4 JULY 2015: India votes for Israel in UNGA

Ø  The government denied any policy shift, indicating that India had abstained because the UNHRC resolution had included a reference to taking Israel to the International Criminal Court, which India considers “intrusive.” Forty-one countries voted in favour of the resolution against Israel, while only the U.S. voted against. India was one of five countries including Kenya and Macedonia that abstained. In September, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had met his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu on the sidelines of the UNGA, another break from precedent, and last month the government announced that Mr. Modi would become the first Indian PM to visit Israel. In December 2014, The Hindu had reported that a reversal of Indian policy vis-?-vis Israel and Palestine at the UN was also being considered by the NDA government.

Ø  Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s five-nation tour of Central Asia beginning July 6 is expected to cover a gamut of issues from increasing trade and investment to counter-terrorism mechanisms, from improved surface connectivity to energy security. Mr. Modi will also attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meeting and the BRICS summit in Ufa, Russia, on June 9 and 10, but there is no word yet on whether he will hold sideline meetings with his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif and Chinese President Xi Jingping, who will also be present. Vikas Swarup, spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs, said the schedule of the sideline bilateral meetings at the SCO and BRICS was yet to be finalised. India is expected to raise the issue of bail to 26/11 mastermind Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi with Pakistan. It is also expected to bring up China’s decision to block India’s bid to seek action against Pakistan at the U.N. At the SCO, India, which has been an observer since 2005, is expected to get permanent membership of the six-nation grouping of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. India had applied for membership in 2014 and has participated at the ministerial-level at summits of the grouping. Mr. Modi’s five-nation tour will begin with his visit to Uzbekistan on July 6. He will travel to Kazakhstan on July 7 and 8 and thereafter he will be in Ufa for BRICS. He will travel to Turkmenistan from July 10 to 11, Kyrgyzstan from July 11 to 12 and Tajikistan from July 12 to 13. In Turkmenistan, the Prime Minister will inaugurate the Centre for traditional medicine and yoga. In Uzbekistan, he will have a meeting with Indologists; in Kazakhstan he would address a University and inaugurate the India-Kazakhstan centre for excellence for ICT, where Param super computer is stationed. In Kyrgyzstan, he will inaugurate an e-health link, a virtual link between one of the hospitals in Bishkek and a hospital in India, and in Tajikistan he will have a detailed interaction with the President.