Author: CD Staff

UPSC 2023 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)

In this article, we shall discuss some very popular and important modern tech terms.

This is just an introductory article. All these technologies will be discussed in detail in subsequent articles.

Blockchain Technology

• A system whereby information about transactions is stored on a countless comuters spread across the glob.
• It is considered an alternative to the conventional banking system.
• Along with banks, this also applies to mobile payment system.

NFTs

• The success of Blockchain as an independent means of storing and authenticating information has created many more inoovations, one of these is Non Fungible Token or NFT.
• Here the information is stored in the blockchain system itself, especially in a system called ethereum.
• Under NFT system a kind of digital certificate is issued that such an original thing unique in the world.

IOT

• Internet of Things or, more accurately the internet of devices, is all about connecting devices over the internet and letting them ‘talk’ to us, applications and each other.
• This allows huge amounts of data to be collected and transferred, which can then be used for multiple practical purposes.
• However, Internet of Things doesn’t necessarily have to be connected to the internet, it can also be a network of things.
• A common example are wristwatches with sensors that can track the wearers’ heartbeat and pass on the information to our smartphones via bluetooth.
• The smartphone can store that data on cloud after which it can be accessed at any point of time to view a report card of how your heart has been behaving for over a period of a week or a month.

Metaverse

• A simplistic way to look at the metaverse is as a parallel, virtual, world where users can have different identities, possessions and characters.
• In the complex explanation, Metaverse is supposed to be the post-Internet world, a decentralised computing platform of sorts if you will, which is continuous, and live.
• It is an entirely digital economy, and the way most Silicon valley intellectuals see this, metaverse exists both in the digital and physical realm.
• Virtual reality would be an element of this metaverse, but the idea goes beyond just donning a VR headset and starting to play a game.
• According to Ball, the metaverse does not reset or pause or end, but “continues indefinitely.”
• Metaverse is not something that just one company can build. Nor is Facebook the only one working on this. Epic Games, the creator of Fortnite, has big plans for the metaverse using its unreal engine.
• In fact, Fortnite already has many elements which would conform to the idea such as live events, its own currency, etc.

Quantum Computing

• The Quantum computing is much talked about because of its infinite power.
• A Quantum computer can perform calculations millions of times faster than a normal computer, and that is why it can prove to be a boon for humanity.
• Traditional computers work based on a fundamental unit of binary digits(0-1 Bit).
• On the other hand the quantum computers adopts qubit(quantum bit).
• The qubit value can be 0, 1 or both.

Artificial Intelligence

• AI refers to ability of human beings to learn analyse think, understand, solve problems, make decision, etc, similar to human being.
• Machines equipped with AI will become powerful and intelligent and compete with human beings capabilities.
  For example features like machine translation, voice-to-text conversion and voice assistance these days are reached to us because of AI.

Cloud Computing

• Cloud computing implies using the resources available on the internet on your computers or devices.
• Cloud computing has made vast computational power and storage space available to us, and technology like AI is required for its calculations.

 UPSC 2023 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)

UPSC 2023 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)

Context

• According to a report by the WHO, more than 25 percent increase in mental depression and anxiety was registered in the first year due to the covid-19 pandemic.
• According to the World Mental Health Report, nearly one billion people, of whom 14 percent were adolescents, were living with some form of mental health issue in 2019.

What is Mental Illness?

• Mental health is not just a concept that refers to an individual’s psychological and emotional well-being.
• Rather it’s a state of psychological and emotional well-being where an individual is able to use their cognitive and emotional capabilities, to meet the ordinary demand and functions in society.
• According to WHO, there is no single ‘official’ definition of mental health.
• The social determinants of health predispose individuals and populations to poor physical and mental health, and increased risk for many physical and mental illnesses.

Mental Illness in India

• Mental disorders are now among the top leading causes of health burden worldwide, with no evidence of global reduction since 1990.
• In 2017, an estimation of the burden of mental health conditions for the states across India revealed that as many as 197.3 million people required care for mental health conditions.
• This included around 45.7 million people with depressive disorders and 44.9 million people with anxiety disorders.
• The situation has been exacerbated due to the Covid-19 pandemic, making it a serious concern the world over.

Reasons for Persistence of Mental Illness

• Stigma to seek help: The staggering figures are void of millions of others directly, or indirectly impacted by the challenge and those who face deep-rooted stigma, many times rendering them unable to seek help.
• Lack of awareness: This growing challenge in dealing with mental health issues is further compounded by a lack of information and awareness, self-diagnosis, and stigma.
• Psycho-social factors: Institutions like gender, race and ethnicity, are also responsible for mental health conditions.
• Post-Treatment gap: There is a need for proper rehabilitation of the mentally ill persons post/her treatment which is currently not present.
• Rise in Severity: Mental health problems tend to increase during economic downturns, therefore special attention is needed during times of economic distress.

