Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- A collaborative tech vision for India, UAE, ISRAEL and the US
Context
Last month’s meeting between the foreign ministers of India, the US, Israel, and the UAE has set foreign policy circles in India abuzz with talks of the potential emergence of another quadrilateral grouping or as analysts term it, a “new Quad”.
Significance of the new Quad meeting
- Collaboration in various areas: The grouping discussed technology collaboration along with the joint infrastructure projects in transportation, enhancing political and economic cooperation and maritime security matters.
- Forum for economic cooperation: They have agreed to set up an international forum for economic cooperation.
- Collaboration on technology: Amongst all the issues discussed, the technology dimension of this partnership promises a far greater potential for collaboration.
- The four countries are uniquely placed to shape an innovation-based partnership, which can conjoin the technology hubs of Silicon Valley, Dubai, Tel Aviv, and Bengaluru.
- Such potential collaboration can benefit from the existing robust cooperation between these countries.
- Collaboration in fintech: The agreement between Start-Up Nation Central, an Israeli non-profit that connects the tech ecosystem, and Dubai International Financial Centre, the UAE’s financial hub, will create regulatory sandboxes and accelerators for start-ups and provide them with market access opportunities.
- India and the US have been separately working with the two countries on multiple projects.
New Quad’s technology cooperation
- Tech-based collaboration: Given the synergies in the innovation and startup sector, it is logical that the “new Quad” works towards tech-based collaboration.
- The agenda for the new Quad’s technology cooperation can begin by selecting three technologies — quantum science, blockchain, and 3D printing.
- Collaboration in quantum technology: Israel and the US, too, have made research on quantum technology a priority by allocating $91 million and $1.2 billion respectively to this sector.
- India is also fast catching up through its National Mission on Quantum Technologies and Applications and joining hands with countries like France to work on this technology.
- Collaboration in the blockchain: in blockchain, India and the UAE can leverage the American and Israeli expertise in cyber and cryptography to craft customised applications for use in banking, fintech and trade financing.
- Collaboration in 3-D printing: In 3D printing, which promises to transform the manufacturing process radically, Israel has taken the lead in manufacturing about 40 per cent of 3D printers worldwide.
- India, in contrast, has been slow in getting onto the 3D printing bandwagon. But it can certainly benefit from the expertise of the US, Israel and the UAE.
- Opportunity for India: From the Indian perspective, such partnerships can leverage Silicon Valley’s venture capital funding, Tel Aviv’s close-knit organic linkages between start-ups, industry, and academia, and UAE’s funding and focus on innovation.
- To this mix, Bengaluru — and potentially Hyderabad — can add opportunities for scaling up and manufacturing.
- The startup community in the US, Israel and the UAE have already reached an advanced research and development stage providing an opportunity for India to build expertise and offer the scale to the development and applications of these technologies.
Way forward
- Security cooperation: The collaborative and customisation possibilities offered by these technologies and their dual-use nature offers the potential to give a technological edge to the four countries’ militaries.
- This, in turn, can add the security cooperation element to the grouping’s agenda.
- Broaden the base: If the four countries plug their innovation ecosystems in this collaboration to shortlist, fund and develop technologies, it will also help to broaden the base of cooperation for this grouping, rather than restrict it to the government-to-government domain.
- Government push will be the essential catalyst to unlock this space for cooperation through seed-funding, academic collaborations, industrial partnerships and MoUs.
- China factor: By collaborating with Russia, and domestic flagship initiatives like “Made in China 2025”, Beijing has pursued emerging technologies and successfully reduced the capability gap with Washington.
- These developments make it imperative for the US, Israel, UAE, and India to strengthen their newly established cooperation.
Conclusion
Each country with its unique advantage in the field of science and technology, innovation and start-ups can make a significant contribution to advance shared technological goals.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: General conent
Mains level: Paper 2- Reforms in CBI
Context
The Central government’s decision to give a five-year tenure to heads of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has drawn a lot of flak.
Background
- Apex court’s directive giving a mandatory two-year tenure to the Director of the CBI was a fallout of the Hawala scandal.
- Prior to that, the government was arbitrary and capricious in choosing the Director.
- It was not rare to see temporary appointments given to favour some individuals.
- Seniority was often ignored in appointments and Directors were removed frequently.
Why tenure matters
- Short tenure: A two-year tenure for a CBI head is too short for any officer to make an impact on the organisation.
- Longer provides the much-needed continuity that a Director needs in an outfit charged with the task of conducting highly sensitive investigations, which sometimes impinge on the longevity and stability of a democratically elected government.
- The Federal Bureau of Investigation chief in the U.S. gets a 10-year term.
Suggestions
- Need to avoid government interference: Any blatantly dishonest interference in the working of the organisation is bound to raise the hackles of those who believe in and carry out straightforward investigations.
- The government will therefore have to show enormous restraint in its interactions with the head of the CBI.
- Balancing accountability with autonomy: Of course, as a measure of accountability, the Director will have to keep the government informed of all major administrative decisions.
- He or she should inform the executive but not take orders from it.
- Need for CBI Act: Successive chiefs have suggested the drafting of a CBI Act to ensure that the organisation is not dependent on the State governments, many of which have withdrawn consent for the CBI to function in that State.
- Eight States — West Bengal, Maharashtra, Kerala, Punjab, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, and Mizoram — have withdrawn the general consent.
- The CBI should be made to derive its authority for launching investigations from its own statute instead of depending on the Criminal Procedure Code, which makes the CBI a police organisation.
Issue with ordinance
- The only problem with the latest ordinance is that, at the end of the mandatory two-year tenure, the government will have to issue orders granting one-year extensions at a time.
- The rule about three annual extensions can be misused by a tendentious government.
- It may be construed as a reward for ‘good behaviour’, which is a euphemism for an obliging Director.
Consider the question “What are the challenges facing Central Bureau of Investigation? Suggest the measures to make the organisation more effective.”
Conclusion
We will have to wait for a few years to gauge the impact of the change in tenure rules. It is preposterous to probe the intentions of this major move.
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Back2Basics: General Consent
- A “general consent” is normally given by states to help the CBI in seamless investigation of cases of corruption against central government employees in their states.
- Almost all states have traditionally given such consent, in the absence of which the CBI would have to apply to the state government in every case, and before taking even small actions.
- Section 6 of The DSPE Act (“Consent of State Government to exercise of powers and jurisdiction”) says: “Nothing contained in section 5 (“Extension of powers and jurisdiction of special police establishment to other areas”) shall be deemed to enable any member of the Delhi Special Police Establishment to exercise powers and jurisdiction in any area in a State, not being a Union territory or railway area, without the consent of the Government of that State.”
