Bharat Rakshak

It was to be a trilateral security partnership, but what to call it? AUKUS, redolent of ANZUS, was favoured. And, a wit observed to some hilarity, if the French decided to join at some future date it could be amended to FAUKUS.

Vayutuvan wrote:@ldev

From the linked article, I quote

It was to be a trilateral security partnership, but what to call it? AUKUS, redolent of ANZUS, was favoured. And, a wit observed to some hilarity, if the French decided to join at some future date it could be amended to FAUKUS.

ldev wrote:

Vayutuvan wrote:@ldev

From the linked article, I quote

Good one!! Although right now I think the French are allergic to the Aussies!!

Vayutuvan wrote:@ldev

From the linked article, I quote

It was to be a trilateral security partnership, but what to call it? AUKUS, redolent of ANZUS, was favoured. And, a wit observed to some hilarity, if the French decided to join at some future date it could be amended to FAUKUS.

Australia’s new government has urged China to lift trade sanctions if it wants to do a reset in the bilateral relationship.

rsingh wrote: A BR follower?

Cyrano wrote:Was it me? Don't remember that far back!

NEW DELHI: India and Australia on Wednesday resolved to further crank up their defence ties through combat exercises, intelligence-sharing, reciprocal logistics and military-industrial collaboration as well as work steadfastly towards their shared objective of an open, resilient and secure Indo-Pacific in the face of aggressive moves by China.

Australian deputy PM and defence minister Richard Marles, in the first high-level visit to India since the new Anthony Albanese government came to power in Canberra, strongly backed India in its over two-year long military confrontation with China in eastern Ladakh.

“The assault on Indian forces along the Line of Actual Control in 2020 was a warning we should all heed. Australia stood up for India’s sovereignty then and continues to do so now,” Marles said.

Rony wrote:THE CIA COUP AGAINST 'THE MOST LOYAL ALLY'

http://johnpilger.com/articles/the-cia- ... ng-in-2020

With Indian-Australians expected to overtake Brits as our dominant migrant group in the next five years, experts recommend understanding them beyond the prism of ‘curry, cricket and the Commonwealth’.

People of Indian ancestry in Australia number more than 780,000 – an increase of almost 165,000 since 2016. As migrant groups go, Indians have leapfrogged the Chinese and now sit second only to the British – and not for long, either. Monash University demographer Dharma Arunachalam expects his countrymen to comfortably vault into the top spot within five years, to become our undisputed dominant migrant group. And the indicators are there, he adds, to suggest this cultural bloc might more profoundly influence Australian society than any other.

First, they’re in a generational sweet spot. The median age of Indians here is 35 – the Australian median is 38 – as opposed to migrants from, say, Vietnam (47) or Italy (72), who came in earlier waves. They’re highly educated, too: 63 per cent of Indians here had a bachelor’s degree or above in 2016 (the most recent figures, and compared with an Australian-born number of 24 per cent).

They’re also highly employed, at a full-time rate of 51 per cent (compared to 47 per cent Australian-born and 33 per cent Chinese-born). Even their preferred profession (IT specialist) suits the times, meaning their personal income is strong, with 23 per cent earning more than $91,000 a year in 2016 (24 per cent of Australian-born earned at that level).

Indians help settle new urban areas, too. In Victoria, for instance, where the majority of Indian migrants gravitate (more than 275,000 and counting), 94 per cent live within the boundary of greater Melbourne, set to be Australia’s fastest-growing city next year, attracted by greenfield developments and a level of affordability difficult to find in Sydney.

With that kind of bedrock, urban-fringe Indian families are burgeoning. In the five years to 2021 alone, the number of children born in Australia with Indian ancestry was more than 63,000, up by almost half.

Aarti Betigeri, a former freelance foreign correspondent in India, suspects they’re more disparate and divided than other migrant cohorts, and that simple truth is the most important thing to understand about Indians (even within India itself).

“India is a country where it’s okay to shed all your worldly possessions and spend the rest of your life walking from town to town, but it’s also a country of 161 billionaires and 458,000 millionaire households,” she says. “Think of it as the EU – a collection of states with their own language, history, culture, food, traditions – loosely grouped together. Someone from the south has as much in common with someone in the north as a Russian has in common with a Londoner.”

Arranged marriages are common in Indian society, and the custom has led to one of the few points where Indian and Australian cultural norms clash, namely in the form of a high domestic violence rate among some in the Indian community, often through what’s known as “dowry abuse”. The expert on this topic is Dr Manjula O’Connor, the author of Daughters of Durga: Dowries, Gender Violence and Family in Australia, whom I speak to in a cafe below her office on Collins Street.

Durga, she points out over a cup of masala chai, is the goddess of power, who rides a tiger and carries swords, and to whom many Hindu women pray. It was 2005 when she began investigating the topic of “missing women” – those eliminated through honour killings, widow abuse and dowry murders.

