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classyfoxdestiny · 3 years

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Covid Live News Updates: US announces new protocol for international travelers from November

Amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the United States has allowed fully vaccinated flyers from several countries, including India, to enter America from early November. The US announced that strict protocols will be in place from early November to curb the spread of COVID-19 from international passengers. According to a senior government official, once the protocol is in place, passengers from several countries, including the UK, India and Brazil and Europe would be allowed to enter the US with proof of vaccination.

!1 New UpdateClick here for latest updates

Schools reopen for classes 10 &12 in Srinagar after months of Covid-19 induced lockdown

Jammu and Kashmir: Explosive material was detected near Gogoo Gali at Humhama area of Airport road in Budgam district

Explosive material was detected near Gogoo Gali at Humhama area of Airport road in Budgam dist, by security forces,… https://t.co/Fq8XbIXXO5

— ANI (@ANI) 1632199829000

Major incident averted as IED detected in J&K

Security forces averted a major incident with the timely detection of an improvised explosive device in high security Gogo area of Budgam district in Jammu and Kashmir, officials said on Tuesday. The area is close to several sensitive defence and civilian installations, including Srinagar airport, Technical airport, headquarters of Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry of the Army.

Mumbai Police Crime Branch has issued Look Out Circular against absconding accused (in a pornography case) Yash Thakur alias Arvind Srivastava and Pradeep Bakshi, an aide of businessman Raj Kundra, says the police.

National Investigation Agency today morning carried out searches at seven locations including Anantnag, Baramulla, Srinagar, Doda, Kishtwar in connection with June 27 case linked to IED recovery in Jammu: NIA sources

During the investigation (in a pornography case), police found 119 porn videos from businessman Raj Kundra’s mobile, laptop, and a hardrive disk. He was planning to sell these videos for Rs 9 crores: Mumbai Police Crime Branch

Muzaffarnagar riots: 20 acquitted due to lack of evidence

Twenty persons, accused in the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots, have been acquitted by a local court. Additional district and sessions judge, Baburam, acquitted them on Monday saying that the prosecution had failed to provide evidence against them.

Active COVID-19 cases in country decline to 3,09,575: Union Health Ministry

Manipur polls: BJP ready to field candidates in 60 seats

With the key target to win two-third majority in the assembly polls due early next year, the ruling BJP has completed the organisational ground work for fielding its candidates in all 60 seats.

President of Akhil Bharatiya Akhada Parishad, Mahant Narendra Giri death case: FIR registered against his disciple Anand Giri under IPC Section 306 (Abetment of suicide). The FIR has been registered on the basis of the complaint filed by another disciple Amar Giri Pawan Maharaj.

The post mortem of Akhil Bhartiya Akhara Parishad chief, Mahant Narendra Giri, will be done on Tuesday afternoon after which his mortal remains will be kept in the Baghambari Mutt to enable people to pay their last respect. According to Mutt sources, the saint will be given ‘samadhi’ within the Mutt complex in the evening.

Jaishankar raises COVID-19 quarantine issue during his meeting with UK counterpart

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar urged for an “early resolution” of the COVID-19 quarantine issue and discussed the situation in Afghanistan and the developments in the Indo-Pacific during his meeting with the newly appointed British Foreign Secretary Elizabeth Truss.

ED arrests MD of Andheri firm for cheating banks, laundering Rs 916 crore

The Enforcement Directorate arrested Vinod Chaturvedi, managing director of Andheri-based company Usher Agro Ltd, in a Rs 916 crore money laundering case and produced him before a court on Saturday. The court remanded Chaturvedi in five days’ ED custody. The ED alleged Chaturvedi and director Manoj Pathak, along with others, conspired to cheat banks after taking loan and had siphoned off the money through fictitious transactions.

Joe Biden aims to enlist allies in tackling climate, COVID, more

President Joe Biden planned to use his first address before the U.N. General Assembly to reassure other nations of American leadership on the global stage and call on allies to move quickly and cooperatively to address the festering issues of the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change and human rights abuses.

Schools in Himachal Pradesh to be closed till September 25

The state executive committee on Monday ordered that all schools, except residential ones, in Himachal Pradesh will continue to remain closed until September 25. Teaching and non-teaching staff will continue to attend the school. All the residential schools are expected to follow the SOPs developed by the department of education to contain the spread of Covid-19.

Mumbai: 45+ can take only second dose of Covid-19 vaccines at public centres on Tuesday

The Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) vaccination centres on Tuesday will operate between 9 am and 5 pm. Only second dose of Covishield and Covaxin will be administered to those above 45 years of age at General Hospitals in Vashi, Nerul and Airoli. Each centre has been given only 500 doses. Frontline and healthcare workers, who wish to take their second dose, can take the jab at these Covid vaccination centres.

India reports 26,115 new Covid-19 cases, 252 deaths and 34,469 recoveries in last 24 hrs

India reports 26,115 new Covid-19 cases, 252 deaths and 34,469 recoveries in last 24 hrs, says Health Ministry

Total Cases: 3,35,04,534

Total Active cases: 3,09,575

Total Recoveries: 3,27,49,574

Total Death toll: 4,45,385

Total vaccination: 81,85,13,827 (96,46,778 in 24 hrs)

Indian shares open higher as tech, banking stocks gain

Indian shares bounced back on Tuesday, helped by gains in the technology and banking sectors, while increasing worries that Chinese property giant China Evergrande could default on its debt pile gripped global markets. The blue-chip NSE Nifty 50 index climbed 0.31% to 17,450.5 by 0340 GMT, and the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex rose 0.24% to 58,630.06.

Today, President Biden announced that beginning in early Nov, US will be putting in place strict protocols to prevent spread of COVID-19 from pax flying internationally into US by requiring that adult foreign nationals traveling here be fully vaccinated: Senior US admn official

BJP using ED, CBI to threaten Maharashtra govt: Shiv Sena

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is using the central agencies like Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to threaten the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra, alleged Saamana editorial on Tuesday.

The Shiv Sena’s mouthpiece said that BJP leaders in Maharashtra think that central investigation agencies like ED, CBI are in their pockets and at their behest, they can threaten political opponents.

In Pics: Several areas in Kolkata partially submerged after heavy rain in the city

West Bengal | Several areas in Kolkata partially submerged after heavy rain in the city (Visuals from Golf Green) https://t.co/hHvK3lfpdr

— ANI (@ANI) 1632194473000

55,50,35,717 samples tested for COVID-19 up to 20th September 2021. Of these, 14,13,951 samples were tested yesterday

– Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)

BJP doesn’t run on a single leadership, In BJP, it is the team that takes a decision, not an individual. Here also we’ll work as a team. We’ll perform better in upcoming elections, including panchayat, municipalities & Lok Sabha: West Bengal BJP’s new president, Sukanta Majumdar

Canadians re-elect Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party

Canadians gave Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party a victory in Monday’s parliamentary elections, but it was unclear whether his gamble to win a majority of seats paid off.

The Liberals were on track to win the most seats of any party. The 49-year-old Trudeau channeled the star power of his father, the Liberal icon and late Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, when he first won election in 2015 and now appeared to have led his party to the top finish in two elections since.

The Liberals were leading in 148 ridings, the Conservatives in 103, the Quebec-based Bloc Quebecois in 28 and the leftist New Democratic Party in 22.

Afghanistan: 40 arrested in connection with Nangarhar explosions

At least 40 people have been arrested in connection with explosions that rocked Jalalabad city of eastern Nangarhar province on Saturday and Sunday.

“The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan’s head of intelligence directorate in Nangarhar said on Monday that 40 people have been arrested in connection with explosions that rocked Jalalabad city on Saturday and Sunday,” reported Ariana News.

On Sunday, a child was killed and two people including a Taliban member injured in an explosion in Nangarhar province.

Meanwhile, on Saturday three persons were killed and 21 injured in three consecutive explosions targeting the Taliban in Police District 5 of Jalalabad city of eastern Nangarhar province.

Pakistan says no rush to recognize Taliban govt

Pakistan’s foreign minister says Afghanistan’s new Taliban rulers should understand that if they want recognition and assistance in rebuilding the war-battered country “they have to be more sensitive and more receptive to international opinion and norms.”

Shah Mahmood Qureshi said Monday evening that countries are watching to see how things evolve in Afghanistan before considering recognition. He says, “I don’t think anyone is in a rush to recognize at this stage.”

The Pakistani minister says his country’s objective is peace and stability in Afghanistan and to achieve that “we would suggest to Afghans that they should have an inclusive government.” He says their initial statements indicate they aren’t averse to the idea, so “let’s see.”

Qureshi expresses hope the Taliban live up to their promise “that girls and women would be allowed to go to school, college and university.”

635,000 people displaced in Afghanistan this year, says UN

UN humanitarians said on Monday that 635,000 people in Afghanistan were routed from their homes this year because of violence, with more than 12,000 recently displaced to Kabul, mainly from Panjshir Province.

The world organization and its partners have reached 8 million people in the first half of 2021, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a release.

Some 1,300 displaced people in Kabul are about to receive aid.

The office said the UN Refugee Agency and the International Organization for Migration handed out relief to more than 9,300 people displaced by the violence in Kunar Province.

White House condemns border guard use of whip-like cord against Haitian migrants

The White House on Monday criticized the use of horse reins to threaten Haitian migrants after images circulated of a U.S. border guard on horseback charging at migrants near a riverside camp in Texas.

No Iran nuclear deal ministers’ meeting at U.N., says EU’s Borrell

Ministers from Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia will not meet with Iran on the sidelines of the annual gathering of world leaders at the United Nations this week, European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell told reporters on Monday.

Daesh not capable of posing threat to Afghanistan, says Taliban

The Taliban on Monday said that it can restrain Islamic State (Daesh) in Afghanistan and they are not capable of posing a threat to the country. Deputy Minister of Culture and Information Zabihullah Mujahid speaking to Tolo News said, “Daesh is not a threat, because the thought of Daesh is a hated thought among the people. No one supports them. Second, our combat against Daesh was effective in the past and we know how to neutralize their techniques.” Considering the last attacks in Nangarhar and Kabul, some political analysts said that the group seems to be present in Afghanistan.

EU ministers voice “solidarity” with France on submarine deal: Borrell

Reports AFP

Gujarat: Directorate of Revenue Intelligence arrested two persons over seizure of nearly 3,000 kgs of heroin at Kutch’s Mundra Port

US Vice-Prez Kamala Harris to meet PM Narendra Modi on September 23

US Vice-President Kamala Harris will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 23, a day ahead of the maiden bilateral meet between him and President Joe Biden and the Quad Summit at the White House, officials have said. Biden will host Modi for their first in-person bilateral meeting at the White House on September 24. Later on that day, Biden will host the first-ever in-person Quad Leaders’ Summit at the White House with Modi, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison.

Firefighters race to protect giant sequoias in California fires

Hundreds of firefighters were battling to protect several groves of giant sequoias in the United States on Monday, warning the enormous ancient trees were at risk from out-of-control blazes. A number of separate fires were converging on the California woodland that is home to the huge trees, highlighting the terrifying power of wildfires to consume everything in their path.

Assam CM apprises Amit Shah about progress on implementation of central schemes

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Monday met Union Home Minister Amit Shah and apprised him of the progress in the implementation of various central schemes.

Modi-Biden bilateral meet will strengthen India-US relation, boost QUAD, says White House official

The maiden bilateral meet between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Joe Biden on Thursday will allow taking the relationship between the two countries from strength to strength while helping in reinforcing and giving momentum to the Quad grouping, a White House official has said.

Assam reports 455 COVID-19 cases, 10 fatalities. Infection tally rises to 5,98,423, death toll 5,807. The state now has 3,637 active cases of the disease.

Income Tax Dept conducted searches &seizure operations at over 30 premises on Sept 17 in case of a prominent public figure in Nagpur&his family members. Group has wide business interest spanning in education, warehousing &agri-business areas, in Maharastra:Finance Ministry

Punjab Cabinet led by Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi decided to launch pro-poor initiatives from October 2, 2021 in the state, to mark the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi: Chief Minister’s Office, Punjab

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itsadvertising · 3 years

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Joe Biden has become the 46th US President

US Election Results 2020 LIVE: Jared Kushner approaches Trump about conceding as Biden becomes 46th US President

Joe Biden has become the 46th US President, US media said, calling the raucous and bitterly-fought election that Donald Trump is yet to concede. Indian-origin Kamala Harris will become his Vice President.Biden was called the US President after he inched ahead of Trump in Pennsylvania, where a win will give him 290 Electoral College votes. He is also leading in Georgia and Nevada, where wins will take his tally to 306.Trump, who will become the first President since George HW Bush to serve a single term, has mounted a legal challenge, claiming without proof that mail-in ballots, which helped Biden win were prone to fraud.