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- Return of Taliban in Afghanistan and implications for India-Pakistan relations
Context
In a rather unfriendly neighbourhood, New Delhi’s attempts at forming a regional consensus to stabilise Afghanistan, albeit wise and timely, will only achieve limited success thanks to the China-Pakistan coalition and its interests at play in and over Afghanistan.
Role played by China and Pakistan in Afghanistan and its implications for India
- China’s long-term vision for Afghanistan revolves around the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) project of which Afghanistan has been a part since May 2016.
- The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is also viewed as a key component within the larger Chinese BRI project and Afghanistan could eventually become part of CPEC if and when the Taliban regime stabilises itself in the country.
- Role of Pakistan in keeping India away from Afghanistan: While Pakistan lobbies the international community to help prevent Afghanistan slide into further turmoil, it is determined to keep India as far away from Kabul as possible.
- Pakistan has always been deeply suspicious of growing India-Afghanistan relations no matter who was/is in charge in Kabul.
- Implications for India: It is likely that the more India gets close to the Taliban, the more the Pakistani side will increase the ‘attacks’ in Jammu and Kashmir.
- By maintaining ties with the Taliban and convening the regional security meeting in New Delhi, India has indicated that this is an acceptable risk.
- Regional Security Dialogue: The recently-held Delhi Regional Security Dialogue on Afghanistan was an important initiative to help Afghanistan stabilise, the reality is that the two countries that are key to stabilising Afghanistan — China and Pakistan — decided to stay away from it.
- Scope for other powers: Russia or the Central Asian states have neither the ability nor the desire to pursue a role in Afghanistan autonomous from the larger Chinese or Pakistani designs there.
The dilemma facing the international community
- Taliban and Pakistan refer to the U.S.-led coalition as ‘colonisers’ who just vacated the Afghan territory; and in the same breath, they seek assistance from those very ‘former colonisers’.
- But perhaps what might bother the West the most is that if they stabilise the country, they would still be called former colonisers, and Pakistan and China will benefit out of it geopolitically, making it, in that sense, a thankless job for the West.
- So the question before the western leaders is how to offer structured incentives to the Taliban, and when.
The dilemma facing India
- To engage the Taliban or not: The first one was to decide whether to engage the Taliban or not.
- The successive governments in Afghanistan, including the current Taliban regime, have sought relations with India which has upset Pakistan.
- The Taliban want India to engage and help the country stabilise, but Pakistan resents that.
- Catch-22 situation for India: If the Taliban regime is stabilised in Kabul without India’s assistance to the country, the more it is likely to do Pakistan’s bidding vis-à-vis India.
- On the other hand, the more India helps the Taliban-led Afghanistan, the more Pakistan will up the ante in Kashmir.
- This is a catch-22 situation that India finds itself in.
- And yet, India has little choice but to engage the Taliban.
How Taliban victory led to change in Pakistan’s Kashmir policy
- The earlier Pakistani willingness to be conciliatory towards India on Kashmir before and in the run-up to the Taliban takeover of Kabul in August 2021 seems to have disappeared for now.
- This is at least partly due to the Pakistani triumphalism about the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.
- Since then, violence data show that the backchannel understanding is withering away with violence in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) spiking along all three indicators albeit gradually.
- Sentiments from across the border also indicate that the earlier Pakistani stand that it would accept the Indian decision to withdraw the special status to Kashmir in lieu of New Delhi restoring Statehood to Kashmir and allowing political activity in the State has now change.
- It now demands that India fully reverts to the pre-August 5, 2019 position on Kashmir.
Way forward
- No possibility of cooperation with China and Pak: Any possibility of India-Pakistan cooperation in Afghanistan would be very hard to achieve.
- Beijing will play along; so will Iran and the Central Asian countries, for the most part.
- Coordinate with other powers: For India, the options are to coordinate its Afghan policy with Moscow, Washington and the various western capitals while steadfastly engaging the Taliban.
Consider the question “Return of Taliban in Afghanistan and consequential geopolitical changes in the region are bound to have implications for India-Pakistan relation. Comment.”
Conclusion
India’s advances to court the Taliban and attempts to evolve a regional consensus on Afghanistan might deteriorate India-Pakistan relations and pose challenges for India in Kashmir.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Emission intensity
Mains level: Paper 3- Decarbonising the Indian economy
Context
The announcement of enhanced targets for climate action by India, particularly for achieving net-zero emissions by 2070, has highlighted the importance of long-term planning for decarbonising the economy.
Why do we need a decarbonizing strategy
- The Government of India has responded to rapid reductions in the cost of renewable energy (RE) based power, with dramatic enhancements in the targets for RE.
- With this approach, India has done well and is on a path to fulfilling its Paris Agreement commitments for 2030.
- However, the road ahead will be challenging, and therefore, a coordinated strategy for decarbonising the economy efficiently and effectively will be required.
Strategy for decarbonising the economy
- Factoring in the changes: By 2070, there will be many changes in technology, environmental conditions, and the economy.
- The planning horizon of about 50 years will need to be broken up into shorter periods so that new knowledge about emerging technologies can be incorporated into plans.
- Monitoring of the progress: Plans will need to be monitored so that the course can be corrected to respond to any unforeseen problems.
- Five years, as the UK has used, seems like a reasonable “Goldilocks ideal.”
- An autonomous and technically credible agency, like the Climate Change Committee (CCC) in the UK, should be set up.
Decarbonising the power sector
- Biggest source of GHG: The power sector is the biggest source of GHG emissions and also the easiest one to decarbonise.
- Reducing emission intensity is a good overarching objective; increased use of RE or non-fossil-fuel generation is a means to that end.
- The four 2030 targets: Non-fossil fuel generating capacity to be 500 GW, RE capacity to be 50 per cent of all generation capacity, reduction in emission intensity by 45 per cent, and avoidance of GHG emissions by 1 billion tonnes — are inter-related.
Suggestions to decarbonise the power sector
- Set emission intensity targets: Setting permissible emission intensity in terms of grammes of carbon dioxide equivalent per kWh of electricity sold, would be a good option for targets in the power sector.
- Single emission-related objective: In order to decarbonise the power sector, it would be best to have a single emissions-related objective so that an optimal strategy can be developed to achieve the objective at the lowest cost.
- Avoid separate targets: Currently there is a profusion of separate targets for almost every resource used to generate electricity.
- For example, there are separate renewable purchase obligations (RPOs) for solar, non-solar RE, and hydropower.
- Such an approach reduces the flexibility of distribution companies to select resources to meet their loads, resulting in a non-optimal resource mix, and a higher cost of electricity.
- Reconsider RPO: RPOs are usually imposed to support nascent technologies, and because RE is now competitive on costs with conventional generation, the need for RPOs should be reconsidered.
- The use of emission intensity targets is a better approach.
Consider the question “Why power sector holds the key to decarbonising the Indian economy? Suggest the strategy India should follow to decarbonise the power sector.”
