall be entitled to following benefits:
  (i) Multiple entry, multi-purpose life long visa to visit India;
  (ii) Exemption from reporting to Police authorities for any length of stay in India; and
  (iii) Parity with NRIs in financial, economic and educational fields except in the acquisition of agricultural or plantation properties.

A person registered as OCI is eligible to apply for grant of Indian citizenship under section 5(1)(g) of the Citizenship Act, 1955 if he/she is registered as OCI for five years and has been residing in India for one year out of the five years before making the application.
PIOs of these contries can not apply for OCIs-PIOs of all countries except Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka

• Nri/pio

Nri-An Indian citizen who is ordinarily residing outside India and holds an Indian Passport.

PIO- A person who or whose any of ancestors was an Indian national and who is presently holding another country’s citizenship/ nationality i.e. he/she is holding foreign passport

Vice-President Hamid Ansari’s week-long 3-nation tour of southern Africa

• India on Monday joined Botswana in stressing the need for “credible elections” in Zimbabwe, which has been under severe criticism from the international community for the political crisis following the disputable elections of 2008.
• The issue came up for discussion when Vice-President Hamid Ansari called on Botswana President Seretse Khama Ian Khama.
• Following the discussions, a need was felt for setting up an institutional mechanism to tie all the loose threads in the India-Botswana links.
• On Sunday, during a leisurely visit to the Chobe National Park, where he saw the Garden of Eden, Mr. Ansari informed his host, Botswana Vice-President Mompati S. Merafhe that he would try to get Bollywood to come to this part of the world to make their films.
• the three-nation tour of Zambia, Malawi and Botswana, served to reaffirm India’s traditional ties with southern Africa and “demonstrates our continuing commitment to nurture a very precious relationship which transcends political and economic links.”

India, Malawi to finalise MoU on mineral resources

• LILONGWE
• India and Malawi explored the possibility of entering into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the development of the southern African nation’s mineral resources, particularly uranium and coal. A joint communique issued later in the day said the two sides agreed to expedite negotiations to finalise the MoU.
• Though Malawian Vice-President Joyce Banda specifically sought India’s assistance in the development of its recently discovered uranium sources, the Indian delegation, led by Vice-President Hamid Ansari, remained non-committal as Malawi made it clear that it primarily wanted India’s help in generating energy out of its resources.
• The discovery of uranium in Malawi a few years back has drawn considerable world attention and recent years have seen several countries open diplomatic missions there. Large-scale mining of uranium is yet to be developed, with uranium production beginning as recently as September 2009 at the Kayelekara mine owned by Paladin Energy of Australia.
• President Bingu Wa Mutharika — an alumnus of Delhi University — ordered that the venue be shifted to the hotel where Mr. Ansari was staying.
• The Vice-President as he became the highest level Indian dignitary to touch down on Malawi soil since the country gained independence in 1964.In 1964, Indira Gandhi, the then Information and Broadcasting Minister, came to Malawi to attend the country’s first Independence Day function.
• India announced a $1 million grant as emergency relief for the rehabilitation of victims of the series of earthquakes in the country, and a $4 million grant to support development in agriculture, health and education. Besides, India has decided to extend a Line of Credit of $50 million to support the development goals of Malawi as part of its effort to give a concrete expression of Indian commitment to the progress of a valued friend.

Malaysia for enhanced ties with India

• Raising the expectations of a “substantive visit” to New Delhi and Chennai from January 19 to 21, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak said that India would be a major player in the region and beyond.
• Citing a global projection of China emerging as the world’s biggest economy in terms of GDP by 2050, he said India was expected to follow. This was also why Malaysia attached much importance to his visit to india.
• The scope of Malaysia’s defence-related cooperation with India now was “not sub-optimal,” he said.Kuala Lumpur would look at some of the equipment developed by the defence companies in India and study the capabilities of its weapon systems.
• the bilateral discussions would cover highways and road construction, education, oil and gas exploration, information and communication technology, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, tourism, renewable energy and green technologies.
• He said a number of agreements might be signed during his visit. Most of them would be in the private sector — “13 and still counting.”
• Taking note of the sensitivities in India to the ASEAN-India Free Trade Agreement that came into force on New Year’s Day, Mr. Najib hoped both countries could reactivate talks on a comprehensive economic cooperation agreement. He evinced interest in attracting the burgeoning Indian middle class to Malaysia as a destination for medical and eco-tourism.

