8. BRICS Diplomacy and India’s interests

               BRICS is an acronym for its five constituent nations being Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. It held its first summit in 2009 in Russia. It was initially known as BRIC. South Africa joined the forum in 2010. All the constituent nations are considering growing economies and have the potential to become next world leaders. They together represent 3 billion. They have a combined GDP of around US$ 16 trillion. They constitute 18% of the world economy. They have an estimated US$ 4 trillion foreign reserve. Though the member nations have their inherent differences, if they combine their might, they can become a strong force in today's world.

What are the differences?

1. India and China are having border issues right from 1950's.

2. India and China have issues with their interests in South China Sea.

3. India and Brazil are lately suffering from slowing economy.

4. China has domestic unrest with their political rule.

                There has been good relations between India and all other members except China. There has been good inroads since the inception of new PM with China. What happens next remains to be seen. Member nations always tend to ignore pressing problems between and have summits merely to sign some MOU's which shouldn’t be the case. We should take the forum seriously and address all pressing issues to get rid of them and move into new and beneficial frontiers.

                Below are some of the initiatives which can be taken during future summits,

1. Create a new combined cyber taskforce to tackle internet menace. Take advantage of China's extensive experience in it.

2. Form a common R&D body to develop the most advanced weaponry in the world.

3. Form a common body for Outer space study.

4. Form a strategy to have a balanced exports and imports between each constituting nations.

5. Share each other ideas on policy reforms adopted in each nations for corruption, environment, agriculture and education.

                Recently, BRICS have agreed to start a new bank with a US$ 100 billion capital investment. Headquarters will be placed in Shanghai. India will head the bank for first years. It is a very welcome step. Rumors are running around that our New PM was very vocal and assertive in having equal share holding among the nations. Though initially, China will invest $41 billion, Russia, Brazil and India $18 billion each and South Africa $5 billion. It can help in creating an alternative to IMF and World Bank but the success and relevance can be quantified only in upcoming years.

                BRICS represents new era, new developments, an alternative to conventional world powers, a challenge to US and EU, an initiative to reckon with. It can set the terms of future if properly nurtured. Relations can be in excellent terms if there are no internal conflicts dragging the members away. We can take the first step and lead from the front. If India and China can resolve issues amicably, BRICS is a forum to look for. US and EU will do their best to keep us apart. Should we break apart and suffer as individual nations or unite and form a strong force in the world? A thought to ponder upon by the heads of 5 large nations.

7. SAARC Diplomacy and India's interests

                 On May 26th, 2014, For the Oath taking ceremony of the 15th Prime Minister of India, NDA Govt. invited all SAARC nation heads to the occasion. This has been a unique gesture and has been first of the kind. To India's surprise, All Countries should equal interest in attending the ceremony. Many Political analysts described it a master stroke for the new beginning. To the organization which India reluctantly joined concerned over its role, giving it a new unprecedented importance is a very welcome step. As Shri Vajpayee had pointed out that we can’t choose our neighbors, it is of utmost importance that we maintain healthy relations with our neighbors. Out of the SAARC nations, Only Maldives is not our neighbor but a very strategically important nation for India.

                The first SAARC summit was held in Dhaka on 7–8 December 1985 and hosted by the President of Bangladesh Hussain Ershad. The declaration signed by King of Bhutan Jigme Singye, President of Pakistan Zia-ul-Haq, Prime Minister of India Rajiv Gandhi, and King of Nepal Birendra Shah, President of Sri Lanka JR Jayewardene, and President of Maldives Maumoon Gayoom SAARC secretariat is located at Katmandu, Nepal.

                Myanmar though initially did not join SAARC is now having observer status. It should be made a permanent member soon. Afghanistan has been a SAARC member from 2005. On 4 March 2008, Iran requested observer status, followed shortly by Mauritius. States with observer status include Australia, China, the European Union, Iran, Japan, Mauritius, Myanmar, South Korea and the United States.

                Next summit will be held at Katmandu, Nepal in November, 2014. Let us try to understand the relevance of SAARC in global terms,

1. All are closely bound nations which can discuss comprehensively about endemic species, possible contamination to other nations.