US Election 2020 Results LIVE Updates: Biden goes to church, Trump hits golf course after US election result

A day after becoming the President-elect, Joe Biden went to a church for Sunday prayers, while outgoing US President Donald Trump headed to a golf course in a Virginia suburb. Biden, 77, drove down to the St. Joseph, a historic Roman Catholic church complex, in New Castle County in Delaware. He was joined by his daughter Ashley Biden and his grandson Hunter. Trump, 74, after a series of tweets on Sunday morning, headed to his golf course in a Virginia suburb of Washington DC. A handful of demonstrators lined the sidewalks near the entrance of the golf course. Some of them held placards reading: "ORANGE CRUSHED"; "TRUMPTY DUMPTY HAD A GREAT FALL". There were also a few pro-Trump signboards. Trump was playing golf on Saturday when major US news networks announced that he had lost the US election to his Democratic rival Biden. Vice President-elect Kamala Harris on Sunday morning tweeted a video clip from her victory speech a night earlier in which she talked about her Indian mother. "I'm thinking about my mother, Shyamala Gopalan Harris, and the generations of Black women who came before me who believed so deeply in an America where a moment like this is possible," Harris tweeted.

US Election 2020 Results LIVE Updates: Former White House officials urge cooperative transition

A bipartisan group from the last three White Houses is urging the Trump administration to move forward to immediately begin the post-election transition process. The call from the Centre for Presidential Transition advisory board comes as the General Services Administration has yet to formally recognise Democrat Joe Biden as the president-elect. That's a necessary move to free up money for the transition and clear the way for Biden's team to begin putting in place the transition process at agencies. This was a hard-fought campaign, but history is replete with examples of presidents who emerged from such campaigns to graciously assist their successors, members of the advisory board said in a statement. The statement was signed by Bush White House chief of staff Josh Bolten and Health and Human Services secretary Michael Leavitt as well as Bill Clinton-era chief of staff Thomas Mack McLarty and Obama Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker.

US Election 2020 Results LIVE Updates: World leaders hope for fresh start after Biden win

In Asia, the elected leaders of Japan, South Korea and Taiwan invoked “shared values” with Washington and expressed hope for close relations.

There was no immediate official reaction from Beijing, which is mired in conflicts with the Trump administration over trade, security and technology. But Chinese social media users welcomed the change. A post on the Sina Weibo microblog service, signed Gong Teng Xin Yi, said, “Congratulating Biden, the old friend of Chinese people on winning the election.”

There also was no immediate reaction from Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was friendly with Trump. Other leaders who supported Trump, including President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines, congratulated Biden, indicating they rejected Trump’s claim the election wasn’t over.

Most Western allies welcomed a fresh start with Washington. Many have been dismayed at Trump’s criticism of decades-old military and economic alliances.

“We want to work in our cooperation for a new trans-Atlantic beginning, a New Deal,” said German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas on Twitter.

“I look forward to working with President-elect Biden, Vice President-elect Harris, their administration, and the United States Congress as we tackle the world’s greatest challenges together,” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who was the target of personal insults by Trump, said on Twitter.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison of Australia told reporters he looked forward to a “great partnership” with Washington. He cited challenges including the coronavirus and “ensuring a free and open” Indo-Pacific region, a reference to China’s disputes with its neighbors over control of vast tracts of ocean.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, another Trump ally, said he looked forward to “working closely together on our shared priorities, from climate change to trade and security.”

While outspoken disappointment was scarce, several prominent leaders who have maintained warm relations with Trump’s administration kept silent.

That included President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia. Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said he would wait “until all the issues are resolved.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose Twitter profile photo shows him sitting beside Trump, described Biden as a friend of Israel and said he looked forward to working with him and Harris to “strength the special alliance” between their countries. In a separate statement, he thanked Trump for raising U.S.-Israeli relations to “unprecedented heights.”

#Joe Biden has become the 46th US President

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phgq · 4 years

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Asean appreciates Japan's role in regional cooperation

#PHnews: Asean appreciates Japan's role in regional cooperation

HANOI – High-ranking officials from members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) spoke highly of Japan’s role in regional cooperation, contributing to common peace, stability, and prosperity at the 35th Asean-Japan Forum on Wednesday.

The virtual forum was co-chaired by Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Nguyễn Quốc Dũng and his Japanese counterpart Takeo Mori.

Speaking on behalf of Vietnam, which acts as the coordinating country for Asean-Japan relations in the 2018-21 term, Dũng, who is also head of Vietnam’s Asean SOM, appreciated progress made in the Asean-Japan partnership despite challenges posed by the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic.

He proposed the two sides continue to work closely to soon establish Asean’s Centre for Disease Control, reduce negative impacts of the pandemic, and accelerate recovery efforts.

Dũng highlighted the importance of regional peace, security, and stability in the current context and reiterated Asean’s stance on the South China Sea (called East Sea by Vietnam) reached at the 36th Asean Summit in June 2020 and the 53rd Asean Foreign Ministers Meeting in September 2020, aiming to build the sea into a region of peace, security, and stability.

Representatives from Asean countries expressed satisfaction at the implementation of the Asean-Japan Vision Statement in the 2018-22 period and appreciated Japan’s support for Asean in responding to Covid-19 with a number of initiatives and effective practical co-operation.

Asean expressed gratitude for Japan’s support including a donation of USD1 million to the Covid-19 Response Fund and USD50 million to establish the Asean center for emerging diseases and public health emergencies.

Asean member states emphasized the significance of strengthening co-operation to ensure regional peace, stability, and security for common regional interests as a means to address issues on the Korean Peninsula and the South China Sea.

Takeo Mori affirmed that the new government led by Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga would maintain Japan's policy which upholds peace, stability, dialogue, and co-operation in the region.

Japan will promote co-operation with Southeast Asia and attach importance to Asean's central role, he said.

Japan supports the Asean Outlook on the Indo-Pacific (AOIP) and wishes to put the viewpoint into practice together with Asean, he said.

The Japanese diplomat spoke highly of Asean’s efforts in responding to the pandemic and committed further assistance for the bloc to reduce adverse impacts on the socio-economy and strive for sustainable recovery.

He expressed concerns over the current developments in the South China Sea, calling for dialogue, upholding trust, and refraining from activities that intensify tensions and complicate the situation.

He highlighted the importance of demilitarization, not using and threatening to use force, and called for peaceful resolution of disputes in accordance with international laws, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS 1982).

Japan expects parties to fully and effectively implement the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties on the South China Sea (DOC) and soon adopt the Code of Conduct in the South China Sea (COC) in accordance with international laws and UNCLOS 1982.

Mori reiterated Japan’s willingness to have a peaceful and nuclear-weapon free Korean Peninsula. The disarmament process on the peninsula should be conducted on comprehensive, verifiable and irreversible principles.

At the meeting, Dũng also informed delegates of the plan for the 23rd Asean-Japan Summit and pledged to work closely with countries for the success of the important event. (VNS)

***

References:

* Philippine News Agency. "Asean appreciates Japan's role in regional cooperation." Philippine News Agency. https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1118611 (accessed October 15, 2020 at 09:31PM UTC+14).

* Philippine News Agency. "Asean appreciates Japan's role in regional cooperation." Archive Today. https://archive.ph/?run=1&url=https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1118611 (archived).

#Philippines #News #Filipino #Pinoy #Tourism #Politics #Culture #Editorial #Environment #Society #History

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thesun · 3 years

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🌄 *S̴h̴u̴b̴o̴u̴d̴h̴a̴y̴ : 29 MAY*🙏🏻

╰───────────────────╯

*Today's top News* ➣➣➣➣➣➣➣➣➣➣➣➣➣➣

1. *PM Modi undertakes aerial survey of cyclone affected areas in Odisha and West Bengal*

2. *Union Government has accorded approval for substantial hike in salary of employees who are working under National Health Mission (NHM) in Jammu and Kashmir* .

3. *20.57 crore COVID vaccine doses administered in country so far* . Bihar, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh have administered more than 10 lakh beneficiaries of the age group 18-44 years for their first dose of COVID vaccine.

4. BJP President J P Nadda says, WB CM Mamata Bannerjee's absence from PM’s meeting is murder of constitutional ethos and culture of cooperative federalism. He said that PM stands strong with the citizens of West Bengal in wake of cyclone Yaas, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee should also set aside her ego for the welfare of people.

5. *The centre has issued an order to recall West Bengal's top bureaucrat from the state on a day a row broke out over a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.* Bengal Chief Secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay's tenure was extended for three months only four days ago.

6. *Donations For Construction Of Ayodhya Mosque Made Tax Free*

The government has granted tax exemption to those contributing for the construction of the mosque in Ayodhya, for which the Supreme Court had allotted five acres in the Babri Masjid-Ramjanmabhoomi land dispute case.

7. *The Election Commission has decided not to hold bye-election to the one seat of Rajya Sabha from Kerala* due to outbreak of 2nd wave of COVID-19. The Rajya Sabha seat from Kerala fell vacant due to the resignation of KC(M) leader Jose K Mani from the Upper House.

8. *The Centre on Friday invited non-Muslims like Hindus, Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists belonging to Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan and residing in 13 districts of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Haryana and Punjab to apply for Indian citizenship*

9. *Centre announces financial assistance of Rs 500 crore for Odisha for post cyclone relief and rehabilitation measures.*

10. *Nagaland govt extends statewide total lockdown with existing guidelines till 11th June*

11. *Delhi unlock process to begin from May 31;* factories, construction activities allowed for 1 week

12. The lockdown-like-restrictions in Maharashtra on account of the coronavirus pandemic have been extended by 15 days but a fresh set of guidelines will be issued on June 1

13. Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Friday set up a three-member committee to resolve differences among its leaders in Punjab amid an open war of words between Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and his former cabinet colleague Navjot Singh Sidhu.

14. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday arrested Mumbai-based builder and film financier Yusuf M Lakdawala in a money laundering case linked to an alleged forging of document for the purchase of a prime land in Maharashtra's Khandala.

15. *Domestic air travel set to become costlier by 15% from June 1.* The move is aimed at helping the airlines amid a devastating second wave of COVID-19 which has reduced air travel significantly.

16. The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has arrested Siddhartha Pithani, a flatmate of Sushant Singh Rajput, in a drug case linked to the Bollywood actor's death last year,

17• *The J&K police arrested a newly recruited militant in Kulgam district of south Kashmir on Friday.* The security forces said the militant was identified as Shakir Ahmad from Ardkhera Imamsahib Shopian. He was arrested from Frisal Yaripora in Kulgam

18• *Indian Navy working on war footing for rescue and relief operations in after cyclone Yaas wreaked havoc in Odisha* . The (Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief) HADR Naval team have set up community kitchen at the Multipurpose Cyclone Shelter. Team is clearing trees that fell by strong winds

19. *The 140th course of the National Defence Academy (NDA) passing out parade for spring term 2021 will be conducted on 29th May 2021.* Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Karambir Singh will be the Reviewing Officer for the ceremonial Passing Out Parade of the 140th batch of the National Defence Academy (NDA), which will be held on Saturday when over 300 cadets will pass out of the academy after three years of rigorous training.

20. Every year, two batches of cadets pass out from India’s premier tri-services military academy which based at Khadakwasla in Pune to continue with the one more year of pre-commissioning training at the academies of their respective forces –– Indian Military Academy in Dehradun for Army, Air Force Academy in Dundigal and and Indian Naval Academy in Ezhimala.

21. *Defence Secretary Dr Ajay Kumar launched Directorate General National Cadet Corps (NCC) Mobile Training App Version 2.0 in New Delhi on May 28, 2021.*

*✈INTERNATIONAL NEWS*

1• External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar met US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan during which they held wide-ranging discussions and agreed that people-to-people ties and shared values are the foundation of the US-India strategic partnership that is helping to end the pandemic.

2• The rising number of COVID-19 cases in India and the vaccine shortage that has emerged from that tops the list of issues to be discussed between External Affairs Minister of India S Jaishankar and his US counterpart Antony Blinken during the meeting in the US.

3. In a humanitarian gesture in these testing times, *Iran on Friday sent as many as 300 oxygen concentrators to India* to be used in its fight against a runaway second COVID-19 wave.

4• In view of the ongoing standoff between India and China along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh, the *Indian Army is planning to lease Israel’s Heron TP drones* . These drones – Heron will be deployed along the LAC to keep a watch on the Chinese troops and their activities.

5• Indian Red Cross Society will soon receive OxyTruck mobile oxygen filling stations, produced by Collins Aerospace unit in Lübeck, Germany.

6• *India was among 14 countries that abstained from voting on a resolution at the UN Human Rights Council to launch an investigation into alleged violations and crimes during the 11-day conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.*

7• *Suspension of international flights extended till next month!* The COVID-19 pandemic-induced suspension of scheduled international passenger flight services has been extended till 30 June 2021. The announcement was made by the aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Friday.

