Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Blue Dot Network
Mains level: Blue Dot Network
With US President Donald Trump on his maiden visit to India, the two countries are expected to have discussed the Blue Dot Network, a proposal that will certify infrastructure and development projects.
Blue Dot Network
- Led by the US’s International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), the Blue Dot network was jointly launched by the US, Japan (Japanese Bank for International Cooperation) and Australia (Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade) in November 2019 on the sidelines of the 35th ASEAN Summit in Thailand.
- It is meant to be a multi-stakeholder initiative that aims to bring governments, the private sector and civil society together to promote “high quality, trusted standards for global infrastructure development”.
- The network is like a “Michelin Guide” for infrastructure projects.
- This means that as part of this initiative, infrastructure projects will be vetted and approved by the network depending on standards, as per which, the projects should meet certain global infrastructure principles.
- The projects that are approved will get a “Blue Dot”, thereby setting universal standards of excellence, which will attract private capital to projects in developing and emerging economies.
Countering China’s BRI?
- Observers have referred to the proposal as a means of countering China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which was launched over six years ago.
- While Blue Dot may be seen as a counter to BRI, it will need a lot of work for two reasons.
Fundamental difference between BRI and Blue Dot
- While the former involves direct financing, giving countries in need immediate short-term relief, the latter is not a direct financing initiative and therefore may not be what some developing countries need.
- The question is whether Blue Dot offering first-world solutions to third-world countries.
- Secondly, Blue Dot will require coordination among multiple stakeholders when it comes to grading projects.
- Given the past experience of Quad, the countries involved in it are still struggling to put a viable bloc. Therefore, it remains to be seen how Blue Dot fares in the long run.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Kalasa-Banduri Nala Project
Mains level: Mahadayei Water Dispute
The cost of Kalasa-Banduri Nala Project on the Mahadayi River skyrockets by 1,674% since inception. It rose from about ₹94 crores (2000) to ₹1,677.30 crores (2020) due to the ongoing inter-State river water dispute.
Kalasa-Banduri Nala Project
- The project is undertaken by the Government of Karnataka to improve drinking water supply to the three districts of Belagavi, Dharwad, and Gadag.
- It was planned in 1989; Goa raised an objection to it.
- It involves building across Kalasa and Banduri, two tributaries of the Mahadayi river to divert water to the Malaprabha, a tributary of Krishna River.
- Malaprabha river supplies the drinking water to Dharwad, Belgaum, and Gadag districts.
About Mahadayi Water Dispute
- The Mahadayi river basin drains an area of 2032 square kilometres of which 375 square km lies in Karnataka, 77 sq km in Maharashtra and the remaining in Goa.
- It originates in the Belagavi district of Karnataka, briefly passes through Maharashtra and flows through Goa (where its known as Mandovi), and drains to the Arabian Sea.
- Since the eighties, Karnataka has been was contemplating linking of Mahadayi with Malaprabha river, a tributary of Krishna.
- In 2002, Karnataka gave the idea a shape in the form of the Kalasa-Bhanduri project.
- Goa strongly opposed it as Mahadayi is one of the two rivers the State is dependent on and thus Mahadayi Water Disputes Tribunal was set up in 2010.
Read more about the Mahadayi Dispute and award of the tribunal at:
https://www.civilsdaily.com/news/verdict-of-mahadayi-water-disputes-tribunal-comes/
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Solar Storms
Mains level: Solar storms and their impact on Earth
According to a research, sudden releases of high-energy particles from the sun, called solar storms, can mess with the navigational ability of gray whales, causing them to strand on land.
Solar storms
- Solar storms are a variety of eruptions of mass and energy from the solar surface.
- Flares, prominences, sunspots, coronal mass ejections are the common harbingers of solar activity, as are plages and other related phenomena seen at other wavelengths.
Impact on Whales
- Solar storms have the potential to modify geomagnetic field and disrupt magnetic orientation behaviour of animals, hampering their navigation during long periods of migration.
- They disrupt earth’s magnetic field — and the whales’ navigational sense.
- The radio frequency noise created by the solar outburst affects the whales’ senses in a way that prevents them from navigating at all.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much.
Mains level: Paper 2-Balancing India's interests in the light of US's strategy to contain China in the Pacific.
Context
Since 2017, the United States government has released a few reports and fact sheets on its new Indo-Pacific strategy. Buried in these documents is a much deeper agenda of the U.S. government: to use three large Asian states — Australia, India, and Japan — to isolate China. There is nothing else to it.
The scale of BRI and the US objections
- Objections to BRI: The U.S. government has made it clear that what it finds most objectionable is China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which has signed on more than 70 countries in the world.
- What BRI aims to achieve? Adopted in 2013, the BRI is intended as a mechanism to-
- Development of new markets: BRI aims to end China’s reliance upon the markets of the West and to develop new markets in other continents.
- Building infra: It is also intended to use China’s massive surpluses to build infrastructure in key parts of Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
- Investment of $ 1.3 trillion: By 2027, according to estimates by Morgan Stanley, China will spend about $1.3 trillion on this ambitious construction project.
- Involvement of Saudi Arabia: Even Saudi Arabia, a close ally of the U.S., has made the BRI one of the cornerstones of its Saudi Vision 2030 plan.
- Involvement of Pakistan: While China has invested $68 billion to build the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor from Xinjiang to Pakistan’s Gwadar Port.
- Saudi Arabia has agreed to invest $10 billion in the port itself.
Significance of the BRI and comparison with the US spending
- Staggering scale and participation: The scale of Chinese investment, and the participation of a range of countries with different political identities in the BRI, is staggering.
- Loss of appetite in the US to spend: At the Indo-Pacific Business Forum in July 2018 the U.S. said that it has spent $2.9 billion through the Department of State and the USAID (United States Agency for International Development).
- It has lined up hundreds of millions of dollars more through its U.S. Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation.
- Inadequate US spending: If one adds up all the money that the U.S. intends to spend for economic projects, it is still a fraction of the amount spent by China.
- ‘America First’ attitude: There is no appetite in Washington, D.C., with its ‘America First’ attitude, to funnel more money towards investments in the region currently being built by the BRI.
Military Claims of the US and investment
- US investment with military presence: It appears as if U.S. investments will come only with military claims.
- The case of Nepal: A few years ago, Nepal discovered a large amount of uranium in Mustang, near the Nepal-China border; this has certainly motivated U.S. interest in Nepal’s economy.
- If the U.S. money comes with U.S. military presence, this will create a serious flashpoint in the Himalayas.
Raising human right and transparency issue against China
- The argument of human rights and transparency
- Rhetorical argument: Unable to outspend the Chinese, the U.S. government is making a rhetorical argument that it has more respect for “transparency, human rights, and democratic values” than China, which “practices repression at home and abroad”.
