13 Aug 2020: UPSC Exam Comprehensive News Analysis

E. Editorials

Category: INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

1. A self-reliant foreign policy

Context:

• Foreign policy of India.

Background:

• ‘Athma nirbhartha’ or Self-reliance in the domain of foreign policy would mean the ideal of strategic autonomy.
  • Strategic autonomy denotes the ability of a state to pursue its national interests and adopt its preferred foreign policy without being constrained in any manner by other states.
• India has historically emphasized on maintaining strategic autonomy. The policy of Non-alignment has served as the major pillar of India’s quest for strategic autonomy.
  • The Non-Aligned Movement was formed during the Cold War, as an organization of States that did not seek to formally align themselves with either the United States or the Soviet Union, but sought to remain independent or neutral.
• Despite the changing power equations in the global affairs, India’s quest for autonomy in making foreign policy choices has remained constant.
  • From 1947 to 1991, the world order was mostly bipolar with the erstwhile Soviet Union and The U.S. forming the two power blocs. With the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991, the world order remained mostly unipolar with the U.S. being the sole superpower. However, off late with China having caught up with the U.S. both economically and militarily and with the advent of middle powers like India the current scenario remains mostly multipolar.

Details:

• The article argues for the recalibration of the idea of ‘strategic autonomy’ in foreign relations policy.

Historical examples of flexibility in policy:

• Despite the overwhelming emphasis on strategic autonomy throughout its history, during moments of crisis, India has reinterpreted Strategic freedom and shown flexibility for survival.
• Compelling geopolitical circumstances led India to enter into de facto alliance-like cooperation with major powers.
  • During the 1962 war with China, India did appeal to the U.S. for emergency military aid.
  • In the build-up to the 1971 war with Pakistan, India entered a Treaty of Peace, Friendship and Cooperation with the Soviet Union to ward-off the threat posed by China and the U.S.
• During the 1999 Kargil war, India was welcoming of a direct intervention by the U.S. to force Pakistan to back down.
• In the above cases, India’s decision to seek co-operation with major powers did not in any way mean that India became any less autonomous, rather this flexibility allowed India to secure its freedom, sovereignty and territorial integrity. India adopted the tactic of realpolitik.
  • Realpolitik signifies a system of politics or principles based on practical rather than moral or ideological considerations.

Policy for the current situation:

• The current situation with tense India-China relations might mark another inflection point with regard to strategic autonomy.
• With China and the U.S. sliding into a new Cold War like situation and with China challenging India’s security and sovereignty, the article argues that India’s adherence to the Non-alignment policy makes little sense.
• The article argues the case for India’s alignment with the U.S. to meet the Chinese threat.
• The article states that the fears that proximity to the U.S. will lead to loss of India’s strategic autonomy are unfounded given that India has never been subordinated to a superpower despite India aligning with such powers in the past.

Way forward for India:

Using the American support:

• Given the increasing assertiveness of China vis-a-vis India and with the U.S. confronting China frontally, India should aim to make use of American support to counterbalance China where ever possible.

Remaining non-aligned:

• Even while aligning with the U.S, India should make all efforts to stay as an independent power.
• India should not remain overly reliant on the U.S. as this could constrict India’s options in some domains serving national interest such as India’s ties with Iran and Russia and efforts to speed up indigenous defence modernisation.
• The focus of India’s alignment with the U.S. should be on constraining China.

Diversifying relations:

• The article argues against isolation or alliance with one great power and argues for diversification of relations with like-minded countries to achieve common goals.
• Diversification of relations should become the essence of self-reliance for India in foreign relations. India should continue to retain good ties with a range of strategic partners, including the U.S.
• India could focus on intensifying cooperation with middle powers in Asia and around the world.

For more information on the issue of re-defining the policy of non-alignment, refer to: CNA 24^th July 2020.

Category: ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY

1. How the tiger can regain its stripes

Context:

• Tiger Conservation efforts in India.

Background:

• The most recent estimation of tiger population in India has noted that there has been an increase in tigers from about 2,000 in 1970 to around 3,000 presently.

For more information on this topic refer to: CNA 29^TH July 2020

Details:

• Despite the increase in the tiger population in India, the author of the article, K Ullas Karanth, a leading tiger expert in India, points out serious concerns regarding tiger conservation efforts in India.

Low growth rate of tiger population:

• Despite, the fact that Tiger population has increased in India and despite India having done better than other tiger range countries, the annual growth rate remains very low.

Potential much higher:

• Given the expansive land base of India, it has the potential to hold 10,000 to 15,000 wild tigers. However there seems to be no goal or plan to realize this potential.

Regional disparity:

• The tiger population recovery has not been even throughout the country and has only been sporadic in a few reserves.

