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GS Paper: GS2

  • India, Pakistan exchange list of nuclear installations, prisoners

    India and Pakistan has exchanged a list of their nuclear installations that cannot be attacked in case of an escalation in hostilities, as part of an annual ritual that has been in practice between the two neighbours for more than three decades.

    Non-Nuclear Aggression Agreement

    • The Non-nuclear aggression agreement is a bilateral and nuclear weapons control treaty between India and Pakistan, on the reduction (or limitation) of nuclear arms.
    • Both pledged not to attack or assist foreign powers to attack on each others nuclear installations and facilities.
    • The treaty was drafted in 1988, and signed by the PM Rajiv Gandhi and his counterpart Benazir Bhutto on 21 December 1988; it entered into force on January 1991.
    • The treaty barred its signatories to carry out a surprise attack (or to assist foreign power to attack) on each other’s nuclear installations and facilities.
    • Starting in January 1992, India and Pakistan have annually exchanged lists of their respective military and civilian nuclear-related facilities.

    Need for the treaty

    • In 1986-87, the massive exercise, ‘Brasstacks’ was carried out by the Indian Army, raising the fears of an Indian attack on Pakistan’s nuclear facilities.
    • Since then, the Foreign ministries of both countries had been negotiating to reach an understanding towards the control of nuclear weapons.

    Significance of the agreement

    • The treaty barred its signatories to carry out a surprise attack (or to assist foreign power to attack) on each other’s nuclear installations and facilities.
    • The treaty provides a confidence-building security measure environment.

    Other: Sharing of Prisoners information

    • Both nations do simultaneously share the list of prisoners in each others’ custody.
    • These lists are exchanged under the provisions of the Agreement on Consular Access signed in May 2008.
    • Under this pact, the two countries should exchange comprehensive lists on January 1 and July 1 every year (i.e. twice a year).

     

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  • China issues ‘official’ names for 15 places in Arunachal Pradesh

    China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs has issued standardized names for 15 places in the Indian State of Arunachal Pradesh, to be used henceforth on official Chinese maps.

    MEA clarification

    • The Ministry of External Affairs has dismissed the Chinese “invention”.
    • Arunachal Pradesh has always been, and will always be, an integral part of India, said MEA.

    Why is China giving names to places that are in India?

    • China claims some 90,000 sq km of Arunachal Pradesh as its territory.
    • It calls the area “Zangnan” in the Chinese language and makes repeated references to “South Tibet”.
    • Chinese maps show Arunachal Pradesh as part of China, and sometimes parenthetically refer to it as “so-called Arunachal Pradesh”.
    • China makes periodic efforts to underline this unilateral claim to Indian territory.
    • Giving Chinese names to places in Arunachal Pradesh is part of that effort.

    Earlier unilateral renamings

    • This is the second lot of “standardized” names of places in Arunachal Pradesh that China has announced.
    • Earlier in 2017, it had issued “official” Chinese names for six places spanning the breadth of Arunachal Pradesh

    What is China’s argument for claiming these areas?

    • The PRC disputes the legal status of the McMahon Line, the official boundary under the ‘Convention Between Great Britain, China, and Tibet’ — of 1914 (Simla Convention).
    • China was represented at the Simla Convention by a plenipotentiary of the Republic of China, which had been declared in 1912 after the Qing dynasty was overthrown.
    • The present communist government came to power only in 1949, when the People’s Republic was proclaimed.
    • The Chinese representative did not consent to the Simla Convention, saying Tibet had no independent authority to enter into international agreements.

    What is the McMohan Line?

    • The McMohan Line, named after Henry McMahon, the chief British negotiator at Shimla, was drawn from the eastern border of Bhutan to the Isu Razi pass on the China-Myanmar border.
    • China claims territory to the south of the McMahon Line, lying in Arunachal Pradesh.
    • China also bases its claims on the historical ties that have existed between the monasteries in Tawang and Lhasa.

    Intention behind these renamings

    • This renaming is a part of the Chinese strategy to assert its territorial claims over Indian territory.
    • As part of this strategy, China routinely issues statements of outrage whenever an Indian dignitary visits Arunachal Pradesh.
    • Beijing keeps harping on its “consistent” and “clear” position that the Indian possession of Arunachal Pradesh.
    • These claims have been firmly established and recognized by the world, as “illegal”.

