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  • [Burning Issue] India-UAE Relations

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    Context

    India’s approach towards FTAs is now focusing more on gaining meaningful market access and facilitating the Indian industry’s integration into global value chains. As Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal has repeatedly emphasized, India would no longer be signing trade agreements just to join a group, but the new approach of FTA negotiations would respond to the need of new emerging dynamics in international trade and the Indian economy.

    What is a Free Trade Agreement (FTA)?

    It is an arrangement between two or more countries under which they agree to end tariffs and non-tariff barriers on a large value of imports from partner countries.

    Coverage: The agreement may also cover, among others, services, investment, and economic cooperation.

    • FTA normally covers trade in goods (such as agricultural or industrial products) or trade in services (such as banking, construction, trading etc.).
    • FTA can also cover other areas such as intellectual property rights (IPRs), investment, government procurement and competition policy, etc.

    Main focus: The focus of an FTA is primarily on economic benefits and encouraging trade between the countries by making it more efficient and profitable. But FTAs may also have political, or strategic benefits.

    India’s revamped FTA strategy

    • Gaining meaningful market access: India’s approach towards FTAs is now focusing more on gaining meaningful market access and facilitating Indian industry’s integration into global value chains.
    • Under the revamped FTA strategy, the Government of India has prioritised at least six countries or regions to deal with, in which the United Arab Emirates (UAE) figures at the top of the list for an early harvest deal.
    • The others are the United Kingdom, the European Union, Australia, Canada, Israel and a group of countries in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).
    • The early harvest deal is to be enlarged into a comprehensive FTA in due course of time.

    Why does the FTA with UAE matter?

    • Important economic hub: The UAE has emerged as an important economic hub not just within the context of the Middle East/West Asia, but also globally.
    • Strategic location: The UAE, due to its strategic location, has emerged as an important economic centre in the world.
    • Although the UAE has diversified its economy, ‘the hydrocarbon sector remains very important followed by services and manufacturing.
    • Within services, financial services, wholesale and retail trade, and real estate and business services are the main contributors.
    • As part of the GCC, the UAE has strong economic ties with Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Oman, meaning the UAE shares a common market and a customs union with these nations.
    • Under the Greater Arab Free Trade Area (GAFTA) Agreement, the UAE has free trade access to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Jordan, Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia, Palestine, Syria, Libya, and Yemen.

    India-UAE Bilateral Relations

    • The relation has greatly flourished especially after the accession of H. H. Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, as the ruler of Abu Dhabi in 1966, and subsequently with the creation of UAE federation in 1971.
    • The greater push has been achieved in bilateral relations when the visit of India’s Prime Minister to the UAE in August 2015 marked the beginning of a new strategic partnership between the two countries.
    • Further, during the visit of the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi to India in January 2017 as the chief guest at India’s Republic Day celebrations, it was agreed that bilateral relations were to be upgraded to a comprehensive strategic partnership.
      • This gave momentum to launching negotiations for an India-UAE comprehensive economic partnership agreement.
    • Indian Diaspora in UAE: Around 3 million Indians are living harmoniously in the UAE.
    • UAE – A willing partner: As India seeks to enhance economic engagement and deepen security cooperation with the Gulf, it finds a willing partner in the UAE.
    • India being a natural partner: As UAE ‘Look[s] East’ to find partners for its economic growth and with security concerns emanating from turmoil in West Asia and growing threat from terrorism, it finds a natural partner in India.
    • UAE has a special place due to its business-friendly atmosphere, willingness to invest in the Indian economy and its important role in maintaining peace and stability in the region.
    • India’s West Asia policy:  The UAE occupies a key place in India’s West Asia policy. The high-level visit from both sides has given a new impetus to this partnership.
    • In 2017 the two sides signed the agreement on Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP).

    Why UAE is tilting towards India?

    • Geopolitical conditions as Iran is threatening continuously to close the Strait of Hormuz in case there is a conflict with Saudi Arabia or US. This will adversely affect UAE as well.
    • Failure of Pakistan to meet expectations: UAE saw Pakistan as a partner and incorporated a deep economic and security relationship with it. But in the present day, Pakistan does not seem to be of much help to UAE.
      • Already facing internal issues, Pakistan failed to come to the aid of Saudi Arabia in its war against Iran-backed rebels in Yemen and has been unable to curb jihadists operating from its land across West Asia.
    • India is an important destination for oil and energy purchase as the US is on the way of becoming hydrocarbon independent.
    • UAE’s massive sovereign wealth funds can act as a great resource in the development of infrastructure in India.
    • Issue of Terrorism: There has been a rising convergence between India and UAE on the terror issue and both the countries talked of the need to combat terror groups without any discrimination.
      • Recently,five UAE diplomats were killed in an attack in Kandahar in Afghanistan.
    • Violent conflicts around without any resolutions: Countries like Syria, Iraq, Libya and Yemen are suffering from violent conflicts. The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) has not produced expected results.

    What is the Economic Significance of the UAE?