*🌎WORLD NEWS🌍*

1. Azerbaijan has accused the Armenia’s Army for firing on border today. One Azeri soldier was reportedly injured in the incident.

2. *The World Health Organization, WHO, has said that 20 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine are needed in African countries within six weeks* to make sure second doses can be administered within the recommended time frame

3. Every year since 1998, Pakistan has celebrated May 28 as Youm-e-Takbeer (the day of greatness). The occasion marks the anniversary of the first nuclear weapon tests conducted by Pakistan on May 28, 1998, at the Chagai hills in Balochistan.

4• The open threat by China to Bangladesh reveals China’s growing insecurity with the *Quad* . (Here: The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) of four countries, Japan, the US, Australia and India, was formed in 2007 with the initiative coming from Japanese PM Shinzo Abe. ... The aim of the Quad is to support a “free, open and prosperous” Indo-Pacific region that China seeks to threaten) China, which had once dismissed the *Quad* as just a froth in the ocean, is now intimidating Bangladesh against joining the *Quad* .

5. French President Emmanuel Macron has asked Rwandans to forgive France for its role in the 1994 Rwandan genocide, in which about 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus died.

6. World Menstrual Hygiene Day is observed every year on May 28. The day is marked across the globe to address societal stigma and to raise awareness on maintaining menstrual hygiene.

7. Hong Kong mountaineer, Tsang Yin-hung, recorded “world’s fastest ascent of Everest by a woman” in just 26 hours. The highest mountain above sea level, in world, is located in Mahalangur Himal sub-range of Himalayas. China–Nepal border runs across its summit point. Its snow height is of 8,848.86 m recorded.

*🚣🚴🏇🏁🏊Sports:*

1. *Defending champion Amit Panghal punched his way into the men’s 52kg final at the 2021 ASBC Asian Boxing Championships* after outpunching Kazakhstan’s Saken Bibossinov in the last-4 clash in Dubai on Friday. He enters the Finals.

2. India is now assured of at least six silver medals with four women already making their way into the finals earlier on Thursday at the prestigious event which is jointly hosted by the Boxing Federation of India (BFI) and UAE Boxing Federation. With 15 medals confirmed, Indian contingent also achieved their highest medal haul, surpassing the previous best of 13 (2 gold, 4 silver and 7 bronze) from the 2019 edition in Bangkok.

3. The event has witnessed the presence of 150 boxers from 17 countries including strong boxing nations such as India, Uzbekistan, Philippines and Kazakhstan.

4. Reigning Olympic champion shuttler Carolina Marin on Friday suffered a freak knee injury during training, leaving her doubtful for the Tokyo Games, which starts on July 23.

*USD 72.39 💷GBP 102.73*

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*BSE Sensex* 51,115.22

*NIFTY* : 15,435.65

Ⓝⓐⓥⓔⓔⓝ Ⓚⓤⓜⓐⓡ

*🇮🇳Facts about India🇮🇳*

*Thiruvananthapuram,* earlier known as Trivandrum, is the capital city of Kerala. The name literally splits into " *Tiru","Anantha""puram"* meaning "the town of Lord ANANTHA". This is really true since the temple is at the heart of the town and for generations, the kings have called themselves "Padmanabha-Dasa" or the "servants of LORD Ananthapadmanabha", and ruled the state as the representatives of LORD Anantha-Padmanabha.

The town has a history of supporting fine art and culture. The Kings of Tiruvancore (Thirunals as they are known) have not only promoted art but have themselves been accomplished artists. The most famous of them are Swathi Tirunal who is a well known composer in both Karnatak and Hindustani systems of music, and Raja Ravi Varma the internationally acclaimed painter, well known for inventing paints using natural materials.

*😀Thought of the day*

We need Strength while doing the Possible,

but we need Faith while doing the Impossible.

*Joke of the day*

*Patient*👨🏽‍🦽 : Ye phulo ki mala💐 kis k liye?

*Doctor* 👨🏻‍🔬: Ye mera pehla operation hai, success hua to mere liye, nahi to tumhare liye.😂

*😳Why❓❓❓*

*why we can see one side of moon*

Only one side of the Moon is visible from Earth because the Moon rotates on its axis at the same rate that the Moon orbits the Earth – a situation known as synchronous rotation, or tidal locking. The Moon is directly illuminated by the Sun, and the cyclically varying viewing conditions cause the lunar phases.

*LEARN Sanskrit*🙏🏻

*Sanatana*, *सनातन*: means Eternal

💁🏻‍♂️ *GK TODAY*

A lunar eclipse takes place when the Earth comes between the sun and the moon. The Earth’s shadow blocks some or all of the sun’s light from reaching the moon during the process.There are three types of a lunar eclipse – a total lunar eclipse, partial lunar eclipse and penumbral lunar eclipse

🛕 *VEDIK GNAN*

There are four Vedas:

The Rigveda,

the Yajurveda,

the Samaveda and

the Atharvaveda.

Each Veda has four subdivisions – the Samhitas (mantras and benedictions), the Aranyakas (text on rituals, ceremonies, sacrifices and symbolic-sacrifices), the Brahmanas (commentaries on rituals, ceremonies and sacrifices), and the Upanishads (texts discussing meditation, philosophy and spiritual knowledge). Some scholars add a fifth category – the Upasanas (worship). The texts of the Upanishads discuss ideas akin to the heterodox sramana-traditions.

Vedas are śruti ("what is heard"), distinguishing them from other religious texts, which are called smṛti ("what is remembered").

🤔 *How ........* ⁉

*WORKING PRINCIPLE OF A DVD PLAYER?* 💿📀

The DVD ( Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format invented and developed in 1995.

DVD base layer made of a polycarbonate plastic. A thin layer of aluminum coating over the polycarbonate plastic. A clear protective acrylic coating over the aluminum layer.

The pits and bumps in the DVD are hit by the laser from the optical mechanism of the DVD player. This laser will be reflected differently according to the change of pits and bumps. Though the laser hits a single spot, the DVD moves in a circular motion so that the entire area is covered.

Red Laser shines onto a spinning DVD disc, reads the bumps (known as “pits”) in the reflection, converts it to 1s (Shiny) and 0s (Non-Shiny Pit), and the circuitry inside the player converts those 1s and 0s into sound and picture.

These reflected laser beams are then collected by a light sensor (eg. photo-detector) which converts the different signals into a binary code. In short, the optical system helps in converting the data from the DVD into a digital code. The binary signal is then sent to a Digital to Analog converter which will be setup in the PCB (Printed Circuit Board). Thus the corresponding analog signal of the DVD is obtained. The PCB also has amplifiers which amplify the signal and then sends it to the graphic and audio systems of the computer/TV. Thus, the corresponding audio/video signal is obtained.

🧬 *HEALTH CARE:© HOME REMEDIES*🩺

( *Note* : These home tips followed in villages/ancient traditions, it is up to you to use it or not🙏🏻)

*Lemon* : Drinking warm water and honey with a bit of fresh lemon juice in the morning helps to regulate metabolism and thereby lose weight.

*Regards*

───────────────────╮

*🙏PLZ FOLLOW GOVT. NORMS, MAINT SOCIAL DISTANCE, KEEP YOURSELF ©YOUR FAMILY SAFE🌼*

╰───────────────────╯

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vsplusonline · 4 years

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IT firms at the two ends of the niche-mass spectrum may do well despite the crisis: ET-ILC

New Post has been published on https://apzweb.com/it-firms-at-the-two-ends-of-the-niche-mass-spectrum-may-do-well-despite-the-crisis-et-ilc/

IT firms at the two ends of the niche-mass spectrum may do well despite the crisis: ET-ILC

The COIVD-19 has affected airlines, manufacturers, retailers and financial services – all of whom are the biggest contributors to the Indian IT sector. While new projects may be delayed and discretionary spending is cut, most IT services by nature are necessary to operations. ET-ILC member companies like SAP and Hexagon’s Manufacturing Intelligence division are relying on recurring revenue and companies’ R&D spends to take them through this financial year.

In fact, Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence, which works in the area of autonomous manufacturing and simulation software says 2020 could show some resilience later in the year. “Even auto, which has been one of the most heavily impacted because of the slowdown and makes up sizeable part of our revenues as a sector, is continuing to invest greatly in R&D. They’re getting ready for 2023 and 2024. This is the time that companies introspect and innovate. This is in fact a very high growth period for us,” says Sridhar Dharmarajan, EVP & MD – Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence, India and MSC Software Indo-Pacific.

While R&D is the mainstay for Hexagon’s Design and Engineering business (MSC Software),for SAP it’s recurring revenue that is bringing stability. “70% of India’s GDP passes through SAP systems. Government infra and public services and consumer products give us a majority of our revenue. 70% of our revenue is secured as it comes through cloud renewals, multi-year licenses contracts and support which brings stability. The new bookings will mostly come from cloud adoption and new licenses and may get deferred from a short-term perview,” says Deb Deep Sengupta, President & MD, SAP India. NetApp, a hybrid cloud and data management company, says while they are ruling out growth for this financial year, their main business won’t be negatively affected. “It’s true that companies are spending very cautiously now but data management is essential. How much can you hold back on that? In fact, when cost-savings become a priority, the cloud business usually gains traction because it gives economic value.” says Anil Valluri,

As per IBEF, the Indian IT sector was valued at US$177 billion in 2019, which was a 6% increase year on year. While overall for the industry, 2020 growth may be flat, experts believe that by 2025 the industry will grow to $350 billion of which 38% will come from digital. With many companies hopeful of bouncing back after the health crisis tides over, they’re taking the lay off pledge – promising to retrain and redeploy employees if necessary. This is crucial for the over 4 million people this Industry employs.

This sector already has a history of attracting significant investment. In the last decade it has attracted FDI worth $ 39.4 billion as per DPIT. PE investments in the sector were upwards of $ 2400 million in 2018. Firms like Infosys, Wipro, TCS and Tech Mahindra are increasingly moving towards services in AI, ML and blockchain. “Directionally most companies are moving towards more outcome based services, trying to move away from the headcount game. This will increase the confidence in international firms to invest more in India and beyond the traditional offshoring requirements.” says Saumitra Sehgal, Partner at consulting firm Roland Berger. Indian IT was in fact, not affected too much even by the slowdown because the US was robust, however that market has now softened due to the healthcare crisis and severe visa restrictions.

For this sector, there are essentially two challenges in the current scenario. One, is a demand side gap and that is causing some uncertainty because there is no end in sight. Since every country is dealing with the spread of the virus differently and halting economic activity to different extents; it’s not guaranteed that even post the India lockdown, international business will pick up. Global GDP growth which was earlier estimated to grow at close to 1%, has now been declared zero. The second issue is the supply side. Companies are not able to deploy full capacity or send managers onsite. Billable hours and productivity, both are suffering.

However, due to the sheer scope of the potential for India in the IT and digital space, the above shocks will be temporary. Deb Deep Sengupta of SAP says, “ Few Indian conglomerates, have truly adopted digital. They are using technology and better IT systems for operational purposes. But is digital being used to drive new ideas and products, to change their business models? There is a gap. We have a long way to go for that.” When it comes to automation, it’s a similar pattern. According to Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence, less than 1% of India’s manufacturing firms have adopted autonomous methods where a factory unit’s hardware and software are integrated and machines can make intelligent decisions.

Earlier this year India’s largest IT firms had announced that close to 30% of their work is AI-ML related. For Hexagon and NetApp that number is close to 15%. Indian firms would really arrive in this space, when they’re able to apply some of these capabilities to larger societal issues. Some firms like NVIDIA already are. Folding@home (FAH or F@h) is a distributed computing project for simulating protein dynamics, including the process of protein folding and the movements of proteins implicated in a variety of diseases. “NVIDIA issued a call to action for PC gamers, globally, on March 13 to support folding@home, and fold against coronavirus. The response has been record-breaking, with tens of thousands of new users leveraging their GPU and CPU to help the project,” says Vishal Dhupar, Managing Director, South Asia, NVIDIA.

Some of the changes that the current healthcare crisis has brought about will bring lasting impact to India’s IT infrastructure and technology. “Those who were relying on their own data centre and staff will realize the importance of the cloud and a professional firm managing your systems. It will change the way firms think about IT infrastructure and how much should be spent on it. Many more firms will opt for cloud based solutions and will enable systems so that employees can function if they’re mobile or remote,” says Valluri.

The Coronavirus, in many ways, poses an unprecedented challenge to many firms. It has been tremendously damaging to people and businesses. But if organizations, the government and individuals collaborate, it can offer a great opportunity to innovate. Technology will play a key role in enabling collaboration and even in finding a cure. And firms that facilitate this collaboration and business going forward will emerge stronger once the virus is contained.

