UK lab’s revelation in Skripal case

ON APRIL 4, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

London will eventually have to apologize for its baseless accusations against Moscow in the Skripal poisoning case, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, after a UK military lab admitted it could not link the attack to Moscow.

“For us, the situation was appalling from the very beginning, and now, confirmation is gradually starting to come in that the insane accusations, made by the British side a few hours after the assassination attempt [on double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter], are baseless and groundless,” Peskov told journalists Tuesday. He was speaking shortly after the Sky News interview in which the head of the Porton Down chemical lab admitted his scientists had found no confirmation the A-234 (“Novichok”) chemical agent used in the poisoning came from Russia.

RT news

Italian president opens talks on forming new govt

ON APRIL 4, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

The Italian president is opening formal consultations to see if any party or coalition can muster support to form a government after the inconclusive March 4 elections. President Sergio Mattarella will start consultations on Wednesday with the parliament speakers, followed by parties with the least political weight. On Thursday, the talks will continue with those winning the most votes, AP reported.

The populist 5-Star Movement was the party with the highest number of votes. However, the center-right coalition led by the anti-migrant League would control the most parliamentary seats. Neither force can govern alone. 5-Star leader Luigi di Maio says he is open to a government with either the League or the Democratic Party, but he ruled out governing with former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia, citing his tax-fraud conviction.

Steel Ministry and its PSUs Observe Swachhata Pakhwada

ON APRIL 4, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Swachhata pledge being administered to the employees of the Ministry of Steel

Ministry of Steel and its Public Sector Undertakings observed Swachhata Pakhwada from March 16-31, 2018.  Employees in Udyog Bhavan office of the Ministry and in various Plants/Units of PSUs spread across the country participated in various activities organized during the fortnight.  In Ministry of Steel, the event was launched by administering Swachhata pledge to the employees of the Ministry on March 16, 2018.  During the fortnight, Cleanliness inspection of all the Sections was conducted by Senior Officers.  An Open House to seek ideas, suggestions and comments on the subject of Swachhata was organized in which employees of this Ministry participated actively.  A workshop on E-office and recording, upkeep and streamlining of files was also organized.

The Ministry has asked the Plants and units of the PSUs to carry out different activities including displaying Swachhata message on their websites, adhering to stipulated Swachhata parameters, initiating rating of different mills and units on Swachhata parameters and sharing major activities through YouTube/Instagram/FB/Twitter and mainstream media/Press Conference for wider dissemination.

Ministry of Steel ranks among the top 10 Ministries/Departments of Government of India, in the implementation of Swachhata related activities. Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, which is the nodal Ministry for overseeing Swachhata related activities in the Central Government, has congratulated the Ministry and its PSUs for taking forward the goal of Swachh Bharat as envisioned by the Prime Minister.

New Greenfield Noida International Airport Progress Report 

ON APRIL 4, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

New Greenfield Noida International Airport at Jewar picking momentum- Progress Report

Posted On: 03 APR 2018 8:53PM by PIB Delhi

Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) is committed to the building of airport capacity as part of its NABH (NextGen Airports for BHarat) Nirman initiative. Three key aspects of NABH Nirman are (1) fair and equitable land acquisition, (2) long-term master plan for airport and regional development and (3) balanced economics for all stakeholders. As part of NABH Nirman, MoCAcalled a meeting of all stakeholders to review the progress of setting up of Noida International Greenfield Airport at Jewar.

Fair and equitable land acquisition

Noida International Greenfield Airport is strategically located in respect of road distance about 72 km from IGI Airport, about 40 km from Noida, Faridabad and Ghaziabad, about 28 km from Greater Noida, 65 km from Gurugram and 130 km from Agra. It is well connected via Yamuna Expressway that will serve domestic and international tourists to reach Agra, Mathura and Vrindavan.

MoCAhadgranted site clearance on July 06, 2017. The U. P. Government appointed Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA) as the implementing agency on its behalf in October 2017. YEIDA obtained a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the Ministry of Defence on January 11, 2018.  To expedite the implementation of Airport project, a Project Monitoring and Implementation Committee (PMIC) has been constituted on March 27, 2018.

