Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Asian Development Outlook Report, ADB
Mains level: Not Much
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) forecasts has provided some useful insights about India’s GDP growth.
About Asian Development Bank (ADB)
- The ADB is a regional development bank established on 19 December 1966 which is headquartered in Philippines.
- ADB is committed to achieving a prosperous, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable Asia and the Pacific, while sustaining its efforts to eradicate extreme poverty.
- The bank admits the members of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP).
- The ADB was modelled closely on the World Bank, and has a similar weighted voting system where votes are distributed in proportion with members’ capital subscriptions.
- The president has a term of office lasting five years, and may be re-elected.
- Traditionally, and because Japan is one of the largest shareholders of the bank, the president has always been Japanese.
- ADB is an official United Nations Observer.
Highlights of the ADB Outlook Report 2020
- India’s GDP growth will moderate to 7.5% in 2022-23, from an estimated 8.9% in 2021-22.
- It has factored in the Russia-Ukraine conflict’s implications for India, which would be largely indirect through higher oil prices
- The severity of the COVID-19 pandemic would subside with a rise in vaccination rates.
- Higher public capital spending is expected to improve the efficiency of India’s logistics infrastructure, crowd-in private investment, generate jobs in construction and sustain growth.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Definition of War Crimes
Mains level: War crimes and genocides
India condemned the killing of civilians in Bucha, Ukraine, at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) calling for an independent UN inquiry. (However India abstained from blaming Russia for the civilian deaths.)
Note: Such events are of least GS importance. However, one must recognize the severity of such massacres and the imprint that it left on entire humanity. Yes, it is not India’s war, but it is no mean activity for a military superpower to march and annexe a small neighbour. This topic holds much importance for personality test.
Bucha massacre
- The grimmest discoveries have been made in a Kyiv suburb called Bucha, a town located about 25 km to the northwest of the capital.
- More than 300 bodies have been found in the town, some with their hands bound, flesh burned, and shot in the back of the head.
- Satellite images now available show streets strewn with corpses, and many of the bodies seen by journalists in the past couple of days appear to have lain in the open for weeks.
- The reports and pictures of corpses wearing civilian clothes, some clutching shopping bags, suggest that ordinary citizens were murdered without provocation, as they went about their daily business.
A no lesser holocaust event
- The discoveries have drawn comparisons with the killings of civilians in this area during World War II.
- It reminds of the First Battle of Kyiv (part of Hitler’s Operation Barbarossa against the Soviet Union that began in June 1941) and the Second Battle of Kyiv (November-December 1943).
- The Red (Soviet) Army started to push back the Germans from Ukraine, the area around the Ukrainian capital, including Bucha.
- It saw the “Holocaust by bullets” during which an estimated 1.5 million people, mostly Jews, were shot dead at close range.
A genocide or war crimes?
- War crimes are defined as “grave breaches” of the Geneva Conventions, agreements signed after World War II that laid down international humanitarian laws during war time.
- Deliberately targeting civilians amounts to a war crime.
- The International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague has already opened an investigation into possible war crimes by Russia.
- The investigation could in theory target even Putin. But it will be difficult to bring Russian defendants to trial or to prove intent.
- Russia does not recognise the ICC and will likely not cooperate with the investigation.
- The crimes of genocide are defined by the United Nations Genocide Convention of December 1948.
- It includes acts “committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group”. Genocide is seen as the gravest and most serious of all crimes against humanity.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: ETCA
Mains level: India-Australia relations
India and Australia signed an Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA) in the presence of PM Narendra Modi and his counterpart in Canberra Scott Morrison.
India-Australia ECTA
- It is the first trade agreement of India with a developed country after more than a decade.
- The Agreement encompasses cooperation across the entire gamut of bilateral economic and commercial relations between the two friendly countries.
- It covers areas like Trade in Goods, Rules of Origin, Trade in Services, Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT), Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) measures, Dispute Settlement, Movement of Natural Persons, Telecom, Customs Procedures, Pharmaceutical products, and Cooperation in other Areas.
- Eight subject specific side letters covering various aspects of bilateral economic cooperation were also concluded as part of the Agreement.
Background of the ECTA
- The negotiations for India-Australia ECTA were formally re-launched on 30 September 2021 and concluded on a fast-track basis by the end of March 2022.
- India and Australia enjoy excellent bilateral relations that have undergone transformative evolution in recent years, developing along a positive track, into a friendly partnership.
- Growing India-Australia economic and commercial relations contribute to the stability and strength of a
- Australia is the 17th largest trading partner of India and India is Australia’s 9th largest trading partner.
Features of the agreement
- The ECTA between India and Australia covers almost all the tariff lines dealt in by India and Australia respectively.
- India will benefit from preferential market access provided by Australia on 100% of its tariff lines.
- This includes all the labour-intensive sectors of export interest to India such as Gems and Jewellery, Textiles, leather, footwear, furniture, food, and agricultural products, engineering products, medical devices, and Automobiles.
- India will be offering preferential access to Australia on over 70% of its tariff lines, including lines of export interest to Australia which are primarily raw materials and intermediaries such as coal, mineral ores and wines etc.
- As regards trade in services, Australia has offered wide ranging commitments in around 135 sub sectors and Most Favoured Nation (MFN) in 120 sub sectors which cover key areas of India’s interest like IT, ITES, Business services, Health, Education, and Audio visual.
- Both sides have also agreed to a separate Annex on Pharmaceutical products under this agreement, which will enable fast track approval for patented, generic and biosimilar medicines.
Way ahead
- The India-Australia ECTA will further cement the already deep, close and strategic relations between the two countries.