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compare-wp10 · 4 years

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The Impact and Implications of the Coronavirus Crisis: Global Perspectives – CSS Blog Network

Image courtesy of the CDC/Unsplash What impact is the coronavirus crisis having on international relations and security? How are different global actors responding to the pandemic? What are the implications of the crisis for the future? To help further discussion on these questions and more, we have here collected together analyses produced by the CSS Resources’ network of think tanks and other organizations on the coronavirus. We have also listed relevant sources to help keep you up to date on the situation in Switzerland. As the crisis continues to develop, we will also continue to update this blog with new articles. Politics, International Relations and Global Governance Sharper: Global Coronavirus Response Chris Estep and Cole Stevens, Center for a New American Security, USA, 27.03.2020 Chronicle of a Pandemic Foretold Andrea Rebnda and Rosa J. Castro, Centre for European Policy Studies, Belgium, 23.03.2020 Coronavirus Could Tear Down Dictators and Democracies Alike Peter Jennings, Australian Strategic Policy Institute, Australia, 07.03.2020 Coronavirus Shock Will Cascade through the Indo-Pacific Region Rory Medcalf, Australian Strategic Policy Institute, Australia 03.03.2020 Public Health and Politics Clash in International Response to New Coronavirus Michael R. Snyder, IPI Global Observatory, USA, 18.02.2020 Human Security COVID-19 & Humanitarian Response: Leave No-One Behind Allistair D. B. Cook, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Singapore, 20.03.2020 The Burden of Covid 19 – Urgent Need for Social Safety Nets Jose Ma. Luis P. Montesclaros and Mely Caballero-Anthony, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Singapore, 19.03.2020 Amid Global Coronavirus Outbreak, What About Refugees? Fouad Pervez, United States Institute of Peace, USA 18.03.2020 COVID-19: Is the Humanitarian Sector Prepared? Lina Gong, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Singapore, 11.03.2020 Global Health Coronavirus and the End of Resilience David Chandler, E-International Relations, United Kingdom, 25.03.2020 Tested: Preparing for COVID-19 Susan Froetschel, YaleGlobal Online, USA, 27.02.2020 Beyond COVID-19: Global Priorities Against Future Contagion Jose Ma. Luis P. Montesclaros, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Singapore, 20.02.2020 The Wuhan Coronavirus Poses Three Tests for Global Public Health Stewart M. Patrick, Council on Foreign Relations, USA, 03.02.2020 Economy The Coronavirus Recession Deepens Financial Market Turmoil Hung Tran, Atlantic Council, USA, 16.03.2020 If History Repeats: Coronavirus’ Economic Danger To Youth Nicole Goldin, Atlantic Council, USA, 13.03.2020 Will Africa’s Economies Buckle under the Coronavirus? Ronak Gopaldas, Institute for Security Studies, South Africa, 09.03.2020 Why It’s Not Easy to Estimate the Economic Effects of Coronavirus David Uren, Australian Strategic Policy Institute, Australia, 04.03.2020 COVID-19: Quality Shock to Globalization Stephen Roach, YaleGlobal Online, USA, 03.03.2020 Coronavirus and the Oil Market: The Effects Thus Far and What to Expect Next Reed Blakemore, Atlantic Council, USA, 03.03.2020 COVID-19’s Economic Fallout: The Logic of Pump Priming Kaewkamol Pitakdumrongkit, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Singapore, 03.03.2020 Covid-19 Can Trigger a Global Economic Crisis: Time for the G20 to Act Hung Tran, Atlantic Council, USA, 02.03.2020 The Coronavirus, Oil, and Global Supply Chains Amy M. Jaffe, Council on Foreign Relations, USA, 24.02.2020 Information and Trust Trust During the Time of Covid-19 Joel Ng, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Singapore, 18.03.2020 Addressing the Coronavirus “Infodemic” David A. Wemer, Atlantic Council, USA, 16.03.2020 Information Control and The Covid-19 Crisis Kristine Eck and Sophia Hatz, Political Violence at a Glance, USA, 04.03.2020 For more information on issues and events that shape our world, please visit the CSS website.

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guitarpanda8 · 5 years

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Insights Daily Current Affairs + PIB: 13 April 2019

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Insights Daily Current Affairs + PIB: 13 April 2019

Relevant articles from various News Papers:

Paper 3:

Topics Covered:

Energy and pollution related issues.

India stares at pile of solar e-waste

What to study?

For Prelims: Solar Power potential and technologies used to store solar power and waste generated therein.

For Mains: Solar e- waste- extent, concerns, effects and measures needed.

Context: By 2050, India will likely stare at a pile of a new category of electronic waste, namely solar e-waste. India’s PV (photovoltaic) waste volume is estimated to grow to 200,000 tonnes by 2030 and around 1.8 million tonnes by 2050.

What’s missing?

Currently, India’s e-waste rules have no laws mandating solar cell manufacturers to recycle or dispose waste from this sector.

India is poorly positioned to handle PV waste as it doesn’t yet have policy guidelines on the same.

A lack of a policy framework is coupled with the fact that even basic recycling facilities for laminated glass and e-waste are unavailable. Despite the e-waste regulation being in place for over seven years, only less than 4% of estimated e-waste is recycled in the organised sector as per the latest estimates from the Central Pollution Control Board.

What constitutes Solar e- waste and concerns associated?

Solar modules use potentially hazardous materials, including lead compounds, polymers and cadmium compounds. If disposed of in an inappropriate way, potential leaching of those hazardous materials can have negative environmental and health impacts.

For instance, leaching of lead has huge environmental impact including loss in biodiversity, decreased growth and reproductive rates in plants and animals, and several other health hazards like adverse impact on kidney function, nervous, immune, reproductive and cardiovascular systems.

Need of the hour:

Specify liability and responsibility of each stakeholder for waste management and treatment.

Mandate module manufacturers to use environmentally sustainable design and materials with end-of-life in mind.

Lay down standards for PV waste collection, treatment and disposal.

Encourage mutual recycling responsibility agreements between module suppliers, project developers and power purchasers.

Undertake regular surveys of recycling facilities to understand technology and capacity levels. Identify investment and technical requirements for dedicated PV recycling facilities with focus on high-value recovery.

Way ahead:

India is among the leading markets for solar cells in the world, buoyed by the government’s commitment to install 100 GW of solar power by 2022. So far, India has installed solar cells for about 28 GW and this has been done largely from imported solar PV cells. Therefore, the time is ripe for the country to put in place a comprehensive policy to address the issues.

Sources: the hindu.

Paper 2:

Topic covered:

India and its neighbourhood- relations.

Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests

Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India’s interests, Indian diaspora.

China’s BRI

What to study?

For Prelims: Key features of BRI.

For Mains: India’s concerns, ways to address them and global implications of the project.

Context: Malaysia will resume work on the multi-billion dollar East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) after months of negotiations with the China Communications Construction Company (CCCC) and the Chinese government brought the cost down by a third. China is building a deep-sea port on Malaysia’s east coast and the railway is a key link in its Belt and Road Initiative.

What is BRI?

BRI consisting of the land-based belt, ‘Silk Road Economic Belt’, and ‘Maritime Silk Road’, aims to connect the East Asian economic region with the European economic circle and runs across the continents of Asia, Europe and Africa.

BRI is China’s ambitious project announced in 2013. It covers about 65% of the world population, 60% of the world GDP and over 70 countries in six economic corridors.

China is spending almost $1 trillion to revive and renew the overland and maritime trade links between China, Europe, West Asia, and East Africa through construction of modern ports linked to high-speed road and rail corridors.

India’s concerns with BRI:

India argues that the BRI and China-Pakistan Economic Corridor project violates its sovereignty because it passes through the part of the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir that belongs to India.

Debt trap: BRI projects are pushing recipient countries into indebtedness, do not transfer skills or technology and are environmentally unsustainable.

China is planning to extend the CPEC to Afghanistan. Meanwhile, Maldives, Nepal, Myanmar and Sri Lanka are eagerly pursuing potential BRI projects.

Through OBOR, China is countering the strategies of India in North East region and is promoting its greater presence in North East India, part of which China claims as its own territory. This may have a security impact on India.

Tense bilateral relations with China, deep mistrusts and India’s growing concerns over Chinese hegemonic intentions in South Asia and Indo-Pacific region make it practically unlikely that India will ever consider joining this project.

Military deployment: The fact that the Chinese have begun to deploy 30,000 security personnel to protect the projects along the CPEC route makes it an active player in the politics of the Indian sub-continent. Clearly, this is a case of double standards.

Sources: the hindu.

Mains Questions: Why is India not part of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)? Does India’s absence matter to China? Critically examine.

Paper 2:

Topics covered:

Statutory, regulatory and various quasi-judicial bodies.

Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources.

Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO)

What to study?

For Prelims: CDSCO- key facts, about PvPI.

For Mains: Misuse of various drugs and the need for stringent provisions to prevent their misuse.

Context: The Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) has asked commonly-used antibiotics manufacturers to ensure its details be made available to the general public. This decision was taken considering directives from the National Co-ordination Centre of the Pharmacovigilance Programme of India (PvPI).

What is Pharmacovigilance Programme of India (PvPI)?

The PvPI was started by the Government of India on 14th July 2010 with the AIIMS New Delhi as the National Coordination Centre for monitoring Adverse Drug Reactions (ADRs) in the country for safe-guarding Public Health.

Pharmacovigilance is defined as the science relating to the detection, assessment, understanding and prevention of adverse effects, principally long term and short term adverse effects of medicines. The CDSCO has a nation-wide Pharmacovigilance Programme for protecting the health of the patients by promising drug safety.

The Programme is coordinated by the Indian Pharmacopeia commission, Ghaziabad as a National Coordinating Centre (NCC).

About CDSCO:

The Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation(CDSCO) under Directorate General of Health Services, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India is the National Regulatory Authority (NRA) of India.

Functions: Under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, CDSCO is responsible for approval of New Drugs, Conduct of Clinical Trials, laying down the standards for Drugs, control over the quality of imported Drugs in the country and coordination of the activities of State Drug Control Organizations by providing expert advice with a view of bring about the uniformity in the enforcement of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act.

CDSCO along with state regulators, is jointly responsible for grant of licenses of certain specialized categories of critical Drugs such as blood and blood products, I. V. Fluids, Vaccine and Sera.

Sources: the hindu.

Paper 2:

Topics Covered:

Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India’s interests, Indian diaspora.

Legislation to strengthen US-India strategic partnership

What to study?

For Prelims and Mains: Key features and significance of the bill, implications if encated, overview of NATO.

Context: US lawmakers introduce new legislation to strengthen US-India strategic partnership- The bill H R 2123.

Implications:

If enacted, the new bill would ensure that the US State Department treats India as a NATO ally for the purposes of the Arms Export Control Act.

The law would send a powerful signal that defence sales to India should be prioritised according to US-India Strategic Partnership Forum, which had worked on this important legislation.

The legislation bolsters national security and helps ensure full alignment between the Department of Defence and the Department of State.

Need:

India is the world’s largest democracy, a pillar of stability in the region and has shown strong commitments to export control policies. This adjustment to US law will further allow the US-India partnership to flourish in line with the US’s security commitment to the Indo-Pacific region.

Background:

The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for fiscal 2017 included special language recognising the unique US-India defence relationship that designated India as a “Major Defence Partner” of the United States. The language seeks unique consideration for trade and technology sharing with India and increased attention and support to advance this relationship in the areas of defence trade and technology sharing.

To fulfil the spirit and intent of the NDAA 2017, the US-India Enhanced Cooperation Act would amend the Arms Export Control Act to put India on par with NATO allies and Israel, South Korea, New Zealand, Australia and Japan.

Sources: bs.

Mains Questions: In the light of designation of India as “Major Defence Partner” by the US, do you think India’s recent behaviour with Pakistan and Afghanistan is upholding regional peace in South Asia? Critically comment.

Facts for Prelims:

Russia’s highest civilian award for PM:

Russia’s highest civilian award – the “Order of the Holy Apostle Andrew the First,” will be awarded to PM Narendra Modi for his work on bilateral ties.

Eligibility: The Order of the Holy Apostle Andrew the First is awarded to prominent government and public figures, prominent representatives of science, culture, art and various sectors of the economy for “exceptional services that contribute to the prosperity, greatness and glory of Russia”.

It was first awarded by former Russian Tsar ‘Peter the Great’ in 1698 and subsequently discontinued. In 1998, former President Boris Yeltsin reinstated the honour by a presidential decree.

Previous recipients include Chinese President Xi Jinping, and presidents of Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan, former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and author Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.

New early human species found: Homo luzonensis:

Context: Researchers have unearthed an unknown human species that lived on an island in Philippines some 50,000 years ago– Homo luzonensis.

The newfound species is named Homo luzonensisin honor of Luzon, the island where the mysterious beings lived during the late Pleistocene epoch, more than 50,000 years ago. They were less than four feet tall.

