Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Map marking of these countries
Mains level: Issues in Africa
In a move that is set to further undermine stability in East Africa, Kenya has said that it will not take part in proceedings of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) over its maritime border dispute with neighbouring Somalia.
Can you recall the terms like “Scramble for Africa”, “Paper Partition of Africa”? If yes, then you know very well the malady of the present-day Continent of Africa.
What is the news?
- Nairobi has accused the top UN body of bias.
- The move comes after Somalia’s decision to sever diplomatic relations with Kenya in December after it accused Nairobi of meddling in its internal affairs.
- The maritime dispute is said to form a crucial part of the diplomatic quarrel between the two countries.
The disputed area
- The main point of disagreement between the two neighbours is the direction in which their maritime boundary in the Indian Ocean should extend.
- According to Somalia, the sea border should be an extension of the same direction in which their land border runs as it approaches the Indian Ocean, i.e. towards the southeast.
- Kenya, on the other hand, argues that the territorial southeast border should take a 45-degree turn as it reaches the sea, and then run in a latitudinal direction, i.e. parallel to the equator.
- Such an arrangement would be advantageous for Kenya, whose coastline of 536 km is more than 6 times smaller than Somalia’s (3,333 km).
Why is this area important?
- The triangular area thus created by the dispute is around 1.6 lakh sq km large and boasts of rich marine reserves.
- It is also believed to have oil and gas deposits.
- Both Somalia and Kenya have accused each other of auctioning off blocks from this area, Al Jazeera reported.
How have Kenya and Somalia tried to resolve the dispute?
- After negotiations to resolve the issue bilaterally failed, Somalia in 2014 asked the ICJ to adjudicate.
- Kenya resisted, arguing that the world court did not have jurisdiction to hear the case.
- In 2009 both countries had a commitment to settle the dispute out of court.
- However, in February 2017, the ICJ ruled that it did have the right to rule in the case, and in June 2019 said that it would begin public hearings.
- These hearings never took place, as Kenya successfully applied to have them postponed thrice– the last one being in June 2020, when it cited difficulties due to the Covid-19.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Iconic Archaeological sites
Mains level: Indus valley civilization
Rakhi Garhi is being developed as one of the five Identified Iconic Archaeological Sites, informed the Minister of Culture and Tourism.
Rakhi Garhi
- The ancient site of Rakhi-Khas and Rakhi-Shahpur are collectively known as Rakhigarhi, located on the right bank of the now dried up Palaeo-channel of Drishadvati.
- It is located in the Ghaggar-Hakra river plain in the Hissar district of Haryana.
- Seven mounds are located here.
- The site has yielded various stages of Harappan culture and is by far one of the largest Harappan sites in India.
- The site shows the sequential development of the Indus culture in the now dried up Saraswati basin.
Try this question from our AWE initiative
Ancient Indian sculptural art is highly rich in its traditions. Trace the development ancient Indian sculpture that go back to the Indus Valley civilisation. 10 marks
Major findings at Rakhi Garhi
- Findings confirm both early and mature Harappan phases and include 4,600-year-old human skeletons, fortification and bricks.
- Digging so far reveals a well-planned city with 1.92 m wide roads, a bit wider than in Kalibangan.
- The pottery is similar to Kalibangan and Banawali.
- Pits surrounded by walls have been found, which are thought to be for sacrificial or some religious ceremonies.
- There are brick-lined drains to handle sewage from the houses.
- Terracotta statues, weights, bronze artefacts, comb, copper fish hooks, needles and terracotta seals have also been found.
- A bronze vessel has been found which is decorated with gold and silver.
- A granary belonging to the mature Harappan phase has been found here.
- Fire altars structures were revealed in Rakhigarhi.
Back2Basics: Five Iconic Archaeological Sites
The government has proposed to develop five archaeological sites as “iconic sites” with onsite museums in Rakhigarhi (Haryana), Hastinapur (Uttar Pradesh), Sivsagar (Assam), Dholavira (Gujarat) and Adichanallur (Tamil Nadu) in the Union Budget 2020-21.
(1) Rakhigarhi
*discussed above*
(2) Hastinapur
Hastinapur in the Meerut district of Uttar Pradesh finds mention in the Mahabharata and the Puranas. One of the most significant discoveries made at this site was of the “new ceramic industry”, which was named the Painted Grey Ware, which as per the report represented the relics of the early Indo-Aryans.
(3) Sivasagar
In Sivasagar (Assam), excavations at the Karenghar (Talatalghar) complex between 2000 and 2003 led to the discovery of buried structures in the north-western and north-eastern side of the complex. Among the structural remains found at the site were ceramic assemblages including vases, vessels, dishes, and bowls, etc. Terracotta smoking pipes were also found.
(4) Dholavira
Dholavira in Gujarat is located in the Khadir island of the Rann of Kutch, and like Rakhigarhi is one of the sites where the remains of the Harappan civilization have been found. It is unique because the remains of a complete water system have been found here.
(5) Adichnallur
Adichnallur lies in the Thoothukudi district of Tamil Nadu. The urn-burial site was first brought to light during a “haphazard excavation” by a German archaeologist in 1876. Following this, an Englishman Alexander Rae excavated the site between 1889 and 1905.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Various folk arts mentioned
Mains level: Not Much
To protect, preserve & promote various forms of folk art and ancient folk cultures throughout the country including Jharkhand, Bihar and Kerala, the GoI has set up seven Zonal Cultural Centres (ZCCs) with headquarters at Patiala, Nagpur, Udaipur, Prayagraj, Kolkata, Dimapur and Thanjavur.
What is the news?
- Jharkhand is the member state of Eastern Zonal Cultural Centre (EZCC), Kolkata.
- Bihar is the member state of North Central Zone Cultural Centre (NCZCC), Prayagraj and
- Kerala is the member state of South Zone Cultural Centre (SZCC), Thanjavur.
Note the various folk arts mentioned and their respective states:
What are the various folk arts covered?
There is no dedicated scheme to preserve these particular folk art forms-
Jharkhand
- Ancient folk cultures being preserved in Jharkhand are Faguwa Nritya, Turi Nritya, Faguwa Nritya, Turi Nritya, Paika Nritya, Hodopathy, Tribal dance (Karam Nritya).
