(Current Affairs) India and The World | November: 2016

India & The World

Vice-President concluded three-day visit to Hungary (Free Available)
India declared its commitment to play role in energising the Bay of Bengal community (Free Available)
India offered to help in reconciliation of Myanmar (Free Available)
India extended support to Myanmar (Free Available)
Sino-Indian military exercise in Ladakh (Free Available)
A support scheme for the Nitaqat to help Indian workers (Free Available)
India and Russia called for collective action against terrorism (Only for Online Coaching Members)
India and Russia to bring back old dynamism (Only for Online Coaching Members)

Vice-President Hamid Ansari concluded his three-day visit to Hungary and flew to Algiers on the next leg of the two-nation trip.
He called on President Janos André at the presidential palace after a meeting with the Speaker of the National Assembly, Laszlo Kover, at Parliament House in the forenoon.
Vice-President drove down from Budapest to the quaint resort town of Balatonfured and paid homage to the memory of Rabindranath Tagore who in 1926 spent a few weeks there 90 years ago.
He was convalescing here for a few weeks after suffering a heart ailment during a visit to Budapest, where he arrived on October 26. Tagore loved Hungary and has written of it.

India declared its commitment to play an “asymmetric” role in energising the Bay of Bengal community that held its first global diplomatic outreach during the weekend with the BRICS countries.
Diplomats said the response of BIMSTEC countries to India’s call for greater engagement has rejuvenated the organisation, and diplomats are now “duty-bound” to take the organisation to a cooperative future.
BIMSTEC-BRICS outreach eclipsed the SAARC event that was planned for Islamabad in November but was postponed after several member countries withdrew, citing cross-border terrorism and Pakistan’s interventionist policy.
However issues of unsettled borders, refugee issues and ethnic tension among BIMSTEC member countries would pose a challenge to the grouping, especially the Rohingya issue between Bangladesh and Myanmar,

Mr. Modi, in his speech welcoming the BIMSTEC leaders, laid down an entire array of tasks for the members, including greater coordination in law enforcement, trade and commerce and digital symmetry.
“With 1.5 billion people and a combined GDP of $2.5 trillion, the countries of BIMSTEC have shared aspirations for growth, development, commerce, and technology.”

India has offered to help in Myanmar’s national reconciliation effort, officials said here, shortly after State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi began her first state visit to India, with a meeting at Rashtrapati Bhavan.
During the meeting with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, the issue of reconciliation came up again.
The Myanmarese leader received a ceremonial welcome at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Ms. Swaraj conveyed condolences on India’s behalf for the terror attack of October 9 which led to a week of violence that claimed dozens of lives in Rakhine province of Myanmar.
On October 16, Ms. Suu Kyi had expressed solidarity in the Goa BRICS-BIMSTEC for India’s fight against terrorism.
India’s proposal for “assistance” came a day after the Ministry of External Affairs announced that New Delhi is willing to play a more active role in stabilising and unifying the Bay of Bengal community, including Myanmar.

India extended support to Myanmar for a “better connected” future while welcoming State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi.
Both countries agreed to cooperate in security and strategic issues and signed three agreements.
Both sides signed three agreements following a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Ms. Suu Kyi, to assist insurance, power and banking sectors.
Reflecting on the agreements, Mr. Modi said the power agreement would help create a framework for advancing linkages between India and Myanmar.
The meeting between the two delegations was held three days after Ms. Suu Kyi attended the BRICS-BIMSTEC meet in Goa where she spoke about the “common concern” of terrorism.
Myanmar’s western province of Rakhine has been facing unrest since October 9 when a major terror strike killed several security personnel. Subsequently a major military campaign has begun to deal with the militants.
Mr. Modi’s comment on security cooperation between two countries came more than a year after India carried out military operation against militants along the Myanmar border.

India and China for the first time conducted military exercises in the state of Jammu and Kashmir in Eastern Ladakh amidst the growing uneasiness in the bilateral relationship.
The exercise comes in the backdrop of stalemate over India's multilateral disagreements with China over blacklisting of terrorists at the United Nations and membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).
In 2010, China had refused to issue a visa to the Northern Army Commander Lt. Gen. B.S. Jaswal as part of a high-level exchange saying he “controlled” a disputed area.
This is the second joint tactical exercise under the “China-India Cooperation 2016” and was held in the Chushul area, where the two countries fought a brief but intense war in 1962.
The first exercise was held on the Chinese side in February in the area of Border Personnel Meeting Hut at Chushul Garrison of Eastern Ladakh, along with Chinese troops of Moldo Garrison.

A support scheme for the Nitaqat (’Saudi-sation’ of the workforce), introduced by Saudi Arabia this week, is expected to benefit a large number of Indian expatriates facing retrenchment.
Particularly relieved are many Keralites whose jobs in shops and companies had been under threat.
According to the new support scheme, business establishments in yellow and red categories can continue to employ the expatriates after paying a special monthly fee.
As per the support scheme, an employer will have to pay a fee of 3,600 Saudi Arabian Riyal (SAR) for avoiding the appointment of a Saudi citizen.
However, the higher the number of Saudis to be appointed, the more the fee to be paid to the government. For every second Saudi national not appointed, the company will have to pay SAR 4,200.
The support scheme has come at a time when there were fears among Indians about a possible forced retirement at 60.