Conclusion
The use of five-year interim targets for permissible emission intensity and the establishment of an autonomous and credible agency to advise the government on targets and policies and to monitor progress will greatly facilitate an effective, economic, and smooth transition to decarbonisation of the power sector first, and the Indian economy later by 2070.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: AUKUS
Mains level: Paper 2- EU's role in Indo-Pacific
Context
Speedy development of the Quad comprising Australia, Japan, India and the U.S.; the emergence of AUKUS comprising Australia, the U.K. and the U.S.; and other alignments raise the question: where does Europe stand in relation to this churning?
Significance of EU’s Indo-Pacific strategy
- Europe’s Asia connect is old, strong and multi-layered.
- Since 2018, countries such as France, the Netherlands, Germany and the U.K. announced their specific policies towards the Indo-Pacific.
- The announcement by the Council of the European Union of its initial policy conclusions in April, followed by the unveiling of the EU strategy for cooperation in the Indo-Pacific on September 16, are notable.
- Focus on security and development: The policy document also says cooperation will be strengthened in sustainable and inclusive prosperity, green transition, ocean governance, digital governance and partnerships, connectivity, security and defence, and human security.
Way forward for EU
- Support France: The EU’s security and defence capabilities are quite limited, as compared to the U.S. and China.
- To obviate an imbalance in favour of economic links, EU will need to give adequate space and support to France which has sizeable assets and linkages with the Indo-Pacific.
- Coordination with UK: EU also must forge strategic coordination with the U.K. as the latter prepares to expand its role in Asia as part of its ‘Global Britain’ strategy.
- Leverage economic power: As a major economic power, the EU has an excellent chance of success in its trade negotiations with Australia, Indonesia and New Zealand; economic partnership agreement with the East African Community; and in forging fisheries agreements and green alliances.
- To achieve all this and more, EU must increase its readiness to share its financial resources and new technologies with partners.
- Internally coordinated approach:Many states view China as a great economic opportunity, but others are acutely conscious of the full contours of the China challenge.
- Russia next door is the more traditional threat. It is increasingly on China’s side.
- Hence, the EU should find it easy to cooperate with the Quad.
- AUKUS, endeavours by a part of the western alliance to bolster naval and technological facilities to deal with China should be welcome.
Way forward for India
- India’s pivotal position in the region necessitates a closer India-EU partnership.
- Early conclusion of an ambitious and comprehensive trade agreement and a standalone investment protection agreement will be major steps.
- Cooperation in Industry 4.0 technologies is desirable.
- Consolidating and upgrading defence ties with France, Germany and the U.K. should also remain a significant priority.
Conclusion
The EU can create a vantage position for itself in the Indo-Pacific by being more candid with itself, more assertive with China, and more cooperative with India.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Lapis Lazuli corridor
Mains level: Paper 2- India-Turkey relations
Context
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been playing internationalist card for national benefit. India, which has been worried about Erdogan’s Islamist politics, must now begin to pay attention to another political idea from the Turkish president — promoting pan-Turkism.
Impact of political ideas on global politics
- Internationalism based on religion, region or secular ideologies has always run headlong into resistance from sectarianism and nationalism.
- Yet, these ideas have a profound impact on global politics.
- Calls for regionalism and internationalism as well as religious and ethnic solidarity often end up as instruments for the pursuit of national interest.
The rise of pan-Turkism
- Foundation of OTS: The international symbol of solidarity among peoples of Turkic ethnicity has been the Council of Turkic States, formed in 2009 by Turkey, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan.
- At a summit of the Council’s leaders last week in Istanbul, it was announced that the forum has been elevated to an “Organisation of Turkic States”.
- Hungary, which has a long history of association with Turkic people, and Turkmenistan have observer status.
- At least a dozen other countries have apparently shown interest in getting observer status.
- Implications: There is no escaping the fact that Turkey is determined to rewrite the geopolitics of Eurasia.
- The rise of pan-Turkism is bound to have important consequences for Afghanistan, the Caucasus, Central Asia and, more broadly, India’s Eurasian neighbourhood.
Rise of Turkey in Central Asia
- Soft power initiatives: Over the last three decades, a number of soft power initiatives — in education, culture, and religion — have raised Turkey’s profile in Central Asia and generated new bonds with the region’s elites.
- Military power: It is in the domains of hard power — commercial and military — that Turkey’s progress has been impressive.
- Turkey has stunned much of the world with its military power projection into the region.
- That Kazakhstan, a member of the Russia-led regional security bloc, is moving towards strategic cooperation with Turkey, a member of US-led NATO, points to the thickening pan-Turkic bonds in a rapidly changing regional order.
- The dominance of economy and trade: Nearly 5,000 Turkish companies work in Central Asia. Turkish annual trade with the region is around $10 billion.
- This could change as Turkey strengthens connectivity with Central Asia through the Caucasus.
- For the Central Asian states, living under the shadow of Chinese economic power and Russian military power, Turkey offers a chance for economic diversification and greater strategic autonomy.
- Connectivity: Turkey has also made impressive progress in building transportation corridors to Central Asia and beyond, to China, Georgia and Azerbaijan.
- The so-called Lapis Lazuli Corridor now connects Turkey to Afghanistan via Turkmenistan.
What should be India’s approach towards Turkey?
- Pan-Turkism is a good reason for India to explore a more purposeful engagement with Turkey.
- Issues: There is no denying that the current differences between Delhi and Ankara over Kashmir, Pakistan and Afghanistan are real and serious.
- Need for dialogue: The current political divergence only reinforces the case for a sustained dialogue between the two governments and the strategic communities of the two countries.
- Lessons for India: Turkey’s own geopolitics offers valuable lessons on how to deal with Ankara.
- That Turkey is a NATO member has not stopped Erdogan from a strategic liaison with Russian.
- Purchase of advanced weapons like S-400 missiles from Moscow does not stop Erdogan from meddling in Russia’s Central Asian backyard.
- Criticism of China’s repression of Turkic Uighurs in Xinjiang — that was once called “Eastern Turkestan” — goes hand-in-hand with deep economic collaboration with Beijing.
- What does this policy tell India? One, Erdogan’s enduring enthusiasm for Pakistan does not preclude Turkey from doing business — economic and strategic — with India.
- Limiting Turkish hegemony: Erdogan’s ambitions have offended many countries in Eastern Mediterranean, the Middle East and the Caucasus.
- Many of them are eager to expand strategic cooperation with India in limiting Turkish hegemony.
- This opens a range of new opportunities for Indian foreign and security policy in Eurasia.
- Imperative to engage: Sceptics will point to the fact that Erdogan’s time is running out.
- That does not, however, alter the Indian imperative to engage with Turkey.
Consider the question “Turkey’s influence in Eurasian region is expanding. In this context examine the issues that adds friction between India and Turkey and suggest the approach India should adopt in dealing with Turkey.”