    Arunachal not all-alone

    • Laying aggressive claims to territories on the basis of alleged historical injustices done to China is a part of Beijing’s foreign policy playbook.
    • The claim on Taiwan is one such example, as are the consistent efforts to change the “facts on the ground” in several disputed islands in the South China Sea.
    • The aggression is at all times backed in overt and covert ways by the use of China’s economic and military muscle.

    Also read:

    [RSTV Archive] India-China Ties Post-Galwan

     

  • Taiwan: An important ally in the battle against authoritarianism

    Context

    President Joe Biden-led Summit for Democracy was held on December 9-10. The summit was driven by the idea that in the face of populism, authoritarianism it is critical to keep the “democratic” flock together.

    The salience of Summit for Democracy

    • As a goal in itself: The salience of this summit lies in a deeper understanding that democracy is not just a form of government, it is a goal in itself, a value that must be cherished, preserved and celebrated.
    • Democracy as a way of life: Unlike other political systems, democracy is also a way of life — a work in progress that needs sustained attention and careful nurturing to make it more resilient.

    Taiwan as a desired partner of like-minded democracies

    • Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy (NSP) was launched in 2016 to bring Asia closer to Taiwan and vice-versa.
    • The NSP is aimed to be a pivotal tool to engage like-minded democracies in the region.
    • Role in the post-pandemic world: The post-pandemic world would be more invested in some of these areas — for example, health diplomacy and collaboration in the medical sector, climate change mitigation, and developing sustainable and resilient supply chains.
    • Platform for semiconductor industry: Taiwan is already proving its efficacy as a viable platform for the semiconductor industry.
    • Resilient supply chain mechanism: The US and its friends in the region, particularly India, Japan and Australia, have been proactively exploring possibilities of creating resilient supply chain mechanisms.
    • With its technological knowhow, and shared interests and concerns, Taiwan fits perfectly in this agenda.
    • EU’s renewed interest in Indo-Pacific: Greater interactions between Taiwan and EU on the technology cooperation front, stimulated by the latter’s renewed interest in the Indo-Pacific region, makes Taiwan a desired partner of fellow democracies.
    •  As an industrialised democracy, Taiwan could play an important role, especially since countries are trying to reduce dependence on China and establish supply chain resilience.

    Conclusion

    It is important for liberal democracies to acknowledge that they are facing similar challenges and view Taiwan as an indispensable partner. Deft diplomacy is in order since transnational challenges demand joint efforts by liberal democracies.

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  • India-Australia soon to have FTA

    India and Australia are expected to complete negotiations for an interim free trade agreement (FTA) soon, a move aimed at boosting economic ties between the two countries.

    Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA)

    • The final agreement is officially dubbed as the CECA is expected to be completed by the end of 2022.
    • The pact covers areas such as goods, services, investment, rules of origin, customs facilitation, legal and institutional issues.
    • This new strategic economic agreement is expected to increase bilateral trade in goods to $100 billion within five years.

    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.

    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 favorably 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.

    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

    Back2Basics: Types of Trade Agreements

    (1) Free Trade Agreement

    (discussed above)

    (2) Preferential Trade Agreement

    • In this type of agreement, two or more partners give preferential right of entry to certain products.
    • This is done by reducing duties on an agreed number of tariff lines.
    • Here a positive list is maintained i.e. the list of the products on which the two partners have agreed to provide preferential access.
    • Tariff may even be reduced to zero for some products even in a PTA.
    • India signed a PTA with Afghanistan.

    (3) Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement

    • Partnership agreement or cooperation agreement are more comprehensive than an FTA.
    • CECA/CEPA also looks into the regulatory aspect of trade and encompasses and agreement covering the regulatory issues.
    • CECA has the widest coverage. CEPA covers negotiation on the trade in services and investment, and other areas of economic partnership.
    • It may even consider negotiation on areas such as trade facilitation and customs cooperation, competition, and IPR.
    • India has signed CEPAs with South Korea and Japan.

    (4) Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement

    • CECA generally cover negotiation on trade tariff and Tariff rate quotas (TRQs) rates only.
    • It is not as comprehensive as CEPA.
    • India has signed CECA with Malaysia.

    (5) Framework Agreement

    • Framework agreement primarily defines the scope and provisions of orientation of the potential agreement between the trading partners.
    • It provides for some new area of discussions and set the period for future liberalisation.
    • India has previously signed framework agreements with the ASEAN, Japan etc.

