International Relations: November 2021 Current Affairs | UPSC Mains: International Relations PDF Download

1. Kartarpur Corridor Reopens

The Kartarpur Sahib Corridor has been reopened one and a half years after it closed in March 2020 due to Covid19 to allow pilgrims from India to visit the Sikh shrine in Pakistan

About Kartarpur Corridor

• The corridor links India's Dera Baba Nanak shrine in Gurdaspur district with Kartarpur Sahib gurdwara in Pakistan's Punjab province.  
• It is a 4.7-kilometre-long stretch that allows devotees from India to pay a visit to the Gurudwara without a visa.  
• The Kartarpur Sahib gurdwara is situated across the Ravi River established by Guru Nanak in 1522.  
• It is built on the historic site where Guru Nanak Dev spent his final days.  
• It was at this place that Guru Nanak Dev assembled a Sikh community and lived for 18 years until his death in 1539.  
• During the partition, the region was divided between India and Pakistan. The Radcliffe Line awarded the right bank of the Ravi River, including Kartarpur, to Pakistan, and the Gurdaspur tehsil on the left bank of Ravi to India.

Background

• In 1999, the Indian and the Pakistani governments proposed the idea of the Kartarpur corridor as a part of the New Delhi-Lahore bus diplomacy. However, pilgrims from India had to take a bus to Lahore to get to Kartarpur, which is a 125 km journey. 
• In 2018, the foundation stone of the corridor was laid on the Indian side on November 26. And on November 28, the stone was laid on the Pakistani side. 
• Pakistan PM Imran Khan inaugurated the corridor in November 2019 as part of the commemoration of the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak. 
• India signed the Kartarpur corridor agreement with Pakistan in 2019. Under the pact, Indian pilgrims of all faiths are allowed to undertake round the year visa-free travel through this passage.

Concerns

Can be used by ISI to radicalize Indian youths 

• With the Corridor in place, there is a stream of devotees throughout the year. 
• Individuals and smaller groups are more likely to be susceptible to radicalisation by ISI’s machinations.  
• As a route for drug & human trafficking in India Pakistan is a part of Golden Crescent (Iran – Afghanistan – Pakistan) which is famous for narcotics smuggling.  
• Terrorism and terrorist infiltration 
• The religious congregations are often a soft target for terrorists as the attack on devotees can have the maximum impact. It is often feared that, like Amarnath yatra in J&K, these devotees might be targeted. 
• Also, the corridor may be used by terrorist organisations of Pakistan to infiltrate in India.  
• Pakistan can use this corridor to revive separatist movement in Punjab Sikh Referendum 2020’ campaign posters have been displayed at Pakistani gurdwaras during pilgrimage of Sikh jathas in the past.

2. India-US Digital Tax Pact

India and US have decided on a transitional approach to digital service tax imposed by the respective governments.

What Has Been Agreed Upon?

• The term of the deal will be the same that were thrashed out between the US and Austria, France, Italy, Spain and UK on October 21, 2021.  
• However, the interim period that is applicable will be from 1st April 2022 till implementation of Pillar One of the OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework or 31st March 2024, whichever is earlier.  
• It should be noted that on October 8, 2021, India and US joined 134 other members of the OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework to reform the global tax norms. They agreed to enforce a minimum corporate tax rate (Global tax Deal) of 15%, as well as an equitable system of taxing profits of big companies in markets where they are earned.  
• The final terms of the Agreement shall be finalized by 1st February 2022.

What Was The Issue

• India introduced a 6% equalisation levy in 2016, however, it was restricted to online advertisement services  
• The Finance Bill 2020-21 imposed a 2% digital service tax on trade and services by non-resident e-commerce operators with a turnover of over Rs 2 crore. This step effectively expanded the scope of equalisation levy.  
• As a result, US-based companies such as Google, Amazon, Linkedin and Facebook were supposed to pay the digital service tax in India.

• In January 2021, US had announced that India’s equalisation levy was discriminatory and actionable.  
• In March 2021, it proposed 25% retaliatory tariffs on about 40 Indian products. 

