Indian Naval Ship Talwar is participating in Exercise Cutlass Express 2021, being conducted along the East Coast of Africa.
Exercise Cutlass Express
The exercise is an annual maritime exercise conducted to promote national and regional maritime security in East Africa and the Western Indian Ocean.
Indian Navy is participating in the exercise in a ‘trainer role’.
The 2021 edition of the exercise involves the participation of:
12 Eastern African countries, US, UK, India
Various international organizations like International Maritime Organization (IMO), United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Interpol, European Union Naval Force (EUNAVFOR), Critical Maritime Routes Indian Ocean (CRIMARIO), and EUCAP Somalia
Focus of the exercise
The exercise focuses on East Africa’s coastal regions.
It is designed to assess and improve combined maritime law enforcement capacity, promote national and regional security and increase interoperability between the regional navies.
As part of the exercise, the Indian Navy, together with other partners, shall undertake the training of contingents from various participating countries in various fields across the spectrum of maritime security operations.
The Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat’s recent description of the Indian Air Force (IAF) as a supporting arm and the IAF chief Air Chief Marshal R.K.S. Bhadauria’s rebuttal highlights turbulent journey marking the reorganisation process of the armed forces.
Issues before IAF
The IAF is warning against splitting it into packets.
Reports suggest that counting even ageing aircraft, the IAF is 25% short on fighter squadrons.
A pan service shortage of about 400 pilots, almost 10% of their authorised strength, further aggravates this.
Therefore, the IAF has a point when it warns against splitting assets, for, there may be nothing much to split.
Way forward
Confidence building: A common understanding of the nuances of military airpower is the key.
With the experience of operating almost every kind of aircraft the IAF operates, the naval leadership understands air power.
This applies to the Indian Army too, in its own way.
Confidence needs to be developed that rightly staffed apex joint organisations can draw up professional operational plans for air power.
Enhancing military education: Confidence building will need some effort in the short term towards enhancing professional military education though, at the staff level.
Analysis before implementation: Major reorganisations must strictly follow the sequence of written concepts, their refinement through consultation, simulation or table top war gaming, field evaluation and final analysis before implementation.
This would help address command and control, asset adequacy, individual service roles, operational planning under new circumstances and the adequacy of joint structures.
Who gets to lead what also matters.
The Western Command between the Indian Army and the IAF, the Northern Command with the Indian Army, Maritime Command with the Indian Navy and the Air Defence Command with the IAF may be an acceptable formula.
Why jointness?
With dwindling budgets, a steadily deteriorating security situation and the march of technology, the armed forces understand the need to synergise.
Challenges
Challenges in co-existence: Different services do not co-exist well where they are colocated.
Bitter fights over land, buildings, facilities, etc. harms optimal operational synergising.
Allocation challenge: Then there is the issue of giving each other the best, or of wanting to be with each other.
Lack of operational charter: The Andaman and Nicobar Command suffered from the lack of a substantial operational charter, and the services not positioning appropriate personnel or resources there.
Lack of interest in joint tenure: As a joint tenure did not benefit career, no one strove for it.
The U.S., when faced with the same problem, made joint tenures mandatory for promotions.
Steps to be taken
Security strategy: We need a comprehensive National Security Strategy to guide the services develop capacities required in their respective domains.
Professional education: We need to transform professional education and inter-service employment to nurture genuine respect for others.
Mutual resolution of difference: The armed forces must resolve their differences among themselves, as the politicians or bureaucrats cannot do it.
Quality staff: Good quality staff, in adequate numbers, at apex joint organisations, will help to reassure individual services and those in the field that they are in safe hands.
Tailored approach: There is need for the acceptance of the fact that what works for other countries need not work for us.
Conclusion
We may need tailor-made solutions which may need more genuine thinking. For genuine military jointness, a genuine convergence of minds is critical.
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On July 14, the European Union introduced new legislation, Fit for 55, to cut its GHG emissions by 55 per cent by 2030 and to net-zero by 2050.
Implications of Fit for 55
Legal backing: It turns the EU’s announcement into law, protecting it from the winds of political change.
Opportunity for India: It opens new markets for Indian industry, for example for electric vehicles.
CBAM: However, it also introduces a potentially adverse policy called the carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM).
CBAM is meant to discourage consumers from buying carbon-intensive products and encourage producers to invest in cleaner technologies.
What is CBAM?
The EU has had a carbon emission trading system since 2005.
With Fit for 55, the EU’s carbon price is likely to go up.
