Special

Modi and Trump's friendship was discussed throughout the term, but how does Modi form a relationship with the Biden administration after the 'Houdi Modi' and 'Namaste Trump' campaigns in support of Trump? It remains to be seen. However Joe Biden won the US presidential election defeating US President Donald Trump.

However, it is being said that India and America are important partners. In such a situation, changing the government will not affect relations with India.

Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi has congratulated Joe Biden on his victory in the presidential election. Modi has called the victory of Joe Biden spectacular. The Indian Prime Minister also congratulated Kamala Harris and remembered her roots from India. Kamala Harris's mother was from Tamil Nadu.

Congratulating Joe Biden, Modi wrote on Twitter, "Congratulations to @JoeBiden on your stunning victory! As VP, your contribution to strengthen Indo-US relations was significant and invaluable. I look forward to working together once again to take Indo-US relations to greater heights. ''

Congratulating Kamala Harris, Modi wrote on Twitter, "Hearty congratulations @KamalaHarris! Your success is great Your victory not only makes your relatives in India proud but also a moment of pride for all Indian-American citizens. I am confident that with your support and leadership, the vibrant India-US relationship will be strengthened further.

Biden expressed concern over Kashmir and CAA

However, Biden had expressed concern about Kashmir and CAA in his election campaign. Biden released his policy paper during the election campaign. It had raised concerns about human rights in CAA and Kashmir. Joe Biden said that all rights of Kashmiris should be restored.

Biden had said that India should take whatever steps can be taken to restore the rights of Kashmiris. At the same time, Biden also expressed disappointment over India's Citizenship Amendment Act, or CAA. Biden also called the National Register of Citizens (NRC) hopeless.

 A policy paper published on Biden's campaign website stated, "India has an old tradition of secularism and multi-racial, multi-religious democracy." In such a situation, these decisions of the government are completely opposite. ''

This policy paper by Joe Biden was published under the title 'Agenda for Muslim-American Communities'. In Biden's policy paper on Kashmir it was said, "To restore the rights of the people of Kashmir, India should take every step." Restrictions on disagreements, stopping peaceful demonstrations, shutting down or slowing down internet service are the weak of democracy. ''

In this paper, along with Kashmir, it was also talked about the Vegar Muslims of China and Rohingya Muslims of Myanmar. Biden's policy paper read, "Muslims of America remain concerned about what is happening in Muslim-majority countries and countries where Muslims have a significant population." I understand his pain. It is shameful to force the Weigar Muslims to stay in surveillance camps in western China. If Biden becomes president of the United States, he will raise his voice against detention camps in Xinjiang. As president, Biden will take some firm steps on this. Everything that has happened and is happening to Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar is gruesome. This puts peace and stability at stake. ''

Trump was also shocked

However, US President Donald Trump has also had many such policies that have hurt India. The Trump government had excluded India from the General System of Preferences in its preferential trade policy. Because of this policy, 1930 products going from India to America were saved from paying import duty in America. In the 1970s, the US government adopted this policy with the intention of strengthening the economies of developing countries. Apart from this, Trump's policies on HB1 visa have also been against India.

But the Trump administration was silent on the CAA, NRC and Kashmir. In this case, Pakistan tried to put pressure on the US but it did not affect the Trump administration.

Given the friendship between US President Donald Trump and India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi, it can be said that Biden will prove to be good for India, but will not prove to be good for BJP and Narendra Modi.

In March 2020, there was a dispute over the price of oil in Saudi Arabia and Russia. Saudi Arabia wanted Russia to reduce oil production so that falling international oil prices could be handled. But Russia was not willing to reduce production.

Saudi Arabia also decided to sell production by increasing production and discounting the price of oil, after being irritated by this attitude of Russia. Saudi Arabia took this decision when all the businesses in the world were stalled due to the Kovid 19 epidemic. Both countries were blaming each other for the fall in prices. Russia's state television was blaming Saudi Arabia for the fall in its currency ruble.

On the other hand, Saudi Arabia had also decided to reverse. On April 1, Saudi national oil company Aramco said that it would produce 12 million barrels of oil every day.

This was 26% more production than the agreement with Russia. Saudi Arabia felt that it would prove itself a king in the price war with Russia.

There have been two important changes in the world of oil in the last three years and their impact has been very wide.

The first is that the production of oil in America has increased. This production has increased so much that the United States has become a major oil exporting country from a major oil importer.

The second is the cooperation between Russia and Saudi Arabia to keep oil prices stable. The United States, Russia and Saudi Arabia are the three largest oil producing countries in the world. America is at number one and the rivalry between Russia and Saudi continues at number two. Cooperation between Russia and Saudi Arabia has been badly affected in recent times.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC has the highest dominance of Saudi. In March, Saudi Arabia proposed to cut oil production through OPEC due to the huge reduction in oil demand due to Kovid 19.

Russia is not a member of OPEC and refused to go along with the Saudi proposal. After this, a price war on oil was sparked in both countries.

