Asian Clearing Union

HQ: Tehran. Initiative of the UN ESCAP; to secure regional co-operation as regards the settlement of monetary transactions among the members. Members: Bangladesh, Bhutan, Iran, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Myanmar. Unit of settlement is equivalent to one USD.

BIMSTEC

Bay of Bengal Initiative for MultiSectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) is an international organisation involving a group of countries in South Asia and South East Asia. The member countries of this group are: Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan and Nepal. Est 1997 as BIST-EC.

Six priority sectors of cooperation at 2nd Ministerial Meeting in Dhaka in 1998. Extended to 13 in 2005 (8th meeting)

1. Trade and Investment, led by Bangladesh
2. Transport and Communication, led by India
3. Energy, led by Myanmar
4. Tourism, led by India
5. Technology, led by Sri Lanka
6. Fisheries, led by Thailand
7. Agriculture, led by Myanmar
8. Public Health, led by Thailand
9. Poverty Alleviation, led by Nepal
10. Counter-Terrorism and Transnational Crime, led by India
11. Environment and Natural Disaster Management, led by India
12. Culture, led by Bhutan
13. People to People contact, led by Thailand

Chairmanship is rotated. Members agreed to establish the BIMSTEC Free Trade Area Framework Agreement. Trade Negotiating Committee chaired by Thailand.

The 13th Ministerial Meeting chaired by Myanmar, which was held in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar on 22 January 2011.

India Afghanistan

Planned NATO withdrawal in 2014
Political reconciliation - confusion
India supports moderate Taliban to form govt.
Largest regional provider of humanitarian and reconstruction aid
2008 Indian embassy bombing in Kabul (U.S. intelligence officials - Pakistan's ISI behind it)
Afghan Foreign Ministry quoted India as a "brother country"
2011 - the signing of a strategic partnership agreement.

Slums

Sanitation, hygiene

Upgradation, Urban housing, Affordable land, reasonably priced materials, employment opportunities. PPP for infrastructure.

Migration, employer should secure proper accommodation

Strategies to prevent formation of slums

Black money

Directorate of Criminal Investigation (DCI)
Central Board of Direct Taxes

classified data on Swiss bank accounts
information from France on the overseas bank accounts held by Indians.

Electoral Reforms

Right to recall

EC turned down Team Anna's proposal

• would bring instability
• will also hamper development activities because of frequent elections and repeated imposition of the Model Code of Conduct
• various implications involved in the implementation of the suggestion — such as the minimum percentage of voters who might file the petition for recall; verification of authenticity of thousands of signatures; whether those signatures are given voluntarily or under coercion; minimum time after which a petition for recall could be presented; the exercise of calling for a referendum in a constituency; and the holding of another election where the petition succeeds.

Right to Reject

EC that it had proposed to the government in December 2001 to introduce a button in the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) so that electors could exercise ‘none of the above' option. The option would, however, require an amendment to the Representation of the People Act, 1951. This move might again lead to frequent elections.

Population

Consumption, not population, is the issue

Latest Constitution Amendments

95 - Moving service tax to union list
96 - Making 2001 as the basis of delimitations
97 - Anti-defection law amendment. Deleted third clause from tenth schedule
98 - National Judicial Commission (lapsed)
99 - Rights of non-tribal people in Bodo councils
100 – 4 languages: Bodo, Santali, Maithili, Dongri
101 – To bring the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2003 within the purview of the Ninth Schedule to the Constitution for giving necessary protection of article 31 B of the Constitution.
102 – Bill provides for repealing articles 239 AA and 239AB and modification in article 54 of the Constitution and enabling provisions for exercising power by Central Government under entry No.1 & 2 of the State List in relation to the whole State of Delhi.
103 – q
104 – Reservation to OBC
105 – q
106
105 – q
108 – Women’s reservation in Legislatures
110 – Women’s reservation in LSGs

Indira Awaas Yojana (IAY)

Indira Awaas Yojana (IAY) was launched in May 1985 as a sub-scheme of Jawahar Rozgar Yojana and as an independent scheme since 1 January 1996.

Assistance for construction of new house is provided at the rate of Rs. 35000/-and Rs. 38,000/- per unit in the plain and hilly/ difficult areas respectively.

Since inception in 1985, 212.95 lakh houses have been constructed with funding of Rs.52927.26 crore. A total of 71.75 lakh house (120%) were constructed under I phase of Bharat Nirman (2005-2009) (up Sept 09).

The Central allocation for IAY during 2008-09 was Rs 8800 crore which includes Rs. 3050 crore provided as part of economic stimulus package released at the end of the year 2008-09. In 2008-09, 21.32 lakh house (100.32%) were constructed as against target of 21.21 lakh house. The Central allocation for the current Financial Year i.e 2009-10 is Rs. 8800.00 crore. This year amount plus the amount of released as stimulus package at the end of 2008-09 will enable construction of 40.52 lakh houses, which is the target for the year 2009-10.

Nuclear Policy

Challenges ahead for India's nuclear diplomacy

Risks
Japan - Fukushima Daiichi disaster

Plan
Present - 3%; 2020 - 6%; 2030 -13%

Need
To cut reliance on fossil fuels
To reduce carbon emission per unit GDP by at least 20% by 2020 from 2005 levels