    • The UAE has emerged as an important economic hub not just within the context of the Middle East/West Asia, but alsoglobally.
      • The UAE, due to its strategic location, has emerged as an important economic centre in the world.
    • In recent years, the UAE, through its ‘Vision 2021’, has sought to diversify its economy and reduce its dependency on oil.
      • Since 2012, growth has been led, according to a World Trade Organisation document, by the non-hydrocarbon sectors reflecting the successful diversification of the economy.
    • Although the UAE has diversified its economy, the hydrocarbon sector remains very important followed by services and manufacturing.
      • Within services, financial services, wholesale and retail trade, and real estate and business services are the main contributors.

    India-UAE trade and investment ties

    • Trade and commerce forms the backbone of the bilateral relations. UAE has been one of India’s leading sources of FDIs. India and the UAE established diplomatic relations in 1972.
    • The India-UAE total trade merchandise has been valued at U.S.$52.76 billion for the first nine months of the fiscal year 2021-22, making UAE India’s third largest trade partner after China and the United States.
    • The UAE accounts for 8 percent of India’s oil imports and was fifth largest supplier of crude oil to India.
    • As India and the UAE strive to further deepen trade and investment ties, the soon-to-be-announced early harvest agreement comes at the most opportune time.
    • The aim is to boost bilateral merchandise trade to above U.S.$100 billion and services trade to U.S.$15 billion in five years.
    • Attractive export market: As we are witnessing a big turnaround in manufacturing, the UAE would be an attractive export market for Indian electronics, automobiles, and other engineering products.
    • Ninth biggest investor: The UAE’s investment in India is estimated to be around U.S.$11.67 billion, which makes it the ninth biggest investor in India.
    • On the other hand, many Indian companies have set up manufacturing units either as joint ventures or in Special Economic Zones for cement, building materials, textiles, engineering products, consumer electronics, etc.

    Advanced Technology and the Knowledge Economy

    • In 2018, in an effort to keep pace with the changing technological imperative to attain their national aspirations, India and UAE signed a MoU to generate an estimated $20 billion in the span of a decade.
    • The Emirates have stepped up efforts to invest in the development of the knowledge economy by expanding “golden visa” residency permits in order to attract the best minds to the country so as to fuel the knowledge economy.
    • These ten-year visas are granted to doctors, engineers, PhD scholars and specialists in high-end technology fields such as artificial intelligence (AI), Big Data, virology and epidemiology.

    Space Cooperation

    • Space is a new arena in which India and the UAE have collaborated through the work of the UAE Space Agency (UAESA) and the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO).
    • Space cooperation between India and the UAE gained quick momentum during Prime Minister Modi’s visit to the Emirates in 2015.
    • Together, the two space agencies have developed the nano-satellite, Nayif-1, which was launched from the Satish Dhavan Space Centre, Sriharikota in India.
    • The two countries are likely to work together on Emirates’ ‘Red planet Mission’. 

    Security and Defence Cooperation

    • Another significant pillar of India-UAE ties is reflected in their growing cooperation in security and defense sector.
    • With the spread of radicalism in Gulf and South Asia, India looks to enhance security cooperation with UAE to counter terrorist threats and combat radicalization.
    • ‘Desert Eagle II’, a ten day air combat exercise, was held between the air forces of India and UAE.

    What is an Interim Trade Agreement (ITA)?

    • An interim or early harvest trade agreement is used to liberalise tariffs on the trade of certain goods between two countries or trading blocs before a comprehensive FTA is concluded.
    • Government’s emphasis on interim agreements may be tactical so that a deal may be achieved with minimum commitments and would allow for contentious issues to be resolved later.
    • Recently, India and Australia have announced plans to conclude an ITA in March 2022.
      • India is also looking to complete an early harvest agreement with the UAE and the UK in the first half of 2022.

    Challenges

    • The UAE tariff structure is bound with the GCC, and the applied average tariff rate is 5%. Therefore, the scope of addressing Non-Tariff Barriers (NTBs) becomes very important.
    • The reflection of NTBs can be seen through Non-Tariff Measures (NTMs) which have mostly been covered by Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) and Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT).
    • The UAE has 451 SPS notifications.
    • Most of the notifications are related to consumer information, labelling, licensing or permit requirements and import monitoring and surveillance requirements.
    • These compliances pose a challenge for Indian exporters.

    Way Forward

    (1) Needs to ensure the execution of the investment projects with the required expertise

    • Potential areas to enhance bilateral trade include defence trade, food and agricultural products as well as automobiles. Medical tourism can be an important area where India can attract Emiratis.
    • Indian companies with expertise in renewable energy sector can invest in UAE.
    • In defence sector, there is a need to further enhance cooperation through joint training programmes.

    (2) Manifold Benefits of India-UAE Trade Agreements

    • With India’s newfound strength in exports, a trade agreement with an important country such as the UAE would help sustain the growth momentum.
    • As we are witnessing a big turnaround in manufacturing, the UAE would be an attractive export market for Indian electronics, automobiles, and other engineering products.
    • As both the UAE and India are aggressively pursuing FTAs with several important countries, not only companies from these two countries but also MNCs from other geographies too would find the UAE and India an attractive market to invest in.