Landmeasuring 5,000 hectares (ha) has been identified by YEIDA for the project, out of which 240 ha. belongs to the State Govt and rest is with private owners. The first phase of acquisition of land measuring 1,327 ha.for construction of Terminal buildings and Runways is expected tobe initiated in the month of June, 2018by the YEIDA for necessary arrangements have been made.

Long-term master plan for airport and regional development

Airports are gateways of global connectivity and form the corner stone of creating strategic economic hubs. Development of an airport leads to construction of commercial and residential real estate closer to the airport and can transform the economic geography of the region. A well-designed aero-city around an airport can become an economic engine in and of itself.

It was decided that the planning for the airport will take into account holistic planning of the urban area around the airport. Intra and inter-city connectivity with various modes of transport (linkages with the existing Delhi airport, Railways, metro, buses, autos, private vehicle connectivity, etc.) were identified to bring down cost and time involved for passenger and freight movement.

Balanced economics for all stakeholders

The airport is to be developed on Public Private Partnership model (PPP). A detailed discussion was held on the financial viability of the airport and various models of awarding the PPP concession were deliberated upon. The State government and YEIDA assured that funds for land acquisition are availableand the process is expected to proceed smoothly.

Stakeholders and conclusion

The meeting was attended by Shri Suresh Prabhu, Hon’ble Minister for Civil Aviation, Dr. Mahesh Sharma, Hon’ble Minister of State for Environment, Forest & Climate Change, Shri Jayant Sinha, Hon’ble Minister of State for Civil Aviation, Shri R N Choubey, Secretary Ministry of Civil Aviation, Shri Prabhat Kumar, Chairman, YEIDA and other senior officials of the Central and the State government.

In the meeting, timelines have been fixed for various activities and responsibilities assigned. The UP government is planning to lay the foundation stone of Phase 1 of the project by October 2018.

PRESS INVITATION

ON APRIL 4, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

INVITATION

Dear Sir/Madam,

You are cordially invited to cover the following event:

EVENT	:	Union Minister of Commerce & Industry and Civil Aviation, Suresh Prabhuwill deliver inaugural address at the Global Logistics Summit.
DATE	:	05.04.2018 (Thursday)
TIME	:	11:00 AM
VENUE	:	FICCI, Federation House, Tansen Marg, New Delhi

INVITATION
Function:	Foundation Stone Laying Ceremony for Redevelopment of Govt. of India Press, Minto Road by Shri Hardeep Puri, Minister of State (I/C) for Housing & Urban Affairs
Date:	04/04/2018(Wednesday)
Time:	3.00 p.m.(Please arrive by 2.45 p.m.)
Venue:	Government of India Press, Minto Road(DeenDayalUpadhyay Marg), New Delhi

Yours sincerely,

(Rajeev Kumar Jain)

INVITATION

Dear Sir/Madam

You are cordially invited to the following event:

Function          :           Secretary (Defence Production) Dr. Ajay Kumar will hold a curtain raiser press conference with regard to DefExpo India – 2018.

Date                :           04 April 2018.

Time                :           1200 hrs

Venue  :           Kothari Auditorium, DRDO Bhawan, New Delhi.

Note:   All are requested to be seated latest by 1145 hr.

Yours faithfully

(Amit Ranjan Giri)

Udit Raj, a Dalit MP says Dalits` anger against Hon. Supreme Court not the BJP

ON APRIL 4, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Udit Raj, a Dalit MP says Dalits` anger against Hon. Supreme Court not the BJP

                                             (Rahul Kumar Balley, Senior Correspondent)  

On  2nd April,2018 an historic call for Bharat Bandh was given by All India Dalit Organisations against dilution of SC/ST ACT by Hon. Supreme Court of India. The SC/ST Act enshrined in the Constitution of India is meant to protect poor, innocent, and defenseless Dalits.

