14 Aug 2021: UPSC Exam Comprehensive News Analysis

August 14th, 2021, CNA:- Download PDF Here

TABLE OF CONTENTS

A. GS 1 Related
B. GS 2 Related
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
1. Are the Taliban on the brink of victory?
2. Taliban gains complicate India’s options
C. GS 3 Related
ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY
1. Govt. allows GM soy meal import to support poultry industry
2. More plastic items to be banned
D. GS 4 Related
E. Editorials
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
1. Afghan tragedy
2. An Indian sail to navigate the maritime environment
ECONOMY
1. Growth needs steps beyond reforms
F. Prelims Facts
1. 63 rescued turtles return to Assam
G. Tidbits
1. AB-PMJAY gave ₹2,794 cr. for COVID treatment
H. UPSC Prelims Practice Questions
I. UPSC Mains Practice Questions

2. Taliban gains complicate India’s options

Issue:

Impact on India’s interests in the backdrop of the fall of major Afghan cities and provinces to the Taliban.

Details:

• Since it became clear that the U.S. troops would leave Afghanistan, India has reduced its diplomatic presence there.
• Consulates in Kandahar and Mazar have been closed.
• The Kabul Embassy has issued advisories asking all Indian citizens to take commercial flights out at the earliest.

India’s Concerns:

• Taliban’s control over Afghanistan means a bigger hand for the Pakistani military and intelligence agencies to influence outcomes for the country. This would mandate a much smaller role for Indian development and infrastructure work that has won India goodwill over the past 20 years.
  • Afghan-India Friendship Dam, formerly Salma Dam, is a hydroelectric and irrigation dam project located on the Hari River in Herat Province in western Afghanistan. This project is funded and constructed by the Government of India as a part of the Indian aid project.
  • Shahtoot Dam is yet another project funded by the Government of India, that is being built.
• Under the Taliban regime, trade through Afghanistan would be routed through Karachi and Gwadar. The Indian investment in the Chabahar port, meant to circumvent Pakistan, may become unviable.
• In light of the government’s push for the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) that does not include other persecuted Afghan citizens, it is not clear whether India will welcome thousands of others.
• There is the threat of growing radicalisation and space for pan-Islamic terror groups in India’s neighbourhood.
• Groups such as the Lashkar-e-Taiba and the Jaish-e-Mohammad could now have more ungoverned spaces to carry out attacks against India.

Options available to India:

1. Stick to its principle of backing only a democratically-elected government in Kabul, and providing political and humanitarian support while that lasts.
2. Supply the ANDSF with military supplies, including ammunition and air power, possibly via the Iranian route. Taliban has warned India of consequences if it did take such steps.
3. Accelerate contacts with the Taliban. This is unlikely to give India much leverage, given the Pakistan factor, and also, all regional and donor countries have already done so.
4. Finally, India could simply wait and watch, until the chaos of conflict reveals a winning side, and weigh its options accordingly.
   • This option would deny India relevance at the high table where Afghanistan’s future is being discussed, especially the “Troika-plus” grouping of special envoys of U.S.-Russia-China with Pakistan.

Given all of India’s concerns, all four options would have repercussions for India.

2. More plastic items to be banned

Context:

The government has notified Plastic Waste Management Amendment Rules, 2021.

This topic has been covered in the 13^th August 2021 PIB Summary and Analysis.

2. An Indian sail to navigate the maritime environment

Context:

The Indian Prime Minister chaired a debate on maritime security titled, ‘Enhancing Maritime Security — A Case for International Cooperation’, as a part of India’s United Nations Security Council (UNSC) presidency.

• He described the oceans as a common heritage for humankind and a lifeline for the future of the planet.
• In urging the global community to develop a common framework to deal with contemporary challenges, including maritime disputes and natural disasters, he outlined a far-sighted vision rooted in India’s culture, history and geography.

Details:

• India has ancient maritime traditions.
  • In the 15th century, Vasco da Gama was piloted to the west coast of India from Zanzibar by a Gujarati seaman.
  • India’s ancient mariners were trading with the old world.
  • Buddhism and Hinduism spread to Southeast Asia by the maritime route.
  • Kutch and Kathiawar as well as the Malabar coast enjoyed ancient links to Africa.
• India has a natural seaward orientation, with key sea lanes of communication coursing through its surrounding seas, this is because of the long coastline and large island chains spread across the Indian Ocean.

Read more on this topic covered in  Aug 11th, 2021 CNA.

Importance of Freedom of Navigation:

• Freedom of navigation and unimpeded commerce are key to the spread of prosperity.
• Critical supply chains depend on the concept of open seas.
• The neo-colonial concept of closed seas in the South China Sea could be a major impediment to the future of the global economy.
• Disruption of sea lanes of communication has global repercussions.
  • The blockage in the Suez Canal earlier this year interrupted the flow of trade worth billions of dollars.
  • In 1956, great powers intervened militarily when Egypt nationalised this key waterway.
  • In present times, a naval blockade at any choke-point in the Indo-Pacific could prove catastrophic.
• India stands for openness and transparency in the execution of projects, based on local priorities, with in-built fiscal viability and environmental sustainability.
• The U.S., Japan and Australia are also promoting better standards for global infrastructure through the Blue Dot Network.

Dispute settlement:

• The Prime Minister advocated the peaceful settlement of maritime disputes on the basis of international law.
• This idea is rooted in India’s values of peace and non-violence.
• India’s acceptance of the award by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in 2014 paved the way for India and Bangladesh to put aside their maritime dispute and forge even closer ties.
• This should serve as an example to others in the region.