- The argument of transparency and the debt trap
- Debt trap used by the US: It is hard to imagine the U.S. being “transparent” with its trade deals. It is equally hard to imagine the U.S. being able to argue that it would not put countries into debt.
- Debt crisis created by the US in the 1980s: The U.S. government enabled a massive Third World debt crisis in the 1980s, which was then used by the U.S.-driven International Monetary Fund’s Structural Adjustment Programs to strangle countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
- This history is alive, and it makes a mockery of the U.S.’s attempt to say that its own approach is superior to that of China’s.
US withdrawal from multilateralism
- Apart from that, the U.S. government has already indicated that it is uninterested in multilateral deals.
- Withdrawal from TPP: The US withdrew from the Trans-Pacific Partnership in 2017, for instance.
- Australia and Japan shrugged, and then put their energy into the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, which sidelines the U.S.
The claim of free and open Indo-Pacific
- Renaming the Pacific Command: In May 2018, the U.S. military’s Pacific Command was renamed the Indo-Pacific Command, a symbolic gesture that provides a military aspect to the Indo-Pacific Strategy.
- What free and open mean to the US? The U.S. government has made it clear that for all its talk of a “free and open Indo-Pacific”, what it actually wants is an Indo-Pacific with fewer Chinese ships and more U.S. warships.
- Just before this renaming, the U.S. National Security Strategy of 2017 noted that “China seeks to displace the United States in the Indo-Pacific region”, and so the Indo-Pacific Strategy intends for the S. to fight for its dominance in the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and in the Asian rim.
- This is a very dangerous war that the U.S. seeks to impose on Asia.
India adopting the US project of Indo-Pacific
- Australia and Japan moving away: As the military aspect of the Strategy increased, both Australia and Japan edged away from full-scale adoption of the U.S. project.
- Japan has begun to use the term “Indo-Pacific” without the word “Strategy”.
- Australia has signed onto a “comprehensive strategic partnership” with China.
- Only India adopting the project: Only India remains loyal to the agenda set by U.S. President Donald Trump.
- No US strategy to contain China: In all the documents released by the U.S. government and in all the speeches by officials, there is no discussion of the strategy to contain China.
- There is only rhetoric that skates into the belligerent territory.
Conclusion
India would be advised to study the U.S. project rather than jump into it eagerly. Room for an independent foreign policy for India is already narrowed, and room for independent trade policy is equally suffocated. To remain the subordinate ally of the U.S. suggests that India will miss an opportunity to be part of a reshaped Asia.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much.
Mains level: Paper 2- Data localisation and issues involved.
Context
The contentious clauses on local data storage in the revised Personal Data Protection Bill need re-examination.
What Personal Data Protection Bill contains?
- Greater control to an individual: The draft law is a comprehensive piece of legislation that seeks to give individuals greater control over how their personal data is collected, stored and used.
- The promise of improvement over the current privacy law: Once passed, the law promises a huge improvement on current Indian privacy law, which is both inadequate and improperly enforced.
- Criticism of the bill: The proposed bill has attracted criticism on various grounds such as-
- The exceptions created for the state.
- The limited checks imposed on state surveillance, and-
- Regarding various deficiencies in the structures and processes of the proposed Data Protection Authority.
The issue over the “data localisation”
- Data within the country: The phrase, which can refer to any restrictions on cross-border transfer of data, has largely come to refer to the need to physically locate data within the country.
- Provisions for the transfer of personal data outside India: The PDP Bill enables the transfer of personal data outside India, with the sub-category of sensitive personal data have to be mirrored in the country (e. a copy will have to be kept in the country).
- Ban on transfer of critical data outside the country: Data processing/collecting entities will, however, be barred from transferring critical personal data (a category that the government can notify at a subsequent stage) outside the country.
- Different from Justice Srikrishna committee report: These above provisions have been changed from the earlier version of the draft Bill, released by the Justice Srikrishna Committee in 2018.
- The 2018 draft imposed more stringent measures that required both personal and sensitive personal data to be mirrored in the country (subject to different conditions).
- Welcome move: The move to liberalise the provisions in the 2019 version of the Bill is undoubtedly welcome, particularly for businesses and users.
How removing the restriction matters?
- Reduction in cost to business: Liberalised requirements will limit costs to business and ensure users have greater flexibility in choosing where to store their data.
- More proportionate approach: The changes in the 2019 draft reflect a more proportionate approach to the issue as they implement a tiered system for cross-border data transfer, ostensibly based on the sensitivity/vulnerability of the data.
- Move-in accordance with the right to privacy: This seems in accord with the Supreme Court’s dicta in the 2017 Puttaswamy case.
- Conditions for interference in privacy: The Court had made it clear that interference in the fundamental right to privacy would only be permissible if inter alia deemed necessary and proportionate.
Test of proportionality in the bill
- On closer examination, it appears that even the revised law may not actually stand the test of proportionality.
- The three-argument for imposing norms: There are broadly three sets of arguments advanced in favour of imposing stringent data localisation norms:
- Sovereignty and government functions. Referring to the need to recognise Indian data as a resource to be used to further national interest (economically and strategically), and-
- To enable enforcement of Indian law and state functions.
- Accruing benefits to the local industry: The second claim is that economic benefits will accrue to local industry in terms of creating local infrastructure, employment and contributions to the AI ecosystem.
- Protection of civil liberties: Regarding the protection of civil liberties, the argument is that local hosting of data will enhance its privacy and security by ensuring Indian law applies to the data and users can access local remedies.
- Contradiction in the claim of protection? If data protection was required for the above purposes, it would make sense to ensure that local copies were retained of all the categories of personal data provided for in the Bill (as was the case with the previous draft of the law).
- Sectoral obligations: In the alternative, sectoral obligations would also suffice as is currently the case with sectors such as digital payments data, certain types of telecom data, government data, etc.
- Will data localisation lead to privacy protection? We note that the security of data is determined more by the technical measures, skills, cybersecurity protocols, etc. put in place rather than its mere location.
- Localisation may make it easier for domestic surveillance over citizens.
- Enabler of better exercise of privacy by citizens: It may also enable the better exercise of privacy rights by Indian citizens against any form of unauthorised access to data, including by foreign intelligence.
- Effectiveness matters: The degree of protection afforded to data will depend on the effectiveness of the applicable data protection regime.
- Protecting privacy through less intrusive measures: Insofar as privacy is concerned, this could be equally protected through less intrusive, suitable and equally effective measures such as requirements for contractual conditions and using adequacy tests for the jurisdiction of the transfer.
- Such conditions are already provided for in the PDP Bill as a set of secondary conditions.
- The European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation too uses a similar framework.