    (6) Early Harvest Scheme

    • An Early Harvest Scheme (EHS) is a precursor to an FTA/CECA/CEPA between two trading partners. For example, early harvest scheme of RCEP has been rolled out.
    • At this stage, the negotiating countries identify certain products for tariff liberalization pending the conclusion of actual FTA negotiations.
    • An Early Harvest Scheme is thus a step towards enhanced engagement and confidence building.

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  • Centre notifies new rules for Consumer Panels

    The Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food, and Public Distribution has notified monetary jurisdiction for various Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (CDRC) under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019.

    What are the new changes?

    • The Centre has notified new rules to revise pecuniary jurisdiction for entertaining consumer complaints at district, state and national level commissions, a move aimed at fast disposal of cases.
    • The NCDRC will now have jurisdiction to entertain consumers’ complaints where the value of the goods or services exceeds Rs 2 crore as against the earlier limit of over Rs 10 crore.
    • The state commissions will have jurisdiction to similar complaints with value of goods or services between Rs 50 lakh and Rs 2 crore, and the National Commission over Rs 2 crore.
    • District commissions have jurisdiction to entertain complaints where value of goods or services paid as consideration does not exceed Rs 1 crore.

    Legal basis of these changes

    • The Act provides a “three-tier quasi-judicial mechanism” for redress of consumer disputes: district commissions, state commissions, and the national commission.
    • The law also provides pecuniary jurisdiction of each tier of consumer commission.

    Benefits of the move

    • Fast-track disposal of cases: Reduction of limit of pecuniary jurisdiction of district and state commissions will reduce workload at these two tiers of dispute resolution system, and thereby reduce pendency at these two levels.
    • Easy litigation: Besides, with E-Dakhil in place, consumers can take their complaints to a state or national commission without visiting the commission physically.

    Back2Basics: Features of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019

    [1] Definition of consumer

    • A consumer is defined as a person who buys any good or avails a service for a consideration.
    • It does not include a person who obtains a good for resale or a good or service for commercial purpose.
    • It covers transactions through all modes including offline, and online through electronic means, teleshopping, multi-level marketing or direct selling.

    [2] Rights of consumers

    Six consumer rights have been defined in the Bill, including the right to:

    • be protected against marketing of goods and services which are hazardous to life and property
    • be informed of the quality, quantity, potency, purity, standard and price of goods or services
    • be assured of access to a variety of goods or services at competitive prices and
    • seek redressal against unfair or restrictive trade practices

    [3] Central Consumer Protection Authority

    • The central government will set up a Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) to promote, protect and enforce the rights of consumers.
    • It will regulate matters related to violation of consumer rights, unfair trade practices, and misleading advertisements.
    • The CCPA will have an investigation wing, headed by a Director-General, which may conduct inquiry or investigation into such violations.

    [4] Penalties for misleading advertisement

    • The CCPA may impose a penalty on a manufacturer or an endorser of up to Rs 10 lakh and imprisonment for up to two years for a false or misleading advertisement.
    • In case of a subsequent offence, the fine may extend to Rs 50 lakh and imprisonment of up to five years.
    • CCPA can also prohibit the endorser of a misleading advertisement from endorsing that particular product or service for a period of up to one year.

     [5] Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission

    • CDRCs will be set up at the district, state, and national levels.
    • A consumer can file a complaint with CDRCs in relation to: (i) unfair or restrictive trade practices; (ii) defective goods or services; (iii) overcharging or deceptive charging; and (iv) the offering of goods or services for sale which may be hazardous to life and safety.
    • Complaints against an unfair contract can be filed with only the State and National Appeals from a District CDRC will be heard by the State CDRC.
    • Appeals from the State CDRC will be heard by the National CDRC.
    • Final appeal will lie before the Supreme Court.

    [6] Jurisdiction of CDRCs

    • The District CDRC will entertain complaints where value of goods and services does not exceed Rs one crore.
    • The State CDRC will entertain complaints when the value is more than Rs one crore but does not exceed Rs 10 crore.
    • Complaints with value of goods and services over Rs 10 crore will be entertained by the National CDRC.

    [7] Product liability

    • Product liability means the liability of a product manufacturer, service provider or seller to compensate a consumer for any harm or injury caused by a defective good or deficient service.
    • To claim compensation, a consumer has to prove any one of the conditions for defect or deficiency, as given in the Bill.

