Current Affairs for IAS Exams – 09 December 2016

Current Affairs for IAS Exams – 09 December 2016

:: National ::

India, U.S. talk defence partnership

  • India and the U.S. finalised the specifications for designating India a ‘Major Defence Partner’ of the U.S.

  • This status puts India on a par with the closest allies and partners of the U.S. The agreement was reached between Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and U.S. Secretary of Defence Ashton Carter in Delhi. India was accorded this status during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Washington in June.

  • The finalisation reached pertains to U.S. licensing rules and stipulations on which non-papers were exchanged by both sides. This status is bestowed upon the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) countries and the U.S. treaty allies such as Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Japan and South Korea.

  • In the past two years, some major agreements were signed, including the Defence Framework Agreement in 2015, which laid a blueprint for collaboration between the defence establishments and the logistics support agreement Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA).

:: International ::

India, Russia eye reversing gas flow to China

  • India is in early talks with Russia to swap natural gas with China and Myanmar as an alternative to building the world’s most expensive pipeline costing close to $25 billion.

  • The two nations had in October signed an initial pact for building a 4,500 km to 6,000 km long pipeline from Siberia to the world’s third-biggest energy consuming nation.

:: Business and Economy ::

Centre textile exports goal ‘hard to achieve’

  • The government admitted it may be “hard to achieve” the $48 billion target for textiles and garment exports for 2016-17, mainly because of less demand in major markets such as the U.S., EU and China.

  • Overall exports of textiles and garments from India in 2015-16 was $40 billion, falling way short of the $47.5 billion target.

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Sources: Various News Papers & PIB