- It will significantly enhance bilateral trade in goods and services, create new employment opportunities, raise living standards, and improve the general welfare of the peoples of the two countries.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: BIMSTEC
Mains level: Read the attached story
Addressing the ministerial of the BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi–Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation), EAM S. Jaishankar urged closer cooperation and connectivity among the members.
What is BIMSTEC?
- The BIMSTEC formed in 1997 is an international organisation of seven South Asian and Southeast Asian nations, housing 1.73 billion people and having a combined gross domestic product of $3.8 trillion (2021).
- The BIMSTEC member states – Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Thailand – are among the countries dependent on the Bay of Bengal.
- Leadership is rotated in alphabetical order of country names. The permanent secretariat is in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
- A BIMSTEC free trade agreement is under negotiation (c. 2018), also referred to as the mini SAARC.
Objectives of BIMSTEC
There are 14 main sectors of BIMSTEC along technological and economic cooperation among South Asian and Southeast Asian countries along the coast of the Bay of Bengal.
- Trade & Investment
- Transport & Communication
- Energy
- Tourism
- Technology
- Fisheries
- Agriculture
- Public Health
- Poverty Alleviation
- Counter-Terrorism & Transnational Crime
- Environment & Disaster Management
- People-to-People Contact
- Cultural Cooperation
- Climate Change
About the proposed BIMSTEC FTA Framework
- The BIMSTEC FTA has been signed by all member nations to stimulate trade and investment in the parties, and attract outsiders to trade with and invest in the BIMSTEC countries at a higher level.
- Subsequently, the “Trade Negotiating Committee” (TNC) was set up, with Thailand as the permanent chair, to negotiate in areas of trade in goods and services, investment, economic co-operation, trade facilitations and technical assistance for LDCs.
- Once negotiation on trade in goods is completed, the TNC would then proceed with negotiation on trade in services and investment.
Others
(1) BIMSTEC Coastal Shipping Agreement draft
- It was discussed on 1 December 2017 in New Delhi, to facilitate coastal shipping within 20 nautical miles of the coastline in the region to boost trade between the member countries.
- Compared to the deep sea shipping, coastal ship require smaller vessels with lesser draft and involve lower costs.
- Once the agreement becomes operational after it is ratified, a lot of cargo movement between the member countries can be done through the cost effective, environment friendly and faster coastal shipping routes.
(2) BIMSTEC Master Plan for Transport Connectivity
- The BIMSTEC Master Plan for Transport Connectivity, finalized under India’s chairmanship of the expert group last year, envisages a seamless multimodal transport system across the region.
- This will stimulate intra-regional trade and investment in the region.
- It identifies 264 projects requiring an investment of $ 126 billion over a ten year horizon from 2018–2028.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Definition and identification of Minorities
Mains level: Minority population issues
In an affidavit filed in the top court, the Union Ministry of Minority Affairs said “state governments can also declare a religious or linguistic community as a ‘minority community’ within the state”.
Why in news?
- The Centre was responding to a petition filed stating that the followers of Judaism, Baha’ism and Hinduism — who are the real minorities in Ladakh, Mizoram, Lakshadweep, Kashmir, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Punjab and Manipur.
- They however cannot establish and administer educational institutions of their choice.
- The Centre said the allegation was “not correct”.
- The government’s affidavit explained that Parliament and State legislatures have concurrent powers to enact laws to provide for the protection of minorities and their interests.
Various states on Minorities
- The Centre gave the example of how Maharashtra notified ‘Jews’ as a minority community within the State.
- Again, Karnataka notified Urdu, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Marathi, Tulu, Lambadi, Hindi, Konkani and Gujarati as minority languages within the State.
Who are the Minorities?
- Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Buddhists, Jain and Zorastrians (Parsis) have been notified as minority communities under Section 2 (c) of the National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992.
- As per the Census 2011, the percentage of minorities in the country is about 19.3% of the total population of the country.
- The population of Muslims are 14.2%; Christians 2.3%; Sikhs 1.7%, Buddhists 0.7%, Jain 0.4% and Parsis 0.006%.
- Minority Concentration Districts (MCD), Minority Concentration Blocks and Minority Concentration Towns, have been identified on the basis of both population data and backwardness parameters of Census 2001 of these areas.
Defining Minorities
- The Constitution recognizes Religious minorities in India and Linguistic minorities in India through Article 29 and Article 30.
- But Minority is not defined in the Constitution.
- Currently, the Linguistic minorities in India are identified on a state-wise basis thus determined by the state government whereas Religious minorities in India are determined by the Central Government.
- The Parliament has the legislative powers and the Centre has the executive competence to notify a community as a minority under Section 2(c) of the National Commission for Minorities Act of 1992.
Article 29: It provides that any section of the citizens residing in any part of India having a distinct language, script, or culture of its own, shall have the rights of minorities in India to conserve the same. Article 29 is applied to both minorities (religious minorities in India and Linguistic minorities in India) and also the majority. It also includes – rights of minorities in India to agitate for the protection of language.
Article 30: All minorities shall have the rights of minorities in India to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice. Article 30 recognises only Religious minorities in India and Linguistic minorities in India (not the majority). It includes the rights of minorities in India to impart education to their children in their own language.
Article 350-B: Originally, the Constitution of India did not make any provision with respect to the Special Officer for Linguistic minorities in India. However, the 7th Constitutional Amendment Act, 1956 inserted Article 350-B in the Constitution. It provides for a Special Officer for Linguistic Minorities appointed by the President of India. It would be the duty of the Special Officer to investigate all matters relating to the safeguards provided for linguistic minorities under the Constitution.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Noise Pollution
Mains level: Not Much
The city of Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh is the second-most noise polluted city globally, according to a recent report title Frontier 2022 by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
What is Noise Pollution?
