ASEAN-INDIA COMMEMORATIVE SUMMIT

• Venue: New Delhi
• Theme: ‘ASEAN-India Partnership for Peace and Shared Prosperity’.
• The commemorative summit is being organized to mark 20 years since India associated itself with ASEAN as its sectoral dialogue partner. India became a sectoral dialogue partner of ASEAN in 1992, and a full dialogue partner in 1996. 
• India has been trying to give an impetus to its “Look East” policy, with intensive interaction with countries in the region by cooperating in sectors from defence to textiles.
• India has been pushing for completion of negotiations over the ASEAN-India free trade agreement (FTA) on services and investment

 FLAGSHIP EVENTS:

• Two flagship events being organized as part of the commemorative year events are the ASEAN Shipping Expedition of INS Sudarshini and the 2nd ASEAN-India Car Rally.

 AGREEMENT SIGNED:

• India and ASEAN have finalized a free trade agreement (FTA) in services and investment and elevated their relationship to a strategic level.

 STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP:

• ASEAN has concluded strategic partnerships with three East Asian countries-China, Japan and South Korea. For India, a strategic partnership would mean giving a bigger political and security dimension to its relationship with the region, which has so far been confined to the economic sphere.

 VISION STATEMENT:

• Manmohan Singh and the ASEAN leaders released a vision statement, in which the two sides committed themselves to realizing the ASEAN Community in 2015, comprising three pillars, namel.

• ASEAN Political Security Community
• ASEAN Economic Community
• ASEAN Socio Cultural Community

‘SONS OF SOIL’ TO GUARD CHINA BORDER IN SIKKIM

• India’s policy of integrating local soldiers or “sons of the soil” with the Indian Army in guarding the frontier with China will now be extended to Sikkim.
• This will complete an arch of locally recruited battalions to be integrated with the Army and stationed from Ladakh in Jammu and Kashmir in the North to Arunachal Pradesh in the East.
• The Cabinet Committee of Security gave its nod to raising a battalion of “Sikkim Scouts” that will be tasked with guarding high passes and portions of the north-eastern part of Sikkim, besides keeping an eye on the routes of ingress.
• The battalion will be ready and raised in 30 months i.e. mid of 2015.

 PREVIOUS BATTALIONS ON SAME GROUNDS:

• The Army has integrated battalions of locally recruited soldiers under “Ladakh Scouts” and “Arunachal Scouts” (two battalions each), “Kumaon Scouts”, “Garhwal Scouts” and “Dogra Scouts” (one battalion each).
•  “Arunachal Scouts” was the last one to be raised.

INDIA REJECTS RECOMMENDATION TO REVIEW AFSPA

•  India has rejected all recommendations on the review and repeal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) made to it by peer nations during its Second Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of Human Rights conducted in September this year.

 ABOUT UPR:

• UPR is the formal UN mechanism held every four years to monitor human rights situation in all countries.
• It’s a process whereby other nations act as peers to review the status of rights in a particular country.

 INDIA’S UPR:

• India’s first UPR was held in 2008.
•  During the second one held in Geneva, peers gave a set of 168 recommendations to the Government of India on a range of issues.
• The government has accepted 67 of that and rejected the ones related to AFSPA and ratification of the UN Convention on Enforced Disappearances-a matter which is critical given the recent discovery of unmarked graves in Jammu and Kashmir.

 SUGGESTIONS ON AFPSA:

• Review AFSPA to align it with your obligations under the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights
•  Repeal AFSPA or adopt negotiated amendments to it that would address the accountability of security personnel
• Carry out an annual review of the 1958 AFSPA aiming to gradually reduce its geographic scope

18th CONFERENCE OF PARTIES (COP) DOHA

• The 2012 UN Climate Change Conference, COP 18/CMP 8 (the 18th Conference of Parties to the UNFCCC, plus the 8th session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol), took place in Doha, Qatar from 26 November to 7 December 2012.
• COP President: Abdullah bin Hamad Al-Attiyah

AGENDA:

• To conclude negotiations on the Bali Action Plan — a series of critical decisions needed to combat climate change.
• To conclude the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol, the only legally binding treaty to cut global emissions.
• To agree on the programme of work of the new global deal to cut emissions post 2020, which had been agreed at the Durban CoP last year.

 WHAT IS COP?

• Since the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) entered into force in 1994, the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the UNFCCC has been meeting annually to assess progress in dealing with climate change.
• The COP is the 'supreme body' of the Convention, its highest decision-making authority. The COP is an association of all the countries that are Parties to the Convention.
• There are now 195 parties to the convention taking part in climate change negotiations.

 WHAT IS CMP?

• The COP serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP) meets annually, coinciding with the COP. States that are Parties to the Protocol are represented in the CMP, as well as other States, NGOs and UN agencies, who are allowed to participate as observers.
• The CMP reviews the implementation of the Kyoto Protocol and takes decisions to promote its effective implementation.

 KYOTO PROTOCOL:

• Under the Protocol, 37 States, consisting of highly industrialized countries and countries undergoing the process of transition to a market economy, have legally binding emission limitation and reduction commitments.
• The ultimate objective of both treaties is to stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that will prevent dangerous human interference with the climate system
• The Kyoto Protocol has been ratified by 193 of the UNFCCC Parties.