US shale oil is a challenge for both Saudi and Russia. However, the production of shale oil is expensive. But due to the production of shale oil, America became the largest oil producing country from the world's largest oil importer.

Due to the expensive production of shale oil and gas, Russia feels that it cannot challenge its market. Compared to traditional crude oil (which is in Russia and Saudi Arabia), shale oil is extracted from the layers of rocks.

Conventional crude oil escapes to a depth of 6000 feet while shale oil production is complex. In 2018, the US became the world's largest oil producer, surpassing Saudi Arabia. This rise of the US also affected the oil market of Saudi and Russia.

When the epidemic of Kovid 19 came, there was a huge decline in the demands of oil. Given this decline, Saudi Arabia and Russia had to agree to drastic cuts in oil production in OPEC and OPEC Plus. America also had to cut its production by 2 million barrels per day. Although the US and Russia's oil production or export is less, it does not matter as much as Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia's economy is dependent on oil and as soon as the oil market is affected, its kingship shakes and fears about the future.

Saudi's oil production and exports are facing a tough challenge from Russia along with the US. First, the US pushed Saudi to number two in terms of oil production and now Russia has brought Saudi to number three. According to the Joint Organization Data Initiative (JODI), Russia has ranked Saudi Arabia at number three in terms of oil production in the month of June.

With this, Russia has become the second largest country in the world in terms of oil production after USA. According to JODI, Russia's oil production stood at 8.788 million barrels per day in June, while Saudi Arabia's was just 7.5 million barrels.

In June, the US topped the terms of oil production. According to JODI, oil production in the US stood at 10.879 million barrels per day in June. Saudi Arabia's oil exports have also been steadily declining. Saudi oil exports fell below 5 million barrels per day in June. According to JODI, its oil exports declined by 17.3% in June as compared to May.

Saudi oil exports in June stood at 4.98 million barrels per day. Saudi oil production was 6.02 barrels per day in May and 10 million barrels in April.

The challenge for Saudi Arabia is now as big as how to reduce the dependence of its economy on oil?

The ambition of the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia is to make Saudi stand on the earnings of oil, but nothing like this has happened yet.

Energy expert at the Rice University Baker Institute, Jim Kraen, told the news agency Reuters last year, "Saudi Arabia has an addiction to oil and is still not weak." The Saudi economy is running on oil. GDP rests on oil business.

Arab leaders know that high oil prices are not forever. Four years ago, keeping this in mind, Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman introduced 'Vision 2030'.

The goal of this vision was to reduce Saudi economy's dependence on oil. The rest of Saudi's neighbors also know how dangerous it can be to depend on oil. Middle East and North Africa oil revenues have been steadily declining.

According to the International Monetary Fund, in 2012 revenue from oil in these areas was one trillion dollars, which increased to 575 billion dollars in 2019.

This year, Arab countries are estimated to get $ 300 billion from the sale of oil, but it will not be able to meet their expenses. Since the month of March, they have been cutting production, raising taxes and taking loans. Many countries are struggling with the problem of cash.

The future of Saudi does not assure much. There is talk of alternative energy all over the world and its scope is also expanding. In such a situation, the crisis that is dependent on the economies of oil is going to increase. The corona virus epidemic has brought the hollowness of these economies to the surface.

A report by Ristad Energy came out in 2016, stating that the US has 264 billion barrels of oil reserves.

This includes the existing oil reserves, new projects, recently discovered oil deposits and the oil wells that are yet to be discovered.

This report states that the United States has more oil reserves than Russia and Saudi Arabia.

According to Ristad Energy estimates, there are 256 billion barrels of oil in Russia, 212 billion barrels in Saudi, 167 billion barrels in Canada, 143 billion barrels in Iran and 120 billion barrels of oil in Brazil.

In India, the Central Government on Wednesday decided to set up a national recruitment agency to enter all government sector jobs.

The government claims that this agency will bring transformative reforms in the admission process in central government jobs and will also promote transparency.

Under this agency, a Common Eligibility Test i.e. Common Aptitude Test will be conducted which will replace the primary examination to be taken for Railway, Banking and Central Government jobs.

At present, the youth have to face heavy financial pressure and many difficulties to participate in the examinations conducted for different positions.

Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi has praised this decision of the cabinet by tweeting from his official Twitter account.

Modi wrote, "National recruitment agency will prove to be a boon for crores of youth. The Common Eligibility Test will end many exams and will save precious time as well as resources. This will also give a big boost to transparency. ''

What is a common eligibility test?

Every year, two to three crore youth in India take different types of examinations to get jobs in central government and banking sector.

For example, for the jobs in banking sector, youth have to fill the application form several times a year. And each time the youth have to pay fees ranging from three to four hundred rupees to eight-nine hundred rupees.

But the National Recruitment Agency will now conduct a common eligibility test for all such tests.

With the help of this test, screening and examination of candidates at the first level for SSC, RRB and IBPS will be taken.

