Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Contingency Reserve Arrangement (CRA)
Mains level: Paper 2- The Ukraine conflict and BRICS
Context
China is hosting the 14th BRICS summit in virtual mode. The focus of the summit will be centred on the conflict and the association’s future.
About BRICS
- BRICS is an acronym for the grouping of the world’s leading emerging economies, namely Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
- The BRICS Leaders’ Summit is convened annually.
- It does not exist in form of an organization, but it is an annual summit between the supreme leaders of five nations.
- The grouping was formalized during the first meeting of BRIC Foreign Ministers on the margins of the UNGA in New York in September 2006.
- The first BRIC Summit took place in 2009 in the Russian Federation and focused on issues such as reform of the global financial architecture.
- South Africa was invited to join BRIC in December 2010, after which the group adopted the acronym BRICS.
- South Africa subsequently attended the Third BRICS Summit in Sanya, China, in March 2011.
- The Chairmanship of the forum is rotated annually among the members, in accordance with the acronym B-R-I-C-S.
Significance of BRICS
- Economically, militarily, technologically, socially and culturally, BRICS nations represent a powerful bloc.
- 40 per cent of the world’s population: They have an estimated combined population of 3.23 billion people, which is over 40 per cent of the world’s population.
- 25 per cent of global GDP: They account for over more than a quarter of the world’s land area over three continents, and for more than 25 per cent of the global GDP.
- Two fastest growing large economies: The grouping comprises two of the fastest-growing nations, India and China.
- It has proved its mettle to an extent by establishing the BRICS New Development Bank (NDB) and the Contingency Reserve Arrangement (CRA).
How the Ukraine crisis creates challenges for the BRICS
- The leaders of BRICS countries — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — will navigate the crucial dilemma of evolving a common stance on the Russian-Ukraine conflict.
- The primary agenda of BRICS was rebalancing an international system dominated by the West.
- However, the Ukraine crisis could act as a distraction from that primary agenda.
- The geopolitical considerations of its members can come in the way of attaining the grouping’s original goal.
- Target of economic warfare: Some of the BRICS members could be potential targets of the kind of economic warfare deployed by the West against Russia.
- The West has so far not expected the BRICS countries to stringently adhere to its sanctions against Russia.
- But it will be naïve to expect that they will persist with this attitude.
Way forward
1] Create institutional arrangement
- Challenging the economic might of the West in the near future might be close to impossible.
- Despite the group comprising China, India and Russia, intra-BRICS trade accounts for less than 20 per cent of global trade.
- BRICS is far from having its own payment mechanisms, international messaging systems or cards.
- The Ukraine crisis should drive home the need to create institutional arrangements that can cushion against similar financial turbulence in the future.
2] Recalibrate structure and expand
- BRICS requires a recalibration of its structure and agenda.
- Creating financial mechanisms and technological institutions could turn BRICS into a G20 for developing nations.
- It’s time to revisit the idea of expanding the grouping by inviting new members.
- This could also impart new vigour to the BRICS’s developmental goals.
3] Economic cooperation between India and China
- Economic cooperation between India and China is vital for the success of any future BRICS endeavour.
- The border conflict has created a mistrust of China in India.
- In the current situation, New Delhi is unlikely to take an anti-West stance.
- India, unlike China, is neither a UN Security Council member nor does it have major sticking points with the West.
- At the same time, India is not a part of the Western camp.
- That does open up the possibility of New Delhi taking a more proactive position in BRICS.
- The two powers need to come together for the sake of global governance reform.
Conclusion
The Ukraine crisis could be an occasion for the leaders of BRICS nations to commit themselves to the original goal of the bloc. It’s an opportunity they shouldn’t let go of.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: AFS
Mains level: Paper 3- Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies (AFS)
Context
The recently concluded twelfth ministerial conference of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) adopted the trade agreement called the Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies (AFS).
About the AFS
- WTO negotiations on fisheries subsidies were launched in 2001 at the Doha Ministerial Conference, with a mandate to “clarify and improve” existing WTO disciplines on fisheries subsidies.
