BRICS is an association of five major emerging national economies: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
The BRICS members are all leading developing or newly industrialized countries, but they are distinguished by their large, sometimes fast-growing economies and significant influence on regional affairs.
All five are G-20 members.
BRICS developed New Development Bank (NDB) which will have capital of US$50 billion with each country contributing US$10 billion, while the monetary fund will have US$100 billion at its disposal.
Since 2012, the BRICS group of countries have been planning an optical fibre submarine communications cable system to carry telecommunications between the BRICS countries, known as the BRICS Cable.
Since 2009, the BRICS nations have met annually at formal summits.
China has hosted the 9th BRICS Summit (2017) at Xiamen province.
Xiamen Declaration of BRICS forum was recently adopted in its 9th summit.
It explicitly called out several Pakistan-based terror organisations and expressed concern on the security situation in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region.
BRICS Media Forum
BRICS Media Forum,2018 is a high-level dialogue among media organisations from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
It was held at Cape Town in South Africa recently under the theme ‘Fostering an Inclusive, Just World Order’.
It was organised on the occasion of on former South African President Nelson Mandela’s 100th birth anniversary on July 18.
The Forum was attended by 38 mainstream media organisations from BRICS nations, including five from India.
The forum unanimously agreed to adopt the Cape Town Declaration 2018.
It pledged to strive to create a media landscape that upholds the integrity of news that is created and shared through the BRICS nations.
A decision to establish BRICS Media Academy and a BRICS news portal was also taken.
BRICS Health Ministers’ Meeting
8th BRICS Health Ministers’ was organised recently at Durban, South Africa.
In this meeting, India affirms strong support for TB cooperation plan in every aspect.
Regional Aviation Partnership Cooperation
The Union Cabinet has approved the signing of Memorandum of Understanding amongst BRICS Nations on the Regional Aviation Partnership Cooperation.
The objective is that BRICS countries will benefit from the establishing of an institutional framework to cooperate in the field of civil aviation.
The MoU has the potential to spur greater trade, investment, tourism and cultural exchanges amongst the BRICS Nations.
Ekalavya Schools
Ministry of Tribal Affairs recently approves setting up of Eklavya Model Residential Schools (EMRSs) in States/ UTs.
Ekalavya Residential Schools aims to provide education to tribals in their local environment.
Target – Ekalavya schools in every block with more than 50% ST population and at least 20,000 tribal persons by 2022.
Ekalavya schools will be on a par with Navodaya Vidyalayas.
It will have special facilities for preserving local art and culture, besides providing training in sports and skill development.
The Ekalavya Residential School Scheme isnt new. It has been around for many years now. However, the government has signaled in Budget 2018 that it wants to expand the scope.
Student Police Cadet (SPC) Programme
Home Ministry is planning to launch the Student Police Cadet (SPC) programme in Gurgaon.
The programme designed for students of Class VIII and IX to start a project on tolerance, moral values, patience and ethics among others.
The programme is aimed at making them better citizens and seeks to build a bridge between the police and the larger community through school students.
It will be implemented first in government schools.
It seeks to cover issues like community policing, fight against social evils, safety of women and children, fight against corruption and disaster management.
Scientific Research Infrastructure Management and Networks (SRIMAN)
The government has proposed a new policy “SRIMAN” that plans to hire out to researchers all lab equipment that cost more than Rs. 10 lakh.
It is expected to transform scientific instruments in government labs into lucrative assets generating a steady rental income.
It would also reduce the amount of time such expensive instruments remain idle.
Currently, the practice of researchers bidding for time-slots to use lab instruments is typically seen more with very expensive equipment, such as radio telescopes and particle-accelerators, which cost crores of rupees.
