IAS Syllabus - Indian Diaspora and Relevant Policies and Politics of Other Countries Notes - IAS MAINS PDF

9/26/13
IAS Syllabus | Indian Diaspora and relevant policies and politics of other countries notes | IAS MAINS
CA T E G O RY A RCHI V E S : I NDI A N DI A S P O RA A ND RE L E V A NT P O L I CI E S A ND P O L I T I CS O F O T HE R CO UNT RI E S
Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on Indias interests, Indian d
IR material from different sources

Posted on September 18, 2013 by admin
To understand historical perspective and background, go through IGNOU material which is avialable cover continent wise relations with countries. Then hand book of Indias international relations is a good read. Also I have uploaded some material downloaded from idsa website like India south east Asia defence cooperation and India- china pakistan Monograph. This year there was lot of activity in relations with Iraq, Iran and Central Asia. So current topics related to them can be covered from newspaper. Following is the link of dropbox directory from where u can download all above mentioned material. Please let me know if anyone find any difficulty in downloading them. link to download pdfs Posted in General Studies II, India and its neighborhood- relations, Indian Diaspora and relevant policies and politics of other countries | Leave a reply
Melting Ice in Arctic boon or bane?

Posted on March 18, 2013 by admin
At the first Arctic Summit organised by The Economist in Oslo, though India was not represented, climate change issues figured as much as the regions undiscovered natural resources, which many countries and oil companies are eyeing. Chinas Interest:
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While India set up a research station in the Arctic in the 2008, and is keen on a say in the area, its neighbour is far ahead of it. A Chinese icebreaker made a three-month journey in the Arctic Ocean last year, thus becoming the first Asian ship to navigate through the treacherous waters. China was keen on exploration in the Arctic and there were a lot of trade needs. If a new sea route could be opened due to the ice melt, it would be an opportunity fot china. While everyone was seeing the bad aspects, China was enthused by the prospects of trade and transport. Last year China carried out its fifth Arctic expedition. Three possible Arctic sea routes were being explored and the Arctic sea route, if operational by 2030, could take half the container ship traffic. China would double its economy size by 2020 and the new sea routes would boost Chinese trade hugely as per the Polar Research Institutes calculations. The new sea routes would be shorter and also reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Environmental Concerns: There is huge pressure on the Arctic and its resources,there are no systems in place to handle a shipwreck or oil spill. The Arctic Council might have an overriding responsibility for the region, but it might not be able to manage the environment. The region was witnessing a race for its resources without anyone understanding the importance of ice in the region, For the roughly 4.5 million inhabitants of the Arctic region, climate change was not a distant phenomenon, said Lars Kullerud, president of the University of the Arctic, a group of academics. There are 40 different communities in the Arctic region and they were already seeing signs of change in the form of early spring, winters being less cold, and snow being no longer dry. Animals used to dig through the dry snow for food, but that had changed. Fish stock had moved due to the changing climate and hunting seals had become difficult since the ice had melted. In the past, thick ice allowed transport to communities and mining centres, but now melting ice made it difficult for trucks to move. Environmentalists called for better regulation and first studying possible impacts on the region before jumping in.
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Posted in Environment and disaster management, General Studies III, Indian Diaspora and relevant policies and politics of other countries | Leave a reply
Syrian Chronology
An interference by External army will not help improving worsening conditions in Syria as there is no single opposition group. Opposition is divided and even some are having only few hundred arm rebellions. Bassar Ashad regime is supported by Russia and Iran while opposition is getting support from Saudi arabia and Turkey. Syria is ruled by minorty shias and majority of popuation consists Sunni sect. Russia is supporting the regime as it has recently had deal with Assads regime of more than $500 miliion of jet flights. 23/11/11 Syrias envoy to the United Nations has harshly criticized a draft resolution submitted by Germany to the General Assemblys human rights committee, which condemns the eight-month-long crackdown on opposition protests. Ambassador Bashar Jaafari said the document, crafted by Germany, Britain and France, was introduced in the context of declaring a political, media, and diplomatic war on Syria. Germanys U.N. Ambassador Peter Wittig, who introduced the nonbinding resolution, said 60 countries are co-sponsoring the document, including Syrias fellow Arab nations of Bahrain, Jordan, Morocco, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia. Turkey, a predominantly Muslim country that has become increasingly critical of Damascus, is also cosponsoring it. Damascus has been facing mounting international pressure to end the unrest. The United Nations says the crackdown has resulted in more than 3,500 deaths And unlike Libya, Syria has a loyal and strong army. So Syrians are caught between