According to the Press Information Bureau of India, the Common Eligibility Test will be an online test under which graduates, 12th and tenth pass will be able to test youth.

The special thing is that after the start of these exams, the candidates will not have to prepare for different examinations and their different ways.

Because there is no uniformity in the questions asked in SSC, banking and railway exams. In such a situation, youth have to prepare separately for every exam.

How will this exam be done?

To give these exams, the youth had to travel by bus and rail to the examination centers built away from home at an early age.

It is being claimed by the government that the National Recruitment Examination will solve these difficulties of the youth as two centers will be set up in every district for this examination.

Apart from this, the score achieved in this exam will be valid for three years. And there will be no upper age limit in this examination.

What will change with this exam?

Experts in the education sector are believing that this is a reformist step that has been waiting for a long time.

This step of the government is good and its effect will also be long term but it is only the first and very small step towards reform. Much improvement is yet to be done in the field of competition exams to be held for jobs. In the name of competition exams in India, only youth are wasted precious time, money and resources.

The Common Eligibility Test should cover all the competition exams conducted for jobs in India. This will not waste the precious time, money and resources of the youth.

Relief workers in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, are still searching for survivors in the wrecked buildings after the blast. So far, at least 135 people have died and more than 5,000 have been injured in the blast on Tuesday.

The initial blast occurred at 6 pm local time in the Port area of ​​Beirut, the capital of Lebanon. After this there was a fire and there were other small explosions. According to some eyewitnesses, it seemed that there were firecrackers.

In a video posted on social media, smoke was seen emanating from a warehouse. But what happened after that, many people still have not recovered. Suddenly, a terrible explosion, a smog and the whole city fell under it. A fireball rose in the air. It was accompanied by a supersonic and mushroom shaped shockwave, which spread throughout the city.

Due to the terrible explosion of the second one, the buildings in the Port area were completely destroyed. At the same time terrible devastation occurred in many areas of Beirut. Beirut has a population of 2 million. Soon after the explosion, the injured started reaching the hospital and slowly filled the hospital.

George Ketani, head of the Red Cross in Lebanon, said, "What we are witnessing is a great disaster." There are casualties everywhere. ''

Beirut Governor Marvan Abood said that nearly three lakh people have been temporarily homeless. He estimated that the explosion resulted in a total loss of 10-15 billion dollars.

Experts are still trying to find out, but the shockwave that arose after the explosion and the glass broke in the passenger terminal of Beirut International Airport, nine kilometers away, is an indication of its intensity.

The sound of the blast was heard in Cyprus, 200 kilometers from Beirut. According to geologists of the Geological Survey in the US, the explosion was like a 3.3 magnitude earthquake.

Lebanese President Michel Aoun says that 2750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate was kept unsafely in a warehouse in the Port area and that the reason for the explosion is ammonium nitrate.

In 2013, a similar quantity of chemicals arrived at Port Beirut from MV Rosos, a Moldovian cargo ship. The ship encountered a technical problem on its way from Georgia to Mozambique, forcing it to stop at Beirut Port.

At that time the ship was inspected and it was barred from leaving. Its owners then abandoned the ship. This information was given by Shiparrested.com, a newsletter of this industry. The ship's cargo was shifted to a warehouse in the port for security reasons. However, it was said that either it should be disposed of or sold.

Ammonium nitrate (NH4NO3) is a crystal-like white solid, commonly used as a source of nitrogen in fertilizers for farming. It is also mixed with fuel oil to produce explosives, which are used in the mining and construction industries. The extremists have also used it many times to make bombs.

Experts say that if ammonium nitrate is stored properly, it is safe. But if this substance is kept on the same land for a long time, then it starts deteriorating slowly.

Andrea Sela, professor of chemistry at University College, London, says that the real problem is that over time it slowly soaks up the moisture and eventually turns into a big rock. Because of this it becomes very dangerous. If any kind of fire reaches there, the chemical reaction caused by it is very intense.

Ammonium nitrate is associated with many major industrial accidents. In 1947, a ship carrying 2000 tons of chemicals exploded in Texas, USA, killing 581 people.

President Aun has assured a transparent investigation into the blast.

On Wednesday, he said, "We are committed to conducting an inquiry and as soon as possible, we will bring out the circumstances surrounding this incident." Whoever is responsible for this and those who ignore it, will be punished hard. ''

Prime Minister Hasan Diab has described the circumstances behind the blast as unacceptable.

Port general manager Hassan Koretem and Lebanese customs director general Badri Daher have said that they had warned several times about the danger of storing ammonium nitrate, but were ignored.

Daher said - We asked that it be exported again, but it did not happen. We leave it to the experts and concerned to find out why this happened.

From the documents released on the internet, it seems that the Customs officials had written letters to the judiciary at least six times between 2014 and 2017, so that they can give directions in this regard.

The Lebanese government has ordered the officials monitoring the ammonium nitrate stored in the store at the port to be under house arrest until the investigation is completed.