- Extra-territorial operation: The extraterritorial application of the PDP Bill also ensures that the data protection obligations under the law continue to exist even if the data is transferred outside the country.
- Giving an individual a choice: If privacy protection is the real consideration, individuals ought to be able to choose to store their data in any location which afford them the strongest privacy protections.
- It is arguable that data of Indians will continue to be more secure if stored and processed in the European Union or California.
- These two jurisdictions have strong data protection laws and advanced technical ecosystems.
Way forward
- Identification of the issues: The joint parliamentary committee ought to, ideally, identify the need, purpose and practicality of putting in place even the (relatively liberal) measures contained in the PDP Bill.
- Broader thinking at policy level: Further, in order for localisation-related norms to bear fruit, either in terms of protecting citizen rights, enabling law enforcement access to data or enabling the development of the local economy, there has to be broader thinking at the policy level.
- This may include for instance-
- Reforming surveillance-related laws.
- Entering into more detailed and up-to-date mutual legal assistance treaties.
- Enabling the development of sufficient digital infrastructure, and
- Creating appropriate data-sharing policies that preserve privacy and other third party rights, while enabling data to be used for socially useful purposes.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Location of Idlib Province
Mains level: Usual turmoil in Syria
The nine-year-old war in Syria is currently raging in the northwestern province of Idlib, with rapidly escalating tensions between government forces of President Bashar al-Assad and the Turkish military.
Background
- President’s Assad’s forces are backed by Russia, who are clashing with thousands of Turkish troops south of its border with Syria.
- Turkey has closed the border and is trying to seal itself from waves of displaced refugees as Assad presses forth with a brutal campaign to take back Idlib.
Why is Idlib important?
- Assad has been pushing to recapture Idlib, which, along with parts of neighbouring Hama, Latakia and Aleppo, are the last remaining strongholds of the rebel opposition and other groups that have been attempting to overthrow Assad since 2011.
- At one point, the opposition held large parts of Syria under its control, but that changed after Assad, with Russian military support, slowly regained control over most of the country.
- In 2015, Idlib province was overtaken by opposition forces.
- Now, Syrian government forces are attempting to capture the strategic M4 and M5 national highways that connect Idlib, Aleppo and Damascus, the capital of the country.
- Idlib skirts the two national highways and lies between Aleppo in the north and Damascus in the south.
- It’s proximity to the Turkish border makes Idlib strategically important to the Syrian government.
Who controls Idlib now?
- Since the province fell to opposition forces, there is no one group that controls Idlib, but rather, several separate factions.
- International watchdogs say that the dominant faction in Idlib is the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a UN-designated terrorist organization set up in 2017, with links to al-Qaeda.
- Also operating in Idlib is the Turkey-backed Syrian National Army, an armed opposition group. Included in the mix are the remnants of the Islamic State.
- Watch groups say that other factions in Idlib strongly oppose the presence of IS fighters in the province.
Why is Idlib important for Turkey?
- Idlib’s proximity to the Turkish border makes it not only important for the Syrian government, but also a cause of concern for Turkey.
- Since the war started in Syria, thousands of displaced Syrians have sought refuge in Turkey over the years.
- According to the latest known figures, Turkey presently hosts some 3.6 million refugees and is feeling the socio-economic and political strain of their presence in the country.
- More conflict in Idlib would only serve to displace more people, pushing them towards the Turkish border.
- Turkey has been witnessing a surge in hostility among its citizens towards refugees and a fresh wave of refugees will only exacerbate the situation.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Yongle Blue Hole (YBH)
Mains level: Signifcance of Blue Holes
Carbon more than 8,000 years old has been found inside the world’s deepest blue hole — the Yongle Blue Hole (YBH).
Yongle Blue Hole (YBH)
- The deepest known marine cavern is the Yongle blue hole, which measures roughly 300 metres from top to bottom.
- Blue holes are marine caverns filled with water and are formed following dissolution of carbonate rocks, usually under the influence of global sea level rise or fall.
- Its waters are mostly isolated from the surrounding ocean and receive little fresh water from rainfall, making it a rare spot to study the chemistry of oxygen-deprived marine ecosystems.
- What distinguishes them from other aquatic caverns is that they are isolated from the ocean and don’t receive fresh rainwater.
- They are generally circular, steep-walled and open to surface.
Significance of YBH
- YBH has a depth of 300 metres, far deeper than the previously recorded deepest blue hole, Dean’s Blue Hole in Bahamas, which had a depth of 202 metres.
- However, like most blue holes, it is anoxic i.e. depleted of dissolved oxygen below a certain depth. This anaerobic environment is unfavorable for most sea life.
- Such anoxic ecosystems are considered a critical environmental and ecological issue as they have led to several mass extinctions.
- Concentrations of carbon, usually found in deep marine holes like YBH, provide a natural laboratory to study carbon cycling and potential mechanisms controlling it in the marine ecosystem.
- The transition from aerobic to anaerobic environment adversely affects the biogeo-chemistry of the ocean.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Taj Mahal
Mains level: Conservation of historical monuments
The Taj Mahal complex has been spruced up for the visit of US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump.
About Taj
- The Taj Mahal is an ivory-white marble mausoleum on the south bank of the Yamuna river in the city of Agra.
- It was commissioned in 1632 by Shah Jahan (reigned from 1628 to 1658) to house the tomb of his favourite wife, Mumtaz Mahal; it also houses the tomb of Shah Jahan himself.
- The tomb is the centrepiece of a 17-hectare (42-acre) complex, which includes a mosque and a guest house, and is set in formal gardens bounded on three sides by a crenellated wall.
- The Taj Mahal complex is believed to have been completed in its entirety in 1653 at a cost estimated at the time to be around 32 million rupees, which in 2015 would be approximately 52.8 billion rupees (U.S. $827 million).
- The construction project employed some 20,000 artisans under the guidance of a board of architects led by the court architect to the emperor, Ustad Ahmad Lahauri.
- The Taj Mahal was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983 for being “the jewel of Muslim art in India and one of the universally admired masterpieces of the world’s heritage”.
Various threats to Taj
- The Supreme Court had earlier expressed concern over the marble of the Taj changing colour, and asked how the white marble, which had first become yellowish, was now turning brownish and greenish.
- Firstly, the polluting industries and the vehicular emissions in the Taj Trapezium Zone (TTZ) area are a major source of pollution.
- The second reason is that the Yamuna River, which flows behind the Taj, has become highly polluted.
- There is no aquatic life in it, and has caused insect and algae infestation on the Taj Mahal and other monuments situated on its banks.
Use of mud packs
- Increasing pollution in the air over the Gangetic Valley affecting the Taj has been a reason for concern for archaeologists and conservationists for long now.
