Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Five eyes
Mains level: Paper 2- Quad and its future
Quad as new feature of Indo-Pacific
- Australia’s participation in the Malabar exercises marks the emergence of the Quad as a new feature of the Indo-Pacific geopolitics.
- The question is India’s ability to take full advantage of the possibilities after the US elections to construct a wide range of new international coalitions.
- Likely changes could envelop a range of old institutions like the Five Eyes and the G-7 grouping that coordinates Western policies on global economic management.
- We could also see the creation of a new League of Democracies that will addres issues like including the defence of shared values, commerce, corruption, taxation, climate change and digital governance.
Phases of India’s international aspiration
- The consolidation of the Quad reflects the political will in Delhi to break free from old shibboleths and respond to security imperatives.
- The post-Quad era opens a new phase in which India, for the first time, can help shape global institutions.
- First phase: Idealism was the hallmark of India’s internationalism in the 1950s, the harsh politics of the Cold War quickly dampened it.
- Second phase: In the 1970s, India embraced the radical agenda of a New International Economic Order, as the leader of the Non-Aligned Movement and the Group of 77. The results were meagre.
- Third phase began with the end of the Cold War.
- And as India’s own economic model collapsed, India had to focus on economic reform and prevent the world from intruding too much into its internal affairs.
- The fear of the US activism on Kashmir and nuclear issues saw Delhi turn to Russia and China in search of a “multipolar world” that could constrain American power.
- The BRICS forum with Russia, China, Brazil and South Africa became emblematic of this strategy.
- Delhi also figured out that it was not possible for BRICS to constrain Beijing, since China was so much bigger than the other four members put together.
- Fourth phase in India’s multilateralism is marked by three features — the relative rise in Delhi’s international standing, the breakdown of the great power consensus on economic globalisation, and the breakout of the US-China rivalry.
Efforts to tackle China
- The Trump administration has already sought to imagine the Quad’s possibilities beyond the defence domain.
- The invitation to India to join a Five Eyes meeting came amidst the bipartisan calls in the US Congress for the expansion of the forum and the inclusion of India.
- The “Quad Plus” dialogue has variously drawn in Brazil, Israel, New Zealand, South Korea, and Vietnam for consultations with the Quad members on coordinating the responses to the pandemic.
- India is also engaged with Japan and Australia in developing resilient supply chains to reduce the reliance on China.
- President Trump has proposed the expansion of G-7 grouping to include Australia, India, Russia and South Korea.
- The last few months has seen the Trump administration promote a “Clean Network” that eliminates untrustworthy vendors from telecom systems, digital apps, trans-oceanic cables and cloud infrastructure.
- Clean Network is now a broader effort to build secure technology ecosystems among like-minded countries.
- Britain is said to be developing plans to convene a coalition of 10 democracies, including India, that can contribute to the construction of secure 5G networks and reduce the current dependence on China.
- France and Canada have invited India to join the Global Partnership on artificial intelligence that now includes 15 countries.
- The objective is to promote responsible development of AI that is consistent with shared democratic values.
Conclusion
Delhi’s participation in the sweeping rearrangement of the global structures will have major consequences for India’s economic prosperity and technological future. Unlike in the past, Delhi now has the resources, leverage and political will to make a difference to the global order
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: MPC and inflation targets
Mains level: Paper 3- Inflation targeting by the RBI
Inflation targeting and legal provisions
- The inflation target, notified in August 2016, is 4%.
- The upper tolerance level was set at 6% and the lower tolerance level at 2%.
- Inflation was 6.7% in the January-March quarter, 6.6% in the April-June quarter and 6.9% in the July-September quarter.
- Breaching limits for any three consecutive quarters constitutes a failure to achieve the inflation target.
- In such an event, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is required to send a report to the Centre, stating the reasons for the failure to achieve the inflation target, the remedial actions it proposes to initiate, and an estimate of the time-period within which it expects to achieve the inflation target through the corrective steps proposed.
- Through amendments passed by Parliament in 2016, these new provisions were written into the RBI Act.
- They are aimed at ensuring enhanced transparency and accountability of the central bank.
Reason given by the RBI for missing the target
- The normal data collection exercise of the National Statistics Office was disrupted during the lockdown imposed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
- The minutes of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting after its August policy review suggest that the RBI’s defence for the breach of the 4% inflation target and 6% upper tolerance limit was the handicap of data limitations.
