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GS Paper: GS2

  • [pib] Highlights of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020

    The Union Cabinet has approved the National Education Policy 2020, making way for large scale, transformational reforms in both school and higher education sectors.

    Practice question for mains:

    Q.What are the key features of the National Education Policy, 2020? Discuss how it will facilitate the universalization of education in India.

    School Education   

    • New Policy aims for universalization of education from pre-school to secondary level with 100 % Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in school education by 2030.
    • NEP 2020 will bring 2 crores out of school children back into the mainstream through the open schooling system.
    • The current 10+2 system to be replaced by a new 5+3+3+4 curricular structure corresponding to ages 3-8, 8-11, 11-14, and 14-18 years respectively.
    • This will bring the hitherto uncovered age group of 3-6 years under the school curriculum, which has been recognized globally as the crucial stage for the development of mental faculties of a child.
    • The new system will have 12 years of schooling with three years of Anganwadi/ pre-schooling.
    • Emphasis on Foundational Literacy and Numeracy, no rigid separation between academic streams, extracurricular, vocational streams in schools; Vocational Education to start  from Class 6 with Internships
    • Teaching up to at least Grade 5 to be in mother tongue/ regional language. No language will be imposed on any student.
    • Assessment reforms with 360-degree Holistic Progress Card, tracking Student Progress for achieving Learning Outcomes
    • A new and comprehensive National Curriculum Framework for Teacher Education, NCFTE 2021, will be formulated by the NCTE in consultation with NCERT.
    • By 2030, the minimum degree qualification for teaching will be a 4-year integrated B.Ed. degree.

    Higher Education

    • Gross Enrolment Ratio in higher education to be raised to 50 % by 2035;  3.5 crore seats to be added in higher education.
    • The policy envisages broad-based, multi-disciplinary, holistic Under Graduate Program with flexible curricula, creative combinations of subjects, integration of vocational education and multiple entries and exit points with appropriate certification.
    • Academic Bank of Credits to be established to facilitate  Transfer of Credits
    • Multidisciplinary Education and Research Universities (MERUs), at par with IITs, IIMs, to be set up as models of best multidisciplinary education of global standards in the country.
    • The National Research Foundation will be created as an apex body for fostering a strong research culture and building research capacity across higher education.
    • Higher Education Commission of India (HECI) will be set up as a single overarching umbrella body for entire higher education, excluding medical and legal education. HECI to have four independent verticals  – National Higher Education Regulatory Council (NHERC) for regulation, General Education Council (GEC ) for standard-setting, Higher Education Grants Council (HEGC) for funding,  and National Accreditation Council( NAC) for accreditation.
    • Public and private higher education institutions will be governed by the same set of norms for regulation, accreditation and academic standards.
    • Affiliation of colleges is to be phased out in 15 years and a stage-wise mechanism is to be established for granting graded autonomy to colleges.
    • Over a period of time, it is envisaged that every college would develop into either an Autonomous degree-granting College or a constituent college of a university.

    Others

    • An autonomous body, the National Educational Technology Forum (NETF), will be created to provide a platform for the free exchange of ideas on the use of technology to enhance learning, assessment, planning, administration.
    • NEP 2020 emphasizes setting up of Gender Inclusion Fund, Special Education Zones for disadvantaged regions and groups
    • New Policy promotes Multilingualism in both schools and higher education. National Institute for Pali, Persian and Prakrit, Indian Institute of Translation and Interpretation to be set up
    • The Centre and the States will work together to increase the public investment in the Education sector to reach 6% of GDP at the earliest.

  • Essential Commodities (Amendment) Ordinance: A strong EC Act is still needed

    As the Union government announced massive reforms as a response to the coronavirus pandemic.  All attention went to three agriculture sector ordinances related to farmers’ trade, contract farming and amendments in the Essential Commodities Act.

    Try this question for mains:

    Q.Discuss how Essential Commodities Act works to maintain fair prices of commodities for consumers.

    Recent amendment to the EC Act

    • Recently, the Centre notified an Amendment Ordinance to the EC Act.
    • A new sub-section 1A in Section 3 of the act stipulated control orders — with respect to the supply of certain foodstuffs was added.
    • It would be issued only under extraordinary circumstances that may include war, famine, extraordinary price rise and natural calamity of grave nature.