Bihar
- Ancient folk cultures being preserved in Bihar are Lok Gatha “Reshma Chuharmal” (Begusarai), Lok Gatha, Godana Painting (Madhubani), Lok Natya “Hirni-Birni” (Magadh region) etc.
Kerala
- Ancient folk cultures being preserved in Kerala are: Poorakali, Malayankettu & Kannerpattu (Kannur), Daffumuttu (Malabar), Kanyarkali (Thrissur) and Arabanaumuttu (Kozhikode).
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Mission SAGAR
Mains level: Not Much
As part of Mission Sagar-IV, Indian Naval Ship Jalashwa has arrived at Port Anjouan, Comoros to deliver 1,000 Metric Tonnes of rice.
Mission SAGAR, unlike other missions, can create confusion with the name and its purpose. It is not a military exercise. Make note of such special cases. UPSC can ask such questions as one-liner MCQs.
Also note the location of the island country Comoros and its geostrategic significance.
Mission Sagar
- 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 that 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 an increase in maritime cooperation.
- It is in line with the principles of the Indian Ocean Rim Association.
Earlier such missions
- This is the second visit of an Indian Navy ship to the island country within a span of one year.
- Earlier, as part of Mission Sagar-I, in May-June 2020, the Indian Navy had delivered essential medicines to the nation.
- Mission Sagar-II was undertaken in May-June 2020, wherein India reached out to Maldives, Mauritius, Seychelles, Madagascar and Comoros, and provided food aid and medicines.
- Sagar-III was undertaken in Sihanoukville Port, Cambodia.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Baralacha Pass
Mains level: Himalayan passes and tunnels of strategic importance
For the first time ever, the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) has started work on reopening the crucial Baralacha Pass in Himachal Pradesh much before schedule to restore connectivity to Leh in Ladakh.
Note all the Himalayan passes from their N-S sequences.
Baralacha Pass
- Bara-lacha la also known as Bara-lacha Pass is a high mountain pass in the Zanskar range connecting the Lahaul district in Himachal Pradesh to Leh district in Ladakh.
- It is situated along the Leh–Manali Highway.
- The Bhaga river, a tributary of the Chenab river, originates from Surya Taal lake, which is situated a few kilometres from the pass towards Manali.
- The native name of Chenab “Chandrabhaga” represents the union of Chandra and Bhaga rivers downstream.
- The pass also acts as a water-divide between the Bhaga River and the Yunan River.
Why is this pass so important?
- The BRO had kept crucial passes open for a longer duration to enable the Army to undertake advanced winter stocking for the thousands of additional troops deployed in Ladakh.
- The team has traversed a total distance of 20 km in super high-altitude conditions scrupulously crossing the Baralacha La in the Zanskar range on foot amidst sub-zero freezing conditions.
- Frequent avalanches and slides with 15 to 20 feet of snow accumulation.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Replacement level of fertility
Mains level: Paper 1- Population stabilisation
Achieving replacement levels of fertility
- The National Population Policy 2000 affirmed a commitment to achieve replacement levels of fertility (total fertility rate of 2.1) by 2010.
- Ten states — Karnataka, Punjab, Gujarat, Assam, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Kerala — and Jammu and Kashmir, have achieved this goal.
- This fertility decline over half of India has cut across all sections of society — the privileged and the poor, those educated or not, and the high and low caste.
- The National Family Health Survey-4 has shown how TFR has reduced even among illiterate women from all religions in the southern states.
Growing gap between North-South
- The difference between the progressive South and the Central- North is becoming disproportionately skewed.
- UP and Bihar are 23 per cent of India’s population and are projected to grow by over 12 per cent and 20 per cent in the next 15 years.
- Their high TFR pervades all religious groups.
- Action to prevent unwanted pregnancies particularly in these two Hindi belt states is urgently required.
- For decades UP has had a dedicated agency — SIFPSA (State Innovations in Family Planning Services Agency). But its website gives dated information.
- Women in rural UP are still giving birth to four or more children.
- In some districts, the contraceptive prevalence rate is less than 10 per cent.
- In many districts neither Hindus nor Muslims use modern family planning methods.
- In such a scenario, demographics will eclipse economic growth and destroy the gains from a young populace.
- UP’s over-reliance on traditional methods of contraception needs to be swiftly replaced with reliable and easy alternatives.
- Bihar has the highest fertility rate in the country and also the highest outmigration.
Which method should be used
- While national and state policies emphasise male vasectomy, politicians never champion its adoption.
- No other country in the world uses female sterilisation as excessively as India.
- Indonesia and Bangladesh introduced injectables right from the late 1980s but India only did so in 2016.
- Executed properly, one jab renders protection from pregnancy for three months.
- This method needs greater impetus given the helplessness of women who carry the burden of unwanted pregnancies.
Way forward
- Three things are needed:
- 1) Incentivise later marriages and child births.
- 2) Make contraception easy for women.
- 3) Promote women’s labour force participation.
- Some other disturbing nationwide trends must also be counteracted without delay because stabilisation isn’t only about controlling population growth.
- A balanced sex ratio is essential to secure social cohesion.
- The inheritance law favouring women’s rights to ancestral property is far from being implemented.
- And then there is ageing. Paradoxically, it is the Southern states that will face problems in future.
- Having largely redeemed their demographic dividend, the cohort of the elderly will start outstripping the working age population.
- The theoretical possibility that younger people from the Central-Northern states may fill the growing gap in services will need strong political support.
- The freeze on the state-wise allocation of seats in Parliament until 2026 was extended through the Constitutional (84th Amendment) Act, 2002, to serve “as a motivational measure to pursue population stabilisation”.
- This goal has not been achieved.
- In the absence of further extension, it will be politically destabilising.
Consider the question “India’s efforts at populations stabilisation still remains work in progress, as the Northern states fail to achieve the targets. Suggest the ways to deal with the issue.”
Conclusion
The population momentum, if managed properly in the Hindi belt, will remain India’s biggest asset until 2055. By 2040, India will be the undisputed king of human capital.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: SCO
Mains level: Paper 3- Changing context of India's strategic autonomy
India is a member of both the Quad and the BRICS. Is not it the contradiction? The article answers this question and maps the transformation of India’s relation with the U.S. over the years.
Is India’s participation in BRICS and Quad contradictory?