- At the 2017 Buenos Aires Ministerial Conference (MC11), ministers decided on a work programme to conclude the negotiations by aiming to adopt, at the next Ministerial Conference, an agreement on fisheries subsidies which delivers on Sustainable Development Goal 14.6.
- The recently concluded twelfth ministerial conference of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) adopted a sustainability-driven trade agreement called the Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies (AFS).
Provisions adopted in the AFS
- Prohibits three subsidies: Fundamentally, AFS prohibits three kinds of subsidies:
- First, illegal, unreported, or unregulated (IUU) fishing.
- Second, fishing of already over-exploited stocks.
- Third, fishing on unregulated high seas.
- Two-year transition period for developing countries: As part of special and differential treatment (S&DT), developing countries like India have been given a two-year transition period for phasing out the first two kinds of subsidies within their Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).
- However, the final negotiated outcome, most crucially, lacks the much-needed discipline on subsidies for fishing in other members’ waters and those that contribute to overcapacity and over-fishing (OCOF).
- Limited AFS: WTO member countries agreed to a limited AFS sans regulations disciplining OCOF subsidies, which have been pushed to the future and are expected to be completed within four years.
- If negotiations fail, the AFS will stand terminated, as provided in Article 12.
- Meanwhile, all countries can continue providing most OCOF subsidies, that is, except for fishing on unregulated high seas.
What are the implications for India?
- Longer transition period required: India has been demanding that developing countries be given a longer transition period of 25 years to put an end to OCOF subsidies within their EEZ.
- Economic growth through ocean resources: Given its long coastline of nearly 7,500 kilometres, the blue economy — sustainable use of ocean resources for economic growth — occupies a cardinal place in India’s development trajectory.
- India has set a target of exporting marine products worth $14 billion by 2025.
- Policy space for marine infrastructure: India needs the policy space to invest in developing the marine infrastructure to harness the full potential of the blue economy.
- Livelihood concerns: Moreover, India needs to protect the livelihood concerns of close to four million marine farmers, the majority of whom are engaged in small-scale, artisanal fishing, which does not pose a great threat to sustainability.
- However, India’s demand for a longer transition period was not acceptable to many countries who insisted on this period being seven years
The disparity between Developed countries and Developing countries
- India rightly contends that WTO disciplines should not be developed in a manner that throttles its emerging sector while richer nations continue to negotiate exemptions for indefinite subsidisation and exclusion of horizontal, non-specific fuel subsidies in the text.
- Rich countries have historically provided massive subsidies to build capacity for large-scale fishing and fishing in distant waters, thereby contributing the most to depletion.
- India provided subsidies worth a mere $277 million in 2018, in sharp contrast to the top five subsidisers: China, EU, US, South Korea, and Japan, whose subsidies range from $7,261-$2,860 million respectively.
Way forward
- Comprehensive agreement: For the sake of sustainability, countries need to overcome their differences soon and forge a comprehensive agreement with the inclusion of meaningful S&DT, else they risk the indefinite continuation of harmful subsidies by all players.
- One balancing act could be to consider different ways to effectuate such flexibilities while accommodating the demands in a more targeted manner.
- Strengthening infrastructure: India could strengthen infrastructure and mechanisms to be able to utilise any future exemptions.
Conclusion
For India, the AFS is less-than-perfect, with a potential of no real outcome at the end of four years if the negotiations fail. But negotiations over the global commons are not easy.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Anti-Defection Law
Mains level: Political turmoil in states and horse trading
The unfolding political crisis in Maharashtra has thrown the spotlight on the anti-defection law, and the roles of the Deputy Speaker and the Governor.
What is the news?
- Some legislators have aligned themselves with the party’s rebel leader and are camping in Guwahati.
- The party has warned its MLAs that their absence from the meeting would lead to the presumption they wanted to leave the political party.
- And this would therefore lead to action against them under the anti-defection law.
What is the Anti-Defection Law?
- The anti-defection law provides for the disqualification of MLAs who, after being elected on the ticket of a political party, “voluntarily give up their party membership”.
- The Supreme Court has interpreted the term broadly and ruled an MLA’s conduct can indicate whether they have left their party.
- The law is also applicable to independent MLAs.
- But the anti-defection law does not apply if the number of MLAs who leave a political party constitute two-thirds of the party’s strength in the legislature.