High carbon price will make the EU’s domestic products more expensive than imports from countries that do not have such rules.
The new CBAM is meant to level the playing field between domestic and imported products.
CBAM will require foreign producers to pay for the carbon emitted while manufacturing their products.
The adjustment will be applied to energy-intensive products that are widely traded by the EU, such as iron and steel, aluminium, cement, fertiliser, and electricity.
Why CBAM is a cause for concern for India?
India is Europe’s third-largest trading partner, and it does not have its own carbon tax or cap.
So, CBAM should be a cause for concern for it.
A UNCTAD study predicts that India will lose $1-1.7 billion in exports of energy-intensive products such as steel and aluminium.
India’s goods trade with the EU was $74 billion in 2020.
Way forward for Indian Industry
Clean technology partnerships: Indian Industry should enter clean technology partnerships with European industry.
Invest in renewables: Indian companies should invest in more renewable electricity and energy efficiency.
Incentivise low-carbon choices: They can adopt science-based targets for emission reduction and internal carbon pricing to incentivise low-carbon choices.
Schemes and Government financing: The government can extend the perform-achieve-trade scheme to more industries and provide finance to MSMEs to upgrade to clean technologies.
WRI India’s analysis shows that carbon dioxide emissions from the iron and steel industry can be reduced from 900 million tonnes to 500 million tonnes in 2035 through greater electrification, green hydrogen, energy efficiency, and material efficiency.
Diversify export: India can try to diversify its exports to other markets and products.
Consider the question “What is carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) introduced by the EU? What are its implications for Indian industry?”
Conclusion
At present, the CBAM may seem obstructionist. But over the long-term, it can provide regulatory certainty to industry by harmonising carbon prices, and Indian industry can position itself as a strong player in the trade landscape of the future.
Back2Basics: UNCTAD
UNCTAD is a permanent intergovernmental body established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1964.
Its headquarters are located in Geneva, Switzerland, and have offices in New York and Addis Ababa.
UNCTAD is part of the UN Secretariat.
IT report to the UN General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council but have own membership, leadership, and budget.
It is also part of the United Nations Development Group.
Despite the framework SAARC provides for cooperation amongst South Asian nations, it has remained sidelined and dormant since its 18th summit of 2014 in Kathmandu. No alternative capable of bringing together South Asian countries for mutually beneficial diplomacy has emerged.
Common challenges facing South Asia
The region is beset with unsettled territorial disputes, as well as trans-border criminal and subversive activities and cross-border terrorism.
The region also remains a theatre for ethnic, cultural, and religious tensions and rivalries besides a current rise in ultra-nationalism
Nuclear-armed neighbours India and Pakistan are at loggerheads.
US military withdrawal from Afghanistan has fuelled fears of intensification of these trends.
Significance of SAARC
As the largest regional cooperation organisation, SAARC’s importance in stabilising and effectively transforming the region is becoming increasingly self-evident.
SAARC is needed as institutional scaffolding to allow for the diplomacy and coordination that is needed between member-states in order to adequately address the numerous threats and challenges the region faces.
Though SAARC’s charter prohibits bilateral issues at formal forums, SAARC summits provide a unique, informal window — the retreat — for leaders to meet without aides and chart future courses of action.
The coming together of leaders, even at the height of tensions, in a region laden with congenital suspicions, misunderstandings, and hostility is a significant strength of SAARC that cannot be overlooked.
In March last year, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi seized the Covid-19 crisis and utilised SAARC’s seal to convene a video conference of SAARC leaders.
Such capacity to bring member-states together shows the potential power of SAARC.
What role SAARC can play in Afghanistan
Commitment to get rid of terrorism: The third SAARC summit in 1987 adopted a Regional Convention on Suppression of Terrorism and updated it in 2004 with the signing of an additional protocol.
These instruments demonstrate the collective commitment to rid the region of terror and promote regional peace, stability, and prosperity.
Using the network of institutions: In 36 years of existence, SAARC has developed a dense network of institutions, linkages, and mechanisms.
SAARC members are among the top troop-contributing countries to UN peacekeeping missions.
Joint peacekeeping force: With the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, a joint peacekeeping force from the SAARC region under the UN aegis could be explored to fill the power vacuum that would otherwise be filled by terrorist and extremist forces.
Consider the question “What role SAARC can play in stabilising the region after the US withdrawal from Afghanistan? Is SAARC still relevant for the region?”
Conclusion
Allowing SAARC to become dysfunctional and irrelevant greatly distorts our ability to address the realities and mounting challenges facing SAARC nations.