Need for immediate intervention

• Neglected Area: Mental health which forms the core of our personhood is often neglected which impeded the development of an individual to full potential.
• Disproportionate impact: It is the poor, dispossessed and marginalised who bear the greatest burden of mental health problems, but historically their sufferings are dismissed as a natural extension of their social and economic conditions.
• Vulnerability of the ills: Mentally ill patients are vulnerable to and usually suffer from drug abuse, wrongful confinement, even at homes and mental healthcare facilities which is a cause of concern and a gross human right violation.
• Suicidal tendencies: Suicidal behavior was found to have relation with female gender, working condition, independent decision making, premarital sex, physical abuse and sexual abuse.
• Gendered nature: Females are more predisposed to mental disorders due to rapid social change, gender discrimination, social exclusion, gender disadvantage like marrying at young age, concern about the husband’s substance misuse habits, and domestic violence.

Policy initiatives

• National Mental Health Program (NMHP): To address the huge burden of mental disorders and shortage of qualified professionals in the field of mental health, the government has been implementing the NMHP since 1982.
• Mental HealthCare Act 2017: It guarantees every affected person access to mental healthcare and treatment from services run or funded by the government.
• Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2017: The Act acknowledges mental illness as a disability and seeks to enhance the Rights and Entitlements of the Disabled and provide an effective mechanism for ensuring their empowerment and inclusion in the society
• Manodarpan Initiative: An initiative under Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan aims to provide psycho-social support to students for their mental health and well-being.

Way Forward

• Policy boost: Mental health situation in India demands active policy interventions and resource allocation by the government.
• Public sensitization: To reduce the stigma around mental health, we need measures to train and sensitize the community/society.
• Awareness: People should be made aware of the significance of mental health, as much as that of physical health.
• Destigmatising: Sharing one’s story about mental health (through media campaigns) is the most effective strategy to reduce stigma attached with mental illness
• Community Approach: There is need to deploy community health workers who, with appropriate training and supervision, effectively deliver psychosocial interventions for the needy
• Broadening the scope: Mental health care must embrace the diversity of experiences and strategies which work, well beyond the narrow confines of traditional biomedicine with its emphasis on “doctors, diagnoses and drugs”.

UPSC 2023 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)

UPSC 2023 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)

Context

• Last month, the government announced setting up of a committee to regulate online gaming and to identify a ministry to oversee it.
• In this article, we will discuss about the growing landscape of the online gaming industry in India and the need for regulation.

Why in news?

• During the Budget session of Parliament, The Online Gaming (Regulation) Bill, 2022 was introduced in Lok Sabha a member from Kerala as a Private Member’s Bill.
• The Bill sought to maintain integrity in online gaming and introduce a regulatory regime for online gaming.

Online gaming sector in India

• In the past few years, India’s nascent online gaming industry witnessed an unprecedented rise, catapulting it to the top five mobile gaming markets in the world.
• Registering a growth rate of 38%, online gaming is the next sunrise industry.
• Currently, there are more than 400 gaming companies in India, and it is home to 420 million online gamers, second only to China, according to an analysis by KPMG.

Types of gaming

• The types of online gaming include:

1. E-sports (well-organized electronic sports which include professional players) ex. Chess
2. Fantasy sports (choosing real-life sports players and winning points based on players’ performance) ex. MPL cricket
3. Skill-based (mental skill) ex. Archery
4. Gamble (based on random activity) ex. Playing Cards, Rummy

Why is the gaming industry booming in India?

1. Digital India boom in the gaming industry
2. Narrowing of the digital divide
3. IT boom

Other factors promoting the boom

1. Growing younger population
2. Higher disposable income
3. Inexpensive internet data
4. Introduction of new gaming genres, and
5. Increasing number of smartphone and tablet users

Prospects of online gaming

• State List Subject:  The state legislators are, vide Entry No. 34 of List II (State List) of the Seventh Schedule, given exclusive power to make laws relating to betting and gambling.
• Distinction in laws: Most Indian states regulate gaming on the basis of a distinction in law between ‘games of skill’ and ‘games of chance’.
• Classification on dominant element: As such, a ‘dominant element’ test is utilized to determine whether chance or skill is the dominating element in determining the result of the game.
• Linked economic activity: Staking money or property on the outcome of a ‘game of chance’ is prohibited and subjects the guilty parties to criminal sanctions.
• ‘Game of Skill’ debate: Placing any stakes on the outcome of a ‘game of skill’ is not illegal per se and may be permissible. It is important to note that the Supreme Court recognized that no game is purely a ‘game of skill’ and almost all games have an element of chance.