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increasingly complex patterns of rebel attacks and a regime that appears to equate mass murder with strategy. The massacres in Houla and Hama indicate that the Bashar alAssad regime is not going to stop the violence because it fears that a political engagement could give protests a breather to strike back harder. UN and Arab League envoy Kofi Annans peace plan is unlikely to see implementation as long as the UN Security Council can do no more than lament and admonish. Russia is being blamed for supplying shiploads of arms to the Syrian government. Meanwhile, the US opposes Assad-backing Irans inclusion in Annans proposed working group comprising the UNSC permanent members and Syrias neighbours Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, which back the rebels. With intervention not on the table, Barack Obama and Vladimir Putins summit in Mexico next week, during the G-20 meet, should allot sufficient time to Syria. Annans 6 point forumla: 1. To end the violence 2. Unhindered access to humanitarian agencies 3. The release of detainees 4. the start on inclusive political dialogue 5. Unrestricted access to the country for international media 6. To provide relief to those who need. Indias economic and energy interests are tied up with the Gulf states. A Syria at civil war, going the Lebanon way, will deepen the sectarian divide in the Middle East and further destabilise a fragile region. India Syria relations March 2012 The Indian head of state, Pratibha Patil, announced a US$100 million (Dh367m) line of credit, vowed to double trade levels within three years and pledged close co-operation in the high-tech sector. The package will be welcome in Syriamodernisation plans. The Indian deal could also
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help Damascus offset the effects of a US trade embargo that has stymied access to computer technology and skills. Mrs Patil, the first Indian president to visit Syria, said her nation, which has a vibrant technology industry, looked forward to working with Damascus in IT and other highly specialised fields. She also announced an increase in the number of technology scholarships offered to Syrians from 45 to 90. The global economic downturn posed serious challenges since early 2007, she said. Both India and Syria were affected, but have recovered and are confident of achieving higher rates of growth in the coming years. Mrs Patil also assured Damascus it could depend on New Delhis support in its longrunning campaign to retrieve the Golan Heights. The territory, seized in 1967 and subsequently annexed by Israel, remains under occupation despite UN resolutions calling for it to be handed back to Syria. Damascus and Tel Aviv remain in a state of war over the issue, which is a central issue of the ongoing Arab-Israeli conflict. Stressing the need for a lasting and comprehensive Middle East peace deal, the Indian president reaffirmed strong support for Syrias legitimate right to the Golan Heights, and for its very early and full return. With India pushing for permanent membership on United Nations Security Council, as part of wider UN reforms, that backing may one day prove useful for Damascus, a point clearly not lost on the Syrian authorities. We agree with India and all peace-loving countries on the importance of reforming the United Nations so that it becomes more democratic, representative and efficient, Mr Assad said after the meeting. And, in this regard, we support Indias efforts to gain a permanent seat on the Security Council. Indian officials said the UAE had also supported Indias claim for permanent membership of a reformed UN Security Council.
www.iasmains.in/study_material/topics/general_studies_ii/indian_diaspora_and_relevant_policies_and_politics_of_other_countries
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Syria and India have long enjoyed cordial relations. Indias first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, made an official visit to Damascus in 1957. Mr al Assad visited Delhi in 2008, during which India and Syria agreed to set up a joint IT centre for excellence. Today, an India-Syria Business Council is due to be launched in Damascus and the two countries have also agreed on a cultural-exchange programme that will link Syrian and Indian media organisations. An IT centre is coming up in Syria with Indian assistance and will be functional soon. MECON is giving final shape to its feasibility study on utilisation of phosphatic resources of Syria; a power project awarded to Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd. is partially funded by India through a $240-million line of credit; and Apollo International of India is upgrading a steel plant in Hama, for which also India has extended a line of credit of $25 million. Unlike with the UAE, the two-way trade level with Syria stands at a modest $530 million. The Indo-Syrian Joint Commission, which met in June this year, has decided to work towards doubling trade shortly. The Presidents visit is expected to boost economic relations, identify areas of mutually beneficial cooperation and register Indian interest in sourcing phosphates, which will help in achieving food security. As the Middle East is reshaped, Delhi must engage with the trends coming to the fore As the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria heads for the bitter but probably inevitable end, the many traditional assumptions in Indias political discourse on the Middle East are becoming unsustainable. For example, secularists versus Islamists has long been an important framing device in Indias policy debates on the Middle East. Delhis political classes were far more comfortable with the Arab nationalists, who shared Indias vocabulary on modernisation and anti-colonialism, than either the conservative monarchies or the
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radical Islamic republics. Iraqs Saddam Hussein, Syrias Assad and Egypts Hosni Mubarak did not view relations with Delhi through the prism of Islamist internationalism, make provocative noises on Jammu and Kashmir, or acquiesce to Pakistans anti-India propaganda in the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation. No wonder India has been so reluctant to see them go. The Indian establishment was among those sceptical of the Arab Spring and concerned about the rise of Islamist parties to power. But Hussein and Mubarak are gone; and Assads future is on the line. Iraq is now run by a newly empowered Shia majority; the Muslim Brotherhood has won the presidential elections in Egypt and moderate Islamists have come to power in Tunisia, where the Arab Spring began last year. In Syria too, after Assads fall, it is likely that Islamists of one kind or another might gain much political ground. Proving right, of course, does not make Delhis challenges in dealing with the changing Middle East any better. Nor does the clear hindsight that it is the secular but autocratic rulers who have prepared the ground for the Islamist resurgence in the region. Second, the crisis in Syria also complicates Indias identification of the Arab-Israeli conflict as the principal political faultline in the region. While the disputes between the two sides are real and important, they have taken a back seat amidst the current turbulence in the region. While Syria is one of the Arab frontline states against Israel, the internal conflict in Syria today is being accentuated by an intra-Arab dynamic. It is the Arab League, led by Saudi Arabia, that was the first to call for a regime change in Syria earlier this year. This week, the Arab League has offered safe passage to Assad if he is willing to resign and leave. When Russia and China vetoed a UN Security Council resolution on Syria last February, the Saudis pulled all the stops to get a similar resolution approved with an
