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GS Paper: GS2

  • Back in news: Kartarpur Corridor

    Pakistan has decided to transfer the management of the Kartarpur Sahib Gurudwara from a Sikh body to a separate trust, saying it runs against the religious sentiments of the Sikh community.

    Try this PYQ:

    Consider the following Bhakti Saints:

    1. Dadu Dayal
    2. Guru Nanak
    3. Tyagaraja

    Who among the above was/were preaching when the Lodi dynasty fell and Babur took over?

    (a) 1 and 3

    (b) 2 only

    (c) 2 and 3

    (d) 1 and 2

    Kartarpur Corridor

    • The Kartarpur corridor connects the Darbar Sahib Gurdwara in Narowal district of Pakistan with the Dera Baba Nanak shrine in Gurdaspur district in India’s Punjab province.
    • The first guru of Sikhism, Guru Nanak, founded Kartarpur in 1504 AD on the right bank of the Ravi River. The name Kartarpur means “Place of God”.
    • The corridor is being built to commemorate 550th birth anniversary celebrations of Guru Nanak Dev, founder of Sikhism on 12th November 2019.

    About Guru Nanak

    • Guru Nanak Dev (1469-1539) also referred to as Baba Nanak was the founder of Sikhism and is the first of the ten Sikh Gurus.
    • He advocated the ‘Nirguna’ form of Bhakti. He rejected sacrifices, ritual baths, image worship, austerities and the scriptures of both Hindus and Muslims.
    • He appointed one of his disciples, Angad, to succeed him as the preceptor (guru), and this practice was followed for nearly 200 years.
    • The fifth preceptor, Guru Arjan, compiled his hymns along with those of his four successors and also other religious poets, like Baba Farid, Ravidas and Kabir, in the Adi Granth Sahib.

  • The next administration will also pursue ‘America First’

    The voting trend in the U.S. presidential election indicates significant support for the policies pursued by President Trump. This could impact the policies the next administration pursues.

    Why U.S. election matters for the world

    • The world still has need for American leadership.
    • It remains the world’s largest net provider of global public goods.
    • It is the lynchpin of the global multilateral system.
    • If Joe Biden wins, it is possible that America will re-engage with dignity and restore mutual respect in its relations with allies and partners, beginning with the trans-Atlantic alliance.
    • However, the Trump Americans, who are the new political base, will still shape American policy irrespective of who the president is.

    ‘America first’ is here to stay

    • The American people believe that their education, employment and retirement have been impacted by the immigration, outsourcing and liberal trade policies of past administrations.
    • Trump America does not want more migrants, it will not support the outsourcing of jobs at the cost of their own.
    • It wants a fair deal on trade that does not allow cheaper imports to put small American businesses out of business.
    • Even a Biden administration cannot return America back to the days of open borders and free trade.
    • It might relax some categories of work-visas, but it cannot return to the time when outsourcing was the preferred option for American companies.
    • It might re-engage with the World Trade Organisation but it cannot tear down the trade barriers that Trump has erected in the name of Make in America.

    Foreign policy of next administration

    • The Trump Americans do not wish to spend any more taxpayer dollars on foreign wars and they want their boys and girls to come home.
    • They think America’s allies are not carrying their weight and are unfairly living off American contributions.
    • They want their allies and partners to take greater responsibility for peace and security.
    • Biden’s supporters hope that he can reverse the abdication of American global leadership and renew alliances, but as president he may find it difficult to go against the Trump Americans on issues like China, Iran and climate change, without endangering the Democratic Party’s long-term interests.
    • And if Trump is re-elected as the president, it will only be because of his core voter base and it will strengthen his resolve.

    Implications for the world

    • Whether or not America withdraws from the world, American leadership, as we know it, might be over.
    • America will become more transactional and less generous.
    • Common values like democracy or multipolarity may be of lesser importance in America’s scheme of things.
    • Whether it is Trump or Biden, the Sino-US relationship will remain complicated and rivalrous.
    • Whether it is Trump or Biden, the Obama-era nuclear deal with Iran cannot be restored.
    • Whether it is Trump or Biden, American troops will soon be gone from Afghanistan.
    • There will be less willingness to consider emerging economies as deserving beneficiaries of concessional arrangements.
    • A Biden presidency might also mean a more critical look at the record of not just authoritarian states but also democracies on issues like labour, environment and non-proliferation.