- Mud packs were applied on the surface of the monument first in 1994, and then again in 2001, 2008, and, most recently, beginning 2014.
- Mud packs have been one of the ASI’s favoured ways to remove the yellow stains that have appeared over the years on the Taj Mahal’s white marble facade.
- The clay is applied in the form of a thick paste that absorbs the grime, grease and bird droppings on the marble, before being washed off using distilled water.
- The process is slow and tortuous, but is believed to leave the marble cleaner and shinier.
- The intricate parts are applied with special “multani mitti’ (Fuller’s clay) treatment.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Pakke Tiger Reserve
Mains level: Not Much
The government in Arunachal Pradesh is planning to build a 692.7 km highway through the 862 sq km Pakke Tiger Reserve (PTR). Named the East-West Industrial Corridor, the highway aims to connect Bhairabhunda in West Kameng district and Manmao in Changlang district along Arunachal Pradesh’s border with Assam.
About Pakke Tiger Reserve (PTR)
- Pakke Tiger Reserve, also known as Pakhui Tiger Reserve, is a Project Tiger reserve in the East Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh.
- The 862 km2 reserve is protected by the Department of Environment and Forest of Arunachal Pradesh.
- This Tiger Reserve has won India Biodiversity Award 2016 in the category of ‘Conservation of threatened species’ for its Hornbill Nest Adoption Programme.
- It falls within the Eastern Himalaya Biodiversity Hotspot.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: SPICe+
Mains level: Not Much
The Ministry of Corporate Affairs has launched SPICe+ web form.
SPICe+
- It would offer 10 services by 3 Central Govt Ministries & Departments (Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Ministry of Labour & Department of Revenue in the Ministry of Finance) and One State Government (Maharashtra).
- It saves as many procedures, time and cost for Starting a Business in India and would be applicable for all new company incorporations.
Following are the features of the new Spice+ web form:
- SPICe+ would be an integrated Web Form.
- SPICe+ would have two parts viz.: Part A-for Name reservation for new companies and Part B offering a bouquet of services viz.
- Registration for Profession Tax shall also be mandatory for all new companies to be incorporated in the State of Maharashtra through SPICe+.
- All new companies incorporated through SPICe+ would also be mandatorily required to apply for opening the company’s Bank account through the AGILE-PRO linked web form.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: International Judicial Conference
Mains level: Highlights of the conference
The President of India delivered the valedictory address at the International Judicial Conference being organised by the Supreme Court of India, in New Delhi.
About the Conference
- The Conference was organized by the Supreme Court of India.
- The theme of the Conference was ‘Judiciary and the Changing World’.
Important Topics of discussion at the Conference included :
- Gender Justice,
- Contemporary Perspectives on Protection of Constitutional Values,
- Dynamic Interpretations of the Constitution in a Changing World,
- Harmonization of Environment Protection vis-à-vis Sustainable Development and
- Protection of Right to Privacy in the Internet Age
Other excerpts:
“Just-World” Hypothesis
- The “Just World” fallacy is associated with the actions of bringing fair actions towards education, health, gender equality and other social issues.
- The Conference introduced the “Just World” concept in the Judicial System of India.
- By this it aims to take the judicial system of the country to every citizen irrespective of their gender.
- Also, it aimed to bring upon gender equality in other crucial areas where women have still not earned their recognition, especially the areas of mining and military.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much.
Mains level: Paper 2- India-US relations, contradictory impulses in the US policy and what future holds for India in the present scenario.
Context
Trump administration seems supportive of India as part of its Indo-Pacific strategy, while also counting gains for itself.
No substantive outcomes of the visit stated
- Neither side has so far publicly touted any major substantive outcomes of the visit.
- Creation of positive atmosphere: To create some positive atmospherics, the Indian Cabinet Committee on Security just gave final approval to $3 billion worth of pending contracts to purchase military helicopters from US companies Lockheed Martin and Boeing.
- Missile defence system sale: The US Administration, on its part, informed Congress of its willingness to authorise the sale of another $1.8 billion worth missile defence system.
- The move is indicative of the US’s growing willingness to allow higher technology defence equipment to India.
- Placing India at level (STA-1) similar to its closest allies: The Trump Administration has gone farther than its predecessors in the technology levels it is willing to offer.
- Including Guardian drones in 2017, and placing India at STA-1 level, similar to its closest allies and partners.
- The expected MoUs: The spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs indicated on February 20 that five MoUs can be expected, inter alia,-
- On intellectual property.
- Trade facilitation and
- Homeland security.
- Making sense of the US’s actions in the present context: There will also be the regulation joint statement.
- Analysing in greater details: This time, the statement will be parsed in more than usual detail for indications of future direction and intent for the partnership.
- It is the time when the US has been talking of “Make America Great Again”, advocating for sovereignty and nationalism.
- The US is also decrying-Alliance commitments, Readying to sign an agreement with the Taliban by month-end leading to a drawdown of US troop presence.
- Yet, it is articulating repeatedly about India being a lynchpin of its “Free and Open Indo-Pacific Strategy”.
No development on the limited trade front
- No progress on limited trade package: The two countries have not been able to finalise even a “limited trade package”, which has been under discussion for two years.
- Gaps between the expectations: Obviously, there is a gap between what India can accommodate, and what the US negotiators want for their own political reasons.
- The Trump administration has taken several steps that have negatively impacted India.
- It has imposed additional tariffs on steel and aluminium imports from India, ostensibly on national security grounds.
Contradictory impulses
- The above action flies in the face of citing strategic partnership and convergence in Indo-Pacific strategy.
- GSP withdrawal: It has withdrawn hitherto available GSP benefits from certain categories of labour-intensive Indian products.
- Labelling India a ‘Developed’ country: The US has taken India out of its list of “developing” countries, lowering the threshold for countervailing trade action.
- Against the spirit of the beneficial rise of India: These actions go against the grain of the US articulation that it sees the rise of India to be in US benefit.
- Treating the trade deficit with China and India on equal footing: It also does not make sense when India is an overall trade deficit country.
- Even though it has a $20 billion surplus with the US which pales compared to China’s $350 billion surplus.
- Unprecedented actions against the closest allies: Trump has taken unprecedented action against the closest US allies.
- He has also repeatedly publicly ridiculed Indian tariffs, claiming recently that India has not treated the US fairly.
What the future holds for the India-US relationship
- Is the US “all-weather” partner: Given the contradictory impulses, it would be fair to ask what the future holds for the India-US relationship, and where would the Trump visit and its aftermath take us.
- Can India consider the US a reliable and “all-weather” partner, or be constantly juggling convergences and divergences?
- The factors that affected relationship: Historically, four factors have affected the India-US relationship at any point of time:
- US global posture and priorities.