Disaster Management:

• At present, natural disasters and maritime threats posed by non-state actors have grown exponentially.
• The PM has called upon the global community to rally together to deal effectively with the ravages of cyclones, tsunami and maritime pollution.
• India’s role as ‘first responder’ in the Indian Ocean, whether in thwarting piracy or providing relief after the tsunami in 2004, is well-documented.
• India now has white shipping agreements with several countries.
• The Indian Navy’s state-of-the-art Information Fusion Centre-Indian Ocean Region (IFC-IOR) based in Gurugram hosts officers from the United States, Japan, France, Australia and the United Kingdom.
• The Indian Navy regularly offers a large number of training slots to friendly countries.
• The Indian Air Force airlifted 30 tonnes of relief material to Mauritius in August 2020 to contain an oil spill that threatened to engulf the island nation’s pristine coast.
• The election of the Director-General of Indian Coast Guard as the executive director of the Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia (ReCAAP) Information Sharing Centre, Singapore is an endorsement of India’s contributions.

Environmental concerns:

• The oceans remain our lifeline. But, they have been overwhelmed by plastic waste which chokes all forms of marine life. This, in turn, poisons the entire food chain.
• PM’s remarks underscored the importance of preserving the maritime environment and its resources.

Conclusion:

• India’s natural interests stretch across both the Indian and Pacific Oceans as reflected in its inclusive Indo-Pacific vision.
• India’s initiative will further the prospects for a stable and enduring maritime environment.

Category: ECONOMY

1. Growth needs steps beyond reforms

The article talks about the steps that must be taken in addition to the economic reforms to ensure the growth of the Indian Economy.

Background – Economic reforms of 1991:

• The last three decades have been an eventful period for the Indian economy.
• In 1991, the liberalisation of the Indian economy led to its strategic shift.
  • The economy was faced with a severe balance of payments crisis. In response, a wide-ranging economic programme was passed not just to restore the balance of payments but to reform, restructure and modernise the economy.
• The crisis was converted into an opportunity to bring about fundamental changes in the approach and conduct of economic policy.
• The break came in three important ways:
  • In dismantling the vast network of licences, controls and permits that dominated the economic system
  • In redesigning the role of the state and allowing the private sector a larger space to operate within
  • In abandoning the inward-looking foreign trade policy and getting integrated with the world economy and trade.
• Integrating with the world economy and trade was particularly important because it was the opposite of what would normally be done when faced with a balance of payments crisis.
• The objective was to improve the productivity and efficiency of the system by creating a more competitive environment. Thus, barriers to entry and growth were removed.

Looking at the Metrics:

• Three broad parameters — growth rate, current account deficit and poverty reduction, must be looked at, to judge the performance of the economy after liberalisation.

GDP Growth Rate:

• Between 2005-06 and 2010-11, GDP grew by 8.7% showing what the potential growth rate of India was.
• This was despite the fact that this period included the global crisis year of 2008-09.
• The recent decline in growth rate which started even before the advent of COVID-19 should make policymakers reflect and introspect.

Foreign Reserves:

• The opening up of the external sector, which included liberal trade policy, market-determined exchange rate and a liberal flow of external resources, has greatly strengthened the external sector.
• India still runs a high trade deficit in goods. However, the trade deficit is offset to a large extent by the surplus trade in services.

Poverty ratio:

• Besides growth, the other major objective of economic policy is to reduce the number of people living below the poverty line.
• The post-reform period up to 2011-12 did see a significant reduction in poverty ratio because of faster growth supplemented by appropriate poverty reduction programmes such as the Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme and the Extended Food Security Scheme.
• With the decline in growth rate since then and with negative growth in 2020-21, this trend must have reversed, i.e. the poverty rate may have increased.
• Besides, there are many problems associated with the definition of poverty and the kind of data required to measure it.

What is needed to facilitate “Growth” in an economy?

• Growth requires more than reforms.
• Reforms are, in the words of economists, only a necessary condition. It is not sufficient.
• In a developing economy, growth is driven by investment.
  • A decline in investment rate of nearly five percentage points since 2010-11 has led to the progressive decline of the growth rate.
• Reforms normally create a natural climate for investment. But people are also influenced by non-economic factors such as social cohesion.

Way Forward:

• Reforms supplemented by a careful nurturing of the investment climate are needed to spur growth again.
• The reform agenda must continue and should be incremental in character.
• There is a need to move in the same direction in which we have been moving in the past three decades.
• Policymakers should identify the sectors which need reforms in terms of creating a competitive environment and improving performance efficiency.
• The financial system, power sector and governance must be looked at from a reform perspective.
• There is a need for the Centre and States to be joint partners in this effort.
• In terms of government performance, there should be an increased focus on social sectors such as health and education.
• In terms of the provision of services, the emphasis must be not just on quantitative expansion but also quality.

Reforms are necessary to improve the productivity of the economy and achieve higher growth. But equity considerations must not be ignored. Growth and equity must go together. It is only in an environment of high growth that equity can be pushed aggressively.

Q1. Consider the following statements regarding Competition Commission of India (CCI):

Q2: Which of the following is/are the objectives of ‘Voluntary Vehicle-Fleet Modernisation 
Programme’?

Q3: ‘Brasilia Declaration’ led to the establishment of:

Q4: Which of the following is/are part of India’s investments in Afghanistan?

Q5: With reference to India’s biodiversity, Ceylon frogmouth, Coppersmith barbet, Gray-chinned
 minivet and White- throated redstart are (UPSC 2020)

Read the previous CNA here.

August 14th, 2021, CNA:- Download PDF Here