India & World Current Affairs October 2015 (Part 2)

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Visited India

• Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe arrived in India on a three-day official visit on September 14, 2015. It is his first trip abroad after he assumed office in the month of August, 2015.
• 2015 is a historic year for India-Sri Lanka relations because President Sirisena also was on his maiden visit to India in February, 2015. Both the countries will intensify cooperation in combating terrorism and work together for security and stability in our maritime neighbourhood.
• They also discussed the fishermen issue. They agreed that fishermen’s associations on both sides should continue their efforts to find a solution.

Minor Amendments in Indo-German Partnerships in Higher Education

• The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave its approval on September 22, 2015 for signing of Joint Declaration of Intent (JDI) between India and Germany for minor amendments in the earlier MoU.

• The earlier MoU was signed for facilitating implementation of the programme “Indo-German Partnerships in Higher Education”. The term ‘Strategic’ will be deleted from the title of the programme to make it “Indo-German Partnership in Higher Education”.
• The funding period for the programme will be changed from 2015-19 to 2016-20 (from July 1, 2016 to June 30, 2020). The JDI will be beneficial for faculty development and to foster advanced research in the identified priority areas of challenges for India.

Read Also – Smart Practice Current Affairs October 2015.

India-USA Created Joint Challenge Coin to Mark Partnership

• India and the USA have created a ‘joint challenge coin’ on September 17, 2015 to symbolise their unique partnership in creating a next-generation aircraft carrier for the Indian Navy.
• The coin was created by the joint working group at their first meeting in the USA on August, 2015 ‘to symbolise partnership’.

• One side of the coin reads ‘Forward Together We Go’ and ‘Chale Chale Saath Saath’ in Hindi. The other side of this coin, which is golden in colour, has the flags of India and the USA and an aircraft carrier floating on blue water.
• During Obama’s visit to India in January, 2015, the two countries had announced the establishment of a working group for a next-generation aircraft carrier to bolster the Indian Navy’s blue-water capabilities, which held its first-ever meeting in August, 2015.

India-Cambodia Signed Two MoUs

• India and Cambodia inked two Memoranda of Understandings (MoU) on September 16, 2015 to boost bilateral cooperation on tourism, and on the Mekong-Ganga Cooperation Initiative.
• The agreements were signed at the Peace Palace in the presence of Indian Vice-President M. Hamid Ansari and Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Aka Moha Sena Padei Techo Hun Sen.

• The tourism MoU was aimed at boosting tourist’ movement between the two countries. The Mekong- Ganga MoU is related to five ‘quick impact projects’.
• One is $ 50000-grant to Cambodia for the upgradation of an Entrepreneurship Development Centre.
• Two in healthcare, especially to do with malaria.
• One on agriculture.
• One on women’s empowerment through Information and Communications Technology (ICT),

India Voted to Raise Palestine and Vatican I Flags at the United Nations

• India was among 119 nations that voted in support of a UN General Assembly resolution granting the right to non-member observer States of Palestine and the Vatican to raise their flags at the world body’s headquarters alongside the flags of UN member nations.
• The resolution “Raising the flags of non-member observer States at the United Nations” was adopted on September 10, 2015 by a vote of 119 in favour to 8 against, with 45 delegations abstaining.
• By the terms of the text, the General Assembly decided that the flags of non-member observer States maintaining permanent observer missions at Headquarters shall be raised at Headquarters and United Nations offices following the flags of the Members States of the Organisation.

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