Current Affairs National/Social Issue Manmohan Singh's three-day visit to Saudi Arabia

India & World

Content:

1. Manmohan Singh's three-day visit to Saudi Arabia
2. 3,500 pilgrims from India take part in Kachchatheevu festival
   

Brief Description:

Manmohan Singh's three-day visit to Saudi Arabia

1. India signs extradition treaty and a few other agreements with Saudi Arabia
   • India and Saudi Arabia have vowed to jointly combat terrorism and money laundering as they signed an extradition treaty and several agreements to raise their cooperation to a strategic partnership covering security, economic, energy and defence areas. The extradition treaty enhances existing security cooperation and will help in apprehending wanted persons in each other's country.
   • Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Saudi King Abdullah signed the Riyadh Declaration outlining the contours of a new era of strategic partnership between the two countries. Both sides emphasised the importance of strengthening the strategic energy partnership in line with the Delhi Declaration of 2006, including meeting India's increasing requirement of crude oil supplies and identifying areas of new and renewable energy.
   • India and Saudi Arabia also signed four other agreements relating to transfer of sentenced persons, cultural cooperation, memorandum of understanding between Indian Space Research Organisation and King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology for cooperation in peaceful use of outer space and joint research and information technology.
2. Analysis
   • Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's three-day visit to Saudi Arabia, though long overdue, ended on a high note. As a result of his discussions with the top leadership here for the past three days, both India and Saudi Arabia have agreed to upgrade their relationship to "strategic partnership.The Prime Minister said the strategic partnership would cover issues relating to security, cooperation in dealing with terrorism and arrangements for information and intelligence sharing.
   • Dr. Singh and King Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz covered substantial ground and managed to pin down specific areas for further collaboration. Determined to go beyond their traditional buyer-seller energy relationship, the two leaders opened up a much wider common agenda, including such exciting areas as outer space, renewable energy, and advanced computing.
   • Four years after King Abdullah made a pioneering visit to India, the vision of a comprehensive political, security, and economic relationship, anchored in the Riyadh Declaration signed during Dr. Singh's visit, now stands firmly established. The Riyadh Declaration, which came four years after the 2006 Delhi Declaration, said the two leaders noted that tolerance, religious harmony and brotherhood, irrespective of faith or ethnic background, were part of the principles and values of both countries.
   • The Prime Minister's visit to Saudi Arabia, which is not only the world's largest oil producer but also a regional heavyweight, is also likely to leave its stabilising imprint on other areas in West Asia. These include the neighbouring oil rich countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which are encountering serious security challenges.
   • Significantly, the visit has added a prominent security dimension to bilateral ties. Saudi Arabia and India fully appreciate that they are common victims of terrorism. They are both targeted by the forces of global jihad, entrenched in the rugged mountain ranges on either side of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. If Mumbai was India's terror nightmare, Riyadh too faced a string of devastating bombings in 2003, when al Qaeda operatives blew up prominent residential compounds. Saudi Arabia continues to remain in the cross-hairs of the al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), which operates out of neighbouring Yemen.
   • The signing of an extradition treaty during Dr. Singh's visit therefore needs to be welcomed as a major breakthrough. From an Indian perspective, there is now hope that outfits like the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), whose operatives reportedly visit Saudi Arabia for various purposes, will be captured by Saudi authorities and sent to face the law in India.
   • Further, the shared focus on safeguarding the "sovereignty and independence" of Afghanistan must be welcomed.
   • In a visit that otherwise went so well, New Delhi's hardly concealed interest in seeking Riyadh's "good offices" to moderate Pakistan's behaviour has struck a jarring note. The suggestion appeared quite unnecessary as serious discussions on the Pakistan situation are expected to be integral to the fast-developing India-Saudi security relationship. By overtly drawing Saudi Arabia into the India-Pakistan equation, the United Progressive Alliance government has needlessly opened itself to the charge of diluting the principle of bilateralism that has, by virtue of a national consensus, governed New Delhi's engagement with Islamabad.(-ve)
   • the Shura Council – Saudi parliament
3. Controversy -BJP wants Manmohan, Tharoor to explain remarks on Saudi Arabia
   • The latest controversy over Shashi Tharoor's remarks,the junior minister's reference to Saudi Arabia being a "valuable interlocutor for [India]" as assigning Riyadh a mediatory role between New Delhi and Islamabad.
   • 'Interlocutor' means a person or entity or country involved in a conversation. And the Minister of State for External Affairs was clearly talking about the value of Saudi Arabia as a dialogue partner for India on the subject of Pakistan.
   • The Bharatiya Janata Party indicated that it would ask Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Cabinet colleague Shashi Tharoor to "explain" what they meant by saying India should talk to Saudi Arabia about Pakistan-inspired terrorism.
   • Was this the start of the end of bilateralism in India-Pakistan dialogue?
4. Riyadh 'worried' about Pakistan situation
   • While terming Pakistan a "friendly country," Saudi Arabia on Sunday said it was "worried" about the prevailing situation and spread of extremism there and appealed to political leaders in Pakistan to unite and meet the challenges.