    An order for regulating stock limit of any agricultural produce may be issued only if there is:

    • A full increase in the retail price of horticultural produce, or
    • A 50 per cent increase in the retail price of non-perishable agricultural food items over the price prevailing immediately preceding a year or the average retail price in the past five years, whichever is lower

    The Essential Commodities Act

    • The EC Act, 1955 was enacted at a time when the country faced an acute shortage of several commodities, especially food items.
    • Under the act, an ‘essential commodity’ is a commodity specified under the schedule of the Act.
    • The Union government is empowered to amend the schedule to add or remove a commodity to said schedule in the public interest and in consultation with state governments.
    • The schedule was amended recently in March 2020, when the Centre declared face masks and hand sanitisers as essential commodities and fixed their prices.

    Issues over the amendment ordinance:

    1. Ordinance route and federalism

    • Though agriculture is a state subject, the concurrent list empowers the Centre to legislate on production and trade and supply of foodstuffs.
    • By taking the ordinance route, a clear attempt was made to bypass the parliamentary process.
    • When a proposed amendment is introduced in Parliament, it is open to debate, scrutiny, comments and valuable inputs from stakeholders before being passed.

    2. Surpassing concerns

    • Critical legislation like this should certainly have been put before Parliament.
    • The Sarkaria Commission report on Centre-state relations pointed out that the Centre disproportionately empower itself in the sphere of agriculture.
    • The power of the Centre in agriculture management has certainly increased through this ordinance.
    • States like Tamil Nadu and West Bengal have repeatedly called for transfer such entities from the Concurrent to the State list.

    3. Constitutional validity and Ninth Schedule

    • The constitutional validity of price fixation under the act was in question before the Supreme Court in the Prag Ice and Oil Mills case, 1978.
    • It was observed that the dominant purpose of price fixation was to ensure availability of essential commodities to consumers at a fair price.
    • It was also held that availability of an essential commodity to the common man, at a fair price, must rank higher than any other consideration.
    • The Essential Commodities Act is enlisted under the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution. This does not, however, mean it is outside the scope of judicial review.

    4. EC Act is no exception

    • The Ninth Schedule came under scrutiny after the landmark IR Coelho, 2007 judgement.
    • The Supreme Court said the laws inserted in it after April 24, 1973 — the day the Kesavananda Bharti verdict was pronounced — are also open to judicial review if they are violative of the basic structure of the Constitution.
    • Farmers may approach the Supreme Court if they feel laws such as the Essential Commodities Act violate their fundamental rights under Articles 14, 19, 21 or 32.

    5. Questions over the amendment

    • The ordinance does not expressly define ‘extraordinary circumstances’, which ‘may’ include war, famine, extraordinary price rise and natural calamities of a grave nature.
    • Even in extraordinary circumstances, the government only ‘may’ choose to exercise regulation.
    • Such legislative ambiguity makes one question the entire exercise of introducing this particular provision.

    6. Farmers stake are still at risk

    • Drastic changes such as the removal of stock limits and exemption to exporters, traders and value chain participants may not help farmers directly.
    • Big corporates and MNC may prefer to stock up their quota at the time of harvest when prices are low and, thus, would not need to buy from farmers when prices rise.
    • If farmers decide to retain produce for later, prices may not go up or the private sector may not enter the market to purchase.

    Conclusion

    • India no longer faces food shortage problems, according to the Economic Survey, 2020.
    • What is seemingly ignored, however, is the population of India increased to 1.3 billion in 2020 from 360 million in 1951.
    • There are more mouths to feed and the responsibility of ensuring food security to the masses cannot be shunned.
    • Sights of migrants scraping for morsels of food during the COVID-19 crisis continue to haunt.
    • Our policies, thus, must ensure sustainable farm growth taking into consideration factors like climate change, land holdings, consumer capacity and farmers’ interests.

    Original article:

    https://www.downtoearth.org.in/blog/governance/essential-commodities-amendment-ordinance-a-strong-ec-act-is-still-needed-72540

  • Protesting is a fundamental right: UN

    As authorities worldwide grapple with demonstrations over issues like political rights and racial justice, a UN committee has reaffirmed that protesting peacefully, online or in person, is a fundamental human right.