Issues with the reason given by the RBI
- The range around the inflation target that the Ministry provided to the RBI is for accommodating constraints and challenges like data limitations.
- The whole point of the range around the target, the statement emphasised, is that it “accommodates data limitations, projection errors, short-run supply gaps and fluctuations in the agriculture production”.
Way forward
- RBI should be made to explain what it plans to do to control inflation.
- The central bank should be allowed to state expressly what support by way of government policy it needs to meet the inflation target.
- This can only strengthen the RBI’s hand; it should not let go of the opportunity to reinforce the MPC framework.
Conclusion
Transparency can enable more informed decision-making within the government, greater public scrutiny of the RBI’s performance, and an improved inflation-targeting regime. To slack off on it would be to compromise with the credibility, transparency and predictability of monetary policy.
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Malabar Naval Exercise, Quad, 2+2
Mains level: Global alliance against China
Phase 1 of the Malabar Naval Exercise has kicked begun with the participation of Australian navy for the first time since 2007.
Go through the list for once. UPSC may ask a match the pair type question asking exercise name and countries involved.
https://www.civilsdaily.com/prelims-spotlight-defence-exercises/
What is Malabar Exercise?
- It is a multilateral naval exercise that includes simulated war games and combat manoeuvres.
- It started in 1992 as a bilateral exercise between the Indian and US navies. Japan joined in 2015.
- This year the exercise will be held in two phases, the first from Tuesday off the coast near Visakhapatnam, and the second in the Arabian Sea in mid-November. Last year it was held in early September off the coast of Japan.
Major highlight: Quad Participation
- For the first time in over a decade, the exercise will see the participation of all four Quad countries.
- This will be the second time Australia will participate. In 2007, there were two Malabar Exercises.
- The first was held off Okinawa island of Japan in the Western Pacific — the first time the exercise was held away from Indian shores — and the second in September 2007.
- The following year, Australia stopped participating. Japan became a regular participant only in 2015, making it a trilateral annual exercise since then.
Why is Australia’s participation important?
- The 2+2 dialogue ended with an agreement to uphold the rules-based international order, respect for the rule of law and freedom of navigation in the international seas and upholding the territorial integrity and sovereignty of all states.
- As the standoff in eastern Ladakh continues, the participation of four large navies from the Indo-Pacific region will send a message to China.
- It was the possibility of riling up China that had prevented India from expanding the Malabar Exercise, and from Australia joining it.
Quad is an exception
- Over the last few months, the Indian Navy has conducted a number of Passage Exercises (PASSEX) with navies from Japan, Australia and the US.
- But those were basic exercises to increase operability between the navies, while Malabar involves simulated war games.
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Army Aviation Corps
Mains level: Indian armed forces
The Army Aviation Corps (AAC), the youngest Corps of the Indian Army, has celebrated its 35th Corps Day.
Try this question for mains:
Q. Discuss why high-altitude warfare is challenging. Also, discuss India’s preparedness for a long-term war.
The Army Aviation Corps
- The origin of the AAC can be traced back to the raising of the Army Aviation wing of the Royal Air Force in India in 1942, and the subsequent formation of the first Indian Air Observation Post in August 1947.
- The Air Observation Post units primarily acted as artillery spotters – which are the elements that help the artillery in directing the fire and also giving air support to ground forces.
- In the wars of 1965 and 1971, the Air Observation Post helicopters played a key role in the battlefields by flying close to the enemy lines and helping ground assets spot targets.
- The Corps was raised as a separate formation on November 1 in 1986. The AAC now draws its officers and men from all arms of the Army, including a significant number from the artillery.
Significant battles
- Immediately after raising, the units of the Corps were pressed into action in Operation Pawan by the Indian Peacekeeping Forces, in the mostly jungle areas of Sri Lanka.
- Ever since AAC helicopters have been an inseparable part of fighting formations in all major conflict scenarios and a life-saving asset in peace times.
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Maharani Jindan Kaur, Anglo-Sikh Wars
Mains level: Not Much
Maharani Jindan Kaur, the last wife of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, is in news for the auction of some of her jewellery in London.