3,500 pilgrims from India take part in Kachchatheevu festival

 

National (Political & Social) Issues

Content:

1. Women's Reservation Bill
2. Navy plane at Hyderabad air show crashes

Brief Description:

Women's reservation bill

1. Cabinet nod for Women's Reservation Bill

• The Union Cabinet approved the Women's Reservation Bill, 2008, that seeks to reserve 33 per cent seats for women in the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies.
• The Parliamentary Standing Committee has approved the 108th Constitutional Amendment Bill in its original form with minor changes.
• The Bill was tabled in the Rajya Sabha in 2008 and was subsequently referred to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Law, Justice and Personnel, which in its report submitted in December last year had recommended its early passage in the present form saying that the decision should not be left to the discretion of parties.

2. Women's quota bill set to sail through in Rajya Sabha

• With the numbers stacked in its favour, the women's reservation bill, which seeks to reserve 33% seats in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies for women, is set to get the Rajya Sabha's nod on Monday.
• The Business Advisory Committee (BAC) of the Rajya Sabha, which met on Thursday evening, allotted four hours to debate and vote the legislation. The bill, which has been approved afresh by the Union Cabinet, will be tabled in the House the same day.

Navy plane at Hyderabad air show crashes

• An Indian Navy aircraft participating in an aerobatic display as part of the India Aviation 2010 exhibition at the Begumpet airport crashed into a building in the densely populated Bowenpally.
• The Navy announced the grounding of all HJT-16 Kiran MK-II aircraft which form part of the Sagar Pawan Aerobatic Demonstration Team. It ordered an inquiry.
• This naval aircraft crash in Hyderabad is the fourth fatal incident involving aerial display teams in the last four years.
• The IAF operates the Surya Kiran Aerobatic Team (SKAT) and the Sarang helicopter display team, while the Navy has the four-aircraft Sagar Pawan Aerobatic Team (SPAT).
• The SKAT and the SPAT perform aerobatics with the HAL-built HJT 16 Kiran Mk-II aircraft and the Sarang team performs aerial displays using indigenously built ALH Dhruv choppers.
• the SPAT, formed in 2003,The first fatal accident involving the SKAT took place near its home base in Bidar, Karnataka, on March 18, 2006.In February 2007, the Sarang team had its first fatal accident when one of its ALH Dhruv choppers crashed in Bangalore during a rehearsal before the Aero India show there.

Arunachal Pradesh-specific project

• A World Bank document says external affairs minister SM Krishna has stated that "India will not pose any Arunachal Pradesh-specific project" to the Bank, and that the Chinese executive director at the Bank is pressing for the operationalisation of this statement.
• This amounts to conceding China's persistent claims of Arunachal Pradesh being a "disputed territory" and runs contrary to the stated opinion that the state is "an integral part of India".
• It may be recalled that it was only eight months ago that the Indian government had sharply attacked Beijing for criticising Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Arunachal Pradesh and his reference to the state as "our land of the rising sun". During the verbal skirmishes with Beijing at that time, India had said China has no business to interfere in the affairs of a territory that is an integral part of India.