Need for regulation

• No comprehensive regulation:  India currently has no comprehensive legislation with regards to the legality of online gaming or boundaries that specify applicable tax rates within the betting and gambling industry.
• Ambiguity of the sector: The gaming sector is nascent and is still evolving, and many states are bringing about legislation seeking to bring about some order in the online gaming sector.
• State list subject: Online gaming in India is allowed in most parts of the country. However, different states have their own legislation with regards to whether online gaming is permitted.
• Economic advantage: Well-regulated online gaming has its own advantages, such as economic growth and employment benefits.

Issues with online gaming

• Gaming addiction: Numerous people are developing an addiction to online gaming. This is destroying lives and devastating families.  
• Compulsive gaming: Gaming by children is affecting their performance in schools and impacting their social lives & relationships with family members. Ex. PUBG
• Impact on psychological health: Online games like PUBG and the Blue Whale Challenge were banned after incidents of violence and suicide.  
• Threat to Data privacy: Inadvertent sharing of personal information can lead to cases of cheating, privacy violations, abuse, and bullying.
• Betting and gambling: Online games based on the traditional ludo, arguably the most popular online game in India, have run into controversy, and allegations of betting and gambling.

Why hasn’t a comprehensive law yet materialized?

• Earlier, states like Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, and Karnataka also passed laws banning online games.
• However, they were quashed by state High Courts on grounds that an outright ban was unfair to games of skill:

1. Violation of fundamental rights of trade and commerce, liberty and privacy, speech and expression;
2. Law being manifestly arbitrary and irrational insofar as it did not distinguish between two different categories of games, i.e. games of skill and chance;
3. Lack of legislative Competence of State legislatures to enact laws on online skill-based games.

Way forward

• Censoring: Minors should be allowed to proceed only with the consent of their parents — OTP verification on Aadhaar could resolve this.
• Awareness: Gaming companies should proactively educate users about potential risks and how to identify likely situations of cheating and abuse.
• Regulating mechanism: A Gaming Authority in the central government should be created.
• Accountability of the gaming company: It could be made responsible for the online gaming industry, monitoring its operations, preventing societal issues, suitably classifying games of skill or chance, overseeing consumer protection, and combatting illegality and crime.
• All-encompassing legislation: the Centre should formulate an overarching regulatory framework for online games of skill. India must move beyond skill-versus-chance debates to keep up with the global gaming industry.

UPSC 2023 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)

UPSC 2023 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)

Context

• The Make-in-India initiative has yielded many positive results.
• The import of toys is down by 70% in the last three years.
• Exports have jumped by over 61% over the same period.

In this article, we shall discuss what’s behind the ‘Rebranding of the Indian Toy Story’.

Toy Industry in India

• Presently, the Indian toy industry is only 0.5% of the global industry size indicating a large potential growth opportunity.
• The domestic toy demand forecasted to grow at 10-15% against the global average of 5%.
• The report ‘State of play: India’s toy story- Unboxing fun and beyond’ said India could also target a 2% share of global exports by 2025.
• There is high growth potential for India in exports of plastic toys and board games in the US, EU, and the Middle East among other markets.

Significance of Toy Industries

• According to a report by the National Productivity Council, India’s toy industry employs 3 million workers, of which 70 percent are women.

Toy Industries & Women Empowerment

• Employment in the toy manufacturing sector offers its female-majority workforce avenues for socio-economic empowerment, financial security, and skill development.
• It also offers opportunities for women to act as agents of change by preserving local toy forms, intrinsic to their regions.
• Toy manufacturing also creates possibilities for men and women artisans to work together, thereby promoting equal task division and partnerships.
• For instance, in Tamil Nadu, the manufacturing processes of ‘Vilachary‘ clay toys are divided between men and women.

Challenges

• Unorganized and fragmented: It continues to be significantly fragmented, with 90 percent of the market being unorganized.
• Small scale: 75 percent of domestic manufacturing originates in micro-industries, while 22 percent comes from MSMEs. Less than 3 percent of the domestic toy manufacturing processes come from large units.
• Less competitive: The retail value of the Indian toy market is INR 16, 000 crores of which close to three-fourths are Chinese imports.
• Chinese incursion: Consumers are habituated for long to cheap Chinese toys.

