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newstfionline · 4 years

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Tuesday, December 22, 2020

Canada’s Ontario to go on province-wide shutdown Dec. 26 (AP) Ontario on Monday announced a province-wide shutdown because of a second wave of COVID-19 in Canada’s most populous province. The lockdown will be put in place for southern Ontario from Dec. 26 until Jan. 23, but will lift for northern Ontario on Jan. 9. Ontario has had seven straight days of more than 2,000 cases a day. Modeling shows that could more than double in January. Health officials earlier said a four- to six-week hard lockdown could significantly stop the spread of COVID-19. Toronto, Canada’s largest city, had already closed restaurants for indoor dining but schools remained open. All high schools in Ontario will now be closed for in-person learning until Jan. 25. Elementary schools will be closed until Jan. 11.

Congress Strikes Long-Sought Stimulus Deal to Provide $900 Billion in Aid (NYT) Congressional leaders on Sunday reached a hard-fought agreement on a $900 billion stimulus package that would send immediate aid to Americans and businesses to help them cope with the economic devastation of the pandemic and fund the distribution of vaccines. The deal would deliver the first significant infusion of federal dollars into the economy since April, as negotiators broke through months of partisan gridlock that had scuttled earlier talks, leaving millions of Americans and businesses without federal help as the pandemic raged. While the plan is roughly half the size of the $2.2 trillion stimulus law enacted in March, it is one of the largest relief packages in modern history. The agreement was expected to provide $600 stimulus payments to millions of American adults earning up to $75,000.

Trump’s legacy: He changed the presidency, but will it last? (AP) The most improbable of presidents, Donald Trump reshaped the office and shattered its centuries-old norms and traditions while dominating the national discourse like no one before. He smashed conceptions about how presidents behave and communicate, offering unvarnished thoughts and policy declarations alike, pulling back the curtain for the American people while enthralling supporters and unnerving foes—and sometimes allies—both at home and abroad. While the nation would be hard-pressed to elect another figure as disruptive as Trump, it remains to be seen how much of his imprint on the office itself, occupied by only 44 other men, will be indelible. Already it shadows the work of his successor, President-elect Joe Biden, who framed his candidacy as a repudiation of Trump, offering himself as an antidote to the chaos and dissent of the past four years while vowing to restore dignity to the Oval Office. “For all four years, this is someone who at every opportunity tried to stretch presidential power beyond the limits of the law,” said presidential historian Michael Beschloss. “He altered the presidency in many ways, but many of them can be changed back almost overnight by a president who wants to make the point that there is a change.”

Mexican president expects no conflicts with Biden administration (Reuters) Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Monday his weekend call with U.S. President-elect Joe Biden was “very friendly” and that he expect relations to be positive with the new Democratic administration taking office in January.

World closes borders to Britain as new coronavirus strain breeds panic (Reuters) A slew of countries closed their borders to Britain on Monday over fears of a highly infectious new coronavirus strain, heightening global panic, causing travel chaos and raising the prospect of UK food shortages days before the Brexit cliff edge. India, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, Russia, Jordan and Hong Kong suspended travel for Britons after Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned that a mutated variant of the virus, up to 70% more transmissible, had been identified in the country. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Oman closed their borders completely. Several other nations have suspended travel from Britain including France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Austria, Ireland, Belgium, Israel and Canada. France shut its border to arrivals of people and trucks from Britain, closing off one of the most important trade arteries with mainland Europe. As families and truck drivers tried to navigate the travel bans to get back home in time for Christmas, British supermarket chain Sainsbury’s said shortages would start to appear within days if transport ties were not quickly restored.

Britons scramble for residency in Spain and Portugal ahead of Brexit (Reuters) In October, Michelle Jones and her husband Gary boarded a ferry in England for a new life in Spain. Had they left it beyond Britain’s period of transition out of the European Union, things would have been much more complicated. “We haven’t got a choice—it’s now or never,” the former housing association worker said at the hairdressing salon she has taken over in the resort town of Fuengirola in southern Spain. Britain formally left the European Union on Jan. 31 after its 2016 referendum, but since then it has been in a transition period under which rules on free travel and trade remain unchanged. That period ends on Dec. 31. Fourteen European countries, including Portugal and Spain, will grant Britons arriving before Dec. 31 the right to five years of residency. Other countries have tougher post-Brexit requirements, asking all Britons to re-apply after the transition period. Ahead of the deadline, some people have brought forward retirement plans and others have taken advantage of being able to work from home to move.

Skiing (Financial Times) The European Alps are home to a third of the world’s 2,084 ski resorts, and typically generate €28 billion in revenues. That is roughly 7 percent of the overall European Union tourism market. Though geographically compact, the Alps are the global seat of skiing, and in a typical year are host to about 43 percent of worldwide skier visits, considerably higher than North America (21 percent), the Asia Pacific region (16 percent), and other parts of Western Europe (10 percent). Naturally, this season will not be generating 28 billion euros. France has shut down all ski lifts through January 7, resorts in Italy and Austria are closed, and the Swiss are going to do their own thing but will cut ties with neighbors for the duration of the crisis.

Nepal Falls Into Political Turmoil. China and India Are Watching. (NYT) Nepal’s top leader dissolved Parliament on Sunday amid infighting among members of the governing party, throwing into doubt the political future of a strategically important Himalayan country where China and India have long jockeyed for influence. The prime minister, K.P. Sharma Oli, called for the dissolution of the lower house of Parliament despite protests from his own Nepal Communist Party and opposition groups, including the largest, Nepali Congress. Nepal is now set to hold elections starting in late April, more than a year earlier than the expected vote in November 2022. Mr. Oli made his move in the face of rising dissatisfaction with his job performance even within the ranks of his own party. He was elected to a second stint as prime minister in 2017 on promises of tamping down corruption and forging stronger ties with China and its economic growth machine. But Mr. Oli’s administration has been plagued with its own corruption allegations as well as criticism of his government’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, which has devastated an economy that has long depended on tourism and on remittances from its citizens abroad.

Rockets fired at U.S. embassy land inside Baghdad’s Green Zone, damaging compound (Reuters) At least eight Katyusha rockets landed in Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone in an attack targeting the U.S. Embassy, causing some minor damage on the compound on Sunday, the Iraqi military and the embassy said on Sunday. The Iraqi military said an “outlaw group” fired eight rockets. Most of the missiles hit a residential complex and a security checkpoint inside the zone, damaging buildings and cars and wounding one Iraqi soldier, a military statement said. U.S. officials blame Iran-backed militia for regular rocket attacks on U.S. facilities in Iraq, including near the embassy in Baghdad. No known Iran-backed groups have claimed responsibility.

Spyware targets phones of Al-Jazeera reporters (AP) Dozens of journalists at Al-Jazeera, the Qatari state-owned media company, have been targeted by advanced spyware in an attack likely linked to the governments of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, a cybersecurity watchdog said Sunday. Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto said it traced malware that infected the personal phones of 36 journalists, producers, anchors and executives at Al-Jazeera back to the Israel-based NSO Group, which has been widely condemned for selling spyware to repressive governments. Most unnerving to the investigators was that iMessages were infecting targeted cellphones without the users taking any action—what’s known as a zero-click vulnerability. Through push notifications alone, the malware instructed the phones to upload their content to servers linked to the NSO Group, Citizen Lab said, turning journalists’ iPhones into powerful surveillance tools without even luring users to click on suspicious links or threatening texts. Citizen Lab, which has been tracking NSO spyware for four years, tied the attacks “with medium confidence” to the Emirati and Saudi governments, based on their past targeting of dissidents at home and abroad with the same spyware. The two countries are embroiled in a bitter geopolitical dispute with Qatar in which hacking and cyber surveillance have increasingly become favored tools.

In Tigray Conflict, Displaced Children Suffer (NYT) UM RAKUBA, Sudan—The Um Rakuba refugee camp is filling again, stifling in the afternoon sun in eastern Sudan, and there are children everywhere. More than 51,000 Ethiopians have fled their country because of the military’s offensive in the restive region of Tigray, and more than 19,000 of them are here at Um Rakuba. Almost a third of the Ethiopian refugees are children, with at least 361 of them arriving unaccompanied, according to the United Nations refugee agency. Many of the unaccompanied children said they were separated from their families as they bolted from their homes in the middle of the night, trekking hours and days with nothing but the clothes on their backs to reach safety. “It is quite heartbreaking,” Filippo Grandi, the U.N. high commissioner for refugees, said in an interview in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum. “For an emergency that is relatively small in numbers, I have hardly seen such a high level of people separated from their families, many children separated.”