Demand for Nagaland sovereignty rejected

• The Union government and the NSCN (IM), a Naga insurgent group, continued talks for the second day.
• The Centre rejected the outfit's demand for sovereignty for Nagaland and its territorial claims to portions of neighbouring States.

Advanced Technology Vehicle successfully flight-tested

• The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully flight-tested its new-generation, high-performance sounding rocket at the spaceport in Sriharikota.
• The Advanced Technology Vehicle (ATV- D01), weighing three tonnes at lift-off, is the heaviest sounding rocket developed by the ISRO.
• It carries a passive scramjet (supersonic combustion ramjet) engine combustor module as a test-bed for a demonstration of the air-breathing propulsion technology. An ISRO release said the rocket successfully flew at a velocity of more than Mach 6 (six times the speed of sound) for seven seconds.
• These conditions were required for a stable ignition of active scramjet engine combustor module planned in the next ATV flight.

New generation Airbus A320 joins Air India fleet

• The first of the new generation Airbus A320 joined the Air India fleet . It has a host of latest facilities, including advanced Weather Radar System, Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System (EGPWS) and an LCD cockpit display system.
• The 140-seater aircraft is also equipped with the latest digital cabin management system. The aircraft, the 74th of the 111 ordered by the national carrier as part of its fleet acquisition, will be on display at India Aviation 2010.

Stampede in a UP ashram kills 65

• At least 65 people — nearly all of them women and children — were killed and 28 others injured in a stampede on Thursday in a local ashram after a collapse of its gate triggered panic among about 10,000 people who had converged for a ritual. Thirty seven women and 26 children were among those killed after they were trampled over by the crowd that had gathered at Kripalu Maharaj's ashram.
• Stampedes at temples and other religious places in India have claimed nearly 700 lives in the past eight years.
• On September 30, 2008, nearly 150 devotees were killed and over 60 injured in a stampede at Chamunda Devi temple in Rajasthan's Jodhpur city. The incident took place when there was a rumour of a bomb going off. More than 10,000 people had turned up at the famous temple for a darshan. Such a tragedy at the Hindu temple of Naina Devi in Himachal on August 3, 2008, had claimed 150 people, mainly women and children, and injured about 230.

SIT Special Public Prosecutor, deputy resign

• The Special Public Prosecutor and his deputy, appearing for the Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team before the special court trying the 2002 Gulberg Society massacre case, have submitted their resignations, throwing the entire proceedings haywire.
• R.K. Shah and his deputy Nainaben Bhatt sent in their resignation papers  to SIT chairman R.K. Raghavan.

Concern over delay in mass nesting of Oilve Ridley turtles

• The mood and pattern of nesting of Olive Ridley turtles still continues to be a mystery.
• Although there was a large congregation of these endangered turtles in the sea near the Rushikulya rookery for mating, they are yet to come over to the beach for mass nesting.
• Sporadic nesting of Olive Ridley turtles is on at Rushikulya river mouth coast and Devi river mouth coast. But mass nesting of these turtles is on at Gahirmatha coast.

Panel moots age limit for kids on reality shows

• The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has recommended that children below the age of seven years be not allowed to participate in reality shows on television channels.
• NCPCR chairperson Santha Sinha.
• The recommendation would be forwarded to the Union government within the next two weeks. The NCPCR has been working on violation of child rights on reality shows for the past two years.

India upset with Holbrooke view on Kabul attack

• Indian officials have described as "absolutely incorrect" the statement by Washington's AfPak envoy, Richard Holbrooke, that India was not the target of last week's terrorist attack in Kabul.

Admiral Gorshkov deal to be finalised

• The long-pending deal to finalise the price tag on aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya (Admiral Gorshkov) could soon be taken up by the government as the Defence Ministry prepares to take the case to the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS).
• That the Centre had finalised a price was announced last year during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Russia, but the negotiations concluded towards the end of December 2009.
• The contract negotiation committee gave its final verdict on the acquisition of the aircraft carrier, which is currently undergoing repairs and refit at the Sevmash shipyard in Russia.
• The initial agreement of $974 million went up to $1.5 billion to include 16 MiG-29K aircraft for the carrier. The Russians increased the demand from $2.2 billion to $2.9 billion, even as the Comptroller and Auditor-General made critical observations regarding the deal.