    Practice question for mains:

    Q.There is an urgent need for reforming the criminal justice system in India in light of rising cases of custodial torture and killings. Comment.

    What is the news?

    • The independent experts on the Human Rights Committee published a fresh interpretation of the right of peaceful assembly.
    • It offered comprehensive legal guidance about where and how it applies and also outlining governments’ obligations.
    • The committee is tasked with monitoring how countries implement the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which under Article 21 guarantees the right to peaceful assembly.

    About ICCPR

    • The ICCPR is a multilateral treaty adopted by UN General Assembly Resolution on 16 December 1966, and in force from 23 March 1976.
    • The covenant commits its parties to respect the civil and political rights of individuals, including the right to life, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, electoral rights and rights to due process and a fair trial.
    • As of September 2019, the Covenant has 173 parties and six more signatories without ratification.
    • It is part of the International Bill of Human Rights, along with the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).
    • It is monitored by the UN Human Rights Committee (a separate body to the UN Human Rights Council).

    Back2Basics: Article 21

    • Article 21 is the protection of life and personal liberty No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to the procedure established by law.
    • The Article prohibits the deprivation of the above rights except according to a procedure established by law.
    • Article 21 applies to natural persons. The right is available to every person, citizen or alien. Thus, even a foreigner can claim this right.
    • It, however, does not entitle a foreigner the right to reside and settle in India, as mentioned in Article 19 (1) (e).

  • HRD Ministry to be renamed as ‘Education Ministry’

    The Union Cabinet has approved the renaming of the Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) to the Ministry of Education to more clearly define its work and focus.

    Before reading this newscard, try this PYQ from CSP 2019:

    Q.The Ninth Schedule was introduced in the Constitution of India during the Prime Ministership of:

    (a) Jawaharlal Nehru

    (b) Lal Bahadur Shastri

    (c) Indira Gandhi

    (d) Morarji Desai

    A flip-back

    • With the renaming, the Ministry got back the name that it had started out with after Independence, but which was changed 35 years ago when Rajiv Gandhi was Prime Minister.

    Who were some of India’s early Education Ministers?

    • The Ministry which was focussed on education from the primary classes to the level of the university was headed by some of the stalwarts of Indian politics in its early years.
    • For more than a decade after Independence, the Ministry was led by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad.
    • He was followed by Kalulal Shrimali and the eminent jurist M C Chagla, with the poet-educationist Humayun Kabir holding the portfolio for a short while in between.
    • Later Education Ministers of India included Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, who went on to become President.
    • The last Education Minister of India was KC Pant, who served in the post in 1984-85, after which the name of the Ministry was changed.

    Under what circumstances did the Ministry of Education become HRD?

    • Upon becoming PM in 1984, Rajiv Gandhi, who had surrounded himself with a new crop of advisers, showed restlessness for change and innovation in a number of areas.
    • He accepted a suggestion that all departments related to education should be brought under one roof.
    • There was some opposition from academic circles who complained that the country no longer had a Department with ‘education’ in its name. Some newspapers wrote editorials criticizing the change of name.
    • But the decision had been made, and subsequently, in 1986, the government cleared a new education policy – the second in the country’s history, and one that was to survive until now.

    Under HRD roof

    • On September 26, 1985, the Ministry of Education was renamed as the Ministry of Human Resource Development, and P V Narasimha Rao was appointed Minister.
    • Related Departments such as those of Culture and Youth & Sports were brought under the Ministry of HRD, and Ministers of State were appointed.
    • Even the Department of Women and Child Development – which became a separate Ministry with effect from January 30, 2006 – was a Department under the Union HRD Ministry.

    Were changes made in the Ministry even afterwards?

    • Yes, changes were made from time to time. After Atal Bihari Vajpayee became PM in 1998, the government decided to separate the Department of Culture from the Ministry of HRD.
    • In October 1999, a new Ministry of Culture came into being, with the late Ananth Kumar in charge.
    • The Department of Youth too was separated from the Ministry of HRD, and Ananth Kumar was given charge of this new Ministry as well.
    • With these decisions of the Vajpayee government, the HRD Ministry remained ‘HRD’ only in name – for all practical purposes, it was back to being a ministry for education.