- Strength of bilateral relations.
- The role assigned to Pakistan in its global objectives.
- The strategy towards China.
Evolution of India-US relationship
- Under Democrat Presidents
- Roosevelt Period: During the Second World War, Roosevelt pushed Britain to grant independence to India, facilitated a separate official Indian representation in Washington through an Agent-General since 1941.
- But did not go far enough fearing disruption of the necessary wartime alliance. In the post-war period.
- Truman Period: Truman spoke of partnering with developing countries for their industrial and scientific progress.
- He welcomed Indian PM Nehru for an acclaimed visit in 1949.
- But initiated the Cold War containment strategy against the Soviet Union, and the assessment of newly independent countries from that lens.
- Kennedy Period: He was extremely supportive of democratic India’s economic assistance requirements, and for military assistance during the 1962 China conflict.
- Carter Period: Carter, wedded to human rights issues, acclaimed India’s post Emergency elections.
- But was critical on non- proliferation differences.
- Clinton Period: Clinton stabilised the relationship after the dissonance and sanctions following our 1998 nuclear tests.
- And gave full support to India’s position during the 1999 Kargil conflict with Pakistan.
- Obama Period: He came out in support of India’s permanent membership of the UN Security Council, and declared India a Major Defence Partner, enabling higher-level technology authorisations.
- Under Republican Presidents
- Eisenhower Period: Eisenhower embraced and armed Pakistan in its CENTO and SEATO military alliances.
- India as a bulwark against China: He emphasised food and economic assistance to India seeing it as a democratic bulwark against a Communist China.
- First-ever visit to India by the US president: He made a successful first-ever visit of a serving US President to India, welcomed also by a 5 lakh crowd in Connaught Place.
- Nixon Period: He visited India for a day in 1959, was upset with Indian criticism of his Vietnam military offensives.
- Sided completely with Pakistan during the Bangladesh crisis of 1971.
- He sent the US seventh fleet into the Bay of Bengal to pressurise India and sought to reorder the global balance by outreach to China through a secret Kissinger visit that year.
- Reagan Period: He explored economic and scientific cooperation with India, but was absorbed with Pakistan’s support in pushing the Soviet Union out of Afghanistan.
- George W Bush Period: George W Bush transformed the relationship with the civil nuclear cooperation agreement of 2008.
- Perceiving again the technological, military and political challenge to the US from a rising China.
Conclusion
It is clear that India’s interests have been impacted a bit by party orientation on issues, but more by the overall global circumstance. Under the present circumstance, therefore, India will have to deal with a transactional administration, supportive of strengthening India as part of its Indo-Pacific strategy, but also counting the gains for itself.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much.
Mains level: Paper 3- Ending the opacity in the financial system and making the multinationals pay their fair share of tax.
Context
It is now beyond obvious that India cannot revive its economy without increasing public spending, and so increasing its fiscal resources is essential. Among other measures, this requires urgent adoption of legislation and institutional reforms to end financial opacity.
The opacity in the data
- Unlikely Budget estimates: The Union Budget was presented, based on numbers for revised estimates for the current year and Budget estimates for the coming year that the Finance Ministry itself knows are
- Where else the opacity in data extends: The opacity of data also extends to cross-border movement of funds generated through a range of activities, including tax evasion, misappropriation of state assets, laundering of the proceeds of crime, and bribery.
- Even here, India still has a lot to do, as confirmed by the recent publication of the Financial Secrecy Index by the Tax Justice Network, a U.K.-based financial advocacy group.
- Financial Secrecy Index rank: On the surface, India has managed to reduce its contribution to global financial secrecy, with its rank falling from 32 on the 2018 index to 47 in 2020.
- But this is partly because the new edition of the index covers more countries than it did two years ago.
Transparency Reforms by the government
- Arrangement with Switzerland: It is true that the government has adopted and supported a few transparency reforms, such as the automatic exchange of tax and financial information with other jurisdictions, like Switzerland.
- What the arrangement with Switzerland mean? If an Indian citizen has an account with a Swiss bank and has a balance over a certain threshold, this information will be sent to the Indian tax authorities automatically.
- Beneficial ownership register: The government did create a beneficial ownership register- which would allow the identification of the beneficial owner of an asset regardless of whose name the title of the property is in.
- Exemption making the law weak: The law is weak since it exempts a lot of people at the discretion of the authorities.
- Also, this register is not accessible to the public.
Making multinationals and the super-rich pay their fair share of taxes
- Need to do more: Stopping the financial haemorrhage and making multinationals and the super-rich pay their fair share of taxes requires much more.
- Capital flight and consequence for the country’s development: Capital flight out of India by Indian elites and foreigners alike has been undermining our country’s development for decades.
- Outdated international system: An important part of these flows is the result of artificial profit shifting by multinational companies taking advantage of an outdated international tax system.
- How the multinationals shifts profits? These multinationals may be making profits in India but can easily declare those profits in a low tax jurisdiction like Hong Kong and justify that transaction as a payment for the use of a patent.
- The magnitude of loss-$27.5 billion: According to one estimate, this strategy represented a loss of $27.5 billion in 2014 for the Indian government, up from $142 million in 2000.
Onshore financial services and issues with it
- Paradoxical decision: Three years ago, the government took the paradoxical decision to set up onshore international financial services in the country.
- This is how the International Financial Services Centre in the Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT-City), Gandhinagar, emerged.
- It was modelled after offshore financial centres such as Hong Kong, Singapore, the City of London and Dubai.
- Increasing the possibility of regulatory arbitrage: While this has not created much employment, it has led to growing possibilities for regulatory arbitrage by financial firms, with potentially very problematic consequences.
The issue with the policy of tax incentives
- Little evidence of attracting investment: The government keeps granting tax incentives on a discretionary basis, even though there is little evidence that these incentives attract investment.
- What factors matters for investment: Recent research by International Monetary Fund, factors such as-
- Quality of infrastructure.
- A healthy and skilled workforce.
- Market access and-
- Political stability matters much more.
- Consequences of the policy-reduction in tax revenue: The massive reduction in corporate tax rates has thus far not led to any increase in private investment.
- But it has meant a significant reduction in tax revenues, with devastating consequences.
- Implications for health, educations etc.: Reduction in tax revenue translates into a lack of resources for education, healthcare, food and nutrition and infrastructure.
- Low tax-GDP ratio: India is already an outlier among similarly placed developing countries with its low tax-GDP ratio of 18%.
- Making the budget dependent on indirect taxes: The government budget is also highly dependent on indirect taxes like the Goods and Services Tax which are regressive and hit ordinary citizens harder.