Conclusion
Independent India has struggled to develop good relations with Turkey over the decades. A hard-headed approach in Delhi today, however, might open new possibilities with Ankara and in Turkey’s Eurasian periphery.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Digital currencies
Mains level: Paper 3- CBDC and challenges
Context
Recently, Nigeria joined the Bahamas and five islands in the East Caribbean as the only economies to have introduced central bank digital currency (CBDC). This is a shortlist, but one that is likely to be supplemented.
Benefits of CBDC
- Desire to make domestic payments systems and cross-border remittances cheaper, faster and more efficient, and deepen financial inclusion, represent key areas of priority for most other emerging market and development economies (EMDEs).
- Between 2019 and 2021, the last three surveys conducted by the Bank for International Settlements showed that the primary drivers for central banks of EMDEs to study CBDCs were domestic payments efficiency, financial inclusion and payments safety.
Design features of CBDCs
- In theory, the potential of CBDCs are only limited by their design and the capabilities of the central bank issuing it, but their appropriateness and form also depend on the state of the domestic banking and payments industry.
- Ultimately, CBDCs must be seen as a means to an end.
- A particular CBDC could, for example, be account-based or tokenised, may be distributed directly by the central bank or through intermediaries, may be interest-bearing (even the possibility of a negative interest has been considered), may be programmable, may offer limited pseudonymity to its holders (similar to, but not to the extent of, cash) and so on.
- Whether it may be one or the other depends on what its country requires it to be.
Challenges
- An economy that adopts an interest-bearing CBDC could make the interest rate on CBDCs the main tool of monetary policy transmission domestically (assuming a high degree of substitution of fiat and fiat-like currency).
- On the other hand, as former RBI Governor D Subbarao recently warned, rendering an Indian CBDC as an interest-bearing instrument could pose an existential threat to the banking system by eroding its critical role as intermediaries in the economy.
- If CBDCs compete with bank deposits and facilitate a reduction of bank-held deposits, banks stand to lose out on an important and stable source of funding.
- Banks may respond by increasing deposit rates, but this would necessitate a higher lending rate to preserve margins, and dampen lending activities.
- The resultant shrinking of balance sheets will lead to a more pronounced disintermediation role for financial institutions, which could have long-term effects on financial stability, and facilitate easier bank runs.
- The introduction of CBDCs would require central banks to maintain much larger balance sheets, even in non-crisis times.
- They would need to replace the lost funding (because of migration of deposits) by lending potentially huge sums to financial institutions, while purchasing correspondingly huge amounts of government and possibly private securities.
- CBDCs could also have implications for the state from seigniorage as the cost of printing, storing, transporting and distributing currency can be reduced.
Conclusion
Recent comments by RBI officials have focussed on the desirability of introducing CBDCs. But the path to a “Digital Rupee” is not clear.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 3- Creating safe digital spaces
Context
Various reports have indicated increased incidence of cyberbullying and online child sexual exploitation by adults.
Tackling cyberbullying
- School closures as a response to the COVID-19 lockdowns have led to an unprecedented rise in unsupervised screen time for children and young people, which in turn exposed them to a greater risk of online violence.
- In India, an estimated 71 million children aged 5-11 years access the Internet on the devices of their family members, constituting about 14% of the country’s active Internet user base of over 500 million
- There is growing scientific evidence which suggests that cyberbullying has negative consequences on the education, health and well-being of children and young people.
- Published in 2019 and drawing on data from 144 countries, UNESCO’s report ‘Behind the numbers: Ending school violence and bullying’ highlighted the extent of the problem, with almost one in three students worldwide reporting being bullied at least once in the preceding month.
- Therefore, cyberbullying prevention interventions should aim at tackling all types of bullying and victimisation experiences at the same time, as opposed to each in silo.
Cyberbullying prevention interventions
- Although online violence is not limited to school premises, the education system plays a crucial role in addressing online safety.
- To prevent and counter cyberbullying, the information booklet brought out by UNESCO in partnership with NCERT on Safe Online Learning in Times of COVID-19 can be a useful reference.
- Effective interventions also require gender-sensitive and targeted approaches that respond to needs of learners who are most likely to be the victims of online violence.
- Concerted efforts must be made to provide children and young people with the knowledge and skills to identify online violence so that they can protect themselves from its different forms, whether perpetrated by peers or adults.
- Teachers also play a critical role by teaching students about online safety, and thus supporting parental involvement.
Conclusion
It is imperative that digital and social media platforms are free of cyberbullying, if learners have to access quality education. More importantly, confidential reporting and redress services must be established.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 3- COP26 achievements and disappointments
Context
The Glasgow Climate Pact was adopted on Saturday and, as was to be expected, it is a mixed bag of modest achievements and disappointed expectations.
Transition away from fossil fuel
- The Pact is the first clear recognition of the need to transition away from fossil fuels, though the focus was on giving up coal-based power altogether.
- India introduced an amendment at the last moment to replace this phrase with “phase down” and this played negatively with both the advanced as well as a large constituency of developing countries.
- This amendment reportedly came as a result of consultations among India, China, the UK and the US.
- As the largest producer and consumer of coal and coal-based thermal power, it is understandable that China would prefer a gradual reduction rather than total elimination.
- India may have had similar concerns.
Recognition of Adaptation
- There is a welcome recognition of the importance of Adaptation and there is a commitment to double the current finance available for this to developing countries.
- Since this amount is currently only $15 billion, doubling will mean $ 30 billion.
- This remains grossly inadequate.
- According to UNEP, adaptation costs for developing countries are currently estimated at $70 billion annually and will rise to an estimated $130-300 billion annually by 2030.
- A start is being made in formulating an adaptation plan and this puts the issue firmly on the Climate agenda, balancing the overwhelming focus hitherto on mitigation.
Disappointment on the issue of finance
- The Paris Agreement target of $100 billion per annum between 2005-2020 was never met with the shortfall being more than half, according to some calculations.
- There is now a renewed commitment to delivering on this pledge in the 2020-2025 period and there is a promise of an enhanced flow thereafter.
- But in a post-pandemic global economic slowdown, it is unlikely these promises will be met.
- In any event, it is unlikely that India will get even a small slice of the pie.
- The same applies to the issue of compensation for loss and damage for developing countries who have suffered as a result of climate change for which they have not been responsible.
Initiatives on methane and deforestation
- Two important plurilateral outcomes could potentially develop into more substantial measures.
- The most important is an agreement among 100 countries to cut methane emissions by 30 per cent by 2030.
- India is not a part of this group.
- Cutting methane emissions, which is generated mainly by livestock, is certainly useful but there is a much bigger methane emergency around the corner as the earth’s permafrost areas in Siberia, Greenland and the Arctic littoral begin to melt due to global warming that has already taken place and will continue to take place in the coming years.
