General Awareness :India and Worlds-july,2014

(General Awareness For Bank's Exams)

India & the world

July - 2014

Bank in Shanghai, but presidency for India

BRICS countries ironed out their differences over the announcement of the BRICS bank and the contingent reserve fund. The two economic initiatives are the major announcements of the Fortaleza declaration.
Shanghai won out as the location for the headquarters for the BRICS bank with equal shareholding for all BRICS members. India would assume the first presidency of the bank, which would be named, as per the Indian suggestion, the “New Development Bank”.
The NDB, to be headquartered in Shanghai, will have an initial authorised capital of $100 billion and an initial subscribed capital of $50 billion equally shared by the five member countries.
What has clouded the bank’s future in recent months is the unexpected move by China to push forward the setting up of another financial institution — the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).
The AIIB is expected to focus on China and Southeast Asia, while the BRICS bank effort which would emphasise projects in the member countries and in Africa.
The AIIB move is being seen as an effort by China to challenge the influence of Japan in the region, as seen in Japanese influence in the functioning of the Asian Development Bank.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi also said that The U.N. Security Council and the IMF are in need of “urgent reform”.
He also pitched for a common outlook on global crises such as the conflict in Israel, Syria and Iraq, and called for BRICS countries to help “Afghanistan fight the forces of terrorism.” He said that cyber security was a priority for BRICS countries, and called for a united stand on “zero terrorism”.
Mr. Modi invoked mantra of “Vasudaiv kutumbakam” (the global family), and called for more “people to people” ties within the BRICS countries, including a BRICS university, more travel, scientific exchanges and sharing of healthcare facilities.

India links trade pact to food subsidies deal

India said at the WTO General Council meeting in Geneva that the failure of the trade body to work in the interests of all its members and to deliver meaningfully on the development mandate of the Doha Development Round would pose a far more serious risk to its credibility than any other factor.
India suggested that the adoption of the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) be postponed till satisfactory progress is made on the issue of finding permanent protection for India’s minimum support prices to farmers against the WTO subsidy caps that are benchmarked to food prices of the 1980s.
India said it was not opposed to the TFA but demanded that other decisions of Bali be taken forward in the same time frame and demanded that the adoption of the TF Protocol be postponed till a permanent solution on public stockholding for food security is found.
India proposed modifications to the Protocol, including setting December 31, 2014 as the deadline for finding a permanent solution on public stockholding for food security, Other suggestions include the immediate establishment of an institutional mechanism such as a dedicated Special Session of the Committee on Agriculture to arrive at the permanent solution by the deadline.
India pointed out that the developing countries had accepted the Bali package in good faith reassured by the renewed affirmation of commitment to the Doha Development Agenda and its development dimension

Chinese rail lines up to India border

China is planning the construction of two railway lines in Tibet that will extend up to the border with India and are expected to be completed by 2020.
The railway lines will run from the town of Shigatse, which next month will be connected to the Qinghai-Tibet railway line that extends to Lhasa.
Railway line will be further extended during the 13th five year plan period (2016-2020), running to two regions near the border with India: Yatung, a trade centre close to Sikkim and Bhutan, and to Nyingchi in the east, near the Arunachal Pradesh border.
A third railway line will be build to Gyirong, where there is a trade and border checkpoint connecting Tibet’s Yatung county and Nepal.
It will accelerate transportation of the mineral products, which could only be transmitted through highways that often risk being cut off during rainy seasons or see vehicle turnovers, the bargaining chips will be increased on the Chinese side if people in the South Tibet region see better economic development in southwestern Tibet.

India to host IBSA Summit next year

India will be hosting the 7th IBSA (India-Brazil-South Africa) Summit in 2015.
IBSA is a trilateral initiative amongst India, Brazil and South Africa “to promote, inter-alia, South-South cooperation and exchange”.
The platform was announced, following a meeting of the foreign ministers of the three countries in Brasilia in 2003, through the adoption of the Brasilia Declaration.
The IBSA summit involves consultations at the Heads of State level while meetings between Ministers and officials are held at the Trilateral Joint Commission and Focal Point levels respectively.
New Delhi would also be hosting the India Africa Forum in December this year.