The new Education Policy-2020 in India has got the approval of the Modi Cabinet. India's Union Human Resource Development Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank and Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar gave information about this in a press conference on Wednesday.

Earlier in 1986, the new education policy was implemented. In 1992, some amendments were made to this policy. That is, after 34 years, a new education policy is being implemented once again in India.

The draft was prepared by a committee of experts headed by former ISRO chief K Kasturirangan, which was approved by the cabinet headed by Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi on Wednesday.

Many major changes have been made in the new education policy, from school education to higher education.

Highlights of New Education Policy-2020:

In the new education policy, it has been said to keep the medium of instruction in the mother tongue, local or regional language up to the fifth class. It can be extended to class eight or even further. Foreign languages ​​will be studied at secondary level. However, the new education policy also states that no language will be imposed.

100% GER (Gross Enrolment Ratio) in school education is targeted for education up to the secondary level by the year 2030.

- Two crore children currently staying away from school will be brought back into the mainstream. For this, development of school infrastructure and new education centers will be established.

- In place of the 10 + 2 structure of the school curriculum, a new curriculum structure of 5 + 3 + 3 + 4 will be implemented for children aged 3-8, 8-11, 11-14, and 14-18 respectively. It has a provision to bring the 3-6-year-old children who have been kept far away under the school curriculum, which has been globally recognized as an important stage for the child's mental development.

- The new system will have 12 years of schooling and three years of Anganwadi with pre-schooling. Under this, three years of pre-primary and first and second classes have been kept for the initial stage studies of the students. The third, fourth and fifth classes are placed in the next stage. After this, the introduction of the subject will be done in middle school ie 6-8 class. All the students will take exams in class III, V and VIII only. The 10th and 12th board exams will continue as before. But keeping in mind the goal of overall development of children, these will be redesigned. A new National Assessment Center 'Parakh' (Performance Assessment, Review and Analysis of Knowledge for overall development) will be established as a standards-defining body.

- Emphasis will be laid on the basic competency of reading and writing and addition and subtraction (numerical knowledge). Considering the need of basic literacy and numeracy knowledge as the most important and first requirement for learning correctly, 'NEP 2020' laid special emphasis on the establishment of 'A National Mission on Basic Literacy and Numerical Knowledge' by the Ministry of Human Resource Development has gone.

- NCERT will develop a National Curriculum and Educational Framework for Early Childhood Care and Education (NCEFECCE) for children up to the age of 8 years.

- There will be no special distinction between educational streams, extra-curricular activities and vocational education in schools.

- Special emphasis will be given to the education of disadvantaged groups (SEDG) from social and economic perspectives.

- The National Professional Standards for Teachers (NPST) will be developed by the National Council for Teacher Education by the year 2022, for which consultation will be held with NCERT, SCERT, teachers and specialist organizations of all levels and fields.

- Ministry of Human Resource Development has been renamed as Ministry of Education. This means that Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank will now be called the education minister of the country.

- A target has been set to invest six percent of GDP in education, which is currently 4.43 percent.

- The goal of new education is to provide quality education to every child aged 3-18 by 2030.

- Vocational courses will be started from class VI. Students desirous for this will be given internship from class VI onwards. In addition, music and arts will be promoted. These will be implemented in the course.

- There will be a single regulator for higher education. The Higher Education Commission of India (HECI) will be set up as a single most important comprehensive body for all higher education except law and medical education.

- HECI will have four independent verticals - National Higher Education Regulatory Council (NERC) for regulation, General Education Council (GEC) for standard determination, Higher Education Grant Council (HEGC) for funding and National Accreditation Council for Accreditation ( NAC).

- There is a target of delivering 50 percent GER (Gross Enrolment Ratio) by 2035 in higher education. Currently GER is 26.3 percent as per 2018 statistics. 3.5 crore new seats will be added in higher education.

- For the first time multiple entry and exit systems have been implemented. You can understand it like this. In today's system, if after four years of engineering or six semesters, you are unable to study for any reason, then you have no solution, but in the multiple entry and exit system, one year certificate, two years diploma and three Degree will be obtained after four years. This will be of great benefit to those students whose studies are missed for some reason.

In the new education policy, students will also have the freedom that if they want to skip a course and join the other course, then they can take a break from the first course for a specific time and join the second course.

- Many changes have been made in higher education. There will be a four-year degree program for students who want to do research. Those who want to get into jobs will do a three-year degree program. But those who want to go into research can do PhD directly after a four-year degree program with a one-year MA. They will not need M.Phil.

- The National Research Foundation (NRAF) will be set up as an apex body to conduct research and to promote a strong research culture and research capacity throughout higher education. The main objective of the NRAF will be to enable a culture of research through universities. The NRAF will be governed independently by the government, a board of governors.

- Higher education institutions have to bring more transparency in terms of charging fees.

- Efforts will be made to encourage the qualification of students belonging to SC, ST, OBC and other specific categories. The National Scholarship Portal will be expanded to support, promote and track the progress of students receiving scholarships. Private higher education institutions will be encouraged to offer a large number of free education and scholarships to students here.