 CONFERENCE OUTCOMES:

• The Conference produced a package of documents collectively titled The Doha Climate Gateway over objections from Russia and other countries at the session. The documents collectively contained:
• An eight year extension of the Kyoto Protocol until 2020 limited in scope to only 15% of the global carbon dioxide emissions due to the lack of participation of Canada, Japan, Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, New Zealand nor the United States and due to the fact that developing countries like China (the world's largest emitter), India and Brazil are not subject to any emissions reductions under the Kyoto Protocol
• Language on loss and damage, formalized for the first time in the conference documents.
• The conference made little progress towards the funding of the Green Climate Fund.

 CONCEPT OF “LOSS & DAMAGE”:

• First articulated at the 2012 conference and in part based on the agreement that was signed at the 2010 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Cancun.
• It introduces the principle that countries vulnerable to the effects of climate change may be financially compensated in future by countries that fail to curb their carbon emissions.
• Signatory nations agreed in principle that richer nations could be financially responsible to other nations for their failure to reduce carbon emissions

 GREEN CLIMATE FUND:

•  Founded within the framework of the UNFCCC as a mechanism to transfer money from the developed to the developing world, in order to assist the developing countries in adaptation and mitigation practices to counter climate change.
• Its legal basis can be found in the Copenhagen Accord, which was adopted during (COP-15).
• It was then launched at the 2011 UN Climate Change Conference (COP 17) in Durban, South Africa and its governing instrument was adopted. It will be governed by a Board of 24 members and initially supported by an Interim Secretariat. Head office for GCF will be located in Incheon, South Korea.
• Objective: to raise $100 billion a year by 2020

QUALITY OF LIVING INDEX 2012

•  According to a latest worldwide survey of cities by global HR consultancy Mercer, Technology hub Bangalore has emerged as the best city to live in India in terms of overall quality of living.
•  Mercer's Quality of Living Index list covers 221 cities, ranked against New York as the base city.

 TOP 3 CITIES IN WORLD:

1. Vienna
2. Zurich
3. Auckland

 CITIES RANKED LOWEST:

•  Baghdad, Iraq (221)
•  Bangui, Central African Republic (220)
•  Port-au-Prince, Haiti (219)

 STATUS OF INDIAN CITIES:

•  Bangalore (139) ranks higher than New Delhi (143), Mumbai (146), Chennai (150) and Kolkata (151) in overall quality of living

INDIA-CHINA TIES

INDIA-CHINA TIES

• Sino-Indian relations, also called Indo-China relations, refers to the bilateral relationship between the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Republic of India.
• Relations began in 1950 when India was among the first countries to break relations with the Republic of China on Taiwan and recognize the PRC.
• China and India are the world's most populous countries and also fastest growing major economies. The resultant growth in China and India's global diplomatic and economic influence has also increased the significance of their bilateral relationship.

 CHALLENGES:

• An unresolved boundary along the Himalayas
• Chinese perception of a US-India strategy to contain China.
• The possibility of diversion of waters of rivers emanating from Tibet.
• A latent potential for unrest in Tibet, which comes to the surface from time to time.
• The political and economic dimensions of two rising powers of Asia -- rivalry or competition -- for markets and resources.

POSITIVE FACTORS WHICH WOULD USHER CONVERGENCE OF INTERESTS & COOPERATION:

• Improved bilateral relations due to the Strategic and Cooperative Partnership Agreement of 2005.
• The new leadership in China will give great importance to relations with India, as stated by Wen Jiabao recently.
•  Growing trade and commerce which could touch $100 billion by 2015, a phenomenal increase from $0.35 billion in 1992. Of necessity, the trade imbalance has to be set right, so that it is a win-win for both nations.
•  A growing understanding amongst the leadership of the two nations that peace and stability is imperative to bring up the socio-economic conditions of millions of their people.
• Greater sense of responsibility coming in the wake of recognition of having acquired or in the process of acquiring the status of powerful nations in the region and globally.
• An understanding that there is "enough space for growth", as stated by the respective prime ministers of both countries.
•  Enhancement of military power of both sides, albeit the Chinese having a definite edge at present, and the deterrence value of nuclear weapons.
• Challenge posed by the altitude and terrain in Tibet region that would inhibit the deployment of the full might of either side (an imperative to facilitate a decisive result in a conflict situation) and thereby, act as a restraining factor.

BEIJING PLAYS DOWN ROW OVER DISPUTED MAP

• China continues to indulge in double-speak in the latest map row with India, Vietnam and the Philippines, refusing to budge from its position that the move was purely a security measure and not aimed against any country.

 MAP OF DISCONTENT:

•  India noticed that Beijing had started issuing new biometric passports depicting two areas along the 4,000-km border as part of China
• One of the areas was Arunachal Pradesh while the other was Aksai Chin, a remote part of Jammu and Kashmir that Beijing had occupied after the 1962 war
•  Beijing had informed all countries in advance about the proposed changes in the e-passport as is the general practice under the regulations of the International Civil Aviation Organization