Behn Mayawati, President of Bhujan Samaj Party(BSP), Ambedkar Mission Society, Valmik Sabhas, Ravidass Sabhas, Sikh Sabha supported Bharat Bandh. Lahori Ram Balley, Editor Bheem Patrika and trustee of Ambedkar Bhawan, Jalandhar posted a youtube video apprising about the vicious attentions of Modi government in diluting the SC/ST ACT. Ramvilas Paswan, Ramdas Athawale, Dalit Ministers in the Modi government, under suppressed voice, also condemned the dilution of SC/ST Act. Professor Vivek Kumar, an Indian sociologist and a pubic intellectual writes: “Today dalit assertion has transcended the national boundary & has reached international levels. The dalit diaspora that has remained invisible all these years has joined Indian dalits”. The Dalit Diaspora residing in various parts of the world hugely supported Bharat Bandh. This solidarity and unity of the minority organizations shows that the dalits can no longer be suppressed

There is no denying the fact that under the BJP, backed by RSS, atrocities against the Dalits multiplied. National Crime Bureau data shows horrifying figures of atrocities against Dalits in India. Dalits do not get justice because the law –enforcing agencies are controlled by the upper caste people.

Leaders of Hindu organizations such as RSS/VHP and their allies use abusive language against the Dalits. One side Mr Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India claims a true well-wisher of the Dalits on the other side, leaders of RSS/VHP under the nose of Mr Modi`s government commit inhuman crimes against Dalits. Dalit men or women are not safe in the villages of India. Several gruesome killings of the Dalits in the past show the BJP is anti-Dalit political party. Mohan Bhagwat, head of RSS is anti-reservation. He is wants reservation should end.

Since centuries, Dalits are subject to various kinds of caste discrimination. Untouchability is rampant in many parts of the country. Dalit women are raped in a day light. Dalit men are bitten naked in the open market by the upper caste Brahmins. A dalit man is killed by upper caste people because he dared to sit on a horse. Marriage procession of a dalit bridegroom playing music was stoned by upper caste people. Brahmins are highly uncivilized, unsophisticated, and uncultured.

Udit Raj,  of the BJP claims on a national NDTV debate that the anger of the Dalits is against Hon. Supreme Court not the BJP. Such greedy, opportunistic persons deserve not to be called a DALIT LEADER. A day has gone when Udit Raj was advocating for reservation in the private sectors for the Dalits. Almost twenty years back he tonsured his head and embraced Buddhism. On the condition of anonymity his close previous associate of Udit Raj said: Udit Raj is a highly selfish  man. He always practiced a policy of ‘Use and Throw. He collected huge amount of money in the name of Baba Sahib Ambedkar while running All India Confederation of SC/ST organization. He is chameleon who can stoop to any level to capture power and money. Since the day he has been a BJP Member of Parliament he never raised voice in favour of the Dalits. The BJP/RSS leaders do not like him at all. He is as dead as a wood in the BJP.

Today, Dalits should not only be cautious about caste practicing Brahmins but also be alert and vigilant about persons like Udit Raj. He is neither an Ambedkarite nor a Buddhist. Brahmins are confusing this ACT with reservation. SC/ST Act has nothing to do with reservation.

Rahul Kumar Bali

Cell Number:91-11-9871080016

Email:rkbsooru@gmail.com; rahul@grfdt.org                                           

Events we are putting on at ICI.

ON APRIL 4, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Dear Naresh Kumar, As we head into April, we wanted to share with you some of the upcoming events we are putting on at ICI. We are happy to welcome several distinguished lecturers, including: Manoranjan Mohanty, Michael Kugelman, David Ludden, Rohit Negi, and Silvia Lindtner. We look forward to having you join us. Please remember to register for the events by clicking on the respective links in the announcement below. You can always find a list of all our upcoming events on our Events page. Sincerely, The ICI Team A public talk with Manoranjan Mohanty April 2nd, 2018 @ 5:30pm – 7:00pm OROZCO ROOM, 66 W 12th Street, Room 712 An event by the India China Institute, co-sponsored by the Global Studies Program Drawing on Professor Mohanty’s more than three decades of research, this talk will focus on how China’s “reform and open door” policy evolved and helped achieve tremendous economic success. Professor Mohanty will also examine how this policy has generated serious social and environmental problems. In his recent book, ‘China’s Transformation: The Success Story and the Success Trap’, Mohanty argues that the consequences of this story of success and growth are so strong that it has been difficult for China to change its main development path and to achieve a desirable level of equity and sustainability. Professor Mohanty describes this as the “success trap” that China is currently grappling with. Manoranjan Mohanty is a renowned political scientist and China scholar whose writings have focused on theoretical and empirical dimensions of social movements, human rights, the development experience and the regional role of India and China. As Vice-President of the Council for Social Development (CSD) and Editor of CSD’s social science journal Social Change, published by SAGE, he brings a wealth of experience from both policy and practice perspectives.