- E-courses will be developed in regional languages. A virtual lab is being developed and a National Educational Technology Forum (NETF) is being created.

- As a result of the recent rise in the Corona epidemic and the global Corona epidemic, a broad set of recommendations have been covered to promote online education, making it possible to have the means to obtain traditional and personalized education whenever and wherever possible. In order to ensure the preparation of alternative means of quality education, both the school and higher education will have a dedicated unit aimed at digital infrastructure, digital content and capacity building at MHRD to cater to the needs of e-education. .

- To set up an Indian Institute of Translation and Interpretation (IITI), National Institute for Pali, Persian and Prakrit languages, Sanskrit in Higher Educational Institutions for Pali, Persian and Prakrit languages ​​in the new education policy to protect, develop and make them more vibrant for all Indian languages. And it has been recommended to strengthen all the language departments and use mother tongue / vernacular as a medium of instruction in programs of maximum educational institutions.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has ordered the historic Hagia Sophia Museum of Istanbul to be converted into a mosque again.

Earlier on Friday, a Turkish court cleared the way to convert the Hagia Sophia Museum into a mosque. The court said in its decision that the Hagia Sophia would no longer be a museum and canceled the 1934 cabinet decision.

This 1500-year-old UNESCO World Heritage was originally a church before the mosque was built and was built as a museum in the 1930s. Turkish President Rechep Tayyip Ardoan promised to make it a mosque again in elections last year.

It is decided to build the first one and a half thousand years old church, then the mosque, then the museum, and then build the mosque again.

Hagia Sophia of Turkey has been one of the largest churches in the world. It was built in the sixth century by the dictates of the Byzantine emperor Justinian.

It comes on the UNESCO World Heritage List of UN cultural affairs. This church was converted into a mosque when the Osmania Sultanate occupied the city of Qustuntuniya (later renamed Istanbul) in 1453.

This Greek style church built in Istanbul is considered a unique piece of architecture that has left its mark on the design of large buildings around the world.

After the defeat of Turkey in the first world war and then the abolition of the Osmania Sultanate there came the rule of Mustafa Kamal Pasha. It was under his rule that in 1934 it was decided to make this mosque (originally Hagia Sophia Church) a museum.

In modern times, Turkish Islamist political parties have long sought to build it a mosque, while secular parties have been opposing the construction of the old church as a mosque. There have also been international reactions to the matter, which are divided on religious and secular grounds.

Greece has opposed this decision, saying that this church is the center of faith for millions of people who believe in Orthodox Christianity. Greece's Minister of Cultural Affairs has called it 'the politics of taking political advantage by inciting religious sentiments'.

The UNESCO Deputy Chief said in an interview to a Greek newspaper that the decision of the future of this church should be on a larger scale in which the international fraternity should also be listened to. This representative of the United Nations says that a letter was written to Turkey about this but did not respond.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said that the change in the condition of this building will not be right as it has been acting as a bridge between different religious beliefs.

This historic domed building is on the western side of the Bosphorus River in Istanbul, Bosphorus is the river that borders Asia and Europe, Asia towards the east of this river and Europe to the west.

Emperor Justinian ordered the construction of a grand church in 532, in those days Istanbul was known as Constantinople or Qustuntunia, the capital of the Byzantine Empire, also known as the Roman Empire of the East.

Construction materials and engineers were employed from far and wide to build this magnificent building.

It is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Turkey.

This church was completed in five years and completed in 537, it became an important center for those who believed in Orthodox Christianity, it also became a symbol of the strength of the Byzantine Empire, important ceremonies like coronation continued in this church.

Hagia Sophia, which means 'holy conscience', has been the headquarters of the Eastern Orthodox Church for nearly 900 years.

But the dispute over it is not only among Muslims and Christians, it was severely devastated by European Christian attackers in the 13th century and made it to the Catholic Church for some time.

In 1453, Sultan Mehmed II of the Ottoman Empire, who followed Islam, captured Qustuntunia, changed its name to Istanbul, thus ending the Byzantine Empire forever.

Sultan Mehmed ordered that the Hagia Sophia be repaired and converted into a mosque. In this, Sultan himself joined the prayer of the first Jume. The Ottoman Empire is also known as Sultanate-e-Osmania.

Islamic architects broke most of the Ishayat signs or put a layer of plaster over them. Earlier it was just a dome building but six Islamic style minarets were also erected outside it.

The design of many famous buildings in the world, including the famous blue mosque of Turkey built in the 17th century, is said to be the inspiration of Hagia Sophia.

The Ottoman Empire suffered a severe defeat in the First World War, the empire being divided into several pieces by the conquerors. The current Turkey stands on the foundation of the same demolished Ottoman Empire.

Mustafa Kamal Pasha, called the creator of modern Turkey, declared the country secular and in this context changed the Hagia Sophia from mosque to museum.

