Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NA
Mains level: Facets of Indian Diplomacy
The government has convened a multi-Ministerial group to look into how to overcome challenges in trade with Russia, including managing payments for exporters and importers.
Recent course of updates
- Many parliamentarians have raised concerns over India’s abstentions at the United Nations and the impact of Indian policy on India’s trade and ties with the US.
- Developments indicate a possible revival of “rupee-rouble trade” in the wake of economic sanctions against Russian banks and entities by more than 40 US and European allies.
- India’s position has been “steadfast and consistent”, and India has repeatedly called for the immediate cessation of violence and end to all hostilities.
Gearing-up for a ‘Shaky’ response
- FM responded to a question over India’s support on sanctions being “somewhat shaky” amongst Quad partners.
- Leaders asked whether there would be any “negative impact” on India’s relations with its closest allies.
India’s clear stance
- Indian foreign policy decisions are made in Indian national interest and we are guided by our thinking, our views and our interests.
- So, there is no question of linking the Ukraine situation to issues of trade, the FM clarified.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Indias military satellites
Mains level: Not Much
The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh cleared the Acceptance of Necessity (AoN) for procurement of a GSAT 7B satellite.
What are the GSAT 7 series satellites?
- GSAT 7 satellites are advanced satellites developed by the ISRO to meet the communication needs of the defence services.
- The satellite was injected into a geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO) of 249 km perigee (nearest point to earth), 35,929 km apogee (farthest point to earth) and an inclination of 3.5 degree with respect to the equator.
- The GSAT 7 satellite was launched in August 2013 from an Ariane 5 ECA rocket from Kourou in French Guiana.
- It is a 2,650 kg satellite which has a footprint of nearly 2,000 nautical miles in the Indian Ocean region.
Utility of this satellite
- This satellite is mainly used by the Indian Navy for its communication needs.
- The GSAT 7 provides a gamut of services for military communication needs, which includes low bit voice rate to high bit rate data facilities, including multi-band communications.
- Named Rukmini, the satellite carries payloads in UHF, C-band and Ku-band, and helps the Navy to have a secure, real time communication link between its land establishments, surface ships, submarines and aircraft.
What will be the role of the GSAT 7B satellite?
- The GSAT 7B will primarily fulfil the communication needs of the Army.
- Currently, the Army is using 30 per cent of the communication capabilities of the GSAT 7A satellite, which has been designed for the Indian Air Force (IAF).
- The GSAT 7B will also help the Army enhance its surveillance in border areas.
- While many features of this satellite are still a closely guarded secret, it is expected that the state of the art, multi-band, military-grade satellite shall be a shot in the arm for the communication and surveillance needs of the Army.
What is the role of the GSAT 7A satellite, which is already operational?
- The GSAT 7A was launched in 2018 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.
- It has gone a long way in boosting the connectivity between the ground radar stations, airbases and the airborne early warning and control aircraft (AEW&C) of the IAF.
- It also helps in satellite controlled operations of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) which gives a great deal of reliability to the operations as compared to ground-controlled operations.
- This satellite has 10 channels in Ku band with switchable frequency for mobile users, one fixed Gregorian or parabolic antenna, and four steerable antennae.
Future plans
- A GSAT 7C satellite is on the cards for the IAF, and a proposal to this effect was cleared by the DAC in 2021.
- This satellite would facilitate real time communication with IAF’s software defined radio communication sets.
- It will increase the capability of the IAF to communicate beyond the line of sight in a secure mode.
What other kinds of military satellites does India have?
- An Electromagnetic Intelligence Gathering Satellite (EMISAT), developed by ISRO, was launched in April 2020 through a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C45).
- It has an Electronic Intelligence (ELINT) package called Kautilya, which allows the interception of ground-based radar and also carries out electronic surveillance across India.
- The ELINT package provides the capability in direction-finding of radar and fixing their locations.
- It is placed in a 748-km orbit, and is said to be based on the Israeli satellite system.
- This satellite circles the globe pole-to-pole, and is helpful in gathering information from radars of countries that have borders with India.
- India also has a RISAT 2BR1 synthetic aperture radar imaging satellite, which was launched in December 2019 from Sriharikota.
- It has the capability to operate in different modes including very high resolution imaging modes of 1×0.5 metre resolution and 0.5×0.3 m resolution with a swath of 5-10 km.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- Covid lessons for TB
Context
On World TB day, we need to ask how best we can leverage the lessons learnt from Covid-19 to help gain a new momentum in TB control.
Comparing the impact of Covid-19 and TB
- In the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic, 1.8 million people were reported to have succumbed to the virus.
- In the decade between 2010-20, 1.5-2 million individuals died every year because of tuberculosis.
- The difference in responses to the two pandemics can only be explained by the differences in the profiles of those who get infected.
- TB disproportionately affects people in low-income nations, the poor and the vulnerable.
- The increased burden on healthcare to manage Covid has led to a serious setback in TB control.
Using lessons from Covid-19 for TB control
- To leverage the lessons learnt from Covid-19 to control TB, we need to focus on the epidemiological triad: Agent, host and the environment.
- Test, treat and track has been a strategy successfully employed for Covid.
- Scaling up testing: We need to aggressively scale up testing with innovative strategies such as active surveillance, bidirectional screening for respiratory tract infections using the most sensitive molecular diagnostics, and contact tracing.
- Vaccine: The biggest victory against Covid has been the speed with which vaccines were developed, scaled up and deployed.
- We need to replicate the same for tuberculosis, lobbying for funding from governments and industry to develop a successful vaccine for TB.
- Social security programs for the prevention of risk: Malnutrition, poverty and immuno-compromising conditions such as diabetes are some of the factors strongly associated with TB.
- Social security programmes that work towards prevention of modifiable risk factors would possibly pay richer dividends than an exclusive focus on “medicalising” the disease.
- Environmental factors: Environmental factors which have been neglected include ventilation of indoor spaces, educating individuals to avoid crowds when possible, and to encourage voluntary masking, especially in ill-ventilated and closed spaces.
- Investment and actions: Covid has been a stellar example of how investments and actions can be swift, and public education can transform behaviour.
- Similar aspirations for TB can help turn this crisis into an opportunity to re-imagine our overburdened and underfunded systems.
- Involvement of private sector: We need to actively engage the private sector, build bridges and partnerships as we did in the case of Covid.
Way forward
- The country needs to invest in state-of-the-art technologies, build capacity, expand its health workforce and strengthen its primary care facilities.