- Global Times, the Chinese newspaper last week speculating on the implications of the historic Quad summit for the BRICS.
- In calling the Quad a “negative asset” for the BRICS the Global Times was highlighting what it sees as a contradiction in India’s participation in both the forums.
- The paper argues that India has worsened “India-China and India-Russia relations” and halted progress “in the development of BRICS and SCO”.
- Global Times warns that if India continues to get closer to Washington, India “will eventually lose its strategic autonomy”.
Understanding India’s strategic autonomy
- “Strategic autonomy” is the framework that guided Delhi’s international relations since the Cold War.
- In the early 1990s, strategic autonomy was about creating space for India against the overweening American power.
- Why the space was needed? It was mainly because of the U.S. stance on two important aspects: Kashmir issue and nuclear program.
- President Bill Clinton had questioned the legitimacy of Jammu and Kashmir’s accession to India and declared the US’s intent to resolve Delhi’s Kashmir dispute with Pakistan.
- Washington insisted that rolling back India’s nuclear and missile programmes was a major objective of US foreign policy.
- All that changed over the last three decades.
8 elements of transformation of India’s relations with the U.S and China
- A rising China has emerged as the biggest challenge to India and the US is increasingly an important part of the answer.
- A few elements stand out.
- First, China has become more assertive on the contested boundary, therefore, the support from the US and its Asian allies has been valuable.
- Second, on the Kashmir question, China raises the issue at the UNSC while the US is helping India to block China’s moves.
- Third, on cross-border terrorism, the US puts pressure on Pakistan and China protects Rawalpindi.
- Fourth, the US has facilitated India’s integration with the global nuclear order while Beijing blocks Delhi’s membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group.
- Fifth, the US backs India’s permanent membership of the UNSC, China does not.
- Sixth, India now sees the trade with China hollowing out India’s manufacturing capability.
- Its objective on diversifying its economy away from China is shared by the US and the Quad partners.
- Seventh, India opposes China’s Belt and Road Initiative as a project that undermines India’s territorial sovereignty and regional primacy.
- India is working with Quad partners to offer alternatives to the BRI.
- Finally, India sees China’s rising military profile in the subcontinent and the Indian Ocean as a problem and is working with Washington to redress the unfolding imbalance in India’s neighbourhood.
India’s approach to BRICS and SCO
- The BRICS was part of India’s strategy in the unipolar moment that dawned at the end of the Cold War.
- India’s current enthusiasm for the Quad is about limiting the dangers of a unipolar Asia dominated by China.
- But India will continue to attach some value — diplomatic if not strategic — to a forum like the BRICS.
- After all, the BRICS forum provides a useful channel of communication between Delhi and Beijing at a very difficult moment in the evolution of their bilateral relations.
- The BRICS is also about India’s enduring partnerships with Russia, Brazil, and South Africa.
- India also values its ties with the Central Asian states in the SCO.
- The BRICS could certainly become a productive forum someday — when Delhi and Beijing mitigate their multiple contentions.
Consider the question “A rising China has emerged as the biggest challenge to India and the US is increasingly an important part of the answer. Examine the elements that support this underlying transformation of India’s relationship with the two countries.”
Conclusion
No amount of words in a BRICS declaration can hide the sharpening contradictions between India and China today. The absence of joint statements did not mask the growing strategic congruence among the Quad nations in recent years.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: AMFFRI
Mains level: Paper 3- Diversified strategies for agriculture growth
The article deals with the issue discussed in the recently published book ‘Revitalising Indian Agriculture and Boosting Farmer Incomes’. It suggests strategies for six Indian states and underlies the importance of the diversified approach to different states.
Why agriculture is central to Indian economy
- Agriculture engages close to 42 per cent of the country’s workforce.
- With its close interlinkage with poverty, it is best positioned to alleviate problems of malnutrition and hunger.
- In addition, agriculture supplies inputs for other industries.
- It is critical for triggering a multiplier effect in the economy, where a financially empowered farming community triggers a demand-led growth, particularly for manufactured products and services.
- There is no doubt that the sector needs to grow not just for those employed in it but also for the economy as a whole.
Growth strategy needs to take into account diversity across the states
- The growth process of agriculture should not just more efficient, and inclusive of India’s small and marginal but is also sustainable — both financially and environmentally.
- But then comes the question of the diversity in Indian states, where they differ as much on factors of production like land and water as they do on access to market opportunities.
- They even differ in their vulnerabilities to climate and weather changes.
- This begs the question, should the roadmap not be customised to the needs, vulnerabilities, and resource-base of each state?
Strategies for six states
- The recently published book “Revitalising Indian Agriculture and Boosting Farmer Incomes” proposes strategies for six Indian states: Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Odisha.
- In the six states, three factors explained most of the agrarian growth.
- One, access to infrastructure — mainly irrigation and roads.
- Two, diversification to high value agricultural products like fruits, vegetables, and allied activities like dairy and poultry.
- Three, price incentives or favourable terms of trade.
- Bringing markets closer to farmers and increasing the efficiency of the value-chains emerged as an important factor that explained agricultural growth in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, and Bihar.
- By ensuring timely access to sufficient irrigation, states like Gujarat and Punjab could explain their high performances.
- Role of uninterrupted quality power too emerged important in this.
- Diversification of the agricultural basket of a state was found to strengthen a state’s agri-performance.
Relation between growth rate and policy reforms
- The requirement to undertake policy reforms, mainly related to marketing, emerged as a key driver and predictor of growth.
- The NITI Aayog’s Agricultural Markets and Farmer Friendly Reforms Index — AMFFRI evaluates Indian states on the extent to which each of them undertook required agri-reforms.
- A low AMFFRI rank implies the state is undertaking desired reforms.
- It was found that states that undertook reforms, and were thus ranked low on AMFFRI, witnessed a relatively faster agri-GDP growth rate.
- States which did not undertake required reforms, and thus were ranked high on the AMFFRI witnessed relatively lower agri-GDP growth rates.
- There were some exceptions: Karnataka, Haryana and Maharashtra.
- These states undertook reforms, and thus had low AMFFRI ranks, but they witnessed a low agri-GDP growth rate.
- This is likely to be attributed to the delayed effect of reforms on the agri-performance.
Way forward
- As a part of the roadmap, the book makes a case for states to move beyond production-centric approach to a value-chain approach with FPOs at its centre.