- Noise pollution, also known as environmental noise or sound pollution, is the propagation of noise with ranging impacts on the activity of human or animal life, most of them harmful to a degree.
- It is generally defined as regular exposure to elevated sound levels that may lead to adverse effects in humans or other living organisms.
- The source of outdoor noise worldwide is mainly caused by machines, transport, and propagation systems.
- Poor urban planning may give rise to noise disintegration or pollution, side-by-side industrial and residential buildings can result in noise pollution in the residential areas.
- Some of the main sources of noise in residential areas include loud music, transportation (traffic, rail, airplanes, etc.), maintenance, construction, electrical generators, wind turbines, explosions, and people etc.
Defining Noise Pollution
- Sounds with a frequency over 70 db are considered harmful to health.
- The World Health Organization (WHO) had recommended a 55 db standard for residential areas in the 1999 guidelines, while for traffic and business sectors, the limit was 70 db.
- The WHO set the limit of noise pollution on the road at 53 db in 2018, taking into account health safety.
Noise Pollution in India
- The report identifies 13 noise polluted cities in south Asia. Five of these, including Moradabad, are in India, which have recorded alarming levels of noise pollution:
- Kolkata (89 db)
- Asansol (89 db)
- Jaipur (84 db)
- Delhi (83 db)
- The noise pollution figures given in the report relate to daytime traffic or vehicles.
- Moradabad has recorded noise pollution of a maximum of 114 decibels (db). The Frontier 2022 report mentions a total of 61 cities.
Case in the neighborhood
- The highest noise pollution of 119 db has been recorded in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh.
- At third place is Pakistan’s capital Islamabad, where the noise pollution level has been recorded at 105 db.
Hazards created
- High levels of noise pollution affect human health and well-being by having an effect on sleep.
- This has a bad effect on the communication of many animal species living in the area and their ability to hear.
- Regular exposure for eight hours a day to 85 decibels of sound can permanently eliminate the ability to hear.
- Not only that, exposure to relatively low noise pollution for long periods in cities can harm physical and mental health.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: B9 Countries
Mains level: Not Much
The envoys to India of nine Eastern European countries called Bucharest Nine jointly wrote to acquaint the Indian public with the basic facts on the ground” about the “premeditated, unprovoked and unjustified Russian aggression in Ukraine”.
What is Bucharest Nine?
- The “Bucharest Nine” is a group of nine NATO countries in Eastern Europe that became part of the US-led military alliance after the end of the Cold War.
- The Bucharest Nine or Bucharest Format, often abbreviated as the B9, was founded on November 4, 2015, and takes its name from Bucharest, the capital of Romania.
- The group was created on the initiative of Klaus Iohannis, who has been President of Romania since 2014, and Andrzej Duda, who became President of Poland in August 2015.
Composition
- The B9 are, apart from Romania and Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and the three Baltic republics of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.
- All members of the B9 are part of the European Union (EU) and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO).
- All nine countries were once closely associated with the now dissolved Soviet Union, but later chose the path of democracy.
- Romania, Poland, Hungary, and Bulgaria are former signatories of the now-dissolved Warsaw Pact military alliance led by the Soviet Union.
- The other Warsaw Pact countries were the erstwhile Czechoslovakia and East Germany, and Albania. Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania were part of the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).
Functions of B9
- The B9 offers a platform for deepening the dialogue and consultation among the participant allied states, in order to articulate their specific contribution to the ongoing processes across the North-Atlantic Alliance.
- It works in total compliance with the principles of solidarity and indivisibility of the security of the NATO Member States.
Opposition to Russian expansion
- The B9 countries have been critical of President Vladimir Putin’s aggression against Ukraine since 2014, when the war in the Donbas started and Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula.
- After the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, the B9 met in Warsaw.
- Ukraine’s President has also appealed to the B9 for defense aid, sanctions, pressure on the aggressor Russia and create one anti-war coalition.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: World Happiness Report
Mains level: Not Much
India ranks 136th in the World Happiness Report 2022, while Finland becomes the happiest country for the fifth consecutive year.
One can definitely question the credibility of such reports whenever India is being grouped with some African countries that too below Pakistan.
World Happiness Report
- The WHR is an annual publication of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network.
- It measures three main well-being indicators: life evaluations, positive emotions, and negative emotions (described in the report as positive and negative affect).
- Since 2011, the World Happiness Report (WHR) is released every year around the time of International Day of Happiness on March 20.
- It was adopted by the UN General Assembly based on a resolution tabled by Bhutan.
How is the WHI derived?
- The ranking is done on a three-year average based on surveys of ‘Life Evaluation’ conducted by Gallup World Poll which surveys around 1000 people from each country to evaluate their current life on a scale of 0-10.
- On this scale, 10 marks the best possible and 0 as the worst possible life.
- Further, six key variables GDP per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom, generosity, and corruption contribute to explaining life evaluations.
Top performers this year
- The top five countries in the list are from Europe.
- While the United States held the 16th spot in the happiest countries list.
- Following Finland, Denmark bagged the second rank, while Iceland and Switzerland stood at third and fourth rank.
- The Netherlands was at the fifth rank in the list.
- Meanwhile, Luxembourg, Norway, Israel, and New Zealand were the remaining countries in the top 10.
Dismal performers
- Afghanistan held the last position of 146th in the list, with Lebanon (145th), Zimbabwe (144th), Rwanda (143rd), and Botswana (142nd) following.
- Bangladesh has improved its ranking by seven notches on the WHI from 101 last year to 94 in 2022 out of 146 countries included in the report.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: OIC
Mains level: Hypocrisy of OIC
In a highly notorious move, the OIC has invited Kashmiri separatist leaders in the Foreign Ministers’ meet in Islamabad.