- Another group of 100 countries has agreed to begin to reverse deforestation by 2030.
- India did not join the group due to concerns over a clause on possible trade measures related to forest products.
Implications of US-China Joint Declaration on Climate Change for India
- Declaration was a departure for China, which had held that bilateral cooperation on climate change could not be insulated from other aspects of their relations.
- The declaration implies a shift in China’s hardline position.
- It appears both countries are moving towards a less confrontational, more cooperative relationship overall.
- This will have geopolitical implications, including for India, which may find its room for manoeuvre shrinking.
Conclusion
As in the past, the can has been kicked down the road, except that the climate road is fast approaching a dead-end. What provides a glimmer of light is the incredible and passionate advocacy of urgent action by young people across the world. This is putting enormous pressure on governments and leaders and if sustained, may become irresistible.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- Non-Aligned Movement
Context
The birth anniversary of Jawaharlal Nehru this month and the 60th anniversary of the Non-Aligned Movement prompt reflection on Nehru’s major contribution to the field of international relations.
Background of NAM
- In 1946, six days after Nehru formed the national government, he stated, “we propose… to keep away from the power politics of groups aligned against one another… it is for One World that free India will work.”
- Nehru was opposed to the conformity required by both sides in the Cold War, and his opposition to alliances was justified by American weapons to Pakistan from 1954 and the creation of western-led military blocs in Asia.
- Non-alignment was the least costly policy for promoting India’s diplomatic presence, a sensible approach when India was weak and looked at askance by both blocs, and the best means of securing economic assistance from abroad.
- India played a lone hand against colonialism and racism until many African states achieved independence after 1960.
- India played a surprisingly prominent role as facilitator at the 1954 Geneva Peace Conference on Indochina, whereafter non-alignment appeared to have come of age.
- Indian equidistance to both Koreas and both Vietnams was shown by India recognising neither; yet it recognised one party in the two Chinas and two Germanies.
- The Treaty of peace, friendship and cooperation between India and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics of 1971, fashioned with the liberation war of Bangladesh in view, come dangerously close to a military alliance.
Failures of NAM
- Only two members of Summit Conference of the Non-Aligned Movement, Cyprus and Ethiopia, supported India in the war with China.
- Among the Non-Aligned Movement’s members was a plenitude of varying alignments, a weakness aggravated by not internalising their own precepts of human rights and peaceful settlement of disputes on the grounds of not violating the sacred principle of sovereign domestic jurisdiction.
- Other failures were lack of collective action and collective self-reliance, and the non-establishment of an equitable international economic or information order.
- The Movement could not dent, let alone break, the prevailing world order.
Conclusion
In essence, Indian non-alignment’s ideological moorings began, lived and died along with Nehru’s idealism, though some features that characterised his foreign policy were retained to sustain diplomatic flexibility and promote India while its economic situation improved sufficiently to be described as an ‘emerging’ power.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Stand Up India
Mains level: Paper 2- Encouraging Dalit entrepreneurship
Context
In a departure from the fixation on traditional parameters for the study of Dalit rights and empowerment, there is now a focus on how market forces can be expanded to address social exclusion.
How Dalit entrepreneurship can help in Dalit entrepreneurship
- While entrepreneurship alone isn’t the panacea to caste-based exclusion or marginalisation, Dalit entrepreneurship is the new narrative changing the discourse of Dalit empowerment.
- Entrepreneurship can shape access to rights and push against entrenched social hierarchies.
- The circulation of material benefits and the relative autonomy that comes with entrepreneurship are added advantages.
- As per the reports by the MSME ministry, Dalit-owned ventures are still minimal in terms of numbers as well as revenue.
- To overcome hindrances to the establishment of networks across various social groups, Dalit entrepreneurs take recourse to their internal ties and use them to sustain their economic gains.
- It is increasingly becoming clear that supporting Dalits entrepreneurs is integral to the nation’s inclusive development and this is why institutional aid is required in this regard.
Steps taken so far
- The District Industries Centre (DIC) stipulates that to nurture entrepreneurs, the government must increase the share of goods produced by Dalits in its procurement.
- State financial corporations have also been instructed to increase financial support to Scheduled Caste entrepreneurs.
- The Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation has allocated 16.2 per cent of plots to SC entrepreneurs, while the Small Industries Development Bank of India offers an additional subsidy to them.
- One of the focussed financial interventions for SC/ST entrepreneurs is the Stand Up India initiative, guaranteeing credit up to Rs 1 crore.
Challenges
- Stand Up India initiative failed to deliver the expected results due to the unavailability of so-called eligible SC/ST entrepreneurship, with most of the fund lying unutilised.
- This was primarily due to the apathy of loaning branches and officials towards proposals by Dalit entrepreneurs.
- It is evident that despite the existence of government schemes and policies to support such initiatives, the actual benefit could never reach the beneficiaries due to the artificial inaccessibility created by inherent social and caste biases.
Way forward
- There is a need for Dalit-focussed alternate investment finance (AIF) and private equity (PE) funds to create a vibrant and inclusive MSME ecosystem.
- It is evident that despite the existence of government schemes and policies to support such initiatives, the actual benefit could never reach the beneficiaries due to the artificial inaccessibility created by inherent social and caste biases.
- There is a need to formulate multiple credit guarantee trusts by raising contributions from MNCs, FDIs, portfolio investors, corporates, etc.
- A social vulnerability index also needs to be introduced, addressed and assessed.
Conclusion
Dalit entrepreneurship today holds the promise of an exciting and uncharted future for social transformation.
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Context
Application of the UAPA in certain cases has caused concerns regarding its alleged “misuse”, and the rational answer would be to find ways to check “misuse”.
Issues with UAPA
- The police often use Section 13 in conjunction with other sections of the law.
- Vague and undefined terms: Besides the usual inventory of well-defined verbs in S.13(1), such as “commits”, “advocates”, “abets”, “advises”, “incites” or “takes part”, there is S.13(2) which reads: “Whoever, in any way, assists any unlawful activity of any association declared unlawful… shall be punished.”
- What does “in any way” mean? S.2(o), which defines “unlawful activity” does so in even more vague terms, as anything done by a person, whether as an act, or words, verbally, through signs or otherwise.
- What does “otherwise” mean? Likewise, S.39 criminalises support to a terrorist organisation, where “support” is not even defined!
- Wide and arbitrary powers: The semantic slippages are politically convenient as the UAPA vests extremely wide and arbitrary powers in the government to label something an “unlawful activity”.
- The political “use” of UAPA is scripted into the law itself, and the question of “misuse” does not arise.
- Application of UAPA triggers a host of draconian procedures effectively barring bail, reversing burden of proof.