     

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  • [pib] Electoral Bonds Scheme

    The 19th phase of sale of Electoral Bonds will commence ahead of elections is some states.

    What are Electoral Bonds?

    • Electoral bonds are banking instruments that can be purchased by any citizen or company to make donations to political parties, without the donor’s identity being disclosed.
    • It is like a promissory note that can be bought by any Indian citizen or company incorporated in India from select branches of State Bank of India.
    • The citizen or corporate can then donate the same to any eligible political party of his/her choice.
    • An individual or party will be allowed to purchase these bonds digitally or through cheque.

    About the scheme

    • A citizen of India or a body incorporated in India will be eligible to purchase the bond
    • Such bonds can be purchased for any value in multiples of ₹1,000, ₹10,000, ₹10 lakh, and ₹1 crore from any of the specified branches of the State Bank of India
    • The purchaser will be allowed to buy electoral bonds only on due fulfillment of all the extant KYC norms and by making payment from a bank account
    • The bonds will have a life of 15 days (15 days time has been prescribed for the bonds to ensure that they do not become a parallel currency)

    Objective of the scheme

    • Transparency in political funding: To ensure that the funds being collected by the political parties is accounted money or clean money.

    Who can redeem such bonds?

    • The Electoral Bonds shall be encashed by an eligible Political Party only through a Bank account with the Authorized Bank.
    • Only the Political Parties registered under Section 29A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 (43 of 1951) and which secured not less than one per cent of the votes polled in the last General Election to the Lok Sabha or the State Legislative Assembly, shall be eligible to receive the Electoral Bonds.

    Restrictions that are done away

    • Earlier, no foreign company could donate to any political party under the Companies Act
    • A firm could donate a maximum of 7.5 per cent of its average three year net profit as political donations according to Section 182 of the Companies Act.
    • As per the same section of the Act, companies had to disclose details of their political donations in their annual statement of accounts.
    • The government moved an amendment in the Finance Bill to ensure that this proviso would not be applicable to companies in case of electoral bonds.
    • Thus, Indian, foreign and even shell companies can now donate to political parties without having to inform anyone of the contribution.

    Issues with the Scheme

    • Opaque funding: While the identity of the donor is captured, it is not revealed to the party or public. So transparency is not enhanced for the voter.
    • No IT break: Also income tax breaks may not be available for donations through electoral bonds. This pushes the donor to choose between remaining anonymous and saving on taxes.
    • No anonymity for donors: The privacy of the donor is compromised as the bank will know their identity.
    • Differential benefits: These bonds will help any party that is in power because the government can know who donated what money and to whom.

     

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  • An opportunity for Digital India

    Context

    India is pioneering the concept of digital public goods, with it, there is an opportunity for India to embark on digital diplomacy.

    Digital public goods in India

    • Built on the foundation of Aadhaar and India Stack, modular applications, big and small, are transforming the way we make payments, withdraw our PF, get our passport and driving licence and check land records, to name just a few activities.
    • There is an opportunity for India to embark on digital diplomacy — to take its made-in-India digital public goods to hundreds of emerging economies across the world.

    How Digital Diplomacy can help India?

    • This could be a strategic and effective counter to China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
    • Enhancing the productivity of emerging economies: Emerging economies are characterised by gross inefficiencies in the delivery of government services and a consequent trust deficit.
    • Digital public goods spread speed, transparency, ease and productivity across the individual-government-market ecosystem and enhance inclusivity, equity and development at scale.
    • Acceptance in emerging economies: India’s digital diplomacy will be beneficial to and welcomed by, all emerging economies from Peru to Polynesia, from Uruguay to Uganda, and from Kenya to Kazakhstan.
    • Goodwill: It will enable quick, visible and compounding benefits for India’s partner countries and earn India immense goodwill.

    Benefits of Digital diplomacy

    • Reusability: The code is highly reusable
    • Low cost: The cost of setting up an open source-based high school online educational infrastructure, to supplement the physical infrastructure, for an entire country is less than laying two kilometres of high-quality road.
    • No debt trap: The investments required for transporting digital public goods are minuscule in comparison and there is no chance of a debt trap.
    • Short gestation period: Unlike physical infrastructures such as ports and roads, digital public goods have short gestation periods and immediate, and visible impact and benefits.
    • It plugs leaks: Digital infrastructure plugs leaks.
    • It eliminates ghost beneficiaries of government services, removes touts collecting rent, creates an audit trail, makes the individual-government-market interface transparent and provides efficiencies that help recoup the investments quickly.
    • Processes get streamlined and wait times for any service come down dramatically.
    • Increases productivity: Productivity goes up and services can be scaled quickly.
    • Benefits can be rapidly extended to cover a much larger portion of the population.
    • Compounding instead of depreciation: Above all, the digital public goods infrastructure compounds while physical infrastructure depreciates.