Try this PYQ:
Q.Consider the following Bhakti Saints:
- Dadu Dayal
- Guru Nanak
- Tyagaraja
Who among the above was/were preaching when the Lodi dynasty fell and Babur took over?
(a) 1 and 3
(b) 2 only
(c) 2 and 3
(d) 1 and 2
Who was Rani Jindan (1817-1863)?
- She was the youngest wife of Ranjit Singh, founder of the Sikh empire, whose boundaries stretched from Kabul to Kashmir and the borders of Delhi.
- She was also the mother of Duleep Singh, the last ruler of the empire, who was raised by the British.
- Duleep Singh was five years old when he was placed on the throne in 1843 after the death of two heirs to Ranjit Singh. Since he was just a child, Maharani Jindan was made the regent.
- Not a rubber stamp, she took an active interest in running the kingdom, introducing changes in the revenue system.
Anglo-Sikh War and Jindan
- The British declared war on the Sikh empire in December 1845. After their victory in the first Anglo-Sikh war, they retained Duleep Singh as the ruler but imprisoned Jind Kaur.
- She escaped and arrived at Kathmandu on April 29, 1849, where she was given asylum by Jung Bahadur, the prime minister.
- She was given a house on the banks of river Bhagmati. She stayed in Nepal till 1860, where she continued to reach out to rebels in Punjab and Jammu-Kashmir.
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Kawasaki Disease
Mains level: NA
Children in the world over have shown to be affected by either Kawasaki Disease (KD) since the reopening of schools.
Try this PYQ:
Q.H1N1 virus is sometimes mentioned in the news with reference to which one of the following diseases?
(a) AIDS
(b) Bird flu
(c) Dengue
(d) Swine flu
What is Kawasaki Disease?
- Kawasaki disease is an illness that causes blood vessels to become inflamed, almost always in young children.
- Its cause is yet unknown. It is one of the leading causes of heart disease in kids.
- But doctors can treat it if they find it early. Most children recover without any problems.
Symptoms
Kawasaki disease comes on fast, and symptoms show up in phases. Signs of the first phase of Kawasaki disease include:
- High fever that lasts more than 5 days
- Swelling and redness in hands and bottoms of feet
- Red eyes
- Swollen glands, especially in the neck
- Irritated throat, mouth, and lips
In the second phase, symptoms include:
- Joint pain
- Stomach trouble, such as diarrhoea and vomiting
- Peeling skin on hands and feet
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Mission SAGAR
Mains level: India's SAGAR policy of Indian Ocean Region
As part of ‘Mission Sagar-II’, Indian Naval Ship Airavat had entered Port Sudan.
Mission SAGAR, unlike other missions, can create confusion with the name and its purpose. Make note of such special cases. UPSC can ask such questions as one liner MCQs.
Mission Sagar – II
- Mission Sagar-II, follows the first ‘Mission Sagar’ undertaken in May-June 2020, wherein India reached out to Maldives, Mauritius, Seychelles, Madagascar and Comoros, and provided food aid and medicines.
- As part of Mission Sagar-II, Indian Naval Ship Airavat will deliver food aid to Sudan, South Sudan, Djibouti and Eritrea.
- This mission is in line with the Prime Minister’s vision of Security and Growth for All in the Region ‘SAGAR’ and highlights the importance accorded by India to relations with her maritime neighbours.
Back2Basics
SAGAR Programme (Security and Growth for All in the Region)
- SAGAR is a term coined by PM Modi in 2015 during his Mauritius visit with a focus on the blue economy.
- It is a maritime initiative which gives priority to the Indian Ocean region for ensuring peace, stability and prosperity of India in the Indian Ocean region.
- The goal is to seek a climate of trust and transparency; respect for international maritime rules and norms by all countries; sensitivity to each other`s interests; peaceful resolution of maritime issues; and increase in maritime cooperation.
- It is in line with the principles of the Indian Ocean Rim Association.
IORA (Indian Ocean Rim Association)
- Established in 1997 in Ebene Cyber City, Mauritius.
- First established as Indian Ocean Rim Initiative in Mauritius on March 1995 and formally launched in 1997 by the conclusion of a multilateral treaty known as the Charter of the IORA for Regional Cooperation.
- It is based on the principles of Open Regionalism for strengthening Economic Cooperation particularly on Trade Facilitation and Investment, Promotion as well as Social Development of the region.
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now