Conclusion
The conviction rate of 2.2 per cent testifies to how the UAPA enacts the process as punishment. It is time for political parties to eschew their blinkered approach and make an effort to repeal this unlawful law.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 3- Urban floods
Context
Flood in Chennai has revived memories of the devastating Chennai floods of 2015, a collective trauma that its residents are yet to outlive.
Role of climate change
- In August this year, as monsoon floods raged across the subcontinent, IPCC’s 6th Assessment Report (AR6) was published.
- The report noted the increasing frequency of heavy precipitation events since the 1950s and inferred that they were being driven by human-induced climate change.
- The climate crisis, is here.
- It has made extreme rainfall events more severe and unpredictable than ever before.
Role of poor planning and encroachment
- In 2015, the National Green Tribunal in India formed a committee to report on the status of natural stormwater drains in Delhi.
- On inspection, out of the 201 “drains” recorded in 1976, 44 were found to be “missing.
- Geospatial imaging established that 376 km of natural storm drains — encroached on and paved over — had disappeared from Bengaluru.
- In both cases, these “missing” waterways were either encroached and built over or connected to sewage drains.
- Poor design and corruption significantly contribute to urban floods.
- By violating environmental laws and municipal bye-laws, open spaces, wetlands and floodplains have been mercilessly built over, making cities impermeable and hostile to rainwater.
Way forward
- We need to move away from land-centric urbanisation and recognise cities as waterscapes.
- We need to let urban rivers breathe by returning them to their floodplains.
- The entire urban watershed needs to heal, and for that to happen, we need less concrete and more democracy and science at the grassroots.
Conclusion
Ever since concretisation became shorthand for urbanisation, rainfall in a changing climate no longer finds its way towards subterranean capillaries or surface water bodies.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 3- Challenges in meeting COP26 commitments made by India
Context
Even though New Delhi has invested in renewable energy and announced a net-zero target, there is a gap between the announcements and the ground reality, as is evident from the promotion of coal.
India’s commitments
- AT the COP 26 in Glasgow, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that India has set a target of net-zero carbon emissions by 2070.
- India also updated its Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) that have to be met by 2030.
- Its new pledge includes increasing the country’s installed renewable capacity to 500 GW, meeting 50 per cent of its energy requirements from non-fossil fuel sources.
India’s achievements on past commitments
- At the COP 21 in Paris, India, made similar ambitious announcements and aimed to reduce the economy-wide emissions intensity by 33-35 per cent from 2005 levels by 2030.
- In August, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy announced that the country has installed 100 GW of renewable energy capacity.
- The majority of this 100 GW, about 78 per cent, is due to large-scale wind and solar power projects.
- While this is a milestone, India is on track to accomplishing only about two-thirds of its planned renewable target of 175 GW installation by 2022.
- To achieve its new goals, India will need to do more in different directions.
- For instance, it has a target of achieving 40 GW of green energy from the rooftop solar sector by 2022, but it has not been able to achieve even 20 per cent of that so far.
- In the transport sector, India has targeted a 30 per cent share of electric vehicles (EV) in new sales for 2030.
India’s climate actions against the Paris Agreement targets
- The Climate Action Tracker, an independent scientific analysis that tracks government climate action against the Paris Agreement targets, deems India’s performance as “highly insufficient” simply because coal represents about 70 per cent of the country’s energy supply.
- India also needs to cut down subsidies to the fossil fuel industry drastically — not the case currently.
- While in the past seven years, the country has invested Rs 5.2 trillion in renewable energy, the investment in fossil fuel industry, though down by (only) 4 per cent from 2015-19, was Rs 245 trillion.
- Coal production is estimated to increase to one billion tonnes by 2024 from 716 million tonnes in 2020-21.
- According to the Central Electricity Authority, coal capacity is projected to increase from 202GW in 2021 to 266GW by 2029-30.
- The Government of India is not actively discouraging such investments.
- On the contrary, coal subsidies are still 35 per cent higher than the subsidies for renewables and coal-fired power generation receives indirect financial support from the government through income tax exemptions and land acquisition at a preferential rate.
Conclusion
It is also true that India’s energy transition would be in its own interest because, otherwise, economic growth will not be sustainable and human security will be at stake if dozens of millions of climate refugees are created due to the devastating consequences of climate change.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 3- Chalking out a greener path to development
Context
There has been quite a lot of debate on India’s dependence on coal against the backdrop of the Conference of the Parties (COP26) meeting. The crux of the theoretical argument is that India needs to develop, and development requires energy.
Carbon budget framework
- India has neither historically emitted nor currently emits carbon anywhere close to what the global North has, or does, in per capita terms.
- If anything, the argument goes, it should ask for a higher and fairer share in the global carbon budget.
- There is no doubt that this carbon budget framework is an excellent tool to understand global injustice but to move from there to our ‘right to burn’ is a big leap.
- However, the question is do the countries in the global South necessarily need to increase their share in the global carbon budget?
Why should developing countries aim for development without increasing carbon emission
1) Reducing the cost of renewable energy
- Normally the argument in favour of coal is on account of its cost, reliability and domestic availability.
- Recent data show that the levelised cost of electricity from renewable energy sources like solar (photovoltaic), hydro and onshore wind has been declining sharply over the last decade and is already less than fossil fuel-based electricity generation.
- On reliability, frontier renewable energy technologies have managed to address the question of variability of such sources to a large extent and, with technological progress, it seems to be changing for the better.
- As for the easy domestic availability of coal, it is a myth.
- India is among the largest importers of coal in the world, whereas it has no dearth of solar energy.
2) Following different development model
- During the debates of post-colonial development in the Third World, there were two significant issues under discussion — control over technology and choice of techniques to address the issue of surplus labour.
- India didn’t quite resolve the two issues in its attempts of import-substituting industrialisation which worsened during the post-reform period.
- But it can address both today.
- The abundance of renewable natural resources in the tropical climate can give India a head start in this competitive world of technology.
- South-South collaborations can help India avoid the usual patterns of trade between the North and the South, where the former controls technology and the latter merely provides inputs.
- And the high-employment trajectory that the green path entails vis-à-vis the fossil fuel sector may help address the issue of surplus labour, even if partially.
- Such a path could additionally provide decentralised access to clean energy to the poor and the marginalised, including in remote regions of India.
3) Limitation of addressing global injustice in terms of a carbon budget
- The framework of addressing global injustice in terms of a carbon budget is quite limiting in its scope in more ways than one.
- Such an injustice is not at the level of the nation-states alone; there is such injustice between the rich and the poor within nations and between humans and non-human species.
- A progressive position on justice would take these injustices into account instead of narrowly focusing on the framework of nation-states.
- Moreover, it’s a double whammy of injustice for the global South when it comes to climate change.
- Not only is it not primarily responsible, but the global South, especially its poor, will unduly bear the effect of climate change because of its tropical climate and high population density along the coastal lines.
