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  • What is the Five Eyes (FYEY) Alliance?

    The annual Raisina Dialogue in Delhi held this year by National Security Adviser Ajit Doval will host intelligence agency chiefs of several countries.

    What is the conference about?

    • The conference is modelled on the lines of the annual Munich Security Conference and Singapore’s Shangri-La dialogue.
    • It is expected to bring together heads and deputy heads of the top intelligence and security organisations from more than 20 — mostly Western countries and their allies.
    • Intelligence chiefs and deputies from Australia, Germany, Israel, Singapore, Japan and New Zealand are among those expected to attend the conference.
    • The meet is held on the sidelines of the “Five eyes alliance” of the U.S., U.K., Canada, New Zealand and Australia, who coordinate on terrorism and security issues.

    What is the Five Eyes Alliance?

    • The Five Eyes (FVEY) is an intelligence alliance comprising Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
    • These countries are parties to the multilateral UKUSA Agreement, a treaty for joint cooperation in signals intelligence.
    • The origins of the FVEY can be traced to informal secret meetings during World War II between British and American code-breakers.
    • It was started before the US formally entered the war, followed by the Allies’ 1941 Atlantic Charter that established their vision of the post-war world.

    Back2Basics: Munich Security Conference

    • The Munich Security Conference is an annual conference on international security policy that has been held in Munich, Bavaria, Germany since 1963.
    • It brings together heads of state, diplomats and business leaders from the world’s leading democracies for three days of meetings and presentations.
    • It is the world’s largest gathering of its kind.
    • Over the past four decades the MSC has become the most important independent forum for the exchange of views by international security policy decision-makers.

     

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  • All-India Household Consumer Expenditure Survey

    The All-India Household Consumer Expenditure Survey, usually conducted by the National Statistical Office (NSO) every five years, is set to resume this year after a prolonged break.

    What is the Consumer Expenditure Survey (CES)?

    • The CES is traditionally a quinquennial (recurring every five years) survey conducted by the government’s National Sample Survey Office (NSSO).
    • It is designed to collect information on the consumer spending patterns of households across the country, both urban and rural.
    • Typically, the Survey is conducted between July and June and this year’s exercise is expected to be completed by June 2023.

    Utility of the survey

    • The data gathered in this exercise reveals the average expenditure on goods (food and non-food) and services.
    • It helps generate estimates of household Monthly Per Capita Consumer Expenditure (MPCE) as well as the distribution of households and persons over the MPCE classes.
    • It is used to arrive at estimates of poverty levels in different parts of the country and to review economic indicators such as the GDP, since 2011-12.

    Why need this survey?

    • India has not had any official estimates on per capita household spending.
    • It provides separate data sets for rural and urban parts, and also splice spending patterns for each State and Union Territory, as well as different socio-economic groups.

    What about the previous survey?

    • The survey was last held in 2017-2018.
    • The government announced that it had data quality issues.
    • Hence the results were not released.

     

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  • Strontium: A Cyber-Espionage Group

    Recently, Microsoft said that it had disrupted cyberattacks from a Russian nation-state hacking group called ‘Strontium’.

    What is Strontium?

    • Strontium, also known as Fancy Bear, Tsar Team, Pawn Storm, Sofacy, Sednit or Advanced Persistent Threat 28 (APT28) group, is a highly active and prolific cyber-espionage group.
    • It is one of the most active APT groups and has been operating since at least the mid-2000s, making it one of the world’s oldest cyber-spy groups.
    • It has access to highly sophisticated tools to conduct spy operations, and has been attacking targets in the US, Europe, Central Asia and West Asia.
    • The group is said to be connected to the GRU, the Russian Armed Forces’ main military intelligence wing.
    • The GRU’s cyber units are believed to have been responsible for several cyberattacks over the years and its unit 26165 is identified as Fancy Bear.

    How does it attack networks?

    • The group deploys diverse malware and malicious tools to breach networks.
    • In the past, it has used X-Tunnel, SPLM (or CHOPSTICK and X-Agent), GAMEFISH and Zebrocy to attack targets.
    • These tools can be used as hooks in system drivers to access local passwords, and can track keystroke, mouse movements, and control webcam and USB drives.
    • APT28 uses spear-phishing (targeted campaigns to gain access to an individual’s account) and zero-day exploits (taking advantage of unknown computer-software vulnerabilities) to target specific individuals and organizations.
    • It has used spear-phishing and sometimes water-holing to steal information, such as account credentials, sensitive communications and documents.
    • A watering hole attack compromises a site that a targeted victim visits to gain access to the victim’s computer and network.

     

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  • Why are blue straggler stars different from the norm?

    Researchers from the Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bengaluru have studied the eccentricities of blue straggler stars.

