India & World Current Affairs Nov 2015 (Part 1)

India Announced $ 10 Billion Concessional Credit to Africa

• India announced a concessional credit of $ 10 billion to Africa on October 29, 2015 in the next five years and a grant assistance of $ 600 million which includes an India-Africa Development Fund of $ 100 million and a Health Fund of $ 10 million.
• In the concluding session of 3rd India-Africa Forum Summit, the summit adopted Delhi Declaration and a India Africa Framework for Strategic Cooperation to chart a new course of engagement in diverse areas. In this regard, a joint monitoring mechanism with African Union will be set-up.
• Instead Prime Minister Narendra Modi strongly asked the continent to speak in ‘one voice’ with it in pushing for UN Security Council reform and combating climate change and threat of terrorism: Both countries will intensify their cooperation against terrorism.
• The 3rd India-Africa forum summit held in New Delhi from October 26 to 30, 2015. Heads of States and Representatives of all 54 African countries are participating in it. This is the first time that India is inviting all countries of Africa because the earlier summits were based on a limited number of participation.
• Logo of 3rd India-Africa forum summit depicts a Lion with 1/2 of an Indian lion and another 1/2 of African lion. In the background of logo, an African map is overlapped with Indian i map as a reference to ancient Gondwanaland depicting Indian J subcontinent was part of today’s Africa’s continental landmass.

You may also Like- News Orbit Current Affairs September 2015

India and France Signed MoU on Preserving Written Heritage

• The Union Ministry of Culture and National Library of France have entered into an MoU on October 28, 2015 under which the two countries would cooperate in conservation, development and publicity of written heritage at the National Library.
• The two countries would also share expertise such as description of Indian manuscripts in Sanskrit and Tamil. It would also help in the development of digital cooperation, sharing of technical and other expertise, competency and skill-building and cultural cooperation between both the countries.
• Work is going on a virtual library that will link and share all knowledge resources lying within the possession of various Central government institutes, State governments and other organizations. The portal j would not just be a library but all our organizations, museums, and the archives will be linked to it.

Japan Offered India Soft Loan for $ 15 Billion Bullet Train

• Japan has offered on October 22, 2015 to finance India’s first bullet train, estimated to cost $ 15 billion, at an interest rate of less than 1%. Thus, Japan is stealing a march on China, which is bidding for other projects on the world’s fourth-largest network.
• Tokyo was picked to assess the feasibility of building the 505 km corridor linking Mumbai with Ahmedabad, the commercial capital of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home State, and concluded it would be technically and financially viable.
• Japan’s International Cooperation Agency, which led the feasibility survey, said the journey time between Mumbai and Ahmedabad would be cut to two hours from seven. The route will require 11 new tunnels including one undersea near Mumbai.

Road in Ramallah Named after India

• The Sharia-e-Al-hind (India road) and Midan-e-Al-hind (India roundabout) in Ramallah were named on October 12, 2015 at a ceremony attended by Indian President Pranab Mukherjee and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and hundreds of Palestinians.
• The new road is close to the Mahatma Gandhi Road and houses the Indian miss It was unnamed so far. Now, it was given its name in honour of President Pranab Mukheijee. A lotus structure mounted on a raised platform at the roundabout was laid with the Indian national flower in mind.
• Mukheijee laid a wreath on the mausoleum of iconic Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. Delegation-level talks were also held between the two sides to review bilateral issues. Indian President Pranab Mukherjee was on a maiden visit to Palestine as part of his three Western Asian countries Jordan.

India gave $ 5 Million Grant to Palestine

• Indian President Pranab Mukherjee is on a maiden visit to Palestine on October 12 to 13, 2015 as part of his three Western Asian countries Jordan, Palestine and Israel. India committed there five projects worth $ 17.79 million. These projects are $ 12 million Technology Park at Ramallah, and $ 1 million India-Palestine Centre for Excellence in Gaza, $ 4.5 million Palestine Institute for Diplomacy.
• In addition, a grant of $ 5 million has also been given to Palestine as Budgetary assistance. India and Palestine called for a negotiated and peaceful settlement of the Israel-Pales tine issue based on internationally agreed upon principles, which would lead to a united and viable State of Palestine.

Read More- News Orbit Current Affairs September 2015 (Part 3)

Visit Current-Affairs.org for latest current affairs, previous year question papers, free online quiz for SSC and others, Study material and lot more.