The food industry and academic studies (Food Dive) A new study published in the journal Plos One reported that in 2018, 13 percent of research articles published in the 10-most-cited nutrition academic journals were funded at least in part by the food industry. Of those funded by the industry, 56 percent reported favorable findings for the industry backing them financially, vastly higher than the 10 percent of articles that were not paid for by the food industry that reported industry favorable outcomes.

#headlines #news

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eshanpatil · 2 years

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Add right talent at reduce cost with Indian PEO

Finding “local high quality talent” is indeed a challenge in countries like the US, UK, most European countries and Australia. It is not affordable. Talented people are in demand in large businesses houses having deep pockets. These large businesses are also fishing for talent in the same talent. Result, higher salaries, high rate of job switching and reduced loyalty towards employers. This creates a perfect environment for an unstable workforce, something that SMEs cannot sustain.

How can small business owners and SMEs overcome this challenge?

By thinking out of the box. Looking for high quality talent outside your local area or even overseas. In eastern countries where English is their second language. Countries like India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Vietnam, Philippines, and Singapore are all multicultural countries that conduct business in English. Their workforce is largely graduates from colleges and universities where English is the second language.

Amongst all these nations, India has the largest pool of high quality talent and is the undisputed leader. India has come of age after 2014, post the Narendra Modi led BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) government came to power. Here is what the Indian prime minister’s website says about India’s recent achievements – https://www.pmindia.gov.in/en/governance-track-record/

With such massive transformational initiatives underway there is no doubt that India has become the “go to” place for hiring talent as well as a lucrative 1.3Billion strong market. Several G20 countries like the US, the UK, Australia and countries from the European Union have started flocking to India to access its market and source high-quality talent.

This is evident from the fact that many countries including Australia and the UK have decided to increase their trade with India and have signed bilateral free trade agreements. Google launched their digital wallet platform and online payment system G-Pay in India first before rolling it out to the rest of the world.

The billionaire investor Vinod Khosla once said, “Educational competition in India and societal chaos helps hone their (Indian tech professional’s) skills in addition to the rigorous technical education.”

According to Wikipedia in 2020, India has over 1000 universities, with a break up of 54 central universities, 416 state universities, 125 deemed universities, 361 private universities and 159 Institutes of National Importance which include AIIMS, IIMs, IIITs, IISERs, IITs and NITs among others.

Some of the world’s premier business houses are relocating their significant business operations to India including manufacturing plants like Apple Inc. These business units are not just coders but they undertake deep sophisticated work in the field of data science, strategy development, sophisticated design, state-of-the-art software development in the field of AI, Deep & Machine learning, IoT, AR, VR, Drones and research in several other cutting edge sectors.

Wouldn’t you want to tap into this amazing opportunity?

There was a time when this was really difficult because of complex regulations and inefficiencies in the Indian legal systems. This has all changed. Indian states are making rapid changes. There is a healthy competition to attract business investments. As a result, India has jumped 79 positions from 142nd (2014) to 63rd (2019) in the Ease of Doing Business ranking since Honorable prime minister Shri Narendra Modi has took over.

According to sources in the MF and the UN, India’s economy has become the one of the largest in the world with a GDP of $2.94 trillion, overtaking the UK and France in 2019 to take the fifth spot. India’s GDP (PPP) is $10.51 trillion, exceeding that of Japan and Germany. Now India is aiming to become a $25 trillion economy before this government goes to the polls again in 2027.

How is Remunance poised to offer you a strategic advantage?

Remunance is uniquely positioned to harness this opportunity for you. Remunance is an Indian business modeled on the basis of US PEO companies and PEO service providers (professional employer organization) and the European EOR (Employer of Record) companies, making it really easy for foreign firms to hire high quality Indian talent.

Pioneering the way forward in India

Remunance is pioneering the way forward in India to create a brand new PEO industry. Never before was this even thinkable, leave aside actually having a functional remote team running within 3 weeks without having a legal business entity in India. Up until a few years ago businesses used to “outsource” projects to Indian IT companies which spawned huge growth in the IT sector during the 80s and 90s. India became a world leader in IT service. Now Indian companies are building their own platforms and products. India has recently hit a century of unicorns and growing. During the pandemic the Indian workforce has become a lot savvy in working with foreign firms. Now they routinely work as part of a global team.

Remunance makes it very easy for you

Remunance experienced HR professionals advertise the position, curate the applications received and present you with a few hand picked high-quality resumes that fit your selection criteria. Remunance’s experienced HR admin team coordinates interviews with you, across time zones. You interview and select the candidates, shortlist the winning candidate and Remunance does the rest including negotiating the salary as per your budget, issue appointment letters, background check, fix the joining date and manage their on-boarding. Couple of weeks later, you have a productive staff member onboard ready to work on your projects. Easy?

Click here if you would like to speak with one of our friendly strategy consultants to discuss your requirement.

Author

Sarang Pradhan

#PEO #employer of record services in india #professional employer organization #peo vs eor #peo companies #Professional Employment Organization #employer of record india #peo providers #list of peo companies #employer of record

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nepalenergyforum · 11 months

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Potential Power Pact: Nepal and India Poised to Seal Long-Term Energy Trade Deal This Month

The two sides are expected to ink the deal in the next Joint Steering Committee meeting Nepal and India are likely to sign the long-term power trade agreement initiated during Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal’s May-June visit to New Delhi within this month, a senior official at the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation said. Once signed, the 25-year agreement is expected to pave the…

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#electricity trade #India #India’s Haryana state #Ministry of Energy #Narendra Modi #NEA #Nepal #Nepal Electricity Authority #Power Trade Agreement #PPA #Pushpa Kamal Dahal

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southasiapowermarket · 3 years

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South Asia Regional Initiative for Energy Integration

In South Asia, the existing Cross-Border Electricity Trade between India and also its neighbors particularly Bhutan, Bangladesh and Nepal, offers a structure for advancing this collaboration at the local level. Cross Border Power Trade The existing power trade agreements are bilateral in nature and have profited the getting involved countries.

The continuous projects to set up a lot more cross-border affiliations between Bangladesh as well as India, and conversations on sea web links between India as well as Sri Lanka, reveal the capacity for local power industry cooperation. Building on the experience of bilateral electrical power sell the region, a multilateral structure for power sector teamwork can be established.

Regional electrical power teamwork might include the sharing of cross-border infrastructure, establishing regional power manufacturers, and also boosting competitors throughout regional markets. Cross Border Electricity Trade This would call for, among others, investment in new border affiliations and the development of integrated codes, policies, and also laws for the general development of the power industry. Given the significant capacity of hydro-electricity generation potential in South Asia it is anticipated that this would play a significant duty in any future method for local power industry teamwork.

Website: https://sari-energy.org/

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sarienergyei · 3 years

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In South Asia, the existing Cross-Border Electricity Trade between India and its neighbours namely Bhutan, Bangladesh and Nepal, provides a foundation for furthering this cooperation at the regional level.

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bohou860 · 3 years

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Democracy Dies in Darkness

This article is more than 1 year old

Global Opinions

Opinion: Here’s the real foreign policy disaster that Trump has created for the U.S.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping shake hands during a signing ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on June 8, 2018. (Mark Schiefelbein/AP)

Opinion by Robert D. Kaplan

October 14, 2019

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Robert D. Kaplan is managing director for global macro at Eurasia Group and author of “The Return of Marco Polo’s World: War, Strategy, and American Interests in the Twenty-first Century.”

The most fundamental, slow-moving geopolitical damage caused by President Trump’s foreign policy goes barely noticed. Trump’s chaotically aggressive China policy — despite the tentative trade deal — and his incoherent Russia policy have led to deep anxiety in China, Russia and beyond. The result is that China and Russia are bonding, while India has no choice but to quietly reach out to both.

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The convergence of Chinese and Russian foreign and defense policies has been ascribed to the fact that both are authoritarian regimes. That is a narrow version of the truth. They are very different kinds of authoritarian regimes, owing to vastly different histories, cultures and geographies. China’s is a deeply institutionalized, businesslike system overseeing a far more developed economy and technological base than Russia’s risk-tolerant oligarchic regime. The two countries harbor deep suspicions owing to a 2,600-mile land border that over the centuries has been disputed and fought over (most recently in 1969).

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Yet in recent years, the two countries have participated in military exercises, involving hundreds of thousands of troops and hundreds of aircraft, designed to practice large-scale maneuvers conducive to great power conflict, not irregular warfare or anti-terrorist campaigns.

Russia has acquiesced to Chinese military transfers to former Soviet Central Asia, even as China’s Belt and Road Initiative features energy transfers from these former Soviet republics to China. Then there are the 30 meetings over the past six years between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping, as well as substantial collaboration in energy, aerospace and so on. Much of this precedes Trump’s election, but the pace of Sino-Russian cooperation has clearly quickened since 2016.