What is OIC?
- The OIC — formerly Organisation of the Islamic Conference — is the world’s second-largest inter-governmental organization after the UN, with a membership of 57 states.
- The OIC’s stated objective is “to safeguard and protect the interests of the Muslim world in the spirit of promoting international peace and harmony among various people of the world”.
- OIC has reserved membership for Muslim-majority countries. Russia, Thailand, and a couple of other small countries have Observer status.
Do you know?
Guyana and Suriname (from South America) are members of OIC.
India and OIC: A Backgrounder
- At the 45th session of the Foreign Ministers’ Summit in 2018, Bangladesh suggested that India, where more than 10% of the world’s Muslims live, should be given Observer status.
- In 1969, India was dis-invited from the Conference of Islamic Countries in Rabat, Morocco at Pakistan’s behest.
- Then Agriculture Minister Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed was dis-invited upon arrival in Morocco after Pakistan President Yahya Khan lobbied against Indian participation.
Recent developments
- In 2019, India made its maiden appearance at the OIC Foreign Ministers’ meeting in Abu Dhabi, as a “guest of honor”.
- This first-time invitation was seen as a diplomatic victory for New Delhi, especially at a time of heightened tensions with Pakistan following the Pulwama attack.
- Pakistan had opposed the invitation to Swaraj and it boycotted the plenary after the UAE turned down its demand to rescind the invitation.
What is the OIC’s stand on Kashmir?
- It has been generally supportive of Pakistan’s stand on Kashmir and has issued statements criticizing India.
- Last year, after India revoked Article 370 in Kashmir, Pakistan lobbied with the OIC for their condemnation of the move.
- To Pakistan’s surprise, Saudi Arabia and the UAE — both top leaders among the Muslim countries — issued nuanced statements, and were not as harshly critical of New Delhi as Islamabad had hoped.
- Since then, Islamabad has tried to rouse sentiments among the Islamic countries, but only a handful of them — Turkey and Malaysia — publicly criticized India.
A group of hippocrats
- The OIC has been making factually incorrect and unwarranted references to Jammu and Kashmir.
- The so-called religious group is covertly silent over the persecution of Rohingyas, Uighurs, Kurds etc.
How has India been responding?
- India has consistently underlined that J&K is an integral part of India and is a matter strictly internal to India.
- The strength with which India has made this assertion has varied slightly at times, but never the core message.
- It has maintained its “consistent and well known” stand that the OIC had no locus standi.
- This time, India went a step ahead and said the grouping continues to allow itself to be used by a certain country “which has a record on religious tolerance, radicalism, and persecution of minorities”.
OIC members and India
- Individually, India has good relations with almost all member nations. Ties with the UAE and Saudi Arabia, especially, have looked up significantly in recent years.
- The OIC includes two of India’s close neighbors, Bangladesh and Maldives.
- Indian diplomats say both countries privately admit they do not want to complicate their bilateral ties with India on Kashmir but play along with OIC.
Way ahead
- India sees the duality of the OIC as untenable, since many of these countries have good bilateral ties and convey to India to ignore OIC statements.
- But these countries sign off on the joint statements which are largely drafted by Pakistan.
- India feels it important to challenge the double-speak since Pakistan’s campaign and currency on the Kashmir issue has hardly any takers in the international community.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Geneva Conventions
Mains level: Read the attached story
As the evidence of casualties in the civilian population continues to mount, the world will increasingly look to the Geneva Conventions in the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Geneva Conventions Guidelines for Wartime
- These are a set of four treaties, formalized in 1949, and three additional protocols, which codify widely accepted ethical and legal international standards for humanitarian treatment of those impacted by war.
- The focus of the Conventions is the:
- Treatment of non-combatants and prisoners of war, and
- Not the use of conventional or biological and chemical weapons
What are the four Geneva Conventions?
(1) First Geneva Convention: Health and Medical Issues
- It protects wounded and sick soldiers on land during war.
- This convention extends to medical and religious personnel, medical units, and medical transport.
- It has two annexes containing a draft agreement relating to hospital zones and a model identity card for medical and religious personnel.
(2) Second Geneva Convention: Offshore Protection
- It protects wounded, sick and shipwrecked military personnel at sea during war.
- This convention also extends to hospital ships and medical transports by sea, with specific commentary on the treatment and protections for their personnel.
(3) Third Geneva Convention: Treatment of Prisoners of War (PoW)
It applies to prisoners of war, including a wide range of general protections such as humane treatment, maintenance and equality across prisoners, conditions of captivity, questioning and evacuation of prisoners, transit camps, food, clothing, medicines, hygiene and right to religious, intellectual, and physical activities of prisoners.
(4) Fourth Geneva Convention: Civilian protection of occupied territory ***
- It particularly applies to the invasion of Ukraine by Russian military forces.
- It protects civilians, including those in occupied territory.
- Comprising 159 articles, it outlines the norms for this critical dimension of conflict.
Extent of the Fourth Geneva Convention amid the Ukraine-Russia War
- Along with the Additional Protocols of 1977, the Fourth Convention expounds upon the:
- General protection of populations against certain consequences of war
- Conduct of hostilities and the status and
- Treatment of protected persons
- Distinguishing between the situation of foreigners on the territory of one of the parties to the conflict and that of civilians in occupied territory
- This convention also spells out the obligations of the occupying power vis-à-vis the civilian population and outlines detailed provisions on humanitarian relief for populations in occupied territory.
Which countries are signatories?
- The Geneva Conventions have been ratified by 196 states, including all UN member states.
- The three Protocols have been ratified by 174, 169 and 79 states respectively.