Though luzonensisis short like the hobbit, it shares features with a number of other ancient human relatives.

It has curved foot and finger bones like Australopithecus(a genus that includes the famous Lucy); premolars that have characteristics similar to those seen in Australopithecus, Homo habilis and Homo erectus; and small molars that look like those of modern humans, or Homo sapiens.

India to be Guest of Honour at ADIBF 2019:

Context: India will be the Guest of Honour country at the 2019 Abu Dhabi International Book Fair (ADIBF) to be held during April. The fair aims to highlight the UAE’s rich heritage, and showcase its authenticity, cultural and literary output. This will be the 29th edition of the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair.

Summaries of important Editorials:

Jallianwala Bagh massacre: ‘Deep regret’ is simply not good enough:

Source: https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/deep-regret-is-simply-not-good-enough/article26810058.ece.

What happened?

On April 13, 1919, Baisakhi day, following unrest in Amritsar after protests against the Rowlatt Act, Brigadier General (temporary rank) Reginald Dyer took a strike force of 50 rifles and 40 khukri-wielding Gurkhas into an enclosed ground, Jallianwala Bagh, where a peaceful public meeting of 15,000-20,000 was being held.

The firing of 1,650 rounds was deliberate and targeted, using powerful rifles at virtually pointblank range. Eyewitness accounts and information collected by Sewa Samiti, a charity organisation point to much higher numbers. Non-Indian writers place the number killed at anything between 500 to 600, with three times that number wounded.

Post incidence events – More was to follow after the proclamation, two days after the massacre, of Martial Law in Punjab: the infamous crawling order, the salaam order, public floggings, arbitrary arrests, torture and bombing of civilians by airplanes — all under a veil of strictly enforced censorship.

After calls for an investigation, including by liberals in Britain, a Disorders Inquiry Committee, soon to be known by the name of its Chairman, Lord Hunter, was set up.

Recent responses by the Britain:

British Prime Minister Theresa May finally came out with: “We deeply regret what happened and the suffering caused.” However, the country has refused to formally apologise. Britain’s refusal to squarely apologise for the Jallianwala Bagh massacre is expected but disappointing.

What this means?

Deep regret is all we may get instead of the unequivocal apology that is mandated. The expectation could be that time will add more distance to the massacre, making these calls for apology increasingly an academic exercise. The fact remains that there are many ways to heal a festering wound between nations, as Canada’s apology for the Komagata Maru shows; clever drafting is not one of them.

Nine from outside the IAS set to become joint secretaries in government:

Context: In a move that was widely debated inside and outside the government for a year, the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has announced the results of nine lateral hires on contract at the level of joint secretary in various departments and ministries. The move is a tipping point and marks a breach in the hegemony of the IAS.

Background:

In 2014, the Centre had mooted the idea of allowing lateral entry from academia and the private sector at the joint-secretary level. Initially 10 such lateral entries were to be selected and had drawn criticism from the serving and retired members of the Indian bureaucracy.

Rationale behind this move:

The recruitments have been done in a bid to infuse domain expertise in key government departments and is aimed at bringing in specialized talent in various government departments, contributing to better governance.

Why this is a good move?

Earlier experiences showed good results: Lateral entry has been used in the past to harness top talent from outside the civil services. Mr. Manmohan Singh, Nandan Nilekani, Ahluwalia etc served at various positions in the government and have showed promising results on ground.

Helps in getting private sector expertise: Various private sector experts have also been appointed as officers on special duty, ranked between under-secretary and secretary, to ministers. Institutionalising lateral entry, thus, makes it easier for the country to benefit from private sector/non-UPSC talent.

Deals with vacancy issue as well: The move will also address the drying up of the talent pool at the top level as there is an overall shortfall of about 20% in just IAS officers in 24 state cadres. The 2016 BS Baswan committee report pointed out that many large states suffer from a pronounced deficit of IAS officers, leading to their reluctance to depute officers for central posting.

Lateral entry will also address many structural problems the present system suffers from: The seniority criteria in promotions has meant many talented lower ranked officers take a long time to get appointed to posts where their skills could have significant impact in the immediate run.

Focuses on merit: While the education threshold for eligibility in the current notification is set at the graduate-degree level, higher qualifications will be an advantage. The call is for outstanding individuals with expertise in the relevant fields.

Specialists: The move could be a significant step towards fulfilling the longstanding need for domain specialists in positions crucial to policy-making and implementation of government schemes. Specialists coming from outside are likely to bring fresh ideas and help improve outcomes.

The idea is criticized due to the following reasons:

Lateral entry system is a disruption as there is a risk that due process might not be followed and ill-qualified, political appointees will land up in senior positions of the government and hurt public interest.

Lateral entry does open the risk and prospect of powerful corporate groups placing their men in key positions of government.

Also people who are recruited in this way might lack ground experience and also have little idea about the administrative leviathan.

Mains Questions: Lateral entry in government at Joint Secretary level comes not a day too soon. Critically analyze.

Source: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2019/04/13/insights-daily-current-affairs-pib-13-april-2019/

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airoasis · 6 years

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Repackaging malaria to revitalize & drive inspiration to elimination

Melbourne skyline, image by Vera Unwin

Progress towards malaria removal is slowing. After successes in lowering malaria problem over the last 20 years, efforts towards reaching the 2030 removal objectives are being threatened. The number of yearly cases has actually not actually been minimized given that 2011. If history's taught us anything, it's that when we take our foot off the pedal- especially relating to financing for control programs- malaria resurges with a revenge.

Author Vera Unwin at the poster session (image credit Rukhsana Ahmed

)The 1st World Malaria Congress was held to challenge this, making use of the experiences of specialists from throughout the field to help get that foot back down. The 5-day congress united academics, government authorities, market and funding bodies, wishing to assist in discussion around lessons discovered and how we refresh inspiration, moving forward more efficiently to reach our removal objectives. Organised by Daily update, Malaria World Congress)

As part of the Australian government's $300 million Health Security Initiative, throughout the first day at the congress Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop announced that $16 million would money 7 new malaria research projects in the Indo-pacific region.Partnerships and smarter costs The umbrella SDG of Health might need a

more lateral rethinking of illness programs, to be smarter about the method we spend this financing. One element that was discussed was the design of cross-sectional control programs to attack more than one disease at a time e.g Mass Drug Administration with Ivermectin-- traditionally utilized for control of filariasis, now shown to likewise minimize life span of malarial vectors. Dr Louise Kelly-Hope supported this, showing how malaria control programs had lowered filariasis in Papua New Guinea through circulation of bed nets.I likewise went to an interesting session on the China-Australia-PNG Tri-lateral Malaria Task, throughout which the success of theabnormally structured partnership was picked apart to encourage on ways to make these relationships work."You need to work with nationwide governments to make genuine impact" Prof. Leanne Robinson(Burnet). Dr Moses Laman (PNGIMR), a panellist throughout this session, commented that the success of this project come down to trust in between the partners and an understanding of underlying cultural distinctions. Dr Leanne Robinson emphasised that "we have to discuss the research study questions in the local context with essential partners"- from the get-go. ""Often we pertain to these discussions far too late. We have our funding, already composed our grant proposition and we have a procedure. We understand what we believe we wish to do since we believe that is the crucial research study concern to answer. If we desire it to have effect, to operate in the local context, we have no idea, so we require to request recommendations about how this work can be best executed in an endemic country setting.".

Dr Oanh Khuat Thi Hai enthused about the wealth of untapped understanding civil societies held and how, even without financial incentive, sustained motivation to end malaria in these neighborhoods might not be equaled. She despaired at how slow the malaria community had remained in seeking engagement with civil societies, particularly compared to HIV programs. "There is no voice for individuals most impacted, unlike other diseases such as HIV with strong participation of civil society." In a pre-meeting, the Global Civil Society for Malaria Elimination (CS4ME)advocated for more effective, sustainable, people-centred, rights-based, equitable, and inclusive malaria programmes and interventions. They want federal governments of carrying out countries, donor countries and other duty bearers to 1. Frame malaria in a social justice and human rights context, and within universal health protection and 2. Partner with civil society and neighborhood stars for reliable malaria monitoring and response.Innovations in financing Hair stylists and health,(photo credit Vera Unwin)

Among my preferred talks of the congress was that of medical anthropologist

Prof. Lenore Meanderson. She highlighted some remarkably innovative social projects that were assisting neighborhoods take ownership of decreasing malaria in their locations. These jobs integrate social entrepreneurship with healthcare, benefiting regional neighborhoods economically along with their health results. Pictured listed below is the Hairdressers and Health job, a partnership between the UN Population Fund and the UNAIDS Secretariat. Acknowledging barbershops and beauty salons in Guyana as info centers where customers felt safe and available to chat, they used these settings to mobilise health education around HIV avoidance and to have it share through the community from there.Another unanticipated philanthropy collaboration was that with Nando's and the International fund, to create the

"Farewell malaria"project. Bracelets supporting Bye-bye Malaria project(photo credit https://www.theglobalfund.org/en/private-ngo-partners/partners/goodbye-malaria/ )Producing

work opportunities in S. Africa, locally handmade jewellery and other devices were sold at United States Nando's branches throughout the US and online, with the

profits eventually financing malaria control programs in Mozambique. This model integrates regional entrepreurism and the mobilisation of advocacy surrounding vector control, building on the idea of a worldwide neighborhood which connects communities in the United States, S. Africa and Mozambique.Leaps are being made to overcoming other more technical issues such as drug and insecticide resistance which are of course required for elimination, however perhaps the turning point depends on these community level partnerships, in much better understanding regional cultures to work more effectively, straight purchasing those affected to give them a voice. With their own people developing the programs from the start, this might be how we repackage malaria to appeal to government officials-by developing trust. Dr Rukhsana Ahmed and Vera Unwin(photo credit Rukshana Ahmed)

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megadarkbouquettidalwavethings · 6 years

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Gun salute welcomes President Tran Dai Quang in New Delhi

Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang and his spouse were greeted with a 21-gun salute at an official welcome ceremony at the Indian Presidential Palace in New Delhi on March 3 morning (local time).

President Tran Dai Quang and his spouse are welcomed by Indian President Ram Nath Kovind (second, right) and Prime Minister Narendra Modiat (first, right) at the official welcome ceremony in New Delhi on March 3

At the ceremony, the Vietnamese leader, his wife and the Vietnamese delegation were welcomed by Indian President Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and many senior officials of India.

After the welcoming ceremony, President Quang gave an interview to Indian media, highlighting the importance of his State visit to India from March 2 to 4 and the prospects of the two countries’ comprehensive strategic partnership in the future.

Later, the President had talks with Narendra Modi at the Indian PM’s Office in New Delhi.

Following the talks, President Quang and PM Modi witnessed the exchange of cooperation documents signed during this visit, namely a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on cooperation between the Vietnam Atomic Energy Institute and the Global Centre for Nuclear Energy Partnership, an MoU on cooperation in economy and trade between the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Indian Ministry of Commerce and Industry, and an action plan on agricultural cooperation for 2018-2020.

After that, the two leaders chaired a joint press conference to announce the outcomes of their talks.

PM Modi affirmed that the State visit by President Quang reflects Vietnam’s commitments to bolstering the countries’ comprehensive strategic partnership. He stressed bilateral ties date back thousands of years ago and today’s generations are benefiting from the relationship set up by late PM Jawaharlal Nehru and President Ho Chi Minh.

The Indian PM informed that during his talks with the Vietnamese President, the two sides discussed in-depth all aspects of the two countries’ comprehensive strategic partnership with strong growth recorded in bilateral trade.

According to India’s statistics, two-way trade increased to over 10 billion USD from 6 billion USD over the past 5 years.

Vietnam and India agreed to focus on renewable energy, agriculture, garment-textile, oil and gas. Particularly in the field of oil and gas, along with the current cooperation mechanism, India hopes to expand tripartite collaboration between Vietnam, India and the third party.

Another important pillar in the bilateral cooperation is defense-security. India is keen to partner with Vietnam in this sphere to ensure an independent and stable Indo-Pacific region with differences to be addressed peacefully.

President Tran Dai Quang said the two countries reiterated commitments and high political determination to further deepen Vietnam-India relations as well as exchanged major orientations to enhance cooperation across the board.

Regarding politics and diplomacy, Vietnam and India agreed to increase all-level delegation exchanges, especially among high-ranking officials, via the Party, State, Government, and National Assembly channels in addition to tightening people-to-people exchanges.

The President invited his Indian counterpart Ram Nath Kovind, PM Narendra Modi and Indian top legislators along with leaders of Indian Parties and States to visit Vietnam soon.

The two sides will push ahead with cooperation in defense-security through maintaining English training courses and building capacity for the two sides’ officials, providing preferential credit packages, joining the UN peacekeeping activities, improving the efficiency of defense-security dialogues and mechanisms, and considering the expansion of cooperation in other potential fields.

