INDIA AND THE WORLD -October

India-China agree to defuse tensions

•  Indian and Chinese diplomats agreed to defuse tensions of the past three months at a two-day meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on India-China Border Affairs (WMCC) in Delhi. But a month after Chinese President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi committed to restarting the high-level talks of Special Representatives on border issues, India is yet to announce its nominee for the dialogue.

•  officials in New Delhi and Beijing are deadlocked over “issues of bureaucratic rank,” given that Chinese Special Representative Yang Jiechi is a “state councillor,” equal to the Indian rank of Minister of State, while National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, who would have been the obvious choice for the post, has not been designated to that rank.

•  Ahead of Mr. Xi’s visit to India, Mr. Doval travelled to Beijing as the Prime Minister’s Special Envoy, and the announcement of his nomination as Special Representative was expected during the President’s visit. However, Chinese officials made it clear informally that Mr. Doval should have the Minister of State rank for the talks to continue. Former NSAs Shivshankar Menon and M.K. Narayanan were both of that rank. Upset with China’s rebuff, New Delhi is learnt to have put off the announcement.

•  Some reports speculated that the Chairman of the National Security Advisory Board Shyam Saran or India’s Ambassador to the U.S., S. Jaishankar, both of whom have been Ambassadors to China, could be alternative choices and would be given other responsibilities on external security issues.

•  Experts say the delay has come at the cost of resumption of dialogue at the highest level, making the Line of Actual Control more vulnerable to stand-offs of the kind seen in Chumar since July 25 — first over the construction of a road near Chumar by China and then an irrigation canal and observation post by India.

• “Clearly, without having the Special Representatives in place, the government cannot signal any interest in resuming this very important process of clarifying the LAC,” says Srinath Raghavan, a military expert at the Centre for Policy Research.

Pakistan violates ceasefire yet again

• In yet another ceasefire violation, the Pakistani Rangers resorted to small arms firing on forward Border Outposts (BoPs) along the international border in Jammu district.

•  “The incident occurred in Pargwal sectors of Jammu district around 10.30 a.m.,” District Magistrate of Jammu Ajeet Kumar Sahu said. “Their aim was to prevent farmers from harvesting their crops,” he claimed. As per reports, the areas which came under firing included JamanBela, Rajpurs, Maljudh, ChakPhagwari, Deora and Himarpur Kona BoPs in Pargwal and Jourian areas of Akhnoor.

•  The BSF troops retaliated, the District Magistrate said, adding that there was no loss of life or injury. There have been five cases of ceasefire violation in the past three days.

Substandard ‘India-made’ drugs in Africa

•  A group of researchers chasing the theory that Indian drug manufacturers cut corners and make substandard drugs for markets with non-existent or substandard regulations say they have evidence to bolster it.

•  In a working paper published on the website of the National Bureau of Economic Research, Roger Bate, Ginger Zhe Jin, AparnaMathur and Amir Attaran have found that in a qualitative appraisal of 1,470 drugs claimed to be “made in India,” 10.9 per cent failed a basic assessment of active pharmaceutical ingredients. This pilot study seeks to focus on drugs that are labelled “made in India,” as these are among the most commonly used in developing countries.

•  The samples that had the Indian label were from 14 unique manufacturers. But the authors remind us that the label “made in India” does not necessarily mean the actual manufacturer is an Indian firm.

•  “In a few instances, we obtained information that samples were faked by organised criminals in China,” they say.

India, China agree to step up military interaction

•  India and China have agreed to take solid steps to improve border management, including the establishment of a hotline between the two Army headquarters and designating additional border posts for meetings between local commanders.

•  Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson HuaChunying disclosed that both countries have decided to step up military-to military interaction during last week’s Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on India-China Border Affairs (WMCC) held in New Delhi.

•  She said that during their meetings that commenced on October 16, the two delegations reached a broad consensus on steps that would yield peace and stability in the border areas, following candid, amicable and constructive consultations.

•  “Both sides agreed to establish a regular meeting mechanism between the two military headquarters of neighbouring military areas and border troops, set up new meeting posts in the border areas and have hotlines between military headquarters,” the spokesperson observed. Analysts say the decision will intensify communications between the two militaries, and provide a better institutional framework for border management.

•  However, this is an incremental step, and talks on clarification of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) or towards a final border settlement are yet to surface on the agenda. Ms. Hua said the consensus is a demonstration of strong political will and positive attitude by the two countries in tackling their differences, and safeguarding stability of border through cooperation.

India wins another term at UNHRC

•  India received the most number of votes in the Asia-Pacific group of the U.N. Human Rights Council, winning a second consecutive two-year term at the world body.

• This was a reflection of India’s standing in the world. India was a committed supporter of the U.N. human rights system and would continue to work towards strengthening of the Council.
   

Click Here to Buy General Awareness Magazine for SSC CGL Exam

<<Go Back To Main Page