- Prologue
- Summit#1: Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas PBD-2017, Jan
- Summit#2: Heart of Asia Summit
- Summit#3: BRICS: 8th Summit-2016, Goa
- Mock Questions for Prelims
Prologue
- Since 2013, UPSC is back in business of asking current affairs related questions from IR/diplomacy, summits and conferences.
- So let’s check three notable events in Q3 of 2016-17.
Summit#1: Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas PBD-2017, Jan
Who organizes PBD?
2004, May |
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2004, Sept. |
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2016, Jan |
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PBD-2017: highlights of
- Theme: “Redefining Engagement with the Indian Diaspora“
- Chief Guest: Portugal’s PM Dr. Antanio Coasta.
- Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award (PBSA) is the highest honor given in this summit. Total 30 NRI/PIO/organizations received this award. I’m not listing names because cost:benefit is bad.
MADAD app and webportal |
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e-migrate portal |
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VAJRA scheme |
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Pravasi Kaushal Vikas Yojana |
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PIO to OCI card |
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Pravasi Bharatiya Kendra |
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This much coverage sufficient for now. Besides, In GSM2- Mains exam, UPSC has not yet asked a single question about diaspora, since the change of syllabus in 2013.
Rescue operations for VIDESHI NRIs & DESHI Indians
Time | Op-Name | Rescued Indians from |
---|---|---|
2016, July | Sankat Mochan |
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2015, March-April |
Raahat | Yemen crisis due to ongoing conflict between Government and Houthi rebels. |
2014 | Op. Lehar | Hudhud Cyclone in East cost of India. Navy. |
2014 | J&K Floods |
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2013 | Uttarakhand cloudburst |
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2011 | Op. Safe home coming | Libya |
2006 | Sukoon | Lebanon |
2004 | Madad | Sea waves | Tsunami in Indian ocean. |
1990 | ? |
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Summit#2: Heart of Asia Summit
- Origin: Founded in 2011 Turkey’s Istanbul.
- Purpose: Peace and stability in Asia, with focus on Afghanistan.
- Members: India, Pakistan, Russia, China, Iran, Saudi Arabia and various Central Asian neighbours of Afghanistan.
[accordion id=”diplomacy-heart-of-asia”] [accordion_item title=”HoA: Members (click to expand)” parent_id=”diplomacy-heart-of-asia”]
Difficult to remember all. But since last two prelims, UPSC been asking MCQs on memberships in regional organization, so I’ve highlighted the important nations in bold:
14 participant countries | 17 supporter countries. |
1. Afghanistan 2. Azerbaijan 3. China 4. India 5. Iran 6. Kazakhstan 7. Kyrgyz Republic 8. Pakistan 9. Russia 10. Saudi Arabia 11. Tajikistan 12. Turkey 13. Turkmenistan 14. United Arab Emirates |
1. Australia 2. Canada 3. Denmark 4. Egypt 5. European Union (EU) 6. France 7. Finland 8. Germany 9. Iraq 10. Italy 11. Japan 12. Norway 13. Poland 14. Spain 15. Sweden 16. United Kingdom 17. United States of America |
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HoA: three purposes of summit?
- Confidence building measures: using trade, commerce and investment. India leads this front.
- Cooperation with regional organizations– including SAARC, Colombo plan etc.
- Political consultation: through annual ministerial conferences. e.g. In Amritsar (2016).
2015 | Islamabad, Pakistan |
2016, Dec. | Amritsar, Punjab, India |
2017 | Azerbaijan |
HoA Summit @Amritsar (2016): Highlights of
Pakistan’s Foreign Affairs Minister Sartaj Aziz attended.
Participants agreed on following:
- We’ve to combat terrorism and disasters.
- We’ve to promote investment via
- ACD: Asian cooperation dialogue (forum to coordinate among ASEAN, SAAR, GCC and EU – on financial matters), since 2001.
- CAREC: Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC). 11 Members- China yes, India no.
- We’ve to improve connectivity in the region. And we appreciate whoever is doing something for transport. For example
Transport infra-project | Brief points for exam |
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Belt and Road initiative and Maritime Silk Road |
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Lapis Lazuli corridor |
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Chabahar Port |
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International North-South corridor (INSTC) |
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Later on, India gave Mi-24 gunships to Afghan air force. This is the first lethal weaponry India has given to them.
Summit#3: BRICS: 8th Summit-2016, Goa
- Originally started as “BRIC” (2006) but after inclusion of South Africa, it became BRICS (2010)
- 2015: Summit @Ufa, Russia
- 2016: Summit @Goa, India. Theme: “Building Responsive, Inclusive and Collective Solutions.”
- 2017: Summit @China, location yet to disclose.
BRICS Goa Summit: highlights of
- Usual bol-bachhan about cooperation for economic and science-tech etc.
- Happy that following things became operational:
- New Development Bank (NDB)‘s Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA)
- BRICS Global Research Advanced Infrastructure Network (BRICS-GRAIN).
- Inclusion of China’s Yuan (Renminbi) in SDR Basket WEF 1st October, 2017.