    (3) Improving the relations with the GCC

    • As part of the GCC, the UAE has strong economic ties with Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Oman and shares a common market and customs union with these nations.
    • Under the Greater Arab Free Trade Area (GAFTA) Agreement, the UAE has free trade access to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Jordan, Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia, Palestine, Syria, Libya, and Yemen.
    • This FTA with the UAE will pave the way for India to enter the UAE’s strategic location, and have relatively easy access to the Africa market and its various trade partners.
    • This can help India to become a part of that supply chain especially in handlooms, handicrafts, textiles and pharma.

    (4) Solving the issue of UAE’s Non-Tariff Barriers (NTBs) 

    • The UAE tariff structure is bound with the GCC (applied average tariff rate is 5%), therefore, the scope of addressing Non-Tariff Barriers (NTBs) becomes very important.
    • The reflection of NTBs can be seen through Non-Tariff Measures (NTMs) mostly covered by Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) and Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT).
    • The SPS notifications are mainly related to live poultry, meat, and processed food and the TBT notifications are related to fish, food additives, meat, rubber, electrical machinery, etc.
    • The FTA agreement must try to bring more transparency and predictability in the use of NTBs so that their compliance becomes less cumbersome.

    Conclusion

    India-UAE Relations have become a pivot of India’s Extended Neighborhood and Look West Policy in the region. Shared economic visions and geopolitical outlooks have spurred the two sides to seek to expand cooperation across multiple domains, notably in investment, technology, the knowledge economy, and defense and security. The recently signed India-UAE free trade agreement will enable two-way investment flows and help achieve ambitious export targets.

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  • Tapping technology for multilingual learning

    Context

    As the theme of International Mother Language Day 2022, it has much relevance in reshaping Indian higher education.

    India’s unique cultural and linguistic diversity

    • According to the Language Census in 2018, India is home to 19,500 languages or dialects, of which 121 languages are spoken by 10,000 or more people in our country.
    • For centuries, India has been home to hundreds of languages and thousands of dialects, making its linguistic and cultural diversity the most unique in the world. 
    • Our linguistic diversity is one of the cornerstones of our ancient civilisation.
    • Impact of globalisation: While languages are among the key bridges that ensure cultural and civilisational continuity, globalisation and Westernisation have impacted not just the growth but also the survival of many of our dialects in this rich cultural and linguistic tapestry.
    • Therefore, International Mother Language Day has special significance to the Indian context.

    Endangered languages

    • In November 1999, the UNESCO General Conference approved the declaration of February 21 as International Mother Language Day, in response to the declining state of many languages.
    • According to the UN agency, at least 43% of the estimated 6,000 languages spoken in the world are endangered.
    • UNESCO has been striving to protect the cultural and linguistic diversity of member-states through pro-active international measures.
    • It is our collective responsibility to revive and revitalise the 196 Indian languages which fall under the “endangered” category.

    Role of technology: This year’s theme

    • Globally, the role of technology came to the fore during the COVID-19 pandemic when school shutdowns forced educators and learners to adapt themselves to online education.
    • The theme of International Mother Language Day in 2022 — “Using Technology for Multilingual Learning: Challenges and Opportunities” — is one of special relevance to us.
    • The central idea is to leverage technology to support and enrich the teaching-learning experience on a multi-lingual level.
    •  It also aims at achieving a qualitative, equitable and inclusive educational experience.
    • Inevitably, the widespread use of technology would fast-track development.
    • Multilingual education predicated on the increasing use of one’s mother tongue is a key component of inclusion in education. 
    • Seen in its entirety, this is in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of “sabka saath, sabka vikas, sabka vishwas”.

    Direction of NEP

    • The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 encourages the use of mother tongue as the medium of instruction till at least Class five but preferably till Class eight and beyond.
    • The use of mother tongue in teaching is bound to create a positive impact on learning outcomes, as also the development of the cognitive faculties of students.
    • There is a pressing need to create and improve scientific and technical terminology in Indian languages.
    • We have been able to create a large English-based education system which includes colleges that offer courses in medicine and multiple disciplines of engineering.
    • This impressive system paradoxically excludes a vast majority of learners in our country from accessing higher education.

    Way forward

    • The need to build an effective multilingual education system across diverse streams and disciplines becomes all the more imperative.
    • In this context, the collaboration between the AICTE and IIT Madras to translate some courses on the central government’s e-learning platform, Study Webs of Active Learning for Young Aspiring Minds (SWAYAM) into eight regional languages such as Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, Kannada, Bengali, Marathi, Malayalam and Gujarati, is commendable. Such tech-led initiatives will serve to democratise higher education.
    • At the same time, the decision of the AICTE to permit B. Tech programmes in 11 native languages, in tune with the NEP, is a historic move.
    • Our policy-planners, educators, parents and opinion leaders must bear in mind that when it comes to education in mother tongue and local languages, we can take the cue from European countries as well as Asian powers such as Japan, China and Korea, among others.