Russia and these conventions
- In 2019, perhaps anticipating the possibility of its invading Ukraine in the near future, Russia withdrew its declaration under Article 90 of Protocol 1.
- By withdrawing this declaration, Russia has pre-emptively left itself with the option to refuse access by any international fact-finding missions to Russian entities.
- Not withdrawing could have find Russia responsible for violations of the Geneva Conventions standards.
- Further, the four conventions and first two protocols of the Geneva Conventions were ratified by the Soviet Union, not Russia.
- Hence there is a risk of the Russian government of the day disavowing any responsibility under the Conventions.
What would be the steps for potential prosecution under the Conventions?
- Under Article 8 of the Rome Statute of the ICC, it is the ICC that has jurisdiction in respect of war crimes, in particular “when committed as part of a plan or policy or as part of a large-scale commission of such crimes.”
To what extent have Geneva Conventions been upheld worldwide in recent years?
- Amnesty International notes that there has been a blatant disregard for civilian protection and international humanitarian law in armed conflicts where four of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council are parties.
- Specifically, Amnesty cited:
- US-led coalition’s bombing of Raqqa in Syria, which left more than 1,600 civilians dead
- Destruction of civilian infrastructure and lives in Aleppo and Idlib by Russian forces
- Leading to mass displacement of millions
- War in Yemen where the Saudi Arabia and the UAE-led coalition, backed by the West, killed and injured thousands of civilians, fuelling a full-blown humanitarian crisis
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: MFN status
Mains level: Global sanctions on Russia
The United States, the European Union, Britain, Canada and Japan are to move jointly to revoke Russia’s “most favoured nation” (MFN) status over its invasion of Ukraine.
What is MFN status?
- The World Trade Organization’s 164 members commit to treating other members equally so they can all benefit from each other’s lowest tariffs, highest import quotas and fewest trade barriers.
- This principle of non-discrimination is known as most favoured nation (MFN) treatment.
- There are some exceptions, such as when members strike bilateral trade agreements or when members offer developing countries special access to their markets.
- For countries outside the WTO, such as Iran, North Korea, Syria or Russian ally Belarus, WTO members can impose whatever trade measures they wish without flouting global trading rules.
Removal of MFN status
- There is no formal procedure for suspending MFN treatment and it is not clear whether members are obliged to inform the WTO if they do so.
- India suspended Pakistan’s MFN status in 2019 after a suicide attack by a Pakistan-sponsored group.
- Pakistan never applied MFN status to India.
What does losing MFN status mean?
- Revoking Russia’s MFN status sends a strong signal that the US and its Western allies do not consider Russia a economic partner in any way, but it does not in itself change conditions for trade.
- It does formally allow the Western allies to increase import tariffs or impose quotas on Russian goods, or even ban them, and to restrict services out of the country.
- They could also overlook Russian intellectual property rights.
- Ahead of MFN status removal, the United States had already announced a ban on imports of Russian oil and gas.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC)
Mains level: Not Much
India has emphasized on following the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC) at the UNSC meeting on Ukraine.
Why in news?
- The meeting came after a request from Russia, who claimed that the US is involved in bioweapon manufacture in war-torn Ukraine.
- However, Washington has strongly dismissed this claim.
What is BTWC?
- The Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC) was the first multilateral treaty categorically banning a class of weapon.
- It is a treaty that came into force in 1975 and prohibits the development, production, acquisition, transfer, stockpiling and use of biological weapons.
- A total of 183 countries are party to the treaty that outlaws bioweapons, including US, Russia and Ukraine.
Obligations of the treaty
- The treaty prohibits the development, stockpile, production, or transfer of biological agents and toxins of “types and quantities” that have no justification for protective or peaceful use.
- Furthermore, the treaty bans the development of weapons, equipment, or delivery systems to disseminate such agents or toxins.
- Should a state possess any agent, toxin, or delivery system for them, they have nine months from entry into force of the treaty to destroy their stockpiles, or divert them for peaceful use.
- The convention stipulates that states shall cooperate bilaterally or multilaterally to solve compliance issues.
- States may also submit complaints to the UNSCR should they believe another state is violating the treaty.
Issues with the treaty
- There is no implementation body of the BTWC, allowing for blatant violations as seen in the past.
- There is only a review conference that too every five years to review the convention’s implementation, and establish confidence-building measures.
Signatories to the BTWC
- The Convention currently has 183 states-parties, including Palestine, and four signatories (Egypt, Haiti, Somalia, and Syria).
- Ten states have neither signed nor ratified the BWC: Chad, Comoros, Djibouti, Eritrea, Israel, Kiribati, Micronesia, Namibia, South Sudan, and Tuvalu.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: MVA, BBIN
Mains level: BBIN and its significance
With Bhutan continuing to sit out the Motor Vehicles Agreement (MVA) of the sub-regional Bangladesh-Bhutan-India-Nepal (BBIN) grouping, a meeting of the other three countries was held to discuss the next steps in operationalizing the agreement for the free flow of goods and people between them.
What is Motor Vehicles Agreement (MVA)?
- India, Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh signed a Motor Vehicles Agreement (MVA) for the Regulation of Passenger, Personal and Cargo Vehicular Traffic among the four South Asian neighbours.
- It was signed on 15 June 2015 at the BBIN transport ministers meeting in Thimpu, Bhutan.
- The act will facilitate a way for a seamless movement of people and goods across their borders for the benefit and integration of the region and its economic development.
Key terms of the Agreement
- Trans-shipment of goods: Cargo vehicles will be able to enter any of the four nations without the need for trans-shipment of goods from one country’s truck to another’s at the border.