    Implications for India

    • President Trump has been good for India in terms of foreign policy, less so in terms of economic policy.
    • But Delhi should equally be prepared for the Trump administration to ratchet up pressure on trade and to tighten rules on immigration.
    • With Biden, India and the US might return to a more balanced re-engagement on trade and immigration, but should be prepared for a more accommodative policy on both Pakistan and China than Trump’s.

    Conclusion

    Whoever is the next occupant of the White House, the way Americans voted on November 3 will shape American policy and politics for years to come.

  • What is General Consent accorded to the CBI?

    Kerala has decided to withdraw the general consent accorded to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to operate in the state voluntarily.

    Try answering this:

    Q. Why the CBI is called as “a caged parrot speaking in its master’s voice”? Critically comment.

    General Consent

    • Unlike the National Investigation Agency (NIA), which is governed by its own NIA Act and has jurisdiction across the country, the CBI is governed by the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act.
    • This makes consent of a state government mandatory for conducting an investigation in that state.
    • There are two kinds of consent: case-specific and general.
    • Given that the CBI has jurisdiction only over central government departments and employees, it can investigate a case involving state government employees or a violent crime in a given state only after that state government gives its consent.

    When is Consent needed?

    • General consent is normally given to help the CBI seamlessly conduct its investigation into cases of corruption against central government employees in the concerned state. Almost all states have given such consent.
    • Otherwise, the CBI would require consent in every case.
    • For example, if it wanted to investigate a bribery charge against a Western Railway clerk in Mumbai, it would have to apply for consent with the Maharashtra government before registering a case against him.

    What does withdrawal mean?

    • It means the CBI will not be able to register any fresh case involving a central government official or a private person stationed in these two states without getting case-specific consent.
    • Withdrawal of consent simply means that CBI officers will lose all powers of a police officer as soon as they enter the state unless the state government has allowed them.

    Under what provision has general consent been withdrawn?

    • Section 6 of the Act says nothing contained in Section 5 shall be deemed to enable any member of the Delhi Special Police Establishment to exercise powers and jurisdiction in any area in a State, not being a Union Territory or Railway, area, without the consent of the Government of that State.
    • In exercise of the power conferred by Section 6 of the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, 1946, the government can withdraw the general consent to exercise the powers and jurisdiction.

    Does that mean that the CBI can no longer probe any case in the two states?

    • The CBI would still have the power to investigate old cases registered when general consent existed.
    • Also, cases registered anywhere else in the country, but involving people stationed in Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal would allow CBI’s jurisdiction to extend to these states.
    • There is ambiguity on whether the agency can carry out a search in either of the two states in connection with an old case without the consent of the state government.

    Why such a move by the States?

    • If a state government believes that the ruling party’s ministers or members could be targeted by CBI on orders of the Centre, and that withdrawal of general consent would protect them.
    • This is a debatable political assumption.
    • CBI could still register cases in Delhi which would require some part of the offence being connected with Delhi and still arrest and prosecute ministers or MPs.
    • The only people it will protect are small central government employees.

    Legal Remedies for CBI

    • The CBI can always get a search warrant from a local court in the state and conduct searches.
    • In case the search requires a surprise element, there is CrPC Section 166, which allows a police officer of one jurisdiction to ask an officer of another to carry out searches on his behalf.
    • And if the first officer feels that the searches by the latter may lead to loss of evidence, the section allows the first officer to conduct searches himself after giving notice to the latter.

    Back2Basics: Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)

    • Origins of CBI can be traced back to the Special Police Establishment (SPE) set up in 1941 in order to cases of bribery and corruption in War & Supply Department of India during World War II.
    • The need of a Central Government agency to investigate cases of bribery and corruption was felt even after the end of World War II.
    • So, DSPE (Delhi Special Police Establishment) Act, 1946 was brought that gave legal power of investigating cases to CBI.
    • CBI is not a statutory body as it is not established by an Act of the Parliament.
    • CBI investigates cases related to economic crimes, special crimes, cases of corruption and other high-profile cases.
    • CBI comes under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions.
    • CBI is exempted from Right to Information (RTI) Act similar to the National Investigating Agency (NIA), National Intelligence Grid (Natgrid), etc.

  • Free speech in France

    The article analyses the secularism in France and its its implications for the French society.