  • Digital divide in India

    The COVID-19 induced lockdown highlights India’s great digital divide.

    Practice question for mains:

    Q.What are the various facets of Digital Divide in India? Discuss how the Digital India initiative has impacted ruling out India’s digital divide?

    What is Digital divide?

    A digital divide is any uneven distribution in the access to, use of, or impact of information and communications technologies between any number of distinct groups, which can be defined based on social, geographical, or geopolitical criteria, or otherwise

    What are the implications of the digital divide?

    Political

    In the age of social media, political empowerment and mobilization are difficult without digital connectivity.

    Governance

    Transparency and accountability are dependent on digital connectivity. The digital divide affects e-governance initiatives negatively.

    Social

    Internet penetration is associated with greater social progress of a nation. Thus digital divide in a way hinders the social progress of a country.

    Rural India is suffering from information poverty due to the digital divide. It only strengthens the vicious cycle of poverty, deprivation, and backwardness.

    Economic

    The digital divide causes economic inequality between those who can afford the technology and those who don’t.

    Educational

    The digital divide is also impacting the capacity of children to learn and develop.
    Without Internet access, students can not build the required tech skills.

    Facets of the great Digital Divide in India

    • Education is just one area that has highlighted the digital divide between India’s rural and urban areas during the lockdown.
    • The trend is evident everywhere — telemedicine, banking, e-commerce, e-governance, all of which became accessible only via the internet during the lockdown.
    • The divide exists despite the rise in the number of wireless subscribers in India over the past few years.

    1) Telecom facility, not digital progression

    • According to a report released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on June this year, the country had over 1,160 million wireless subscribers in February 2020, up from 1,010 million in February 2016.
    • This is a rise of 150 million subscribers in five years or 30 million per year.
    • The growth has been evenly distributed in urban and rural areas, with the number of urban subscribers increasing by 74 million (from 579 million to 643 million) and rural subscribers by 86 million (from 431 million to 517 million).
    • But this growth only indicates the rise in basic telecommunication facility.

    2) The Urban-Rural Divide

    • Services such as online classrooms, financial transactions and e-governance require access to the internet as well as the ability to operate internet-enabled devices like phones, tablets and computers.
    • Here the urban-rural distinction is quite stark.
    • According to the NSSO conducted between July 2017 and June 2018, just 4.4 rural households have a computer, against 14.4 per cent in an urban area.
    • It had just 14.9 per cent rural households having access to the internet against 42 per cent households in urban areas.
    • Similarly, only 13 per cent people of over five years of age in rural areas have the ability to use the internet against 37 per cent in urban areas.

    3) Regional Divide

    • States too greatly differ in terms of people that have access to computers or in the know-how to use the internet.
    • Himachal Pradesh leads the country in access to the internet in both, rural and urban areas.
    • Uttarakhand has the most number of computers in urban areas, while Kerala has the most number of computers in rural areas.
    • Overall, Kerala is the state where the difference between rural and urban areas is the least.

    4) Digital Gender Divide

    • India has among the world’s highest gender gap in access to technology.
    • Only 21 per cent of women in India are mobile internet users, according to GSMA’s 2020 mobile gender gap report, while 42 per cent of men have access. The report says that while 79 per cent of men own a mobile phone in the country, the number for women is 63 per cent.
    • While there do economic barriers to girls’ own a mobile phone or laptop, cultural and social norms also play a major part.
    • The male-female gap in mobile use often exacerbates other inequalities for women, including access to information, economic opportunities, and networking.

    5) Others

    • The earning member of the family has to carry the phone while going out to work.
    • Access to phones and the internet is not just an economic factor but also social and cultural.
    • If one family has just one phone, there is a good chance that the wife or the daughter will be the last one to use it.

    Programmes for Addressing the Challenges in Bridging the Digital Divide:

    India taking significant steps towards acquiring competence in information and technology, the country is increasingly getting divided between people who have access to technology and those who do not. 

