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20 Oct 2016 | GS3 | Climate change negotiations are a major factor in today’s diplomacy and a lot of diplomatic capital is spent to achieve a country’s aims. What factors shape India’s strategy in this regard? What has been India’s strategy with respect to such negotiations?

Hello amazing people,

Vice-President Hamid Ansari attended the 17th Non-Aligned Summit which was held in the beautiful locales of Margarita (without a straw!), Venezuela in September 2016. The absence of our Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi (2nd time in the history of NAM has an Indian PM not attended the NAM Summit) has led to speculations whether the forum is losing its sheen? In light of the ever-changing global equations and International Relations being determined by economic considerations, has NAM become more of a forum which has not been able to keep up with the evolving world-order?

Origins of Non-Aligned Movement
The Non-Aligned Movement was spearheaded by our very own Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru (the-then PM), along with Indonesia’s Sukarno, Egypt’s Gamal Abdel Nasser, Yugoslavia’s Josip Broz Tito, Ghana’s Kwame Nkrumah. The organization was founded in 1961 in Belgrade. If you look closely, you can see that these countries had a recent past of being victims of colonialization and they came together to ensure that they didn’t need to side with one or the other superpower and could retain their sovereignty without being dictated by the superpowers. There was also the historic pain of suffering under the dual yolks of colonial and imperialistic burden.

What started as a small grouping quickly expanded to include a large number of so-called “Third-World” or developing economies over the years. The recurrent theme across the members remained the fragile/nascent nature of their economies and the desire to not align with any of the superpowers. Over the years, NAM moved from being a promoter of the interests of its members to a promoter of world peace. Especially during the decades of the 1970s and 1980s, the organization vehemently tried to project itself as the harbinger of world peace.

Since the end of the Cold War and the formal end of colonialism, the organization has sought to re-define its objectives and stay relevant according to the new world order. Critics of NAM point out that it has anything but succeeded in this quest. Although it commands a respectable member-base of 120 nations and 15 observer-states, the very foundation of the Non-Aligned Movement is under attack by the new world order where nations have chosen to take calculated side(s) of a nation/nations to further their own economic interests.

While NAM was a safeguard to protect the economic interests of its members by ensuring that they could focus on their fledgeling economies and not forced to choose sides, it has not been able to respect the need of the weaker economies to rely on larger economies. The arena has clearly shifted from political to the economic. In such times, its criticism of US policies (invasion of Iraq, War on Terrorism) has alienated it even further from the process of mainstreaming its ideals and vision. What is needed on its part is an honest analysis of the changing world order and a need to re-define its ideals, goals and vision to match step with the needs of its members. No longer can the organization sustain its relevance owing to the aspirations with which it was setup. It needs to review how it can keep up the interests of its members – economic, political and strategic at the core of its ideology and contribute to making the world a better place.

At the same time, it would be wrong to not give it its due credit in promoting world peace and disarmament. It has also promoted South-South dialogue and sought to lend its voice in favour of sustainable development and the need to unite for the sake of an end to terrorism. It has also been vocal in demanding a much-needed reform of the UN Security Council to include the ‘non-aligned’ states as Permanent members. In these actions we see some shades of the evolution of NAM in sync with the new needs of its members as well as the global scenario.

Much more needs to be done in this space and all members of NAM need to come together to have a deeper look at how to make the organization lithe, effective and committed to the new needs of its members.

Lastly, dismissing such an important organization as a ‘Has-been’ simply due to the non-participation of some Heads of States would amount to not realizing the contribution – both historic and futuristic that the organization has and can make. NAM will have to look at both the internal ideology as well as external set of goals to ensure it can move in sync with the changing times. Otherwise, the oldest joke about NAM – that it was always aligned and never a movement; might unfortunately prove to be true.

Respected sir,
I have inadvertently entered wrong subject entry in Higher secondary( XIITH) information and ommitted to enter one of subject in High school information in DAF , i have enclosed certificate of 12 th marksheet.i mailed them and they replied asking for my roll no details, as per rule they may disqualify or debarr from appearing in mains. what should i do, whether there is any option after mains exam to correct the wrong entry. Kindly please guide.

Aspirant appearing in civil service mains

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GS4 (Case Study)

An Uber driver was arrested in Kolkata last month after a passenger accused him of molesting her and aggressive behaviour. The complainant said the driver threatened to kidnap and rape her, while refusing to go to her destination. The woman leapt out of the car to protect herself and the driver went away. This is not the first time that Uber drivers have been accused of rape or molestation. Another Uber driver from Delhi was held guilty of raping a female passenger.

In another incident, an FIR was filed against a famous Bollywood singer for allegedly molesting and sexually assaulting a designer. The designer alleged that she had gone to his place and the singer misbehaved with her. The singer had in the past grabbed headlines for all wrong reasons.

Similarly, two teachers of a school and the secretary of an education society in Yavatmal district of Maharashtra were arrested after parents of about a dozen students lodged a joint complaint alleging the two molested girls of KG and primary classes.

This certainly implies that there has been an increasing trend of sexual overdrives in present generation. In the past we have played the blame game for any such incidence and hence have not succeeded to reach to the root of the problem. Women in India-a better half of Indian society, today, are becoming the most vulnerable section as far as their protection and safekeeping is concerned.

Can you suggest some effective short term and long term solutions for the safety and security of women in India?

GS4 question powered by mitrasias.com

GS3 (Science & Technology)

Climate change negotiations are a major factor in today’s diplomacy and a lot of diplomatic capital is spent to achieve a country’s aims. What factors shape India’s strategy in this regard? What has been India’s strategy with respect to such negotiations?

GS2 (Polity and Governance)

The government is promoting Make in India, and companies like Netflix are looking to invest in India. In such a situation exposing artists to regressive, archaic laws is short-sighted. Comment in the light of the recent censor board controversy.

GS1 (Changes in critical geographical features (including waterbodies and ice-caps) and in flora and fauna and the effects of such changes)

What do you understand by hydro fluorocarbons? Why are they considered harmful? Do you think the recent agreement in Kigali will help curb the menace of this gas? What challenges will India face in implementing the provisions of Kigali Accord?

GS4 (Case Study)

You are the president of Wrestling Federation of India (WFI). The WFI is planning to convene a selection panel shortly under your chairmanship for selection of the best athlete/wrestler to represent India in the upcoming Rio 2016 Olympics in 74kg freestyle wrestling championship. A few days before the final selection, you get a call from the Personal Secretary (PS) of a senior government minister seeking your intervention in favour of the selection of a close relative of the minister for this particular category. There are only two contenders for this category.

The first contender is the only Indian to win two individual Olympic medals. He has been also awarded with Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna – India’s highest honour for sportspersons. Whereas the second contender (relative of the minister) belongs to the constituency of the minister and has only won championships at State levels. The PS also informs you that he is aware of the long pending and urgent proposals of your federation for grant of funds for modernization, which are awaiting the minister’s approval. He assures you that he would get these proposals cleared. 

(a) What are the options available to you?

(b) Evaluate each of these options and choose the option which you would adopt, giving reasons.

GS4 question powered by mitrasias.com

Best answer

Aman Chauhan wrote the best answer for this question and got a score of 4.5/10 (if the best answer is an image, it cannot be uploaded here, hence scroll down to see those). The answer is being reproduced below for everyone’s convenience. Of course these answers can always be improved. (Best answer  of a particular only involves those given on that day, later answers may not have been checked)