    Education about secularism in France

    • In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, state school teachers were responsible for converting young people in rural France away from the heavy hand of Catholic dogma, and they spearheaded efforts to “educate” and “civilise” indigenous peoples in the French colonies.
    • In recent decades, teachers have been charged with trying to “integrate” France’s myriad ethnic minority communities.
    • Of the many things that teachers are expected to do, one of the most important is to embody the principles of laïcité.
    • Often translated as ‘secularism’, laïcité is better understood as a project of social cohesion and a key component of French citizenship.
    • It encompass the formal separation of Church and State, but also the evacuation of religious values from the public space and their replacement with secular values such as liberty, equality, and fraternity.

    How should France respond to terrorist attacks in name of Islam

    1) Compromise

    • This compromise would involve acknowledging that laïcité alone cannot fix the country’s social and political problems.
    • It would also require the French state to recognise that France has — almost without realising it — become part of the Muslim world.
    • It cannot stand apart from conflicts over religious practice that have affected countries with much larger Muslim populations, from Morocco to Indonesia.

    2) Emphasize the French values

    • Another way would be to double down on French “values”.
    • This is the path that President Emmanuel Macron has chosen.
    • He and his cabinet have spent a lot of time in recent weeks emphasising the importance of laïcité and denouncing all those who are seen to threaten it.
    • But this strategy is a risky one.
    • For a start, it is almost guaranteed to elicit a hostile response from leaders of Muslim-majority countries, many of whom are keen to find an international issue that can distract from their own domestic problems.

    Conclusion

    So, while it might seem like a good strategy to use the idea of laïcité as a shield against an amorphous Muslim threat, the danger is that this will strip it of its most positive elements and render it useless as an instrument of social integration. That, more than any terror attack, would be a tragedy for all French people.

  • Pondering on the free speech

    The article discusses the issues with blaming the expression of free speech for the violence inflicted by the people opposed to the ideas.

    Context

    • The beheading of a teacher in France has brought to the fore the issue of free speech.
    • It is argued that there is a need to respect people’s religion and not be provocative in the aftermath of the gruesome killing.

    Issues related to free speech

    1) Free-speecher’s burden

    • The fact that a barbaric, crazy man can either get offended or inspired by either of the conflicting ideas cannot be a “free-speecher’s” burden.
    • Should any protest or campaign be mindful of a potential violent twist that may be given to their ideas?
    • Should a causal link between the expression of “offensive ideas” and sufferance of bodies allow violent zealots to hold the right to ransom?

    2) Existence of ideas in person

    • Ideas have no real, independent existence outside of the bodies in which they inhere.
    • Had ideas lived autonomously, independent of the bodies and minds that carry them, ideas would not die.
    • But we don’t. And the reason is that some ideas die or weaken over time.
    • They become anomalous and discredited either because they are disputed scientifically or because they are contested vigorously and passionately till an anachronistic idea is defeated.

    3) Ideas could be good or bad

    • In the conflicting terrain of ideas, lies the kernel of social change.
    • Ideas could be good or bad.
    • How else, except through a conflict of ideas, do women contest patriarchy and push back on received gendered ideas of womanhood?

    Issues with arguing on free-speech outside context

    • First, as academic Ghassan Hage summed up in his Facebook post: Truth also needs to have its ethics.
    • You may be truthful, but unethical.
    • The beheading of French teacher requires us to dwell on not just any killing but the barbarism behind it.
    • To dwell instead on the genealogies and causes of violent behaviour is bad ethics, for it ends up being nothing more than an apologia for violence.
    • Second, it’s bad politics.
    • The right to free speech empowers and enables many marginalised lives.
    • It is a basic right that preconditions the realisation of other rights.
    • So basic that it enables the weak and the oppressed to rise against their oppressors.

    Conclusion

    In any case, free speech is restrained by the state through its many criteria of “reasonableness”. To further circumscribe it by burdening it with plausible violent appropriations, or with historical conditionalities, is to feed the logic of violence against freedom of expression.

  • Importance of Gilgit-Baltistan

    Pakistan government has recently announced that it would give the Gilgit-Baltistan region “provisional provincial status”. When that happens, G-B will become the sixth official province of Pakistan.