      • The Indian government has passed Information Technology Act, 2000 to make to e- commerce and e-governance a success story in India along with national e-governance plan. 
      • Optical Fibre Network (NOF-N), a project aimed to ensure broadband connectivity to over two lakh (200,000) gram panchayats of India by 2016.
      • Digital Mobile Library: In order to bridge the digital divide in a larger way the government of India, in collaboration with the Centre for Advanced Computing (C–DAC) based in Pune.
      • Unnati, is a project of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) which strives to bridge the digital divide in schools by giving the rural students with poor economic and social background access to computer education.
      • E-pathshala: to avail study materials  for every rural and urban student. 
      • Common Service Centres: which enabled the digital reach to unreachable areas. 

    Initiatives of State Government:

    • Sourkaryan and E–Seva: Project of the government of Andhra Pradesh to provides the facility for a citizen to pay property taxes online.
    • The Gyandoot Project: It is the first ever project in India for a rural information network in the Dhar district of Madhya Pradesh which has the highest percentage of tribes and dense forest. The project was designed to extend the benefits of information technology to people in rural areas by directly linking the government and villagers through information kiosks

    Way forward

    1.Infrastructure

    • The promotion of indigenous ICT development under Atmanirbhar Abhiyan can play a significant role. The promotion of budget mobile phones is the key.

    • The creation of market competition between service providers may make services cheaper.

    • Efficient spectrum allocation in large contiguous blocks should be
      explored.

    • We should also explore migration to new technologies like 5G. It would resolve some of the bandwidth challenges.

    2.Digital literacy

    • Digital literacy needs special attention at the school / college level.

    •  The National Digital Literacy Mission should focus on introducing digital literacy at the primary school level in all government schools for basic content and in higher classes and colleges for advanced content.

    • When these students will educate their family members, it will create multiplier effects. Higher digital literacy will also increase the adoption of computer hardware across the country.

    3.Language

    • State governments should pay particular attention to content creation in the Indian regional languages, particularly those related to government services.

    • Natural language processing ( NLP) in Indian languages needs to be promoted.

    4.Role of regulators

    • Regulators should minimize entry barriers by reforming licensing, taxation, spectrum allocation norms.

    • TRAI should consider putting in place a credible system. This system will track call drops, weak signals, and outages. It ensures the quality and reliability of telecom services.

    5.Cybersecurity

    • MeitY will need to evolve a comprehensive cybersecurity framework for data security, safe digital transactions, and complaint redressal.

    Telecom ombudsman

    • The government should also set up telecom ombudsman for the redress of grievances.

    Conclusion

    • The Standing Committee on Information Technology in January 2019 concluded that the digital literacy efforts of the government are far from satisfactory.
    • Clearly, internet penetration is not deep enough. At one level, we all recognise that the internet has become indispensable.
    • On another level, it still doesn’t have adequate attention of the decision-makers.
    • The most crucial need of the hour is to ensure uninterrupted internet services.

    Back2Basics: Digital India Initiatives

    • Over the past decade, governments have been trying to improve internet access in the country.
    • In 2011, the BharatNet project was launched to connect 0.25 million panchayats through an optical fibre (100 MBPS) and connect India’s villages. Its implementation began only in 2014.
    • In 2014, the government launched the National Digital Literacy Mission and the Digital Saksharta Abhiyan.
    • In 2015, the government launched several schemes under its Digital India campaign to connect the entire country.
    • This includes the PM Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan, launched in 2017, to usher in digital literacy in rural India by covering 60 million households.

  • The South Asian-Gulf Migrant Crisis

    The pandemic has exacerbated the plight of the migrant workers in the Gulf countries. This article examines the issue and suggests the ways to deal with it.

    Context

    • The Covid-19 exposed the precarious conditions of migrant workers in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries.
    • Employers have used the crisis as an opportunity to retrench masses of migrant labourers without paying them wages or allowances.

    Impact of Covid-19

    • The South Asia-Gulf migration corridor is among the largest in the world.
    • The South Asian labour force forms the backbone of the Gulf economies.
    • The pandemic, the shutdown of companies, the tightening of borders, and the exploitative nature of the Kafala sponsorship system have all aggravated the miseries of South Asian migrant workers.
    • They have no safety net, social security protection, welfare mechanisms, or labour rights.
    • Now, thousands have returned home empty-handed from the host countries.
    • Indians constitute the largest segment of the South Asian workforce.
    • Gulf migration is predominantly a male-driven phenomenon.
    • A majority of the migrants are single men living in congested labour camps.
    • The COVID-19 spike in these labour camps has mainly been due to overcrowded and unsanitary living conditions.