- It also needs to consider telemedicine and remote support as important aspects of health services.
- We need to build an open and collaborative forum where all stakeholders, especially affected communities and independent experts, take a lead role.
Conclusion
We have ignored TB for too long. It’s time we acknowledge the magnitude of the disease, and work harder at offering individuals equitable healthcare access and resources that the disease warrants.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Central Bank Digital Currency
Mains level: Paper 3- CBDC and Sovereign Green Bond
Context
The other two major budget announcements pertain to the issuance of sovereign green bonds and a central bank digital currency. While geopolitical turbulence might make the current moment inopportune for experimentation, the government seems firm on both the proposals and they will most probably be rolled out.
Sovereign green bond (SGB): how it is different from a traditional bond
- The sovereign green bond is a novel idea.
- It will be a part of the government’s borrowing programme.
- The gross borrowing programme of the government is pegged at Rs 14.95 lakh crore.
- The SGB (sovereign green bond) raised will be part of the aggregate borrowing programme and has to be used for projects which are ESG (environment, social and governance) compliant.
- Hence, if the bond is being used to finance a power project or road, or in case it is used to finance revenue expenditure, it has to be ESG compliant.
- If they succeed at the central level, green bonds can be replicated by states.
Challenges for SGB
- Pricing challenge: As these bonds are different from G-secs (government securities), they may have to provide a better return as all ESG compliant companies have to make special investments that will push up costs.
- Low-interest rate: Further, given the low-interest rates prevailing today — real returns on deposits are negative — the SGBs can be issued as tax-free bonds, open to the public.
- This will evince a lot of interest given that these are government-issued bonds.
- The RBI and the government have been trying to get retail investors to participate in the government’s borrowing programme, and this move will expedite the process.
Central bank digital currency (CBDC) and challenges
- For launching such a currency, the RBI has to address certain fundamental questions.
- 1] Will it replace currency: Is a CBDC going to replace currency at some point in the future?
- One must remember that there are several sections in India that are not conversant with technology.
- 2] How will it be different from digital payments: If it is going to coexist with currency, how different will it be for the public from the digital payments that are being made today?
- Will people need to choose between a mobile wallet and a CBDC wallet?
- 3] Security of owner’s information: any issuance of CBDC on a voluntary basis also raises a question on the security of the owner’s information.
- CBDC has to be clear on the issue of confidentiality as it is bound to be a matter of concern.
- 4] The future of the banking system: If people have to be incentivised to move voluntarily to the CBDC, the cash exchanged must earn interest or else all money will go to bank accounts where a minimal interest rate can be earned.
- Will we require savings bank accounts with commercial banks in case all cash goes to the RBI?
- Will we then require ATMs for cash withdrawal? Will bank tellers become redundant? Will we need logistics companies that handle cash?
- These finer issues need to be addressed by the RBI as the widespread use of CBDC will progressively lead to lesser need for banks.
- 5] Issue of security: Any financial system that runs on technology can be hacked.
- It has to be foolproof and power failure resistant.
- There is a real danger of cyber fraud increasing as the majority of the population is not tech-savvy.
- Similarly, there is always downtime for bank servers when banking transactions cannot be carried on.
- This cannot be allowed to be the case with CBDC as it has to be available on a 24 x 7 basis.
Consider the question “What are green bonds? How the green bonds can act as a tool to achieve the targets of sustainable development as a means of finance?”
Conclusion
The arguments for CBDC are compelling on the grounds of keeping up with the central banks of other countries, and the possibilities of taking advantage of new technologies like blockchain. But before embarking on these measures, it might be useful to keep in mind the issues flagged above.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Indian exports
Mains level: Balance of Payment/Trade
India’s annual goods exports crossed the $400-billion mark for the first time ever.
The achievement of $400 billion in merchandise exports represents a growth of over 21 per cent from $330 billion achieved in FY2019 prior to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Do you know?
China’s total exports stood at $3.3 trillion ($3300 Billions) in 2021! Almost eight times of what we are celebrating!
How did India achieve this?
- The milestone was achieved due to increase in shipments of merchandise, including engineering products, apparel and garments, gems and jewellery and petroleum products.
- The agriculture sector too had recorded its highest-ever export during 2021-22 with the help of export of rice, marine products, wheat, spices and sugar.
Reasons behind the surge
- One of the major reasons for jump in exports is rise in pent up demand, which had fallen as the Covid pandemic forced nations to remain under strict lockdown, thereby impacting global trade.
- Beside, boost in domestic manufacturing due to production-liked incentive (PLI) schemes and implementation of some interim trade pacts have also led to surge in exports.
- The Centre implemented a series of steps to promote exports of both goods and services and that includes the introduction of Refund of Duties and Taxes on Exported Products (RoDTEP) and Rebate of State and Central Levies and Taxes (RoSCTL) Schemes.
External factors
- One of the key factors driving the surge in exports is pent up demand that was not met during major waves of the Covid-19 pandemic.
- Expansionary monetary policy by developed economies in response to the economic impact of the pandemic has also boosted demand for Indian exports.
Where has been the increase in imports?
- While exports have grown sharply, merchandise imports have grown even faster reaching $550 billion in the first 11 months of the fiscal.
- It has seen sharp growth in imports of crude oil, coal, gold, electronics and chemicals.
- Rising prices of commodities including crude oil and coal have played a significant role in adding to India’s import bill and taking the trade deficit for the first 11 months to a record high of $176 billion.
Why exports are important?
- Exports are one of the fundamental drivers of growth for any economy.
- It can influence a country’s GDP, exchange rate, level of inflation as well as interest rates.
- A robust export data is beneficial as it leads to increase in job opportunities, enhances foreign currency reserves, boosts manufacturing and also increases government’s revenue collection.
- It is also a good means by which a country can bring itself out of the recession phase.
- Besides, it also plays a key role in strengthening the domestic manufacturing units by scaling up their quality to make India made products compete and stand out against global peers.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Article 355
Mains level: Aggrevating Law and Order situtations in states
Considering the law and order situation in West Bengal, some politicians demanded the invoking of Article 355 to ensure the State is governed as per the provisions of the Constitution.
What is Article 355?
“It shall be the duty of the Union to protect every State against external aggression and internal disturbance and to ensure that the Government of every State is carried on in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution.”
Cases for its invocation
- This article thus comes handy when there are communal violence incidents. Over the period, this article has gained a different texture.
- We know that the “public order” and “police” are state subject and states have exclusive power to legislate on these matters.
- These subjects were entrusted to states because states would be in better position to handle any law and order problem.
