Aug18,2020:President Ram Nath Kovind on Monday gave assent to the change in name of the ministry of human resource development (MHRD) as ministry of education, an official notification said.
The name change was among the key recommendations of the draft new National Education Policy (NEP), which was also cleared by the Union Cabinet last month.
A gazette notification published on Monday night said the President had given his nod to changing the name of HRD ministry to ministry of education.
The heading ministry of human resources development stands substituted to ministry of education, it said.
The ministry of education was renamed as the HRD ministry in 1985 during the tenure of then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi. The NEP was introduced the next year and it was later amended in 1992.
P V Narasimha Rao became the first HRD minister in the Rajiv Gandhi cabinet.
A panel headed by former ISRO chairman K Kasturirangan, tasked with working on the new NEP, had first proposed that the name of the ministry should be changed again.
In 2018, the idea was also mooted by Ram Bahadur Rai, chairman of the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts and also chairman of the joint organising committee of the Conference on Academic Leadership on Education for Resurgence.
Moscow , Aug 18: For the first time since the introduction of coronavirus-related restrictions, a Russian Defense Ministry aircraft with 26 Russian children taken from the orphanages of Syria’s Damascus landed at the Chkalovsky airfield near Moscow, the press service of Russian children’s rights commissioner Anna Kuznetsova said.
Earlier reports said 26 Russian children from Damascus orphanages were returning home on Tuesday.
“With the assistance of Anna Kuznetsova, commissioner under the Russian president, 26 Russian children who were in orphanages in Damascus have been returned to their homeland from the Syrian Arab Republic,” the press service said.
“The Russian Defense Ministry’s first aircraft after a pause caused by restrictive measures in connection with the coronavirus pandemic landed at the Chkalovsky airfield in the Moscow Region,” it said.
The press service said the children had been accompanied by doctors during the flight.
Overall, 157 children have already been returned to Russia from the war zones in the Middle East ,122 from Iraq and 35 from Syria.
Beijing [China], August 18,2020: China will continue to work with India to enhance political mutual trust, properly manage differences, strengthen practical cooperation and jointly uphold the big picture of bilateral relations, Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Monday.
Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian said at a press conference that growth of bilateral relations will benefit people of two countries and also add stability and positive energy to peace and prosperity of the region and the world.
He was asked about Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s remarks in which he had said that country’s territorial integrity is supreme and had talked about efforts to strengthen the military.
“We noted Prime Minister Modi’s remarks. As two neighbors and emerging major countries each with a population of over 1 billion, the growth of China-India relations will not only benefit our two countries and peoples, but also add stability and positive energy to peace and prosperity of the region and the world at large,” he said.
Zhao said mutual respect and support between China and India is the right path and serves the long-term interests of both countries.
“China will continue to work with India to enhance political mutual trust, properly manage differences, strengthen practical cooperation and jointly uphold the big picture of bilateral relations,” he said.
PM Modi had said in his Independence speech from the ramparts of Red Fort that Indian soldiers gave a befitting reply to those who tried to pose a challenge to the country’s sovereignty, from the Line of Actual Control (LAC) to Line of Control (LoC).
“From LoC to LAC, whoever tried to raise their eyes towards the sovereignty of our country, our soldiers responded to it in the same manner,” he said.
He also made a reference to the clash between Indian and Chinese troops in Ladakh’s Galwan Valley in June this year.
“What our jawans can do, what the country can do, the world has seen in Ladakh,” he said.
The Prime Minister said India is united and committed to protecting its sovereignty. “India’s sovereignty is supreme for us,” he said.
India and China have been holding military and diplomatic talks for disengagement along LAC in Eastern Ladakh and de-escalation along border areas.
India said last week that it expects China to sincerely work with it towards the objective of complete disengagement and de-escalation and full restoration of peace and tranquillity in the border areas as agreed by the special representatives.
Brussels [Belgium], Aug 17,2020: The seventh round of the negotiations between the European Union and the United Kingdom on their future relationship will begin in Brussels on Monday.
The round will last until August 21 and is set to resolve the remaining outstanding issues that prevent the sides from reaching a final agreement.
The UK pulled out of the bloc on January 31, completing a process triggered by the Brexit referendum in June 2016.
Until December 31, the country is set to renegotiate a range of agreements — both with the EU and other partners — to ensure beneficial trade and cooperation after the transition period ends.
Kuala Lumpur [Malaysia], August 16 (ANI): Malaysia has rejected Beijing’s expansive maritime claims in the South China Sea, a region where Beijing’s territorial claims have aggravated tensions.
“Malaysia opposes China’s claim that they have historic rights over those waters,” Malaysian Foreign Minister Hishammuddin Hussein told the Parliament in a rare public rebuke of its largest trading partner.
“The Malaysian government also considers China’s claims over maritime features in the South China Sea to have no basis whatsoever under international law,” he added while answering questions from Members of Parliament on the status of China’s demands for territory in the South China Sea.
This is an unusual move for Malaysia, which in the past had avoided reproaching China openly by reiterating its focus on ensuring the area remains open for trade.
A recent Malaysian government report disclosed the Chinese ships incursions into Malaysia’s exclusive economic zone had taken place 89 times between 2016 and 2019. In April, Chinese ships have intruded into the Malaysian waters for over 100 days.
A Chinese government survey vessel, the Haiyang Dizhi 8, accompanied by a Chinese Coast Guard (CCG) vessel, entered Malaysia’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and began a survey close to a drillship under contract to Malaysian state oil company Petronas. Foreign Minister disclosed that after “intensive diplomatic efforts”, the Chinese Coast Guard and fishing militia retreated its exclusive economic zone in May.
