EducatorIAS

  The term ‘Indo-Pacific’ started to be discussed in strategic circles about a decade ago, but has rapidly gained importance in recent years. The economic rise of India and the massive increase in maritime trade passing through the Indian Ocean have helped make the Indo-Pacific a geopolitical and geoeconomic construct. Currently, the Indo-Pacific is the most contested maritime zone in the world because of the growing strategic rivalry between the US and China and the security interests of other key players in the region Recently  India agreed to be a part of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF), a U.S.-led economic grouping comprising 12 countries. These include Australia, Brunei, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Together, these countries account for 40 per cent of the global GDP.   Why has India chosen to join this after walking out of RCEP? The main reason for India to walk out of RCEP,

    state and non-state actors that pose challenges to India’s national security: ‘State actor’ is used in the context where one government supports an actor in the performance of an act or acts of terrorism against the other often deemed as a state sponsor. State actors:  1 ) Increasing activities of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) in Nepal changed the nature of the border completely. It has ties with the Taliban and other radical groups. These groups have recently been involved with the radicalization of the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. Groups such as the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), the Haqqani Network and the Taliban have repeatedly been used by Pakistan as instruments to help it achieve its foreign policy objectives in India and Afghanistan. 2) China’s People’s Liberation Army continues to deploy construction equipme nt for road works. It uses spider excavators to build roads in the border area. 3 ) China’s growing assertiveness in the region could be aimed at pushing

  The United Nations Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC) has decided to hold a special meeting on the theme “New and Emerging Technologies” with the support of its Executive Directorate (CTED), in India on 29 October 2022. The members that will participate in the meeting are Albania, Brazil, Gabon, Ghana, India, Ireland, Kenya, Mexico, Norway and the UAE, along with five permanent members China, France, Russia, the UK and the US. There are several other countries and international organisations, and experts that are invited and will participate in the meeting.  This will be the seventh time the Counter-Terrorism Committee meets outside New York . The most recent special meeting of the CTC outside of United Nations headquarters took place in Madrid, Spain in July 2015,  focusing on foreign terrorist fighters . (FTFs). The agenda/meeting will focus on three areas  where emerging technologies are massively being used and abused by the extremists, for terrorism purposed and