- It highlights importance and requirement of growing public investments in basic infrastructure.
- And finally, in the longer run, rationalising subsidies via direct income transfer is suggested.
Consider the question “Despite its comparatively lower contribution to the GDP, agriculture plays a central role in the Indian economy. What are the factors that make agriculture central to the economy? Suggest the pathway to fuel the growth of the sector.”
Conclusion
If the government follows this path of investing in infrastructure, ensuring a more diversified agriculture and linking small-holder FPOs with markets, it will pay rich dividends not only to the farming community but also the entire economy.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: CERT-In
Mains level: Paper 3- Identifying the cyber threat
The article highlights the threat of a cyber attack on India’s critical infrastructure and suggests the need to take preventive measures.
Targetting the infrastructure
- The U.S.-based cyber security firm, Recorded Future revealed that the past blackout in Mumbai was linked to the cyber attack from China.
- Recorded Future had also found an increase in malware attacks targeting the Indian government, defence organisations and the public sector.
- Also that, coinciding with Chinese incursions in Eastern Ladakh, certain Indian power facilities had been targets of a cyber attack.
- This indicates that India’s key infrastructure facilities, such as the power sector, are now in the crosshairs of a hostile China.
- Indian government agencies, such as the National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre (NCIIPC) and the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) needs to be on its guard.
Exploiting vulnerabilities
- China’s cyber offensive is directed against many advanced nations as well.
- In attempting this, what China is doing is essentially exploiting to perfection the many vulnerabilities that software companies (essentially those in the West), have deliberately left open (for offensive purposes at an opportune time).
- Exploiting this loophole, and also turning matters on its head, it is companies in the western world that are now at the receiving end of such antics.
- Chinese cyber espionage sets no limitations on targets.
- Towards the end of 2020, and as the world prepared for large-scale deployment of COVID-19 vaccines, their attention was directed to vaccine distribution supply chains around the world.
Way forward
- Nations should beware and be warned about how cyber attacks can bring a nation to its knees.
- This was well demonstrated way back in 2016 through a major attack on Ukraine’s power grid.
- The Ukraine example should be a wake-up call for India and the world, as in the intervening five years, the sophistication of cyber attacks and the kind of malware available have become more advanced.
- India, could well be blindsided by Chinese cyber attacks on critical infrastructure if the latter sets out to do so, unless prophylactic measures are taken in time.
Consider the question “Examine the threat posed by cyber attack on the critical information infrastructure? Suggest the ways to deal with it.”
Conclusion
Cyber’ could well be one of China’s main threat vectors employed against countries that do not fall in line with China’s world view. Drawing up a comprehensive cyber strategy, one that fully acknowledges the extent of the cyber threat from China, has thus become an imperative and immediate necessity.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: PCA
Mains level: Cairn Issue
In December 2020, a three-member tribunal at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Netherlands ruled against India in its long-running tax dispute with the U.K.-based oil and gas company Cairn Energy.
PCA Ruling against India
- The tribunal ordered India to pay about $1.4 billion to the company.
- Following this, Cairn Energy has successfully moved courts in five countries, including the US and the UK to recognise its claim as per the arbitration award.
- The Netherlands, France, and Canada are the other three countries.
- Such recognition by courts opens the door for Cairn Energy to seize assets of the Indian government in these jurisdictions by way of enforcing its claim, in case the latter doesn’t pay its dues.
What is the dispute about?
- The dispute started in early 2014 when Indian tax authorities started questioning Cairn Energy requesting information on the group’s reorganization in the financial year 2006-07.
Issue over the tax due
- This escalated, and by 2015, the authorities had sent the company a draft assessment order, assessing in the process that there was a principal tax amount of $1.6 billion that was due.
- The year in reference, 2006-07, was one in which big corporate changes and developments took place in Cairn Energy.
Basis of the tax demand: Sale of Shares
- It was the year in which it not only undertook a corporate reorganization but also floated an Indian subsidiary, Cairn India, which in early 2007 got listed on the Indian Stock Market.
- Through the corporate reorganization process, Cairn Energy had transferred all of its India assets, which were until then held by nine subsidiaries in various countries, to the newly-formed Cairn India.
- But the tax authorities claimed that in the process of this reorganization, Cairn Energy had made capital gains worth ₹24,500 crores.
- This, the department asserted, was the basis of the tax demand.
Is this case similar to Vodafone’s battle with the government?
- The Vodafone case in 2007 was triggered by Hong Kong’s Hutchinson Telecommunications’ sale of its stake in India’s Hutchinson Essar to Vodafone based out of the Netherlands.
- The Hong Kong firm made a capital gain on this, which the Indian tax authorities deemed fit to tax.
- They held that Vodafone should have withheld the tax, and therefore imposed liability on it.
- The Supreme Court quashed the taxman’s demand that the sale of shares, in this case, would amount to transfer of a capital asset within the meaning of Section 2(14) of the Indian Income Tax Act”.
What governs the Sale of Shares?
- In the Union Budget of 2012, the Income Tax Act, 1961 was amended to make sure that even if a transfer of shares takes place outside India, such a transfer can be taxed.
- This was done when the value of those shares is based on assets in India. And this was applied retrospectively.
Cairn won over Retrospection
- The action against Cairn Energy was based on this move.
- India lost its arbitration case against Vodafone as well, with the government being asked to fork out around ₹80 crores.
What happened after the tax claims in the Cairn Energy dispute?
- After receiving a draft assessment order from the tax authorities, Cairn UK Holdings Ltd. appealed before the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal.
- The tribunal, while providing the company relief from back-dated interest demands, however, upheld the main tax demand.
- The company had initiated proceedings of arbitration under the U.K.-India bilateral investment treaty.
- But during this time, the government sold Cairn’s almost 5% holding and seized dividends totalling ₹1,140 crore due to it from those shareholdings and set off a ₹1,590-crore tax refund against the demand.
What was the main argument of Cairn Energy during the arbitration?
- The claimants, Cairn Energy and Cairn UK Holdings argued that till the amendment was made to tax retrospectively in 2012, there was no tax on indirect transfers.
- Indirect transfers here meant transfer by a non-resident of shares in non-Indian companies which indirectly held assets in India.