- So, arguing for more coal is like shooting oneself in the foot.
Way forward
- One of the ways in which this can be done is by making the global North pay for the energy transition in the South.
- Chalking out an independent, greener path to development may create conditions for such negotiations and give the South the moral high ground to force the North to come to the table, like South Africa did at Glasgow.
Conclusion
Even if one is pessimistic about this path of righting the wrongs of the past, at the very least, it is better than the status quo.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- Relative backwardness
Context
On October 29, the Supreme Court issued notice on an appeal of the Kerala government against a High Court order directing it to award the scholarships by the proportion of minorities in the overall population of the State. This case will be significant for constitutional law.
Background
- The Kerala government passed an executive order in 2015 prescribing that minority communities will be entitled to scholarships.
- Of the scholarships, 80% were distributed to Muslim students.
- In Justine Pallivathukkal v. State of Kerala (2021), the Kerala High Court set aside this order holding that all minorities must be treated alike.
- The government argued that its policy was based on the findings of the Sachar Committee report and the Kerala Padana report on the disadvantages faced by Muslims.
- It pointed out that Muslims were far behind Christians, Dalits and Adivasis in college enrolment, just as they are in employment and land ownership.
Justification
- The different kinds of backwardness of a community must be considered while awarding scholarship schemes.
- Any other scheme defeats the purpose of offering scholarships to students from minority communities.
- The High Court prohibited an allocation sensitive to social realities by adopting a form of blind equality approach.
- It is important, therefore, that the Supreme Court corrects the error of the High Court.
- The High Court’s reasoning suggests that access to the benefits of affirmative action must follow an approach which is blind to the relative backwardness of different communities.
Conclusion
Even when we identify disadvantaged castes or communities, we need to remember the forms of inequality and hierarchy among them. The logic of the High Court’s judgment forbids this.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 3- Opportunities and challenges presented by net-zero approach
Context
India joined the other G20 countries in making a “net-zero” commitment, setting 2070 as its target year.
Why was it important to sign up for net-zero?
- India’s topography — its 7,000 km-long coastline, the Himalayan glaciers in the north, and its rich forest areas which house natural resources like coal and iron ore — make the country uniquely vulnerable to climate change.
- An IMF study suggests that if emissions continue to rise this century, India’s real GDP per capita could fall by 10 per cent by 2100.
- India’s traditional position has been that since its per capita energy use is only a third of the global average, and it needs to continue to grow to fight poverty, costly energy reduction targets should not be applied to it.
Opportunities presented by India’s net-zero approach
- It could give a clear signal of India’s intentions and provide better access to international technology, funding and markets.
- We estimate that 60 per cent of India’s capital stock — factories and buildings that will exist in 2040 — is yet to be built.
- The country can potentially leapfrog into new green technology, rather than being overburdened with “re-fitting” obligations.
- If India can now transition to green growth, it could create a more responsible and sustainable economy.
- If India’s exports achieve a “green stamp”, they may find better market access, especially if the world imposes a carbon tax on exports.
- Around 2-2.5 million additional jobs can be created in the renewables sector by 2050, taking the total number of people employed there to over 3 million.
Challenges
- The finances of power distribution companies need to be improved to fund the grid upgrades necessary for scaling up renewables.
- India needs a coordinated institutional framework that can help overcome multiple levels of complexity like federalism, fiscal constraints and bureaucracy.
- The energy investment requirement will be high, rising from about $70-80 billion per year now to $160 billion per year.
- While the private sector will be required to fund much of this, the government can play a pivotal role, especially in the early days.
- The transition years will be bumpy.
- Inflation could be volatile till renewables reached their full potential.
Conclusion
India is on the right track but needs to redouble its efforts to remove the obstacles.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Non-refoulment principle
Mains level: Paper 2- Usage of international law for furthering national security interests
Context
Military experts, international relations academics, and practitioners like retired diplomats dominate the debates on global security in India. International lawyers are largely absent in these debates despite security issues being placed within the framework of international law.
Using international law to further security interests
In recent times, several examples demonstrate India’s failure to use an international law-friendly vocabulary to articulate its security interests.
- First, India struck the terror camps in Pakistan in February 2019, after the Pulwama attack India did not invoke the right to self-defence; rather, it relied on a contested doctrine of ‘non-military pre-emptive action’.
- Second, after the Pulwama attack, India decided to suspend the most favoured nation (MFN) status of Pakistan.
- Under international law contained in the General Agreements on Tariffs and Trade, countries can deviate from their MFN obligations on grounds of national security.
- Instead of suspending the MFN obligation towards Pakistan along these lines, India used Section 8A(1) of the Customs Tariff Act, 1975, to increase customs duties on all Pakistani products to 200%.
- The notification on this decision did not even mention ‘national security’.
- Third, India wishes to deport the Rohingya refugees who, it argues, pose a security threat.
- India’s argument to justify this deportation is that it is not a signatory to the Refugee Convention.
- This is a weak argument since India is bound by the principle of non-refoulment.
- National security is one of the exceptions to the non-refoulment principle in international refugee law.
- If India wishes to deport the Rohingya, it should develop a case on these lines showing how they constitute a national security threat.
- Fourth, to put pressure on the Taliban regime to serve India’s interest, India has rarely used international law.
- India could have made a case for the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) using its implied powers under international law to temporarily suspend Afghanistan from SAARC’s membership.
Reasons for international law remaining at the margins
- First, there is marginal involvement of international lawyers in foreign policymaking.
- The Legal and Treaties Division of the Ministry of External Affairs, which advises the government on international law matters, is both understaffed and largely ignored on policy matters.
- Second, apart from the External Affairs Ministry, there are several other Ministries like Commerce and Finance that also deal with different facets of international law.
- They have negligible expertise in international law.
- Third, there has been systemic neglect of the study of international law.
- Fourth, many of the outstanding international law scholars that India has produced prefer to converse with domain experts only.
Way forward
- If India wishes to emerge as a global power, it has to make use of ‘lawfare’ i.e., use law as a weapon of national security.
- To mainstream international law in foreign policymaking, India should invest massively in building its capacity on international law.
Conclusion
Notwithstanding the central role that international law plays in security matters, India has failed to fully appreciate the usage of international law to advance its national security interests.
Back2Basics: Non-refoulement principle
- The principle of non-refoulement constitutes the cornerstone of international refugee protection.
- It is enshrined in Article 33 of the 1951 Convention, which is also binding on States Party to the 1967 Protocol.
- Article 33(1) of the 1951 Convention provides:
“No Contracting State shall expel or return (“refouler”) a refugee in any manner whatsoever to the frontiers of territories where his [or her] life or freedom would be threatened on account of his [or her] race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion.”