Not only has China — though relieved by the limited breakthrough — been rattled by Trump’s trade war and on-again, off-again negotiating strategy, but Russia cannot have confidence in a U.S. administration that combines sanctions, increasing troop and armored vehicle strength in East-Central Europe, even as the U.S. president calls NATO “obsolete” and lavishes unseemly praise on Putin. China and Russia do not expect nor do they deserve friendship from the United States, but they do deserve a practiced consistency in U.S. policy. And they are not getting it.

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So rather than the United States moving closer to China to balance against the Soviet Union, as in the Nixon-Kissinger era — or moving closer to Russia to balance against China — China and Russia have been moving closer together to balance, in part, against a U.S. president who is dangerous precisely because he is impossible for them to analyze in conventional diplomatic terms.

Always remember that U.S. foreign policy is not just the actions that Washington takes abroad, but the record of presidential statements from the beginning to the end of an administration. This is what makes the present moment so disturbing for friends and foes alike.

India is a bellwether in all of this. While the media recently focused on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s triumphal visit to Texas (and the natural gas deal that came out of it), Modi and Putin signed 15 agreements last month in Vladivostok on defense, energy and other areas. Meanwhile, Modi and Xi have successfully scaled down a Himalayan border crisis that raged in 2017. There is also a personal chemistry between Modi and Xi, both obsessively self-disciplined and focused leaders. As India’s external affairs minister, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, said in August in Beijing, repeating what he had said about India and China in 2017, “At a time when the world is more uncertain, our relationship should be a factor of stability.”

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Just as the United States and China had much to disagree about when President Richard Nixon went to Beijing in 1972, India and China now disagree about Pakistan, Kashmir, Belt and Road, their quiet competition in Nepal and Sri Lanka, and so on. However, India and China do see it in their interests to be as close as possible under the circumstances.

The point is: Given the foreign policy turmoil in Washington, no one should ever take India’s turn toward the United States for granted, o

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brookstonalmanac · 3 years

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Events 5.28

585 BC – A solar eclipse occurs, as predicted by the Greek philosopher and scientist Thales, while Alyattes is battling Cyaxares in the Battle of Halys, leading to a truce. This is one of the cardinal dates from which other dates can be calculated. 621 – Battle of Hulao: Li Shimin, the son of the Chinese emperor Gaozu, defeats the numerically superior forces of Dou Jiande near the Hulao Pass (Henan). This victory decides the outcome of the civil war that followed the Sui dynasty's collapse in favour of the Tang dynasty. 1533 – The Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer, declares the marriage of King Henry VIII of England to Anne Boleyn valid. 1588 – The Spanish Armada, with 130 ships and 30,000 men, sets sail from Lisbon, Portugal, heading for the English Channel. (It will take until May 30 for all ships to leave port.) 1644 – English Civil War: Bolton Massacre by Royalist troops under the command of James Stanley, 7th Earl of Derby. 1754 – French and Indian War: In the first engagement of the war, Virginia militia under the 22-year-old Lieutenant colonel George Washington defeat a French reconnaissance party in the Battle of Jumonville Glen in what is now Fayette County in southwestern Pennsylvania. 1802 – In Guadeloupe, 400 rebellious slaves, led by Louis Delgrès, blow themselves up rather than submit to Napoleon's troops. 1830 – U.S. President Andrew Jackson signs the Indian Removal Act which denies Native Americans their land rights and forcibly relocates them. 1871 – The Paris Commune falls after two months. 1892 – In San Francisco, John Muir organizes the Sierra Club. 1905 – Russo-Japanese War: The Battle of Tsushima ends with the destruction of the Russian Baltic Fleet by Admiral Tōgō Heihachirō and the Imperial Japanese Navy. 1907 – The first Isle of Man TT race is held. 1918 – The Azerbaijan Democratic Republic and the First Republic of Armenia declare their independence. 1926 – The 28 May 1926 coup d'état: Ditadura Nacional is established in Portugal to suppress the unrest of the First Republic. 1932 – In the Netherlands, construction of the Afsluitdijk is completed and the Zuiderzee bay is converted to the freshwater IJsselmeer. 1934 – Near Callander, Ontario, Canada, the Dionne quintuplets are born to Oliva and Elzire Dionne; they will be the first quintuplets to survive infancy. 1936 – Alan Turing submits On Computable Numbers for publication. 1937 – Volkswagen, the German automobile manufacturer, is founded. 1940 – World War II: Belgium surrenders to Nazi Germany to end the Battle of Belgium. 1940 – World War II: Norwegian, French, Polish and British forces recapture Narvik in Norway. This is the first Allied infantry victory of the War. 1948 – Daniel François Malan is elected as Prime Minister of South Africa. He later goes on to implement Apartheid. 1958 – Cuban Revolution: Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement, heavily reinforced by Frank Pais Militia, overwhelm an army post in El Uvero. 1961 – Peter Benenson's article The Forgotten Prisoners is published in several internationally read newspapers. This will later be thought of as the founding of the human rights organization Amnesty International. 1964 – The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) is founded, with Yasser Arafat elected as it first leader. 1974 – Northern Ireland's power-sharing Sunningdale Agreement collapses following a general strike by loyalists. 1975 – Fifteen West African countries sign the Treaty of Lagos, creating the Economic Community of West African States. 1977 – In Southgate, Kentucky, the Beverly Hills Supper Club is engulfed in fire, killing 165 people inside. 1979 – Konstantinos Karamanlis signs the full treaty of the accession of Greece with the European Economic Community. 1987 – A 18-year-old West German pilot, Mathias Rust, evades Soviet Union air defences and lands a private plane in Red Square in Moscow, Russia. 1991 – The capital city of Addis Ababa falls to the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front, ending both the Derg regime in Ethiopia and the Ethiopian Civil War. 1995 – The 7.0 Mw  Neftegorsk earthquake shakes the former Russian settlement of Neftegorsk with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent). Total damage was $64.1–300 million, with 1,989 deaths and 750 injured. The settlement was not rebuilt. 1996 – U.S. President Bill Clinton's former business partners in the Whitewater land deal, Jim McDougal and Susan McDougal, and the Governor of Arkansas, Jim Guy Tucker, are convicted of fraud. 1998 – Nuclear testing: Pakistan responds to a series of nuclear tests by India with five of its own codenamed Chagai-I, prompting the United States, Japan, and other nations to impose economic sanctions. Pakistan celebrates Youm-e-Takbir annually. 1999 – In Milan, Italy, after 22 years of restoration work, Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece The Last Supper is put back on display. 2002 – The last steel girder is removed from the original World Trade Center site. Cleanup duties officially end with closing ceremonies at Ground Zero in Manhattan, New York City. 2003 – Peter Hollingworth resigns as Governor-General of Australia following criticism of his handling of child sexual abuse allegations during his tenure as Anglican Archbishop of Brisbane. 2004 – The Iraqi Governing Council chooses Ayad Allawi, a longtime anti-Saddam Hussein exile, as prime minister of Iraq's interim government. 2008 – The first meeting of the Constituent Assembly of Nepal formally declares Nepal a republic, ending the 240-year reign of the Shah dynasty. 2010 – In West Bengal, India, the Jnaneswari Express train derailment and subsequent collision kills 148 passengers. 2011 – Malta votes on the introduction of divorce; the proposal was approved by 53% of voters, resulting in a law allowing divorce under certain conditions being enacted later in the year. 2016 – Harambe, a gorilla, is shot to death after grabbing a three-year-old boy in its enclosure at the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden, resulting in widespread criticism and sparking various internet memes. 2017 – Former Formula One driver Takuma Sato wins his first Indianapolis 500, the first Japanese and Asian driver to do so. Double world champion Fernando Alonso retires from an engine issue in his first entry of the event.

#Events

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margdarsanme · 4 years

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NCERT Class 12 Political Science (World) Chapter 5 Contemporary South Asia

NCERT Class 12 Political Science Solutions (Contemporary World Politics)

Chapter 5 Contemporary South Asia

TEXTBOOK QUESTIONS SOLVED : Q 1. Identify the country: (a) The struggle among pro-monarchy, pro-democracy groups and extremists created an atmosphere of political instability. (b) A landlocked country with multi¬party competition. (c) The first country to liberalise the economy in the South Asian region. (d) In the conflict between the military and pro-democracy groups, the military has prevailed over democracy. (e) Centrally located and shares borders with most of the South Asian Countries. (f) Earlier the island had the Sultans as the head of state. Now, it is a republic. (g) Small savings and credit cooperatives in the rural areas have helped in reducing poverty. ( h ) A landlocked country with a monarchy.