    Nationalisation of labour in Gulf

    • Now, the movement for nationalisation of labour and the anti-migrant sentiment has peaked in Gulf countries.
    • Countries like Oman and Saudi Arabia have provided subsidies to private companies to prevent native lay-offs.
    • However, the nationalisation process is not going to be smooth given the stigma attached to certain jobs and the influence of ‘royal sheikh culture’.

    Challenges and solutions

    • The countries of origin are now faced with the challenge of rehabilitating, reintegrating, and resettling these migrant workers.
    • The Indian government has announced ‘SWADES’ for skill mapping of citizens returning from abroad.
    • But implementation seems uncertain.
    • Kerala, the largest beneficiary of international migration, has announced ‘Dream Kerala’ to utilise the multifaceted resources of the migrants.
    • Countries that are sending migrant workers abroad are caught between the promotion of migration, on the one hand, and the protection of migrant rights in increasingly hostile countries receiving migrants, on the other.

    Way forward

    • The need of the hour is a comprehensive migration management system for countries that send workers as well as those that receive them.
    • No South Asian country except Sri Lanka has an adequate migration policy.

    Conclusion

    The pandemic has given us an opportunity to voice the rights of South Asian migrants and to bring the South Asia-Gulf migration corridor within the ambit of SAARC, the ILO, and UN conventions.

    Original article:

    https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/the-south-asian-gulf-migrant-crisis/article32215146.ece

  • Russia-India-China: A triangle that is still relevant

    RIC engagement started on the promising note but the geopolitical changes over the last two decades have set the three countries on diverging paths. It is against this backdrop, the article articulates why RIC is still relevant.

    Background of RIC

    • The RIC dialogue commenced in the early 2000s.
    • At that time the three countries were positioning themselves for a transition from a unipolar to a multipolar world order.
    •  It was not an anti-U.S. construct though.
    • The initial years of the RIC dialogue coincided with an upswing in India’s relations with Russia and China.
    • The 2003 decision to bring a political approach to India-China boundary dispute and to develop other cooperation, encouraged a multi-sectoral surge in relations.
    • An agreement in 2005, identifying political parameters applicable in an eventual border settlement, implicitly recognised India’s interests in Arunachal Pradesh.

    Growing India-U.S. relations

    • During the same period in which RIC dialogues took place, India’s relations with the U.S. surged.
    • This involved trade and investment, a landmark civil nuclear deal and a burgeoning defence relationship.
    • This rising relations with the U.S. met India’s objective of diversifying military acquisitions away from a near-total dependence on Russia.
    • The U.S. saw value in partnering with a democratic India in Asia as China was rapidly emerging as a challenger.

    How India-U.S. relations affected RIC

    • China went back on the 2005 agreement.
    • It launched the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and worked to undermine India’s influence in its neighbourhood.
    • And expanded its military and economic presence in the Indian Ocean.
    • As U.S.-Russia relations imploded in 2014 after the annexation/accession of Crimea.
    • Russia’s pushback against the U.S. included cultivating the Taliban in Afghanistan and enlisting Pakistan’s support for it.
    • The western campaign to isolate Russia drove it into a much closer embrace of China.

    Thus, the RIC claim of overlapping or similar approaches to key international issues, sounds hollow today. But it is still holds significance.

    Why RIC is still significant for India

    1) SCO

    • Central Asia is strategically located, bordering our turbulent neighbourhood.
    •  Pakistan’s membership of SCO and the potential admission of Iran and Afghanistan heighten the significance of the SCO for India.
    • It is important for India to shape the Russia-China dynamics in this region, to the extent possible.
    • The Central Asian countries have signalled they would welcome such a dilution of the Russia-China duopoly.
    • The ongoing India-Iran-Russia is an important initiative for achieving an effective Indian presence in Central Asia, alongside Russia and China.

    2) Significant bilateral relations

    • India’s defence and energy pillars of partnership with Russia remain strong.
    • Access to Russia’s abundant natural resources can enhance our materials security.
    • With China too, while the recent developments should accelerate our efforts to bridge the bilateral asymmetries, disengagement is not an option.