Govt Initiatives

• Toycathon: In January 2021, it launched ‘Toycathon’, a hackathon to develop toys and games based on Indian culture and ethos.
• Atmanirbhar Bharat: To promote the indigenous toy manufacturing industry, this multi-Ministerial effort sought to create an ‘Aatmanirbhar’ eco-system for local manufacturers by exploring their untapped potential.
• Formal recognition in years: Toy manufacturing clusters across the country have come to be formally recognized and supported by the govt.
• Cluster-based production: State govt. are in the process of allocating spaces for toy parks. For instance, Koppal District in Karnataka has recently been recognized as the country’s first toy manufacturing cluster.
• Tax incentives: Basic Custom Duty (BCD) on Toys-HS Code-9503 has been increased from 20% to 60% in February 2020.
• GI tags: The Toys bearing GI tags such as Chennapatna, Varanasi, etc. are also being exported. 

Way forward

• Toy industry has its own small-scale industry, artisans comprising rural population, dalits, poor people and tribal population.
• In order to take the benefits to these segments, we need to be vocal for local toys.
• There is a need for new ideas to be incubated, new start-ups promoted, taking new technology to traditional toy makers and creating new market demand.
• The 75th anniversary of India’s Independence is a huge opportunity for the innovators and creators of the toy industry.
• Many incidents, stories of our freedom fighters and their valour and leadership can be created into gaming concepts.
• There is a need to create interesting and interactive games that ‘engage, entertain and educate’.

Conclusion

• As India looks to build its ‘toyoconomy — women workers will continue to play a significant role in fulfilling domestic demand, reducing imports and raising India’s share of toy manufacturing in the global marketplace.

UPSC 2023 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)

UPSC 2023 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)

The strategic importance of IOR is ever increasing to the world order in general and Indian sub-continent in particular.

What is IOR?

• The IOR broadly defines areas consisting of littoral states of the Indian Ocean.
• IOR comprises a number of sub-regions, such as Australia, South East Asia, South Asia, Horn of Africa and the Southern and Eastern Africa.
• It is marked by a glaring cultural, social, political and economic diversity.

Significance of IOR

• Biggest market: The IOR littorals house more than one-third of world’s population.
• Trade significance: In addition, more than half of the global seaborne trade and commerce passes through the Indian Ocean out of which, almost 70 per cent goes to countries external to the region.
• Rich in natural resources: The IOR littoral states are rich in producing various raw materials, primarily oil, which are key to development of major manufacturing industries of developed as well as developing nations.
• Ample marine resources: Complementary to this is the enormous seabed resources possessed by IOR comprising oil and natural gas reserves, minerals and abundance of fishes.
• Maritime choke-points: The presence of major maritime choke points and Sea Lanes of Communications (SLOCs) in the IOR lends it a strategic importance of gigantic magnitude.

Geo-Strategic Importance of IOR to India

• India is at the centre: India’s central position in the IOR gives her an immense advantage and at the same time presents far greater challenges.
• Energy Security: Taking into account the total oil imports by sea, offshore oil production and petroleum exports, the country’s cumulative ‘sea dependence’ for oil is estimated to be about 93 per cent.
• Dependence on seas: Today, almost 95 per cent of India’s trade by volume and 68 per cent of trade by value are routed via the Indian Ocean.
• Fishing and aquaculture: India depends heavily on Indian Ocean resources with her fishing and aquaculture industries being a major source of export as well as providing employment to more than 14 million people.
• Huge maritime boundary: Militarily, the presence of such long coastline makes India vulnerable to potential threats emerging from the sea.
• Hostile neighborhood: One of the worst terrorist attacks on India in recent memory – the 2008 Mumbai attack – was perpetrated by terrorists arriving by sea.
• Unforeseen and non-conventional threats: The presence of non-traditional threats like piracy, smuggling, illegal fishing and human trafficking also present major challenges and hence, a secure Indian Ocean is key to securing India’s national interests.

Net Security Provider: To Be or Not to Be

• Peaceful seas: India has been fortunate to have experienced largely peaceful seas for past several decades.
• Conventional threats: The threats were mostly non-traditional like piracy, drug trafficking, IUU (Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated) fishing and human trafficking to name a few.

Reasons to take up the role

• Obligation for the West: The acceptance of this role, as net security provider, has now become a strategic obligation rather than a matter of choice.
• US internal crisis: Amidst a turbulent global economic environment marred by industrial recession in European block and a looming threat of trade wars between China and US.
• Wisdom of Responsibility:  India has been acknowledged as the emerging global power in the international arena. This acknowledgement brings with itself, a commensurate level of international responsibility.
• Void in capability: considering the perceptible void in the existing capability, the ongoing internal debate echoes in the remarks made by India’s former NSA, Mr Shiv Shankar Menon, when he said, “There is a demand that India be a net provider of security and we need to take a call on that”.