Answer: (a) Nepal (b) Bhutan (c) India (d) Pakistan (e) India (f) Maldives (g) India (h) Nepal Q 2. Which among the following statements about South Asia is wrong? (a) All the countries in South Asia are democratic. (b) Bangladesh and India have signed an agreement on river-water sharing. (c) SAFTA was signed at the 12th SAARC Summit in South Asian politics. (d) The US and China play an influential role in South Asian politics.

Answer: (a) All the countries in South Asia are democratic. Q 3. What are some of the commonalities and differences between Bangladesh and Pakistan in their democratic experiences?

Answer: Bangladesh has been the part of Pakistan itself. Both of these countries bear some similarities and differences as follows: Commonalities 1. Both Bangladesh and Pakistan were under a military rule. 2. At both the places, the struggle for democracy took place in their own way. 3. Pakistan’s administration began under the command of General Ayub Khan and gave up due to dissatisfaction among people giving way to Yahya’s military rule and continued with the army rule though elections were held by military rulers to give a democratic shape to their own rule. 4. In the same way, Bangladesh drafted its own constitution to begin with democracy. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman formed presidential setup by abolishing all the parties except Awami Legue. But after his assassination the new military ruler Zia-ur-Rahman formed his own party and won elections in 1979. Later on he was also assassinated and another military leader Lt. Gen. H.M. Ershad took over. Differences 1. In Pakistan, military, clergy and land-owning aristocrats dominated socially to overthrow elected government whereas in Bangladesh the leaders and their party members dominated for the same. 2. Pro-military groups have become more powerful due to conflict with India in Pakistan whereas in Bangladesh, pro-military groups are powerful due to friendship and encouragement of India. Q 4. List three challenges to democracy in Nepal.

Answer: The three challenges to democracy in Nepal were the result of a triangular conflict between- 1. the monarchist forces 2. the democrats 3. the Maoists These challenges created massive, countrywide, pro-democracy protest in April 2006. Q 5. Name the principal players in the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka. How do you assess the prospects of the resolution of this conflict?

Answer: The principal players in the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka were Sinhala and Sri Lankan Tamils. After its independence, politics in Sri Lanka was dominated by the interests of Sinhala community who was hostile to Tamils, who migrated from India to be settled there. Sinhalese presumed Sri Lanka to be belonged to them only, hence no concession should be given to Tamils. This created militant Tamil nationalism i. e. ‘Ethnic conflict’. Despite the revenges of internal conflict Sri Lanka has maintained democratic political system and registered considerable economic growth and high level of human development. Q 6. Mention some of the recent agreements between India and Pakistan. Can we be sure that the two countries are well in their way to a friendly relationship?

Answer: Although Indo-Pakistan relations seem to be the story of endemic conflict and violence, there have been a series of efforts to manage tensions and build peace under the various agreements: 1. Agreed to undertake confidence building measures to reduce the risk of war. 2. Social activists and prominent personalities have collaborated to create an atmosphere of friendship. 3. Leaders have met at summits to better understanding. 4. Bus routes have been opened up between these two countries. 5. Trade between the two parts of Punjab has increased substantially in the last five years. 6. Visas have been given more easily. No, despite the above mentioned agreements and initiatives, we can not be sure that both the countries are well in their way to friendship, still some areas of conflict exist there to be sorted out, Q 7. Mention two areas each of cooperation and disagreement between India and Bangladesh.

Answer: Disagreement 1. Differences over the sharing of the Ganga and Brahmaputra river waters. 2. Illegal immigration to India. 3. Refusal to allow Indian troops to move through its territory. 4. Not to export natural gas to India. Cooperation 1. Economic relations have been improved considerably within last ten years. 2. Bangladesh is the part of India’s ‘Look East’ policy to link up with southeast Asia via Myanmar. 3. Cooperated on the issues of disaster management and environment. 4. Cooperation on identifying common threats and being more sensitive to each other’s needs. Q 8. How are the external powers influencing bilateral relations in South Asia? Take any one example to illustrate your point.

Answer: The external powers influence bilateral relations in South Asia because no region exists in the vacuum. It is influenced by outside powers and events no matter how much it may try to insulate itself from non-regional powers: 1. China and the US remain key players in South Asian politics. 2. Sino-Indian relations have improved significantly in the last ten years, but China’s strategic partnership with Pakistan remains a major irritant. 3. The demands of development and globalisation have brought the two Asian giants closer and their economic ties have multiplied rapidly since 1991. 4. The US enjoys good relations with both India and Pakistan and works as a moderator in Indo-Pak relations. 5. Economic reforms and liberal economic policies in both the countries have increased the depth of American participation. . _ 6. The large South Asian economy remains in the US and the huge size of population and markets of the region give America an added stake in the future of regional security and peace. Q 9. Write a short note on the role and the limitations of SAARC as a forum for facilitating economic cooperation among the South Asian Countries.

Answer: Role of SAARC: Role of SAARC can be identified as follows: 1. ‘South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation’ (SAARC) is a regional initiative among South Asian states to evolve cooperation since 1985 onwards. 2. It consists of seven members to encourage mutual harmony and understanding. 3. SAARC has initiated SAFTA (South Asian Free Trade Agreement) to free trade zones for wThole south Asia for collective economic security. 4. SAARC has projected on economic development of its member states to reduce their dependencies on the non-regional powers. Limitations: SAARC is growing slowly due to political differences among its member states— 1. Only the conflicts led to bilateral issues as Kashmir problem between India and Pak. 2. Some of the India’s neighbours fear that India intends to dominate them by influencing their societies and politics. 3. SAARC members are from among the developing or least developing countries which creates insufficiency of funds. Q 10. India’s neighbours often think that the Indian government tries to dominate and interfere in the domestic affairs of the smaller countries of the region. Is this a correct impression?

Answer: No, the impression is not correct because India makes efforts to manage its neighbours beyond its size and powers which can be justified on following grounds- 1. India often feels exploited by its neighbours. 2. On the other hand, India’s neighbours fear that India wants to dominate them regionally but India is centrally located who shares borders with other countries geographically, which should be accepted on mutual understanding. 3. India avoids political instability in its neighbouring states so that outsiders should not take advantage of influence in the region.

MORE QUESTIONS SOLVED

Very Short Answer Type Questions [1 Mark] Q 1. Fill in the blanks: The South Asian Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA) was signed by the members of in the year

Ans: SAARC, 2004. Q 2. Whose mediation resolved the Indus River water dispute between India and Pakistan?

Answer: The World Bank. Q 3. How long did East and West Pakistan remain together?

Answer: From 1947 to 1971. Q 4. What was the reason for the formation of SAARC?

Answer: The states of South Asia recognised cooperation and friendly relations among themselves which gave birth to the formation of SAARC for mutual trust and understanding among its member states. Q 5. What is the full form of SAARC?

Answer: SAARC: South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation. Q 6. Mention present status of Sri Lanka.

Answer: Sri Lanka has maintained a democratic political system alongwith a considerable economic growth i.e. Sri Lanka is one of the first developing countries to control population growth rate, liberalised economy and bears highest per capita Gross Domestic Product despite ongoing conflicts. Q 7. What does the MDP stand for?

Answer: MDP stands for Maldivian Democratic Party. Q 8. Who took the command over Pakistan after its first constitution was framed?

Answer: General Ayub Khan. Q 9. What does SPA stand for?

Answer: SPA stands for Seven Party Alliance to protest against monarchy in Nepal. Q 10. What was the former name of Sri Lanka?

Answer: Ceylon. Q 11. Mention changes that occurred in Maldives.

Answer: 1. Transformed into a republic with a presidential form of government in 1968. 2. In June 2005, parliament voted unanimously to introduce multi¬party system. 3. Democracy strengthened after 2005 elections. Q 12. What is meant by Geo-politics?

Answer: Geo-politics refers togetherness of countries who are bound with each other geographically and their interests are also interlinked politically and economically. Q 13. What do you mean by South Asia?

Answer: South Asia signifies a group of seven countries i.e. Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and the Maldives who stand for diversity in every sense but still constitute one geo¬political space. Q 14. How did LTTE emerge?

Answer: LTTE emerged 1983 onwards on the negligence of Tamil interest by Sri Lanka government. Hence, ‘Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam’ (LTTE) took birth demanding a seperate state for Tamil in Sri Lanka. Q 15. What does SAFTA stand for?

Answer: SAFTA: South Asian Free Trade Area Agreement.

Very Short Answer Type Questions [2 Marks]

Q 1. Mention the names of member states of SAARC.

Answer: India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Maldives. Q 2. Mention any two objectives of SAARC.

Answer: 1. To provide an integrated programme for regional development. 2. To accelerate economic growth, social progress in the region. Q 3. “Democracy in South Asia has expanded the global imagination of democracy”. Do you agree? Justify.