Since it was opened to the general public in 1935, it has been one of the major tourist destinations in the world.

The Hagia Sophia, because of its history of about one and a half thousand years, is very important not only for Turkey but also for the people outside it, especially for the Christians in Greece and Muslims around the world.

There have been frequent demonstrations in Turkey against the law made in 1934 under which the Hagia Sophia is prohibited from offering Namaz or any other religious event.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been supportive of these Islamic sentiments and has been calling the Hagia Sophia's decision to make the museum a historic mistake, and has been making consistent efforts to make it a mosque again. As a result, the Hagia Sophia Museum was again converted into a mosque.

Just days after Bhutan protested China's claims on Bhutan's Sakateng Wildlife Sanctuary, China annexed Bhutan's eastern sector to a border dispute.

The border between Bhutan and China is not yet set and so far, the two countries have held talks 24 times to resolve the border dispute. Among these, China had never raised the issue of eastern sector.

In the border dispute with Bhutan, China views India's claim to new territories as a step against India.

At present, there are mainly two countries, one is India and the other is Bhutan, with which China has not been demarcated and has been in dispute for many years. China continues to have tensions along the Line of Control with India in which twenty Indian soldiers have recently died in a violent conflict in Ladakh.

China has a border dispute with Bhutan over the western sector and the eastern sector. Bhutan and China are being negotiated to resolve this dispute in a planned manner.

Former Indian Ambassador to Bhutan, Pawan Verma said that China's latest border dispute with Bhutan could be an attempt to influence India's strategic interests.

Pawan Verma said, "I think this is China's way of putting pressure on Bhutan." China knows where its boundary with Bhutan will be fixed, especially towards the west of Bhutan, where a border junction between China-Bhutan and India is formed, where there is a boundary, India Strategic interests will be affected. ''

In 2017, China and India came face to face with Bhutan's Doklam and there was a 75-day military standoff between the two countries. Even then China tried to take control of Bhutan's Doklam.

Former Indian Ambassador to Bhutan, Indra Pal Khosla said that China is currently in an expansionary mode and is making claims everywhere.

Speaking to BBC Bangla service, Indra Pal Khosla said, "In my view, China is in an expansionary mode, China has laid claim to a part of Bhutan which was not raised till now in the talks between the two countries." Bhutan and China have been negotiated 24 times on the border dispute and this area has never been discussed. China never raised the issue of this area during these years.

"Recently, Russia has claimed Russia's Vladivostok, it seems that China is now in a state when it is not paying attention to any agreement or mutual understanding or agreements in history," he said. He is now in expansionary mode. ''

Bhutan has issued a demarche to China, opposing China's claim over the Sakateng Reserve, generally Bhutan is not vocal about its border disputes and makes little comments. In such a situation, what is the reason for this political step of Bhutan?

Mihir Bhonsle, an analyst with the Observer Research Foundation or ORAF, says Bhutan is feeling scared.

Bhonsle said, "China has created a dispute in the region where Bhutan understands that it has ended the border dispute with China. Bhutan does not usually speak much on border disputes. On one side of Bhutan is China and on the other side is India.

"Bhutan is generally quiet but when China questions the sanctuary of Bhutan, Bhutan has issued a demarche to China, which is a new thing." Bhutan generally does not comment on border disputes. Bhutan has issued a demarche which simply means that Bhutan is feeling threatened.

Mihir Bhonsle believes that the objective of airing the border dispute with Bhutan may be to disturb India.

He said, "Bhutan is the only country in India's neighborhood that has always been with India, while Bhutan has no diplomatic relations with China." China feels that it can stress India by upsetting Bhutan. ''

In Doklam also we saw that China had claimed Bhutan land, after which tensions with India increased. It seems that China wants to give pain to India by twisting Bhutan's hand. ''

In 2017, when China stepped in towards Bhutan, the Indian Army came in the middle. There was 75 days of military tension between India and China in Doklam. Can the latest dispute reach that position?

Pawan Verma said, "It is possible that this dispute will reach a situation like Doklam, but it is not necessarily so." India and Bhutan have a very close relationship. Bhutan also does not have diplomatic relations with China.

"It will be China's effort to put pressure on Bhutan to follow its own footsteps and put pressure on India." But I don't think that will happen. But if there is more pressure on Bhutan, India will have to stand with Bhutan.

Mihir Bhonsle said, "If China's border dispute with Bhutan escalates, then Doklam-like stand-off can happen again." Doklam is a tri-junction between India, China and Bhutan, apart from it Saketeng Sanctuary is very close to the Arunachal border, there may also be a tri-junction area. Tensions may further increase here in future.

Pawan Verma believes that China involved in the border dispute with India is using India's neighboring countries to pressure India. This is a well-known strategy of China.

At the same time, Mihir Bhonsle believes that China's strategic decision may be to put pressure on Bhutan. The dispute with Bhutan right now was not a big deal. Bhutan wanted to use the Global Environment Fund in Sakateng Sanctuary, which China opposed. This indicates that China is trying against India on every possible front.

