India joins Oslo Forum

GS Paper - 2 (International Relations)

India and Pakistan joined the US and UN in participating in a peace forum on Afghanistan organised by Norway amid the deteriorating humanitarian crisis in the war-ravaged country.

More about the forum

• Held under Chatham House rules, the talks apparently focused on all pressing issues in Afghanistan including terrorism and the need for the Taliban to fulfil their commitments on facilitating education and employment for girls and women and ensuring a more representative and inclusive government in Kabul.

• India is among the countries that continue to dispatch food and medicines in aid to Afghanistan, even as they refrain from officially recognising the Taliban dispensation in Kabul.

• India last year also reopened its embassy to coordinate distribution of humanitarian assistance to the Afghan people.

• Apart from the 40,000 MT of wheat it sent to Afghanistan via the land border with Pakistan, the Indian government has committed to supplying 20,000 MT of more wheat through the Chabahar port in Iran.

• This was the first time that India participated in the Norway’s Oslo Forum for peace talks on Afghanistan. India and Pakistan have earlier participated in the Moscow Format talks and also in the dialogue in Doha.

• Norway invited three civil servant-level individuals working for the Afghan de facto authorities in Kabul to this year's Oslo Forum.

• They met Afghan civil society and representatives from other countries to discuss the situation in Afghanistan.

UNGA adopts resolution introduced by India

GS Paper - 2 (International Relations)

The UN General Assembly has adopted a draft resolution introduced by India to establish a memorial wall in the UN Headquarters to honour fallen peacekeepers. India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Ruchira Kamboj introduced the draft resolution titled ‘Memorial wall for fallen United Nations peacekeepers’ in the UN General Assembly hall.

More about the resolution

• The resolution was co-sponsored by nearly 190 UN Member States and was adopted by consensus.

• It welcomed the initiative of Member States to “establish at a suitable and prominent place at United Nations Headquarters in New York a memorial wall to honour the memory of fallen peacekeepers, giving due consideration to the modalities involved, including the recording of the names of those who have made the supreme sacrifice."

• While introducing the resolution, Kamboj said the memorial wall will be a testimony to the importance that the UN bestows on peacekeeping.

• It will remind people of not only the sacrifices of the fallen but also be a "constant reminder of the cost of our decisions.”

• The resolution was submitted by 18 countries including Bangladesh, Canada, China, Denmark, Egypt, France, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Nepal, Rwanda and the US.

• The resolution stipulates that the wall be completed within three years of the text’s adoption.

Flashback

• In 2015, the Permanent Mission of India to the UN launched a virtual memorial wall, dedicated to the Indian troops who made the supreme sacrifice while doing active service as UN peacekeepers.

• The initiative was a precursor to the eventual construction of the Peacekeepers Memorial Wall.

• India had proposed the construction of the memorial wall as an appropriate way to commemorate all the troops from UN member states who had given their lives while on duty under the Blue Flag of the United Nations.

RBI’s hawkish pause

GS Paper - 3 (Economy)

The Federal Reserve of the United States, the world’s most influential central bank, decided to pause raising interest rates. While it is a “pause”, many commentators called it a hawkish one. This phrase — a hawkish pause — has been used to describe Indian RBI’s recent actions as well.

What

• Over the past two reviews (in April and June) of monetary policy — which essentially involves the RBI’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) tweaking interest rates in such a manner as to contain inflation while promoting growth and employment — the RBI has decided to “pause” raising interest rates.

• In any policy review, a central bank either raises interest rates or cuts them or decides to maintain the status quo (read a pause).

What is a “hawkish pause”?

• First thing to understand is the bit about “hawkish” behaviour. While they take their actions, central banks are also categorised as hawks or doves.

• Those central banks (or bankers) who have a very low threshold for tolerating variation from the targeted inflation level (or a range), and who keep their eyes peeled for such divergence and immediately swoop in to raise interest rates, are called “Hawks”.

• “Doves”, on the other hand, favour boosting growth (by keeping the interest rates low) and are far more willing to risk having higher inflation.

• A hawkish pause then implies that while the central bank has decided to pause raising interest rates — as both the RBI and the US Fed have done, ending a streak of repeated interest rate hikes — no one should mistake this for them taking their eye off the target (of bringing inflation to its target level, which is 4% for India and 2% for the US).

Bangkok Vision 2030

General Paper – 2 (International Relations)

The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) summit end of this year will adopt a Bangkok vision 2030 which would be overarching kind of document and give direction to the organization while stating that a marine transport cooperation agreement is also expected to be concluded at the summit.

Background

• “Thailand has put forth the Bangkok vision 2030 which seeks to propel BIMSTEC towards a region that is prosperous, resilient and open... moving us in a forward-looking trajectory for sustainable and balanced growth,” at an event ‘BIMSTEC – the way forward” organised by India Foundation.

• The grouping comprises Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand.

• In 2022, the BIMSTEC charter was adopted which lays the foundation for it to function as a full-fledged organization.

What is BIMSTEC?

• BIMSTEC- “the regional group constitutes a bridge between South and South East Asia and represents a reinforcement of relations among these countries.”

• The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) is a regional organization comprising seven Member States lying in the littoral and adjacent areas of the Bay of Bengal constituting a contiguous regional unity.

• It has a total of seven member countries- five from South Asia, including Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka, and two from Southeast Asia, including Myanmar and Thailand.

• It was founded as BIST-EC, in June 1997, with the adoption of the Bangkok Declaration, with Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka and Thailand as members.

• It became BIMST-EC (Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Thailand Economic Cooperation) with the entry of Myanmar in late 1997, and eventually, it was named in its current form, when Nepal and Bhutan became members in 2004.

Bangkok Vision 2030

• Thailand presented “BIMSTEC Bangkok Vision 2030” aiming to build a Prosperous, Resilient, and Open (PRO) BIMSTEC by 2030.

• The Vision sets a clear direction and priorities as well as a goal for BIMSTEC collaboration to tackle challenges and seize opportunities for the coming decade.

• The document aims to further promote BIMSTEC as a region of peace, stability, and economic sustainability.

• The goals found in the vision are also in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and Thailand’s bio-circular-green economic model

• Thailand also called for synergy between the master plans of BIMSTEC and Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) for growth of the entire region.