- The application of the 2012 amendments, they alleged, constituted “manifest breaches” of the U.K.-India bilateral investment treaty.
What was India’s defence during the arbitration?
- India’s counter to the main charge of Cairn Energy was that its 2006 transactions were taxable irrespective of the 2012 amendments.
- It argued that “Indian law has long permitted taxation where a transaction has a strong economic nexus with India”.
- It said even if it is retrospective, it is “valid and binding applying the longstanding constitutional, legislative and legal framework in which the claimants have invested”.
What did the arbitration tribunal rule?
- The tribunal said the tax demand violated the U.K.-India bilateral investment treaty.
- The tribunal said India “failed to accord Cairn Energy’s investments fair and equitable treatment” under the bilateral protection pact it had with the United Kingdom.
- It also ordered India to compensate Cairn Energy and its subsidiary for “the total harm suffered” as a result of the breaches of the treaty.
India’s way ahead
- It has been reported in the media that India will appeal against the tribunal’s decision.
- If enforcement proceedings are initiated, India is confident of addressing them and will strongly defend its interests.
Back2Basics: Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA)
- It is an intergovernmental organization located in The Hague, Netherlands.
- It is not a court in the traditional sense but provides services of arbitral tribunal to resolve disputes that arise out of international agreements between member states, international organizations or private parties.
- The cases span a range of legal issues involving territorial and maritime boundaries, sovereignty, human rights, international investment, and international and regional trade.
- The PCA is constituted through two separate multilateral conventions with a combined membership of 122 states.
- The organization is not a United Nations agency, but the PCA is an official United Nations Observer.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- Nativism in jobs in the state
The article examines the factors contributing to the States pursuing domicile based employment policies.
What is driving states to provide reservation to locals in private jobs
- The Haryana government has recently passed legislation that mandates companies in Haryana to provide jobs to local Haryanvis first.
- The unemployment rate in Haryana is the highest of all States in India, as per data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy, or CMIE.
- The cabinet of the government of Jharkhand approved similar legislation to reserve jobs for Jharkhand residents.
- The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) in Tamil Nadu announced a similar proposal in its manifesto for the upcoming Assembly elections.
- Such moves have attracted criticism from economists and commentators
- Creating more jobs, not on reserving the few available ones’ is the popular refrain.
- Creation of new jobs is not entirely in the control of State governments. It is a complex interplay of multitude of factors.
Factors playing role in job creation
- Job creation is obviously an outcome of the performance of the larger economy.
- Chief Minister of a State in India has limited control over the management of the larger economy and thereby, attract new investors and businesses who can create jobs.
- Businesses need abundant high quality skilled and unskilled labour, land at affordable prices, uninterrupted supply of electricity, water and other such ‘ease of business’ facilities for its expansion.
- State governments in India can theoretically compete with each on these parameters.
- Further, any tax advantages that a particular State can provide vis-à-vis others will increase its attractiveness.
- But, realistically in India, in very few of these parameters can a poorer State compete against a richer State.
Issues faced by the States
- The availability of skilled local labour is a function of many decades of social progress of the State and cannot be retooled immediately.
- After the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), State governments in India have lost their fiscal autonomy and have no powers to provide any tax concessions to businesses.
- Beyond all these, the most critical factor in the choice of a location for a large business is what economists term as the ‘agglomeration effect’
- Agglomeration effect is the ecosystem of supply chain, talent, good living conditions and so on attracting the other businesses.
- So, a State with an already well-established network of suppliers, people, schools, etc. are at a greater advantage to attract even more businesses.
- It is due to this agglomeration effect that the three richest large States (Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka) are three times richer than the three poorest large States (Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh), in per-capita income, compared to 1.4 times in 1970.
- In the absence of a level playing field and with no fiscal autonomy, it is enormously difficult for developing States in India to attract new investments and create new jobs.
Consider the question “Examine the factors contributing to the nativist tendencies in the employment within the States. Suggest the measures to deal with the issue.”
Conclusion
Until the economic playing fields for the various States are levelled and much greater fiscal freedom provided to the States, “don’t protect but create jobs” will only remain a topic of a hollow lecture and moral sermons.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not Much
Mains level: E-commerce regulation in India
The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) will soon come out with a common acceptable draft e-commerce policy.
Earlier policy
- The previous draft in July last year had proposed a regulator, an e-commerce law, periodic audit of companies that store or mirror Indian users’ data overseas.
- The latest draft calls for streamlining of regulatory processes to ease the burden of compliance for activities related to e-commerce and regulations for data that will provide for sharing mechanism.
What are the provisions of the new law?
Data Usage
- According to a revised draft, the government would lay down principles for the usage of data for industrial development, where such norms do not already exist.
- They aim to put in place safeguards to prevent misuse and access of data by unauthorized persons.
- Such safeguards may include regulating the cross-border flow of data pertaining to Indians and transactions taking place in India and the requirement of adequacy audits to be carried out by Indian firms.
- As per the recent draft policy, violation of safeguards shall be viewed seriously and attract heavy penalties.
Regulation, exports
- Conformity assessment procedures will be put in place to verify that goods and services sold on e-commerce platforms meet required standards and technical regulations.
- The government shall collect information from e-commerce platforms to aid it in making necessary decisions.
- In order to ensure that e-commerce is not used to defraud customers, registration with an authority identified by the Government shall be mandatory.
- The policy shall bring e-commerce exports on par with non-e-commerce exports by enabling online grant of drawbacks, advance authorization and GST refund.
Consumer protection
- As per the draft, e-commerce operators must ensure to bring out clear and transparent policies on discounts, including the basis of discount rates funded by platforms.
- Such a move aims to ensure fair and equal treatment.
- It said consumers have a right to be made aware of all relevant details about the goods and services offered for sale including country of origin, value addition in India etc.
- In case the seller fails to establish the genuineness of his products within a reasonable time frame, the e-commerce platform shall delist the seller.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Rigvedic rivers
Mains level: Not Much
The Centre has reconstituted an advisory committee to chalk out a plan for studying the mythical Sarasvati River for the next two years after the earlier panel’s term ended in 2019.
Do you know?
Rigveda describes India as a land of Sapta Sindhavah.
There is a verse in Nadistuti sukta of Rigveda , hymn of praise of rivers which mentions the following 10 rivers: Ganga, Yamuna, Sarasvati, Sutudri, Parusni, Asikni, Marudvrdha , Vitasta , Arjikiya , Susoma.