    3) The Indo-Pacific issue

    • For India, it is a geographic space of economic and security importance, in which a cooperative order should prevent the dominance of any external power.
    • China sees our Indo-Pacific initiatives as part of a U.S.-led policy of containing China.
    • Russia’s Foreign Ministry sees the Indo-Pacific as an American ploy to draw India and Japan into a military alliance against China and Russia.
    • India should focus on economic links with the Russian Far East and the activation of a Chennai-Vladivostok maritime corridor.
    • This may help persuade Russia that its interests in the Pacific are compatible with our interest in diluting Chinese dominance in the Indo-Pacific.

    4) Strategic autonomy of India

    • The current India-China stand-off has intensified calls for India to fast-track partnership with the U.S.
    • National security cannot be fully outsourced.
    • India’s quest for autonomy of action is based on its geographical realities, historical legacies and global ambitions.

    Consider the question “The changing geopolitical landscape should not dampen the importance of India’s engagement in the RIC (Russia-India-China) triangle. Comment.” 

    Conclusion

    India should continue its engagement in the RIC while keeping and protecting its interests.

  • The issue of powers of Speaker and Court

    The article examines the larger issue of powers of the Speaker under 10th Schedule and the current interim order of the Rajasthan High Court.

    Context

    • The Rajasthan High Court had admitted the petition by the Congress faction group challenging the notice of the Speaker.
    • In the interim order, the High Court had ordered to maintain the status quo.

    Why Kihoto Hollohan Case matters

    • The Kihoto Hollohan decision of the Supreme Court delivered in 1992 forms the basis in such decisions.
    • The Constitution Bench which heard it was split 3:2.
    • The majority on the bench upheld the constitutionality of the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution.
    • The High Court is not empowered to unsettle Kihota Hollohan and must apply its ratio that the Chairman/Speaker is the final arbiter on the disqualification of a member.
    • Rajasthan High Court has raised the issue about whether disqualification under Tenth Schedule is applicable in the case of “intra-party dissent”.
    • Para 2(1) a of 10th Schedule deals with disqualification of a member of a House belonging to any party “if he has voluntarily given up his membership of such political party”.

    Let’s look at what the Supreme Court said  in Kihoto Hollohan case:

    “paragraph 2 of the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution is valid. Its provisions do not suffer from the vice of subverting democratic rights of elected members of Parliament and the legislatures of the States. It does not violate their freedom of speech, freedom of vote and conscience as contended”.

    Consider the question “Examine the issue of powers of Speaker/Chairman in the matters of disqualification of the member against the powers of the Courts in such matters. What are the reasons for frequent frictions between the two authorities on this matter?”

    Conclusion

    The high courts and the Supreme Court routinely refuse to interfere in matters where the concerned authority has merely issued a show-cause notice or granted an opportunity of being heard. So, it must fix the issue raised by the Rajasthan High Court interim order.

  • Global coalition of democracies amid Chinese assertion

    In the recent speed Mike Pompeo, the US Secretary of State, floated the idea of an ‘alliance of democracies’. This article discusses its implications for India.

    Two propositions on China

    • The US Secretary of State laid out two propositions.
    • One is that nearly five decades of US engagement with China have arrived at a dead-end.
    • Second is that the US can’t address the China challenge alone and called for collective action.
    • He mused on whether “it’s time for a new grouping of like-minded nations, a new alliance of democracies.”

    How it matters for India?

    • Both the propositions signal the breakdown of the relationship between the world’s two most important powers.
    • They also reflect on the need to create new frameworks to cope with emerging global challenges.
    • China, is a large neighbour of India and America, is India’s most important partner makes the new context rather different from the Cold War.

    Concerns for India in the propositions

    •  Many in Delhi would like to know if the current direction of China policy will endure if Joe Biden wins the presidential election in November.
    • India must pay close attention to the unfolding China debate in the US.
    • India also note the structural changes in American engagement with China over the last two decades.
    •  Delhi will certainly avoid calling the group proposed by US Secretary of State an “alliance”.
    • India would rather have it described as a “coalition of democracies”.