A public talk with Michael Kugelman April 5th, 2018 @ 5:30pm – 7:00pm KLEIN CONFERENCE ROOM, 66 W 12th Street, Room 510 An event by the India China Institute, co-sponsored by the Global Studies Program and the Julien J. Studley Graduate Program in International Affairs (SGPIA) The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is a $62 billion infrastructure project associated with Beijing’s broader Belt and Road Initiative. It entails new roads, power plants, and ports across Pakistan as part of China’s global effort to facilitate access to markets far and wide. CPEC has the potential to bring major benefits to Pakistan’s economy, but because of security and financial issues it is also fraught with risk. This lecture will examine CPEC’s prospects; discuss how it is perceived in Pakistan, China, India, and the US; and consider its strategic implications for both New Delhi and Washington. Michael Kugelman is the Asia Program Deputy Director and Senior Associate for South Asia at the Woodrow Wilson Center, where he is responsible for research, programming, and publications on the region. His main speciality is Pakistan, India, and Afghanistan and U.S. relations with each of them. regularly writes for publications that include Foreign Policy, Foreign Affairs, and War on the Rocks. He is also a regular contributor to Axios’s Expert Voices platform. Additionally, he has published op-eds and commentaries for the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Politico, CNN.com, Bloomberg View, Al Jazeera, and The National Interest, among others. A public talk with David Ludden April 9th, 2018 @ 6:30pm – 8:00pm KLEIN CONFERENCE ROOM, 66 W 12th Street, Room 510 An event by the Historical Studies at The New School for Social Research in partnership with the India China Institute, The horrors suffered by Rohingyas in Myanmar today – which now appear ever more frequently and graphically in the news – represent one brutal extremity of a kind of victimization that haunts countless people whose only crime is living in old spaces of human mobility that modern empires carved into national territories. Methodological nationalism justifies their precarity with histories that provide charters for national belonging, tying citizens firmly to specific places inside national borders. In a world covered by nations, human rights depend on that belonging. Old spaces of mobility can thus become perilous homelands where nations produce minorities as aliens eligible for marginalization, exclusion, and expulsion. Histories of mobile social space may implicitly disenfranchise their residents, but we need those histories to escape methodological nationalism and explore interactions of mobility and territoriality that generate globalization, at many levels of scale. All these post-colonial predicaments challenge any history of the Rohingya crisis, which I approach here through local histories of Global Asia around the Bay of Bengal. This talk is part of The Carol Breckenridge Memorial Lecture in South Asian History series. David Ludden is Professor and Chair in the Department of History at New York University. He received his Ph.D. in History from the University of Pennsylvania, in 1978, and served on the Penn faculty from 1981 until 2007, when he came to NYU. He has directed South Asia programs at Penn, the Social Science Research Council, the Fulbright Senior Scholars program (CIES), and NYU. He served as President of the Association for Asian Studies in 2002-3. His research focuses on very long-term histories of globalization in Asia, particularly as they concern trajectories of capitalist economic development, spatial inequity, natural environments, and changing material conditions in everyday life. A public talk with Rohit Negi April 18th, 2018 @ 6:30pm – 7:30pm OROZCO ROOM, 66 W 12th Street, Room 712  An event by the India China Institute, co-sponsored by the Global Studies Program at and the Environmental Studies Program. The expanded reproduction of rural livelihoods has led to an increasing number of households in the Indian Himalayas—especially in the state of Himachal Pradesh—route available surplus to nearby urban areas in search of speculative footholds. This paper is interested in the production of space and everyday lives concomitant to this process. Rohit Negi is with the School of Human Ecology at Ambedkar University Delhi. He has a PhD in Geography (Ohio State) and masters degree in Urban Planning (UIUC). Rohit’s research lies at the intersections of urban geography and political ecology, and his ongoing projects concern Delhi’s toxic air, and Himachal’s construction boom. A public talk with Silvia Lindtner April 23rd, 2018 @ 4:00pm – 6:00pm KLEIN CONFERENCE ROOM, 66 W 12th Street, Room 510  An event by the India China Institute, co-sponsored by the Global Studies Program. Since 2014, a series of Western media outlets from the Wired UK over the Economist to Forbes has begun to celebrate the city of Shenzhen in the South of China as a rising hub of innovation, a so-called “Hollywood for Makers” and “Silicon Valley of Hardware.” These media stories took up an idea that open source hardware advocates had been promoting for several years: that the city of Shenzhen had become crucial for the realization of one of the key promises of the maker movement, i.e. to prototype concrete alternatives to the pitfalls of the information society and contemporary capitalism. Just a couple years earlier, Shenzhen was largely known as a place of copycats and fakes that lacked creativity where ideas created elsewhere were simply executed and mass produced. What happened within the timespan of only a few years that changed Shenzhen’s image from demonstrating China’s continuous lag in technology innovation towards a place where alternatives to neoliberal capitalism could be prototyped? Silvia Lindtner is an assistant professor at the University of Michigan in the School of Information, with a courtesy appointment in the Penny W. Stamps School of Art and Design. Lindtner’s research and teaching interests include innovation and technology entrepreneurship, making and hacking cultures, shifts in digital work, labor, industry, policy, and governance. This work unfolds through a deep engagement with issues of gender, inequality, and enactments of masculinity in engineering and computer science fields, politics and transnational imaginaries of design, contemporary political economy, and processes of economization. Lindtner draws from more than eight years of multi-sited ethnographic research, with a particular focus on China’s shifting role in transnational and global tech production alongside research alongside research in the United States, Taiwan, and Africa.