Benefits of The Current Deal

• It will provide Indian companies relief from the proposed American retaliatory action, while comforting tech giants such as Amazon, Google and Facebook that face the levy in India.  
• This agreement represents a pragmatic solution that helps ensure that countries can focus their collective effort of successful implementation of OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework.  
• It will also help ensure that the liability does not exceed the computed liability under pillar one with credit available in the home country of the company.

12th Ministerial-level Meeting of the India-US Trade Policy Forum (TPF)

• 12th Ministerial-level meeting of the India-United States Trade Policy Forum (TPF) was held in New Delhi. It was held after a gap of 4 years.  
• The goal of this meeting was to develop an ambitious, shared vision for the future of the trade relationship and resolve trade and investment issues between the two countries. 

Significance of The Forum

• Established in 2005, TPF is a premier forum to resolve trade and investment issues between India and the US. 
• It has five focus groups:

3. India, Sri Lanka Revive Parliament Friendship Association

• India and Sri Lanka have revived their “Parliamentary Friendship Association”. For this forum, Minister Chamal Rajapaksa has been selected as its President.  
• The association would “reinvigorate” Parliamentary exchanges between the two democracies and strengthen bilateral ties.  
• The association existed in the past and is being revived for the current Parliament, elected in August 2020.

4. India Confers Honorary Rank of General on Nepal Army Chief

• Nepal Army Chief General Prabhu Ram Sharma was conferred the honorary rank of General of the Indian Army by the Indian President.  
• General Sharma was on a four-day visit to India to explore ways to expand bilateral defence cooperation.  
• It is a customary practice by India and Nepal to confer the honorary rank of General on each other’s Army Chiefs.  
• Nepal conferred the honorary rank of 'General of Nepal Army' to Indian Army Chief Gen MM Naravane during his visit to Kathmandu in November 2020.

5. India, Bhutan To Have More Entry and Exit Points For Trade

• India and Bhutan will have 7 additional entry and exit points for trade as part of measures to increase trade connectivity. These include:
  
• Trade between India and Bhutan has more than doubled from USD 484 million in 2014-15 to USD 1,083 million in 2020-21.

6. U.S. Invites Taiwan to its Democracy Summit

• The Biden administration has invited Taiwan to its "Summit for Democracy" to be held in December 2021. 
• The aim of this summit is to help stop democratic backsliding and the erosion of rights and freedoms worldwide. The list does not include China or Russia. 
• The invitation to Taiwan has angered China which views the democratically governed island as its territory. China urged the US to stop providing a platform to "Taiwan independence" forces. 
• Tensions around Taiwan have been escalating in recent months which is evident from following events:

7. Africa’s Sahel Crisis

While speaking at a UN Security Council meeting on the G5 Sahel force, the UN peacekeeping chief has warned that the crisis in Africa’s Sahel region remains volatile.

• The G5 Sahel force set up by five African nations — Chad, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Mauritania — in 2017 to fight the growing terrorist threat in the vast Sahel region.

What is Sahel Region?

• It is semiarid region of western and north-central Africa extending from Senegal eastward to Sudan.  
• It forms a transitional zone between the arid Sahara (desert) to the north and the belt of humid savannas to the south.  
• The region is witnessing insurgency by armed militants.  
• Thousands of civilians from Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Nigeria are killed every year in bloody inter-communal violence. 
• Many more are caught up in deadly overlapping conflicts that are spinning out of control.

8. Barbados - The World’s Newest Republic

• Barbados has become the world’s newest republic. The Caribbean Island nation removed Queen Elizabeth II as the head of the state in a ceremony attended by Prince Charles.  
• Dame Sandra Prunella Mason was selected to become the first president of Barbados.

History of Barbados as a British colony

• For the past 400 years, Barbados was the British colony. Barbados first became an English colony when a ship arrived at the Caribbean in 1625.  
• It was said to have been made a ‘slave society’ by the British.  
• On November 30, 1966, Barbados gained its independence. However, the country then did not adopt the republican status and continued the monarchy with Queen Elizabeth II as the head of the state.