Back2Basics: About SAARC
In 1985, at the height of the Cold War, leaders of South Asian nations — namely Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka — created a regional forum.
The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) was established with the goal of contributing “to mutual trust, understanding and appreciation of one another’s problems.”
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Guru Dronacharya had instructed the cook at the ashram to not serve his students’ food at night. One day, however, the dinner got delayed. While everyone was eating at night, suddenly, the lights went off. As Arjuna ate in the dark, he realized that there was automatic coordination between his hands and mouth. He did not require vision to put his hand into his mouth. This was an amazing discovery for him. This meant that he could orient himself to shoot the target even in the night, through his other senses. He immediately took up his bow and arrow to practice in the dark. And from then on, the entire month, he would practice day and night!
Day and night- just practice.
If you want to ace the UPSC examination, then PRACTICE is your only option. Arjuna had practiced for decades before his real test in the Mahabharata war. Even you need the same discipline, consistency, and hard work to clear this examination.
On a daily basis, UPSC Aspirants faces a lot of issues like
What to read, what not to read and how to read?
Whether our timetable is realistic to not only finish, but also provide space for revision?
Whether we are on the right track or not?
Sometimes, despite putting 12-16 hours in a day aspirants don’t feel satisfied.
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We plan to solve the puzzle of inconsistency to achieve daily, weekly and monthly targets through this STREAK initiative.
Have a look at the video below by Ravi sir to understand WHAT STREAK INITIATIVE IS ABOUT? And how it can help you on a daily basis.
On a weekly basis, a schedule will be given to you which you can finish. This will ensure proper guidance to finish the syllabus.
Then in the evening, we will post questions to practice. Then later on daily basis videos dealing with these questions, from Prelims and Mains will be released.
Prelims will be handled by Santosh Sir and Mains by Sukanya Ma’am.
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At Civilsdaily, she is the Mains Initiative Coordinator and has worked as an Ethics Mentor in Smash Mains program, which had an 80% success rate in UPSC mains 2020.
A quick bit about Santosh Gupta:
Santosh Gupta sir has scored above 140 twice in UPSC prelims and always 120 plus in all 6 attempts. He wrote all 6 mains and appeared for Interview 3 times. He has qualified UPSC EPFO and BPSC 56-59th also. He is presently working as Assistant Commissioner in Commercial Tax Department in Government of Bihar. He has been teaching and mentoring UPSC aspirants for the last 5 years with tremendous interest in environment and ecology and Polity.
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The Ministry of Home Affairs has informed that it was decided as a matter of policy not to enumerate caste-wise population other than SCs and STs in Census.
What kind of caste data is published in the Census?
Every Census in independent India from 1951 to 2011 has published data on Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, but not on other castes.
Before that, every Census until 1931 had data on caste.
However, in 1941, caste-based data was collected but not published.
Why is there a demand for caste census?
In the absence of such a census, there is no proper estimate for the population of OBCs, various groups within the OBCs, and others.
The Mandal Commission estimated the OBC population at 52%, some other estimates have been based on National Sample Survey data.
Some political parties make their own estimates in states and Lok Sabha and Assembly seats during elections.
How often has the demand for a caste census been made?
It comes up before almost every Census, as records of debates and questions raised in Parliament show.
The demand usually come from among those belonging to Other Backward Classes (OBC) and other deprived sections, while sections from the upper castes oppose the idea.
On April 1, the constitutional body National Commission for Backward Classes urged the government to collect data on the population of OBCs “as part of Census of India 2021 exercise”.
Need for caste census
There is a central list of OBCs and a State-specific list of OBCs.
Some states do not have a list of OBCs; some States have a list of OBCs and a sub-set called Most Backward Classes.
There are certain open-ended categories in the lists such as orphans and destitute children.
Names of some castes are found in both the list of Scheduled Castes and the list of OBCs.
Scheduled Castes converted to Christianity or Islam are also treated differently in different States.
The status of a migrant from one State to another and the status of children of inter-caste marriage, in terms of caste classification, are also vexed questions.”
Back2Basics: Census of India
The decennial Census of India has been conducted 15 times, as of 2011.
While it has been undertaken every 10 years, beginning in 1872 under British Viceroy Lord Mayo, the first complete census was taken in 1881.
Post-1949, it has been conducted by the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India under the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India.
All the censuses since 1951 were conducted under the 1948 Census of India Act.
The last census was held in 2011, whilst the next was scheduled to be held in 2021.
