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Areas under AFSPA regime reduced: Home Ministry The Union Home Ministry has considerably reduced the “disturbed areas” under the Armed Forces (Special) Powers Act (AFSPA) in Assam, Manipur and Nagaland. Armed Forces Special Powers Act, to put it simply, gives armed forces the power to maintain public order in “disturbed areas.” AFSPA gives armed forcesRead more

India seeks closer BIMSTEC partnership: India has proposed an FTA for BIMSTEC. The BIMSTEC FTA has been signed by all member nations to stimulate trade and investment in the parties, and attract outsiders to trade with and invest in the BIMSTEC countries at a higher level. Subsequently, the “Trade Negotiating Committee” (TNC) was set up,Read more

Assam-Meghalaya Boundary Dispute Resolution: Assam and Meghalaya partially resolved a 50-year-old dispute along their 884.9 km boundary. According to the partial boundary deal, Assam will get 18.51 sq. km of the 36.79 sq. km disputed area while Meghalaya will get the remaining 18.28 sq. km. Reason for dispute: Meghalaya, carved out of Assam as anRead more

Startup India Initiative and its Success: The action plan for this initiative is focusing on three areas: Simplification and Handholding. Funding Support and Incentives. Industry-Academia Partnership and Incubation. An additional area relating to this initiative is to discard restrictive States Government policies within this domain, such as License Raj, Land Permissions, Foreign Investment Proposals, andRead more

Bio samples for crime files: Criminal Procedure (Identification) Bill: It authorises law enforcement agencies to collect, store and analyse physical and biological samples of convicts and other persons for the purposes of identification and investigation in criminal matters. As per the Bill, any state government OR Union Territory administration may notify an appropriate agency toRead more

Defining minority: what the constitution says; how SC has ruled: In an affidavit filed in the top court, the Union Ministry of Minority Affairs said “state governments can also declare a religious or linguistic community as a ‘minority community’ within the state”. Who are the Minorities? Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Buddhists, Jain and Zorastrians (Parsis) haveRead more

A subregional grouping that must get back on course: Founded in 1997, the seven-member BIMSTEC includes the littoral states of India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Myanmar (Thailand is a member too) and the land-locked states of Nepal and Bhutan. BIMSTEC has identified 14 pillars for special focus. BIMSTEC summit: Priority areas Marine environmental protection: It mustRead more

The JCPOA continues to be elusive: The Vienna talks aimed at reviving the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), also known as the Iran nuclear deal, have slowed down. Reasons: Russia has sought written guarantees from the U.S. that the economic sanctions imposed on it for its attack on Ukraine would not affect its roleRead more

What is behind the new anti-India campaign in Maldives? The recent ‘India Out’ campaign in the Maldives is against the opposition to the Uthuru Thila Falhu (UTF) harbour development deal with India in February 2021, which is being seen as a way of allowing Indian military presence on native soil. Reason: Reports are being publishedRead more

A good foreign policy must also make a difference at home: Edited version of lecture delivered by India’s External Affairs Minister at St. Stephen’s College, Delhi on March 24. Foreign policy being the link to the outside, it should enable us to draw what we seek. This could be in terms of technology or capital,Read more