The other point of cultural friction is the Indian caste system, which puts Brahmins at the top and Dalits, or “untouchables”, at the bottom. It’s alive and well locally, according to Professor Hari Bapuji, who researches economic inequality at the University of Melbourne.

Cyrano wrote:Because we now have a free trade agreement with Aus and people are trying to make use of it.

EXPORTS
The top exports of Australia are Iron Ore ($79.6B), Coal Briquettes ($36.4B), Petroleum Gas ($26.8B), Gold ($17.7B), and Frozen Bovine Meat ($4B), exporting mostly to China ($102B), Japan ($31.8B), South Korea ($17.2B), United States ($11.6B), and India ($11.3B).

In 2020, Australia was the world's biggest exporter of Iron Ore ($79.6B), Coal Briquettes ($36.4B), Aluminium Oxide ($3.59B), Sheep and Goat Meat ($2.7B), and Wool ($1.58B)

IMPORTS
Australia imports mainly machinery and transport equipment (40 percent of total imports), of which road vehicles account for 12 percent, industrial machinery for 6 percent, electrical machinery for 5 percent and telecommunications and sound recording for 5 percent.The country also imports: petroleum (11 percent); manufactured goods (12 percent); chemicals and related products (10 percent); and food and live animals (5 percent). Main import partners are China (23 percent of total imports), the US (11 percent), Japan (7 percent), South Korea, Thailand and Germany (5 percent each) and Malaysia (4 percent).

Under Ind-Aus ECTA, duties on 100% tariff lines to be eliminated by Australia

Addressing a press conference on the Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA), on November 22, Union Minister Piyush Goyal informed that duties on 100 percent tariff lines would be eliminated by Australia under the landmark India-Australia ECTA.

“Delighted that India-Australia Economic Cooperation & Trade Agreement has been passed by Australian Parliament. A result of our deep friendship, it sets the stage for us to unleash the full potential of our trade ties & spur massive economic growth”, Union Minister Piyush Goyal in his tweet.

The Ind-Aus ECTA, which was signed on 2 April 2022, is now prepared for ratification in order to begin early implementation with the Ind-Aus ECTA Bill and the DTAA amendment bill passed by the Australian Parliament on November 22.

ECTA would result in creation of 10 lakh new jobs

The Union Minister stated that the ECTA would have a significant positive impact on a number of economic sectors, including the textile, gem, jewellery, and pharmaceutical industries. He noted that the ECTA would result in the creation of 10 lakh new jobs.

The Minister also pointed out that by giving students the chance to work in Australia, the Agreement would also create new chances for India’s service industry. A limit of 1800 visas will be issued each year to Indian chefs and yoga instructors.

Union Minister Goyal noted that the Agreement demonstrated the mutual respect and trust between the two nations as well as India’s rising international standing. He asserted that the ECTA would strengthen India’s ties to Australia, a dynamic democracy that shared many of India’s goals.

“Passing of the historic Ind-Aus ECTA by the Australian Parliament is a huge endorsement of PM Narendra Modi leadership. Unanimous support from stakeholders reinforces the trust people & industry repose in him for prioritising their well-being”, the Minister said.

Agreement also expects to create ample opportunities for investment

ECTA establishes an institutional mechanism to foster and improve bilateral trade. Unlike prior FTAs, choices were made for the first time entirely based on thorough stakeholder discussions with every industry, Ministries, trade organisations, etc. With this agreement, it is anticipated that the total bilateral trade will increase from the current level of US$ 31 billion to US$ 45 to 50 billion in 5 years. By 2026 and 2027, India’s merchandise exports are forecasted to grow by $10 billion. The agreement is also expected to create ample opportunities for investment, and promotion of start-ups, enhancing the job aspect for Indians in Australia.

Australia’s key offers in the services sector

In terms of trade in services, Australia has made a broad range of commitments in roughly 135 subsectors, covering important industries for India, such as IT, ITES, business services, health, and education. Quotas for chefs and yoga instructors, a post-study work visa of two to four years for Indian students on a reciprocal basis, mutual recognition of professional services and other licensed or regulated occupations, and a work & holiday visa arrangement for young professionals are a few of Australia’s key offers in the services sector.

Additionally, the long-standing issue of double taxation connected to IT or ITES has been resolved under this Agreement, which, according to estimates from the Industry Associations, will result in financial savings of more than US$ 200 million annually.

Australia is an important strategic partner of India and both the democracies are part of the four nation QUAD, Trilateral Supply Chain Initiative, and the Indo-Pacific Economic Forum (IPEF). The trade relationship facilitated through ECTA will open a new chapter on India-Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership between two vibrant economies with shared interest and trade complementarities.

SSridhar wrote:The most remarkable improvement we have seen in our bilateral relationship with any country in the last decade has been with Oz, especially after the Malabar fiasco of 2007.

SSridhar wrote:The most remarkable improvement we have seen in our bilateral relationship with any country in the last decade has been with Oz, especially after the Malabar fiasco of 2007.