Answer: The various countries in South Asia have experienced mixed record of democracies and the people also share an aspiration for democracy to be flourished not only in rich or developed countries but in developing and underdeveloped countries also which can be drawn from the examples of Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Maldives, because— 1. Every ordinary citizen, rich or poor belonging to different religions view the idea of democracy positively and support the institutions of representative democracy. 2. They prefer democracy over any other form of democracy and think that democracy is suitable for their country. Q 4. Explain the problems that India have with Pakistan.

Answer: India have following problems with Pakistan: 1. The problem of Kashmir on the issues of Pak occupied Kashmir (Pok) and Line of Control (LOC). India claims Kashmir to be its integral part and Pakistan refuses to accept it. Hence, wars took place in 1965 and 1971, but issue remained unsettled. 2. Problems over starting issues like control of Siachin glacier and over acquisition of arms involved both the states acquiring nuclear weapons and missiles to deliver such arms against each other in 1990s. 3. Pakistan government has been blamed for using a strategy of low key violence by helping Kashmiri militants with arms, training, money and protection to carry out terrorist strikes against India. 4. Pak’s spy agency Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) is alleged to involve in various anti India campaigns. Q 5. “Military rule and democracy are the two sides of a coin in Pakistan”. Examine the statement.

Answer: Military rule and democracy co-exist or are the two sides of a coin can be examined with the following facts: 1. After the implementation of first constitution in Pakistan, General Ayub Khan took the command, but was overthrown by military general Yahya Khan due to dissatisfaction of rule. 2. Again in 1971, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto formed an elected government which was later removed by General Zia-ul- Haq in 1977. 3. 1982 onwards, pro-democracy movements took place resulting an elected democratic government in 1988 under leadership of Benazir Bhutto, replaced by Nawaz Sharif. 4. Nawaz Sharif was again removed by General Pervez Musharraf in 1999 and in 2005, he got himself elected as president but was later dethroned by the court. Q 6. What is Indus River Water Treaty? Mention its significance also.

Answer: India and Pakistan signed Indus River Water Treaty by the mediation of the world bank in 1960 over the issue of sharing of rivers of the Indus basin. This treaty has been survived despite many military conflicts between these two countries. . Q 7. Why did India help Bangladesh to get independence and how?

Answer: Bangladesh was created by the support of India because: 1. West Pakistan did not allow Awami League, an East Pakistani Party to form government despite winning all the seats. 2. East Pakistanis rebelled against and were suppressed by the army of West Pakistan, resulting large scale migration into India. 3. This created huge refugee problem for India. 4. Hence, India supported the demand of East Pakistanis financially and militarily. 5. In December 1971, a war took place between India and Pakistan and ended with the surrender of Pakistani forces by forming Bangladesh as an independent country. Q 8. Mention some points of agreement between India and Nepal.

Answer: India and Nepal enjoy the following agreements: 1. Allow their citizens to travel and work without visas and passport. 2. India is the largest aid giver to Nepal to provide financial and technical assistance in areas of trade, scientific cooperation, common natural resources and electricity generation. Q 9. Mention the features of SAFTA.

Answer: South Asian Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA) was signed by SAARC members in 2004 with the following features: 1. Formation of Free Trade Zone for whole south Asia. 2. To sustain mutual trade and cooperation among SAARC members. Q 10. Mention some other conflicts in South Asia except with that of India.

Answer: 1. Nepal and Bhutan as well as Bangladesh and Myanmar have disagreement over the migration of ethnic Nepalese into Bhutan and Rohingyas into Myanmar. 2. Bangladesh and Nepal bear some differences over the future of Himalayan river water.

Short Answer Type Questions [4 Marks]

Q 1. Despite the mixed record of democratic experience, the people of all the countries of South Asia share the aspiration of democracy.

Answer: The various countries in South Asia have experienced mixed record of democracies and the people also share an aspiration for democracy to be flourished not only in rich or developed countries but in developing and underdeveloped countries also which can be drawn from the examples of Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Maldives, because: 1. Every ordinary citizen, rich or poor and belonging to different religions view the idea of democracy positively and support the institutions of representative democracy. 2. They prefer democracy over any other form of democracy and think that democracy is suitable for their country. Q 2. Describe any two major issues of conflicts between India and Pakistan leading to the war of 1971.

Answer: The 1947-48 war resulted in the division of the province into Pakistan occupied Kashmir (Pok) and the Indian province of Jammu and Kashmir divided by the Line of Control (LOC). Pakistan claims Kashmir to be its part but India presumes it to be its integral part. Hence, these conflicts led to war in 1971 and India won but the issues remain unsettled. Q 3. Describe any four consequences of Bangladesh war of 1971.

Ans: 1. India supported the demand of East Pakistan financially and militarily. 2. The war of 1971 made Pakistani forces to surrender in East Pakistan. 3. Bangladesh was formed as an independent country. 4. Bangladesh drafted its constitution declaring faith in secularism, democracy and socialism. Q 4. Explain India’s changing relationship with Pakistan.

Answer: Although Indo-Pakistan relations seem to be story of endemic conflict and violence, there have been a series of efforts to manage tensions and build peace under the various agreements: 1. Agreed to undertake confidence building measures to reduce the risk of war. 2. Social activists and prominent personalities have collaborated to create an atmosphere of friendship. 3. Leaders have met at summits to create better understanding. 4. Bus routes have been opened up between these two countries. 5. Trade between the two parts of Punjab has increased substantially in the last five years. 6. Visas have been given more easily. Despite above mentioned agreements and initiatives, we cannot be sure that both the countries are well on their way to friendship, still some areas of conflict exist there to be sorted out. Q 5. Highlight any two issues of cooperation as well as confrontation each between India and Bangladesh. Or Explain any two points of conflict between India and Bangladesh.

Answer: Co-operation: 1. Economic relations have been improved considerably in last ten years. 2. Bangladesh is the part of India’s ‘Look East’ policy to link up South East Asia via Myanmar. 3. Both the countries have cooperated regularly on the issues of disaster management and environment. Confrontation: 1. Bear differences over several issues including the sharing of Ganga and Brahmaputra river water. 2. India is unhappy on the issues of denial of illegal immigration, refusal to allow Indian troops and not to export natural gas to India. Q 6. What is meant by SAARC? How can peace and cooperation be enhanced through it?

Answer: SAARC stands for South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation for mutual trust and understanding among states of South Asia. Role of SAARC: 1. SAARC is a regional initiative among South Asian states to evolve cooperation since 1985 onwards. 2. It consists of seven member’s to encourage mutual harmony and understanding. 3. SAARC has initiated SAFTA (South Asian Free Trade Agreement) to form free trade zones for whole South Asia for collective economic security. 4. SAARC has projected on economic development of its member states to reduce their dependencies on the non-regional powers. Q 7. Name the countries included in South Asia. How can peace and cooperation be enhanced in this region?

Answer: Countries included in South Asia are India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Maldives. South Asian countries are diverse in every sense, still constitute one geo¬political space by enhancing peace and cooperation in the following way- 1. People in all these countries share an aspiration of fair democracy. 2. South Asian members recognise the importance of cooperation and friendly relations among themselves. 3. SAARC is the regional initiative to evolve cooperation among member states. 4. SAARC members have signed South Asia Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA) to free trade for the whole of south Asia. Q 8. How was democracy restored in Nepal over monarchy? Explain

Answer: Nepal was a Hindu kingdom in the past and then a constitutional monarchy in the modern period for many years- 1. Throughout this period, the political parties and common people wanted to establish democracy, but the king retained full control with the help of army and restricted expansion of democracy. 2. The king accepted new democratic constitution in 1990 due. to pro-democracy movement but again in 2007, due to triangular conflict of monarchists, democrats and maoists, king abolished the parliament. 3. A massive countrywide pro¬democracy protest took place and achieved first major victory to force king to restore the house of representatives. 4. But Nepal’s transition to democracy is not complete. It is moving towards the framing of constituent assembly to France and its constitution. Q 9. Why did India and Nepal experience differences between themselves?

Ans: India and Nepal experience differences between themselves due to the following reasons- 1. Indian government expressed displeasure at the warm relationship between Nepal and China. 2. India is unhappy on inaction of Nepal government against anti-Indian elements. 3. The Maoist movement in Nepal is a security threat to India giving rise to Naxalite groups in various states of India from Bihar in the North to Andhra Pradesh in the South. Q 10. Mention some features of Indo-Bhutan relationship.

Answer: India does not have any major conflict with the Bhutanese government. 1. The efforts made by Bhutanese monarch to weed out the gurillas and militants from north-eastern India that operate in the country have been helpful to India. 2. India is involved in big hydroelectric projects in Bhutan and remains the Himalayan Kingdom’s biggest source of development aid.