    Conclusion

    Co-existing over centuries, borrowing from and nurturing each other, our languages are interwoven with our individual, local and national identity.

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  • What is Permanent Indus Commission?

    A 10-member Indian delegation will visit Pakistan for the annual meeting of the Permanent Indus Commission (PIC) from March 1-3.

    Agenda this year

    • Pakistan has some objections on Indian hydroelectric projects namely Pakal Dul (1,000 MW), Lower Kalnai (48 MW) and Kiru (624 MW) in Chenab basin in Jammu and Kashmir.
    • Pakistan has raised objections on the design of these projects.
    • India, however, asserts that the design of the project is fully compliant with the provisions of the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT).

    Permanent Indus Commission

    • The PIC is a bilateral commission consisting of officials from India and Pakistan, created to implement and manage the goals and objectives, and outlines of the IWT.

    Indus Waters Treaty, 1960

    • The Indus Waters Treaty is a water-distribution treaty between India and Pakistan, brokered by the World Bank signed in Karachi in 1960.
    • According to this agreement, control over the water flowing in three “eastern” rivers of India — the Beas, the Ravi and the Sutlej was given to India
    • The control over the water flowing in three “western” rivers of India — the Indus, the Chenab and the Jhelum was given to Pakistan.

    Rights accorded to India

    • The treaty allowed India to use western rivers water for limited irrigation use and unrestricted use for power generation, domestic industrial and non-consumptive uses such as navigation, floating of property, fish culture, etc.
    • It lays down precise regulations to build any water or hydel projects.
    • India has been given the right to generate hydroelectricity through run-of-the-river projects on the western rivers subject to specific criteria for design and operation.
    • The pact also gives the right to Pakistan to raise objections to designs of Indian hydroelectric projects on the western rivers.

    Based on equitable water-sharing

    • Back in time, partitioning the Indus rivers system was inevitable after the Partition of India in 1947.
    • The sharing formula devised after prolonged negotiations sliced the Indus system into two halves.
    • Equitable it may have seemed, but the fact remained that India conceded 80.52 percent of the aggregate water flows in the Indus system to Pakistan.
    • It also gave Rs 83 crore in pounds sterling to Pakistan to help build replacement canals from the western rivers. Such generosity is unusual of an upper riparian.
    • India conceded its upper riparian position on the western rivers for the complete rights on the eastern rivers.
    • Water was critical for India’s development plans.

    Significance of the treaty

    • It is a treaty that is often cited as an example of the possibilities of peaceful coexistence that exist despite the troubled relationship.
    • Well-wishers of the treaty often dub it “uninterrupted and uninterruptible”.
    • The World Bank, which, as the third party, played a pivotal role in crafting the IWT, continues to take particular pride that the treaty functions.

    Need for a rethink

    • The role of India, as a responsible upper riparian abiding by the provisions of the treaty, has been remarkable.
    • However, of late, India is under pressure to rethink the extent to which it can remain committed to the provisions, as its overall political relations with Pakistan becomes intractable.

     

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  • What is a First Information Report (FIR)?

    This newscard is an excerpt from the original article published in the IE.

    What is an FIR?

    • The term first information report (FIR) is not defined in the Indian Penal Code (IPC), Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), 1973, or in any other law.
    • However, but in police regulations or rules, information recorded under Section 154 of CrPC is known as FIR.
    • Section 154 (“Information in cognizable cases”) says that every information relating to the commission of a cognizable offence, if given orally to an officer in charge of a police station, shall be recorded in writing.
    • It has to be signed by the person giving it, and the substance thereof shall be entered in a book to be kept by such officer in such form as the State Government may prescribe.

    Important components of FIR

    In essence, then, there are three important elements of an FIR:

    1. the information must relate to the commission of a cognizable offence,
    2. it should be given in writing or orally to the head of the police station and,
    3. it must be written down and signed by the informant, and its key points should be recorded in a daily diary.

    What is a cognizable offence?

    • A cognizable offence/case is one in which a police officer may make an arrest without a warrant.
    • In the First Schedule, “the word ‘cognizable’ stands for ‘a police officer may arrest without warrant’; and the word ‘non-cognizable’ stands for ‘a police officer shall not arrest without warrant’.”

    What is the difference between a complaint and an FIR?

    • The CrPC defines a “complaint” as any allegation made orally or in writing to a Magistrate, that some person, whether known or unknown, has committed an offence, but does not include a police report.
    • However, an FIR is a document that has been prepared by the police after verifying the facts of the complaint.
    • The FIR may contain details of the crime and the alleged criminal.
    • If, on the basis of a complaint, it appears that a cognizable offence has been committed, then an FIR under Section 154 CrPC will be registered, and police will open an investigation.
    • If no offence is found, the police will close the inquiry.

    What in case of non-cognizable offences?