Cost-effect analysis:

• The governments have been investing heavily, but not very intelligently, in tiger conservation. Excessive funding of a few reserves while neglecting large areas with greater recovery potential have become a concern.
• There seems to be the emphasis on the massively funded eco-development activities in tiger reserves. This calls into question the efficiency of the investments.
• The article laments that the unnecessary and massive borrowings from the Global Environment Facility-World Bank combine to create new models for tiger recovery.

Government monopoly:

• A major concern of the current conservation policy is the government monopoly over tiger management which has led to the lack of data transparency and rigorous, independent tiger monitoring.

Policy mistakes:

• The implementation of the Forest Rights Act of 2006 has opened up the wildlife habitats for cultivation and exploitation by loosely defined “forest-dwellers”. The subsequent impact on tiger habitats has been severe.
• The Tiger Task Force (TTF) was appointed in 2005, to review the status of the tigers in India. The author argues that the task force driven by its urge to maintain politically correct ideologies and based on inappropriate interpretation of the available scientific studies resulted in a report by the TTF that created a tiger management model that only enlarged the influence of the forest bureaucracy and did nothing to help tiger conservation efforts.
• Institutions like the National Tiger Conservation Authority have increased in size, taking under it schemes totally unrelated to tigers, such as the recovery of snow leopards and translocation of African cheetahs to India. This would have a detrimental impact on the effectiveness of the organization.
  • The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) was established in 2005 following a recommendation of the Tiger Task Force.
  • The NTCA would be responsible for implementation of the Project Tiger plan to protect endangered tigers. The NTCA would lay down normative standards, guidelines for tiger conservation in the Tiger Reserves, apart from National Parks and Sanctuaries. The NTCA would also facilitate and support tiger reserve management in the States through eco-development and people’s participation.

Way forward:

Reducing bureaucratic overload:

• The author calls for winding down bureaucracy’s role in conservation efforts and argues for restricting the forest bureaucracy’s role to enforcement of wildlife law.
• The author argues that merging Project Tiger with other Central schemes for wildlife conservation could be a good start in this direction.

Involving all stakeholders:

• Government monopoly over domains of tiger conservation such as tiger research, monitoring, nature education, tourism and conflict mitigation should be done away with and the private enterprises, local communities, NGOs and scientific institutions should be involved in tiger conservation efforts.

Sustainable development: 

• There is the need to recognize the existing challenges in tiger conservation and address them in future policies.
  • The slow growth of the economy has resulted in widespread poverty. This has resulted in excessive reliance on forest exploitation for livelihoods and protein dependency on wild meat that is driving wildlife hunting.
• There is the need to adopt a more sustainable model of development balancing the need to conserve the environment while also addressing the need for human development.

F. Tidbits

1. U.K. economy shrinks by record 20%, in recession

What’s in News?

Britain’s economy shrank by a record 20.4% in the second quarter when the COVID-19 lockdown was tightest.

• It is the most severe contraction reported by any major economy so far, with a wave of job losses set to hit later in 2020.
• The data confirmed that the world’s sixth-biggest economy had entered a recession.
• The Bank of England forecast that it would take until the final quarter of 2021 for the economy to regain its previous size, and warned unemployment was likely to rise sharply.

2. Stop the dismantling of environmental rules

Environmental Performance Index:

• The global Environmental Performance Index report has consistently put India at the bottom of its rankings.
  • India ranked 168th in the 12th edition of the Environment Performance Index (EPI) 2020. It was ranked 177^th out of 180 countries in 2018.
• EPI is a biennial index prepared by Yale University and Columbia University in collaboration with the World Economic Forum.
• The index considers 32 indicators of environmental performance and includes 10-year trends in environmental performance at the national and global levels. The major indicators include: environmental health policy, biodiversity and habitat, air and water pollution and climate change.

Deaths due to air pollution:

• According to a study in the British journal, The Lancet, 12.4 lakh deaths i.e. 5% of all deaths in India in 2017, could be attributed to air pollution.

G. Prelims Facts

1. More than a vaccine, it is about vaccination

• Gavi is an international organisation created in 2000 to improve access to new and underused vaccines for children living in the world’s poorest countries.
• It is a public–private global health partnership.
  • GAVI brings together developing country and donor governments, the World Health Organization, UNICEF, the World Bank, the vaccine industry in both industrialised and developing countries, research and technical agencies, civil society, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and other private philanthropists.

 Q1. “Great Hornbill” is the state bird of:

Q.2 Which of the following statement/s is/are correct with respect to Abscisic acid?

Q3. Consider the following statements with respect to Pakke Tiger Reserve:

Q.4 Consider the following statements with respect to land boundaries of Nagaland::