The Shutudri was Sutlej, Parushni was Ravi, Asikni was Chenab and Vitasta was Jhelum.
Sarasvati River
- The Sarasvati River is an extinct river mentioned in the Rig Veda and later Vedic and post-Vedic texts.
- As a physical river, it is described as a small river ending in “a terminal lake (Samudra).
- As the goddess Sarasvati, the main referent for the term “Sarasvati” which developed into an independent identity in post-Vedic times, she is described as a powerful river and mighty flood.
- The Sarasvati is also considered by Hindus to exist in a metaphysical form, in which it formed a confluence with the sacred rivers Ganges and Yamuna, at the Triveni Sangam.
Vedic reference of the river
- Rigvedic and later Vedic texts have been used to propose identification with present-day rivers, or ancient riverbeds.
- The Nadistuti hymn in the Rigveda (10.75) mentions the Sarasvati between the Yamuna in the east and the Sutlej in the west.
- Later Vedic texts like the Tandya and Jaiminiya Brahmanas, as well as the Mahabharata, mention that the Sarasvati dried up in a desert.
What led to its extinction?
- Since the late 19th-century, scholars have proposed to identify the Rig Vedic Saraswati river with the Ghaggar-Hakra river system.
- This flows through northwestern India and eastern Pakistan, between the Yamuna and the Sutlej.
- Recent geophysical research suggests that the Ghaggar-Hakra system was glacier-fed until 8,000 years ago, and then became a system of monsoon-fed rivers.
- ISRO has observed that major Indus Valley Civilization sites at Kalibangan (Rajasthan), Banawali and Rakhigarhi (Haryana), Dholavira and Lothal (Gujarat) lay along this course.
- The Indus Valley Civilisation may have declined as a result of climatic change when the monsoons that fed the rivers diminished at around the time civilisation diminished some 4,000 years ago.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: IIP
Mains level: Read the attached story
Last week saw the release of the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), which recorded a contraction of 1.6% in January.
Index of Industrial Production (IIP)
- Index of Industrial Production data or IIP as it is commonly called is an index that tracks manufacturing activity in different sectors of an economy.
- The IIP number measures the industrial production for the period under review, usually a month, as against the reference period.
- IIP is a key economic indicator of the manufacturing sector of the economy.
- There is a lag of six weeks in the publication of the IIP index data after the reference month ends.
- IIP index is currently calculated using 2011-2012 as the base year.
IIP Index Components:
- Mining, manufacturing, and electricity are the three broad sectors in which IIP constituents fall.
- The relative weights of these three sectors are 77.6% (manufacturing), 14.4% (mining) and 8% (electricity).
- Electricity, crude oil, coal, cement, steel, refinery products, natural gas, and fertilizers are the eight core industries that comprise about 40 per cent of the weight of items included in the IIP.
Basket of products
There are 6 sub-categories:
- Primary Goods (consisting of mining, electricity, fuels and fertilisers)
- Capital Goods (e.g. machinery items)
- Intermediate Goods (e.g. yarns, chemicals, semi-finished steel items, etc)
- Infrastructure Goods (e.g. paints, cement, cables, bricks and tiles, rail materials, etc)
- Consumer Durables (e.g. garments, telephones, passenger vehicles, etc)
- Consumer Non-durables (e.g. food items, medicines, toiletries, etc)
Who releases IIP data?
- The IIP data is compiled and published by CSO every month.
- CSO or Central Statistical Organisation operates under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI).
- The IIP index data, once released, is also available on the PIB website.
Try this PYQ:
Q. In the ‘Index of Eight Core Industries’, which one of the following is given the highest weight?
(a) Coal production
(b) Electricity generation
(c) Fertilizer production
(d) Steel production
Who uses IIP data?
- The factory production data (IIP) is used by various government agencies such as the Ministry of Finance, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), private firms and analysts, among others for analytical purposes.
- The data is also used to compile the Gross Value Added (GVA) of the manufacturing sector in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on a quarterly basis.
IIP base year change:
- The base year was changed to 2011-12 from 2004-05 in the year 2017.
- The earlier base years were 1937, 1946, 1951, 1956, 1960, 1970, 1980-81, 1993-94 and 2004-05.
IIP vs ASI
- While the IIP is a monthly indicator, the Annual Survey of Industries (ASI) is the prime source of long-term industrial statistics.
- The ASI is used to track the health of industrial activity in the economy over a longer period. The index is compiled out of a much larger sample of industries compared to IIP.
- The IIP essentially tracks the change in the volume of production in Indian industries.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: AT1 Bonds
Mains level: Not Much
The decision of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to slap restrictions on mutual fund (MF) investments in additional tier-1 (AT1) bonds has raised a storm in the MF and banking sectors.
What are AT1 Bonds?
- AT1 Bonds stand for additional tier-1 bonds. These are unsecured bonds that have perpetual tenure. In other words, the bonds have no maturity date.
- They have a call option, which can be used by the banks to buy these bonds back from investors.
- These bonds are typically used by banks to bolster their core or tier-1 capital.
- AT1 bonds are subordinate to all other debt and only senior to common equity.
- Mutual funds (MFs) are among the largest investors in perpetual debt instruments and hold over Rs 35,000 crore of the outstanding additional tier-I bond issuances of Rs 90,000 crore.
What action has been taken by the Sebi recently and why?
- In a recent circular, the Sebi told mutual funds to value these perpetual bonds as a 100-year instrument.
- This essentially means MFs have to make the assumption that these bonds would be redeemed in 100 years.
- The regulator also asked MFs to limit the ownership of the bonds to 10 per cent of the assets of a scheme.
- According to the Sebi, these instruments could be riskier than other debt instruments.
Try this PYQ:
Consider the following statements:
- The Reserve Bank of India manages and services the Government of India Securities but not any State Government Securities.
- Treasury bills are issued by the Government of India and there are no treasury bills issued by the State Governments.
- Treasury bills offer are issued at a discount from the par value.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 3 Only
(c) 2 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
How MFs will be affected?
- Typically, MFs have treated the date of the call option on AT1 bonds as the maturity date.
- Now, if these bonds are treated as 100-year bonds, it raises the risk in these bonds as they become ultra long-term.
