Current Affairs for IAS Exams – 03 December 2016

:: National ::

Heart of Asia conference

The annual conference is taking place amid heightened tension between India and Pakistan in the wake of the audacious terror attack on Nagrota Army base and there was no clarity on an Indo-Pak bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the conclave.
Being attended by nearly 40 countries and leading groupings like the European Union, the annual conference of the Heart of Asia —is deliberating on various challenges facing Afghanistan, including revival of a peace process in the conflict-ridden country.
Senior officials of all 14 countries, including India, China, Russia, Iran and Pakistan, and representatives of 17 supporting nations were deliberating on a vast range of issues facing the region including its complex security scenario and dealing with threat of terrorism, radicalisation and extremism.
Issues like enhancing Afghanistan’s connectivity with South and Central Asian countries to boost trade were being discussed at the senior officials’ meeting which was co-chaired by India’s Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar and Deputy Foreign Minister of Afghanistan Hikmat Khaleel Karzai.
Pakistani Prime Minister’s Foreign Affairs Advisor Sartaj Aziz is representing Islamabad at the Ministerial conference on December 4, 2016, which will be jointly inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.
The conference, whose theme is security and prosperity, will also deliberate on major connectivity initiatives including Chabahar project, a five-nation railway project.
There may be deliberations on TAPI (Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India) gas pipeline project.
The Heart of Asia-Istanbul Process was launched in 2011 and the participating countries include Pakistan, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, China, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan and the United Arab Emirates.
The platform was floated to encourage security, political and economic cooperation between Afghanistan and its neighbours.
The countries which support the initiative are Australia, Canada, Denmark, Egypt, France, Finland, Germany, Iraq, Italy, Japan, Norway, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Britain and the U.S.
Amritsar, which is not very far from the Indo-Pak border, has been brought under a heavy security cover in view of the conference, a major international event being hosted by the city for the first time in many years.

:: International :

Iceland’s Pirate Party to form new government

Iceland's president invited the anti-establishment Pirate Party to form a government, after both the right and left-wing parties each failed in their bids.
President Gudni Johannesson made the announcement after meeting with the head of the Pirates parliamentary group, Birgitta Jonsdottir.
Iceland held snap legislative elections on October 29, in which none of the seven parties or alliances obtained a clear majority.
Giving the Pirate Party, which came third in the election, the chance to build a government has been seen as a bold move that is not guaranteed to be a success. With voters keen to see political change, the small and controversial Pirate Party had vowed during the election campaign to implement radical institutional reforms for more direct democracy and greater transparency in public life. It won 14.5 percent of votes, less than pollsters had predicted.

UAE-based Indian teen, wins Children's Peace Prize (Register and Login to read Full News)

:: Business and Economy ::

EC must consider state funding of polls: Nirmala

Commerce & Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the Election Commission of India (ECI) needs to look into the proposal for state funding of elections to combat the influence of cash and black money in them.
Pointing out that the government had rescued exporters through incentives to address their problems stemming from weak external demand, she said while the government appreciates exporters welcoming the demonetisation policy, her Ministry now expects them to shift to non-cash modes for their transactions.
Ms. Sitharaman said Ministry officials were surprised when exporters recently informed them that many workers still did not have accounts.