Way forward
- Legislation to end financial opacity: Adoption of legislation and institutional reforms to end financial opacity- including, for example-
- Opening the beneficial ownership register to the public and-
- Stopping the creation of onshore tax havens is the need of the hour.
- Opening the debate on how to make the multinationals pay their fair share: The Government of India must also assume a more vocal role in the international debate about how to make multinationals pay their fair share of taxes.
- This means continuing to appeal for a United Nations tax body, which is much more legitimate than the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
- The issue with the OECD’s proposal: The OECD’s proposals, published at the end of 2019, are neither ambitious nor fair enough.
- Explore the possibility of going alone: If the organisation continues to remain deaf to the demands of developing countries, India must be prepared to go it alone, thinking unilaterally about how to make multinationals pay what they owe.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much.
Mains level: Paper 2-Policy framework needed to reap the benefits of demographic dividends.
Context
The demographic dividend is close to five-decade-long demographic opportunities that can be leveraged only with suitable policies and programmes
The youngest population in the world
- Median age at 28 years: By 2022, the median age in India will be 28 years.
- In comparison, it will be 37 in China and the United States.
- 45 in western Europe, and 49 in Japan.
- The demographic dividend
- The working-age population more than non-working: India’s working-age population has numerically outstripped its non-working age population.
- An extraordinary opportunity: A demographic dividend, said to have commenced around 2004-05, is available for close to five decades.
The two caveats
- The demographic dividend is an extraordinary opportunity. There are, however, two caveats.
- First: Dividend available in different states at different times.
- India’s population heterogeneity ensures that the window of demographic dividend becomes available at different times in different States.
- Example of Kerala vs. Bihar: While Kerala’s population is already ageing, in Bihar the working-age cohort is predicted to continue increasing till 2051.
- Decline in 11 major states by 2031: By 2031, the overall size of our vast working-age population would have declined in 11 of the 22 major States.
- Second: Many factors that matter for harnessing the dividend
- Factors that matter: Harnessing the demographic dividend will depend upon the-
- Employability of the working-age population.
- Health.
- Education.
- Vocational training and skill.
- Besides appropriate land and labour policies, as well as good governance.
- Demography is not destiny: India will gain from its demographic opportunity only if policies and programmes are aligned to this demographic shift. Demography is not destiny.
Need for skills
- Need for the additional jobs: The Economic Survey 2019 calls for additional jobs to keep pace with the projected annual increases in the working-age population.
- Lack of education and skills: UNICEF 2019 reports that at least 47% of Indian youth are not on track to have the education and skills necessary for employment in 2030.
- Possibility of demographic disaster: The projected demographic dividend would turn into a demographic disaster if an unskilled, under-utilised, and frustrated young population undermines social harmony and economic growth.
- Poor learning outcomes: While over 95% of India’s children attend primary school, the National Family Health Surveys (completed up to 2015-16) confirm that poor infrastructure in government schools, malnutrition, and scarcity of trained teachers have ensured poor learning outcomes.
What needs to be done?
- Adopt a uniform school system: A coordinated incentive structure prompting States to adopt a broadly uniform public school system focusing on equity and quality will yield a knowledge society faster than privatising school education can accomplish.
- Ensure training in line with the market demand: Most districts now have excellent broadband connectivity-
- Let geography not trump demography: Irrespective of a rural or urban setting, the public school system must ensure that every child completes high school education, and is pushed into appropriate skilling, training and vocational education in line with market demand.
- Invest and modernise: Modernise school curricula, systematically invest in teacher training so that they grow in their jobs to assume leadership roles while moving beyond the tyranny of the syllabus.
- Use of technology: Deploy new technology to accelerate the pace of building human capital by putting in place virtual classrooms together with massive open online courses (MOOCS) to help prepare this huge workforce for next-generation jobs.
- Investing in open digital universities would further help yield a higher educated workforce.
Focus on women
- Translating literacy into skill: Growing female literacy is not translating into relevant and marketable skills.
- A comprehensive approach is needed to improve their prospects vis-à-vis gainful employment.
- Need of the flexible policies: Flexible entry and exit policies for women into virtual classrooms, and into modules for open digital training, and vocational education would help them access contemporary vocations.
- The need for equal pay: Equal pay for women will make it worth their while to stay longer in the workforce.
- The deferred bonus: Economist Yogendra Alagh has written that the significance of this “deferred bonus” (women entering the workforce), could be higher than the immediate benefits of the dividend from shifts in population age structure.
Health care
- In India, population health is caught between the rising demand for health services and competition for scarce resources.
- Impact of economy on rural health: The National Sample Survey Office data on health (75th round, 2018), shows that a deep-rooted downturn in the rural economy is making quality health-care unaffordable.
- People are availing of private hospitals less than they used to, and are moving towards public health systems.
- Diverting public investment from However, central budget 2020-21 lays emphasis on private provisioning of health care which will necessarily divert public investment away from public health infrastructure.
- The Ayushman Bharat Yojana: It links demand to tertiary in-patient care.
- This promotes earnings of under-utilised private hospitals, instead of modernising and up-grading public health systems in each district.
- We need to assign 70% of health sector budgets to integrate and strengthen primary and integrated public health-care services and systems up to district hospital levels.
- Include out-patient department and diagnostic services in every health insurance model adopted, and-
- Implement in ‘mission mode’ the Report of the High-Level Group, 2019, submitted to the XV Finance Commission.
- The elderly population in India is projected to double from 8.6% in 2011 to 16% in 2040.
- This will sharply reduce the per capita availability of hospital beds in India across all major States unless investments in health systems address these infirmities.
Conclusion
The policies that we adopt and their effective implementation will ensure that our demographic dividend, a time-limited opportunity, becomes a boon for India.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Joint Commands of the tri-services
Mains level: Need for Joint Commands
- The Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Rawat said his office is working on a tentative timeline for the establishment of joint commands among the three defence services.
- With the creation of the CDS post on December 31, the government has set the ball rolling for bringing jointness and integration among the services.
What are joint commands?
- Simply put, it is a unified command in which the resources of all the services are unified under a single commander looking at a geographical theatre.
- It means that a single military commander, as per the requirements, will have the resources of the Army, the Navy and the Air Force to manage a security threat.
- The commander of a joint command will have the freedom to train and equip his command as per the objective and will have logistics of all the services at his beckoning.
- The three services will retain their independent identities as well.
- A committee headed by Lieutenant General D B Shekatkar had earlier recommended three new commands: Northern, for China; Western, for the Pakistan border’ and Southern, for maritime security.
Present commands
- There are two tri-services commands at the moment.
- The joint command at the moment, the Andaman and Nicobar Command (ANC), is a theatre command, which is headed by the chiefs of the three services in rotation.
- It was created in 2001 after a Group of Ministers had given a report on national security following the Kargil War.