Malaysia and Brunei are two of the four Southeast Asian states opposing Beijing’s expansive claims in the South China Sea, through which USD 3.4 trillion worth of international shipping trade passes every year. But unlike Vietnam and the Philippines, they have made few public statements on the issue, even as Beijing built artificial islands and sent coastguard and research vessels to the resource-rich area to strengthen its claims.
On December 12 last year, Malaysia filed a submission with the United Nations, seeking to establish the limits of Malaysia’s continental shelf in the northern part of the disputed area. Under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, any country can claim an exclusive economic zone up to 200 nautical miles from their shoreline.
China, however, claims most of the South China Sea. Malaysia said in its submission that there were areas of potential overlapping claims beyond its own exclusive economic zone.
China objected to the filing, saying Malaysia’s submission had “seriously infringed on China’s sovereignty, sovereign rights and jurisdiction in the South China Sea”.
In response, the Malaysian government issued a note verbale to the UN on July 29 saying that it rejected “China’s claims to historic rights, or other sovereign rights or jurisdiction, with respect to the maritime areas of the South China Sea encompassed by the relevant part of the ‘nine-dash line’.” A note verbale is submitted to the UN Secretary-General with the request that it is sent to other member states.
Malaysia’s note added that China’s claim in the disputed area “has no basis under international law” and it “rejects in its entirety the content” of China’s objection. In April, Malaysian Foreign Minister Hishammuddin Hussein called for calm in the South China Sea and reaffirmed Malaysia’s commitment to peace in the disputed waters. This came after reports that a Chinese government survey ship was “tagging” an exploration vessel operated by Malaysia’s state oil company Petronas in the South China Sea.
China claims much of the South China Sea, but there are also overlapping claims by Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam. China has built bases and other outposts on shoals, reefs and rock outcroppings to deepen its claim over 80 per cent of the 3.6 sq km waterway, with Vietnam, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Taiwan claim parts of the same area.
The US and its allies have also challenged Beijing’s territorial claims. Washington has called on Beijing to stop bullying tactics in the South China Sea and accused the latter of pushing its presence in the disputed waters while other claimants are pre-occupied with battling COVID-19.
Malaysia will remain cautious in defending its claim to avoid escalating tensions, Hishammuddin said. It will keep working toward a resolution within regional grouping ASEAN, which is holding discussions with China for a code of conduct for the area, even as talks have stalled due to the pandemic, Hussein added.
Abuja , August 16,2020: Africa’s largest economy is in turmoil over the prospect of ‘losing’ its sovereignty to China over bad debts.
The Federal lawmakers of the national assembly are demanding a probe into China’s lending practices into Nigeria, in a wake of a sovereign guarantee clause in loan agreements that they consider ‘an entrapment of Chinese neo-colonial plans’.
Lawmakers fear that the clause could see Nigeria sign away its sovereignty in the event of a payment default.
The House of Representatives had attacked the government over clauses in Article 8(1) of the Commercial Loan Agreement signed between Nigeria and the Export-Import Bank of China.
In the said agreement, Nigeria stands to concede her sovereignty to China should there be a default in the repayment of the $400 million for the Nigerian National Information and Communication Technology Infrastructure Backbone phase 2 project signed in 2018.
China currently constitutes the largest overseas trade partner and also one of the largest creditors of Nigeria. According to a West African Nations’ Management Office data, Chinese credit accounts for 80 per cent of all bilateral lending to Nigeria. China provides loans to build railways, power plants and airports in Africa’s largest oil producer.
The controversy erupted on the established perception of China’s ‘debt-trap diplomacy’ in Africa. China’s posturing as a willing partner for expensive infrastructural projects is an elaborate play to entrap African countries in debt. There is a popular belief that Beijing is present in Africa for the sake of China not as it claims to be there for Africans.
A lot of the current debt of most African countries is not going to be profitable to China and it is keen on helping Africa as these loans allow China to take control over certain projects once the credit conditions are not met by the borrowing county. China’s loans often include conditions that are strongly orientated towards Beijing’s strategic interests and increase the risk that many countries in the developing plunge into a monetary disaster.
This tactic is known as “debt-trap diplomacy” and has been used by China in numerous instances like Kenya and Ethiopia are struggling with Chinese debt.
For example, China had given a loan to develop a strategic port in Djibouti. In 2017, Djibouti’s debt was projected staggering at 88 per cent of its GDP, with China responsible for the bulk of this debt.
Djibouti had fallen victim to China’s debt-trap and let China built its first overseas military base there. That China’s first and only overseas military base is a consequence, not a coincidence.
Nigeria is staring at a grim economic condition due to COVID-19 pandemic that caused cash crunch and there is a lingering fear that its debt burden might escalate. Its primary revenue source- oil earnings have long been undercut by falling production levels and dips in oil prices coupled with the recent total shutdown of the global oil economy. Over the past few years, Nigeria’s economy has been unable to fund national budgets fully. Consequently, it is desperate to look for more external funding.
Nigeria has increasingly relied on loans for big-ticket infrastructure projects and has particularly leaned on Chinese financial and technical support to build out its transport network. So far, China has offered loans to back eleven ongoing large-scale infrastructural projects, leaving Nigeria’s debt to China at $3.1 billion as of March 31 against the total $5.575 loan agreements wrapped up with China EXIM Bank in the span of eight years between 2010 and 2018.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) persistently warns Nigeria and other third world countries that mounting debts to China are dangerous. It stresses that Chinese creditors create some instability or vulnerabilities.
Economists have been urging African governments to ensure that they read the small prints of the “conditionalities” defined by the Chinese. In their views, it would avoid Beijing laying claim to some of their assets, as they are doing in Madagascar, Kenya, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Nigerian opposition members also allege that the Nigerian government has pledged some oil fields as collaterals for the Chinese loans.