NK-FM headed for Russia

ON APRIL 3, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

North Korea’s foreign minister is reportedly headed for Azerbaijan and Russia. The North is stepping up diplomacy ahead of planned summits with South Korea and the United States.

Ri Yong Ho flew from Pyongyang on Tuesday morning stopping in Beijing.

Ri’s itinerary is undisclosed. But diplomatic sources say he is due to visit Baku, Azerbaijan to attend a meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement later this week.

They say Ri will then travel to Russia, where he is likely to meet his counterpart, Sergei Lavrov.

North Korea is set to hold a summit meeting with the South on April 27th, and possibly with the United States by the end of May. Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula is expected to be a key issue.

China 200 million religious believers

ON APRIL 3, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

China has nearly 200 million religious believers and more than 380,000 clerical personnel, according to a white paper released by the State Council Information Office Tuesday.

The major religions practiced in China are Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Catholicism, and Protestantism, said the white paper, titled “China’s Policies and Practices on Protecting Freedom of Religious Belief.”

It noted that China has numerous Buddhist and Taoist believers, but it is difficult to accurately estimate their numbers as there are no set registration procedures which ordinary believers must follow as part of their religion.

Mexico presidential election campaign

ON APRIL 3, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Mexico campaign for its presidential election  begins, with three major-party candidates facing off for the July 1st ballot.

The front-runner is former Mexico City mayor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador who is backed by a new party National Regeneration Movement. He is followed by former Finance Minister Jose Antonio Meade of the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party and opposition leader Ricardo Anaya.

On Sunday, Lopez Obrador spoke to about 1,500 supporters in the northern city of Ciudad Juarez near the US border. He called for a change in the situation surrounding young people to improve the country’s worsening security. He said youths are deprived of their right to education and jobs and are getting involved in drug trafficking and violence due to poverty.

Government issues clarification with respect to the E-way Bill System

ON APRIL 3, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

The e-way Bill System for Inter-State movement of goods across the country has been introduced from 01st April 2018. Few clarifications given by the Government regarding the new e-way bill system are as follows:

1. Situation: -Consider a situation where a consignor is required to move goods from City X to City Z. He appoints Transporter A for movement of his goods. Transporter A moves the goods from City X to City Y. For completing the movement of goods i.e. from City Y to City Z, Transporter A now hands over the goods to Transporter B. Thereafter, the goods are moved to the destination i.e. from City Y to City Z by Transporter B. How would the e-way bill be generated in such situations?

Clarification : -It is clarified that in such a scenario, only one e-way bill would be required. PART A of FORMGST EWB-01 can be filled by the consignor and then the e-way bill will be assigned by the consignor to Transporter A. Transporter A will fill the vehicle details, etc. in PART B of FORMGST EWB-01and will move the goods from City X to City Y.