IOR Threat Mosaic: From Indian Prism

A quick scan over the IOR brings forth challenges of varied dimensions from India’s perspective. Critical of these areas under:

• Growing PLAN Presence: Chinese presence on theports like Gwadar, Hambantota, Djibouti to name a few, in guise of maritime Silk Road needs no elaboration.
• Modernisation of Pakistan Navy (PN): PN has embarked upon a rapid modernisation process with thrust on Undersea Warfare garnering assistance from Turkey and her all-weather friend China.
• Shifting US Policy: US policies, since Trump, have seen stark deviation from her erstwhile policies on Indo-Pacific Region (IPR).
• Non-traditional Threats: The challenges from non-state forces to include, piracy, maritime terrorism, drug trafficking, illicit weapons trafficking, illegal migrants, poaching etc. as well as, vagaries of climate change falls within the ambit of non-traditional threat spectrum of conflict..  

Impediments to India Becoming a Net Security Provider

• Resource Availability vs. Requirement: The inglorious status of India as the second most populated country in the world with finite resources can muster in the present era of global downtrend.
• Financial capabilities: Intents cannot be materialised into reality without a robust financial backing. Achieving the status of net security provider calls for manifold increase in existing military hardware.  
• Existing Civil-Military Relationship: There have been numerous instances of missing out on strategic gains due to differing views of various ministries as well as between civil and military leadership.
• Nascent Jointmanship: Turf war between three Services has not helped the vision of jointsmanship required for India achieving the status of net security provider.  
• Non-alignment Policy: India has ideologically followed the principle of military non-alignment with any super power so as to retain its strategic autonomy.  
• Primacy of Land Operations: India has been persistently focused on dealing with its land boundary with China and Pakistan, and her full-fledged participation in ongoing proxy war.  

Various steps taken

• Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA), Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS) and naval exercise MILAN have been a few welcome steps by India in manifesting a coherent strategic intent.
• This has been further augmented by initiatives like Security and Growth for All in the Region (SAGAR), project MAUSAM and the proposed Asia-Africa Growth Corridor.
• There is an increased participation of Indian Navy in bilateral / multilateral naval exercises and CORPAT (Coordinated Patrol) with Indonesia, Thailand, Myanmar and Bangladesh.
• India is already involved in training of naval personnel from various IOR nations as part of exchange programmes.
• Further, India has also been supplying naval assets to countries like Mauritius, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Seychelles.

Way Forward

• Formulation of a National Defence Policy: It is a miraculous paradox that India, a growing regional power and an aspirant global power, doesn’t have a National Defence Policy.
• Coherent IOR Strategy: India needs to formulate and adhere to a coherent IOR strategy involving complementary intents and actions in dealing with IOR nations.
• Strategic Development of Islands:  The world miraculously watched the Chinese expertise in dredging and creating small islets. God’s grace, we have the Andaman, Nicobar and the Lakshadweep Islands.
• Capability Enhancement of IOR Nations: A thrust on capability enhancement of IOR nations, particularly their respective navies, would accrue immense benefit for the entire IOR.
• Capability Development and Technical Upgradation: When it comes to indigenisation, the IN has gone way ahead vis-à-vis other two Services i.e. army and air force.

Conclusion

• Indian core values of mutual respect and peaceful co-existence generate immense goodwill and inspire confidence in the entire IOR.
• The smaller nations of the IOR have recognized the genuine intent of the Indian Navy in ensuring freedom of navigation and use of global waters as per existing International Laws.
• However, this intent needs to be firmly backed by a matching capability and a clearly spelt-out strategy.
• In the absence of the same, it would be a matter of ‘when’ and not ‘if’ India would find itself struggling to secure its own maritime (and in turn, national) interests.  

UPSC 2023 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)

Recently, the world celebrated 8th edition of International Yoga day. Along with speeches about India’s ancient culture, the World Yoga Day inevitably invokes talk of India’s contemporary soft power.

In this article, we will analyse how Yoga is exemplifying India’s soft power.

“India is the cradle of the human race, the birthplace of human speech, the mother of history, the grandmother of legend and the great grandmother of tradition”

― Mark Twain.

What is Soft Power in diplomacy?

• In politics (and particularly in international politics), soft power is the ability to co-opt rather than coerce (contrast hard power).
• It is the capacity to attract and persuade others to do things they otherwise wouldn’t.
• It involves shaping the preferences of others through appeal and attraction.
• Soft power resources are the assets that produce attraction or centre of attraction in geopolitical arena.