    Tap to read more about: Reorganization of J&K

    Gilgit-Baltistan

    • Gilgit-Baltistan is the northernmost territory administered by Pakistan, providing the country’s only territorial frontier, and thus a land route, with China, where it meets the Xinjiang Autonomous Region.
    • The region is an illegally occupied Indian territory as it was the part of the erstwhile princely state of Jammu & Kashmir as it existed in 1947 at its accession to India.
    • To G-B’s west is Afghanistan, to its south is Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, and to the east J&K.

    Its current status

    • Though Pakistan, like India, links G-B’s fate to that of Kashmir, its administrative arrangements are different from those in PoK.
    • While PoK has its own Constitution that sets out its powers and their limits vis-à-vis Pakistan, G-B has been ruled mostly by executive fiat.
    • Until 2009, the region was simply called Northern Areas.
    • It had a Northern Areas Legislative Council with the Legislative Assembly. The NALC was an elected body, but had no more than an advisory role to the Islamabad.

    Why the separate status?

    • Pakistan’s separate arrangement with G-B goes back to the circumstances under which it came to administer it. On November 1 1947, after J&K ruler Hari Singh had signed the Instrument of Accession with India.
    • Gilgit had been leased to the British by Hari Singh in 1935. The British returned it in August 1947.
    • Pakistan did not accept G-B’s accession although it took administrative control of the territory.
    • India went to the UN and a series of resolutions were passed in the Security Council on the situation in Kashmir.
    • Pakistan believed that neither G-B nor PoK should be annexed to Pakistan, as this could undermine the international case for a plebiscite in Kashmir.
    • It also reckons that in the event a plebiscite ever takes place in Kashmir, votes in G-B will be important too. This is why it is only being called “provisional” provincial status.

    Move for a status-quo?

    • The plan to grant G-B provincial status is linked to CPEC and Chinese interest as well as a response to India’s abrogation of Art. 370.
    • While India has objected to the plan to make G-B a province of Pakistan and in the recent past asserted that it will take control of G-B, there is a realization that it is impossible to change the map now.
    • In this sense, it can be argued that the merger of G-B with Pakistan is a move that could help both countries put the past behind and move forward on the Kashmir issue, sometime in the future.

    What do the people in G-B want?

    • The people of G-B have been demanding for years that it be made a part of Pakistan since there is virtual no connect with India.
    • Some have in the past demanded a merger with PoK, but the people of G-B have no real connect with Kashmir either.
    • They belong to several non-Kashmiri ethnicities and speak various languages, none of these Kashmiri.
    • A majority of the estimated 1.5 million G-B residents are Shias. There is anger against Pakistan for unleashing extremist sectarian militant groups that target Shias.
    • There is a movement for independence, but it has very little traction.

  • Distribution of Fortified Rice under ICDS

    In a bid to combat chronic anaemia and undernutrition, the government is planning to distribute fortified rice through the Integrated Child Development Services and Mid-Day Meal schemes across the country.

    What is Fortified Rice?

    • Rice can be fortified by adding a micronutrient powder to the rice that adheres to the grains or spraying of the surface of ordinary rice grains with a vitamin and mineral mix to form a protective coating.
    • Rice can also be extruded and shaped into partially precooked grain-like structures resembling rice grains, which can then be blended with natural polished rice.
    • Rice kernels can be fortified with several micronutrients, such as iron, folic acid and other B-complex vitamins, vitamin A and zinc.
    • These fortified kernels are then mixed with normal rice in a 1:100 ratio, and distributed for consumption.

    Note: Biofortification is the process by which the nutritional quality of food crops is improved through agronomic practices, conventional plant breeding, or modern biotechnology. It differs from conventional fortification in that Biofortification aims to increase nutrient levels in crops during plant growth rather than through manual means during the processing of the crops.

    What was the earlier initiative?

    • The centrally-sponsored pilot scheme was approved in February 2019 for a three-year period from 2019-20 onwards.
    • However, only five States — Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Chhattisgarh — have started the distribution of fortified rice in their identified pilot districts.

    Need for expansion

    • Currently, there are only 15,000 tonnes of these kernels available per year in the country.
    • To cover PDS, anganwadis and mid-day meals in the 112 aspirational districts, annual supply capacity would need to be increased to about 1.3 lakh tonnes.
    • To cover PDS across the country, 3.5 lakh tonnes of fortified kernels would be needed.