- Management of Police by states was also seen as administratively convenient and efficient.
- However, there might be some circumstances where states are unable to maintain public order and protect people.
- In such situation, centre can invoke article 355 and take measures such as taking law and order of state under its own hand, deployment of military etc.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Mid-day meal scheme
Mains level: Nutrition impact of covid on children
A parliamentarian has recently asked the government to re-start the mid-day meals in reopening schools and to ensure that the meals provided are cooked and nutritious.
What is the Mid-Day Meal Scheme?
- The Midday Meal Scheme is a school meal program designed to better the nutritional standing of school-age children nationwide.
- It was launched in the year 1995.
- It supplies free lunches on working days for children in primary and upper primary classes in:
- Government, government aided, local body schools
- Education Guarantee Scheme, and alternate innovative education centres,
- Madarsa and Maqtabs supported under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, and
- National Child Labour Project schools run by the ministry of labour
- The Scheme has a legal backing under the National Food Security Act, 2013.
Objective: To enhance the enrolment, retention and attendance and simultaneously improve nutritional levels among school going children studying in Classes I to VIII
History of the scheme
- In 1925, a Mid Day Meal Programme was introduced for disadvantaged children in Madras Municipal Corporation.
- By the mid-1980s three States viz. Gujarat, Kerala and Tamil Nadu and the UT of Pondicherry had universalized a same scheme with their own resources for children studying at the primary stage.
- In 2001, the Supreme Court asked all state governments to begin this programme in their schools within 6 months.
Features: Calorie approach
- Primary (1-5) and upper primary (6-8) schoolchildren are currently entitled to 100 grams and 150 grams of food grains per working day each.
- It also include adequate quantities of micronutrients like iron, folic acid, Vitamin-A, etc.
- The calorific value of a mid-day meal at various stages has been fixed at a minimum:
| Calories Intake |
Primary |
Upper Primary |
| Energy |
450 calories |
700 calories |
| Protein |
12 grams |
20 grams |
Why in news?
- The flagship report of The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2020 estimated that as of April 2020 369 million children globally were losing out on school meals, a bulk of whom were in India.
- As many as 116 million children — actually, 116 million hungry children — is the number of children impacted due to indefinite school closure during the pandemic.
Why discuss it now?
- The recent Global Hunger Index (GHI) report for 2020 ranks India at 94 out of 107 countries and in the category ‘serious’, behind our neighbours Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal.
- The index is a combination of indicators of undernutrition in the population and wasting (low weight for height), stunting (low height for age), and mortality in children below five years of age.
What measures were resorted to counter this?
- In March and April 2020 the GoI had announced that the usual hot-cooked mid-day meal or an equivalent food security allowance/dry ration would be provided to all eligible school-going children even during vacation.
- Nearly three months into this decision, States were still struggling to implement this.
What lies ahead?
- Across the country and the world, innovative learning methods are being adopted to ensure children’s education outcomes.
- The GHI report calls for effective delivery of social protection programmes.
- With continuing uncertainty regarding the reopening of schools, innovation is similarly required to ensure that not just food, but nutrition is delivered regularly to millions of children.
- For many of them, that one hot-cooked meal was probably the best meal of the day.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Artemis Mission
Mains level: Not Much
On March 17, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) rolled out its Artemis I moon mission to the launchpad for testing at the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, United States.
What is the Artemis I Mission?
- NASA’s Artemis mission is touted as the next generation of lunar exploration, and is named after the twin sister of Apollo from Greek mythology.
- Artemis is also the goddess of the moon.
- Artemis I is the first of NASA’s deep space exploration systems.
- It is an uncrewed space mission where the spacecraft will launch on SLS — the most powerful rocket in the world — and travel 2,80,000 miles from the earth for over four to six weeks during the course of the mission.
- The Orion spacecraft is going to remain in space without docking to a space station, longer than any ship for astronauts has ever done before.
- The SLS rocket has been designed for space missions beyond the low-earth orbit and can carry crew or cargo to the moon and beyond.
Key objectives of the mission
- With the Artemis Mission, NASA aims to land humans on the moon by 2024, and it also plans to land the first woman and first person of colour on the moon.
- With this mission, NASA aims to contribute to scientific discovery and economic benefits and inspire a new generation of explorers.
- NASA will establish an Artemis Base Camp on the surface and a gateway in the lunar orbit to aid exploration by robots and astronauts.
- The gateway is a critical component of NASA’s sustainable lunar operations and will serve as a multi-purpose outpost orbiting the moon.
Other agencies involved
- Other space agencies are also involved in the Artemis programme.
- The Canadian Space Agency has committed to providing advanced robotics for the gateway.
- The European Space Agency will provide the International Habitat and the ESPRIT module, which will deliver additional communications capabilities among other things.
- The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency plans to contribute habitation components and logistics resupply.
What is the mission trajectory?
- SLS and Orion under Artemis I will be launched from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, U.S. in the summer of 2022.
- The spacecraft will deploy the interim cryogenic propulsion stage (ICPS), a liquid oxygen/liquid hydrogen-based propulsion system that will give Orion the thrust needed to leave the earth’s orbit and travel towards the moon.
- On its way to the moon, Orion will be propelled by a service module provided by the European Space Agency (ESA).
- The spacecraft will communicate with the control centre back on Earth through the deep-space network.
- It will fly around 100 km above the surface of the moon and use its gravitational pull to propel Orion into an opposite deep orbit around 70,000 km from the moon, where it will stay for approximately six days.
What are the future missions in the Artemis programme?
- The second flight under the programme will have crew on board and will test Orion’s critical systems with humans onboard.
- Eventually, the learnings from the Artemis programme will be utilised to send the first astronauts to Mars.
- NASA plans on using the lunar orbit to gain the necessary experience to extend human exploration of space farther into the solar system.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Abel Prize
Mains level: Not Much
The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters has awarded the Abel prize for the year 2022 to American Mathematician Dennis Parnell Sullivan, for his contributions to topology in its broadest sense, and in particular its algebraic, geometric and dynamical aspects.
Abel Prize
- The Abel Prize is a prize awarded annually by the King of Norway to one or more outstanding mathematicians.
- It is named after Norwegian mathematician Niels Henrik Abel (1802–1829) and directly modeled after the Nobel Prizes.
- It comes with a monetary award of 7.5 million Norwegian kroner (NOK) (increased from 6 million NOK in 2019).
- Its establishment was proposed by the Norwegian mathematician Sophus Lie when he learned that Alfred Nobel’s plans for annual prizes would not include a prize in mathematics.