Etymology of the word

• Joseph Nye, a US foreign policy veteran, coined the phrase soft power in 1990.
• He encourages readers of his book The Future of Power to think of soft power in terms of resources
• Power is derived from resources, and soft power is no different.
• Hard power rests on military resources like navy fleets, attack aircraft and a capacity to inflict harm.
• Soft power rests on three primary resources:

1. Culture,
2. Political values and
3. Foreign policy

How is Yoga a soft power?

India has a tremendous cultural power or civilizational shakti that has maintained a profound impact on the world for thousands of years.

• The very fact that the celebration as an international day at all is itself considered an example of India’s soft power.
• International Day of Yoga reflects yoga’s immense popularity worldwide, underscoring its richness as a soft power resource.
• Since 2006, yoga gurus were trying to lobby the UN to declare a world yoga day. Now these yog gurus have got their due recognition.
• After a vigorous diplomatic push from PM Modi in 2014, the United Nations General Assembly put the date in the calendar.
• By exposing and familiarising citizens of a globalised world with its own historic-cultural customs, India will gain geopolitical muscle to flex.
• Yoga is a highly secular physical activity. Though originated form a Vedas, it does not represent any political religion. Ex. OIC, Commonwealth of Nations
• Cultural power is perhaps the main diplomatic power in this era of global travel and the global economy. It must form an integral part of any realistic foreign policy.

Major declared objectives of Yoga

• Optimism: It involves building a positive self-concept in oneself. Having a positive outlook helps a person to value himself and life in all forms.
• Compassion: Being Compassionate means having empathetic qualities such as love, kindness, friendliness and doing no harm to others.
• Inner Peace: Inner Peace as a theme is concerned with resolution of one’s own psychological conflicts and problems and discovering peace of mind. It includes ways of understanding the self and the process of thought, controlling emotions such as anger, art of soothing the mind etc.
• Self-realization: The concept ‘Be your true self’ means the strength of the character to be honest and direct in expressing one’s needs, feelings and thoughts without letting others down. The skills in such behaviour are necessary for resolving conflicts and effective social interaction.
• Peaceful existence: People need to learn to work harmoniously in groups with others. The theme living together can accommodate such subtopics as sharing, mutual help, trust building, taking group responsibility, leading and following. Learning cooperation reduces egoistic competitive tendencies in human beings.
• Scientific temperament: Critical thinking on the part of the citizens is a necessary feature of a democratic society. It involves analysis, syntheses, looking at the other sides of an issue, searching for alternatives and logical thinking.
• Non-violent conflict resolution: It encompasses such skills necessary for conflict resolution as conflict analyses, negotiation, active listening, mediation, creative problem-solving and alternative solution seeking.
• Respect for human dignity: Respect for human dignity is based on the concepts of human rights, duties and justice. It attempts to develop a consciousness that recognizes and respects one’s own and others’ rights.
• Communal Harmony: Building peace in community means providing opportunities for its members to be open to social realities and understand people’s problems and work with them.
• Care for the planet: The health of the planet has direct and immediate influence on the destiny of mankind. Values like peace with nature, preservation of nature, appreciation and admiration of natural environment, reuse, repair, recycling natural resources, etc. are included in this theme

Limitations of soft power

• Soft power has been criticized as for being ineffective or less effective tool in diplomacy.
• Actors in international relations respond to only two types of incentives: Economic incentives and Forceful coercion.
• As a concept, it can be difficult to distinguish soft power from hard power.
• Rising powers such as China, are creating new approaches to soft power ex. Debt Traps, thus using it defensively.
• Soft power can backfire, leading to reputational damage or loss, or what has been termed ‘soft disempowerment’. Ex. India’s perception in Maldives.

Initiatives by India showcasing its soft power

• Principle of ‘Vasudhaiv Kutumbakam’
• Non-Alignment Movement
• ‘Neighborhood First’ Policy
• Vaccine diplomacy
• Aid to Sri Lanka
• Developmental aids in Afghanistan
• Humanitarian assistance for disaster relief (HADR) in neighborhood
• Political sensitization of leaders e. Late foreign minister responding to Tweets

Major achievements

• India has moral high ground at the world forum especially due to the non-violent manner in which we had achieved our independence.
• International support for tough decisions like abrogation of article 370, and maintaining neutrality in the Russia-Ukraine War. 
• It keeps India distant from world conflicts like recently in Syria, Sudan, Israel-Palestine issue. So India earns goodwill from all over the world.