- These MLAs can merge with another party or become a separate group in the legislature.
How does the two-thirds rule work in the current situation in Maharashtra?
- Reports indicate that 30 MLAs are with rebel leader.
- Taking this number at face value means it does not reach the two-thirds (37) mark of the 55 MLAs the party has in the Maharashtra Assembly.
- Therefore, the protection under the anti-defection law would not be available to the rebel group.
What adds more to this high-stage political drama?
- It is the Assembly Speaker who decides whether an MLA has left a party or a group that constitutes two-thirds of a party.
- The position of the Speaker of the Maharashtra Assembly is, however, currently vacant.
- Article 180(1) of the Constitution states that the Deputy Speaker performs the Speaker’s duties when the office is vacant.
- Since then, the Deputy Speaker has been acting as the Speaker.
How would a decision be taken whether the anti-defection law applies in this case?
Under the current circumstances, two ways would lead to adjudication under the law.
(1) Approaching the acting Speaker to file defection petition
- First, any MLA of the Assembly can petition that certain MLAs have defected from their political party.
- Such a petition has to be accompanied by documentary evidence.
- The Deputy Speaker would then forward the petition to the MLAs against whom their colleagues are making the charge of defection.
- The MLAs would have seven days or such time that the Deputy Speaker decides is sufficient to enable them to put across their side of the story.
(2) Proving of two-third majority
- Rebel leader and MLAs supporting too can write to the Deputy Speaker with evidence claiming that they represent two-thirds of the strength and claim protection under the anti-defection law.
- In either case, Speakers will decide the matter after hearing all parties, which could take time.
How much time does it usually take? Why delay occurs?
- In recent years, one of the fastest decisions in a defection proceeding was delivered by Rajya Sabha Chairman Venkaiah Naidu.
- However in state legislatures, defection petitions have taken much longer.
- For example, in 2020, the Supreme Court used its extraordinary power to remove a Manipur minister from his position.
- But whether the Speaker decides quickly or takes time, the Speaker is usually challenged in court, which further delays the decision.
- Both Venkaiah Naidu and the Supreme Court have recommended that Speakers decide on defection cases in three months.
What is the Governor’s role?
(1) Declaration of Presidents Rule (NA)
- The Governor has a crucial role when there is political instability in a state.
- Before 1994, Governors were quick to dismiss a state government, charging that it did not have a majority in the state legislature and recommending the imposition of the President’s rule in the state.
- But the Supreme Court ended this practice with its judgment in the S R Bommai case in 1994.
(2) Holding Assembly
- In this landmark case, the court ruled that the place for deciding whether a government has lost its majority was in the legislature.
- Hence, Maharashtra Governor can ask Chief Minister to convene the Assembly and prove his majority on the floor of the House.
(3) Governors Discretion
- The CM can recommend to the Governor to dissolve the legislature before the end of its five-year term and call for elections under Article 174(2)(b).
- Here, the Governor’s discretion comes into play.
- The Governor may choose not to dissolve the legislature.
- This is when if he or she believes that the recommendation is coming from a council of ministers who do not enjoy the confidence of the state legislature.
Note: In 2020, the Supreme Court, in Shivraj Singh Chouhan & Ors versus Speaker, MP Legislative Assembly & Ors, upheld the powers of the Speaker to call for a floor test if there is a prima facie view that the government has lost its majority.
(4) Floor test
- Under Article 175(2), the Governor can summon the House and call for a floor test to prove whether the government has the numbers.
- In a detailed judgment, the Court also explained the scope of the power of the Governor and the law revolving around floor tests.
- When the House is in session, it is the Speaker who can call for a floor test.
- But when the Assembly is not in session, the Governor’s residuary powers under Article 163 allow him to call for a floor test.
Conclusion
- The spectacle of rival political parties whisking away their MLAs to safe destinations does little credit to the state of our democratic politics.
- It is an unfortunate reflection on the confidence which political parties hold in their own constituents and a reflection of what happens in the real world of politics.
- Political bargaining, or horse-trading, as we noticed, is now an oft repeated usage in legal precedents.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: G7, G12, G20
Mains level: G7
PM Modi will fly to the Germany as a special invitee to the meeting of G-7 countries.
