Tag: India’s Foreign Policy

India’s Foreign Policy India, Tanzania begin trade settlements in local currencies External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said that India and Tanzania have started trade settlements in local currencies. This new initiative will help in promoting commerce between the two countries. The Reserve Bank of India and Indian Finance Ministry asked the top management of banks and representatives of trade bodies to push export and import transactions in rupee.  They want banks in India to connect with their foreign counterparts for opening special rupee vostro accounts to facilitate cross-border trade in the Indian currency. Note About 18 countries have already opened special vostro accounts with Indian banks. About Tanzania President – Samia Suluhu Hassan Capital – Dodoma Currency - Tanzanian Shilling Public Awareness and General Administration Women only courts for alternative dispute resolution to be set up The Union government is set to launch an initiative under which women only courts will be set up at the village level as an alternative dispute resolution forum for issues such as domestic violence and property rights, and to counter the patriarchal system. The scheme will be launched on a pilot basis in 50 villages each in Assam and Jammu and Kashmir in August and extended to the rest of the country over the next six months. Detailed standard operating procedures have been prepared for all the States, which will be released soon. The scheme would be run by the Ministry of Women and Child Development under the Sambal sub-scheme of Mission Shakti, which is dedicated to strengthening women's safety, security and empowerment. About Nari Adalat Members known as Nyaya Sakhis (legal friends) will be nominated or selected by the gram panchayat, while the head of Nari Adalat called the Mukhya Nyaya Sakhi (chief legal friend) will be chosen among the Nyaya Sakhis.  The…

India's Foreign Policy  Amit Shah chairs a meeting of the heads of departments of SCO member states in New Delhi The Minister identified five major areas for the SCO to work on: confidence building efforts in Asia, collective responsibility approach,  expanding cooperation in communication and information sharing, identification of priority areas, and the use of newly developed technology in disaster resilience capacity building. About SCO: SCO is a permanent intergovernmental international organization. It was created in 2001. It’s a Eurasian political, economic and military organization aiming to maintain peace, security and stability in the region. India host the SCO summit in 2023. Member nations: Kazakhstan ,China, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, India, Pakistan. Head Quarters: Beijing, China. The SCO would probably be the largest regional organisation in the world, representing 40% of the global population, 25% of the global GDP and 22% of the world’s total land area.

INDIA’S FOREIGN POLICY INDIA, U.S TO LAUNCH A SEMICONDUCTOR SUB-COMMITTEE India and the United States signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) that will pave the way for creating a semiconductor sub-committee under the Commercial Dialogue between the U.S. Department of Commerce and India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and the Ministry of Commerce. The Key features of the Commercial Dialogue included creating “reliable supply chains, diversifying and friend shorting (Sourcing of material from countries with similar social and political values), facilitating climate and clean technology cooperation, inclusive digital growth, talent development, post-pandemic economic recovery, and a focus on cooperation”. AUSTRALIA, INDIA SIGN AUDIOVISUAL COPRODUCTION AGREEMENT India and Australia have signed an audiovisual Coproduction agreement under which private, quasi government or governmental agencies of the two countries enter into contracts to produce films together. About Australia: Capital-canberra 2. Prime minister-Anthony Albanese 3. Currency-Australian Dollor PUBLIC AWARENESS AND GENERAL ADMINISTRATION The Union Finance Ministry has amended the Prevention of Money Laundering (Maintenance of Records) Rules for widening the scope of know your Customer (KYC) norms to include Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs), non-profit organisations (NPOs) and those dealing in virtual digital assets (VDA) as reporting entities. The decision has been taken ahead of the expected Financial Action Task Force assessment of India PEPs as individuals who have been entrusted with prominent public functions by a foreign country, including the heads of States of governments, senior politicians, senior government or judicial or military officers, and important political party officials. “In such cases, transactions of 10 lakh and above will have to be reported to the Financial Intelligence Unit, “Non-profit organisations formed for religious or charitable purposes, and registered as trust or society, too have been added to the list. Another key decision is the lowering of ownership threshold from 25% to 10%,…

Australia and India sign agreement on education India and Australia signed an agreement for mutual recognition of qualifications that will ease mobility of students and professionals between the two countries. The agreement, called the ‘Framework Mechanism for Mutual Recognition of Qualifications’’, bilateral meeting in New Delhi Defence India and Italy announced the elevation of the bilateral relationship to the level of strategic partnership while also concluding a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on defence coperation. Establishment of a ‘Start Bridge’ between India and Italy. Mutual cooperation is defence.

Govt – Welfare oriented Govt schemes, their utility Office of Banking Ombudsman (OBO) The Reserve Bank of India stated that the volume of complaints received under the Ombudsman Schemes/ Consumer Education and Protection Cells during 2021-22 was increased by 9.39% in 2022 and stood at 4,18,184. Complaints related to ATM/ debit cards were the highest at 14.6% of the total, followed by mobile/ electronic banking at 13.6%. Note The Banking Ombudsman Scheme was introduced under Section 35 A of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 by RBI with effect from 1995. Presently the Banking Ombudsman Scheme 2006 (As amended upto July 1, 2017) is in operation. The Banking Ombudsman is a senior official appointed by the Reserve Bank of India to redress customer complaints against deficiency in certain banking services India’s Foreign Policy India and Austria to sign migration and mobility agreement India signed a “Comprehensive Migration and Mobility Partnership Agreement” (MMPA) with Austria. While India has been keen to sign the agreement with Austria to resolve issues over facilitating Indian professionals working in these countries, Austria wants to find a way to curb illegal immigration from India. About Austria Capital - Vienna President - Alexander Van der Bellen Currency - Euro

India’s Foreign Policy First India-Central Asia meeting of NSAs The first India-Central Asia Meeting of the National Security Advisers was held in New Delhi. The National Security Advisor (NSA) of India Ajit Doval presided over the meeting. This is the first time India is hosting a conclave of top security officials including the National Security Advisors (NSAs) from Central Asian countries including Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan focussing on the evolving security situation in Afghanistan and ways to deal with the threat of terrorism emanating from that country.

