30 APRIL 2016

Ø  The Central Information Commission on Friday directed Delhi University and Gujarat University, Ahmedabad, to “make best possible” search for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s educational qualifications and provide the information to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

Ø  Nepali President Bidhya Devi Bhandari’s visit to Ujjain to participate in the Simhastha Kumbh is being interpreted in Kathmandu as a gesture to assuage India following Prime Minister K. P. Sharma Oli’s March visit to China during which Nepal and China sealed a transit agreement, indicating an end to Nepal’s dependence on India.

Ø  Keen to step up engagement in the hydrocarbon sector with Iran, India has conveyed to the Gulf nation that it is ready to clear nearly $ 6.5 billion of the dues for oil import from that country at the earliest, provided there is clarity on payment channel. The message was conveyed even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to visit the oil-rich country later this month. Government sources said there had been a series of discussions at various levels both in Tehran and here and both sides were confident of resolving the issue soon. Following lifting of sanctions against it in January under a historic nuclear deal, Iran terminated a three-year-old system with India of getting paid for half of the oil dues in rupees and was insisting on being paid in Euros for the oil it sold to Indian refiners. It also scrapped free delivery of crude oil. Officials said though Western sanctions against Iran were lifted, problems persist in banking channels due to which regular transactions were not possible yet. Refiners such as Essar Oil and Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MPRL) owe nearly $ 6.5 billion in dues to Iran. During their visit to Iran last month, Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj conveyed to Iranian leaders that India wanted to significantly ramp up engagement in the oil and gas sector.

Ø  India is looking to explore and develop Papua New Guinea’s vast oil and gas resources through joint ventures and investments from both the Indian private and public sectors in ongoing and new projects. The Pacific island country agreed that oil and gas exploration and development could be a new avenue of cooperation between the two countries, keeping in view India’s desire to achieve energy security, said a joint statement issued by the two countries at the end of a two-day visit by President Pranab Mukherjee. Indian companies are looking at projects coming up in Papua New Guinea after natural gas was discovered in the country’ s Southern Highland Province. Gas discoveries elsewhere in the country have evoked interest among Indian companies that believe they could participate in associated projects as well as in some gas blocks. Papua New Guinea is estimated to have 35 trillion cubic feet of natural gas as recoverable reserves. India agreed to provide a line of credit of $100 million to Papua New Guinea for infrastructure projects and signed a pact to set up a ‘Centre of Excellence’ in information technology. The request for the line of credit had been made in August 2015 by Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Peter O’Neill during a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of a summit of the Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation. Four memorandums of understanding were signed on the second and final day of President Mukherjee’s visit, the first state visit by an Indian head of state to the island nation. Apart from MoUs on extending a line of credit and information technology, other agreements related to cooperation on agricultural research and health. Mr. Mukherjee announced that India would provide anti-retroviral drugs and equipment to benefit 20,000 HIV positive patients in Papua New Guinea, a figure that would help at least half the number of those suffering from the disease. UNAIDS estimates say that between 37,000 and 41,000 people were living with HIV in 2014 in the country, which has a population of about eight million. The President said India would assist capacity-building and human resource development, besides offering to share its advanced techniques and technologies in the agriculture sector.

Ø  Reliance Defence has signed an agreement with three Ukrainian state-owned firms — Ukroboronprom, Spetstechno Exports and Antonov — to collaborate on a range of military products including transport aircraft, armoured vehicles, maritime gas turbines and unmanned aerial vehicles. This follows Reliance Group chairman Anil Ambani’s meeting with the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko in Ukraine this week, where they discussed issues of strategic interest between Indian and Ukrainian Defence and Aerospace industries. As a follow up of the meeting, a Strategic Partnership Agreement was signed between State-owned Ukroboronprom of Ukraine and Reliance Defence, which will allow it to collaborate with Antonov for its range of military and commercial transport aircraft. Reliance Defence is a wholly owned subsidiary of Reliance Infrastructure Ltd., a part of the Reliance Group. Under the agreement with Antonov, credited as the manufacturer of largest transport aircraft in the world, Reliance and Antonov will jointly bid for the Medium Military Transport Aircraft program of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).

Ø  The Indian Air Force currently operates more than 100 AN-32 aircraft, which form the backbone of its transport fleet. This will be potentially the largest collaborative effort involving the public sector, private sector and global OEM as part of the ‘Make in India’ and ‘Skill India’ initiatives of the government with the value of the projects exceeding Rs. 50,000 crore.