On reaching City Y, Transporter A will assign the said e-way bill to the Transporter B. Thereafter, Transporter B will be able to update the details of PART B of FORMGST EWB-01. Transporter B will fill the details of his vehicle and move the goods from City Y to City Z.

2. Situation : – Consider a situation where a Consignor hands over his goods for transportation on Friday to transporter. But, the assigned transporter starts the movement of goods on Monday. How would the validity of e-way bill be calculated in such situations?

Clarification: -It is clarified that the validity period of e-way bill starts only after the details in PART B of FORMGST EWB-01 are updated by the transporter for the first time.

In the given situation, Consignor can fill the details in PART A of FORMGST EWB-01 on Friday and handover his goods to the transporter. When the transporter is ready to move the goods, he can fill the PART B of FORMGST EWB-01 i.e. the assigned transporter can fill the details in PART B of FORMGST EWB-01 on Monday i.e. 2nd April 2018 and the validity period of the e-way bill will start from Monday.

Sisi wins 2nd term

ON APRIL 3, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Egyptian incumbent President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi made a landslide victory in the country’s presidential election, winning 97.08 percent of the valid votes, official results showed on Monday.

The turnout was 41.05 percent, as 24,254,152 voters inside and outside Egypt cast their ballots, head of Egypt’s National Elections Authority, Lashin Ibrahim, told a press conference in Cairo.

A total of 21,835,387 voted for Sisi at home and abroad, while Sisi’s only rival Moussa Mostafa Moussa garnered 656,534 votes, or 2.92 percent.

A couple of possible strong competitors in the presidential race have either withdrawn or been disqualified over violations.

Moussa said he is satisfied with the results, applauding the transparency of the electoral process.

Trump criticizes Amazon

ON APRIL 3, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

US President Donald Trump has again attacked the online retailer Amazon over its delivery pricing.

Trump accused Amazon of forcing the US Postal Service to accept low fees in order to deliver its packages to customers’ doorsteps.

Trump tweeted on Monday that “only fools” are saying the “Post Office makes money with Amazon.” He said the US Postal Service loses “a fortune” and that “this will be changed.”

Neither Amazon nor the Postal Service has responded to his comments.

US media say Amazon does not receive any special treatment and has the usual large company discount. They add that the Postal Service would be under even more pressure without Amazon’s business.

Trump has regularly disparaged Amazon and its CEO Jeff Bezos. Bezos bought The Washington Post newspaper in 2013 and the publication has been openly critical of the president.

Boao Forum for Asia

ON APRIL 3, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Boao Forum for Asia annual conference will take place in China from 8th to 11th of this month.The theme of the conference, to be held in Chinese province Hainan, is An Open and Innovative Asia for a World of Greater Prosperity.

Chinese President Xi Jinping will deliver a keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the 2018 Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) annual conference, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Tuesday.

Participants are expected to discuss key issues related to globalization, the Belt and Road Initiative and innovation.

According to experts, the upcoming forum will be a platform for global political and business leaders to share insights on China’s economic opening-up, the Belt and Road Initiative and fostering innovation.

BFA is held every year in Boao, on Hainan Island, and is modeled after the World Economic Forum. It has met every year since 2001, making this year the 17th annual meeting for the forum.

Boao Forum is held in mid-to-late March, however the forum was delayed until April this year, because the Communist Party in Hainan was celebrating the 30th anniversary of Hainan as an individual province separate from Guangdong’s administration.

This year the theme of the conference will be “An Open and Innovative Asia for a World of Greater Prosperity.” Most are expecting the hosting Chinese delegation to focus discussion on their One Belt, One Road Initiative.

Over 30 business leaders from Taiwan are also expected to attend the forum, led by Vincent Siew, reports now news.

A  meeting between Xi Jinping and Vincent Siew to take place, in what may be an opening for diplomacy in the midst of tense cross strait relations, that have grown chilly since the Tsai administration came to office in 2016.

Other notable attendees expected at the BFA are Jack Ma, CEO of Alibaba, and the IMF’s President Christine Lagarde.