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overwhelming majority in the General Assembly. Saudi Arabia and Qatar are said to be the principal financial supporters of those battling the Assad regime in Syria. King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia issued a call over the weekend for a massive donation campaign across the kingdom to support the Syrian rebels. Beyond the schisms in the Arab world that have come to the surface, the Syrian crisis also highlights a deepening sectarian divide within the region that transcends the old divides Islam versus the West and Islam versus Israel. The Syrian crisis is in part a struggle between the disempowered Sunni majority and the ruling minority led by the Alawites, an offshoot of Shia Islam. The Alawites know that retribution is inevitable if they cede power to the majority and therefore have every incentive to fight to the bitter end. The Syrian conflict is further complicated by the competition between regional powers for greater influence. Shia Iran has long been a staunch ally of Damascus and has much to lose if Assad is ousted from power. Turkey, whose clout is rapidly growing, was until recently empathetic to both Syria and Iran. But as the crisis in Syria has unfolded, Sunni Turkey has become increasingly hostile to the Alawite rulers in Damascus. Third, the tensions rising out of the shifting regional balance of power have become far more important than Indias traditional focus on great power interventions in the Middle East. Yet our policy debates on the region hold on to the tropes of anti-colonial and anti-imperialist rhetoric. For all the tough talk from the West on Syria during the last many months, neither the United States nor its European allies are willing to risk a direct military intervention in Syria. The reluctance is rooted in the recognition that Syria is not Libya. Unlike Muammar Gaddafi, Assad has a large, loyal and well-equipped armed force.
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While there are calls for intervention from the left and right of the political spectrum in the US, Obama, the realist, has been unwilling to plunge Washington into another shooting war in the Middle East. Finally, the Syrian crisis has also thrown into bold relief some of Indias concerns about territorial sovereignty and intervention. Since the end of the Cold War, India has been reluctant to support the international communitys tendency to intervene in the internal affairs of other states. The deepening divisions between the Western powers on one hand and China and Russia on the other, are making international military interventions endorsed by the UNSC less likely. That does not mean interventions will not take place. The Western powers will adopt indirect interventions and the regional powers are already deeply involved in the Syrian crisis. Indias old formulaic discourse is no longer capable of dealing with the multiple tragedies and manifold transformations playing out in the Middle East. India will have to approach the Middle East on the basis of its own internal dynamics rather than preconceived ideas and preferences. India now has every reason to engage with, in an intense and uninhibited manner, the many Islamist trends that are coming to the fore in the Middle East. With a relentless focus on Indias interests, Delhi must find ways to contribute to the emergence of a stable regional balance of power over the longer term. 07.03.2013 UN officials today said negotiations were under way with Syrian rebels who seized 21 UN peacekeepers in the Golan Heights ceasefire zone between Syria and Israel, as rebels took total control of the key northern city of Raqa. Syrian rebels yesterday abducted the peacekeepers, who are from the Philippines, diplomats said, as the frontiers of their war against President Bashar al-Assad spread further.
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UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon called for their immediate release and demanded the Syrian government and rebels respect their freedom of movement and security. The UN said it was trying to negotiate the release of the soldiers, while a rebel spokesman said the troops would be held until Assads forces pull back from a Golan village. The United Nations has reported a growing number of incidents in the Golan over the past year. It has sent extra armored vehicles and communications equipment to reinforce security for the mission. 27/04/2013 President Obama had earlier warned that the syrian government would be breaching a red line if it used chemical weapons and thereafter USA would support military intervention in Syrian conflict. US defence secretary has said recently that Amercian intelligence agency has determined with varying degree of confidence that the syrian regime has used chemical weapons specifically the chemical agent Sarin(it has extreme potency as nerve agent that is, it disrupts the mechanism by which nerves transfer messages to organs, and declared as weapon of mass destruction by UN and production and stockpiling of it is outlawed by Chemical Weapon Convention 1993), on a small scale and added that if confirmed, these reports would be a game changer in defining USA role in conflict. But independent observers has found many loopholes in Americas this allegation.
Posted in Indian Diaspora and relevant policies and politics of other countries | Tagged chemical weapon, india syria relations, sarin, syria | Leave a reply
Paraguay Coup: July 2012