    Regulating fortification

    • FSSAI has formulated a comprehensive regulation on fortification of foods namely ‘Food Safety and Standards (Fortification of Foods) Regulations, 2016’.
    • These regulations set the standards for food fortification and encourage the production, manufacture, distribution, sale and consumption of fortified foods.
    • The regulations also provide for the specific role of FSSAI in promotion for food fortification and to make fortification mandatory.
    • WHO recommends fortification of rice with iron, vitamin A and folic acid as a public health strategy to improve the iron status of population wherever rice is a staple food.

    Back2Basics: Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS)

    • The ICDS aims to provide food, preschool education, primary healthcare, immunization, health check-up and referral services to children under 6 years of age and their mothers.
    • The scheme was launched in 1975, discontinued in 1978 by the government of Morarji Desai, and then relaunched by the Tenth Five Year Plan.
    • The tenth FYP also linked ICDS to Anganwadi centres established mainly in rural areas and staffed with frontline workers.
    • The ICDS provide for anganwadis or day-care centres which deliver a package of six services including:
    1. Immunization
    2. Supplementary nutrition
    3. Health checkup
    4. Referral services
    5. Pre-school education (Non-Formal)
    6. Nutrition and Health information

    Implementation

    • For nutritional purposes, ICDS provides 500 kilocalories (with 12-15 grams of protein) every day to every child below 6 years of age.
    • For adolescent girls, it is up to 500-kilo calories with up to 25 grams of protein every day.
    • The services of Immunisation, Health Check-up and Referral Services delivered through Public Health Infrastructure under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

  • Pardoning Powers of Governor

    The Supreme Court has recently said that the investigation into the conspiracy behind Ex-PMs assassination in 1991 need not deter the Governor from deciding the plea for pardon of convicts.

    What did the court say exactly?

    • The court made it clear that it was reluctant to exercise its jurisdiction when the Governor was already seized of convict’s plea for a pardon under Article 161 of the Constitution.

    Try this PYQ now:

    Q.Which of the following are the discretionary powers given to the Governor of a State?

    1. Sending a report to the President of India for imposing the President’s rule
    2. Appointing the Ministers
    3. Reserving certain bills passed by the State Legislature for consideration of the President of India
    4. Making the rules to conduct the business of the State Government

    Select the correct answer using the code given below:

    (a) 1 and 2 only

    (b) 1 and 3 only

    (c) 2, 3 and 4 only

    (d) 1, 2, 3 and 4

    Pardoning Powers of Governor

    • Article 161 deals with the Pardoning Power of the Governor.
    • The Governor can grant pardons, reprieves, respites and remissions of punishments or suspend, remit and commute the sentence of any person convicted of any offence against any law relating to a matter to which the executive power of the state extends.
    • The Governor cannot Pardon a Death Sentence. (The President has the power of Pardon a death Sentence).
    • The Governor cannot grant pardon, reprieve, respite, suspension, remission or commutation in respect to punishment or sentence by a court-martial. However, the President can do so.

    Back2Basics:

    • Pardon: means completely absolving the person of the crime and letting him go free. The pardoned criminal will be like a normal citizen.
    • Commutation: means changing the type of punishment given to the guilty into a less harsh one, for example, a death penalty commuted to a life sentence.
    • Reprieve: means a delay allowed in the execution of a sentence, usually a death sentence, for a guilty person to allow him some time to apply for Presidential Pardon or some other legal remedy to prove his innocence or successful rehabilitation.
    • Respite: means reducing the quantum or degree of the punishment to a criminal in view of some special circumstances, like pregnancy, mental condition etc.
    • Remission: means changing the quantum of the punishment without changing its nature, for example reducing twenty-year rigorous imprisonment to ten years.

  • Consolidation of quad reflects India’s political will

    Quad as new feature of Indo-Pacific

    • Australia’s participation in the Malabar exercises marks the emergence of the Quad as a new feature of the Indo-Pacific geopolitics.
    • The question is India’s ability to take full advantage of the possibilities after the US elections to construct a wide range of new international coalitions.
    • Likely changes could envelop a range of old institutions like the Five Eyes and the G-7 grouping that coordinates Western policies on global economic management.
    • We could also see the creation of a new League of Democracies that will addres issues like including the defence of shared values, commerce, corruption, taxation, climate change and digital governance.