    • In case of non-cognizable offences, an FIR under Section 155 CrPC, commonly called “NCR”, is registered, and the complainant will be asked to approach a court for an order.
    • The court may then direct the police to conduct an investigation on the complaint.

    What is a Zero FIR?

    • When a police station receives a complaint regarding an alleged offence that has been committed in the jurisdiction of another police station, it registers an FIR, and then transfers it to the concerned police station for further investigation.
    • This is called a Zero FIR. No regular FIR number is given.
    • After receiving the Zero FIR, the concerned police station registers a fresh FIR and starts the investigation.

    What if the police refuse to register an FIR?

    • Under Section 154(3) CrPC, if any person is aggrieved by the refusal on the part of the officer in charge of a police station to register an FIR, she can send the complaint to the Superintendent of Police/DCP concerned.
    • If the SP/DCP if satisfied that such information discloses the commission of a cognizable offence, will either investigate the case, or direct an investigation by a subordinate police officer.
    • If no FIR is registered, the aggrieved persons can file a complaint under Section 156(3) CrPC before a concerned court.
    • If the court is satisfied that a cognizable offence is made out from the complaint, will direct the police to register an FIR and conduct an investigation.

    What happens after an FIR is filed?

    • The police will investigate the case and will collect evidence in the form of statements of witnesses or other scientific materials. They can arrest the alleged persons as per law.
    • If there is sufficient evidence to corroborate the allegations of the complainant, then a charge sheet will be filed.
    • Or else, a Final Report mentioning that no evidence was found will be filed in court.
    • If it is found that no offence has been committed, a cancellation report will be filed. If no trace of the accused persons is found, an ‘untraced’ report will be filed.
    • However, if the court does not agree with the investigation report, it can order further investigation.

     

    Try this question from CSP 2021:

    Q.With reference to India, consider the following statements:

    1. Judicial custody means an accused is in the custody of the concerned magistrate and such accused is locked up in police station, not in jail.
    2. During judicial custody, the police officer in charge of the case is not allowed to interrogate the suspect without the approval of the court.

    Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

    (a) 1 only

    (b) 2 only

    (c) Both 1 and 2

    (d) Neither 1 nor 2

     

    [wpdiscuz-feedback id=”7mt3evgotr” question=”Please leave a feedback on this” opened=”1″]Post your answers here.[/wpdiscuz-feedback]

     

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  • Can dark matter be composed, even partly, of black holes?

    A recent hypothesis says that dark matter comprises a large number of compact objects such as primordial black holes.

    What are Dark Matters ?

    • Astronomical observations suggest that a significant part of the universe is made up of dark matter which interacts with the rest of the universe only through the gravitational pull.
    • Many large lab experiments have tried to detect elementary particles that could be candidates for dark matter.
    • However, such dark matter particles have not been detected until now.
    • Several astronomical observations suggest that all galaxies are embedded in a “halo” of dark matter.
    • The “visible” galaxy is like a disc embedded in a dark matter halo that is much larger in size.

    What is the recent proposition?

    • When the universe was very young, hot and dense – soon after the Big Bang, it must have had quantum fluctuations of its density.
    • This, in turn, would have caused some regions to become extremely dense, and therefore, to collapse under their own gravity to form the primordial black holes.
    • While we have no conclusive evidence of spotting these objects, some of the binary black hole mergers detected by the LIGO gravitational wave detectors might be primordial black holes.
    • The question is open there is good reason to believe that primordial black holes did form in the young universe.

    Observing dark matter: Gravitational Lensing

    • The paper explores what happens when such objects get in the way of gravitational waves traveling towards the Earth from the distance.
    • It invokes a phenomenon called gravitational lensing that is used regularly in astronomy.
    • When light travels through space and passes near a massive or compact body – a star, a galaxy or a black hole, for example, the intense gravity of that body may attract the light towards it.
    • This causes bending it from its rectilinear (straight line) path.
    • This phenomenon is known as gravitational lensing and was first observed by Arthur Eddington in 1919.

    How intense are they?

    • Massive objects like galaxies can bend light significantly, producing multiple images, this is called strong lensing.
    • Lighter objects like stars or black holes bend light less, and this is called micro-lensing.
    • A similar lensing can happen to gravitational waves travelling towards the Earth, and this would leave signatures in the detected gravitational waves.
    • This can be used to detect the presence, or the existence, of primordial black holes.

    Assessing dark matter

    • Until now, individual black holes have not marked out these signatures on gravitational waves detected by the LIGO-VIRGO detectors.
    • However, if all of the dark matter is made of primordial black holes, they should have produced detectable signatures on the gravitational wave signals.
    • The researchers use the non-observation of the lensing signatures to assess what fraction of the dark matter could be made of black holes.

    Way ahead

    • This provides a new way of constraining the nature of dark matter.
    • The study concludes that black holes in the mass range from a hundred to a million solar masses can contribute only up to 50-80% of the dark matter in the universe.
    • This is an upper limit and the actual fraction can be much smaller.
    • These upper limits will get better and better with more and more observations.

