Newspaper Must Read Articles of The Day – 18 August 2015

India & UAE decry state sponsored terrorism: UAE has dumped Pakistan (or is it too early to say?) as a key ally and aligned with India in its anti-terrorism tirade. The two countries will also work towards the adoption of India’s proposed Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT) in the United Nations.

Russia backs India’s bid for a permanent UNSC Seat After USA, Russia has also clarified that it supports India’s bid to the UNSC Permanent Membership seat. Sounds rosy, isnt it? The catch is what the world powers have in mind when they want to include new powers in a “reformed” UNSC? USA, for one, will allow new powers in the UNSC, but with no voting rights, making these admissions almost infructose. (As long as this doesn’t happen, expect a question in UPSC Mains & Interview every 2-3 years on the same).

Policy shift strengthens relations with the Gulf: India has forged dozens of new partnerships in the past decade in the Gulf region. The author argues that follow-up meetings will be crucial in operationalising them.

Beijing’s riposte on S. China Sea slams Philippines, Japan: First the meaning of riposte – which a lot of you would ignore and read on the article and even complete it – riposte is a quick clever reply in normal parlance. Here, it means an offensive action meant to hurt the opponent.Faced by allegations by its smaller neighbours, China has stated that China’s status in the South China Sea rests on firm legal foundations of the Cairo Declaration and the Potsdam Proclamation, which were central in defining the post-World War II global architecture. The questions you need to look up are – What are the Cairo declaration and the Potsdam Proclamation?

Going beyond inflation targeting The need for transparency in policy making in the financial sector has been accepted in principle by the government by uploading a draft of the Indian Financial Code. The Reserve Bank’s model working method has been inflation targeting – i.e. achieving so and so inflation via monetary policy. This opinion article argues why RBI should go beyond inflation targeting. And if RBI is to be held accountable, it should first have full control over Monetary Policy, without any nudging from the govt that commonly happens.

Much Needed Reform : A lot of you, readers, would be confused about the stand of USA and other World powers on their support for India in the United Nations Security Council. You have read conflicting articles – USA supports India for UNSC seat, says Richard Verma, USA’s Ambassador to India. The problem is – they don’t. They don’t support the expansion of Security Council beyond the 5 members who have the veto power. They are all okay with India as a permanent member, but want to expand UNSC, keeping the veto with the original five – USA, France, Russia, China and the United Kingdom. This, is the prevalent position as of now, lest you get confused.

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