It is an ancient monument revered by different ideologies for centuries.

Hagia Sofia in Turkey - one of the world's most contested buildings - is creating controversy once again.

It was the largest Christian cathedral in the Eastern Roman Empire for a thousand years.

Now, one of the busiest tourist attractions in Istanbul is a museum.

But not for much longer, if Turkey's government gets the go ahead to convert it back into a mosque as it was during the Ottoman Empire.

The proposal's opposed by some secular groups as well as the head of the Eastern orthodox church, the Greek government and the United states.

Turkey's highest consultative body met on Thursday and say it'll announce its ruling within fifteen days.

But why now?

What purpose would it serve?

And how political is the decision?

Presenter: Laura Kyle
Guests;
Yusuf Albarada - Political Writer and Professor at the University of Halic in Istanbul
Yannis Koutsomitis - Managing Editor at Kappa News in Greece and European affairs expert
Cengiz Tomar - President of Ahmet Yassawi University in Kazakhstan and Professor of History

The emergency meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) contact group of the Islamic countries stated that the decision taken by the Government of India on Jammu and Kashmir on 5 August 2019 and implemented new domicile rules Gone is the violation of the UN Security Council resolution and international law, including the Fourth Geneva Convention. At the same time, India's commitment to accept the UN Security Council resolution is also violated.

At the same time, the meeting has welcomed two reports of the United Nations in which the human rights of the people have been systematically violated in the Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir.

Both these reports came in June 2018 and July 2019.

The meeting expressed concern over the condition and situation of human rights in India-administered Jammu and Kashmir after August 5, 2019.

This contact group of OIC was formed in 1994 for Jammu and Kashmir.

The members of this contact group are Azerbaijan, Nezer, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.

"The OIC is committed to finding a peaceful solution to the issue of Jammu and Kashmir in accordance with the Islamic Summit, the Council of Foreign Ministers and international law," said OIC Secretary General, Dr. Yusuf al-Othimein.

The meeting of the UN Security Council on August 16, 2019 and January 15, 2020, which was held in connection with India's action, has been welcomed.

The OIC has expressed its commitment to Jammu and Kashmir regarding its old position and preamble and reiterated its support for the Kashmiri Awam's legal fight for the right to self-determination.

The OIC has asked India for five

- Cancel unilateral and illegal actions and allow the Kashmiri people to voluntarily abide by their right to self-determination under referendum under the supervision of the United Nations.

- Human rights abuses should be stopped. The use of military should be banned under which military uses pellet-guns. Unleashed siege and inhuman lockdown of the army. Stringent emergency law be dissolved. The right to fundamental freedom should be restored and all those detained illegally should be released.

- To prevent any structural changes in the population of India-administered Jammu and Kashmir, as they are illegal and in violation of international law, especially the Fourth Geneva Convention.

- OIC, IPHRC and United Nations Fact Finding Mission, Special Envoy to Jammu and Kashmir of OIC Secretary General and international media to allow India-administered Jammu and Kashmir to investigate human rights violations without restraint.

In the OHCHR report, the demand for an independent international inquiry into human rights abuses in Kashmir should be agreed.

If India ended the special status of Jammu and Kashmir last year, Pakistan was under pressure on the OIC to issue a strong statement against India.

However this did not happen at that time and the OIC remained almost neutral. Indeed, the OIC is considered an organization dominated by Saudi Arabia. It is considered impossible to do anything in the OIC without the support of Saudi Arabia.

India and Saudi have broad common interests and Saudi Arabia has been avoiding speaking out against India over Kashmir. There was no statement issued by Saudi Arabia on the removal of Article 370.

The United Arab Emirates had said that this is an internal issue of India. This stance of Saudi Arabia and the UAE was considered a setback for Pakistan and India's diplomatic success. But once again this kind of meeting in OIC, Pakistan will see it connected with its success. Earlier, such a meeting was held in September last year.

Pakistan had tried to mobilize with Turkey, Malaysia, Iran regarding OIC's neutrality on Kashmir. For this, Turkish President Ardoan, Iran's President Hassan Rouhani, the then Prime Minister of Malaysia Mahatir Mohammed and Pakistan's PM Imran Khan had planned to unite at the Kuala Lumpur Summit but Saudi Arabia took it as a challenge to the OIC and Pakistan Was stopped from joining this campaign.

Turkey and Malaysia were seen standing with Pakistan on Kashmir while the remaining Islamic countries remained neutral. In recent times, Maldives has also supported India in the OIC.

The OIC is meeting at a time when there is tension between India and China, the world's second largest economy. 20 soldiers of India have died on the outskirts. The dispute with Nepal is also going on at the border and tensions with Pakistan are already there. In such a situation, the meeting of OIC is considered very important.

Iran, Malaysia and Turkey have long complained that the OIC has failed to accommodate the needs and ambitions of Islamic countries. Iran, Turkey and Malaysia have been trying to create an organization that is free from Saudi domination.