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- Integrated approach to Eurasia
Context
Delhi’s Indo-Pacific strategy has acquired political and institutional traction, thanks to intensive Indian diplomacy in recent years. It must now devote similar energy to the development of a “Eurasian” policy.
Need for Eurasian strategy and challenges
- This week’s consultations in Delhi on the crisis in Afghanistan among the region’s top security policymakers is part of developing a Eurasian strategy.
- National Security Advisor Ajit Doval has invited his counterparts from Pakistan, Iran, Central Asia, Russia, and China to join this discussion on Wednesday.
- Pakistan has declined to join.
- Pakistan’s reluctance to engage with India on Afghanistan reveals Delhi’s persisting problem with Islamabad in shaping a new Eurasian strategy.
- But it also reinforces the urgency of an Indian strategy to deal with Eurasia.
Factors shaping India’s Eurasian policy
- The most important development in Eurasia today is the dramatic rise of China and its growing strategic assertiveness, expanding economic power and rising political influence.
- Beijing’s muscular approach to the long and disputed border with Bhutan and India, its quest for a security presence in Tajikistan, the active search for a larger role in Afghanistan, and a greater say in the affairs of the broader sub-Himalayan region are only one part of the story.
- Physical proximity multiplies China’s economic impact on the inner Asian regions.
- These leverages, in turn, were reinforced by a deepening alliance with Russia that straddles the Eurasian heartland. Russia’s intractable disputes with Europe and America have increased Moscow’s reliance on Beijing.
- Amidst mounting challenges from China in the Indo-Pacific maritime domain, Washington has begun to rethink its strategic commitments to Eurasia.
- Whether defined as “burden-sharing” in Washington or “strategic autonomy” in Brussels, Europe must necessarily take on a larger regional Eurasian security role.
- More broadly, regional powers are going to reshape Eurasia.
What should be India’s approach to Eurasia
- Like the Indo-Pacific, Eurasia is new to India’s strategic discourse.
- To be sure, there are references to India’s ancient civilisational links with Eurasia.
- While there are many elements to an Indian strategy towards Eurasia, three of them stand out.
- Put Europe back into India’s continental calculus: As India now steps up its engagement with Europe, the time has come for it to begin a strategic conversation with Brussels on Eurasian security.
- This will be a natural complement to the fledgling engagement between India and Europe on the Indo-Pacific.
- India’s Eurasian policy must necessarily involve greater engagement with both the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation.
- Intensify the dialogue on Eurasian security with Russia: While Indo-Russian differences on the Indo-Pacific, the Quad, China, and the Taliban are real, Delhi and Moscow have good reasons to narrow their differences on Afghanistan and widen cooperation on continental Eurasian security.
- Indian collaboration with both Persia and Arabia: If Persia’s location makes it critical for the future of Afghanistan and Central Asia, the religious influence of Arabia and the weight of the Gulf capital are quite consequential in the region.
- India’s partnerships with Persia and Arabia are also critical in overcoming Turkey’s alliance with Pakistan that is hostile to Delhi.
Challenges
- Contradictions: India will surely encounter many contradictions in each of the three areas — between and among America, Europe, Russia, China, Iran, and the Arab Gulf.
- As in the Indo-Pacific, so in Eurasia, Delhi should not let these contradictions hold India back.
Consider the question ” Eurasia involves the recalibration of India’s continental strategy. India has certainly dealt with Eurasia’s constituent spaces separately over the decades. What Delhi now needs is an integrated approach to Eurasia. In the context of this, examine the challenges in India’s engagement with Eurasia and suggest the elements that should form part of India’s strategy towards Eurasia.”
Conclusion
The current flux in Eurasian geopolitics will lessen some of the current contradictions and generate some new antinomies in the days ahead. The key for India lies in greater strategic activism that opens opportunities in all directions in Eurasia.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Gati Shakti plan
Mains level: Paper 2- Gati Shakti plan's impact beyond border
Context
The Gati Shakti National Master Plan will have an important economic multiplier effect at home, it must also be leveraged to have an external impact by aligning it with India’s regional and global connectivity efforts.
Main components of the Gati Shakti National Master Plan
- The Gati Shakti plan has three main components, all focused on domestic coordination.
- Increase information sharing: The plan seeks to increase information sharing with a new technology platform between various ministries at the Union and state levels.
- Reduce logistics’ costs: It focuses on giving impetus to multi-modal transportation to reduce logistics’ costs and strengthen last-mile connectivity in India’s hinterland or border regions.
- Analytical tool: The third component includes an analytical decision-making tool to disseminate project-related information and prioritise key infrastructure projects.
- This aims to ensure transparency and time-bound commitments to investors.
How Gati Shakti Plan can strengthen India’s economic ties with its neighbours
- The plan will automatically generate positive effects to deepen India’s economic ties with Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Sri Lanka, as well as with Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean region.
- India’s investment in roads, ports, inland waterways or new customs procedures generate positive externalities for these neighbours, who are keen to access the growing Indian consumer market.
- Any reduction in India’s domestic logistics costs brings immediate benefits to the northern neighbour, given that 98 per cent of Nepal’s total trade transits through India and about 65 per cent of Nepal’s trade is with India.
- In 2019, trade between Bhutan and Bangladesh was eased through a new multimodal road and waterway link via Assam.
- The new cargo ferry service with the Maldives, launched last year, has lowered the costs of trade for the island state.
- And under the South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation Programme, India’s investments in multimodal connectivity on the eastern coast is reconnecting India with the Bay of Bengal and Southeast Asia through integrated rail, port and shipping systems.
- Whether it is the alignment of a cross-border railway, the location of a border check post, or the digital system chosen for customs and immigration processes, India’s connectivity investments at home will have limited effects unless they are coordinated with those of its neighbours and other regional partners.
- While India recently joined the Transports Internationaux Routiers (TIR) convention, which facilitates cross-border customs procedures, none of its neighbouring countries in the east has signed on to it.
Suggestions for Gati Shakti Plan to have maximum external effect
- First, India will have to deepen bilateral consultations with its neighbours to gauge their connectivity strategies and priorities.
- Given political and security sensitivities, India will require diplomatic skills to reassure its neighbours and adapt to their pace and political economy context.
- A second way is for India to work through regional institutions and platforms. SAARC’s ambitious regional integration plans of the 2000s are now defunct, so Delhi has shifted its geo-economic orientation eastwards.
- The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) has got new momentum, but there is also progress on the Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal (BBIN) Initiative.
- Finally, India can also boost the Gati Shakti plan’s external impact by cooperating more closely with global players who are keen to support its strategic imperative to give the Indo-Pacific an economic connectivity dimension.
- This includes the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank, but also Japan, the US, Australia, EU and ASEAN.
Conclusion
Gati Shakti plan must also leveraged to have an external impact by aligning it with India’s regional and global connectivity efforts.
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