Threats to India’s soft power

• India’s older regimes and academia did little to encourage, protect or to benefit from Yoga.
• Perhaps no other country in recent times has so ignored the potential value of its soft power.
• There is a cultural battle occurring in the media and academia, in which India’s civilizational views are poorly represented.
• India’s cultural diplomacy is often labeled by the left liberals as a Hindutva Politics.

Way forward

• India should move beyond asanas and analysis and take action.
• Having the Indian story merely out there, jostling with a hundred other stories, isn’t necessarily winning the war of narrative.
• Our cultural outreach must be well-oiled, well-funded, and primed to produce geopolitical clout.
• Our moves — whether they be hard-to-power thrusts or soft power maneuvers — must emanate from consistent strategy.
• In the age of the internet, India must amplify its strengths and work rapidly to right the wrongs.

UPSC 2023 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)

Context

At the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping, PM Modi is attending the 14th BRICS Summit hosted by China in virtual format.

Discussions during the summit are expected to cover intra-BRICS cooperation in areas such as counter-terrorism, trade, health, traditional medicine, environment, IT and innovation, agriculture, technical and vocational training, and MSMEs.

Why in news?

• China is keen for the grouping to explore expansion and include new developing country members.
• Under the “BRICS Plus” format, the forthcoming summit is also expected to be attended by leaders of invited emerging countries.

What is BRICS?

• BRICS is an acronym for the grouping of the world’s leading emerging economies, namely Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
• The BRICS Leaders’ Summit is convened annually. It does not exist in form of organization, but it is an annual summit between the supreme leaders of five nations.

Its inception

• On November 30, 2001, Jim O’Neill, a British economist who was then chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, coined the term ‘BRIC’ to describe the four emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India, and China.
• He made a case for BRIC on the basis of econometric analyses projecting that the four economies would individually and collectively occupy far greater economic space and become among the world’s largest economies in the next 50 years or so.

How it has formed?

• The grouping was formalized during the first meeting of BRIC Foreign Ministers on the margins of the UNGA in New York in September 2006.
• The first BRIC Summit took place in 2009 in the Russian Federation and focused on issues such as reform of the global financial architecture.

Who are the members?

• South Africa was invited to join BRIC in December 2010, after which the group adopted the acronym BRICS. South Africa subsequently attended the Third BRICS Summit in Sanya, China, in March 2011.
• The Chairmanship of the forum is rotated annually among the members, in accordance with the acronym B-R-I-C-S.
• The importance of BRICS is self-evident: It represents 42% of the world’s population, 30% of the land area, 24% of global GDP and 16% of international trade.
• The five BRICS countries are also members of G-20.

Salient features of BRICS

(1) New front against western dominance

• The BRICS is group of countries having total population of approximately 3.6 billion which makes 40% of world population.
• Also, the cumulative economy of the group members aggregate to around 17 trillion in nominal term which is 22% of world economy in current context.

(2) Future power centres of the world

• India and China are today the fastest growing economies and they are considered as future super power of world.
• The group also has Russia the former USSR as a member which was one of the two super power until 1991 when it was disintegrated for various political and economic reason but still retain the hegemony of western, US led military dominance.

(3) New global order

• In subsequent summits since its inception the group has taken various initiatives which have changed the world economic order.
• The group pledged a corpus of $75 billion to IMF on precondition of voting rights reform in June, 2012 which is not only the end of US hegemony in institution but also a start of more democratic world order.

(4) New Development Bank

• During its fifth summit at Durban, South Africa in 2013, the member countries agreed to create a new global financial institution which finally came into existence as New Development Bank in 2015.
• The bank is today considered as rival of World Bank and the bank’s primary focus is to lend for various development projects in member and other developing countries.

(5) Contingent Reserve Agreement

• To save members from immediate economic shocks the group has also agreed to Contingent Reserve Agreement.
• The agreement provide protection to member countries against global liquidity pressure as all the members are developing economies.
• They are prone to increased economical volatility in current globalized scenario and is considered as rival of International Monetary Fund.

(6) A bridge between North and South

• The grouping has gone through a reasonably productive journey. It strove to serve as a bridge between the Global North and Global South.

(7) Sustainable and inclusive growth and development

• Structural imbalances caused by the global financial crisis of 2008 and new threats to the global economy posed by trade war and unilateral economic sanctions are yet to be resolved.
• The growing contribution of the BRICS to the world economy and the rising importance of the economic relations between the BRICS and other Emerging Market and Developing Countries (EMDCs) create an opportunity for new initiatives.