Saudi Arabia is also in this contact group of OIC on Jammu and Kashmir. If the Saudi did not want the meeting, it could hardly have happened. It is said that without Saudi Arabia, not a single leaf is moved in the OIC.

There has been criticism within Pakistan that Saudi and UAE are Islamic countries, but they are with India on the Kashmir issue.

If a resolution is passed from this meeting, then only from Saudi can India expect to what extent it can balance the language of that proposal.

India has now reached number four in the world in terms of corona infection. America, Brazil and Russia are only ahead of India.

Meanwhile, on 16 and 17 June, the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi is going to meet again with the Chief Ministers of the states.

Unlock-1 has been implemented differently across India from 1 June. In Unlock-1, religious sites, restaurants and malls were allowed to open.

This is the first meeting between the Prime Minister and the Chief Ministers to assess the situation thereafter.

This meeting is considered to be very important in the growing cases of corona in India and the statistics of increasing deaths everyday.

Especially when the central government of India has formed a team of 12 experts for Delhi.

The biggest question is whether what you gained from the lockdown was lost in Unlock-1?

As of May 31, there were a total of 1,82,000 cases of corona in India.

While on June 15, there are 3,32,000 cases. That means a little less than double.

Unlock-1 has had the worst impact in Delhi and Mumbai.

On May 31, where there were 18549 cases in Delhi, on 15 June this figure is more than 41 thousand.

Maharashtra had 65159 cases on 31 May, which has increased to 1 lakh 8 thousand on 15 June.

The above facts prove that the speed of growth of Corona in India has increased after Unlock-1.

The first case of corona in India was found on 30 January. When Modi announced the lockdown on March 24, there were only 550 positive cases in India.

Therefore, with the speed with which cases are increasing daily, people are growing worried.

The same is true of death statistics. The number of people who died of corona till June 15 in India is 9520, which was 5164 in India till May 31, i.e. not many people died in India in three months, almost as many people died in the first 15 days of June.

Talking about Delhi, till May 31, the death toll was 416, which has now increased to 1327. That is, almost three times.

As of 31 May, there were 2197 deaths in Maharashtra. Which is 3950 as of 15 June. That is, the death toll has almost doubled.

But one good thing for India is that India is not among the top five countries in the world in death statistics. The five countries where Corona has the highest number of deaths are the United States, Brazil, Britain, Italy and France.

On May 31, about 1 lakh 25 thousand people were tested in India. While on 14 June, a total of 1 lakh 15 thousand corona tests were conducted in India.

By the way, these statistics definitely change every day. But it is not that in the last 15 days there has been a huge increase in the number of corona tests. Even today only one and a quarter to one and a half lakh people are being tested in India.

In Delhi, these numbers have decreased slightly in the last few days. The Delhi government took action on some testing labs in the early week of June. Because of which the Tests started falling short.

More than 2000 cases of corona are being reported daily in Delhi for the last three days. The state of Maharashtra is no different.

As of May 31, there were 37 lakh 37 thousand Tests in India. At the same time, 57 lakh 74 thousand tests have been done in India till 14 June. There are about 20 lakh tests done in 15 days.

By the end of May, the recovery rate in India was said to be 47.76%. The recovery rate for corona-infected patients is 51 percent. In Unlock-1, the government is seeing this as a positive sign.

But these are lower than the national average in Delhi and Mumbai. The recovery rate in Delhi at this time is around 38%, and Mumbai's recovery rate is over 45%.

But globally, India is not at the forefront of the recovery rate. Germany's recovery rate is around 90%, the best in the world.

Iran and Italy are next. The recovery rate in these two countries is above 70. The recovery rate in India at the moment is comparable to Russia where the recovery rate is around 50%.

India's well-known doctor Mohsin Wali believes that on the basis of these statistics, it is being said that the country has ruined everything they achieved by lockdown.

According to him, the statistics are showing that people took advantage of the unlocked discounts and forgot to do social distancing, wearing masks and washing hands.

The movement of migrant workers increased the corona virus infection. Asked whether the migrant laborers went from one place to another in May, Dr. Wali says that its effect is visible on the country's corona graph only in June.

But Doctor Vali still does not believe that unlock-1 should be removed and lockdown again. According to him, if you want to live with the corona, then sitting at home is not the solution. We have to continue all the work but taking precaution.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has also said that there is no plan to lockdown in Delhi again.

The people of the traders association of Delhi are also saying the same thing. The traders of Delhi decided that the Delhi markets would be open at present.

The decision to keep the markets closed, open or in the markets for odd-even arrangement or to open the shop one day after the other day, the traders associations of Delhi will take the decision by assessing the situation themselves.

Recently, despite the permission to open all the religious places of India, Jama Masjid in Delhi has been closed till June 30.

The eyes are now set on the meeting of the Prime Minister and Chief Ministers of India on 16-17 June. In view of the growing corona graph of India, what decision does the Prime Minister of India make?