Sok Siphana, an advisor to the Cambodian government. He Speaking to Xinhua ahead of the annual Boao Forum recently, which is scheduled for April 8-11 in south China’s Hainan Province, Siphana said 2018 started with a lot of mixed global and regional developments, like the prospects of trade war, geo-political rivalries, protectionism, and anti-globalization tendencies on the one hand, and on the other hand, the globe has disruptive technologies which were shaping the growth prospects of the world.

“As usual, the Boao Forum is quite bold in tackling sensitive issues of regional and global importance, from Fintech, Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Big Data, to broad topics of connectivity, like infrastructure, the Belt and Road, trade and monetary policies of major powers (China, the United States, Japan and India),” he said.

He added that the forum had its likely impacts on the world economic growth and global governance issues to respond to profound changes in a global economic landscape, i.e. from International Monetary Fund reform to Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, and from G7 to G20.

Aung San Suu Kyi calls for unity

ON APRIL 2, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Myanmar’s de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi has called on the people to be united for national development.

The State Counsellor made a televised address to mark the second anniversary of the launch of a democratically-elected government.

She, however, did not elaborate on how her government will deal with the issue of minority Rohingya refugees.

Ms Suu Kyi also said, the world’s focus is on the Rakhine state right now, but people also need to peacefully develop the country.

Carlos Alvarado next President

ON APRIL 2, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Carlos Alvarado, the candidate from the ruling Citizen Action Party (PAC), won Costa Rica’s presidential runoff with 60.74 percent of the vote, according to the latest results released by the country’s electoral tribunal on Sunday evening.

With 95.58 percent ballots counted, Carlos Alvarado gained 60.74 percent of the vote, and his rival, Fabricio Alvarado, an evangelical candidate from the National Restoration Party (PRN), obtained 39.26 percent of the vote, according to the results.

The two Alvaradoes are not related.

In a speech to supporters, Fabricio Alvarado conceded defeat but said that this is not a defeat for his movement, since he went from practically having no options in the race to leading in the first round of the presidential election in February, and to contesting the presidency of the country.

He also promised to make his movement available to help correct the most pressing problems in Costa Rica.

The election exposed divisions in the Central American country, particularly concerning same-sex marriage, which had been heatedly debated during the campaign in this traditionally conservative nation.

Fabricio Alvarado has campaigned on the pledge to rescue “principles and values” by opposing gay marriage.

Carlos Alvarado, a former minister, came out in favor of gay marriage and has slammed Fabricio Alvarado for campaigning on a single issue and having no plan for government.

Defunct Chinese space lab hit S Pacific

ON APRIL 2, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Tiangong-1 re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere on Monday, China bade farewell to the experimental space lab and pathfinder for its space station.

The space lab entered the atmosphere over the South Pacific at around 8:15 a.m. on Monday, and was mostly burnt up in the atmosphere, the China Manned Space Engineering Office (CMSEO) said.
A defunct Chinese space lab hurtled through Earth’s atmosphere today, breaking up into pieces as it headed towards a watery grave in the South Pacific. Moments after predicting a slightly later re-entry over the Atlantic, China’s Manned Space Engineering Office said, the eight-tonne Tiangong-1 mostly burnt up above the vast ocean’s central region.

Tiangong-1 was launched in 2011 to carry out docking and orbit experiments. It was part of the country’s efforts to build a manned space station by 2022 but stopped working in March 2016.

Launched from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China on Sept. 29, 2011, Tiangong-1 tested docking technology to prepare the way for the coming space station. It docked with Shenzhou-8, Shenzhou-9, and Shenzhou-10 spacecraft. Six astronauts, four men and two women, spent time in the lab.

In June 2013, Wang Yaping gave her famous physics lesson to students on Earth from the lab, inspiring nationwide enthusiasm for science and space exploration.

Tiangong-1 was in service for four and a half years, two and a half years longer than its designed life, making important preparations for a permanent space station to be put into orbit around 2022.

Huang Weifen, deputy chief designer at the Astronaut Center of China, said, “Tiangong-1 will go down in China’s space history. It helped us accumulate precious knowledge for work on the space station.”

“Although Tiangong-1 was only a transitional platform between the spaceship and space station, it was key to our development of docking technology, and demonstrated the possibility of long stays in space for Chinese astronauts. The fervor aroused among Chinese is invaluable,” said Bai Ruixue, a former space journalist and now CEO of a commercial space education project.