Importance of BRICS for India

(1) Geo-Politics

• Global geopolitics today represents the case of a tug of war and India finds itself in the middle of it.
• This has made difficult for India to carve a middle path for balancing its strategic interests between the U.S and the Russia-China axis.
• Therefore, BRICS platform provides an opportunity for India to balance Russia-China axis.

(2) Global Economic Order

• BRICS countries shared a common objective of reforming the international financial and monetary system, with a strong desire to build a more just, and balanced international order.
• To this end, BRICS community plays an important role in the G20, in shaping global economic policies and promoting financial stability.

(3) Voice of Developing Nations

• As the western countries are raising challenges on issues ranging from World Trade Organization to climate change, the developing countries are crippling under the onslaught of these policies.
• In recent period, BRICS has emerged as the voice of developing countries, or the global south and playing a significant role in protecting the rights of developing countries.

(4) Multilateral reforms

• India is actively pursuing its membership for United Nation Security Council (UNSC) and Nuclear Supplier Group (NSG).
• China forms the major roadblock in pursuing such goals.
• Therefore, BRICS provides an opportunity to actively engage with China and resolve the mutual disputes. It also helps in garnering support of other partner countries.

What are the challenges with the BRICS?

(1) Heterogeneity

• It is claimed by critics that heterogeneity (variable/diverse nature of countries) of the BRICS nations with its diverse interests possess a threat to the viability of the grouping.

(2) China Centric nature of the group

• All the countries in BRICS grouping trade with China more than each other, therefore it is blamed that as a platform to promote China’s interest.
• Balancing trade deficit with China is huge challenge for other partner nations.

(4) Regional model

• Amidst, global slowdown, trade war and protectionism, the critical challenge for the BRICS consists in the development of a new global model of governance which should not be unipolar but inclusive and constructive.
• The goal should be to avoid a negative scenario of unfolding globalization and to start a complicated merging of the global growing economies without distorting or breaking the single financial and economic continuum of the world.

(5) In-effective

• The five-power combine has succeeded, albeit up to a point.
• However, China’s economic rise has created a serious imbalance within BRICS.
• Also the group has not done enough to assist the Global South to win their optimal support for their agenda.

(6) Hostile members

• The future of the group seems little gloomy as the two biggest economy India and China of the group are having various contentious issues between them.
• The two countries are often seen as rival on various global forums which degenerate the confidence between each other.

(7) Sanctions on Russia

• In recent times the global slowdown, sanction on Russia since it annexed Crimea and political instability in Brazil has also added burden on BRICS economy.
• Russian participation has been seen through lens of its recent invasion of Ukraine aslo.

Priorities/Immediate goals of BRICS

(1) Reform of multilateral institutions

• The first is to pursue reform of multilateral institutions ranging from the United Nations, World Bank and the International Monetary Fund to the World Trade Organization and now even the World Health Organization.
• This is not a new goal. BRICS has had very little success so far, although strengthening multilateralism serves as a strong bond as well as a beacon.

(2) Resolve to combat terrorism

• Terrorism is an international phenomenon affecting Europe, Africa, Asia and other parts of the world.
• Tragic developments concerning Afghanistan have helped to focus attention sharply on this overarching theme, stressing the need to bridge the gap between rhetoric and action.
• China, for example, feels little hesitation in supporting clear-cut denunciations of terrorist groups, even as its backing of Pakistan, which is heavily enmeshed with a host of international terrorist groups, remains steadfast.

(3) Promoting technological and digital solutions for the Sustainable Development Goals

• Digital tools have helped a world adversely hit by the pandemic, and India has been at the forefront of using new technological tools to improve governance.

(4) Expanding people-to-people cooperation

• However, enhancing people-to-people cooperation will have to wait for international travel to revive.
• Interactions through digital means are a poor substitute.

Way Forward

• The BRICS needs to expand its agenda for increasing its relevance in the global order.
• A close examination of India’s record in BRICS reveals that New Delhi has used its membership to make a substantial contribution to the global financial architecture.
• India is not a free-rider in a system of global governance dominated by the West, and continues to provide a vision of global governance.
• For BRICS to remain relevant over the next decade, each of its members must make a realistic assessment of the initiative’s opportunities and inherent limitations.
• BRICS should promote comprehensive development of all states — both big and small — and enhanced mutually beneficial cooperation among them on the basis of shared interests.
• Democratization of international issues i.e agreements on global agendas should be reached with the widest and equal participation of all stakeholders and be based on universally recognized legal norms.
• The principle of respect for cultural and civilization diversity of the world should be a top priority.
• BRICS nations should strive for peaceful and politico-diplomatic settlement of crisis and conflict in various regions of the world.

UPSC 2023 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)