Irritants’ between the countries

• Malaysia’s withdrawn the visa-on-arrival for Indians.
• As for the move by the Organisation of Islamic Conference to appoint a special envoy for Jammu and Kashmir, Mr, Najib said any follow-up action would be possible only if both India and Pakistan were agreeable to it.
• Cutailment of rights of ethenic Indian minority, the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf)(an organization of ethnic Indian has been declared illegal).
• The India-Malaysia Free Trade Agreement because of protests in Kerala the FTA was put on the “backburner”. “We want to conclude it by the end of this year.

Botswana: do more for South-South cooperation

• GABORONE
• The issue of South-South cooperation came up in talks Mr. Ansari held with Botswana President Seretse Khama Ian Khama soon after he arrived here.
• the government of Botswana reiterated its support for India’s efforts to get membership of an extended United Nations Security Council.
• The situations in Zimbabwe and Congo were also briefly discussed.

S.M. Krishna who is here on a three-day Nepal visit

• India has reiterated its willingness to review the controversial 1950 Nepal-India Friendship Treaty.
• Although there were agreements in the past between the two countries to review the treaty, the latest remark from India has come a day after the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) burnt copies of “unequal agreements” Nepal signed with India, including the 1950 Treaty. The Maoists have launched a movement to protect Nepal’s sovereignty since January. They say Nepal’s sovereignty is in danger because of foreign interference, pointing at India.
• Discussed ways to deal with cross-border problems, detection of fake currency, human and drug trafficking, and other problems at the border.
• Signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to strengthen road infrastructure in the Terai region of Nepal. The assistance is worth NPR 1300 crore.
• Three other MoUs in presence of the Ministers were also signed between Nepal and India which include electrification of five village development committees, establishment of Nepal-Bharat Maitri Science Learning Center in Nepal, and an agreement between Nepal Stock Exchange Limited and Central Depository Services (India).

Israel pushing for a free trade agreement with India
Israeli Minister of Industry, Trade and Labour, Benjamin (Fouad) Ben-Eliezer on visit to india

• Israel said it was pushing for a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with India with an objective of tripling bilateral commerce to $12 billion over the next four-five years and hoped that such a treaty would materialise soon.
• the areas of cooperation included homeland security, which is a major need for India and the new growing technologies in Tel Aviv. Calling Mumbai terror attacks in India as a wake-up call for both countries, Mr. Sofer said, homeland security was a major issue in India and Israel had new technologies which would revolutionise the world. It needs to be incorporated as lots could be done through homeland security.

India, Nigeria to strengthen relationship

• India and Nigeria have agreed to hold talks and forge relationship in the areas of agriculture, mines, power, energy and infrastructure.
• Nigeria is India’s largest trading partner in Africa with the overall trade at $10.2 billion in 2008-09.
• Visit of Anand Sharma

Two Astra missiles flight-tested successfully

• Two ballistic flight tests of Astra, Beyond-Visual-Range Air-to-Air Missile (BVRAAM), were successfully carried out from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Balasore, Orissa.
• The missile’s final trial is expected to be conducted by the year-end after its integration with fighter aircraft Su-30 MKI. Astra would also be carried by MiG 29 and Light Combat Aircraft Tejas.
• The missile is envisaged to intercept and destroy enemy aircraft at supersonic speeds in the head-on mode at a range of 80 km and in tail-chase mode at 20 km.
• Astra is the smallest of the missiles developed by the DRDO in terms of size and weight.
• DRDO officials said it was more advanced than the similar class of missiles of the U.S., Russia and France. The missile’s captive flight tests from Su-30MKI were carried out near Pune in November last when seven sorties were conducted.
• Astra’s first flight trial took place on May 9, 2003.

Courtesy:- Dialogue India and Career Plus

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