Sikhs rescued from Taliban's clutches

• Two Sikhs, abducted for ransom by the Taliban in the troubled Khyber tribal region bordering Afghanistan, were on Monday rescued by Pakistani security forces, a week after a Sikh trader was beheaded by the militant captors.
• The operation was conducted in a remote area along the boundary between the Khyber and Aurakzai tribal regions on a tip-off from intelligence sources, a spokesman from the Inter-Services Public Relations said.

Assam Rifles soldiers for Haiti

• The Government of India has decided to send a group of Assam Rifles soldiers as part of a police unit to Haiti under the aegis of the United Nations mission, keeping in view the good work done by the paramilitary force in the past.
• He was speaking after reviewing a special attestation parade held at the Assam Rifles Training Centre and School here to mark the 175th anniversary the force.

Expert committee on Kolleru size' 

• Union Minister for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh  promised to appoint a five-member expert committee to go into the plea for reduction of the size of wildlife sanctuary at Kolleru.

Funds for biotechnology research increased

• Even as the controversy over Bt brinjal continues, the Union budget presented by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee provides for a 32 per cent increase in the allocation for the Department of Biotechnology in the Ministry of Science and Technology.
• the budget provides for a concessional excise duty of four per cent for the solar-powered cycle-rickshaw developed by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).
• In addition, the key parts and components of the environment-friendly rickshaw, named 'Soleckshaw,' would be exempted from customs duty.

Iceberg-glacier collision could trigger climatic changes

• An iceberg about the size of Luxembourg, which struck a glacier off Antarctica dislodging another massive block of ice, could lower oxygen levels in the world's oceans, Australian and French scientists said.
• The two icebergs are now drifting together about 100 to 150 km off Antarctica, following the collision on February 12 or 13, said Australian Antarctic Division glaciologist Neal Young.

Tiger census begins in Buxa

• The first phase of the tiger population census in West Bengal's Buxa Tiger Reserve has started. A Wildlife Institute of India estimate suggests that there may be just 10 tigers left in the reserve.
• The National Tiger Conservation Authority has identified the reserve as one of the seven reserves, where the tiger density is critically low.

Manipur strike: ESMA may be invoked

• The Manipur government is planning to invoke the Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA) against leaders of the striking government employees as those in the essential services have also joined the indefinite strike.
• The government hospitals are paralysed and the out-patient departments closed. Reports say that paramilitary troopers may also join the strike.
• The employees have been on strike since January 16 demanding payment of salary and allowances as per the recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission.

SEWA's Ela Bhatt chosen for Niwano Peace Prize

• Social worker Ela Bhatt has been chosen for the Niwano Peace Prize this year for her contribution to the uplift of poor women in India.
• Ms. Bhatt, recognised as one of the pioneers in the development of the most oppressed and poorest women of India for more than three decades, will receive the award here on May 13.
• The award, which recognises the significant contribution of an individual to inter-religious understanding and cooperation leading to world peace, comes with a certificate, a medal and prize money worth ¥20 million.
• She set up the Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA), a trade union, in 1972. Now, it has over 1.2 million members. In 1974, she established the SEWA cooperative bank, which now reaches out to around three million women.

Award for filmmaker Yavar Abbas

• Veteran British-Asian filmmaker Yavar Abbas will be honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award by the South Asian Cinema Foundation (SACF) here on March 4 for making films like India! My India!
• The 90-year-old has documented the Partition years and delved into both Hinduism and Islam in his works.
• In 1963, he started out as an independent filmmaker and set out on a filming safari, going overland from London to New Delhi shooting for India! My India!

Violence mars Santiniketan festival

• Violence and boycott marked the "Basanta Utsav" (Spring Festival) on the Vishva-Bharati campus at Santiniketan.
• The tradition of celebrating Basanta Utsav at Santiniketan was started by Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore himself and it is one of the two occasions that draws thousands to the university to witness and participate in the colourful festivities, including several cultural functions.