    Idea of ‘Coalition of democracies’

    • Over the last many years, India has become comfortable with the idea of a political partnership with the world’s leading democracies.
    • India also supported past US initiatives like-Clinton Administrations “Community of Democracies”, Bush Administrations democracy promotion fund at the UN.
    • Delhi has also welcomed President Trump’s initiative to convene an expanded gathering of the G-7 leaders.
    • The idea of democracies working together has an enduring appeal for the US.
    • India figures in this American vision is relatively new. So is Delhi’s readiness to reciprocate.

    Consider the question “In the ongoing geopolitical situation the U.S. has proposed the idea of ‘alliance of democracies’. Where does India feature in this vision and what are the implications of it for India.”

    Conclusion

    Constructing a global coalition of democracies will take much work and quite some time. But engaging with that initiative, amidst the rise and assertion of China, should open a whole range of new possibilities for Indian foreign and security policies.

    Original article:

    https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/us-india-democracy-china-cold-war-global-economy-6526409/

  • Indian foreign policy and decline in soft power in neighbourhood

    The article examines the issue of declining political capital in India’s neighbourhood and the factors responsible for this. 

    India’s standing in neighbourhood: Past

    • Not long ago, India was seen as a natural rising power in South Asia and the Indian Ocean Region.
    • It was the de facto leader of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).
    • It has historical and cultural ties with Nepal.
    • It enjoyed traditional goodwill and influence in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
    • It had made investments worth billions of dollars in Afghanistan and cultivated vibrant ties with the post-Taliban stakeholders in Kabul.
    • It had committed itself to multilateralism and the Central Asian connectivity project, with Iran being its gateway.
    • It was competing and cooperating with China at the same time.

    India’s relations in with the neighbourhood: Present

    • India is perhaps facing its gravest national security crisis in 20 years, with China along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
    • SAARC is defunct.
    • Nepal has turned hostile having adopted a new map and revived border disputes with India.
    • Sri Lanka has tilted towards China.
    • Bangladesh is clearly miffed at the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019.
    • When Afghanistan is undergoing a major transition, India is out of the multi-party talks.
    • Iran has inaugurated a railway link project connecting the Chabahar port, on the Gulf of Oman, to Zahedan.

    What are the factors responsible for this?

    When we dig deep, three problems can be found which are more or less linked to this decline.

    1) Alignment with US

    • As India started moving away from non-alignment, there has been a steady erosion in India’s strategic autonomy.
    • India’s official policy is that it is committed to multilateralism.
    •  When India started deepening its partnership with the United States, New Delhi began steadily aligning its policies with U.S. interests.
    • The case of Iran is the best example.
    • India’s deepening defence and military ties with the U.S.  probably altered Beijing’s assessment of India.
    • One of the reasons for the shift could be Beijing’s assessment that India has already become a de facto ally of the U.S.
    • The forceful altering of the status quo on the border is a risky message as much to New Delhi as it is to Washington.

    2) Domestic politics

    • The passing of the CAA is regionalisation of the domestic problems of the countries in India’s neighbourhood.
    • Bangladesh took offence at the CAA and the National Register of Citizens, there were anti-India protests even in Afghanistan.
    • CAA also drove new wedges between India and the countries that had a Muslim majority and were friendly to India in the neighbourhood.
    • The abrogation of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir was another such move.
    • But it damaged India’s reputation as a responsible democratic power and gave propaganda weapons to Pakistan.
    • The change of status quo in Jammu and Kashmir, could be another factor that prompted the Chinese to move aggressively towards the border in Ladakh.

    3) Misplaced confidence

    • Great powers wait to establish their standing before declaring that they have arrived.
    • China bided its time for four decades before it started taking on the mighty U.S.
    • India should learn from at least these modern examples.
    • If it did, it would not have used high-handedness in Nepal during the country’s constitutional crisis and caused a traditional and civilisational ally to turn hostile.
    • The updated political map which India released in November rubbed salt into the wound on the Nepal border.

    Consider the question “India’s standing in its neighbourhood has been on the decline for some time now. Examine the factors responsible for this.”

    Conclusion

    To address the current crises, India has to reconsider its foreign policy trajectory. It does not lack resources to claim what is its due in global politics. What it lacks is strategic depth.

    Original article:

    https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/needed-a-map-for-indias-foreign-policy/article32206877.ece