“When I was reporting on the docking between Shenzhou-8 and Tiangong-1 from the Beijing Aerospace Control Center in November 2011, many people had tears in their eyes when they saw the two spacecraft, like two specs of dust floating in the vast universe, connect with each other. It’s a kind of romance created by science and technology,” Bai recalled.

“Tiangong-1 has carried the space dreams of millions of Chinese. Although only a test base for future projects, it has had far-reaching effects,” said Mao Xinyuan, a space science columnist.

China new tariffs on US imports

ON APRIL 2, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

On  worldwide objections, the U.S. administration decided to impose a 25-percent tariff on steel imports and a 10-percent tariff on aluminum, with tariffs on imports from countries including China.

In retaliatory acts, China  said, it is rolling out new tariffs on US meat, fruit and other products as retaliation against taxes approved by US President Donald Trump on imported steel and aluminum.

The Chinese Finance Ministry said in a statement that the new tariffs come into effect from today. The announcement follows warnings Chinese officials have made for several weeks in an escalating trade dispute with the United States.

China  imposed tariff   on 128 products.

China suspended tariff concessions on 128 items of U.S. products including pork and fruits starting Monday, according to the Ministry of Finance.

The Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council has decided to impose a tariff of 15 percent on 120 items of products imported from the United States including fruits and related products, and a tariff of 25 percent on eight items of imports including pork and related products from the country, according to a statement posted on the ministry website.

The statement said it was a countermeasure in response to a previous U.S. move to slap tariffs on steel and aluminum imports.

 5.3-magnitude earthquake hit western Iran

ON APRIL 2, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

 5.3-magnitude earthquake strikes western Iran

At least 38 people received minor injuries after a 5.3-magnitude earthquake hit Kermanshah province in western Iran, a spokesman for the country’s medical emergency services said. The quake struck 9km from the town of Sarpol-e Zahab at a depth of 10km, the US Geological Survey said. The region was hit by deadly 7.3-magnitude quake in November 2017, which killed over 400 people and injured thousands more.

“Pindi, Provinces and Proxies: Pakistan to Khoklastan”

ON APRIL 2, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Invitation for NMML Seminar_”Pindi, Provinces and Proxies: Pakistan to Khoklastan” by Burzine Waghmar_04 April 2018_ 3.00pm

GLOBAL ECONOMIC MONITOR (MARCH, 2018)

ON APRIL 2, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Naresh Kumar Sagar

The global growth continued to strengthen and rose in the second half of 2017, driven by strong investment and trade developments across the nations. The growth momentum is broad-based with strengthened activities in most of the countries over the last year including stronger-than-expected outcomes in the euro region, Japan and United States, continued fast expansion in China and improving conditions for commodity exporters.

International Monetary Fund’s in its report “Global Prospects and Policy Challenges” notes that financial conditions remain supportive despite the recent equity market turmoil in the world. A strong rebound in investment and international trade is supporting the global expansion led by advanced economies. The picture in emerging economies is more mixed, with higher commodity prices sustaining the recovery in commodity exporting countries. Also, Euro area growth has been the highest in a decade and strong global trade boosted activity in Asia, with China benefitting from continuing fiscal and credit stimulus.

While headline inflation is being pushed up by oil prices, it remains below target in many G-20 countries. In the United States, which is now close to full employment, signs of rising inflation and wage pressures are being watched closely by policymakers and financial markets alike.

In line with the strengthening cycle, policy rates among advanced economies are beginning to normalize, with a sequence of cautious interest rate hikes in the United States and in other countries. The Fed is also gradually reducing the size of its balance sheet and the European Central Bank has started to taper its large-scale asset purchases. Long-term market interest rates increased notably—driven by concerns about inflation—and there was a spike in equity market volatility, but broad financial conditions are still supportive by historical standards.

Going ahead, growth is set to slow, however, as the global cycle matures further one important factor will be the gradual tightening of financial conditions under the baseline. As inflation is expected to rise due to reduction in residual slack of higher growth including lowering unemployment where it is still elevated and reducing involuntary part-time work—monetary policy will gradually normalize, leading long-term interest rates higher. At the same time, there will be an end of some of the temporary fiscal support behind current growth.