- The Strategic Forces Command was established in 2006 and is a functional tri-services command.
What is the structure right now?
- There are 17 commands, divided among the three services. The Army and the Air Force have seven commands each, while the Navy has three commands.
- The commands under the Army are Northern, Southern, Eastern, Western, Central, Southwestern and the Army Training Command.
- The Air Force has Eastern, Western, Southern, Southwestern, Central, Maintenance and Training commands, and the Navy is divided into Western, Eastern and Southern commands.
- These commands report to their respective services and are headed by three-star officers.
- Though these commands are in the same regions, they are no located together.
Advantages of joint commands
- One of the main advantages is that the leader of unified command has control over more varied resources, compared to the heads of the commands under the services now.
- For instance, the head of one of the proposed commands, Air Defence Command, will have under him naval and Army resources, too, which can be used as per the threat perception.
- And the officer commanding the Pakistan or China border will have access to the Air Force’s fighter jets and can use them if needed.
- However, that not all naval resources will be given to the Air Defence Command, nor will all resources of the Air Force come under another proposed command, Peninsula Command, for the coasts.
- The Peninsula Command would give the Navy Chief freedom to look at the larger perspective in the entire Indian Ocean Region in which China’s presence is steadily increasing.
- The other key advantage is that through such integration and jointness the three forces will be able to avoid duplication of resources.
- The resources available under each service will be available to other services too. The services will get to know one another better, strengthening cohesion in the defence establishment.
How many such commands are expected to roll out?
- While the number of commands India needs is still being studied, the CDS has envisaged that there could be between six to nine commands. It is not certain how many land-based theatre commands on the borders will come up.
- The CDS said it will be studied, and the study group will be given the options for creating two to five theatre commands.
- One possibility is to have single commands looking at the China and Pakistan borders respectively, as they are the two major threats.
- The other option is to have a separate command for the border in the J&K region, and another command looking at the rest of the western border.
- There could be independent commands looking at the border with China which is divided by Nepal.
- A proposed Logistics Command will bring the logistics of all the service under one person, and the CDS is also looking at a Training and Doctrine Command so that all services work under a common doctrine and have some basic common training.
Do militaries of other countries have such commands?
- Several major militaries are divided into integrated theatre commands.
- China’s People’s Liberation Army has five theatre commands: Eastern, Western, Northern, Southern and Central. Its Western Theatre Command is responsible for India.
- The US Armed Forces have 11 unified commands, of which seven are geographic and four functional commands. Its geographic commands are Africa, Central, European, Indo-Pacific, Northern, Southern and Space.
- Cyber, Special Operations, Transportation and Strategic are its functional commands.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Happiness Curriculum
Mains level: Happiness Curriculum and its significance
On the upcoming visit to India, US President Trump will visit a Delhi government school, where they will attend a happiness curriculum class.
What is Delhi’s ‘happiness curriculum’?
- The curriculum calls for schools in India to promote development in cognition, language, literacy, numeracy and the arts along with addressing the well-being and happiness of students.
- It further says that future citizens need to be “mindful, aware, awakened, empathetic, firmly rooted in their identity…” based on the premise that education has a larger purpose, which cannot be in isolation from the “dire needs” of today’s society.
- For the evaluation, no examinations are conducted, neither will marks be awarded.
- The assessment under this curriculum is qualitative, focusing on the “process rather than the outcome” and noting that each student’s journey is unique and different.
Objectives of the curriculum
The objectives of this curriculum include:
- developing self-awareness and mindfulness,
- inculcating skills of critical thinking and inquiry,
- enabling learners to communicate effectively and
- helping learners to apply life skills to deal with stressful and conflicting situations around them
Learning outcomes of this curriculum
The learning outcomes of this curriculum are spread across four categories:
- becoming mindful and attentive (developing increased levels of self-awareness, developing active listening, remaining in the present);
- developing critical thinking and reflection (developing strong abilities to reflect on one’s own thoughts and behaviours, thinking beyond stereotypes and assumptions);
- developing social-emotional skills (demonstrating empathy, coping with anxiety and stress, developing better communication skills) and
- developing a confident and pleasant personality (developing a balanced outlook on daily life reflecting self-confidence, becoming responsible and reflecting awareness towards cleanliness, health and hygiene).
How is the curriculum implemented?
- The curriculum is designed for students of classes nursery through the eighth standard.
- Group 1 consists of students in nursery and KG, who have bi-weekly classes (45 minutes each for one session, which is supervised by a teacher) involving mindfulness activities and exercise.
- Children between classes 1-2 attend classes on weekdays, which involves mindfulness activities and exercises along with taking up reflective questions.
- The second group comprises students from classes 3-5 and the third group is comprised of students from classes 6-8 who apart from the aforementioned activities, take part in self-expression and reflect on their behavioural changes.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Jalyukta Shivar Abhiyan
Mains level: Various schemes for drought management
Jalyukta Shivar, the flagship water conservation project launched by the earlier government has been officially scrapped by the present Maha government.
What is Jalyukta Shivar?
- Launched in December 2014 after Maharashtra experienced consecutive droughts, the project aimed at rolling out measures that could potentially mitigate water scarcity in the most drought-prone villages in a systematic manner.
- Nearly 52 per cent of the state’s geographical area is prone to drought, either naturally or due to poor rainfall.
- This includes Marathwada and adjoining areas of Madhya Maharashtra and large parts of Vidarbha.
- The project targeted strengthening and streamlining existing water resources like canals, bunds and ponds by arresting maximum run-off rainwater during monsoon.
- Tasks to widen and deepen natural water streams and connect them to nearby water storage facilities like earthen or concrete check-dams were proposed.
- In the first phase, planned during 2015 – 2019, Jalyukta Shivar envisaged making 5,000 villages drought-free, every year.
- During its proposed tenure, the government eyed at making 25,000 drought-prone villages water-sufficient.
Was Jalyukta Shivar beneficial?
- While the exact number of villages that were declared drought-free remains unknown, the programme attempted to bring water stress down in a majority of the most water-scarce villages in the state.
- In January last year, then CM had announced that the scheme had transformed 16,000 drought-prone villages of Maharashtra.
What is the future of water conservation in the state?
- Geologists and hydrologists, who worked on implementing the project, shared similar views and hailed Jalyukta Shivar.
- This was mainly due to the interventions undertaken in the existing water reserves, planned de-silting activities, among many others.
- However, experts agreed that the scheme was not appropriately implemented.
- Now with Jalyukta Shivar no longer in existence, focused efforts of the past five years, in most likelihood, will go down the drain unless a similar scheme is introduced.