- The laureates are selected by the Abel Committee, the members of which are appointed by the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters.
Has any Indian won this prestigious prize?
- R. Srinivasa Varadhan, an Indian-American citizen won the Abel Prize in the year 2007 for his valuable contribution in “probability theory and in particular for creating a unified theory of large deviation”.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Article 98
Mains level: Paper 2- Need for All India Legislative Service
Context
The appointment of Dr. P.P.K. Ramacharyulu as the Secretary-General of the Upper House by M. Venkaiah Naidu, Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, on September 1, 2021, was news that drew much attention. Ramacharyulu was the first-ever Rajya Sabha secretariat staff who rose to become the Secretary-General of the Upper House.
Responsibilities and role of Secretaries-General of both the Houses
- Secretaries-General of both the Houses are mandated with many parliamentary and administrative responsibilities.
- Privileges: The Secretary-General also enjoys certain privileges such as freedom from arrest, immunity from criminal proceedings, and any obstruction and breach of their rights would amount to contempt of the House.
Principle of secretariate independent of executive government
- Article 98 of the Constitution provides the scope of separate secretariats for the two Houses of Parliament.
- The principle, hence, laid in the Article is that the secretariats should be independent of the executive government.
Issues with appointing civil servant
- A separate secretariat marks a feature of a functioning parliamentary democracy.
- Against the principle of independence: Serving civil servants or those who are retired come with long-held baggage and the clout of their past career.
- When civil servants are hired to the post of Secretary-General, this not only dishonours the purpose of ensuring the independence of the Secretariat but also leads to a conflict of interests.
- Against the principle of separation of power: It breaches the principle of separation of power.
- The officials mandated with exercising one area of power may not expect to exercise the others.
- Lack of expertise: One of the prerequisites that demand the post of the Secretary-General is unfailing knowledge and vast experience of parliamentary procedures, practices and precedents.
- Most of the civil servants lack precisely this aspect of expertise.
Way forward: All-India service
- There are thousands of legislative bodies in India, ranging from the panchayat, block panchayat, zila parishad, municipal corporations to State legislatures and Union Parliament at the national level.
- Despite these mammoth law-making bodies, they lack their own common public recruiting and training agency at the national level.
- Ensuring competent and robust legislative institutions demands having qualified and well-trained staff in place.
- The growth of modern government and expansion of governmental activities require a matching development and laborious legislative exercise.
- Creating a common all-India service cadre — an Indian Legislative Service — is a must.
- The Rajya Sabha can, under Article 312, pass a resolution to this effect.
- In the United Kingdom, the Clerk of the House of Commons has always been appointed from the legislative staff pool created to serve Parliament.
- It is high time that India adapts and adopts such democratic institutional practices.
Conclusion
A common service can build a combined and experienced legislative staff cadre, enabling them to serve from across local bodies to Union Parliament.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Compulsory licencing
Mains level: Paper 3- TRIPS waiver for COVID-19
Context
At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in October 2020, India and South Africa had tabled a proposal seeking a temporary waiver on COVID-19 related products from the TRIPS. Nearly 18 months later, 164 members of the WTO could not find common ground on the “waiver proposal”.
How will the waiver help?
- The application and enforcement of intellectual property rights (IPRs) are affecting the timely provisioning of affordable medical products to patients.
- Therefore, India and South Africa argued that therefore, argued that “rapid scaling up of manufacturing globally” was “an obvious crucial solution to address the timely availability and affordability of medical products to all countries in need”, and for doing so, IPRs must be waived for at least three years.
The EU solution
- The EU had proposed in a submission in June 2021 that “[c]ompulsory licences are a perfectly legitimate tool that governments may wish to use in the context of a pandemic”.
- India and South Africa, the movers of the “waiver proposal”, are among the four countries that found a “compromise outcome”.
- Only vaccines are included: The solution is a severely truncated version of the “waiver proposal” in terms of product coverage, as only vaccines are included.
- Generally, patent laws, including that of India’s, allow for the grant of compulsory licences if patent holders charge high prices on the proprietary medicines in exercise of their monopoly rights.
- Moreover, such licences can usually be granted if efforts in obtaining voluntary licences from the patent holders have failed.
- The EU proposal states there that in case of a medical urgency, as is the case now, this condition will be waived.
- The proposal also provides that WTO members would be able to issue compulsory licences even if they do not currently have the provisions to issue them under their national patent laws.
- Compulsory licences can even be granted using executive orders, emergency decrees, and judicial or administrative orders.
Issues with the EU solution
1] Eligible member criteria
- The waiver solution can be used only by an “eligible member”, defined as a “developing country member” of the WTO that “had exported less than 10 percent of world exports of COVID-19 vaccine doses in 2021”.
- This means that Bangladesh, which is still a least developed country, but has a growing pharmaceutical industry, is also excluded.
- Restricting China: The eligibility condition seems to have been introduced to limit China’s expansion in the global vaccine market.
- No concern for India: At the current juncture, India does not have to be concerned with the export restriction clause, as its share in global exports of vaccines was 2.4% as on January 31.
2] Export restrictions in the form of eligibility criteria
- While introducing the above-mentioned export restriction, the solution proposes to waive the obligation under Article 31(f) of the TRIPS Agreement.
- Article 31(f) provides that the compulsory licences issued by any WTO member must be used “predominantly for the supply of the domestic market”.
- But while they have proposed removal of Article 31(f), solution includes a more stringent export restriction in the form of the eligibility criteria mentioned above.
3] Further conditions
- The proposed condition of listing all patents covered under the compulsory licences is not a requirement under the TRIPS Agreement.
- Similarly, there is no obligation to notify the details of licensee, the quantity and export destination under the TRIPS provisions.
- But the EU proposal text proposes mandatory notification.
4] Transfer of know-how is not ensured
- According to the EU, when compulsory licences are granted, the “patent holder receives adequate remuneration”, but “[t]ransfer of know-how is not ensured”.
- This demerit of compulsory licences would make it difficult to scale up production of COVID-19 vaccines, medicines, and medical devices in the developing world, thus constraining their availability at affordable prices.
Conclusion
It must be said that by accepting the “compromise outcome”, India and South Africa could jeopardise their high moral ground. Consequently, the global community would lose an important opportunity to ensure that vaccines and medicines are accessible to all.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: CAROTAR
Mains level: Paper 3- Make in India
Context
It will be a good idea to look at the intent, reality, and other ramifications of India’s trade agreements, especially in regard to goods.