    What are Blue Straggler Stars?

    • A blue straggler is a main-sequence star in an open or globular cluster that is more luminous and bluer than stars at the main sequence turnoff point for the cluster.
    • Blue stragglers were first discovered by Allan Sandage in 1953 while performing photometry of the stars in the globular cluster M3.

    What did the Indian researchers study?

    • Eccentricity is the deviation of a planets’ or stars’ orbit from circularity — the higher the eccentricity, the greater the elliptical orbit.
    • For this, the researchers also made use of the observations by the UVIT instrument (Ultra Violet Imaging Telescope) of ASTROSAT, India’s first science observatory in space.

    (a) Stellar ageing of stars

    • To know what blue stragglers are, it is necessary to understand how stars are classified and their evolution, studied.
    • Our Sun, for example, is what is called a main sequence star, and, given its mass and age, it is expected that once it has converted all its hydrogen into helium, its core will get denser, while outer layers expand.
    • So, it will bloat into a red giant.
    • After this phase, its fuel spent, it will shrink, becoming a smaller, cooling star called a white dwarf star at the end of its life.

    (b) Sequencing of stars

    • To study the behaviour of the star, you could plot a graph of the colour of a star, which is an indication of its surface temperature, against its magnitude, which is related to the total energy given off by it.
    • If you do this for all the stars in a globular cluster, a large number of stars are seen to find a place within a band known as the main sequence.
    • Our Sun is a main sequence star, too, and the expectation is that all main sequence stars follow a pattern of evolution pretty much like our Sun’s fate, which was described earlier.
    • There are a few stars that, just at the stage of their lives, when they are expected to start expanding in size and cooling down, do just the opposite.
    • They grow brighter and hotter and blue in colour, thus standing out from the cooler red stars in their vicinity in the colour-magnitude diagram.
    • Since they lag behind their peers in the evolution, they are called stragglers, more specifically, blue stragglers, because of their hot, blue colour.

    Outcome of the research: Reasons for Blue Stragglers behaviour

    • The puzzle of why a blue straggler is more massive, and energetic than expected may be resolved in several ways.
    • One that these do not belong to the family of stars in the cluster, and hence are not expected to have the group properties.
    • Second, the straggler draws matter from the giant companion and grows more massive, hot and blue, and the red giant ends up as a normal or smaller white dwarf.
    • The third possibility is that the straggler draws matter from a companion star, but that there is a third star that facilitates this process.

     

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  • Palli in Jammu becomes India’s First Carbon-Neutral Panchayat

    Palli village in Samba district of Jammu and Kashmir has become the first panchayat in the country to become carbon-neutral, fully powered by solar energy.

    Various feats achieved

    • All its records have been digitised and the benefits of all the Central schemes are available in this village around 17 km from Jammu.
    • Palli village, with its enthusiastic and dedicated elected representatives full of dreams, has shown how to implement the Glasgow pledge (Panchamrita) made by PM Modi.
    • It has set an example of the slogan Sabka Prayas (everyone’s efforts).

    What is Carbon Neutrality?

    • Carbon neutrality refers to achieving net-zero carbon dioxide emissions or buying enough carbon credits to make up the difference.
    • This can be done by balancing emissions of carbon dioxide with its removal (often through carbon offsetting) or by eliminating emissions from society.
    •  It is used in the context of carbon dioxide-releasing processes associated with transportation, energy production, agriculture, and industry.
    •  The term carbon neutral also includes other greenhouse gases, usually carbon-based, measured in terms of their carbon dioxide equivalence.
    • The term “net-zero” is increasingly used to describe a broader and more comprehensive commitment to decarbonization and climate action.
    • Net-zero emissions are achieved when your organization’s emissions of all greenhouse gases (CO2-e) are balanced by greenhouse gas removals

    Methodology

    Carbon-neutral status can be achieved in two ways:

    • Carbon offsetting: Balancing carbon dioxide emissions with carbon offsets — the process of reducing or avoiding greenhouse gas emissions or removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to make up for emissions elsewhere. If the total greenhouse gasses emitted is equal to the total amount avoided or removed, then the two effects cancel each other out and the net emissions are ‘neutral’.
    • Reducing emissions: Reducing carbon emissions can be done by moving towards energy sources and industrial processes that produce fewer greenhouse gases, thereby transitioning to a low-carbon economy. Shifting towards the use of renewable energy such as hydro, wind, geothermal, and solar power, as well as nuclear power, reduces greenhouse gas emissions.