Group of 7
- The G-7 or ‘Group of Seven’ includes Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
- It is an intergovernmental organisation that was formed in 1975 by the top economies of the time as an informal forum to discuss pressing world issues.
- Initially, it was formed as an effort by the US and its allies to discuss economic issues.
- The G-7 forum now discusses several challenges such as oil prices and many pressing issues such as financial crises, terrorism, arms control, and drug trafficking.
- It does not have a formal constitution or a fixed headquarters. The decisions taken by leaders during annual summits are non-binding.
- Canada joined the group in 1976, and the European Union began attending in 1977.
Evolution of the G-7
- When it started in 1975—with six members, Canada joining a year later—it represented about 70% of the world economy.
- And it was a cosy club for tackling issues such as the response to oil shocks.
- Now it accounts for about 40% of global GDP.
- Since the global financial crisis of 2007-09 it has sometimes been overshadowed by the broader G20.
- The G-7 became the G-8 in 1997 when Russia was invited to join.
Why was Russia expelled?
- The G-7 was known as the ‘G-8’ for several years after the original seven were joined by Russia in 1997.
- The Group returned to being called G-7 after Russia was expelled as a member in 2014 following the latter’s annexation of the Crimea region of Ukraine.
- Since his election in 2016, President Trump has suggested on several occasions that Russia be added again, given what he described as Moscow’s global strategic importance.
Why in news now?
- New Delhi is preparing for more pressure from the G-7 countries.
- These countries (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK, the US and the EU) have unitedly imposed sanctions on Russia since it invaded Ukraine.
- They want India to cooperate in restricting its purchase of Russian oil, not circumvent the sanctions by using a rupee-rouble mechanism.
- It also wants India to lift the ban on the export of wheat.
Relevance of G7 for India
- India will get more voice, more influence and more power by entering the G7.
- After UN Security Council (UNSC), this is the most influential grouping.
- If the group is expanded it will collectively address certain humongous issues in the global order.
- Diplomatically, a seat at the high table could help New Delhi further its security and foreign policy interests, especially at the nuclear club and UNSC reforms.
- It will further protect its interests in the Indian Ocean.
Challenges for India’s entry
- The decision to expand the grouping cannot be taken by the US alone.
- There needs to be a consensus.
- However, a special invitation to India is no mean achievement.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Santhal Tribe, Rebellion
Mains level: Tribal progress and successfull upliftement
The Santhal community is in the spotlight after a political alliance nominated one of its leaders for the Presidential election, Droupadi Murmu, for the election to the highest Constitutional post of India.
Santhal Tribe
- Santhal, also spelt as Santal, literally means a calm, peaceful man. Santha means calm, and ala means man in the Santhali (also spelt as Santali) language.
- Santhals are the third largest Scheduled Tribe community in India after Gonds and Bhils.
- The Santhali population is mostly distributed in Jharkhand, Odisha and West Bengal.
Historical background
- The Santhals were a nomadic stock before they chose to settle in the Chotanagpur plateau.
- By the end of the 18th century, they had concentrated in the Santhal Parganas of Jharkhand (earlier Bihar).
- From there, they migrated to Odisha and West Bengal.
Demographic details
- Tribal communities, outside the Northeast, generally have lower levels of literacy.
- But the Santhals have higher – a result of a pro-school education awareness since at least the 1960s – literacy rate compared to other tribes in Odisha, Jharkhand and West Bengal.
- Many of the community have entered the creamy layer of Indian society.
- For example, Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren is a Santhal.
- The incumbent Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAGI) Girsh Chandra Murmu, who was the first Lt Governor of the UT of Jammu and Kashmir, is also a Santhal.
Cultural features of Santhals
(1) Religion
- Despite their social upliftment, the Santhals are usually connected to their roots.
- They are nature worshippers and could be seen paying obeisance at Jaher (sacred groves) in their villages.
- River Damodar holds a special place in the religious life cycle of a Santhal.
- When a Santhal dies, his or her ashes and bones are immersed in the Damodar for a peaceful afterlife.