- This could also lead to volatility in the prices of these bonds as the risk increases the yields on these bonds rises.
- Bond yields and bond prices move in opposite directions and therefore, the higher yield will drive down the price of the bond, which in turn will lead to a decrease in the net asset value of MF schemes holding these bonds.
- Moreover, these bonds are not liquid and it will be difficult for MFs to sell these to meet redemption pressure.
What’s the impact on banks?
- AT1 bonds have emerged as the capital instrument of choice for state banks as they strive to shore up capital ratios.
- If there are restrictions on investments by mutual funds in such bonds, banks will find it tough to raise capital at a time when they need funds in the wake of the soaring bad assets.
- A major chunk of AT1 bonds is bought by mutual funds.
Why has the Finance Ministry asked Sebi to review the decision?
- The FM has sought withdrawal of valuation norms for AT1 bonds as it might lead to mutual funds making losses and exiting from these bonds, affecting capital raising plans of PSU banks.
- The government doesn’t want a disruption in the fund mobilization exercise of banks at a time when two PSU banks are on the privatization block.
- Banks are yet to receive the proposed capital injection in FY21 although they will need more capital to face the asset-quality challenges in the foreseeable future.
- Fitch’s own estimate pegs the sector’s capital requirement between $15 billion-58 billion under various stress scenarios for the next two years, of which state banks account for the bulk.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Martian blueberries
Mains level: Mars mission worldwide and their success
In 2004, NASA’s Mars exploration rover ‘Opportunity’ found several small spheres on the planet, informally named Martian blueberries which find a resemblance to the similar formation in India’s Kutch region.
There have been several missions to the red planet this year. Make a note of all of them.
Martian blueberries
- Opportunity’s mini spectrometers studied mineralogy and noted they were made of iron oxide compounds called haematites.
- This caused excitement, as the presence of haematites suggests that there was water present on Mars.
- The widely accepted formation mechanism of hematite concretion [hard solid mass] is precipitation from aqueous fluids.
- Hematite is known to form in oxidizing environments hence it can be inferred that water must have played a crucial role in the formation of grey hematite on Mars.
What makes them so special?
- Indian researchers have been studying hematite concretions in Kutch called the Jhuran formation.
- These formations are 145 and 201 million years old.
- Detailed geochemistry and spectroscopic investigations of the haematite concretions in this area revealed that they resemble the ones on Mars.
- They have similar morphology – spherical, often doublet and triplet – and similar mineralogy – a mixture of haematite and goethite.
- Hence, several types of research have shown that the Kutch area is a potential Martian analogue locality.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Raman Thermometry
Mains level: Discom issues
Researchers at IIT Madras have demonstrated that by using Raman thermometry on fibre optic cables, they can achieve the monitoring of power transmission cables.
What is Raman Thermometry?
- Raman spectroscopy is well known as an analytical method for identifying chemical compounds and characterizing the chemical bonding and solid-state structure of materials.
- Perhaps less well known is the fact that one can use Raman spectroscopy to determine the temperature of the material being analyzed.
For that, we need to get familiarized with Raman Effect
- India’s first and so far only Nobel laureate in physics, C.V. Raman, won the prize for his discovery of the Raman Effect.
- This consisted of experimental observations on the scattering of light.
- In the Raman Effect, when light is scattered off an object, say a molecule, two bands are observed, with a higher and lower frequency than the original light, called the Stokes and anti-Stokes bands, respectively.
- By studying the relative intensity of the two bands, it is possible to estimate the temperature of the object that scattered the light.
- The anti-Stokes component of Raman scattering is strongly dependent on the temperature that the material is subjected to.
Thus, by measuring the intensity of the anti-Stokes scattered light we can estimate the temperature. This is Raman thermometry.
Try this PYQ:
Q.Which Indian astrophysicist and Nobel laureate predicted rapidly rotating stars emit polarized light?
(a) Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar
(b) CV Raman
(c) Ramanujan
(d) Amartya Sen
What has IITM achieved?
- The temperature measurement was performed in not just one location, but in a distributed manner using an optical fibre.
- To achieve this, a pulse of light was launched into the optical fibre and the backscattered radiation was observed.
- The time of flight of the backscattered radiation provided an estimate of the distance from which the light is backscattered.
- This can go up to tens of kilometres. This technique is married to Raman thermometry to get the results for actual measurements over tens of kilometres.
What makes this experiment special?
- The distribution Sector considered the weakest link in the entire power sector.
- We are much aware of Transmission and Distribution loss that is incurred to our DISCOMS.
- This IITM technology helps analyze transmission efficiencies in a better way.
- The present method devised by the team is both economical and provides real-time information.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Human eye and the applied genetics
Mains level: NA
Researchers from London have found that eye colour in Asians with different shades of brown is genetically similar to eye colour in Europeans ranging from dark brown to light blue.
Human Eye Colour
- Human eye colour ranges from black, brown to blue, green, and even red.
- Eye colour is primarily determined by melanin abundance within the iris pigment epithelium, which is greater in brown than in blue eyes.
- There are two forms of melanin – eumelanin and pheomelanin – and the ratio of the two within the iris as well as light absorption and scattering by extracellular components are additional factors that give irises their colour.
- Absolute melanin quantity and the eumelanin–pheomelanin ratio is higher in brown irises, while blue or green irises have very little of both pigments and relatively more pheomelanin.
Try this PYQ:
Q.Recently, LASIK (Lasser Assisted In Situ Keratomileusis) procedure is being made popular for vision correction. Which one of the following statements in this context is not correct?
(a) LASIK procedure is used to correct refractive errors of the eye
(b) It is a procedure that permanently changes the shapes of the cornea
(c) It reduces a person’s dependence on glasses or contact lenses
(d) It is a procedure that can be done on the person of any age
What has the research found?
- Previously a dozen genes (mainly HERC2 and OCA2) were found to influence eye colour.
- The researchers have now identified 50 new genes for eye colour.
- Genetic analysis of nearly 0.2 million people across Europe and Asia helped the researchers to identify the new genes.
- The findings collectively explain over 53% of eye colour variation using common single-nucleotide polymorphisms.
Outcome of the research
- Overall, the study outcomes demonstrate that the genetic complexity of human eye colour considerably exceeds previous knowledge and expectations.
