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1. Identify the island group which International Court of Justice (ICJ) has asked the United Kingdom to return back to Mauritius.
Chagos Archipelago. ICJ has said that continued British occupation of the Chagos archipelago is illegal as the process of decolonization of Mauritius was not complete when the country was given independence in 1968 as the Chagos Archipelago was separated. In the 19th century, Chagos were governed from Mauritius, which was a British Colony. The UK retained possession of the Chagos archipelago, which includes the strategic US airbase of Diego Garcia, after Mauritius gained its independence in 1968, by paying Mauritius more than £4m for the islands.
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2. Identify the country which will partner with India in building its strategic oil reserves.
Saudi Arabia. India has invited Saudi Arabia to partner in building strategic oil reserves and further invest in India’s refining and Petrochemical sectors. India’s strategic crude oil storages are currently located at Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh), Mangaluru (Karnataka), and Padur. (Kerala). Recently, the government had announced setting up of two additional facilities at Chandikhol (Odisha) and Padur (Karnataka).
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3. Identify the country with which India has completed 70th year of establishment of diplomatic relations, to celebrate which its President paid visit to India.
Argentina. President of Argentina Mauricio Macri paid a state visit to India recently. 2019 is the 70th year of establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
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4. Identify the country with which Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has signed an agreement to set up a joint maritime surveillance system.
France. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and its French counterpart National Centre for Space Studies (CNES) signed an agreement to set up a joint maritime surveillance system in India by May 2019. The two nations will explore putting up a constellation of low-Earth orbiting satellites that will identify and track movement of ships globally – and in particular those moving in the Indian Ocean region where France has its Reunion Islands.
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5. Identify the country with which India conducts bilateral joint exercise Al Nagah III.
Oman. Exercise Al Nagah III is the bilateral joint exercise between India and Oman. The third in the series of the joint exercise will be held from 12 to 25 March 2019 at Jabal Al Akhdar Mountains in Oman.