    Agreement and Target

    • The Paris Agreement is a legally binding international treaty on climate change. It was adopted by 196 Parties at COP 21 in Paris, on 12 December 2015 and entered into force on 4 November 2016.
    • Its goal is to limit global warming to well below 2, preferably to 1.5 degrees Celsius, compared to pre-industrial levels.
    • Article 4.1 of the Paris Agreement asks countries to reach global peaking of greenhouse gas emissions as soon as possible.
    • It also requires countries to undertake rapid reductions in carbon emissions to achieve a balance between anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of greenhouse gases.

    Back2Basics:  Panchamrita

    • ‘Panchamrita’ is a traditional method of mixing five natural foods — milk, ghee, curd, honey, and jaggery.
    • These are used in Hindu and Jain worship rituals. It is also used as a technique in Ayurveda.
    • The PM euphemistically termed his scheme as ‘Panchamrita’ meaning the ‘five ambrosia’.
    • Under Panchamrita’, India will:
    1. Get its non-fossil energy capacity to 500 gigawatts by 2030
    2. Meet 50 percent of its energy requirements till 2030 with renewable energy
    3. Reduce its projected carbon emission by one billion tonnes by 2030
    4. Reduce the carbon intensity of its economy by 45 percent by 2030
    5. Achieve net-zero by 2070

     

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  • What is different now in communal violence in India

    Context

    India has a long history of communal violence. Just how similar or different are the recent episodes? And what kind of dangers do they pose to the polity and society?

    What is different this time?

    • Religious processions: It should first be noted that such processions have historically been some of the largest triggers for communal riots.
    • Such processions can be, and have been, intensely political, often morphing from the religious to the communal.
    • Communalism Vs. Religiosity: Communalism in South Asia has always been distinguished from religiosity.
    • Religiosity may be about deeper meanings of life, but communalism is about a coercive assertion of power or a bloody search for retribution, often historically construed and presented.
    • Thus, it is not the coexistence of religious processions and riots that is surprising today.
    • What is different this time? Ram Navami and Hanuman Jayanti are not the principal religious processions touching off riots.
    • Eroding neutrality of state: The second difference that in the past, processions might have caused riots, but the state rarely gave up the principle of neutrality in dealing with them.
    • When a state either explicitly favours a community or looks away when a particular community is hounded, intimidated and attacked, it is no longer a riot, but a pogrom.
    • The rapidly eroding religious neutrality of the government in several states is one of the most alarming political developments.
    • In recent months, there have been spectacles of calls to murder in Dharam Sansads (religious assemblies).
    • Such speech is criminally liable. India’s Constitution prohibits speech that endangers “public order”.
    • In the past, it was invariably hard to find clear evidence of who led the riots.
    • The riot leaders now openly proclaim call for violence.
    • Such leaders are either not punished, or are merely given a slap on the wrist and some of them are even celebrated as heroes and rewarded with high office.
    • New research on vigilantism makes it clear that vigilantism, especially lynchings, cannot flourish unless the state provides impunity to vigilante groups.

    Conclusion

    Even though India has a long history of communal violence the recent episodes of violence are different and pose grave dangers to the polity and society.

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  • [Sansad TV] Mudda Aapka: India–Mauritius Relations

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    Context

    • Mauritius Prime Minister Pravind Kumar Jugnauth is on an eight-day visit to India.
    • The purpose of this visit is to further strengthen the relations between the two countries. Mauritius is becoming an integral part of the goals of India’s maritime diplomacy.
    • Mauritius is very important for India’s security from the point of view of the Indian Ocean and yet being highest FDI investor.

    As Mauritius becomes a key part of India’s renewed Ocean Diplomacy at a time when the world is changing in fundamental ways, what should be India’s approach to this island-nation?

    India-Mauritius Relations: A Backgrounder

    • Connections between India and Mauritius date back to 1730, diplomatic relations were established in 1948 before Mauritius became an independent state.
    • For far too long, Delhi has viewed Mauritius through the prism of diaspora. This was, perhaps, natural since 68% of the Mauritian population comprise of Indian origin.
    • More recently, Delhi has certainly begun to see the strategic significance of Mauritius thanks to the renewed great power contestation in the Indian Ocean.
    • In 2014, Prime Minister Modi saw Mauritius as part of India’s neighbourhood and invited its leaders to join his inauguration along with other South Asian leaders.
    • In 2015 that Modi unveiled an ambitious policy called the SAGAR (security and growth for all). It was India’s first significant policy statement on the Indian Ocean in many decades.

    Significance of Mauritius to India

    [A] Geostrategic significance

    • In 2015, the Indian Prime Minister signed an agreement to set up eight Indian-controlled coastal surveillance radar stations
    • Mauritius is part of India’s security grid including Coastal Surveillance Radar (CSR) station of Indian Navy’s National Command Control Communication Intelligence network.
    • The Head of Mauritius Navy and the Mauritian National Security Advisor are Indian officers.
    • India is also building a secret naval base in Agalega Islands of Mauritius.
    • If Delhi takes an integrated view of its security cooperation in the southwestern Indian Ocean, Mauritius is the natural node for it.

