Civil Services Times

Bhattarai face intractable task

The political instability in Nepal seems to be looming large and is definitely getting worse. Nepal has elected its fourth prime minister in four years. Dr Baburam Bhattarai of Unified Communist Party of Nepal- Maoist (UCPN-M) is an alumnus of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) of India, where in 1986 he earned his PhD in underdevelopment and the regional structure of Nepal. Dr Bhattarai had graduated from Punjab University, Chandigarh and studied for a masters in the School of Planning and Architecture in Delhi. He is Nepal’s second Maoist prime minister after Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda, whose term lasted nine months in 2008-09. Bhattarai was one of the lead negotiators of the Maoists before and after the people’s movement of 2006 that overthrew the monarchy in Nepal. One can recollect that the rebels, represented by Dr Bhattarai’s Maoist’s party, fought a decade-long guerrilla campaign against the former monarchy until joining the United Nations-supervised peace process in 2006. The monarchy was eventually removed from power in 2008 but more than 16,000 people had died in the civil war.

The series of Secretary level meetings that had taken place between India and Pakistan within a span of a few months, starting with the meeting between the Home/Interior Secretaries and concluding with the Foreign Secretary level talks paved the way for the visit of Pakistani Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ms. Hina Rabbani Khar to India andher meeting with the India External Affairs Minister, S.M.Krishna. Scarred once again by terror at- tacks on its financial capital justpriorto the Pakistani Minister’s visit, India showed maturity by rolling out the red carpet to its neighbor and not allowing the recent Mumbai attacks once again derail the dialogue process.

In a major political development, President Michel Sleiman has appointed the 55-year-old billionaire and Hezbollah-backed Sunni Najib Azmi Mikati as Lebanon’s Prime Minister. He has succeeded Prime Minister Saad al- Hariri. Under Lebanon’s power-

The Lisbon Summit concluded on 20 November 2010 with decisions that will mean profound changes for the way NATO does business,  making the Alliance more effective, more efficient and more engaged with the wider world. NATO has regarded Lisbon Summit as one of the most important summits in NATO's history. The summit has widened its scope by becoming more effective, more engaged and more efficient than ever before. The Secretary

What emerged as the brainchild of a Goldman Sach economist is now turning out to be the possible future of the world economy. International organizations are usually the products of the vision of world leaders or statesmen; seldom do they originate as an afterthought of a research study by a private investment bank. But such is the birth story of what can be described as the BRIC of the world economy in the near and medium future.

Yuan As a reserve currency

The People’s Bank of China has ended a two-year peg to the dollar and manage the yuan or renminbi (RMB) with reference to a basket of currencies. As a result of this the currency closed at its strongest level since 1993. The Yuan is permitted to rise or fall 0.5 per cent from daily reference rate. It has been felt that Yuan has been kept at an artificially low level and has significantly contributed to the global financial crisis.

A collective failure at Horn of Africa

"There is a new economic growth story emerging from Africa. Africa possesses all the prerequisites to become a major growth pole of the world. The India-Africa partner- ship is unique and owes its origins to history and our common struggle against colonialism, apartheid, poverty, disease, illiteracy and hunger." Indian PM

Transforming competition into cooperation

There was enough space in the world for both the nations to further their business interests; China and India are partners for cooperation and not rivals. My visit is aimed at promoting friendship, expanding cooperation, building on our past achievements and opening up new dimensions for mutual benefit and common development of the two countries.” Wen