Passage Based Questions [5 Marks]

1. Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions: Pakistan and Bangladesh have experienced both civilian and military rulers, with Bangladesh remaining democracy, in the Post Cold War period. Pakistan began the post cold war period with successive democratic governments under Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif respectively. But it suffered a military coup in 1999 and-has been run by a military regime since then. Till 2006, Nepal was a constitutional monarchy with the danger of the king taking over executive powers. In 2006, a successful uprising led to restoration of democracy and reduced the king to a nominal position, from the experience of Bangladesh and Nepal, we can say that democracy is becoming an accepted norm in the entire region of South Asia. Questions 1. How did Pakistan begin with Post Cold War period? 2. Mention two reasons for the aspiration of democracy in South Asia. 3. Why these findings are significant?

Answer: 1. Pakistan began with post cold war period with successive democratic government under Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif. 2. Ordinary citizens rich or poor or belonging to different religions or institutions view democracy more suitable and support them. 3. Because it was earlier believed that democracy could flourish and find support only in prosperous countries of the world. 2. Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions: No region exists in a vacuum. It is influenced by outside powers and events, no matter how much it may try to insulate itself from non-regional powers. China and the United States remain key players in South Asian politics. Sino-Indian relations have improved significantly in the last ten years, but China’s strategic partnership with Pakistan remains a major irritant. The demands of development and globalisation have brought the two Asian giants closer and their economic ties have multiplied rapidly since 1991. Questions 1. Which two countries have been referred to as outside powers? 2. Which are the two Asian giants and why they have been called so? 3. China’s strategic partnership with Pakistan is a major irritant for which country and why?

Answer: 1. The US and China. 2. India and China, because both of them have been considered as rising economic powers in the world. 3. India, because China has been seen as a contributor to Pakistan’s nuclear programme.

Long Answer Type Questions [6 Marks]

Q 1. Assess the positive and negative aspects of India’s relations with Bangladesh. Answer: Bangladesh was a part of Pakistan from 1947 to 1971. It consisted of the partitioned areas of Bengal and Assam from British India. The people of this region resented the domination of Western Pakistan and the imposition of Urdu language. Soon after the partition, they began protests against the unfair treatment meted out to the Bengali culture and language. They demanded autonomy for the eastern region. But the government dominated by the West Pakistan leadership refused their demand. The Pakistan army tried to suppress the mass movement of the Bengali people. Thousands were killed by the Pakistan army. This led a large scale migration into India, creating a huge refugee problem for India. The government of India supported the demand of the people of East Pakistan for their independence and helped them financially and militarily. This resulted in a war between India and Pakistan in December 1971 that ended in surrender of the Pakistan forces in East Pakistan and the formation of Bangladesh as an independent country. Q 2. How is the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) a major regional initiative by South Asian States to evolve co-operation through multilateral means? Assess.

Answer: Role of SAARC: Role of SAARC can be identified in the following ways: 1. ‘South Asia Association for Regional Co-operation’ (SAARC) is a regional initiative among South Asian States to evolve cooperation since 1985 onwards. 2. It consists of seven members to encourage mutual harmony and understanding. 3. SAARC has initiated SAFTA (South Asian Free Trade Agreement) to form free trade zones for whole South Asia for collective economic security. 4. SAARC has projected economic development of its member states to reduce their dependencies on the non-regional powers. South Asian free Trade Agreement (SAFTA) was signed by SAARC members in 2004 with the following features: 1. Formation of free trade zone for whole South Asia. 2. To lower trade tarrifs by 20%. 3. To sustain mutual trade and cooperation among SAARC members. Q 3. Like India why could democracy not take roots in Pakistan despite the fact that both the countries share a common part? Or Explain the factors responsible for Pak’s failure in building a stable democracy. Or Describe any two pro-democracy factors present in Pakistan which can pave the way for establishing a lasting democratic setup over there? Or “Since 1947 Pakistan has been experimenting with democratic system and the military rule”. In the light of above statement explain any two reasons why democratic system has not been stable there?

Answer: The following factors are responsible for Pakistan’s failure in building a stable democracy: 1. The lack of genuine international support for a democratic rule in Pakistan has encouraged to military to continue its dominance. The US and other countries have also supported military rule due to fulfilling their own interests. 2. Pakistan’s conflict with India has made paramilitary groups more powerful which have often said that political parties and democracy in Pakistan are flawed, that Pakistan’s security would be harmed by selfish minded parties and chaotic democracy, hence army stay in power is justified. 3. The social dominance of military, clergy, and owning aristocracy has led to frequent overthrow of elected governments and the establishing of military governments. 4. Global Islamic Terrorism and their apprehension that Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal might fall into hands of these terrorist groups, the military regime in Pakistan was seen as the protector of western interests in West Asia and South Asia. The two pro-democracy factors present in Pakistan that can pave the way for establishing a lasting democratic set up over there are: 1. Pakistan bears a courageous and entirely free press. 2. Pakistan enjoys strong human rights movement. Q 4. What are the major differences between SAARC and European Union as an alternative centres of poor?

Answer: 1. The European Union bears economic political-diplomatic and military influence all over the region and its closest neighbours whereas SAARC is limited towards its South Asian Region only. 2. The member states of European Union are maximum from among the developed countries while SAARC members are from among least developed countries (LOCs) 3. The EU behaves like a nation state by having its own anthem and currency but SARRC does not enjoy these. 4. The EU performance as an important bloc in international economic organisations such as WTO but SAARC has initiated SAFTA only to cooperate economically among its member states.

Picture/Map Based Questions [5 Marks]

Al. Study the picture given below and answer the questions that follow:

1. What does the cartoon represent? 2. What does the equations speak about? 3. “I’m always good at calculations”. What does this represent?

Answer: 1. Dual role of Pakistan’s ruler Pervez Musharraf as the president and as army General. , 2. These equations speak about dominance of one person militarily more rather than only president. 3. It shows the nation that Musharraf wants to command the country militarily and administratively both to strengthen his power because president’s survival is not easy without military support. 2. Study the picture given below and answer the questions that follow:

Questions 1. What does the cartoon represent? 2. Which animals do represent Sinhala and LTTE? 3. What does Sri Lankan leadership speak in the cartoon?

Answer: 1. Sri Lanka’s ethnic conflict between LTTE and Sinhala. 2. Sinhala by Lion, LTTE by Tiger. 3. Sri Lankan leadership is supposed to balance both Sinhala hardliners and Tamil militants while negotiating peace. B. On a political outline map of world locate and label the following and symbolise them as indicated:

Questions 1. A landlocked country with multi-party competition. 2. Centrally located and shares borders with most South Asian Countries. 3. Earlier the island had Sultan as head, now its a republic. 4. A landlocked country with a monarchy. 5. Country, where military has prevailed over democracy

Answer: 1. Bhutan 2. India 3. Maldives 4. Nepal 5. Pakistan

from Blogger http://www.margdarsan.com/2020/08/ncert-class-12-political-science-world_27.html

#NCERT Class 12 Political Science

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Reviving energy cooperation in South Asia

New Post has been published on http://khalilhumam.com/reviving-energy-cooperation-in-south-asia/