     

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  • Lucy Mission to probe Jupiter’s Trojan Asteroids

    NASA is set to send its first spacecraft to study Jupiter’s Trojan asteroids to glean new insights into the solar system’s formation 4.5 billion years ago.

    Lucy Mission

    • Lucy will fly by eight Jupiter asteroids—seven Trojans and one main-belt asteroid — over the next 12 years.
    • It is NASA’s first single spacecraft mission in history to explore so many different asteroids.
    • Lucy will run on solar power out to 850 million km away from the Sun.
    • This makes it the farthest-flung solar-powered spacecraft ever, according to NASA.

    What is Jupiter Trojan Asteroids?

    • Simply known as Trojans, they are a large group of asteroids that share Jupiter’s orbit around the Sun.
    • Thousands of such asteroids exist in a gravitationally stable space.
    • The swarms lead and follow the planet Jupiter along its orbit around the Sun.

    What exactly are Trojans?

    • Lucy’s Trojan destinations are trapped near Jupiter’s Lagrange (L) points, which are gravitationally stable locations — it is where the gravity from the Sun and from Jupiter cancel each other out.
    • This means their orbits are stable and the Trojans are trapped in the space between.
    • This also means that asteroids are as far away from Jupiter as they are from the Sun.
    • Jupiter’s leading and trailing Lagrangian points (L4 and L5) have been stable over the age of the solar system.
    • This means that their orbits have accumulated many, many asteroids.
    • It makes sense to call a Trojan a co-orbital object, which moves around one of the two stable Lagrangian points.

    When and how were they discovered?

    • It took many a scientist to understand Trojans, and subsequently, name them so.
    • A German astrophotographer in 1906 made an important discovery: An asteroid with a particularly unusual orbit. As Jupiter moved, this asteroid remained ahead of Jupiter.
    • It was observed that the asteroid was nearly 60 degrees in front of Jupiter.

    Students with engineering background would better understand who Lagrange was. Rest need not care.

    Lagrange’s propositions

    • This specific position of a particular behavior was predicted by the Italian-French mathematician Joseph-Louis Lagrange over 100 years earlier.
    • Lagrange had argued that if a small celestial body is placed at one of two stable points in a planet’s orbit around the Sun (the L4 and L5), the asteroid would remain stationary from the planet’s perspective.
    • This is due to the combined gravitational forces of the planet and the Sun.
    • Thus, Lagrange’s prediction acquired credibility. More such asteroids were discovered over subsequent months in Jupiter’s Lagrange point L5.

    Behind the name: Lucy

    • It is the fossil of a hominin that lived 3.2 million years ago.
    • She is known to be one of the most famous pre-human fossils in history.
    • Nearly 40 percent of the fossilized skeleton of this hominin was discovered in 1974 by a team of paleoanthropologists led by Donald Johanson.
    • The name was inspired from the famous Beatles song “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds,” which Johanson’s team listened to at camp the night of their discovery.

    Back2Basics: Lagrange Points

    • Lagrange points are positions in space where objects sent there tend to stay put.
    • They are named after Italian-French mathematician Josephy-Louis Lagrange.
    • At Lagrange points, the gravitational pull of two large masses precisely equals the centripetal force required for a small object to move with them.
    • These points in space can be used by spacecraft to reduce the fuel consumption needed to remain in position.
    • There are five special points where a small mass can orbit in a constant pattern with two larger masses.

     

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  • [Sansad TV] Perspective: Free Trade Agreement

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    Context

    • India currently has 11 Free Trade Agreements or Regional Trade Agreements with other countries/regions in addition to 6 limited coverage Preferential Trade Agreements.
    • Strategically, FTAs have helped India compete at a global level and enhance its growth.
    • Last year Parliament Standing Committee on commerce in its report had recommended the government to iron out the issues hindering the signing of Free Trade Agreements with the US and the EU nations.

    So what are the opportunities and challenges of FTAs.

    What is a Free Trade Agreement (FTA)?

    • A FTA is a pact between two or more nations to reduce barriers to imports and exports among them.
    • Under a free trade policy, goods and services can be bought and sold across international borders with little or no government tariffs, quotas, subsidies, or prohibitions to inhibit their exchange.
    • The concept of free trade is the opposite of trade protectionism or economic isolationism.
    • Countries often agree to FTAs if their economic structures are complementary, not competitive.

    Difference between Free Trade and Fair Trade

    • Although these terms are often confused, there are significant differences between free trade and fair trade.
    • FTAs are aimed at fostering open trade between nations to improve economic growth among all involved parties.
    • The fair trade movement is focused on fostering economic equity on a global scale so that the workers who make goods in other countries receive fair wages and improve their lives and communities.

    How many FTAs does India have?