- With rainfall variations getting more pronounced, in addition to depleting groundwater reserves, the state will need concrete interventions to tackle future water requirements.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: An-32, Biojet Fuel
Mains level: Biojet Fuel and its feasiblity
In his monthly Mann ki Baat radio address, PM hailed the use of biofuel in an Indian Air Force transport aircraft.
What did PM cite?
- IAF’s An-32 aircraft successfully used a 10% blend of Indian biojet fuel and took off from Leh’s Kushok Bakula Rimpoche Airport on January 31.
- This was the first time that this mix was used in both engines of an aircraft.
- Leh is at an altitude of 10,682 ft above mean sea level and is among the world’s highest and most difficult operational airfields.
- Even during clear weather, operating an aircraft at Leh is a challenge, given the reduced power output of the engines in the rarefied atmosphere, turbulent winds, and proximity of the mountains.
What is Biojet fuel?
- Biojet fuel is prepared from “non-edible tree borne oil” and is procured from various tribal areas of India.
- This fuel is made from Jatropha oil sourced from Chattisgarh Biodiesel Development Authority (CBDA) and then processed at CSIR-IIP, Dehradun.
- Generally, it is made from vegetable oils, sugars, animal fats and even waste biomass, and can be used in existing aviation jet engines without modification.
- Jatropha oil is suitable for conversion to jet fuel. This biojet fuel has received wide acceptance from the airline industry.
Why it matters?
- Evaluating the performance of biojet fuel under conditions prevalent in Leh was considered extremely important from an operational perspective.
- The success of the flight validated the capability of the aircraft’s engines to operate smoothly with biojet fuel at the extremities of the operational envelope.
- The tests were conducted by a team comprising test pilots from the Aircraft and Systems Testing Establishment (ASTE), Bengaluru and pilots from the operational squadrons.
- The successful test flight also demonstrated the IAF’s capability to absorb newer technology, while sponsoring indigenization.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Future for the World’s Children Report 2020 and indices mentioned
Mains level: Ensuring sustainable development worldwide
The Future for the World’s Children Report 2020 was recently released.
About the report
- The report was released by a commission of over 40 child and adolescent health experts from around the world after assessing 180 countries.
- It was commissioned by the World Health Organization (WHO), UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and The Lancet medical journal.
What is Flourishing Index?
- Flourishing is the geometric mean of Surviving and Thriving.
- For Surviving, the authors selected maternal survival, survival in children younger than 5 years old, suicide, access to maternal and child health services, basic hygiene and sanitation, and lack of extreme poverty.
- For Thriving, the domains were educational achievement, growth and nutrition, reproductive freedom, and protection from violence.
Threats to Children
- The report highlights the distinct threat posed to children from harmful marketing.
- Evidence suggests that children in some countries see as many as 30,000 advertisements on television alone in a single year, while youth exposure to vaping (e-cigarettes) advertisements increased by more than 250% in the U.S. over two years, reaching more than 24 million young people.
- Studies in Australia, Canada, Mexico, New Zealand and the U.S. — among many others — have shown that self-regulation has not hampered commercial ability to advertise to children.
- Children’s exposure to commercial marketing of junk food and sugary beverages is associated with the purchase of unhealthy foods and overweight and obesity, linking predatory marketing to the alarming rise in childhood obesity.
- The number of obese children and adolescents increased from 11 million in 1975 to 124 million in 2016 — an 11-fold increase, with dire individual and societal costs, the report said.
What is Sustainability Index?
- Under the Sustainability Index, the authors noted that promoting today’s national conditions for children to survive and thrive must not come at the cost of eroding future global conditions for children’s ability to flourish.
- It ranks countries on excess carbon emissions compared with the 2030 target.
- This provides a convenient and available proxy for a country’s contribution to sustainability in future.
Highlights of the SI
- The report noted that under realistic assumptions about possible trajectories towards sustainable greenhouse gas emissions, models predict that global carbon emissions need to be reduced from 39·7 gigatonnes to 22·8 gigatonnes per year by 2030 to maintain even a 66% chance of keeping global warming below 1·5degrees C.
- No country in the world is currently providing the conditions we need to support every child to grow up and have a healthy future alarmed the report.
India’s performance
India ranked 77th on a sustainability index that takes into account per capita carbon emissions and ability of children in a nation to live healthy lives and secures 131st spot on a flourishing ranking that measures the best chance at survival and well-being for children.
Performance of nations in SI
- Norway leads the table for survival, health, education and nutrition rates – followed by South Korea and the Netherlands.
- The central African Republic, Chad and Somalia come at the bottom.
- However, when taking into account per capita CO2 emissions, these top countries trail behind, with Norway 156th, the Republic of Korea 166th and the Netherlands 160th.
- Each of the three emits 210 per cent more CO2 per capita than their 2030 target, the data shows, while the U.S., Australia, and Saudi Arabia are among the 10 worst emitters.
- The lowest emitters are Burundi, Chad and Somalia.
- According to the report, the only countries on track to beat CO2 emission per capita targets by 2030, while also performing fairly — within the top 70 — on child flourishing measures are Albania, Armenia, Grenada, Jordan, Moldova, Sri Lanka, Tunisia, Uruguay and Vietnam.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Bay of Bengal Offshore Sailing Expedition (BBSE)
Mains level: Not Much
Indian Naval Sailing Vessels Mhadei and Tarini set sail for the Bay of Bengal Offshore Sailing Expedition from the Indian Naval Ocean Sailing Node at Goa.
BBSE
- This would be the maiden major mixed crew sailing expedition of the Indian Navy with crew composition of five naval officers including two women officers in each boat.
- It would be covering a total distance of 6,100 Nautical miles each and will be at sea for 55 days.
- The prolonged voyage of nearly three months during this expedition would showcase harnessing of renewal energy namely wind energy to propel the boats.
- The expedition is also in pursuance of the GOI mission of ‘Nari Shakti’ providing opportunity to women officers at par with men.
- The sailing vessels as part of the expedition would make replenishment halts at ports of Phuket, Yangon, Chittagong and Colombo.
About the vessels
- Mhadei and Tarini inducted in the Indian Navy on 08 February 2009 and 18 February 2017 respectively have been the vessels of choice for the naval expeditions in various sailing expeditions, including three circumnavigations and thus have thousands of miles tucked under their belt.
- Mhadei has successfully completed two circumnavigations, three Cape to Rio trans-Atlantic races and several other expeditions around various continents.
- The vessel has covered in excess of 1,36,000 nautical miles.
- Tarini created history in 2017-18 when six Indian Naval women officers sailed the vessel on maiden circumnavigation voyage titled Navika Sagar Parikrama.
- She thereafter also participated in mixed crew Kochi to Seychelles sail training expedition during the 10th-anniversary celebration of the IONS.
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