Why PTAs matters
- Amongst the existing Preferential Trade Agreements (PTAs), the most commonly used by exporters and importers, are the agreements with the ASEAN region, South Korea, Japan, and South Asian countries.
- It is noteworthy that India has significant trade deficits with three of the aforementioned regions.
- Another factor to note is that three of these regions have significant manufacturing capacity and investment in their own territories.
- Thus, India’s ongoing initiatives in trade agreements must consider whether such deals strengthen imports into India or incentivize investment.
- This is all the more important as the Centre has laid out schemes like Phased Manufacturing Programs (PMPs) and Production Linked Incentives (PLIs) to encourage investment in Make in India.
How existing trade agreements affect Phased Manufacturing Programs(PMP)
- How does it work? Under the PMP, calibrated reductions in customs duty rates on inputs and intermediate goods have been provided along with higher duty rates on finished products.
- However, considering that many of the finished products are covered by zero duty rates under existing trade agreements with some regions or countries, manufacturers with existing facilities in such countries may not have a compelling reason to move manufacturing to India.
- Similar benefits exist under other agreements and may inhibit the uptake of the PMPs by multinational manufacturing entities.
Production Linked Incentives and trade agreements
- Under PLIs, based on a threshold level of capital investment and incremental production, subsidies are to be given to approved applicants.
- Such schemes cover 15 product categories as of now.
- In some cases, the attraction of incentives could score over the benefits of importing goods under low or nil rates of duty under PTAs.
Suggestions:
- The PLIs could become even more attractive if it is combined with certain pre-existing special governmental schemes that reduce costs and conserve cash flow.
- While the application window for most of the PLI schemes has closed, a few may be extended and depending on the success of current schemes, more could follow.
- Improving trade governance: PTAs are governed by written agreements between nation states or groups of nation states and domestic laws of the signatories.
- Contrary to a violation of a multilateral or plurilateral agreement entered into under the aegis of the WTO, enforcement mechanisms external to the parties, do not exist for PTAs.
- The committed benefits could be allowed or disallowed by customs rules (for example the CAROTAR in India) and customs officials, conditional upon certifications and validations.
- Mechanisms exist in the FTAs themselves to solve such matters, but in a situation where entities of different sizes and economic power attempt to resolve such issues, the resolutions may not be acceptable to all parties.
- Better governance mechanisms are needed.
Conclusion
It is expected that a holistic view, keeping in mind the government’s schemes on investment and trade governance, would inform future negotiations as well as a review of existing trade agreements of India.
Source:
https://www.financialexpress.com/opinion/make-trade-deals-for-make-in-india/2457320/
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Back2Basics: CAROTAR 2020
- CAROTAR 2020 (“Rules”) aims to add to the existing operational certification procedures which are prescribed under different trade agreements such as Free Trade Agreements (FTAs), Preferential Trade Agreement, Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement and Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement.
- The Customs (Administration of Rules of Origin under Trade Agreements) Rules, 2020 (CAROTAR, 2020), was notified on 21st August 2020 by the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- ICJ decision on Ukraine crisis and its significance
Context
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has ordered Russia to immediately suspend its military operations in Ukraine. In short, to end the war instantly.
Breach of the Genocide Convention
- Ukraine moved the ICJ against Russia accusing it of falsely claiming that Ukrainians are committing genocide in their territory and using this untruthful premise to start an illegal war.
- This, Ukraine believes, breaches its rights under the Genocide Convention — a treaty that is binding to both Russia and Ukraine.
- This decision was rendered by the ICJ in response to Ukraine’s application for indication of provisional measures under Article 41 of the ICJ Statute.
- Provisional measures under the ICJ Statute are the international equivalent of an interim injunction that can be provided by the court to preserve the rights of the parties pending a final decision on the merits of the case.
Three reasons cited by the ICJ
1] ICJ’s jurisdiction in the case
- Since 2014, Russia has been repeatedly accusing Ukraine of committing genocide in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
- Just before the military invasion, Russian President Vladimir Putin mentioned ending the genocide in Ukraine as the reason to use force.
- Ukraine vehemently rejects this charge.
- Prima facie, this shows the existence of a “dispute” under Article IX of the Genocide Convention — the compromissory clause that bestows jurisdiction on the ICJ.
- Self-defence under Article 51 of the UN Charter: Russia contended that its formal basis for use of force against Ukraine was its right to self-defence under Article 51 of the UN Charter (a patently illegal argument, but this issue is not before the ICJ).
- The court held that it had prima facie jurisdiction in the case because the subject matter fell under the Genocide Convention.
2] Preservation of rights claimed by the parties
- Ukraine argues that it has a right under the Genocide Convention not to be falsely accused of genocide and rely on this wrong pretext to use force against its territorial integrity.
- The ICJ held that the objective of indicating provisional measures is the preservation of the rights claimed by the parties, pending the decision on merits.
- Since the current proceedings were only for provisional measures, the ICJ did not decide definitively whether Ukraine has such a right under the Genocide Convention.
- Nonetheless, the ICJ found Ukraine’s right plausible, which is adequate for the current purposes.
- While the court did not decide on whether Russia has breached the Genocide Convention, as this is a question of merits, it did express doubt over whether a country can unilaterally use force against another country for punishing or preventing an alleged act of genocide.
3] Risk of irreparable harm to Ukraine’s rights
- The ICJ held that if it does not indicate provisional measures, that is, order cessation of military action, there is a real and imminent risk of irreparable harm to Ukraine’s rights.
- This is because of the magnitude of destruction that the ongoing war has caused.
Significance of the order
- ICJ’s decision is binding on Russia and constitutes part of its international legal obligations.
- However, the remedy for not complying with ICJ rulings lies with the UN Security Council, which has Russia as a permanent member.
- But just because authoritarian populist leaders like Vladimir Putin don’t care for international law does not diminish its significance.
Conclusion
The weight of global opinion against Russia on its egregious abuse of international law is mounting with each passing day. Russia can keep ignoring this only at grave peril to itself.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Semiconductor, Rare earth elements
Mains level: Economic impact of Russian invasion
The global supply of semiconductors is now being threatened once again by the Ukraine crisis on account of supply of two key raw materials — neon and palladium — that are at a risk of being constrained.
What are Semiconductors?
- A semiconductor sits between a conductor and an insulator and is commonly used in the development of electronic chips, computing components, and devices.
- It’s generally created using silicon, germanium, and other pure elements.
- Semiconductors are created by adding impurities to the element.