- Free transport: The agreement would permit the member states to ply their vehicles in each other’s territory for transportation of cargo and passengers, including third-country transport and personal vehicles.
- Electronic permit: As per the agreement each vehicle would require an electronic permit to enter another country’s territory, and border security arrangements between nations’ borders will also remain.
- Ultra-security: Vehicles are fitted with an electronic seal that alerts regulators every time the container door is opened.
Implementation status of the agreement
- The agreement will enter into force after it is ratified by all four member nations.
- The agreement has been ratified by Bangladesh, India and Nepal.
- The lower house of the Bhutanese parliament approved the agreement in early 2016, but it was rejected by the upper house in November 2016.
- Bhutan has requested for a cap to be fixed on the number of vehicles entering its territory
What next?
- India remains “hopeful” that Bhutan could change its position on the project, it was decided at a meeting in November 2021 to go ahead for now, given that there are no new signals from Thimphu on the project.
- Progress on the seven-year-old project has been slow, despite several trial runs being held along the Bangladesh-India-Nepal road route for passenger buses and cargo trucks.
- There are still some agreements holding up the final protocols.
Back2Basics: Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal (BBIN)
- BBIN Initiative is a sub-regional architecture of countries in Eastern South Asia, a sub-region of South Asia.
- The group meets through the official representation of member states to formulate, implement and review quadrilateral agreements across areas such as water resources management, connectivity of power, transport, and infrastructure.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: TPD
Mains level: Refugee crisis of Ukranians
Responding to the crisis, EU Member States made the unprecedented decision to activate a major European Union’s Council Directive, known as the Temporary Protection Directive (TPD).
What is Temporary Protection?
- The EU Commission describes “temporary protection” under the TPD as an “exceptional measure to provide immediate and temporary protection to displaced persons from non-EU countries and those unable to return to their country of origin”.
- The directive applies when there is a risk that the standard asylum system is struggling to cope with demand stemming from a mass influx risking a negative impact on the processing of claims.
Objectives of this protection
- To both establish minimum standards for giving temporary protection to displaced persons
- To promote a balance of effort between Member States in receiving and bearing the consequences of receiving such persons
Why establish standards?
The Commission gives two reasons for doing so:
- It reduces disparities between the policies of EU States on the reception and treatment of displaced persons in a situation of mass influx.
- It promotes solidarity and burden-sharing among EU States with respect to receiving large numbers of potential refugees at one time.”
What obligations does the TPD place upon EU states?
According to the European Commission, the TPD “foresees harmonised rights for the beneficiaries of temporary protection”, which include:
- Residence permit for the duration of the protection (which can last from 1-3 years),
- Appropriate information on temporary protection,
- Access to employment,
- Access to accommodation or housing,
- Access to social welfare or means of subsistence,
- Access to medical treatment,
- Access to education for minors,
- Opportunities for families to reunite in certain circumstances, and
- Guarantees for access to the normal asylum procedure
The TPD also contains provisions for the return of displaced persons to their country of origin, unless they have committed serious crimes or they “pose a threat to security from the benefit of temporary protection”.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NA
Mains level: Medical education in India
- According to estimates from Ukraine, reported in the media, around 18,000 Indian students are in Ukraine (before Operation Ganga).
- Most of them are pursuing medicine.
- This war has turned the spotlight on something that has been the trend for about three decades now.
Preferred countries for medical degree
- For about three decades now, Indian students have been heading out to Russia, China, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and Philippines to pursue a medical degree.
Hype of becoming a Doctor
- Prestige: The desire to study medicine still holds a lot of value in the Indian community (the other is becoming an IAS officer).
- Shortages of Doctor: In many rural areas, people still look at doctors as god’s incarnate.
- Rarity of opportunity: The lack of equal opportunities exacerbated by the caste factor in the Indian context, has a great deal of impact on the prestige still associated with being a doctor.
- Social upliftment ladder: For years, certain communities were denied the opportunities, and finally they do have a chance at achieving significant educational status.
Why go abroad?
- No language barrier: The medium of education for these students is English, a language they are comfortable with.
- Affordability: The amount spent on living and the medical degree are far more affordable than paying for an MBBS seat in private medical colleges in India.
- Aesthetics and foreign culture: People are willing to leave their home to study far away in much colder places and with completely alien cultures and food habits.
- Practice and OPD exposure: It broadens students’ mind and thinking, expose them to a whole range of experiences, and their approach to issues and crises is likely to be far better.
Doesn’t India have enough colleges?
(a) More aspirants than seats
- There are certainly far more MBBS aspirants than there are MBBS seats in India.
- In NEET 2021, as per a National Testing Agency press release, 16.1 lakh students registered for the exam, 15.4 lakh students appeared for the test, and 8.7 lakh students qualified.
- As per data from the National Medical Commission (NMC), in 2021-22, there were 596 medical colleges in the country with a total of 88,120 MBBS seats.
- While the skew is in favour of Government colleges, it is not greatly so, with the number of private medical institutions nearly neck-to-neck with the state-run ones.
(b) Fees structure
- That means over 50% of the total seats are available at affordable fees in Government colleges.
- Add the 50% seats in the private sector that the NMC has mandated must charge only the government college fees.
- In fully private colleges, the full course fees range from several lakhs to crores.
(c) Uneven distribution of colleges
- These colleges are also not distributed evenly across the country, with States such as Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala having many more colleges.
What about costs?
- The cost factor on both sides of an MBBS degree is significant.
- The costs of an MBBS degree in a Government college tot up to a few lakhs of rupees for the full course, but in a private medical college, it can go up to ₹1 crore for the five-year course.
- In case it is a management seat, capitation fees can inflate the cost by several lakhs again.