2. Exchange cultural heritage which can inculcate sense of unity among nations.

3. Concentrate more on issues in dialogues rather than avoiding them.

4. Create joint tourism circuits among border nations.

5. Have zero tolerance for cross border terrorism.

6. Improve exports and imports among SAARC nations by understanding the needs of each other.

7. Let nations adopt best educational standards by mutual co-operation.

8. Smaller the group, Better the cohesion, utilize the advantage of small group of members to arrive at decisions faster.

Below are some of the issues at large concerning member nations,

1. Extremists and Fundamentalists terrorism in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh.

2. Border issues between India and Pakistan.

3. Border issues between India and Bangladesh.

4. Illegal immigrant’s inflow into India and Myanmar from Bangladesh.

5. Unemployment crisis in Bangladesh.

6. Ethnic clashes in Srilanka between Sinhalese and Tamilians.

7. Civilian distress in Nepal.

8. Power clashes in Maldives.

9. Marine fishing clashes between India and Pakistan, India and Srilanka.

10. Water sharing issues between India and Bangladesh.

           Though above listed issues are political, if they are cleared, will benefit immensely in carrying forward the areas of co-operation. Areas of Co-operation include, Agriculture, Biotechnology, culture, economy, trade, education, energy, environment, finance, funding mechanism, information and communication, people to people contacts, science and technology. To sum up, it includes almost fields of administration.

             India strangely displays very weak diplomacy when it relates to external relations. We can’t have a policy of neglecting when not required and then complaining when against us. We have to involve our border nations at all times. Having genuine concern will always be appreciated. Time has come to come out of our shell, shed inhibitions and inculcate honest concerns when it comes to mutual co-operation. We can also invite SAARC ambassadors for republic day every year, a thought to be pondered upon. A Lot can be done going ahead. Hopes are definitely positive.

6. Indian Stock Market frenzy

With the advent of new PM, Stock market has been having huge swings. There has been tremendous gains and falls in intraday trading. It is imperative for us to understand stock market and its implications on our economy.

Suppose, I want to start a new business. I don’t have enough money to start all on my own. I can’t get loan because interest rates are very high and I don’t have high value assets. So, what would I do? I would ask public to fund my venture. How is this done? This is done through stock market.

Wikipedia says ''A stock market or equity market is the aggregation of buyers and sellers (a loose network of economic transactions, not a physical facility or discrete entity) of stocks (shares); these are securities listed on a stock exchange as well as those only traded privately." and "A stock exchange is a place to trade stocks. Companies may want to get their stock listed on a stock exchange. Other stocks may be traded "over the counter", that is, through a dealer. A large company will usually have its stock listed on many exchanges across the world."

In India, There are many small and big stock exchanges of which Bombay Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange of India are the important ones located in Mumbai. We have also an index associated with every stock exchange. For BSE, it is called as Sensex or sensitive index and for NSE, It is called as Nifty. How is this index calculated? In BSE, It is based on a free floating market capitalization method which means it will take note of the shares, Company has issued in open market. It will calculate the swings of this money of 30 major companies listed by the index committee based on their track record. The change in this market value is calculated against a base index value and thus we observe the mood swings of Sensex and nifty values every day.

We should also know, there are different ways of trading in the stock market. Most media coverage goes to intraday trading where in stocks are traded and closed within a day. Let us now look into recent statistics of these indexes,

Since, Sept 2013 when Modi was declared as PM candidate from NDA, Nifty has gone from 5550 to 7600 in July 2014. Since, Elections results were out, it has gone up by 500 points within 3 months. Similarly, Sensex has gone from 18,200 in Sep 2013 to 25,600 in July 2014. Since May, It has gone up by 2500 points. It has also reached an all-time high value of 26,100 on July 7th, 2014. Nifty has reached a high point of 7750.

There has been nearly 800 Million Dollars inflow into the market since January, 2014. Though, it is good for have stocks going up, it is mainly in form of short term investors. This investment is prone to risks since it can be taken back anytime. We need more and more long term investors who can invest in our infrastructure, start a new venture through FDI route. Stock market indexes don’t consider new and mid-sized companies in their calculations. There are separate indexes for these. So, we would get only the larger picture from main indexes. At least, Sensex indicated mood swings of domestic and foreign short term stock investors who are expected to gain around 8-10% currently by investing into our market.

Irrespective of the risks and other factors, it surely indicates the new found trust on our PM. As the trust increases, the money inflow will go into long term investments which will then increase the brand value of Rupee which will help in reducing our trade deficit. So, let the trust of people worldwide multiply on our PM with every passing day.