Why are neon and palladium important for chipmaking?
(a) Neon
- Neon gas is used in the photolithography process that is the most common method for fabricating integrated circuits.
- Specifically, the neon gas is used in the laser machines that carve the integrated circuits.
- But for use of neon gas in the semiconductor industry, the gas has to reach 99.99% purity levels — which makes it a rarity.
- More than half of semiconductor-grade neon comes from Ukrainian companies Incas and Cryoin.
(b) Palladium
- It is used for multiple purposes in semiconductor and electronic manufacturing.
- It is used to coat electrodes that help control flow of electricity.
- It is also used in plating of microprocessors and printed circuit boards — which is an essential process of chip making.
- Russia accounts for nearly half the global supplies of palladium and the multiple trade sanctions on Moscow threaten to constrain the availability of the element.
Why was there a shortage in semiconductors?
- The trigger point was the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdowns across the world that forced chip-making facilities to shut in countries like Japan, South Korea, China and the US.
- A key feature in a chip shortage is that it almost always causes cascading effects, given that the first one creates pent-up demand that becomes the cause for the follow-up famine.
How is the Russia-Ukraine crisis protracting this shortage?
- Palladium and neon are two resources that are key to the production of semiconductor chips.
- Russia supplies over 40 per cent of world’s palladium and Ukraine produces 70 per cent of neon.
How long will the semiconductor shortage last?
- The answer to that question is a function of two variables:
- Existing stockpiles of these raw materials with chip manufacturers
- Time for which the crisis in Ukraine prevails
- If a deal is not brokered in the coming months, expect the chip shortage to get worse and for industries highly dependent on them to be similarly affected.
- This means significant risks are ahead for many automakers, electronic device manufacturers, phone makers, and many other sectors that are increasingly reliant on chips for their products to work.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Election of the President
Mains level: Read the attached story
The presidential polls are expected to be held in July to decide on the successor of President Ram Nath Kovind, who will complete his term on July 24, 2022.
The President of India
- The President of India is recognised as the first citizen of the country and the head of the state.
- The elected President of India is a part of the Union Executive along with several other members of the parliament including the Prime Minister, Attorney-General of India and the Vice – president.
Electing the President
- The provisions of the election of the President are laid down in Article 54 of the Constitution of India.
- The Presidential and Vice-Presidential Election Act 1952 led to the establishment of this Constitutional provision.
Qualifications to become the President of India
The qualification of be the President of India are given below:
- He/ She must be an Indian citizen
- A person must have completed the age of 35.
- A person must be qualified for election as a member of the House of the People.
- Must not hold a government (central or state) office of profit
- A person is eligible for election as President if he/she is holding the office of President or Vice-President.
Actual course of election
- The President of India is elected indirectly by an Electoral College following the system of proportional representation utilizing a single transferable vote system and secret ballots.
- MPs and MLAs vote based on parity and uniformity values.
Electoral College composition-
(1) Legislative Assemblies of the States:
- According to the provision of Article 333, every state’s Legislative Assembly must consist of not less than 60 members but not more than 500 members.
(2) Council of States:
- 12 members are nominated by the President of India based on skills or knowledge in literature, arts, science, and social service to act as the members of the Council of States.
- In total, 238 represent act as representatives from both the States and Union Territories.
(2) House of the People:
- The composition of the House of People consists of 530 members (no exceeding) from the state territorial constituencies.
- They are elected through direct election.
- The President further elects 20 more members (no exceeding) from the Union Territories.
Uniformity in the scale of representation of states
To maintain the proportionality between the values of the votes, the following formula is used:
Value of vote of an MLA= total no. of the population of the particular state/ number of elected MLAs of that state divided by 1000.
Single vote system
- During the presidential election, one voter can cast only one vote.
- While the MLAs vote may vary state to state, the MPs vote always remain constant.
MPs and MLAs vote balance
- The number of the total value of the MPs votes must equal the total value of the MLAs to maintain the State and the Union balance.
Quotas:
- The candidate reaching the winning quota or exceeding it is the winner.
- The formula sued is ‘Winning quota total number of poll/ no.of seats + 1’.
Voters’ preference:
- During the presidential election, the voter casts his vote in favor of his first preferred candidate.
- However, in case the first preference candidate does not touch the winning quota, the vote automatically goes to the second preference.
- The first preferred candidate with the lowest vote is eliminated and the votes in his/her favor are transferred to the remaining candidates.
Why need Proportional representation?
- The President of India is elected through proportional representation using the means of the single transferable vote (Article 55(3)).
- It allows the independent candidates and minority parties to have the chance of representation.
- It allows the practice of coalition with many voters under one government.
- This system ensures that candidates who are elected don’t represent the majority of the electorate’s opinion.
Why is President indirectly elected?
If Presidents were to be elected directly, it would become very complicated.
- It would, in fact, be a disaster because the public doesn’t have the absolute clarity of how the president-ship runs or if the candidate fits the profile of a president.
- Another reason why the direct election system isn’t favorable is that the candidate running for the president’s profile will have to campaign around the country with the aid of a political party.
- And, this will result in a massive political instability.
- Moreover, it would be difficult and impossible for the government to hand out election machinery (given the vast population of India).
- This will cost the government financially, and may end up affecting the economy as well.
- The indirect election system is a respectable system for the First Man of India (rightly deserving).
- The system/method of indirect electing of the president also allows the states to maintain neutrality and minimize hostility.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: National Land Monetisation Corporation (NLMC)
Mains level: Asset Monetization
The Union Cabinet has approved the creation of the National Land Monetisation Corporation (NLMC), the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) announced in the Union Budget 2021-22 to carry out monetisation of government and surplus land holdings of public sector undertakings (PSU).
What is the NLMC?
- The NLMC will be a firm, fully owned by the government, to carry out the monetisation of government and public sector assets in the form of surplus, unused or underused land assets.
- It will fall under the administrative jurisdiction of the Ministry of Finance and will be set up with an initial authorised share capital of ₹5,000 crore and a paid-up capital of ₹150 crore.
- Apart from monetising underutilised or unused land parcels of Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs), the Corporation will also facilitate the monetisation of assets belonging to PSUs that have ceased operations or are in line for a strategic disinvestment.
- The surplus land and building assets of such enterprises are expected to be transferred to the NLMC, which will then hold, manage and monetise them.
What will it do?
- The setting of the NLMC will speed up the closure process of the CPSEs and smoothen the strategic disinvestment process.
- It will also enable productive utilisation of these under-utilised assets by setting in motion private sector investments.