- Their traditional dress includes dhoti and gamuchha for men and a short-check saree, usually blue and green, for women, who generally put on tattoos.
(2) Society
- Various forms of marriage are accepted in the Santhal society – including elopement, widow remarriage, levirate, forced (rare) and the one in which a man is made to marry the woman he has impregnated.
- Divorce is not a taboo in the Santhal society. Either of the couple could divorce the other.
(3) Artforms
- Santhals are fond of their folk song and dance that they perform at all community events and celebrations.
- They play musical instruments like kamak, dhol, sarangi and flutes.
- Most Santhals are agriculturists, depending on their farmlands or forests.
- Their homes, called Olah, have a particular three-colour pattern on the outer walls.
- The bottom portion is painted with black soil, the middle with white and the upper with red.
(4) Language
- Their tribal language is called Santhali, which is written in a script called Ol chiki, developed by Santhal scholar Pandit Raghunath Murmu.
- Santhali language belongs to the Munda group.
- Santhali written in OI-Chiki script is recognised as one of the scheduled languages in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution.
Back2Basics: Santhal Rebellion
- The Santhal rebellion also known as Santhal Hool was a revolt by the Santhal in present-day Jharkhand, India, against the British East India Company and the Zamindari System.
- It began on June 30, 1855, and the East India Company declared martial law on November 10, 1855, which lasted until January 3, 1856, when martial law was lifted.
- The insurrection was put down by the Presidency soldiers.
- The four Murmu Brothers – Sidhu, Kanhu, Chand, and Bhairav – spearheaded the revolt.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Bedti-Varada Interlinking Project
Mains level: River interlinking and associated issues
Environmental groups in Karnataka have criticised the project to link the Bedti and Varada rivers in Karnataka, calling it ‘unscientific’ and a ‘waste of public money’.
Bedti-Varada Interlinking Project
- The Bedti-Aghanashini-Varade river-linking project was also included in the country’s major rivers project devised by the then PM Vajpayee government.
- The Central Government had created a task force to prepare action plans for interlinking the riverbeds in 2002.
- The project cost and the source of investments were ascertained and suggested that the project be taken up in 2016.
Key details
- The Bedti-Varada project was envisaged in 1992 as one to supply drinking water by the then government.
- The plan aims to link the Bedti, a river flowing west into the Arabian Sea, with the Varada, a tributary of the Tungabhadra river, which flows into the Krishna, which in turn flows into the Bay of Bengal.
- A massive dam will be erected at Hirevadatti in Gadag district under the project. A second dam will be built on the Pattanahalla river at Menasagoda in Sirsi, Uttara Kannada district.
- Both dams will take water to the Varada via tunnels of length 6.3 kilometres and 2.2-km. The water will reach at a place called Kengre.
- It will then go down a 6.88 km tunnel to Hakkalumane, where it will join the Varada.
- The project thus envisages taking water from the water surplus Sirsi-Yellapura region of Uttara Kannada district to the arid Raichur, Gadag and Koppal districts.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Keibul Lamjao National Park (KLNP)
Mains level: Not Much
Activists surrounding the Keibul Lamjao National Park (KLNP) in Manipur have now taken up the cudgels to ensure that the government does not shift the proposed heritage park from the approved site.
Keibul Lamjao National Park (KLNP)
- The KLNP is a national park in the Bishnupur district of the state of Manipur in India.
- It is 40 km2 in area, the only floating park in the world, located in North East India, and an integral part of Loktak Lake.
- The national park is characterized by floating decomposed plant material locally called Phumdi at the south–eastern side of the Loktak Lake, which has been declared a Ramsar site.
- It was created in 1966 as a wildlife sanctuary to preserve the natural habitat of the endangered Eld’s deer.
- In 1977, it was gazetted as national park.
Key faunas
- KLNP is home to the last of the brow-antlered deer (Rucervus eldii eldii), one of the most endangered deer in the world.
- It is locally called as Sangai.
- The animal is, in fact, in danger of losing its home—most of the phumdis, or floating swamps, are unable to sustain its weight.
- In 1951, it was reported extinct, but British tea planter and naturalist Edward Pritchard Gee rediscovered it in 1953.
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