    Three ways in which digital public goods infrastructure compound

    • Compounding happens for three reasons.
    • [1] Growth of technologyy: Chips keep becoming faster, engines more powerful, and gene-editing technology keeps improving.
    • [2] Network effect: As more and more people use the same technology, the number of “transactions” using that technology increase exponentially — be it Facebook posts or UPI transactions.
    • [3] Rapid creation of new layers of technology: For example, the hypertext protocol created the worldwide web.
    • Then the browser was built on top of it, which made the worldwide web easier to navigate and more popular.
    • Thousands of new layers were added to make it what it is today.
    • Growth of UPI in India: To give an example, consider the surge in UPI-based payments in India.
    • This kind of growth doesn’t happen with a few entitled and privileged people using UPI more and more; it happens with more and more people using UPI more and more.
    • Use of Diksha: The use of Diksha, the school education platform built on the open-source platform Sunbird, has followed the same trajectory — today close to 500 million schoolchildren are using it.

    Conclusion

    Made in India digital tools can help other emerging economies deal with economic, governance challenges.

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  • A lack of political will to end the Palk Bay conflict

    Context

    The arrest of 68 Indian fishermen by the Sri Lankan authorities between December 18 and 20 and the impounding of 10 boats for “poaching” in the territorial waters of Sri Lanka has flared up the conflict between the two countries.

    About Palk Bay

    • Palk Bay is home to diverse resources including 580 species of fish, extends from Point Calimere of Nagapattinam district to Mandapam-Dhanushkodi of Ramanathapuram district over about 250 km.
    • Source of dispute: It is an important marine zone between south-eastern India and northern Sri Lanka, has been a source of dispute for long.

    About the conflict

    • Negotiations: The genesis of the dispute can be traced to the October 1921 negotiations between representatives of the Governments of Madras and Ceylon, on the need for the delimitation of the Palk Strait and the Gulf of Mannar.
    • Delimitation: It was in the mid-1970s that two agreements were signed by India and Sri Lanka, under which the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) came into being.
    • Instead of settling the issues, the pacts gave way to new problems, including the recurring incidents of Tamil Nadu fishermen crossing the IMBL and getting caught by the Sri Lankan authorities.

    Cause of the problem

    • Different fishing practices: The asymmetric nature of fishing practices in Tamil Nadu and the Northern Province of Sri Lanka is said to be the cause of the problem.
    • While Tamil Nadu’s fishing community uses mechanised bottom trawlers, its counterpart uses conventional forms of fishing, as trawling is banned in Sri Lanka.
    • Difference in resources: The fishermen of Tamil Nadu continue to cross the IMBL, as the Sri Lankan side of the Bay is considered to have more fishery resources than the Indian side.

    Way forward

    • Weak away fishermen from trawling: The deep-sea fishing project,  to wean away the fishermen of Tamil Nadu from bottom trawling, launched in July 2017, has not yielded the desired results.
    • Relaxation of norms of the project is under the consideration of the Union Government, to draw greater response from the fishermen.
    • Motivation for deep-sea fishing: Given the fact that deep sea fishing takes longer duration and has a higher recurring cost per voyage than what the fishing community experiences currently, the need for providing continuous motivation to the fisherfolk assumes critical importance.
    • Other strategies: Various strategies, including the promotion of seaweed cultivation, open sea cage cultivation, seaweed cultivation and processing, and sea/ocean ranching should be adopted.
    • Forming FPOs: There is a view that if the community is encouraged to form fish farmer producer organisations, it may take to sustainable fishing practices.
    • Institution of stakeholders: A section of specialists favours the creation of an international institution of stakeholders for regulating the fishing sector in the Bay.

    Consider the question “What leads to the dispute between India and Sri Lanka over the Palk Bay? Suggest the way forward for fishermen in Tamil Nadu.”

    Conclusion

    For all this to happen, sustained public pressure and political will are a must.

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    Back2Basics: What is bottom trawling?