- Whereas, an MBBS course at any foreign medical university in the east and Eastern Europe costs far less (upto ₹30lakh-₹40 lakh).
Way forward
- While PM Modi emphasised that more private medical colleges must be set up in the country to aid more people to take up MBBS, medical education experts have called for pause on the aspect.
- If the aim is to make medicine more accessible to students of the country, the path ahead is not in the private sector, but in the public sector, with the Central and State governments’ involvement.
- Starting private medical colleges by reducing the strict standards set for establishing institutes may not actually be the solution to this problem, if we think this is a concern.
Conclusion
- Creating more medical colleges will be beneficial for the country, if access and availability can be ensured.
- This will not be possible by resorting to private enterprise only.
- The State and Central governments can start more medical colleges, as recommended by NITI Aayog, by utilising district headquarters hospitals, and expanding the infrastructure.
- This way, students from the lower and middle socio-economic rung, who are otherwise not able to access medical seats, will also benefit.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: FATF
Mains level: Terror financing and money laundering
The global money laundering and terrorist financing watchdog Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has retained Pakistan on its terrorism financing “grey list”.
What is the FATF?
- FATF is an intergovernmental organization founded in 1989 on the initiative of the G7 to develop policies to combat money laundering.
- The FATF Secretariat is housed at the OECD headquarters in Paris.
- It holds three Plenary meetings in the course of each of its 12-month rotating presidencies.
- As of 2019, FATF consisted of 37 member jurisdictions.
India and FATF
- India became an Observer at FATF in 2006. Since then, it had been working towards full-fledged membership.
- On June 25, 2010, India was taken in as the 34th country member of FATF.
- The EAG (Eurasian Group) is a regional body comprising nine countries: India, Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Belarus.
What is the role of FATF?
- Watchdog on terror financing: The rise of the global economy and international trade has given rise to financial crimes such as money laundering.
- Recommendation against financial crimes: The FATF makes recommendations for combating financial crime, reviews members’ policies and procedures, and seeks to increase acceptance of anti-money laundering regulations across the globe.
What is the Black List and the Grey List?
- Black List: The blacklist, now called the “Call for action” was the common shorthand description for the FATF list of “Non-Cooperative Countries or Territories” (NCCTs).
- Grey List: Countries that are considered safe haven for supporting terror funding and money laundering are put in the FATF grey list. This inclusion serves as a warning to the country that it may enter the blacklist.
Consequences of being in the FATF black list:
- Economic sanctions from IMF, World Bank, ADB
- Problem in getting loans from IMF, World Bank, ADB and other countries
- Trade sanctions: Reduction in international trade
- International boycott
Pakistan and FATF
- Pakistan, which continues to remain on the “grey list” of FATF, had earlier been given the deadline till June to ensure compliance with the 27-point action plan against terror funding networks.
- It has been under the FATF’s scanner since June 2018, when it was put on the Grey List for terror financing and money laundering risks.
- FATF and its partners such as the Asia Pacific Group (APG) are reviewing Pakistan’s processes, systems, and weaknesses on the basis of a standard matrix for anti-money laundering (AML) and combating the financing of terrorism (CFT) regime.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NATO
Mains level: Read the attached story
Amid Russia’s war on Ukraine, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) has been rapidly deploying troops to member countries but has clarified that it has no plans of sending them to Ukraine.
What is NATO?
- NATO is a military alliance established by the North Atlantic Treaty (also called the Washington Treaty) of April 4, 1949.
- It sought to create a counterweight to Soviet armies stationed in Central and Eastern Europe after World War II.
- Its original members were Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
- NATO has spread a web of partners, namely Egypt, Israel, Sweden, Austria, Switzerland and Finland.
Why was it founded?
Ans. Communist sweep in Europe post-WWII and rise of Soviet dominance
- After World War II in 1945, Western Europe was economically exhausted and militarily weak, and newly powerful communist parties had arisen in France and Italy.
- By contrast, the Soviet Union had emerged from the war with its armies dominating all the states of central and Eastern Europe.
- By 1948 communists under Moscow’s sponsorship had consolidated their control of the governments of those countries and suppressed all non-communist political activity.
- What became known as the Iron Curtain, a term popularized by Winston Churchill, had descended over central and Eastern Europe.
Ideology of NATO
- NATO ensures that the security of its European member countries is inseparably linked to that of its North American member countries.
- It commits the Allies to democracy, individual liberty and the rule of law, as well as to the peaceful resolution of disputes.
- It also provides a unique forum for dialogue and cooperation across the Atlantic.
What is Article 5 and why is it needed?
- Article 5 was a key part of the 1949 North Atlantic Treaty, or Washington Treaty, and was meant to offer a collective defence against a potential invasion of Western Europe.
- It states: (NATO members) will assist the party or parties so attacked by taking forthwith, individually and in concert with the other parties, such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force, to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area.
- However, since then, it has only been invoked once, soon after the 9/11 attack in the United States.
Why has Article 5 not been invoked this time?
- The reason is simple: Ukraine is a partner of the Western defence alliance but not a NATO member.
- As a result, Article 5, or the Collective Defense Pledge, does not apply.
- While NATO has said it will not be sending troops to Ukraine, it did invoke Article 4, which calls for a consultation of the alliance’s principal decision-making body, the North Atlantic Council.
- In its history, it has only been activated half a dozen times.
- But the fact that this time around eight member nations chose to invoke it was enough to demonstrate the seriousness of the situation at a global level.
What may prompt NATO to invoke Article 5?
- NATO will invoke Article 5 only if Russia launches a full-blown attack on one of its allies.
- Some top US officials have warned of the impact of some of Russia’s cyberattacks being felt in NATO countries.