Regarding economic-trade-investment cooperation, trade barriers will be reduced, making it easier for exports of the two countries to access each other’s market, towards lifting the bilateral trade to 15 billion USD by 2020.

The two sides highly valued symbolic cooperation projects such as Long Phu 2 thermal power plant in the Mekong Delta province of Soc Trang, wind and solar power projects in central south provinces, and talked the possibilities of setting up garment and textile industrial parks of India in Vietnam.

Vietnam hopes India will continue to provide Vietnam with technical, technological and financial assistance in the breakthrough fields of infrastructure and human resources development, and science-technique; and help Vietnam improve its research and development capability, especially in bio-technology, health care, and application science, President Quang said.

The two countries will also work closely in an India-funded project to preserve and embellish the My Son relic site, as well as launching more tourism promotion activities, thus increasing the number of visitors to the respective country.

On the multilateral level, President Quang affirmed Vietnam will cooperate closely with India to help the Central Asian country further bolster all-around ties with other ASEAN member nations, for the sake of both sides.

He also highlighted the importance of maintaining security, safety, aviation and navigation freedom; resolving disputes by peaceful measures in line with international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), and strictly respecting diplomatic and legal processes.

Also on March 3, President Tran Dai Quang, his spouse and entourage paid floral tribute to India’s national hero Mahatma Gandhi at the Raj Ghat Memorial.

VNA

The post Gun salute welcomes President Tran Dai Quang in New Delhi appeared first on Breaking News Top News & Latest News Headlines | Reuters.

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chinaindia-blog · 7 years

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China and India

It has been a big idea in American foreign policy for over a decade: The United States would align its interests with a rapidly rising and democratic India to balance China’s burgeoning power in the vital Asia Pacific region. But that ambitious strategic bet depended on the critical assumption that the chaotic, poor, and struggling India of today would develop into the vibrant, wealthier, and more stable India of tomorrow that many of its admirers think it may yet become.

India is a country of immense contradictions — at once a rising economic power as well as home to the greatest number of poor in the world. A nation rich in scientific and engineering talent but held back by deplorable roads, infrastructure, and miles of bureaucratic red tape. At a meeting of the Aspen India Dialogue in New Delhi earlier this week in which I participated, Americans and Indians alike agreed our countries have never had a stronger partnership. And, yet, I don’t believe we will see its real promise until the India of tomorrow is more fully formed.

India is lurching from crisis to crisis. Its high tech-driven economy has slowed considerably during the last two years. The Congress Party-led government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has suffered a series of self-inflicted corruption scandals that have soured public opinion and reduced its political authority at home. Until recently, the government’s economic reform program was stalled but it is now starting to move forward, particularly by permitting retail firms like Walmart to modernize the creaking food supply network.

This sprawling, multi-ethnic country also has deeply rooted social problems, as evidenced most glaringly by the appalling rape and death of a promising young Indian student in December. The Indians I met in Delhi and Ahmedabad could talk of little else. Many Indians worry that the rape, and a similar gang rape on Saturday in north India, illuminate serious and overlapping crises of policing, governance, and social dislocation which must be addressed on an urgent basis. For all its promise, India faces enormous challenges of modernization as its 1.2 billion people transform this increasingly urbanized country.

And yet India is changing in real and perceptible ways, and it would be a mistake to underestimate its enormous potential. It won’t progress on a straight path, and the United States will need to be patient. The US government’s National Intelligence Council says, “In 2030, India could be the rising economic powerhouse that China is seen to be today.” It goes even further to predict that India will likely overtake China in economic power in its tortoise and hare race by the end of this century due, in part, to its much more youthful population.

These more positive trends, as well as the pivotal geographic importance of the Indian Ocean and Western Pacific, also make India particularly relevant to core American interests for the future. India has been very supportive of the US campaign in Afghanistan and is an increasingly important air and maritime partner along with Japan and Australia. As the world’s largest democracy, it wields unmistakable soft power in Southeast Asia and parts of Africa. And we are doing more business with India as well, as we near $100 billion in trade in goods and services. India also provides a noticeable exception to partisan wars in Washington — Republicans and Democrats both see the logic of making India a priority for American strategy in Asia. Due to the hard work of both Obama and former president George W. Bush, we now have an impressively broad-based relationship with India in science, education, health care, counterterrorism, and homeland security.

The temptation in foreign policy is to focus on short-term crises but not allow for the time and patience to pursue longer-term challenges. As Obama prepares to take the oath of office for the second time, he and Secretary of State-designate John Kerry have plenty of immediate fires to put out, from Iran’s nuclear drive and Syria’s civil war to engaging China and ending the Afghan War. They should spare some time in the year ahead to tend the diplomatic garden in New Delhi. As global power shifts to the East, and we help to remake the strategic map of the world, the India of today and tomorrow will be at its center.

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President Trump and U.S.-India Relations InterviewApril 03, 2017Times of India Summary: When it comes to India, the Trump administration should look to sustain and deepen the efforts of its Democratic and Republican predecessors to further strengthen the bilateral partnership and put it to work to address shared global challenges. With the White House having announced that US President Donald Trump will be hosting Prime Minister Narendra Modi later this year in Washington, Ambassador William J. Burns, President of Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and former US Deputy Secretary of State, spoke to Nalin Mehta on what New Delhi can expect from the first bilateral Modi-Trump meeting, Indo-US relations and the shifts in US diplomacy:

THE WHITE HOUSE SAID PRESIDENT TRUMP SPOKE WITH PM MODI TO CONGRATULATE HIM ON THE OUTCOME OF UTTAR PRADESH ELECTIONS, TO EXPRESS SUPPORT FOR MODI’S ECONOMIC REFORM AGENDA, AND TO SAY THAT HE WAS LOOKING FORWARD TO HOSTING THE PM IN WASHINGTON. WHAT ARE YOUR EXPECTATIONS FROM THE PM’S UPCOMING VISIT?

I hope this visit will be used as an action-forcing mechanism to check off a number of important items from our shared to-do list.This includes the purchase of a US fighter for India’s armed forces and other defence cooperation items.

It includes continued progress in the economic sphere, where I believe we still have a long way to go to fully realise the promise of our strategic partnership.

Concluding the Bilateral Investment Treaty would be a significant milestone worthy of a significant effort by both governments.

PRESIDENT TRUMP IS FUNDAMENTALLY CHANGING LONG HELD PILLARS OF US DIPLOMACY. HOW WILL THIS IMPACT INDIA-US RELATIONS WHICH HAVE BEEN RECAST IN THE LAST 15 YEARS UNDER BOTH DEMOCRAT AND REPUBLICAN ADMINISTRATIONS?

You are right that beneath the surface, this Trump administration presents a fundamentally different approach to foreign affairs – a profound, and in my view troubling, deviation from the core elements on which American leadership and international order rest.

The United States, for all its imperfections, has stood for political and economic openness, respect for human dignity, and a sense of possibility. We have demonstrated a willingness to mobilise others to deal with shared problems. And we have invested in the institutions at home and abroad that can get ahead of crises and prevent conflict through wise, long-term investments.

To the extent that we walk away from these ideas, initiatives and institutions at the core of American leadership, I fear that we will see serious and long-term damage to America’s standing in the world, and in turn, to the potential for US-India relations.

WHAT IMPACT DO YOU SEE OF US POLICIES ON ASIA AND THE BALANCE OF POWER IN THE REGION UNDER PRESIDENT TRUMP?

Much of President Trump’s foreign policy seems to be reverting to the mainstream on first contact with reality, and that includes his approach to the Asia-Pacific.

But it’s clear that the Trump administration believes the United States is being held hostage in many respects by the very international order it created. It seems to see multilateral trade agreements like the Trans-Pacific Partnership as constraints rather than opportunities, and international and regional organisations as distracting, if not irrelevant.

That attitude could undermine our capacity and credibility to work together with India to shape a Pacific Century that reflects our shared interests and values.

CARNEGIE HAS BEEN IN INDIA FOR A YEAR. HOW DIFFERENT IS WORKING IN INDIA COMPARED TO OTHER COUNTRIES?

I have been deeply impressed by what my colleagues in Delhi have accomplished in such a short time. That is not a result of any imports from Washington or any of our global centres in Beijing, Beirut, Brussels or Moscow. It is a consequence of the fact that Carnegie India is led and staffed by extraordinary Indian experts who have a deep stake and commitment to India’s own domestic and international evolution.

. For both China and India, Buddhism is a useful enhancer of cultural soft power. The religion has, over the past decade, increased in importance for India as New Delhi tries to re-energize the religious tradition and integrate it into the country’s cultural strength; for China, meanwhile, Buddhism is an important means of soothing domestic discontent and staving off risks to its territorial integrity. Buddhism, which China has begun describing as an “ancient Chinese religion” and allowing its citizens freedom to practice, is especially significant for China in preserving domestic social stability and diffusing restiveness in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) and Tibetan areas elsewhere in China. China is also using Buddhism to increase its influence in nearby regions by acquiring predominant access to powerful Buddhist organizations. Meanwhile India, which has been home to Buddhism since its birth, sees Buddhism as a way of strengthening its relationship with Southeast Asian nations and as a means of preserving the religious and cultural practices of the Tibetan Buddhist people who have sought refuge in India.

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE DALAI LAMA

Central to these matters is the fourteenth Dalai Lama, who is recognized as the reincarnated traditional leader of Tibetan Buddhism and who remains the most prominent figure in the religious tradition today. The present Dalai Lama’s advancing age underscores the increasingly crucial and time-sensitive issue of who will identify his reincarnation. Communist China sees this as an opportunity to finally resolve the nettlesome issue of the Dalai Lama’s status vis-a-vis Beijing so as to enhance its political control over Tibet. Chinese government officials have publically declared that China will appoint the next Dalai Lama, who will be born in China.

The Dalai Lama’s status in relation to China has remained unsettled for centuries, as successive Dalai Lamas have contested China’s sovereignty over Tibet. For their part, Chinese emperors historically considered Tibet a part of China. The seventh-century marriage of Chinese Princess Wencheng, niece of Emperor Taizong of the Tang dynasty, to Songtsän Gampo, who is credited with bringing Buddhism to Tibet, is portrayed by the Chinese Communist leadership as an attempt to civilize and project influence over Tibet.

Centuries later, China occupied Tibet in 1950, but the Chinese leadership has not been able to calm the situation in Tibet or win over the Tibetans and get them to accept their presence. In fact, Beijing has long feared the possibility of a secessionist movement in Tibet. As a result, Beijing is keen to have the fourteenth Dalai Lama return to China before his death as a symbolic recognition of Chinese sovereignty over Tibet. Failing that, China is intent on appointing the next Dalai Lama in an attempt to try to directly control the Tibetan religious hierarchy under his leadership. Apart from the Dalai Lama, China, incidentally, hosts the Panchen Lama—the second highest ranking figure in Tibetan Buddhism—as well as 870 rimpoches (also known as tulkus or living Buddhas).

INDIA’S BUDDHIST LEGACY

Like China, India has deep historical connections to Buddhism, which modern policymakers can draw on in efforts to enhance the country’s soft power. Buddhism has provided a quiet but resilient foundation to India’s centuries-old cultural links to countries in South, Southeast, and East Asia. India is the birthplace of Buddhism, and the religion is part of India’s spiritual heritage. When India was at the height of its power, Indian priests and scholars travelled abroad and spread Buddhism widely: across Tibet and China and then on to Japan, and throughout Southeast Asia via Sri Lanka. Tibetan Buddhism in particular spread northward to Tibet and China, while the Theravada school of Buddhism was promoted in South Asia and throughout Southeast Asia.

Buddhism’s influence remains present in Indian art, culture, and architecture. The three lions of the Ashoka pillar, which independent India adopted as its national emblem, are a symbol of the impact of Buddhist thought on the country and its people. As of 2011, there are over 8 million practicing Buddhists in India.

India has ties to Tibetan Buddhism through its own sizable Tibetan community. The first major wave of Tibetans arrived in India from Tibet with the fourteenth Dalai Lama in March 1959.1 Following the Chinese occupation of Tibet in 1950 and the Dalai Lama’s flight to India in 1959, high-ranking Tibetan religious leaders, members of the Tibetan nobility, and ordinary Tibetans continued to flee to India, mainly via Nepal. Today, India remains home to the fourteenth Dalai Lama and the heads of all four main sects of Tibetan Buddhism, namely the Gelug, Kagyu, Nyingma, and Sakya, in addition to the many other high-ranking Tibetan lamas. The main monasteries of these four sects are all, however, located in Tibet.