Reviving energy cooperation in South Asia

By Saheb Singh Chadha In this edition, Saheb Singh Chadha interviews Dr. Mirza Sadaqat Huda on his book “Energy Cooperation in South Asia: Utilising Natural Resources for Peace and Sustainable Development”, published in April 2020 by Routledge. Recent developments in South Asian energy security such as the India-Nepal petroleum products pipeline and the India-Bhutan joint venture hydroelectric project have revived conversations on energy cooperation in the region. While these projects are a welcome development, like many others before, they have experienced logistical, bureaucratic, or political delays. In this context, Mirza Sadaqat Huda’s book offers unique insights into addressing the underlying problems in regional energy cooperation. Based on his Ph.D. thesis at the University of Queensland, the book uses four case studies (the Tipaimukh Dam, the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) Pipeline, the Myanmar-Bangladesh-India (MBI) Pipeline, and the Bhutan-Bangladesh-India-Nepal (BBIN) sub-regional grouping) to layout four distinct frameworks for energy cooperation, offering learnings on how challenges of a similar nature can be overcome in future projects. Saheb Chadha: Your book describes India as a “hydro-hegemon” in the chapter on BBIN cooperation. Could you elaborate on the term and how it has contributed to distrust among India’s neighbours? Mirza Huda: The term hydro-hegemony is used to describe a situation where power disparities between members of a shared river basin results in the maintenance of the status quo on water allocation. More powerful members of shared river basins, such as Egypt in the Nile and Turkey in the Euphrates-Tigris Basins use a range of strategies, such as coercion, resource capture, and inequitable treaties to control water resources. In South Asia, India has used its relative advantage in military and economic power to dominate regional interactions on water sharing. Historically, India has only agreed to cooperate on a bilateral level on water issues, despite Nepal and Bangladesh’s preference for multilateral, basin-wide cooperation on the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna Basin (GBM). Some analysts have argued that India has preferred to engage bilaterally in order to maximise on disparities in size and power. Due to the politicised nature of interactions on water sharing, the focus of existing bilateral agreements is on establishing sovereign rights over water, rather than the collective development of shared resources. This reductionist approach cannot address climate change and extreme weather events, which is set to drastically change the ecology of the GBM Basin. During my fieldwork in Nepal I spoke to several policymakers who argued that the political and ecological repercussions of India’s hydro-hegemonic policies can undermine the development of BBIN hydroelectric projects. In my book, I have proposed an Environmental Peacebuilding framework for informing the planning processes of BBIN hydroelectric projects. I argue that policies conceptualised from an environmental peacebuilding framework can resolve some of the environmental challenges to BBIN hydroelectric projects and have a transformative impact on regional politics by incentivising integration and reducing conflicts. I suggest a policy mechanism by which the ‘high politics’ of energy security can be linked to the ‘low politics’ environmental cooperation, thereby facilitating energy security, multilateral river basin management, and peacebuilding. Since the 2018 guidelines of the Indian power ministry have formalised multilateral cooperation on electricity trade, hydroelectric cooperation can be an important entry point towards integrated river basin management of the GBM. SC: You suggest a ‘peace-building approach’ to energy diplomacy that engages both energy security and conflict resolution imperatives. How do you think this differs from the current practice of diplomacy in the region? MH: South Asia’s regional geopolitics is determined by the conflation of identity, politics, and international borders. Almost every conflict in South Asia – be it the Kashmir issue, the Kalapani dispute, or deadly confrontations between Bangladeshi citizens and the Border Security Force (BSF) of India are rooted in the region’s messy borders. Due to the history of the partition, borders are both a physical and social construct, looming large in domestic-level ethnic and religious conflicts. Transnational energy projects would thus engage with multiple social and ideational issues rooted in South Asia’s borders. Before implementing cross border infrastructure projects, policymakers should identify the direct and indirect objectives of these initiatives. In my opinion, the goal of cross-border infrastructure in a conflictual region like South Asia should not be confined to the enhancement of energy security. We must also perceive energy projects as mechanisms of conflict resolution. In other words, energy projects should be deliberately designed to facilitate integration and peacebuilding. In my book, I argue that currently, cross-border energy projects are perceived only as conduits of resources that are vital to national security. I call this the ‘national security approach to energy diplomacy’. In the last seven years, India’s renewed enthusiasm for regional energy cooperation in South Asia has led to concrete progress on multiple cross-border energy projects. However, New Delhi’s enthusiasm for South Asian integration after years of neglect has been marked by a paradoxical assertion of hard borders and ethno-nationalism, which creates significant concerns for the sustainability of cross-border energy projects. The regional repercussions of India’s Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), and the continuation of insurgencies in Pakistan and Afghanistan have contributed to the entrenchment of ultra-nationalism and ethnic and religious cleavages. SC: Your book highlights the potential of extending the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) pipeline, such as TAPI-B to Bangladesh, as well as keeping the interests of local communities and other external powers in mind. Do you feel this might complicate negotiations and perhaps stall progress? MH: An increased number of stakeholders can indeed create complexity in an energy project. However, in security-obsessed South Asia where elite actors dictate discourses on development, it is fundamental that a broader group of stakeholders are involved in the cross-border energy projects. In my book, I have argued that one of the fundamental challenges to the realisation of the TAPI pipeline is that existing policy discourse has focused almost exclusively on the national security interests of the four countries involved in the project. This limited perspective has perpetuated the orthodox, defence-centric perception of energy and undermined the realisation of pipeline projects.

In security-obsessed South Asia where elite actors dictate discourses on development, it is fundamental that a broader group of stakeholders are involved in the cross-border energy projects.

Interview respondents from India and Pakistan told me that the ‘securitisation’ of pipelines is one of the fundamental challenges to their implementation. In my book, I suggest a framework for de-securitising the TAPI pipeline, which takes into account the interests of regional countries, extra-regional powers, international organisations and most importantly, that of local community members. Firstly, I argue that the TAPI can be deliberately designed to converge the interests of regional countries and external powers. I suggest a number of policy interventions that can be undertaken to encourage inclusive cooperation between state-level actors, energy companies, and institutions. Secondly, I undertake a comparative analysis of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Pipeline (BTC) to identify ways by which the interests of local communities that live along the route of the TAPI can be addressed via socio- economic programmes and effective social and environmental governance. This can reduce the explicit emphasis on the physical security of the pipeline by including human security concerns within the project’s blueprint. My conclusion is that taking into account a broader group of stakeholders can create a shift in the perception of the TAPI from a defence and security realm to that of inclusive cooperation. SC: The construction of a Chinese pipeline in the same region as the Myanmar-Bangladesh-India (MBI) pipeline raises questions about resource constraints for a second pipeline. Does this also impose any political constraints, due to the Sino-Indian competition in South Asia? MH: Finite resources are not only an impediment to the revitalisation of the MBI but can also impede the TAPI. China has been very successful in constructing pipelines in Myanmar and Central Asia. Technological developments and the discovery of new reserves can increase the supply of available resources in these regions. However, geopolitical conflicts between India and China, as exemplified by the tragic incident in Ladakh, can complicate transnational energy projects. Some South Asian policymakers I spoke to suggested that cooperation between India and China on securing international energy resources can result in economic benefits for both countries. Unfortunately, the political repercussions of the COVID 19 pandemic and territorial conflicts between India and China will prevent any substantial cooperation between the two countries on energy in the near future. SC: In your chapter about the Tipaimukh dam, you outlined the feasibility of the ‘Cooperative Security Approach’ and ‘Share the resources’ model. Postcolonial states, including South Asian countries, tend to prize the resources in their territory and their ownership over them. How much of a challenge is this mindset in reducing the ‘Sovereignty Based Approach’ and ‘Divide the resources’ model? MH: South Asia as a region must collectively address climate change and energy insecurity. Yet, a regional approach to these critical challenges is undermined by resource nationalism. For decades, bilateral agreements on water in the region have only focused on dividing resources. Collective action on resource development has been mentioned almost as afterthoughts in these agreements and has never seen concrete implementation. In my book, I argue that for South Asia to transition from dividing to sharing resources, there needs to be a change in the way resources are conceptualised and how costs and benefits are shared. One of the persistent issues that I encountered in my research is that people in a particular region or country are unhappy if local resources are used to generate energy in another area. To address this issue, politicians must change the way they communicate key messages to their citizenry regarding natural resources. In my book, I argue that politicians often talk about the total cost of resources, but not the total benefits that can be derived from exploiting these resources. For example, in the early 2000s, political discourse on energy security in Bangladesh focused almost exclusively on the total amount of gas reserves in the country. This led to resource nationalism, resulting in the shelving of a gas trade deal between India and Bangladesh. However, instead of discussing the total cost of gas reserves, if politicians and wider intelligentsia in Bangladesh discussed the potential benefits from the exploitation of these reserves towards poverty alleviation and socio-economic development, it could have led to broader consensus on the need for regional cooperation on energy.

People in a particular region or country are unhappy if local resources are used to generate energy in another area.

Of course, such messages need to be followed up by the development of benefit-sharing mechanisms as well as resettlement and rehabilitation plans for those who stand to be adversely affected by energy projects. While I use the example of gas trade, similar communication strategies and benefit and compensation policies can create broader consensus on the need to collectively harness the hydroelectric potential of South Asia’s rivers. Overall, astute political leadership is fundamental to creating broad consensus on ecological interdependence in South Asia. About the expert

Dr. Mirza Sadaqat Huda is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the OSCE Academy in Bishkek. Currently, his research focuses on the Belt and Road Initiative, the politics of renewable energy in Asia and global climate governance. Dr. Huda’s analysis has been published in Energy Policy, Geoforum, Water International and Energy Research and Social Science. He is an Australian citizen and has previously worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Nanyang Technological University and has held research appointments at the University of Queensland and Griffith University. Email: mirzasadaqathuda@gmail

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un-enfant-immature · 4 years

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Tibet to become China’s data gateway to South Asia

A sprawling 645,000-square-meter data facility is going up on the top of the world to power data exchange between China and its neighboring countries in South Asia.

The cloud computing and data center, perched on the plateau city Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, and developed by private tech firm Ningsuan Technologies, has entered pilot operation as it announced the completion of the first construction phase, China’s state news agency Xinhua reported (in Chinese) on Sunday.

