(Current Affairs) India and The World | June: 2014

India & The World

India- China Strategic Dialogue

  • India has assured China of its commitment to consolidate strategic bilateral ties based on mutual trust as well as sensitiveness to each other’s concerns and aspirations, as their top diplomats held the annual strategic dialogue here amid the Indian general elections.

  • Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh co-chaired the sixth round of the Strategic Dialogue with her Chinese counterpart Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin at the picturesque Diaoyutai guest house.

  • The talks were held as the long-running Lok Sabha elections, hailed as the world’s biggest democratic exercise, got underway in India that will form a new government at the Centre.

  • Stating that the annual Strategic Dialogue is being held in less than a year, she told Liu that “it is symbolic of the fact that our relations are growing and our interactions are increasing”.

  • China said it was “confident” that India will stay committed to strong bilateral ties irrespective of whichever party comes to power after the polls.

Temporary Indian workers in US

  • More than one-third of the temporary workers in the US in 2012 were from India, which also accounted for the largest number of non-immigrants residing in the US that year, according to an official report.

  • Out of the 1.87 million resident non-immigrants in the US in 2012, India accounted for the maximum number of 430,000 residents, followed by China with 210,000 residents and South Korea with 140,000, the Department of Homeland Security said in its latest report.

  • Out of the 1.9 million non-immigrants residing in US in 2012, the largest categories were temporary workers (45 per cent, or 840,000) and students (38 per cent, or 720,000), the report said.

  • Slightly more than 50 per cent of the students were ages 18-24, the report said.

  • Among the top 10 leading countries of citizenship, Germany and France led the exchange visitor category, making up more than 60 per cent of the total, the report said.

  • California was the leading destination state, with 270,000 (15 per cent) of the total 1.9 million non-immigrants choosing to reside in that state.

  • The next leading destination states were New York (210,000), Texas (140,000), Florida (100,000) and Massachusetts (90,000).

  • The top 5 destination states accounted for 44 per cent of the total and the top 10 accounted for more than 60 per cent.

  • Compared to the nation as a whole, disproportionately large percentages of the temporary worker population resided in Texas, New Jersey and Washington. This was substantially larger than average percentages of the student population resided in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania.

32 Indian fishermen arrested

  • At least 32 Indian fishermen were arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy for allegedly poaching in the country’s waters off the coast of the Delft islet in Jaffna.
  • The fishermen were being taken to the port of Kankesanturai to be handed over to the fisheries surveillance officials.
  • The Indian fishermen had apparently violated accord reached during January’s bilateral fishing talks to stop bottom trawling.

India-Pakistan-Iran pipeline

  • India is looking for an undersea route to source gas from Iran, bypassing Pakistan in the process, that is called  ”Peace Pipeline”. This pipeline, was now technically feasible after the success of the North Sea undersea pipeline.

  • If Iran was looking at the cheapest way to get gas to customers, it would prefer European customers. But what Iran had in mind was providing spillover benefits of the surface pipeline to the region it passes through, especially the Makran Plateau common to both Pakistan and Iran and where poverty has fuelled subversive tendencies.

  • And, the sources suggested that the future of the IPI pipeline was entwined with the Chah-bahar port as Iran was keen to ensure that this town and the surrounding region of Sistan-Baluchistan Province also gained from the availability of gas.

  • Just 72 km from the Pakistani port of Gwadar being built with Chinese help, the first phase of developing the Chah-bahar port is nearly over.

  • India and Iran have held several rounds of talks on sharing operations and developing the port.

  • The biggest problem is despite deep energy and civilisational links, India and Iran are unfamiliar with each other’s processes and systems of doing business in other areas.

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