- It will boost new economic activities such as industrialisation, boosting the local economy by generating employment and generating financial resources for potential economic and social infrastructure.
- Besides managing and monetising, the NLMC will act as an advisory body and support other government entities and CPSEs in identifying their surplus non-core assets.
- It will help monetising them in an efficient and professional manner, maximising the scope of value realisation.
What does monetization mean?
- When the government monetises its assets, it essentially means that it is transferring the revenue rights of the asset (could be idle land, infrastructure, PSU) to a private player for a specified period of time.
- In such a transaction, the government gets in return an upfront payment from the private entity, regular share of the revenue generated from the asset, a promise of steady investment into the asset, and the title rights to the monetised asset.
- There are multiple ways to monetise government assets; in the case of land monetisation of certain spaces like offices, it can be done through a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT).
What are REITs?
Ans: REITs a company that owns and operates a land asset and sometimes, funds income-producing real estate. Assets of the government can also be monetised through the Public Private Partnerships (PPP) model.
Why need monetization?
- There are different reasons why the government monetises its assets.
- One of them is to create new sources of revenue.
- The economy has already been hit due to the coronavirus pandemic and revenues are essential to fulfil the Modi government’s target of achieving a $5 trillion economy.
- Monetisation is also done to unlock the potential of unused or underused assets by involving institutional investors or private players.
- Thirdly, it is also done to generate resources or capital for future asset creation, such as using the money generated from monetisation to create new infrastructure projects.
How will the NLMC function?
- The firm will hire professionals from the private sector with a merit based approach, similar to other specialised government companies like the National investment and infrastructure Fund (NIIF) and Invest India.
- This is because asset monetisation of real estate requires expertise in valuation of property, market research, investment banking, land management, legal diligence and other related skill sets.
- The NLMC will undertake monetisation as an agency function and is expected to act as a directory of best practices in land monetisation.
How much land is currently available for monetisation?
- According to the Economic Survey 2021-2022, as of now, CPSEs have put nearly 3,400 acres of land on the table for potential monetisation.
- They have referred this land to the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM).
- As per the survey, monetisation of non-core assets of PSUs such as MTNL, BSNL, BPCL, B&R, BEML, HMT Ltd, Instrumentation Ltd etc are at different stages.
What are the possible challenges for NLMC?
(a) Volatile market situation
- The performance and productivity of the NLMC will also depend on the government’s performance on its disinvestment targets.
- In FY 2021-22, the government has hardly been able to raise expected amounts through various forms of disinvestment.
- For example, the Life Insurance Corporation IPO, which was supposed to raise ₹60,000 crore is now shrouded in uncertainty owing to the Russia-Ukraine crisis making stock markets volatile.
- If the IPO does not hit the markets by the end of March, the government would be missing its disinvestment targets by a wide margin.
(b) Issues with transfer of rights
- The process of asset monetisation does not end when the government transfers revenue rights to private players.
- Identifying profitable revenue streams for the monetised land assets, ensuring adequate investment by the private player and setting up a dispute-resolution mechanism are also important tasks.
(c) Unattractiveness of PPP Model
- Posing as another potential challenge would be the use of Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) as a monetisation model.
- For instance, the results of the Centre’s PPP initiative launched in 2020 for the Railways were not encouraging.
- It had invited private parties to run 150 trains of the Indian Railways but when bids were thrown open, nine clusters of trains saw no bidders.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Taxing of Crypto assets
Mains level: Cryptocurrencies regulation in India
The government has clarified that investors won’t be allowed to offset losses in one crypto asset against gains in another, and that crypto mining infrastructure costs will not be included in the cost of acquisition to be claimed as a deduction.
How are crypto investments taxed?
- The Union Budget 2022-23 in February proposed that gains from virtual digital assets or crypto assets would be taxed at 30% irrespective of the individual’s income tax slab.
- In addition, a 1% tax deducted at source or TDS was introduced on the transfer of such assets.
- The government did not say if crypto assets are to be treated as currency, commodity, or security, and a clarification is expected in due course via separate legislation.
- Gifting of crypto assets to non-relatives is also taxed in the hands of the recipient if the value exceeds ₹50,000 in a year.
How does crypto tax differ from others?
- If listed shares are sold within 12 months of purchase, short-term capital gains (STCG) tax is applied on the gains, while beyond one year, long-term capital gains (LTCG) tax is levied.
- STCG is levied at 15.6%, including cess, while LTCG for gains over ₹1 lakh is 10.4%, including cess.
- There is no provision of long-term or short-term crypto assets, while gains are taxed at a flat rate of 30%.
- Investors in equities can offset the loss in one stock against another, while they can carry forward both short-term and long-term loss for eight assessment years.
- This has not been allowed in crypto.
How will crypto tax impact investors?
- In a fiscal year, if an investor had made gains in bitcoin and losses in ether, he or she will have to pay tax at 30% on gains in bitcoin.
- Further, the absence of loss set-off provision would cause a double whammy —paying taxes on gains and no offset of losses.
- Tax experts believe that in certain cases, the effective rate of taxation can even cross 100% on crypto investments.
How will miners be affected?
- The government has clarified that mining infrastructure will also not be eligible to be deducted as the cost of acquisition.
- So far, it was understood by some that crypto generated during the ‘mining’ process is taxable only on the profits, after accounting for mining expenses such as electricity.
- But with the latest explanation, a 30% tax plus cess and surcharges will be levied on such transactions.
- Experts believe that crypto mining operations would become non-profitable under the current announcement.
Will crypto tax trigger an investor exodus?
- The crypto industry has been unequivocal in criticizing the tax proposals.
- Thanks to the tearing rally in crypto assets over the past two years, it is estimated by some that more than 20 million Indian investors have poured more than ₹1 trillion into cryptos.
- However, the industry leaders fear that the lack of provision to offset losses will drive away users from KYC-compliant exchanges and platforms to the underground peer-to-peer grey market, which would defeat the purpose of regulation.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Maitri scholarships and fellowships
Mains level: Paper 2- India-Australia relations
Context
On March 21, Prime Ministers of India and Australia held their Virtual Summit and took stock of the pace of implementing the Australia-India Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.
India-Australia relations
- Since we elevated our relationship in 2020, we have advanced practical actions on cyber and critical technologies, maritime affairs, defence ties, economic and business links and Quadrilateral cooperation.
- The two Prime Ministers announced a range of tangible and practical initiatives spanning the breadth of our shared economic, strategic, and regional interests.