- These findings will help improve our understanding of eye diseases such as pigmentary glaucoma and ocular albinism where pigment levels play a role.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: FEMA
Mains level: Paper 3- Security imperatives of FDI
Relaxation on Chinese FDI
- Last April, India had subjected all Chinese FDI to mandatory government screening.
- The aim was to curb opportunistic takeovers of Indian companies, a concern fuelled by sharp corrections in equity markets in March 2020.
- Several economies including the US, Australia, Canada and Germany faced similar concerns.
- They blocked specific takeover attempts, using special laws for national security screening of inward FDI.
- In the absence of similar legislation, India did not differentiate between investments which raised genuine national security concerns and those that did not.
- This is a crucial shortcoming.
- With market indices now hovering at their peaks, reportedly India may allow Chinese FDI up to 25 per cent in equity under the automatic route.
Regulation of FDI and issues with it
- India regulates foreign investments primarily through FEMA.
- FEMA clearly provides two specific macro-prudential objectives — facilitating external trade and payments; and promoting orderly development and maintenance of foreign exchange markets in India.
- Accordingly, it empowers the central government and the RBI, acting in consultation with each other, to regulate capital account transactions.
- These regulations determine who can invest through the FDI route, in which sector and how much.
- In practice, however, FEMA regulations have often responded to concerns not strictly related to macro-prudential objectives.
- One such concern has been national security.
Need for the law to scrutinise FDI from national security angle
- Shortcoming of FEMA underscores the need for India to emulates its western peers and enact a statute specifically designed for national security screening of strategic FDI.
- Unlike FEMA, this new statute must explicitly lay down legal principles for determining when a foreign acquisition of an Indian company poses genuine national security threats.
- In this regard, a policy paper published by the Peterson Institute for International Economics three types of legitimate threats from foreign acquisitions.
3 Types of threat from foreign acquisitions
1) Dependency on foreign supplier
- The first threat arises if a foreign acquisition renders India dependent on a foreign-controlled supplier of goods or services crucial to the functioning of the Indian economy.
- For this threat to be credible, it needs to be further established that the industry in which the acquisition is supposed to take place is tightly concentrated, the number of close substitutes limited, and the switching costs are high.
2) Technology transfer
- The second threat emanates from a proposed acquisition transferring a technology or an expertise to a foreign-controlled entity that might be deployed by that entity or a foreign government in a manner harmful to India’s national interests.
- The credibility of this threat again depends on whether the market for such technology or expertise is tightly concentrated or if they are readily available elsewhere.
3) Threat of infiltration, surveillance or sabotage
- The third threat arises if a proposed acquisition allows insertion of some potential capability for infiltration, surveillance or sabotage via human or non-human agents into the provision of goods or services crucial to the functioning of Indian economy.
- This threat is particularly credible when the target company supplies crucial goods or services to the Indian government, its military or even critical infrastructure units and the switching costs are high.
Way forward
- The above stated 3 types of threats could provide conceptual clarity in the new statute could make national security assessments objective, transparent and amenable to the rule of law.
- On procedure, the statute must empower only the finance minister to reject certain strategic foreign acquisitions on national security grounds.
- Both the power and accountability mechanisms should be hardcoded into the statute itself, as is the case in some mature parliamentary democracies.
- For instance, the Australian Foreign Acquisitions and Takeovers Act, 1975 empowers the treasurer to block certain foreign acquisitions on national security grounds.
- Similarly, the Investment Canada Act, 1985 empowers a minister to reject certain foreign acquisitions.
Consider the question “India needs to recognise the national security threat emanating from strategic FDI. This requires identifying threats. In lights of this, examine the types of threats and suggest the ways to deal with it.”
Conclusion
Overall, India’s tryst with Chinese FDI underscores the importance of identifying specific national security threats emanating from strategic FDI and addressing them objectively. This is too sensitive a matter to be left to capital controls under FEMA. A dedicated statute for national security screening of inward FDI would be best suited for handling such issues.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- India's growing security footprints in West Asia
The article examines the factors that are leading to a growing footprint of Asian economies in West Asia.
Growing interest of Asian Economies in West Asia
- This month, a contingent of the Indian Air Force participated in a multi-nation exercise hosted by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) named Desert Flag (March 3-27).
- Other than India and the UAE, Bahrain, France, Saudi Arabia, South Korea and the United States are also participating.
- While joint exercises in West Asia between Arab states and their western counterparts is common, the 2021 edition’s involvement of contingents from India and South Korea.
- This showcases the growing interests of Asian economies.
- As net importers of crude oil, these Asian economies rely heavily on the West Asian states for their supplies,
- And, by association, Asian economies have increased stakes in the safety and security of the region from the perspective of political and economic stability.
- And more importantly, in the protection of vital sea lanes in areas such as the Strait of Hormuz, the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea stretching out into the Arabian Sea and the wider Indian Ocean.
Declining U.S. influence
- In April 2020, Saudi Arabia was India’s top supplier of oil followed by Iraq.
- For South Korea, in late 2019, it was also Saudi Arabia as the top supplier.
- The participation of both India and South Korea in these exercises in the Persian Gulf is reflective of these trends and growing concerns in Asian capitals over an eroding U.S. security blanket in the region.
Tension in Iran-U.S. relations
- Both India and South Korea have found themselves caught in regional tensions as the pressure on Iran to restart the 2015 nuclear agreement (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA) increases.
- Both India and South Korea have faced carbon-copy consequences over the past decade as the West first negotiated with Iran, and later tried to manage the fallout of the JCPOA collapse.
India’s role in protecting it’s energy interests
- The idea of Asian nations having to band together to protect their energy interests in West Asia is not new.
- Former Indian diplomats have even suggested an idea equitable to an ‘importers OPEC’ led by Asian states which today have a much larger stake in West Asia’s oil than the West.
- The Indian Navy has made multiple port calls from the UAE and Kuwait to Iran and Qatar in recent years.
- In 2020, India had also planned its first bilateral naval exercise with Saudi Arabia.
Consider the question “Examine the factors responsible for India’s growing security footprint in West Asia and how India is achieving its objectives?”
Conclusion
Regional states will become more responsible for their own security, and as Asian economies become stronger stakeholders, their geopolitics will become more visible across this geography.
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