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India and World: April 2011

Top SAARC police officers discuss drug trafficking and terrorism

• Top police officers from the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation
(SAARC) countries discussed terrorism and drug traffic-related problems in the region,
among other policing issues, at a two-day conference in Colombo.
• The fourth meeting of the focal points of SAARC terrorist offences monitoring desk
(STOMD) and the fourth meeting of focal points of SAARC drug offences monitoring
desk (SDOMD), consumed a major part of the deliberations at the ninth SAARC
conference in Police Matters. While SDOMD has made some progress treading on
common ground, the terrorist offences monitoring desk is yet to achieve the same amount
of success.
• Since last year, India had been offering training programmes at the National Institute of
Criminology and Forensic Science.

Jahangir portrait sold for Rs. 10 crore at London auction

• A six-foot high, life-size portrait of Mughal emperor Jahangir, billed as one of the rarest
and most desirable 17th century paintings ever to go under the hammer, sold for a
whopping £ 1.42 million (Rs. 10 crore) at an auction in London.
• The portrait, attributed to Abu'l Hasan, Nadir al-Zaman and dated 1617 AD, was one of
the top lots at the Indian and Islamic Art Sale at Bonhams.

India signs chemicals test data-sharing pact

• India took another step towards quality parity with international standards in the realm of
non-clinical chemicals manufacturing when it joined the system for the Mutual
Acceptance of Data (MAD) in the Assessment of Chemicals, a multilateral agreement
supported by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

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• Its decision to join the OECD pact makes India the third key emerging economy to get on
board the platform for ensuring that the results of its non-clinical chemical safety testing
will be accepted in all other participating countries, the OECD said in a statement.
• OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría said: “India's engagement in OECD's work on
chemical safety and its membership in our MAD system is indicative of the mutual
benefit of the ever-closer relationship between OECD and major emerging economies.”
• Ensuring that OECD and partner countries share and trust each other's chemical safety
test data would also open the possibility for producers in OECD countries to have safety
tests for their chemicals undertaken in adhering partner economies, officials said, noting
that “provisional adherents to the MAD system are currently Argentina, Brazil, Malaysia
and Thailand.”

West Asia imparts political colour to BRICS summit

• Prime Minister Manmohan Singh arrived at Sanya coastal resort town in China for the
first-ever summit of BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) nations.
• While two summits of the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) were held in
Russia and Brazil, this summit has South Africa as the new entrant.
• India will host the next summit.

Chernobyl-like rating for Fukushima accident

• The nuclear radiation crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi plant in Japan was reclassified as a
“major accident” with the same worst-case rating as the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.
• The level of the Fukushima crisis was now “provisionally” raised from ‘five' to the
worst-possible ‘seven' on the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale (INES).
The previous rating of ‘five', assigned on the basis of radiation readings one week after
the March 11 temblor and tsunami, was the same as that of the 1979 civil-nuclear
accident in the U.S.
• The Vienna-based IAEA said a score of ‘seven' under the INES framework would imply
the occurrence of “a major release of radioactive material, with widespread health and
environmental effects, requiring the implementation of planned and extended
countermeasures.”

BRICS panel to intensify economic links

• The Economic and Trade Ministers of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South
Africa) nations have decided to set up a liaison group to intensify cooperation and
pledged to oppose trade protectionism.
• This will mean examining the current state of economic cooperation and trade among the
five countries and evaluating future trends.

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BRICS nations make the first move with local currencies

• The BRICS nations inked a pact to use their own currencies instead of the U.S. dollar in
issuing credit or grants among each other and pushed for the early conclusion of an India-
initiated U.N. comprehensive anti-terror law.
• “Our designated banks have signed a framework agreement on financial cooperation,
which envisages grant of credit in local currencies and cooperation in capital markets and
other financial services,” Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said.
• The decision came after a restricted session that deliberated on the international situation,
financial situation, climate and security.

Foothold for India in oil-rich Kazakhstan

• India finally got a foothold in the ongoing rush for hydrocarbons in Central Asia with the
signing of a clutch of agreements during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's maiden visit
to Kazakhstan. A package of three agreements signed between the national companies of
both countries will give India access to the North Caspian Sea region which is in close
proximity to major discoveries. The block contains two prospective structures —
Satpayev and Satpayev Vostochni (East) — with estimated hydrocarbon reserves of 256
million tonnes.
• The agreements will enable ONGC Videsh (OVL) to acquire 25 per cent equity from
Kazmunaigas (KMG), define how OVL will pay KMG, repayment in case of commercial
discovery and development of the discovered fields. Although OVL has been trying to
gain a foothold in Kazakhstan for over 15 years, the efforts got a boost only with the
inking of an MoU in 2005. Secretary (East) in the Ministry of External Affairs Sanjay
Singh said the move would add to India's efforts to diversify its sourcing of oil. It imports
67 per cent of oil from the Middle East and North Africa.

India, Kazakhstan sign pact on nuclear cooperation

• In restricted and delegation level talks that lasted 100 minutes, Prime Minister
Manmohan. Singh and Kazakhstan President Nazarbayev by and large concentrated on
bilateral issues by “putting flesh on various areas of collaboration,” . Secretary in the
Ministry of External Affairs Sanjay Singh said.
• With most initiatives having been time consuming so far, Dr. Singh and Kazakhstan
President agreed on a three-year Joint Action Plan. It details specific milestones in
hydrocarbons, civilian nuclear energy, space, IT & cyber security, high-tech and
innovative technology, pharmaceuticals, healthcare, agriculture and cultural exchanges.
• The two countries moved a step towards more intensive collaboration in nuclear energy
with the signing of the Agreement on Cooperation in Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy
but this is subject to both sides “adhering to their existing obligations under multilateral
nuclear regimes.”
• They also inked a memorandum in the area of information security and India agreed to
set up an Indian-Kazakhstan Centre of Excellence in the Eurasian University in Astana.

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• Speaking at a luncheon, Dr. Singh noted that Kazakhstan was one of the first Central
Asian States with which India established diplomatic ties. He also pointed out that Mr.
Nazarbayev's visit in 2009 (when he was Chief Guest at the Republic Day celebrations)
launched the strategic partnership and paved the way for “solid and substantive outcomes
in sectors where we have complementary strengths.”

TAPI talks deadlocked on gas price, transit fee issues

• Talks for putting together the TAPI “peace pipeline” remained deadlocked as
representatives of the four nations — Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India —
could not reach an agreement on the issues of gas price and transit fee.
• Although the terms of the Gas Sale and Purchase Agreement (GSPA) were agreed at the
Ministerial meeting of the TAPI countries, the issues of the price of fuel and the transit
fee remained unresolved. All four nations decided to meet next month for further
negotiations.
• Both India and Pakistan did not agree to the price of gas proposed by Turkmenistan.
There was also a disagreement on the transit fee that India has to pay to Pakistan and
Afghanistan to allow passage of gas.

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