VIF Information Alerts - 1st July 2019

Centre outlines plan to counter China’s BRI
Published: The Economic Times

01 Jul 2019

India has outlined its re-balancing strategy to counter China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), highlighting its offer of soft loans for several development and capacity building projects across continents.

India has a robust development cooperation agenda, constituting a significant dimension of its close and multi-faceted ties with many partner countries including in India’s neighbourhood, said V Muraleedharan, the Minister of State for external affairs, answering a query in the Lok Sabha last week, while expressing strong reservations against the BRI and the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.Click here to read... [2]

Taliban: Latest round of talks with US ‘critical’
Published: The Pioneer

01 Jul 2019

The seventh and latest round of peace talks between the U.S. And Taliban is “critical,” said Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen on Sunday, the second day of talks with Washington’s peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad in the Mideastern state of Qatar, where the militant group maintains a political office.

Shaheen told The Associated Press both sides are looking for “tangible results” as they try to hammer out the fine print of agreements that will see the eventual withdrawal of over 20,000 U.S. And NATO troops from Afghanistan, and end America’s longest-running war.Click here to read... [3]

Donald Trump meets Kim Jong Un, becomes 1st sitting US President to enter N Korea
Published: Hindustan Times

01 Jul 2019

Donald Trump stepped onto North Korean soil Sunday as he met Pyongyang’s leader Kim Jong Un in the Demilitarized Zone dividing the peninsula, in a symbolic diplomatic spectacle and a first for any American president.

After shaking hands with Kim over the line that marks where their two countries and their allies fought each other to a standstill in the 1950-53 Korean War, Trump walked for several steps into North Korean territory, before another handshake.Click here to read... [4]

Money in Swiss banks: India slips to 74th place
Published: Deccan Herald

30 Jun 2019

India has moved down one place to 74th rank in terms of money parked by its citizens and enterprises with Swiss banks, while the UK has retained its top position, as per data released by the central banking authority of the Alpine nation. India was ranked 73rd last year, after jumping 15 places from its 88th position a year ago.

An analysis of the latest annual banking statistics released by the Swiss National Bank (SNB) shows that India remains ranked very low when it comes to money parked by Indian individuals and enterprises in Swiss banks, including through their their India-based branches, while accounting for just about 0.07 per cent of the aggregate funds parked by all foreign clients of Switzerland-based banks.Click here to read... [5]

Nagaland to start variant of National Register of Citizens (NRC) that neighbouring Assam is updating
Published: The Hindu

30 Jun 2019

Nagaland has decided to start a variant of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) that neighbouring Assam is updating. On Saturday, Nagaland’s Home Commissioner R. Ramakrishnan issued a notification for setting up of the Register of Indigenous Inhabitants of Nagaland (RIIN) aimed at preparing a master list of all indigenous peoples and checking the issuance of fake indigenous inhabitant certificates.Click here to read... [6]