Areas of cooperation
- Energy partnership: Both countries are working on a new and renewable energy partnership, to support the development of technologies such as green hydrogen and ultra-low cost solar.
- We are also supporting research and investment to unlock Australian critical minerals for Indian advanced manufacturing.
- We will boost collaboration on innovation, science and entrepreneurship, to scale up ideas that address global challenges.
- Space sector: We are also increasing investments into our countries’ rapidly growing space sectors.
- We are establishing the Australia-India Centre of Excellence for Critical and Emerging Technology Policy — and a Consulate-General — in Bengaluru.
- Australians value highly the Indian diaspora and student contributions to its community — whether economic, social, or cultural.
- Australia and India are also working to ensure a peaceful and stable region.
- Both countries are committed to a free and open Indo-Pacific.
- In our defence relationship, there is an enhancement in information sharing and operational cooperation.
- Such arrangements also help continue delivering quality humanitarian support to the region, seen recently when India helped Australia’s Pacific family, Tonga and Kiribati.
Conclusion
These investments in strategic, economic, and community ties show what we can achieve when two multicultural democracies join in a spirit of trust and understanding.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Export to GDP ratio of India
Mains level: Paper 3- Issues in buying cheaper oil from Russia
Context
With oil above $100, the government now has to spend twice as much to import oil as it did earlier. Russia has offered to sell oil at lower prices to India. It is a hard temptation for India to resist. But one that comes with profound and long-lasting consequences.
Issues in buying oil from Russia
1] Impact on India’s export due to threat of the secondary sanction by the US
- The demise of the Soviet Union made it easier for India to abandon the Soviet-influenced ideology of a planned economy and veer towards the American version of a market economy.
- Now, in the reverse ideological direction, Russia’s offer of cheaper oil has hidden and direct costs that India will have to deliberate upon.
- Whenever global crude oil prices have risen above $100 in the past, India was able to cushion that shock primarily through growth in exports.
- When oil prices were similarly high, exports rose to nearly 25 per cent of nominal GDP, which helped India withstand the shock.
- However, exports now have fallen dramatically to 18 per cent of GDP, which must be revived.
- The US is India’s biggest export market.
- The US has already cautioned India about abetting Russia by buying Russian oil.
- It remains to be seen if the US will impose secondary sanctions against India for buying discounted Russian oil, but that threat looms large.
2] Cascading de-dollarisation
- With US sanctions against Russia, it will insist on payment in rubles.
- If India is forced to accept trading in rubles with Russia, then it is very likely that China, which is India’s second-largest trading partner, may also insist on payments in Chinese yuan.
- Saudi Arabia may also insist on trading in a currency other than the US dollar.
- This cascading “de-dollarisation” phenomenon will further irk and antagonise the US, since it weakens the dollar’s status as the world’s reserve currency.
- If India is forced to purchase Russian oil in rubles and potentially trade in yuan with China and others, it can catapult India into the centre of a geo-economic war that it can ill afford.
Opportunity for India
- The Russia-Ukraine conflict can be an opportunity for India to step up and capture global market share in goods and services.
- There is already talk of India capitalising on wheat exports, albeit a tiny share of India’s overall exports, as a fallout of global sanctions against Russian wheat.
Conclusion
Exports remain India’s biggest hope for a long-term sustainable economic recovery with ample job creation. India cannot risk being isolated in future global trade for near-term discounted oil deals with Russia.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: GSOMIA
Mains level: Paper 2- Role of the US in South Asia
Context
On the external front, Russia’s Ukraine war and the Sino-Russian alliance are setting the stage for a reordering of South Asia’s great power relations.
Opportunity for the US in South Asia
- If it looks beyond the region’s immediate response to the war in Ukraine, Washington can seize the current opportunity to elevate the US’s salience for the Subcontinent in partnership with India.
- The Indo-Pacific strategy offers new pathways for the US to limit the traditional economic and military weight of China and Russia in the Subcontinent.
Three regional trends in South Asia
1] Decline of Pakistan’s influence
- In the wake of the missile accident, Islamabad moved to seek international intervention, including from the UN Secretary-General.
- But there were few takers for this old South Asian formula, except in Beijing.
- Underlining the peremptory dismissal of Islamabad’s concerns is a deeper trend — the relative decline of Pakistan’s international standing.
- Since his election, US President Joe Biden has refused to call Imran Khan, who runs a “major non-NATO ally”; high-level visitors from Washington now skip Pakistan during South Asia visits.
- Chinese and Russian official visitors are among the few to combine trips to Delhi and Islamabad.
- Islamabad’s decline after the US withdrawal from Afghanistan is likely to accelerate amidst Pakistan’s deepening domestic political chaos.
- With an economy that is smaller than that of Bangladesh and limited prospects for rapid growth in the coming years, Pakistan will find it hard to match its traditional claim for “strategic parity” with India.
2] Declining interest in China’s Belt and Road Initiative in South Asia
- Just a couple of years ago, China’s commercial march into South Asia seemed unstoppable. Not any longer.
- Troubles in Pakistan and Sri Lanka: Pakistan and Sri Lanka, which embraced the BRI with great gusto, are South Asia’s two worst-performing economies.
- The deepening economic crises are compelling the elites of Pakistan and Sri Lanka to focus on non-Chinese financial sources to stabilise their economies.
- Sri Lanka, which ostentatiously refused to accept $480 million developmental assistance from the US in 2020, is now desperately looking for hard currency support for its sinking economic fortunes.
- In Nepal, the dominant communists had made political opposition to US infrastructure assistance of $500 million as a life and death issue for a decade.
- At the end of last month, Nepal’s parliament ratified the US loan that will facilitate Nepal’s infrastructure development and its economic integration with the Subcontinent.
3] The growing possibilities for US security cooperation with the Subcontinent
- During the Cold War, the US military engagement was limited to Pakistan.
- In the 21st century, there has been a steady expansion of US defence cooperation with India.
- The current focus on the Indo-Pacific is getting Washington to modernise the defence partnerships with the smaller countries of the region.
- The Trump Administration discarded the traditional obsession with Pakistan and began to recognise the strategic significance of the smaller South Asian states for its Indo-Pacific strategy.
- The visit of US Undersecretary of State to Bangladesh over the weekend saw progress towards signing the so-called GSOMIA (General Security of Military Information Agreement) that codifies the commitment to protect classified military information.
Conclusion
Reversing that must necessarily involve deeper security cooperation with the region and developing alternatives to military dependence on Beijing and Moscow. This is best done in partnership with Delhi.
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