BUDDHISM IN INDIAN AND CHINESE DIPLOMACY

India has been promoting Buddhist thought and culture in recent years. In November 2011, with assistance from the Indian government, an organization called the Global Buddhist Congregation (GBC) helped bring representatives of a multitude of Buddhist traditions together in one overarching body. Roughly 900 patriarchs, supreme patriarchs, and high-ranking monks of various Buddhist traditions from around the world attended the GBC in New Delhi, making it one of the largest gatherings of Buddhist leaders since the time of King Asoka (268–232 BCE). The gathered heads of the Buddhist organizations agreed that there was a need for a centralized body to interpret issues concerning Buddhism, including the preservation of the traditions and practices of various sects. As an outcome of the conference, the International Buddhist Confederation was established to further these objectives by promoting research and popularizing Buddhist practices and traditions.

A few years earlier, China had begun hosting its own international Buddhist gatherings in the mid-2000s, known as the World Buddhist Forums (WBF). The first was held in Fujian Province in 2006 and three subsequent gatherings have since been held respectively in Wuxi (in Jiangsu Province) in 2009, in Hong Kong in April 2012, and again in Wuxi in 2015. The WBF aims to convey to Buddhist populations in China and neighboring countries that the Chinese Communist authorities approve of Buddhism. A large number of Buddhist religious monks, scholars, and other figures, including some from India, have been invited to the WBFs. These periodic gatherings are reflective of China’s effort to raise the profile of the China-appointed Panchen Lama, Tibetan Buddhism’s second most influential figure, and convince Buddhists to accept him as the rightful holder of this position. Beijing has not invited the Dalai Lama to the World Buddhist Forums on the grounds that he is a “disruptive element.”2 The GBC hosted in India in 2011 impacted China’s efforts and the WBF in 2012 was a muted affair.

On occasion, Tibetan Buddhism has drawn attention to the ongoing border dispute between China and India. Uyghen Thinley Dorje, another prominent Tibetan Buddhist figure in exile in India, visited the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh in November 2016; he is recognized by the Dalai Lama and Chinese authorities as the Gyalwa Karmapa (head of Tibetan Buddhism’s Kagyu sect). China is especially sensitive to Indian political figures and the Dalai Lama visiting this state, which it claims is part of China. The Dalai Lama’s planned visit to Arunachal Pradesh in April 2017 is being interpreted by Beijing as indicative of New Delhi’s willingness to assert its sovereignty despite predictable Chinese protests. In March 2017, India is hosting a Buddhist conference in Nalanda meant to advance efforts to bring together all Buddhist lamas into the fold. Hosted by the Indian Ministry of Culture, the gathering is convening prominent Buddhist monks from over thirty countries—including Bangladesh, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam. The Nalanda conference will likely enhance India’s standing in the Buddhist community.

Meanwhile, since Prime Minister Narendra Modi took office in 2014, the Indian government has made Buddhism an element of its bilateral diplomatic efforts, which have been particularly noticeable with Japan and Mongolia. Modi has put Buddhism on India’s diplomatic agenda with Japan. In August 2014, for instance, Modi visited two ancient Buddhist temples in Japan, and Buddhism was mentioned in the joint statement after a subsequent visit to Japan in November 2016. Private organizations have been involved in these efforts as well. In September 2015, for example, the International Buddhist Confederation, the Vivekananda International Foundation, and the Tokyo Foundation put together a joint Buddhist and Hindu three-day conclave on conflict avoidance and environment consciousness.

Buddhism also factors into India’s diplomacy with Mongolia. It is worth noting that since the Mongol ruler Altan Khan first conferred the title of Dalai Lama on the Gelug monk Sonam Gyatso in the late sixteenth century, subsequent Dalai Lamas have looked to the Mongol rulers for support. Mongolia’s unique link to the Dalai Lama lends special significance to Prime Minister Modi’s visit to Ulaanbaatar in May 2015. Modi’s visit involved numerous references to India and Mongolia’s shared Buddhist connection. Two examples were his speech to the Mongolian parliament, which mentioned the Buddha and Buddhism seven times, his visit to the Gandantegchinlen monastery.

Mongolia’s special link with the Dalai Lama has, at times, complicated the country’s relations with China. In November 2016, for instance, Mongolia welcomed the Dalai Lama despite stern Chinese warnings not to do so. The Dalai Lama pointedly utilized the four-day visit to exercise his religious authority by approving and authenticating the identity of the tenth incarnation of the third-highest ranking lama of Tibetan Buddhism, the Jebtsundamba Khutuktu, who now resides in Mongolia.

By comparison, other countries in Asia—including Myanmar, South Korea and Vietnam—that have strong links to Buddhism have not permitted a visit by the Dalai Lama. Myanmar and Vietnam, though strongly Buddhist, follow the Theravada tradition and are especially careful of Beijing’s sensitivities about the Dalai Lama. Like China, Vietnam is a Communist country, although the country’s Communist party allows its members to practice religion and many of them are Buddhist. South Korea, meanwhile, has adopted a form of Buddhism that blends elements of Mahayana with its own distinctive characteristics.

CHINA’S EFFORTS TO SHAPE TIBETAN BUDDHIST POLITICS

Since the fourteenth Dalai Lama began travelling abroad around 1980 to familiarize people with the Tibet issue and lobby for the Tibetan people, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has reacted to his actions and labelled him a “separatist.”3As China has grown economically and militarily stronger, its protests have grown more strident. Since 2007, China has been trying to undercut the Dalai Lama’s influence and isolate him by pressuring foreign leaders and governments not to officially receive the Dalai Lama. Failure to comply has resulted in China taking punitive economic measures that typically prompt an appreciable drop in foreign direct investment or exports for periods of at least six months to a year. This has often been accompanied by a suspension, or freezing of diplomatic contact, until an apology has been tendered.4 Beijing has toughened the policy in the past couple of months to include meetings with the sikyong, or prime minister, of the Tibetans in exile. The Dalai Lama issue has also, since 2007, begun figuring more prominently as a bone of contention in interactions between India and China at the official Track I and unofficial Track II levels.5

There are major reasons for increased Chinese concern. Beijing believes that what it deems to be hostile foreign forces will use the Tibetans to stir up trouble inside China. Beijing wants to avoid having a situation in which there are two Dalai Lamas, like the situation that exists in the case of the Panchen Lama; Beijing feels that this would inflame internal tensions.6 In the case of the Panchen Lama, though, the individual recognized by the fourteenth Dalai Lama as the Panchen Lama is in Chinese custody and kept away from public gaze while China tries to persuade the Tibetans to accept Gyancain Norbu, the individual appointed by China. China persists with its efforts to persuade the fourteenth Dalai Lama to return to spend his “last days” in his “motherland.”

China has sought to bolster its claims of being a country with a strong Buddhist heritage. In 2008, Chinese archaeologists discovered a skull bone of the Buddha inside a model of a stupa made of sandalwood, gold, silver, and gemstones, which was then interred in a temple in Jiangsu Province.

China’s efforts to undermine the Dalai Lama’s influence also have included supporting Shugden worship, which he banned in 1996. Chinese authorities have supported worshippers of the Shugden deity, disbursed generous subsidies to their monasteries, and instigated Shugden groups in India and elsewhere to initiate litigation against the Dalai Lama and stage protests to harass him. The Chinese government even invited prominent Tibetan Buddhist monks known to be Shugden practitioners, or otherwise critical of the Dalai Lama, to the sixtieth anniversary celebrations of what it describes as the peaceful liberation of Tibet to embarrass the Dalai Lama.

Moreover, China has been steadily trying to acquire influence over the various Tibetan Buddhist sects and subtly get them to break ranks with the Dalai Lama. China has consistently favored the Kagyu sect, which is numerous in western Tibet; in Himachal Pradesh, Ladakh, and Sikkim in India; and in Bhutan. Journalists based in Jammu and Kashmir claim that the Chinese are also discreetly supporting the Drukpa Kagyu Rimpoche in Ladakh, who has made little secret of his differences with the Dalai Lama and has been urging supporters not to flock to the Dalai Lama when he is in Ladakh or participate in the Dalai Lama’s teachings.

BUDDHISM IN CHINA AND INDIA’S NEIGHBORHOOD: THE CASE OF NEPAL

One neighboring country where China is using Buddhism to expand regional influence is Nepal. China’s interest in Nepal is primarily because of the nearly 20,000 Tibetans residing there. Additionally, a number of people of Tibetan origin live in the northern fringes of Nepal bordering Tibet. China has serious apprehensions that what it refers to as hostile foreign forces—an oblique reference to the United States and India—may use Nepal as a base to create disturbances inside Tibet. China has expanded its influence in Nepal, and its embassy now interacts directly with Nepal’s police to restrict the activities of Tibetans resident there. China has specific interest in Lumbini, the birth place of the Buddha, which lies in Nepal just across the border with India. As a high-ranking Chinese official once told a Nepali reporter, “We visit Nepal because you have Lumbini, the birthplace of Buddha.”

Nepal has been the site of ongoing efforts by Beijing to oversee, or at least influence, the selection of Tibetan Buddhist religious leaders. It has successfully blocked the Dalai Lama in Nepal. In fact, in 2012, Nepal’s then culture minister, Minendra Rijal, said the Dalai Lama might visit Lumbini sometime in the future after “the leadership of China will find ways to deal with His Holiness the Dalai Lama, which will be respectful of the Chinese people.” Meanwhile, the Sakya Tibetan Buddhist lineage and its sub-sects were permitted, after approval from Beijing, to become the only sect to hold Monlam celebrations in Lumbini. The Nyingmapa sect too has accepted Beijing’s contention that it alone has the authority to choose and recognize high-ranking monks and followed the procedure prescribed by Beijing to secure its approval for Penor Rimpoche’s reincarnation and enthronement in 2014. The Kagyu sect negotiated with Chinese authorities in mid-2014 when they insisted on performing the last rites of Shamar Rinpoche, the fourteenth Shamarpa and second highest spiritual figure of the Karma Kagyu Tradition of Tibetan Buddhism in Nepal. Initial approval accorded by the Nepali embassy in New Delhi was withdrawn under pressure from the Chinese embassy in Kathmandu, which objected to the presence of a representative of the Dalai Lama who was to accompany the body to Kathmandu and preparations by the Tibetan community for a rally in Kathmandu’s Bouddha area. The approval was later restored.

China’s interest in Lumbini first became public in June 2011, when a Chinese government-sponsored nongovernmental organization (NGO), the Asia Pacific Exchange and Cooperation Foundation (APECF), proposed a $3 billion plan to develop Lumbini to the Nepalese government. The plans included hotels, an airport, and a Chinese-managed Buddhist university and seminary. Xiao Wunan, a senior CCP cadre who till his retirement late last year was a deputy director in China’s National Development and Reform Commission in western China, was executive vice president of the foundation. The appointment of Pushpa Kamal Dahal, better known as Prachanda, who is the current Nepalese prime minister, as vice chairman of the APECF, emphasized China’s interest in Nepal. While the APECF’s proposal has been kept in limbo, the Nepalese government is unwilling to reject China’s proposal. The establishment of the Greater Lumbini National Development Directive Committee under the chairmanship of Prachanda is indicative of this. To canvass support for the development of Lumbini, Chinese government-sponsored NGOs have since tried to co-opt prominent Nepal politicians and have appointed Madhav Kumar Nepal and Sujata Koirala to boards of Chinese NGOs. In 2013, the Buddhist Association of China, whose vice-president is the Beijing-selected Panchen Lama, announced plans to take over coordination of the Lumbini project. While more limited in its scope as compared to the APECF proposal, efforts have not moved beyond the planning stages.

Additionally, there are many Tibetan Buddhist monasteries strung across the entire length of the Indo-Himalayan belt that exercise almost unmatched influence on the local populations in their jurisdictions. Monasteries like Hemis in Ladakh and Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh own considerable property and large tracts of land. The latter could at some stage become a nettlesome issue in negotiations between India and China. Viewed together with China’s attempts to set up a monastery, seminary, and nunnery in Lumbini to educate and train young monks free of cost, there is a real possibility that China will use them to try and increase its influence along India’s northern borders.

There are other concerns for the Dalai Lama’s supporters and China too. Credible reports indicate rivalries within the Dalai Lama’s office have grown.7Gaining quiet momentum among foreigners supporting the Dalai Lama and the Tibet cause, as well as foreign-based Tibet support groups, is the view that India-based, or Indian Tibetans, are grabbing all political power in the wider community of the Dalai Lama’s sympathizers. Implicit in this perspective is the suggestion that political authority should be shared, but it is unclear as to precisely with whom. The Chinese Communist leadership too appears to have become nervous at the rapid growth in the number of Buddhist adherents in China. Recent reports point to the authorities tightening the monitoring of the activities of Buddhist monks, especially of Tibetan Buddhist monks, and enforcing regulations restricting their activities and the places they can visit.