Northeast of the Himalayas, Tibet was incorporated as an autonomous region of China in 1950. Over the decades, the Chinese government has been grappling with demand from many Tibetans for more religious freedom and human rights in one of its most critical regions for national security.

The plateau is now a bridge for China to South Asia under the Belt and Road Initiative, Beijing’s ambitious global infrastructure project. Ningsuan, a Tibet-headquartered company with data control centers in Beijing and research teams in Nanjing, is betting on the increasing trade and investment activity between China and India, Nepal, Bangladesh and other countries that are part of the BRI.

This generates the need for robust IT infrastructure in the region to support data transmission, Hu Xiao, Ningsuan’s general manager, contended in a previous media interview.

While hot days and spotty power supply in certain South Asian regions incur higher costs for running data centers, Tibet, like the more established data hub in Guizhou province, is a natural data haven thanks to its temperate climate and low average temperature that are ideal for keeping servers cool.

Construction of the Lhasa data center began in 2017 and is scheduled for completion around 2025 or 2026, a grand investment that will total almost 12 billion yuan or $1.69 billion. The cloud facility is estimated to generate 10 billion yuan in revenue each year when it goes into full operation.

Alibaba has skin in the game as well. In 2018, the Chinese e-commerce giant, which has a growing cloud computing business, sealed an agreement (in Chinese) with Ningsuan to bring cloud services to industries in the Tibetan region that span electricity supply, finance, national security, government affairs, public security, to cyberspace.

#TechCrunch

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iamsiddharthanilnair · 5 years

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Book Review | “Mutual Security: The Case of India-Nepal”, Sangeeta Thapliyal.

Sangeetha Thapliyal’s book, “Mutual Security”, examines the history of the India-Nepal relationship with an emphasis on the unique geopolitical qualities that Nepal, as a landlocked, small-state embodies. This history is explored through the issues of economic and security cooperation, and placed in the foreground of the internal and external political concerns of each nation. The book argues that Nepal, as a landlocked, small-state, situated between two of the world’s most populated countries – India and China – has made all the potential manoeuvres to raise its survivability; and that those manoeuvres belong in either the accommodation and alternative transit models typical of small-states.

The work begins with Nepal’s relationship with British India - the Anglo-Nepal War of 1814, the Treaty of Segouli in 1816, the Treaty of Peace & Friendship of 1923. Thapliyal notes that these events laid the foundation of Independent India’s disposition towards Nepal. The author argues that India’s approach to Nepal, as a “buffer state” or as a “state on its threshold”, was heavily influenced by British perceptions of territorial integrity in the era of Tsarist Russia and Imperial China. From here on, the work examines the ways in which the economic, cultural and military relations between India and Nepal have been tested, around and in between two critical junctures - 1962 and 1971.

Content

The text, a result of the author’s doctoral thesis, is also organised as one. The work contains maps, economic data and the treaties undertaken in the time period of interest. The chapters are short, with premises being offered and analysis running parallel to one another. Each chapter is limited to a certain time period, chronologically examining the geopolitical changes between the 1800-1980s, e.g. the democratic tussle inside Nepal, the issue of Gurkha recruitment for the Indian and British Armies, the changes in Chinese attitudes towards South Asia etc.

The key debate revolves around the politcal conflict between the monarchic, communist and democratic elements of Nepal’s domestic politics. These elements determined Nepal's sentiments towards India, China and the extra-regional states involved (the USSR, US, the UK); but they do not deviate far from the models set by the condition of ‘small-statehood’. The security concerns of a small-state, such as Nepal emanate from both, military and non-military threats, that require the state to adopt a fluid attitude. To quell threats, internal and external, political and militaristic, small-states at times engage in formal security arrangements with larger, regional powers. It is in this situation, that Nepal finds itself; anxious about its survivability given its economic and security dependence on India.

The debate on Gurkha recruitment is an incredibly strong lead to the Nepal-India-Britain relationship; a unique aspect of the text, it explains how after the war of 1814, the East India Company (and the Crown) realised that the Gurkhas, as a veritable fighting force, would serve best under the Company/Crown, in case they were employed by India or neighbouring powers against them. The recruitment of Gurkhas in Independent India, displays the consanguinity of the colonial British Raj.

Argument

The key determinants of the nature of India-Nepal relations, have been the internal political considerations of either country, and their external relationships with third-party countries, particularly China. Internal issues stem from the tussle between the Nepalese monarchy, the Communist Party and the National Congress; while the monarchy identities its own security as that of the state’s, the last two have unique ideological ties to China and India respectively. A combination of internal-external considerations then determine which of the aforementioned models - accommodation (working with multiple neighbours in a neutral manner) or transit (using multiple neighbours against one another in a neutral manner) – Nepal would employ to ensure its survival.

Contentious themes that coul be categorised as internal, deal with the domestic perceptions on the issue of Gurkha recruitment, the influence of Nepali nationalism, power conflict between the democratic, communist and monarchic political groups. External issues revolve around Nepal’s desire to initiate relations with extra-regional powers, disputes between India, China and Pakistan, trade, foreign aid and military-to-military relations.

Most important however, is that Thapliyal notes the significance of Nepal’s geographic location, and the international politics that follow from it. No matter the changes to internal or external axes, the geopolitical dimensions of the India-Nepal-China triangle remains constant, almost structural.

Premises

The issue of Gurkha recruitment finds its origins in the Anglo-Nepal war of 1814, when Sir David Ochterlony formed four irregular corps of Gurkha soldiers to serve in the British-Indian army. The practice continues even today as part of the Tripartite Agreement between Britain, India and Nepal; and as Thapliyal notes, it became a hammering board for nationalist sentiments in Nepal. The combination of Nepali nationalism and small-statehood found the Indian altitude towards Nepal, to be “big brotherly”. Indian security policies were viewed in Nepal with suspicion given the geopolitical differences between the two. The economic dependence also furthered Nepal’s desire to diversify its international relations. The nature of that diversification, Thapliyal argues, was dependent on the political balance in India and in Nepal. The communists, obviously, leaned towards China, while the National Congress had a relatively balanced approach to foreign policy (It is in the monarchy, that we see a greater use of structurally-determined models of foreign policy).

The author also uses the events of 1962, 1965 and 1971 as a test of Nepal’s foreign policy as a small state. In the 1950s under King Mahendra, Nepal began to court Chinese influence, particularly through development projects and arms purchases. The 1962 Sino-Indian war, also put a dent in India’s image as a regional power, leading to further intimacy with China. India’s victory in the 1971 war was critical in bringing back Nepali confidence, but India’s relationship with its own northeastern states also created certain misgivings in the same. Economic aid was a benchmark to measure Nepal’s attitude towards its neighbours; India’s competition in infrastructure and connectivity projects included China, USSR, the US and Japan.

The military-to-military relations between India and Nepal, through the Indian Military Training and Advisory Group (IMTAG) and Indian Military Liaison Group (IMLG) which helped in bringing about the modernisation of the Royal Nepal Army (RNA), were also a key factor in the India-Nepal relationship. Even though India’s dominance in the region waxed and waned through the years, convergent security perceptions ensured some level of conjugality between the neighbours. However, the author notes how Nepal uses its ability to maintain its neutrality towards its neighbours, either playing them off one another, or accommodating their individual ambitions.

Analysis & Conclusion

“Mutual Security” contends that Nepal’s failure to successfully develop its economic, political and cultural dimension had led to a certain state of flux, forcing it to feel insecure about its sovereignty and independence. The author claims that the Nepal’s perception of India is based on its [India’s] bureaucratic “carrot and stick” foreign policy; and this isn’t completely wrong given India’s security dominated approach to the small state. Nepal’s attempts at neutrality and diversification lead it to reach out to extra-regional powers, declare itself a “zone of peace”, adopt a non-alignment philosophy or Panchsheel, trade with China, enter into a security agreement with India and so on. These events not only fall into the models set out in the beginning of the work, but the nuances of Nepal’s strategic outlook are also clarified as the author engages in the political history.

Thapliyal has built a chronological work that is not only informative, but also theoretically sound. The theory that the unique geopolitical situation that Nepal and India find themselves in, coupled with Nepal’s characteristics as a small-state determine the relationship between the two, even with (and because of) the domestic political divergences, hold true in Thapliyal’s work.

The postscript is also welcome as it ties up the theory, where India and Nepal have begun to engage in greater cooperation - in trade, connectivity and security - particularly along the lines of the Treaty of “Peace and Friendship between the Government of India and the Government of Nepal” signed in 1950.

Written by Siddharth Anil Nair.

#India #Nepal #Geopolitics #Book-Reviews

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