India, Brazil to expand trade

Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff and two countries signed agreements on cooperation in the field of environment and remote sensing.
During the meeting, the two heads of nations agreed to take steps to further expand and diversify trade and investment flows and deepen cooperation in agriculture and dairy science, conventional and renewable energy, space research and application, defence, cyber security and environment conservation.
They also agreed to intensify cooperation in international forums and multilateral institutions, including the G20.
The two sides signed Memoranda of Understanding on environment; on cooperation in augmentation of a Brazilian earth station for receiving and processing data from Indian Remote Sensing satellites; and on cooperation in the establishment of a consultation mechanism on mobility and consular issues.

BRICS summit to reflect new global political architecture

Global political issues such as the unrest in Iraq and Ukraine and the surveillance of world leaders by the U.S. National Security Agency are likely to find their way into the discussions at the BRICS summit.
In particular, BRICS countries will announce the BRICS bank and contingency reserve fund as a counterpoint to the U.S.-led World Bank and International Monetary Fund.
BRICS countries have areas of cooperation on various subjects, from energy to education, and there are new proposals, such as a Brazilian suggestion on the creation of a statistics platform different from the OECD methodology (The OECD analyses GDP, employment and other indices).

Germany seeks swift response on spook

German ministers called for a swift response from the U.S. to allegations of spying by a suspected double agent, which have raised fears of fresh tensions between the two allies.
Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere in pre-released excerpts from Monday’s Bild newspaper called for a “quick and clear” statement by the U.S. on the allegations.
Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said in a tweet, following reports of U..S spying that have sparked anger in Germany after revelations the NSA allegedly tapped Chancellor Angela Merkel’s phone. The U.S. ambassador, who was called to a meeting at the foreign ministry late on Friday, had been told Washington is expected to shed light on the reports “as quickly as possible.
The 31-year-old employee of the German foreign intelligence agency known as the BND arrested last week had been working for the CIA for around two years.
“All signs indicate that he was acting for the Americans,” the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung (FAS ) Sunday newspaper quoted an unnamed senior official at Germany’s foreign intelligence service as saying.

India, U.S., Japan joint naval exercise in Pacific

India, the United States and Japan are embarking on joint naval manoeuvres in the Pacific Ocean on Thursday as part of the Malabar series of exercises. The exercise, in which 800 personnel from the Navy will participate, follows the U.S.’s strategic pivot to Asia — a doctrine that will result in the shifting of a bulk of American naval assets in the Asia-Pacific over the next decade.
The shift in the U.S. military posture is seen as part of a new initiative to contain China. However, Indian officials say that India will exercise its “strategic autonomy” but will not participate in a U.S. led counter-China policy with Japan and Australia as partners.
The Navy is fielding a frigate, a destroyer, and a supply vessel in the week-long exercise meant to focus on anti-piracy and anti-terrorism operations. The three countries earlier participated in joint exercises in 2009, and Singapore and Australia were also part of the manoeuvres in 2007. This exercise follows the Indra-14 drills that India and Russia held in the Sea of Japan.

India lags behind BRICS on human development

According to the 2014 UNDP Human Development Report, India’s human development index has improved very slightly but remains among the median countries in terms of human development, just seven places above Bangladesh.
The Human Development Index is a composite index that measures income, education (average years of education completed by adults, and expected years of education for children entering school) and health (life expectancy).
With an HDI value of 0.586 out of a maximum possible 1, India is ranked 135. India’s human development index improved slower in the 2000s than it did in the 1980s despite much faster economic growth.
When inequality is factored in, India loses nearly 30% of its HDI value. India’s human development indicators are also substantially different for men and women; the HDI for men alone is much higher at 0.627, while the HDI for Indian women alone is just 0.519.
The report cites ILO estimates that a “basic social floor - universal basic old age and disability pensions, basic childcare benefits, universal access to essential health care, social assistance and a 100-day employment scheme” would cost India less than 4 per cent of its GDP.