9/26/13
The questionable removal of President Fernando Lugo of Paraguay by the countrys Senate, nine months before the end of his five-year-term in April 2013, raises questions about the state of democracy in South America, much as the coup in Honduras did three years ago for Central America. For a region with a recent transition to democracy, this is worrisome. For a country like Paraguay, dominated until 2008 by 61 years of uninterrupted rule by the Colorado party of General Alfredo Stroessner (1954-1989), that veritable archetype of the Latin American dictator, this is especially so. Twenty-odd years into democratic transition and consolidation in Latin America, we were hearing that democracy had stabilised, that the concern was no longer of coups, but of the quality of democracy and the latters ability to deliver the goods and services citizens expected. Free and fair elections were taking place, alternation in power was the rule and civil liberties and press freedom were respected. Latin Americas economic boom over the past decade and the social policies of some governments around the region were starting to make that happen, in a part of the world that continues to have the most unequal distribution of income anywhere. Much has been made of the fact that this could not be called a parliamentary coup because there were overwhelming majorities voting against the President both in the Senate and in the Chamber of Deputies. Yes, the Constitution of Paraguay is poorly worded. It allows for articles of impeachment against the President for poor performance, which basically means whatever any given majority wants it to mean. Yet, impeaching the head of state is no small matter. The bottom line is that Mr. Lugo, a former man of the cloth, known as the bishop of the poor, and not one to share in the customs and habits of the Paraguayan elite (no ties and pinstripe suits for him), a provincial and unsophisticated lot as it is, was disliked by the parliamentarians, who decided to get rid of him. The bearded, Mao-suit clad, liberation-theology-supporting priest just wasnt their type, no matter what the people wanted. And this leads to the alleged reason for his highly irregular ouster, that is, poor performance.
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In addition to legitimacy of origin that is, being elected in free and fair elections the issue of legitimacy in the performance of governmental functions has come to the fore in the region. Given the ups and downs of the Latin American economies, highly dependent on the international business cycle, economic and social crises have sometimes led to the premature termination of governments unable to cope. From 1995 to 2005, Ecuador went through seven or eight Presidents, as did Bolivia. Argentina did not do too badly, with three Presidents in one week at the height of its economic crisis in 2000-2001. So, how did Paraguay fare under President Lugo? Was the country going down the drain, to hell in a hand-basket under the ministrations of the good bishop? Well, not really. Although hit, like every other country, by the Great Recession of 2008-2009, in 2010, the Paraguayan economy grew 14.5 per cent, one of the highest rates in the world, comparable to the rates clocked by Singapore or some of the Gulf Emirates, and Paraguays highest in 30 years. It grew again at 6 per cent in 2011, and prospects are upbeat for this year as well. In other words, the country is booming, and doing better than it ever did in the past. This is largely driven by the cultivation of soya, of which Paraguay has become the fourth largest producer in the world, with 8.4 million tonnes in 2011, and some $1.5 billion in exports, much of it to China. President Lugo, aware of the significance of the Indian market for soya as well, had visited India in May. It is said that soya has become so significant that it has replaced smuggling as Paraguays main economic activity. Paraguays neighbours, which tried to prevent the crisis, realised full well the implications of it. Many have withdrawn their ambassadors from Asuncin, in some cases for consultations, others permanently. In a Mercosur summit meeting in Mendoza, Argentina, a week later, chaired by President Cristina Fernndez de Kirchner, and with the attendance of the Presidents of Brazil, Chile, Uruguay and others, Paraguay was suspended from that regional entity, as per the democracy clause of the treaty. A committee to oversee the human rights situation in the country and the road to the April 2013 presidential elections was established. From Asuncin, Mr. Franco replied that Paraguay might leave Mercosur and Unasur for good, and sign an