    Phases of India’s international aspiration

    • The consolidation of the Quad reflects the political will in Delhi to break free from old shibboleths and respond to security imperatives.
    • The post-Quad era opens a new phase in which India, for the first time, can help shape global institutions.
    • First phase: Idealism was the hallmark of India’s internationalism in the 1950s, the harsh politics of the Cold War quickly dampened it.
    • Second phase: In the 1970s, India embraced the radical agenda of a New International Economic Order, as the leader of the Non-Aligned Movement and the Group of 77. The results were meagre.
    • Third phase began with the end of the Cold War.
    • And as India’s own economic model collapsed, India had to focus on economic reform and prevent the world from intruding too much into its internal affairs.
    • The fear of the US activism on Kashmir and nuclear issues saw Delhi turn to Russia and China in search of a “multipolar world” that could constrain American power.
    • The BRICS forum with Russia, China, Brazil and South Africa became emblematic of this strategy.
    • Delhi also figured out that it was not possible for BRICS to constrain Beijing, since China was so much bigger than the other four members put together.
    • Fourth phase in India’s multilateralism is marked by three features — the relative rise in Delhi’s international standing, the breakdown of the great power consensus on economic globalisation, and the breakout of the US-China rivalry.

    Efforts to tackle China

    • The Trump administration has already sought to imagine the Quad’s possibilities beyond the defence domain.
    • The invitation to India to join a Five Eyes meeting came amidst the bipartisan calls in the US Congress for the expansion of the forum and the inclusion of India.
    • The “Quad Plus” dialogue has variously drawn in Brazil, Israel, New Zealand, South Korea, and Vietnam for consultations with the Quad members on coordinating the responses to the pandemic.
    • India is also engaged with Japan and Australia in developing resilient supply chains to reduce the reliance on China.
    • President Trump has proposed the expansion of G-7 grouping to include Australia, India, Russia and South Korea.
    • The last few months has seen the Trump administration promote a “Clean Network” that eliminates untrustworthy vendors from telecom systems, digital apps, trans-oceanic cables and cloud infrastructure.
    • Clean Network is now a broader effort to build secure technology ecosystems among like-minded countries.
    • Britain is said to be developing plans to convene a coalition of 10 democracies, including India, that can contribute to the construction of secure 5G networks and reduce the current dependence on China.
    • France and Canada have invited India to join the Global Partnership on artificial intelligence that now includes 15 countries.
    • The objective is to promote responsible development of AI that is consistent with shared democratic values.

    Conclusion

    Delhi’s participation in the sweeping rearrangement of the global structures will have major consequences for India’s economic prosperity and technological future. Unlike in the past, Delhi now has the resources, leverage and political will to make a difference to the global order

  • [pib] Mission Sagar – II

    As part of ‘Mission Sagar-II’, Indian Naval Ship Airavat had entered Port Sudan.

    Mission SAGAR, unlike other missions, can create confusion with the name and its purpose. Make note of such special cases. UPSC can ask such questions as one liner MCQs.

    Mission Sagar – II

    • Mission Sagar-II, follows the first ‘Mission Sagar’ undertaken in May-June 2020, wherein India reached out to Maldives, Mauritius, Seychelles, Madagascar and Comoros, and provided food aid and medicines.
    • As part of Mission Sagar-II, Indian Naval Ship Airavat will deliver food aid to Sudan, South Sudan, Djibouti and Eritrea.
    • This mission is in line with the Prime Minister’s vision of Security and Growth for All in the Region ‘SAGAR’ and highlights the importance accorded by India to relations with her maritime neighbours.

    Back2Basics

    SAGAR Programme (Security and Growth for All in the Region)

    • SAGAR is a term coined by PM Modi in 2015 during his Mauritius visit with a focus on the blue economy.
    • It is a maritime initiative which gives priority to the Indian Ocean region for ensuring peace, stability and prosperity of India in the Indian Ocean region.
    • The goal is to seek a climate of trust and transparency; respect for international maritime rules and norms by all countries; sensitivity to each other`s interests; peaceful resolution of maritime issues; and increase in maritime cooperation.
    • It is in line with the principles of the Indian Ocean Rim Association.

    IORA (Indian Ocean Rim Association)

    • Established in 1997 in Ebene Cyber City, Mauritius.
    • First established as Indian Ocean Rim Initiative in Mauritius on March 1995 and formally launched in 1997 by the conclusion of a multilateral treaty known as the Charter of the IORA for Regional Cooperation.
    • It is based on the principles of Open Regionalism for strengthening Economic Cooperation particularly on Trade Facilitation and Investment, Promotion as well as Social Development of the region.