Buddhism is an intrinsic part of India’s spiritual heritage. India’s outreach to countries in Southeast Asia will be reinforced by Buddhism. Meanwhile, the presence of the heads of the various Tibetan Buddhist sects in India will enrich Buddhism and strengthen India’s bonds with Buddhists around the world. The demographic changes taking place in China similarly make Buddhism increasingly relevant. China’s leadership considers the return of its Tibetan Buddhist religious figures important for the country’s stability. Beijing can be expected to continue to try and enhance its soft power by claiming a strong Buddhist heritage and strengthening its outreach to Buddhist populations within and outside its borders.

Jayadeva Ranade is a former additional secretary in the Cabinet Secretariat, Government of India and is presently president of the Center for China Analysis and Strategy.

This is a very detailed and good informative study of Buddhism and coming from a China expert who was in Intelligence it needs to be analysed and extended for the present . As Author says since PM Modi came to office India’s China Tibet policy seems to have veered to the support of Buddhism conferences and Dalia Lama and could be to ensure future Dalai Lama and its selection which is a race that has begun between China and India is won by India. The DALAI LAMA is going to BIHAR near Lumbini which author explains has Chinese influence and later TAWANG and Dy Home Minister Rijju will join in conference so some political activity is seen by Chinese in this move and has raised objections. These are interesting times between China India and Pakistan and Dr SANJAYA BARU at USI gave a lecture on Chinese economy but Dalai Lama issue did come up.

Under the leadership of Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and Shinzo Abe, India and Japan are increasingly using infrastructure and connectivity projects, particularly in regions bordering India, to further converge their interests. While such economic cooperation between New Delhi and Tokyo is not new, the clarity of strategic purpose driving it is. The two countries are pursuing greater cooperation to further their own regional interests and strengthen their collective capacity to counterbalance China’s ambitions and its own connectivity initiatives in Asia and beyond.

Japan has a long and impressive history of foreign development assistance, and India has been a major South Asian recipient for decades. Beginning with technical cooperation programs in 1954, Japan’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) emerged as a crucial source for infrastructure funding for emerging economies. India and Japan began their economic relationship soon after they established diplomatic ties in the early 1950s. Japan extended a yen-denominated loan, the first of its kind, to India in 1958 under the leadership of then prime minister Nobusuke Kishi, the grandfather of Shinzo Abe. The loan was extended shortly after then Indian prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru hosted Kishi in 1957, as both looked to establish bilateral relationships and engage with the international community. From its first ODA loan in 1958 to investing in the construction of the Delhi Metro, which began around the turn of the century, Japan has emerged as a trusted partner for infrastructure development in India.1 Given its size, India has historically received the lion’s share of Japanese ODA in South Asia—New Delhi has been the largest recipient of Japanese ODA in South Asia since 2003. In 2014, for instance, India received 57 percent of Japan’s South Asia ODA budget.2

Over time, Japan has integrated ODA more deeply into its broader foreign policy agenda. Japan’s ODA budget expanded from $100 million in 1960 to $4.3 billion in 1984, making the country the second-largest aid donor in the world by the mid-1980s. Japan’s ODA budget in 2015 stood at approximately $10 billion.3 Until 2003, Japan’s ODA lacked a clear strategic rationale. That year, Japan revised its ODA charter for the first time in a decade, explicitly linking its aid and security policy in an effort to “maintain and strengthen international peace and stability;” this charter is an official guiding document that lays out the key principles and goals of Japan’s aid policy. In 2015, Abe’s cabinet replaced the ODA charter with the Development Cooperation Charter, highlighting the strategic dimension of Japan’s ODA. In moving from development assistance to development cooperation, Japan is seen as a development partner in the region. The India-Japan relationship is a good example of this shift.

At least in part, India and Japan’s deepening economic partnership has been prompted by a recognition of China’s efforts to enhance its influence by funding development projects in its neighborhood. China plans to build a corridor of infrastructure projects across both land and sea routes connecting Southeast Asia to Europe, popularly known as the Belt and Road Initiative (B&R). The project is divided into two parts: a continental road (the Belt) and a sea route known as the Maritime Silk Road. As China extends its influence and reach throughout Asia, Japan and India naturally are seeking to do the same. The recent upturn in economic engagement between India and Japan is founded on the twin pillars of development assistance and infrastructure development to enhance domestic and regional connectivity. Both countries are employing economic instruments for purposes that include advancing their respective strategic interests as well as strengthening their bilateral relationship and fulfilling other national objectives.

There are several security-related reasons for New Delhi to pursue closer cooperation with Tokyo in response to Beijing. For India, both the continental and maritime routes of China’s B&R initiative are of strategic concern. The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, a flagship B&R project, runs through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, a disputed territory between India and Pakistan. On the maritime front as well, New Delhi has been wary of the growing number of Chinese infrastructure projects in its neighborhood especially in the Maldives, Mauritius, and Sri Lanka. To be sure, governments in the region are hardly passive actors in this space. Chinese, Indian, and Japanese investments are stimulating significant internal debate in these countries. Meanwhile, China’s development of the Gwadar Port in Pakistan and an increase in Chinese submarine dockings in the Karachi Port in Pakistan are irritants in the Indo-China relationship.

Underlining the fine balance between infrastructure development and its accompanied strategic aims, India’s Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar remarked in a March 2015 speech: “The interactive dynamic between strategic interests and connectivity initiatives—a universal proposition—is on particular display in our continent… . We cannot be impervious to the reality that others may see connectivity as an exercise in hard-wiring that influences choices.” In all these cases, the underlying concern is that Chinese economic influence will give way to larger strategic gains for Beijing in India’s immediate neighborhood.

India also has important economic interests to consider. New Delhi has to craft a balanced policy on Chinese-led initiatives given India’s large and growing appetite for infrastructure investment. For example, India was one of the first nations to sign on to the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, of which China is a majority stakeholder, with an authorized capital of $100 billion earmarked for development finance. Despite this, India is yet to respond to China’s invitation to join the B&R given its suspicions regarding the project.

At the same time, the Modi administration has made infrastructure development a key priority, with a stated commitment to revitalize India’s moribund rural, power, and transportation sectors and to enhance domestic connectivity. India signed an agreement with Japan in December 2015 to build a high-speed rail in the Mumbai-Ahmedabad corridor using Japanese technology, financing, and technical assistance. Japan pledged a loan of $12 billion for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed rail (with a total cost of approximately $15 billion) at highly favorable terms for India. During the same visit, Abe committed $12 billion to Modi’s Make in India initiative, which aims to transform India into a global design, manufacturing, and export hub. Japan is a particularly attractive source of investment for India because of its technological expertise, long experience in implementing development projects, and commitment to timely delivery. The first phase of the Delhi Metro, for instance, was completed two years and nine months ahead of schedule.4

Additionally, India’s and Japan’s strategic interests converge in this area. By cooperating with India to develop connectivity projects in South and Southeast Asia, Japan has an opportunity to accomplish its objective of countering Chinese economic and strategic expansion in the region. Japan’s use of official development assistance as a tool of economic statecraft seems to be directed toward reinforcing its dominance as an aid donor while counterbalancing China’s expansion. China’s increasing military and political assertiveness in Japan’s immediate security environment is a key driver of this change. This convergence in strategic interests has provided a strong foundation for Modi and Abe to carry their countries’ bilateral relationship to new heights.

TOWARD GREATER ECONOMIC ENGAGEMENT

Consequently, to balance China’s influence in the region, both India and Japan have launched their own infrastructure development projects. The central features of this pushback are Japan’s Partnership for Quality Infrastructure (PQI) and collaborations in northeast India and on the Andaman and Nicobar Islands located off the Indian coast.

The PQI is an initiative for advancing Japan’s expertise in infrastructure development especially against the backdrop of an increasing competition to build economic corridors. The initiative was launched by Abe in May 2015. The Japanese government and the Asian Development Bank have committed $110 billion of infrastructure funding over the next five years. B&R, on the other hand, has multiple sources of funding that may total around $1 trillion, including the Silk Road Fund and potentially the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. While the PQI cannot directly compete with the scale and scope of the B&R, its comparative advantage lies in highlighting Japan’s extensive experience and expertise in building infrastructure. When announcing the project, Abe emphasized that “in order to make innovations extend to every corner of Asia, we no longer want a ‘cheap, but shoddy’ approach”—a statement widely read as a critique of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.

Underlining the convergence of interests in the India-Japan relationship, a joint statement released in 2015 by the two countries read: “Seeking the synergy between India’s ‘Act East’ policy and Japan’s ‘Partnership for Quality Infrastructure,’ the two Prime Ministers decided to develop and strengthen reliable, sustainable and resilient infrastructures that augment connectivity within India and between India and other countries in the region.”

Keeping its strategic interests in mind, India is seeking investment in its historically underdeveloped northeast region, particularly in key highways connecting India to Bangladesh and Myanmar that are crucial for boosting India’s road links to these countries and beyond. Following Modi’s visit to Japan in September 2014, both leaders affirmed their commitment to infrastructure and connectivity projects with a special emphasis on the development of India’s northeast region and increased connectivity between India and Southeast Asia.

Likewise, many of Japan’s upcoming infrastructure projects in India are focused on developing and connecting northeast India with Southeast Asia. The Japan International Cooperation Agency, the official body that coordinates ODA, is currently conducting feasibility studies on a series of joint projects with its Indian counterparts. India has requested Japanese support to build approximately 1,200 kilometers of roads in the hilly terrains of six northeastern Indian states.5 Among the projects selected, two highways have priority status: the Aizawl-Tuipang road on National Highway 54 in Mizoram and the Tura-Dalu road on National Highway 51 in Meghalaya.6 Japan has pledged an ODA loan of more than 96 billion yen (about $845 million) for both highways at minimal interest rates.

Beyond infrastructure development in northeast India, Japan has also invested in improving energy infrastructure on the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The islands provide the Indian Navy with significant access to the Malacca Strait, a key and strategic commercial route. Popularly referred to as India’s unsinkable aircraft carrier, these islands allow New Delhi to expand its maritime influence in the region. This is particularly important as India has watched China’s presence in the Indian Ocean grow with some concern, especially the recent docking of Chinese submarines in Colombo and Karachi.7 Given their distance from the mainland and environmental concerns, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands have remained underdeveloped. As strategic competition in the Indian Ocean increases, however, it is likely that calls for building infrastructure on the islands will only grow louder.

India and Japan are also keen to extend their economic strategic partnership to areas beyond South Asia. Modi’s November 2016 visit to Japan underlined the need for improved connectivity between Asia and Africa for a stable Indo-Pacific region. Apart from collaborations in South Asia, both leaders mentioned Afghanistan and Iran as likely sites of future cooperation, specifically citing infrastructure development for the Chabahar Port in Iran as an example. Joint collaboration in developing this port is a key endeavor given Chinese investments in developing the Gwadar Port in neighboring Pakistan. An increasing Chinese presence in the Indian Ocean is of particular concern to New Delhi. Abe also talked about “the confluence of two seas” (the Pacific and the Indian Oceans) during his speech to the Indian Parliament in 2007.

Looking further abroad, Abe and Modi also “underscored the importance of India-Japan dialogue to promote cooperation and collaboration in Africa … [and] promote the development of industrial corridors and industrial network in Asia and Africa.” Both nations are discussing funding mechanisms and development projects for a Pacific-Indian Ocean corridor, with a particular emphasis on investments in African nations. While the specifics of the corridor are still under consideration, this network could also be a strategic counter to China’s maritime B&R route connecting Southeast Asia to Europe through Middle Eastern and East African countries. By expanding their bilateral relationship to include joint infrastructure development across Asia and Africa, Abe and Modi are looking to leverage Japan’s economic and India’s strategic outreach beyond South Asia and in the broader Indo-Pacific Ocean region.

THE ROAD AHEAD

Going forward, India and Japan should develop a long-term strategy to identify specific geographical areas for further engagement. One additional area in which the two countries can work together could be Bangladesh’s Matarbari Island, where Japan is investing in the Bay of Bengal Industrial Growth Belt. Further, New Delhi and Tokyo could also initiate a dialogue with Sri Lanka on facilitating government-to-government assistance for critical maritime infrastructure like the Trincomalee Port. India could also provide investment to complement Japanese funding for a highway running between India, Myanmar, and Thailand that is now extending to Vietnam. Yet another focus could be boosting infrastructure in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, such as better port facilities and enhanced connectivity both on the islands as well as between the islands and the mainland. These improvements could eventually facilitate better military infrastructure on the strategically located islands.

Such planning and cooperation opens opportunities for both India and Japan to advance their national and regional interests. In doing so, Abe is formulating a more proactive role for Japan in maintaining global peace and security.8 Meanwhile, under the Modi administration, India is seeking to realize its great power ambitions and increase its influence in its neighborhood and beyond. Greater coordination and a detailed policy blueprint could help the two countries build a strong foundation for a defining partnership that realizes the full potential of Japan’s economic diplomacy and India’s regional aspirations.

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