- When you launch cyberattacks, they don’t recognize geographic boundaries.
- Some of that cyberattack could actually start shutting down systems in eastern Poland.
But what is NATO’s problem with Russia?
- Russia has long been opposed to Ukraine’s growing closeness with European institutions, particularly NATO.
- The former Soviet republic shares borders with Russia on one side, and the European Union on the other.
- After Moscow launched its attack, the US and its allies were quick to respond, imposing sanctions on Russia’s central bank and sovereign wealth funds.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Neutral foreign policy
Mains level: Switzerland’s Neutrality Policy
Switzerland broke its 200-year long neutrality policy to sanction Moscow and its leaders.
What is the news?
- Switzerland announced that it would join the European Union (EU) in closing the Swiss airspace to Russian aeroplanes.
- It also wished for imposing financial sanctions on Russian President Vladimir Putin and other leaders.
Switzerland’s Policy of Permanent Neutrality
- The tiny Alpine nation the size of Haryana has had a neutrality policy in place since 1815.
- Its official website attests to this, noting that “permanent neutrality is a principle of Swiss foreign policy.”
- Though it serves as the headquarters of several diplomatic missions and as the venue for historic treaties like the Geneva Convention, Switzerland is not a part of the European Union or NATO.
- Historically, the Swiss had been famed warriors with expansionist ambitions until the 1500s when they lost the Battle of Marignano to the French.
- The years that followed saw the Swiss shift its foreign policy to that of being an armed impartial state during wartime, a stance which was sorely tested in the decades that followed.
The World Wars and Switzerland
- Switzerland shares borders with Germany, France and Italy.
- During WW II, Switzerland found itself surrounded by Axis forces, with Hitler describing the land-locked territory as “a pimple on the face of Europe”.
- It used a combination of military deterrence, strategic planning and economic neutrality to hold its own in 1940s Europe.
- Besides this, the Swiss pursued a policy of armed neutrality, putting into place compulsory military service (which continues till date) to maintain military readiness in event of an invasion.
Recent deviations
- Switzerland joined the United Nations as recently as 2002, putting an end to years to debate after 54 per cent of its population voting in favour of the move.
- The Swiss federal government had said that it had weighed its neutrality and peace policy considerations into account to reach its decision.
- The Swiss government has initially adopted a traditional and very narrow interpretation of neutrality, which translated to a decision to not issue any sanctions.
- However, the Swiss parliament and citizens strongly pushed back, arguing that Russia’s massive military aggression cannot be tolerated.
- This prompted the government to reconsider its position.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Definition of War Crimes
Mains level: War crimes and genocides
The International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague announced that it would open an investigation into possible war crimes or crimes against humanity in Ukraine.
What are War Crime?
- War crimes are defined as serious violations of humanitarian laws during a conflict.
- There are specific international standards for war crimes, which are not to be confused with crimes against humanity.
- The definition is established by the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC).
- It is derived from the 1949 Geneva Conventions and is based on the idea that individuals can be held liable for the actions of a state or its military.
- There is a long list of acts that can be considered war crimes.
- The taking of hostages, willful killings, torture or inhuman treatment of prisoners of war, and forcing children to fight are some of the more obvious examples.
How to identify war crimes?
To decide whether an individual or a military has committed a war crime, international humanitarian law lays down three principles:
- Distinction: This principle says that you have to be constantly trying to distinguish between civilian and belligerent populations and objects.
- Proportionality: It prohibits armies from responding to an attack with excessive violence. If a soldier is killed, for example, you cannot bomb an entire city in retaliation.
- Precaution: It requires parties to a conflict to avoid or minimize the harm done to the civilian population. For example, attacking a barrack where there are people who have said they no longer participate in the conflict can be a war crime.
Do war crimes constitute to genocides?
- The UN Office on Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect separates war crimes from genocide and crimes against humanity.
- War crimes are defined as occurring in a domestic conflict or a war between two states.
- However, genocide and crimes against humanity can happen in peacetime or during the unilateral aggression of a military towards a group of unarmed people.
Discrepancy in defining war crimes
- In practice, there is a lot of gray area within that list.
- The laws of war do not always protect civilians from death. Not every civilian death is necessarily illegal.
- Raids on a cities or villages, bombing residential buildings or schools, and even the killing of groups of civilians do not necessarily amount to war crimes — not if their military necessity is justified.
- The same act can become a war crime if it results in unnecessary destruction, suffering and casualties that exceed the military gain from the attack.
- Also civilian and military populations have become increasingly hard to distinguish
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: AIIB
Mains level: Not Much
The Beijing-based Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) said it was putting on hold and reviewing all projects in Russia and Belarus.
About AIIB
- The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) is a multilateral development bank with a mission to improve social and economic outcomes in Asia, began operations in January 2016.
- It aims to stimulate growth and improve access to basic services by furthering interconnectivity and economic development in the region through advancements in infrastructure.
- AIIB has now grown to 102 approved members worldwide. US & Japan are not its members.
- It is a brainchild of China. It has invested in 13 member regions.
Capital and shareholding of AIIB
- It has authorized capital of US 100 billion dollars and subscribed capital of USD 50 billion.
- It offers sovereign and non-sovereign finance for projects in various sectors with an interest rate of London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) plus 1.15 % and a repayment period of 25 years with 5 years in grace period.
- China is the largest shareholder in AIIB with a 26.06% voting power, followed by India with 7.62% and Russia with 5.92% voting power.
Try this question from CSP 2019
Q.With reference to Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), consider the following statements
- AIIB has more than 80 member nations.
- India is the largest shareholder in AIIB.
- AIIB does not have any members from outside Asia.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 and 3 only
(c) 1 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
Post your answers here.
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