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FTA with the United States instead. This raises an interesting question. Should the United States, the alleged champion of democracy worldwide, embrace and sign FTAs with countries that are forced to leave regional integration schemes for violating the democratic clause? The equanimity with which the U.S. State Department reacted to the soft coup in Paraguay (We urge all Paraguayans to act peacefully, with calm and responsibility, in the spirit of Paraguays democratic principles (sic)) hints that, after legitimising the coup in Honduras, and accepting without as much as a blink the ouster of President Lugo in Paraguay, the defence of democracy and the rule of law in the Americas is not a high priority in Washington these days.
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China has overtaken the USA as the worlds largest importer of oil
CHINA OIL In what could turn out to be a tectonic shift in global energy markets, China has overtaken the United States as the worlds largest importer of oil. According to preliminary data on world petroleum trade in December 2012, Chinas net oil imports surged to 6.12 million barrels per day (Mbd) while Americas net imports declined to 5.98 Mbd, the lowest figure since 1992. Although these numbers could flip back in favour of the US during the winter months, there is no mistaking the trend line. China is all set to replace the US as the worlds largest importer of oil either this year or the next.
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As Americas domestic oil production grows amidst the shale-gas boom, the US is closer than ever before to reducing its massive dependence on energy imports from the OPEC countries. The use of new technologies most notably hydraulic fracturing or fracking, and horizontal drilling have opened up massive hydrocarbon resources in America. The US oil production has surged by more than 8,00,000 barrels per day in 2012. It is said to be the biggest annual increase in oil production since the hydrocarbon era began in the US in the late 19th century. According to the International Energy Agencys latest report, America will overtake Saudi Arabia as the leading oil producer by about 2017 and will become a net oil exporter by 2030. Energy independence is a popular political goal in the US and the White House recently claimed that Americas dependence on foreign oil has gone down every single year since President Obama took office. As part of his strategy to increase safe, responsible oil production in the US, Obama has freed millions of new acres for oil and gas exploration. TRADING PLACES As China replaces the US as the largest importer of oil, might Beijing step into American shoes as the principal security guarantor of the oil-rich Persian Gulf? Beijing is unlikely to become the gendarme of the Gulf in the near future. But the logic of its growing dependence on the regions resources is bound to compel China to seek a more decisive role in shaping Persian Gulf security. Meanwhile, Washington might want to reconsider its longstanding role as the guarantor of regional security. If greater oil production at home and more imports from the Western hemisphere reduce the incentive for a strong American role in the Gulf, the pressures on the US defence budget have begun to constrain its military presence in the
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region. The Pentagon has been operating two aircraft carriers for many years in the Persian Gulf for many years. The current squeeze on spending in Washington has meant cuts of nearly $85 billion in the US defence budget. This has forced the Pentagon to cancel the deployment of one carrier to the region this year. EAST OF SUEZ The British Raj policed the Gulf for nearly two centuries, thanks to the massive resource base of the undivided subcontinent and its unrivalled naval primacy in the Indian Ocean. With its power ebbing rapidly after World War II, Great Britain announced in 1968 the withdrawal of its military presence East of Suez. Since then, it has been the burden of the US to police the waters of the oil-rich Persian Gulf. Is the US on the verge of an East of Suez moment of its own? Not really; for it is rather easy to overstate the nature of Americas relative decline. Yet, at a time of fiscal austerity, there will be much political questioning in Washington of the logic of a significant American military presence in the Gulf. There are many in Washington who are asking why China, Japan, India and other big oil importers should have a free ride at the expense of America, which pays for the securing of the critical sea lines of communication between the Persian Gulf and the rest of Asia. This US domestic debate will take a while to sort itself out. It might be sensible, however, for New Delhi to focus its attention on the potential consequences of a reduced American military presence in the Arabian Sea and a Chinese pivot to the Persian Gulf.
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CA T E G O RY A RCHI V E S : I NDI A N DI A S P O RA A ND RE L E V A NT P O L I CI E S A ND P O L I T I CS O F O T HE R CO UNT RI E S

IR material from different sources

Melting Ice in Arctic boon or bane?

Paraguay Coup: July 2012

Posted on March 13, 2013 by admin

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