- Worried about BREXIT, terrorism, corruption.
Shortcomings: BRICS Goa summit 2016
Criticism | Counter argument |
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On the sidelines of BRICS Summit, Modi and Putin signed fruitful deals such as:
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Side note: BRICS vs BIMSTEC
BRICS | BIMSTEC |
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Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. | Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation |
Five nations, listed above. |
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Founded in 2006 | 1997 (older than BRICS) |
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HQ: Dhaka, Bangladesh |
8th Summit @Goa (2016) | BRICS-BIMSTEC summit- held parallel at Goa, 2016 |
17th India-Russia annual summit, 2016
- Nothing special. Putin meet Modi on the sidelines of BRICS-summit, Goa.
- $25 billion pact signed to build natural gas pipeline from Siberia to India.
- 2011: Russian Indian investment fund formed. They’ll invest $500 million in National infrastructure investment fund (NIIF) + 500 billion in Indian infra.= So total $1 billion investment in India.
Mock Questions for Prelims
Q1: Find incorrect pairs Event: Chief Guest
- Republic day 2017: Crown prince of Saudi Arabia
- PBD-2017: PM of Portugal
- Independence day 2016: President of France
Answer choices
- Only 1 and 2
- Only 2 and 3
- Only 1 and 3
- None of them
Q2: find incorrect theme
- PBD-2017: Redefining Engagement with the Indian Diaspora
- BRICS-2016: Building Responsive, Inclusive and Collective Solutions.
- Both A and B
- Neither A nor B
Q3. which of the following are known as Girmitiya countries?
- Mauritius & Fiji
- Suriname & Guyana
- Trinidad & Tobago
Answer choices
- Only 1 and 2
- Only 2 and 3
- Only 1 and 3
- All of them
(हरेक प्रश्न केवल जो पढाया है उसी में से आये ये जरूरी नही वरना UPSC का नाम बदल के board exam रखना पड़ेगा!! And yes, this is also ‘current affairs’ because of Thalaivaa’s Movie “Kabali”.)
Q4. Which of the following is matched incorrectly?
- MCA-21: Corporate grievances
- MADAD: NRI grievances
- BHIM: e-payment
- PRAGATI: Union and state Government projects’ monitoring and grievances redressal.
- e-Nirvan: income tax
- None of above
Q5. The purpose of BRICS -GRAIN network is ___?
- Food security for the poor.
- Elimination of tariff and non-tariff barriers to Agriculture Trade.
- Establishment of Research infrastructure.
- None of above.
Q6. Lapis Lazuli corridor aims to connect?
- Afghanistan with India
- Afghanistan with Iran
- Afghanistan with Russia
- None above.
Q7. In 2016, which of the following summit was held at Hangzhou, China
- Heart of Asia summit
- BRICS summit
- Shanghai cooperation organization (SCO) summit.
- G20 summit.
Q8. In 2016, president Pranab Mukhrjee unveiled statue of Gandhi in Accra university. But later on students began Dharna-pradarshan to remove this statue for alleged racist remarks by Gandhi. This university is located in ___
- Urugway
- S. Africa
- Ghana
- Kenya
Q9. ___ is the latest country to leave International criminal court in 2016?
- S.Africa
- Ghana
- Gambia
- Burundi
Q10. EU Sakharov human rights prize for 2016 is awarded to ___
- António Guterres, Portugal
- King Bhumibol Adulyadej, Thailand
- President Juan Manuel Santos, Columbia
- Two Yazidi women who escaped ISIS slavers.
[accordion id=”diplo-hoa-mcq”] [accordion_item title=”Answer Hints (click to expand)” parent_id=”diplo-hoa-mcq”]
Q | Hint |
1 | Saudi nahi UAE hai. And French President came for republic day 2016, NOT independence day. |
2 | Given in the article itself |
3 | General Dong is never ___. |
4 | General Dong is never ___. |
5 | GRAIN is not for food but infra. |
6 | Given in the article itself. |
7 | Given in previous article on diplomacy. |
8 | This is Ghana’s JNU. Gandhi allegedly had said- “Indians were “infinitely superior” to black Africans.” |
9 | Gambia. They allege ICJ is humiliating Africans in pretext of running trials against warloards. |
10 | In 2016- Santos won Nobel peace prize, King Bhumibol died, António Guterres became UN-Secretary general. And none of them won this award. |
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Visit Mrunal.org/diplomacy for more study material on international relation and diplomacy for UPSC prelims and Mains General Studies Paper-2.
Economic Survey aa gaya sir………. Please is baar bhi ECONOMIC SURVEY VIDEO SERIES…………
Sir,
Please tell me how to cover entire syllabus bcoz till today I covered ncrt of geography only and 3 topics of history so how next statragie to stay in arena I have lot of work load
Hi,
Thanks for this informative article.Tons of information and really appreciative.
Respecte Sir MRUNAL,
I want your advice , I’m a science student but I want to opted Geography or Public Administration.
Which one is the best for your knowledge concern….
Hope you will surely reply me
Thank You Sir.