    • India has signed it’s first Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Sri Lanka in 1998.
    • Likewise, India had FTAs with: Nepal, Bhutan, Thailand, Singapore, ASEAN, Japan and Malaysia.
    • India has signed Preferential Trade Agreements such as:
    1. Asia Pacific Trade Agreement (APTA) with Bangladesh, China, India, Lao PDR, Republic of Korea, and Sri Lanka
    2. Global System of Trade Preferences (GSTP)
    3. India – MERCOSUR PTA etc. with South American countries

    Key benefits offered by FTA

    • Reduction or elimination of tariffs on qualified: For example, a country that normally charges a tariff of 12% of the value of the incoming product will rationalize or eliminate that tariff.
    • Intellectual Property Protection: Protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights in the FTA partner country is upheld.
    • Product Standards: FTA enhances the ability for domestic exporters to participate in the development of product standards in the FTA partner country.
    • Fair treatment for investors: FTA provides treatment as favourably as the FTA partner country gives equal treatment for investments from the partner country.
    • Elimination of monopolies: With FTAs, global monopolies are eliminated due to increased competition.

    Disadvantages of FTAs

    The biggest criticism of free trade agreements is that they are responsible for job outsourcing. There are some primary disadvantages:

    • Increased job outsourcing: Reducing tariffs on imports allows companies to expand to other countries. Without tariffs, imports from countries with a low cost of living cost less.
    • Theft of intellectual property: Many developing countries don’t have laws to protect patents, inventions, and new processes.
    • Crowd out domestic industries: Many emerging markets are traditional economies that rely on farming for most employment. These small family farms can’t compete with subsidized agri-businesses.
    • Poor working conditions: Multinational companies may outsource jobs to emerging market countries without adequate labour protections.
    • Degradation of natural resources: Emerging market countries often don’t have many environmental protections. Free trade leads to the depletion of timber, minerals, and other natural resources.
    • Destruction of native cultures: As development moves into isolated areas, indigenous cultures can be destroyed. Local peoples are uprooted.  
    • Reduced tax revenue: Many smaller countries struggle to replace revenue lost from import tariffs and fees.
    • Bane to Indigenization: An FTA will basically put a big challenge to the ‘Make in India’ programme which the current government is aggressively promoting.

    Assessment of India’s FTAs

    (1) India-ASEAN FTA

    • Despite the fact that the Trade Agreement with ASEAN has helped trade grow immensely with India, still, the issue remains that the agreement has benefitted the ASEAN region more than India.
    • With the agreement in goods signed, the domestic markets have faced stiff competition because they have to compete with the cheaper goods of the ASEAN region.
    • For example, the rubber imports from Malaysia, palm oil imports from Indonesia have made it a tough ordeal for the local manufacturers of palm oil and rubber.

    (2) India- RCEP [India opted out from signing]

    • The agricultural sector of India, which faces issues like lack of investment, low productivity, obsolete technology and fragmented landholdings will suffer more.
    • Indian market will be flooded with products from other nations which are comparatively cheaper and have a more efficient agricultural sector.

    Way Forward

    • India is one of the fastest-growing large economies of the world and FTAs have played a significant role in enhancing the trade volume of the country.
    • FTAs must bring the expected tangible benefits.
    • Therefore, there is a need for a detailed assessment of FTAs in terms of goods, services and investment flows by all the stakeholders involved.
    • Beyond mere economic cost-benefit analysis, India must approach such FTAs from a geostrategic perspective also.

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  • UGC’s ‘Academic Bank of Credits’ scheme

    Context

    The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 has recommended a revamp of the higher education scene in India. A new initiative stemming from this desire is an ‘Academic Bank of Credits’ (ABC) in higher education idea, which was notified recently by the University Grants Commission (UGC).

    About the Academic Bank of Credits’ (ABC)

    • Any undergraduate or postgraduate student can create an account in the ABC portal and store information of his/her completed courses (i.e., subjects/papers in old terminology) and grades obtained.
    • These grades are stored for a period of five years. 
    • As multiple institutes are connected to the ABC portal, one can be formally enrolled in university ‘A’ but can choose to do some courses from university ‘B’, some more from university ‘C’ and so on and all of these would count towards the student’s degree.
    • Flexible and multidisciplinary: One can enrol in an equivalent course from another college in the same city or join online courses offered by other universities; or can enrol in SWAYAM (a programme initiated by the  Government of India) or the National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL) and add these credits.
    • Thus, education will truly become flexible and interdisciplinary, without forcing any single institute to float an unmanageable number of courses.
    • This flexibility will offer students a chance to enrol in a course and learn from teachers from some of the best institutes such as the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) or the Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research.

    Issues with ABC

    • Limited seats: ABC regulations say that the institute should allow up to 20% supernumerary seats for students enrolling through the ABC scheme.
    • There is no clarity on how the selection of students would be made if there are more than 20% seats.
    • Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) platforms such as SWAYAM and NPTEL are ‘supposedly designed’ for large enrolments.
    • So far we have not found any evidence in the public domain that these MOOC platforms can provide a reliable assessment of learning achievement if there is massive enrolment for a course.
    • Filtering criterion: The ABC portal will accept courses from a large inumber of higher education institutes.
    • The filtering criterion in the original regulation was that higher education institutes should have obtained an ‘A’ grade or higher in the latest round of National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) accreditation.
    • This filtering criterion is not satisfactory.
    • Impact on small colleges: The ABC scheme specifies that students can avail up to 70% of courses from other institutes while being enrolled in a particular college.
    • If students avail these credits outside the parent college, they need not enrol for the corresponding in-house courses.
    • As the number of teaching posts in any higher education institute are calculated on the basis of student enrolment numbers, what happens when a large fraction of students do not enrol for the courses offered by you? 