    [B] Economic opportunities

    • The Mauritius pivot can facilitate a number of Indian commercial activities in the southwestern Indian Ocean — as a banking gateway, the hub for flights to and from Indian cities and tourism.
    • India could also contribute to the evolution of Mauritius as a regional centre for technological innovation.
    • Companies registered in Mauritius are the largest source of foreign direct investment (FDI) into India.
    • Mauritius and India signed a Comprehensive Economic Cooperation and Partnership Agreement (CECPA) on 22 February 2021, during the visit of the External Affairs Minister Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.

    [C] Geo-economics

    • India is Mauritius’s largest trading partner and has been the largest exporter of goods and services to the Indian Ocean island nation since 2007.
    • The French description of the island as a “central geographic point” holds equally true for commerce and connectivity in the Indian Ocean.
    • As a member of the African Union, Indian Ocean Rim Association and the Indian Ocean Commission, Mauritius is a stepping stone to multiple geographies.
    • As new investments pour into Africa, Mauritius is where a lot of it gets serviced. Mauritius can be the fulcrum for India’s own African economic outreach.

    [D] Mauritius as pivot of New Delhi’s island policy

    • Until now India has tended to deal with the so-called Vanilla islands of the southwestern Indian Ocean — Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mayotte, Reunion and Seychelles — on a bilateral basis.
    • If the Indian establishment thinks of them as a collective, it could make Mauritius the pivot of Delhi’s island policy.

    [E] Indian Community

    • There are nearly 11,000 Indian nationals in Mauritius. There are around 750 OCI Card holders and about 3500 PIO Card holders.
    • To increase tourism inflow from India, Mauritian Government had introduced a visa-free regime for Indian tourists in October 2004.
    • Indian tourists visiting Mauritius for a period up to 60 days do not require a visa, provided they can show sufficient funds to cover their stay.
    • Mauritian nationals visiting India are entitled to gratis E-Tourist Visa.

    [F] Institutional collaboration

    • The Mahatma Gandhi Institute (MGI) was established in 1976 as a joint venture between the Government of India and the Government of Mauritius for the promotion of Indian culture and education. It also hosts the ICCR Chair in Sanskrit and Indian Philosophy.
    • The Rabindranath Tagore Institute (RTI) was established with the assistance of the Government of India in 2000 as a Centre of Studies on Indian culture and traditions.
    • Mauritius also hosts the World Hindi Secretariat, an India-Mauritius bilateral organization which was inaugurated during the visit of President in March 2018.  

    Common challenges

    • Some existential challenges for Mauritius and the neighbouring island states are:
    • Climate change
    • Sustainable development and
    • Blue economy
    • The impact of natural disasters, the degradation of coastal and marine ecosystems and sea level rise are their biggest security threats as these threaten their very existence.
    • According to a World Bank Report in 2018, Mauritius Ranks 16th highest disaster risk country, being highly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change.

    Why India needs to revamp its neighbourhood strategy?

    • Responsiveness against China: India has often been accused of being self-centred in its relations with its smaller neighbours, as well as being interested in them only when China becomes a big enough presence in these countries. This is not an unfair criticism.
    • IOR Strategy: As the power dynamic in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) is changing, India has come to view Mauritius as an integral part of the new security architecture that it would like to see emerge here.
    • Security-centric: Mauritius is dotted with naval outfits, communication and surveillance outposts, and/or port facilities/developments, from Tanzania, Kenya, to Oman, Iran, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Bangladesh and Myanmar.
    • Multiple identities: Mauritius, much like India, sees itself in many dimensions. It sees itself as a sovereign nation, as a vibrant democracy; as multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-religious nation too. It is important for India in its approach towards Mauritius to embrace its multitude of identities.

    Way forward

    • The urgent need for New Delhi is to discard the deep-rooted perception that Mauritius is simply an extension of India.
    • Delhi must take a fresh and more strategic look at Mauritius.
    • One way of getting there is to have an early Indian summit with the leaders of the Vanilla Islands.
    • India, with its strong intelligence network, will also be helpful in maritime law enforcement by Mauritius and Seychelles.
    • While declaring support for India’s maritime security plans, there is need to pointed out that small nations are equally important in the contemporary world order and need to be taken seriously for the sake of preserving the security and order.

    Conclusion

    • Our close multifaceted relations have steadily developed over the years, based on the secure foundations of kinship and family ties, and of shared values of democracy, tolerance, peace and development.
    • It is time that both nations take it forward with mutual cooperation.
    • Jugnauth’s visit is a good moment for India to visibly demonstrate its respect for the sovereignty of Mauritius.
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