    • A bottom trawl consists of a large tapered net with a wide mouth and a small enclosed end.
    • The mouth of a trawl net has two weighted doors that serve not only to keep the net open, but also to keep the net on the ocean floor.
    • These doors can weigh several tons.
    • In addition to the heavy doors, the bottom of the net is a thick metal cable (footrope) studded with heavy steel balls or rubber bobbins that effectively crush everything in their path.
    • As the net drags along the seafloor, living habitat in its path is crushed, ripped up, or smothered as the seabed is turned over.

  • Atal Ranking of Institutions on Innovation Achievements (ARIIA), 2021

    Atal Ranking of Institutions on Innovation Achievements (ARIIA) 2021 has been recently released.

    About ARIIA

    • ARIIA is an initiative of erstwhile Ministry of HRD, implemented by AICTE and Ministry’s Innovation Cell.
    • It systematically ranks all major higher educational institutions and universities in India on indicators related to “Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development” amongst students and faculties.
    • ARIIA 2020 will have six categories which also includes special category for women only higher educational institutions to encourage women and bringing gender parity in the areas of innovation and entrepreneurship.
    • The other five categories are 1) Centrally Funded Institutions 2) State-funded universities 3) State-funded autonomous institutions 4) Private/Deemed Universities and 5) Private Institutions.

    Major Indicators for consideration

    • Budget & Funding Support.
    • Infrastructure & Facilities.
    • Awareness, Promotions & support for Idea Generation & Innovation.
    • Promotion & Support for Entrepreneurship Development.
    • Innovative Learning Methods & Courses.
    • Intellectual Property Generation, Technology Transfer & Commercialization.
    • Innovation in Governance of the Institution.

    Key highlights of 2021 report

    • Seven IITs and the IISc, Bengaluru, are among the top 10 central institutions in promotion and support of innovation and entrepreneurship development.
    • The top rank has been bagged by the IIT, Madras followed by the IITs in Bombay, Delhi, Kanpur and Roorkee.
    • The IISc has bagged the sixth position in the ranking followed by the IITs in Hyderabad and Kharagpur, the NIT, Calicut.

     

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  • Vying for influence over Kabul

    Context

    On December 19, Pakistan hosted a special session of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to address the crisis in Afghanistan.

    The humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan and how regional countries are responding to it

    • The humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan is peaking with no basic amenities available for its population and a harsh winter ahead.
    • While Pakistan hosted the OIC, India played host to foreign ministers of Central Asian states where Afghanistan topped the agenda as well.
    • All the attending countries — Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Kyrgyzstan — also OIC members, chose to prioritise deliberations with New Delhi.

    Qatar’s growing influence in Afghanistan and implications for the region

    • Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Pakistan were the only three countries that had officially recognised the previous Taliban government in 1996, until its fall in 2001.
    • Fast forward to the 2010s, and it was the small but rich state of Qatar that became the mediating force on Afghanistan.
    • Doha hosted the official Taliban political office from 2013 to allow negotiations with the U.S.
    • Qatar’s new role on Afghanistan gave it significant diplomatic and political visibility the world over.
    • In West Asia, Qatar’s growing influence was causing unease in the traditional power centres in Abu Dhabi and Riyadh, specifically on issues such as the Qatari leadership’s support for political Islam and organisations such as the Muslim Brotherhood.

    Fundamental changes

    • Economic blockade: In 2017 the UAE and Saudi Arabia initiated an economic blockade against Doha in the hope of reigning the Kingdom in and disallowing it from pursuing its geopolitical designs that were challenging the long-held power status quos.
    • This four-year long impasse ended in 2021.
    • These four years created fundamental changes within the larger Arab Gulf construct.
    • Qatar mitigated risk and moved closer towards Turkey and Iran.
    • Today, both Qatar and Turkey are bidding to operate a landlocked Afghanistan’s airports under the Taliban regime.
    • For the Gulf specifically, Qatar’s punching-above-its-weight approach in geopolitics was also making it more powerful and influential with Washington D.C.
    • To mitigate this, the Saudis played a central role during the recent OIC special session.
    •  They repaired their broken relationship with Pakistan.

    Way forward for India

    • Over the past decade, India has recognised the importance of middle powers in the Arab Gulf to a fast-evolving global order, from fighting against terrorism to newer diplomacy challenges such as Afghanistan.

    Conclusion

    The Arab Gulf is poised to become an important player once again in Afghanistan under the shadow of the Taliban.

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