    Conclusion

    In India, where the quality of education varies drastically from one institute to the next, this can lead to unmanageable academic and administrative issues in higher education institutes with brand names, and lead to a contraction in the number of teaching posts in smaller higher education institutes.

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  • Green Hydrogen Policy

     

    The Ministry of Power has notified the first part of the National Hydrogen Mission policy on green hydrogen and green ammonia, aimed to boost production of hydrogen and ammonia using renewable energy.

    What is green hydrogen?

    • Green hydrogen is hydrogen gas produced through electrolysis of water.
    • It is an energy intensive process for splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen— using renewable power to achieve this.

    Key takeaways of the Green Hydrogen Policy

    • The new policy offers 25 years of free power transmission for any new renewable energy plants set up to supply power for green hydrogen production before July 2025.
    • This means that a green hydrogen producer will be able to set up a solar power plant in Rajasthan to supply renewable energy to a green hydrogen plant in Assam.
    • It would not be required to pay any inter-state transmission charges.

    What are the incentives?

    • The government is set to provide a single portal for all clearances required for setting up green hydrogen production.
    • It will facilitate producers to transfer any surplus renewable energy generated with discoms for upto 30 days and use it as required.
    • The requirement of time bound clearances for these projects would spur investment while grid connectivity on priority will ease operational processes.
    • The energy plants set up to produce green hydrogen/ammonia would be given connectivity to the grid on a priority basis.
    • State DISCOMS may also procure renewable energy to supply green hydrogen producers but will be required to do so at a concessional rate.
    • Such procurement would also count towards a state’s Renewable Purchase Obligation (RPO) under which it is required to procure a certain proportion of its requirements from renewable energy sources.

    Facilities to boost export

    • Under the policy port authorities will also provide land at applicable charges to green hydrogen and green ammonia producers to set up bunkers near ports for storage prior to export.
    • Germany and Japan could be key markets for green hydrogen produced in India.

    Why such move?

    • The move is likely going to make it more economical for key users of hydrogen and ammonia such as the oil refining, fertiliser and steel sectors to produce green hydrogen for their own use.
    • These sectors currently use grey hydrogen or grey ammonia produced using natural gas or naphtha.

     

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  • Krishna Water Allocation Dispute

    The Supreme Court has asked if the States of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, and Karnataka could amicably settle their quarrel over the allocation of the Krishna river water.

    Krishna River Dispute

    • The Krishna is an east-flowing river that originates at Mahabaleshwar in Maharashtra and merges with the Bay of Bengal, flowing through Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana, and AP.
    • Together with its tributaries, it forms a vast basin that covers 33% of the total area of the four states.
    • A dispute over the sharing of Krishna waters has been ongoing for many decades, beginning with the erstwhile Hyderabad and Mysore states, and later continuing between successors.

    Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal

    • In 1969, the Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal (KWDT) was set up under the Inter-State River Water Dispute Act, 1956, and presented its report in 1973.
    • The report, which was published in 1976, divided the 2060 TMC (thousand million cubic feet) of Krishna water at 75 percent dependability into three parts.
    • It was 560 TMC for Maharashtra, 700 TMC for Karnataka, and 800 TMC for Andhra Pradesh.
    • At the same time, it was stipulated that the KWDT order may be reviewed or revised by a competent authority or tribunal any time after May 31, 2000.
    • Afterward, as new grievances arose between the states, the second KWDT was instituted in 2004.
    • It delivered its report in 2010, which made allocations of the Krishna water at 65 percent dependability and for surplus flows as follows: 81 TMC for Maharashtra, 177 TMC for Karnataka, and 190 TMC for Andhra Pradesh.

    Row over the share

    • Andhra Pradesh has since asked that Telangana be included as a separate party at the KWDT and that the allocation of Krishna waters be reworked among four states, instead of three.
    • Maharashtra and Karnataka are now resisting this move since Telangana was created following the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh.
    • Therefore, the allocation of water should be from Andhra Pradesh’s share which was approved by the tribunal.

    Duo’s stance

    • It is relying on Section 89 of The Andhra Pradesh State Reorganization Act, 2014, which reads:
    • The term of the Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal shall be extended with the following terms of reference, namely:
    1. shall make a project-wise specific allocation, if such allocation has not been made by a Tribunal constituted under the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act, 1956;
    2. shall determine an operational protocol for project-wise release of water in the event of deficit flows.
    • For the purposes of this section, it is clarified that the project-specific awards already made by the Tribunal on or before the appointed day shall be binding on the successor States.

     

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