India’s Foreign Policy India to help Sri Lanka to boost dairy production Sri Lanka to scale up its dairy production to become self-sufficient has sought technical assistance from India’s National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) and market leader Amul. The assistance will revive a collaboration that Sri Lanka attempted in the late 1990s, but failed to take forward. The former president of Sri Lanka Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga invited India’s “milk man” Verghese Kurien to set up the ‘Kiriya’ dairy project, named after the Sinhala word for milk. A $20 million joint venture between the NDDB and Sri Lanka’s MILCO was announced, but the project did not take off, in the wake of resistance from nationalist worker unions and powerful business lobbies in Sri Lanka. The UN World Food Programme (WFP) said that at least 56,000 children in Sri Lanka currently suffer from severe acute malnutrition. The severe acute malnutrition among children had increased to 1.4 per cent this year up from 1.1 per cent.

India’s Foreign Policy Exhibition at Israel Museum A cultural event was organised at the Israel Museum where a new exhibition titled 'Body of Faith: Sculpture from the National Museum of India’ was inaugurated. Recently, India and Israel celebrated the 30th anniversary of the establishment of full diplomatic relations. Body of Faith draws from three major epochs in the history of Indian sovereignties, namely, the Gupta dynasty (4th – 8th century CE), the mid-Chola dynasty (10th –12th century CE), and the Pala dynasty (8th – 12th century CE). Among the 14 sculptures of Hindu deities in bronze and stone, eight have been loaned from the National Museum and other six are taken from the Israel Museum’s own collection. The loaned artefacts from the Indian National Museum include Nataraja (12th Century, Chola period, in bronze) Ganesha (13th century, Pala period, in stone) Vishnu (11-12th century, Pala Period, in stone) Ganga (8-9th century, Pala Period, in stone) Brahmani (12th century, Chola period, in stone) Vishnu (12th century, Chola Period, in stone) Saptamatrikas (9th century, Northern India, in stone) Surya (8-9th century, Chola period, in stone). The display from the Israel Museum's own collection include Child Saint Sambandar (9th century, Chola period, in bronze, Shivling (Gupta period in stone) Agni (10th century, northern India, in stone) Parvati (11th century, Chola period, in stone) Celestial Dancer (10th century, Rajasthan, in stone) Chamunda (10th century, Northern India, in stone) About Israel Capital - Jerusalem President - Isaac Herzog Prime Minister - Yair Lapid Govt – Welfare oriented Govt schemes, their utility Medicine kit under Makkalai Thedi Maruthuvam scheme A total of 99,717 medicine kits in 15 zones under the Greater Chennai Corporation were distributed under the Makkalai Thedi Maruthuvam scheme. About Makkalai Thedi Maruthuvam Scheme Launched by CM MK Stalin on 5th August 2022 in Samanapalli…

India’s Foreign Policy UK govt approves 3,000 visas for Indians per year under new scheme The UK government led by Rishi Sunak has approved 3,000 visas for young Indian professionals to work in the country every year. Under the UK-India Young Professionals Scheme, the UK will offer 3,000 places to Indian Nationals with degrees aged between 18-30 to come to the UK to live and work for two years. According to the UK Home Office data, around 118,000 Indian students received a UK student visa in the year ending June 2022, an 89 per cent rise from the previous year, Besides this, the British government said it is also strengthening the ability to remove immigration offenders. About United Kingdom Capital - London Monarch - Charles III Prime Minister - Rishi Sunak Currency - Pound sterling Govt – Welfare oriented Govt schemes, their utility Over 12.5 lakh to be enrolled in Naan Mudhalvan portal The Tamil Nadu Skill Development Corporation Managing Director, J. Innocent Divya, called on the corporates to partner with the Naan Mudhalvan project to help students passing out of various institutions to acquire new skills and find jobs. About Naan Mudhalvan Scheme Launched on March 1, 2022. The scheme was launched as a skill development program for the students of Government Schools and Colleges. TN Government also launched the ‘Kalloori Kanavu’ programme under the ‘Naan Mudhalvan’ initiative which aims to guide and counsel students who have completed Class XII. Naan Mudhalvan portal was launched by Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on August 29, 2022 which is aimed to get over 12.5 lakh students registered on the portal by the end of the year.

India’s Foreign Policy  Jaishankar meets Blinken; discusses Ukraine war, Indo-US ties External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar met US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Cambodia and discussed bilateral ties, Ukraine conflict, energy issues, G20 and the situation in the Indo-Pacific.   The meeting between the top diplomats of the two countries took place on the sidelines of the ASEAN-India Summit to be held in Cambodia.   Jaishankar is accompanying Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, who is leading the Indian delegation to the ASEAN-India Commemorative Summit and the 17th East Asia Summit, both of which will be held in Cambodia.  About Cambodia  Capital - Phnom Penh Prime Minister - Hun Sen Currency - Riel