Russia, China back India's
inclusion in APEC
1) Foreign
ministers of the Russia, India and China (RIC) grouping issued a joint communiqué
recommending India's inclusion in expanded Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation
(APEC).
2) The joint communiqué
seemed to reconcile Russia and China's growing disenchantment with the US with
India's interest in gaining a more prominent foothold in Eurasia.
3) India
endorsed the launch of Free Trade Area of Asia-Pacific (FTAAP). FTAAP, led by
China, is meant to counter less inclusive Trans-Pacific Partnership led by the
US.
4) The
ministers endorsed India's impending membership of Shanghai Co-operation
Organisation (SCO). SCO has been holding major counter-terrorism exercises in
anticipation of withdrawal of the US forces from Afghanistan.
5) the Chinese
got India and Russia to sign on a proposal to have a new U.N.-driven collective
security arrangement in the Asia–Pacific that seemed to counter the U.S. “Pivot
to Asia” policy.
6) The joint
communiqué also called for the immediate reform of the international financial
system to increase the voice and representation of emerging markets and
developing countries, with a focus on the implementation of the 2010 IMF Quota
and Governance Reform by the end of this year.
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Russia-India-China
1) Russia, India and China (RIC) have been
interacting trilaterally since 1996. This
is 13th Foreign ministers' meeting. The trilateral format was initiated
by holding meetings of the ministries of foreign affairs on the margins of the
United Nations General Assembly sessions in New York. The principles
laid down in the trilateral dialogues are that of equality, mutual trust and
consensus.
2)
The
RIC trilateral cooperation has great importance in terms of geopolitics as the
three countries are home to around 2.4 billion, 40 percent of the world’s total
population and account for 22.5 per cent of the total area of the world.
3) The agenda of the ministerial meeting in this
format includes an exchange of views on key international and regional
problems, including the war on international terror, illicit drug trafficking
and other major challenges including intensification of trilateral economic
interactions.
4)
RIC’s
main agenda have been to oppose unilateralism and to promote a pluralistic
democratic international order.
5)
Russia-India-China’s
possible axis formation is an important political idea that emerged in the
post-Cold War period. It was advocated by Russian President Yeltsin in 1993 and
Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov in 1996.
6)
They
back the primacy of the United Nations in solving crises and support the
principle of non-intervention in internal affairs of sovereign states.
7)
One
of the major areas of cooperation for the three countries is energy security.
Russia is an energy surplus country, whereas, China and India are energy-
deficient.
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation
(APEC)
1)
Asia-Pacific
Economic Cooperation (APEC) is a
forum for 21 Pacific Rim member economies that seeks to promote free trade and economic cooperation throughout
the Asia-Pacific region. It was established in
1989.
2) Members account for approximately 40% of the world's population,
approximately 54% of the world's gross domestic product and about 44% of world trade.
3) An annual APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting is attended by the heads of government of all APEC members except Taiwan. A famous tradition involves the
attending leaders dressing in a national costume of the host country.
4) APEC carries out work in
three main areas:
i.
Trade
and Investment Liberalisation
ii.
Business
Facilitation
iii.
Economic
and Technical Cooperation
5) APEC has been criticized for promoting free trade agreements that would
limit national and local laws, which regulate and ensure labour rights,
environmental protection and safe and affordable access to medicine.
6) whether it has accomplished anything constructive remains debatable,
especially from the viewpoints of European countries that cannot take part in
APEC and Pacific Island
nations that cannot participate but will suffer its consequences.
Shanghai Cooperation Organisation
(SCO)
1) The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) or Shanghai
Pact is Eurasian political, economic and
military organisation which was founded in 2001 in Shanghai by the leaders of
China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan
2) The Council of Heads of State is the top decision-making body in the
SCO. This council meets at the SCO summits annually.
3) The SCO is primarily centred on its member nations Central Asian security-related concerns,
often describing the main threats it confronts as being terrorism, separatism and extremism. Over the
past few years, the organisation's activities have expanded to include
increased military cooperation, intelligence sharing, and counter-terrorism.
4) All SCO members but China are also members of the Eurasian Economic Community. Cultural cooperation also occurs in the SCO framework.
5) Western observers believe that one of the original purposes of the SCO
was to serve as a counter balance to NATO.
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Russia Vs the US nuclear power plant
1) Russian officials say the power generated
under the Indo-US nuclear deal will be much more expensive than the negotiated deals
with Russia for the “Kudankulam series.”
2) the rates for electricity from units 1&2
of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant, being constructed with Russian technical
assistance (in Tamil Nadu), were almost half the price that power from proposed
American designs would cost.
3) U.S. company Westinghouse has
proposed Rs.6 per kWh in initial discussions with India, while French company
Areva had spoken of Rs.6.50 per kWh whereas the estimated price of power at Kudankulam
1&2 at Rs.3.50 per kWh.
4) Added to this is the projected raised
costing for insurance after India agreed to set up a $240-million (Rs. 1,500
crore) “insurance pool” to be funded equally by stateowned insurance companies and
the government.
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Agni V
1) India's Inter-Continental Ballistic
Missile (ICBM) Agni V has a range of 5000 km and is capable of carrying nuclear
warhead.
2) Now it could be launched from a truck-mounted
canister also.
3) The ability to move ballistic
missiles around makes it difficult for an enemy to locate and destroy them.
Placed in canisters, the missiles can be easily transported and launched with
great rapidity in all sorts of weather conditions. The canisters have another
advantage as well — they make decoys possible i.e. it will be difficult to be
detected by spy satellites.
4) However, launching a missile from a
canister is more difficult, especially when it involves a large missile like the
Agni V. The missile must be ejected from the container, using a gas generator,
before its first stage can be ignited.
5) the missile will be ready for
induction into service after just one more trial.
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MNREGA facing fund crunch
1) The tenth MGNREGA Divas
was celebrated on 2nd Feb, 2015.
2) The budgetary allocation for the scheme at Rs. 34,000
crore for 2014-15. The outlay for the scheme has remained nearly constant for
the past three years, which, adjusting for inflation, amounts to a decrease.
3) The Rural Development Ministry had approved 227 crore person days of
work, which by its own calculations will require approximately Rs. 60,000 crore
at the rate of about Rs. 270 each person day. This amounts to a 45 per cent
reduction in the outlay for the scheme.
4) There has been a 16 per cent decline
in employment from the 2013-14 figure. Compared with 147 lakh person days
generated in December 2013, only 123 lakh person days were generated in December
2014 with decline sharp in poor states like Bihar and Chhattisgarh.
5) till December 2014 in the financial
year 2014-15, 72 per cent of the total wages disbursed were delayed.
6) Over the last nine years, the MGNREGA
has had far reaching impacts on the lives of the rural poor.
7) independent research studies have shown
that the MGNREGA has -
i.
successfully
curbed distress migration
ii.
had
large effects on consumption and poverty of Dalit and Adivasi households
iii.
increased
nutritional standards of households
iv.
provided
risk resilience to small and marginal farmers
v.
vastly
expanded the financial inclusion net in the country
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