29 Dec 2020: UPSC Exam Comprehensive News Analysis

CNA 29 Dec 2020:- Download PDF Here

TABLE OF CONTENTS

A. GS 1 Related
B. GS 2 Related
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
1. U.K. warns of ‘bumpy’ transition
2. Dhaka moves refugees to barren island
3. China defends progress of Pak. corridor
POLITY
1. Activists upset with new Food Commission
C. GS 3 Related
ECONOMY
1. Maintaining inflation target at 4% is appropriate: RBI paper
D. GS 4 Related
E. Editorials
ECONOMY
1. Reforms with the future and farming needs in mind
SECURITY ISSUES
1. Dealing with India’s two-front challenge
F. Prelims Facts
1. PM flags off India’s first driverless train 
G. Tidbits
1. Supply chain shift from China may benefit India
H. UPSC Prelims Practice Questions
I. UPSC Mains Practice Questions

Nothing here for today!!!

Category: INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

1. U.K. warns of ‘bumpy’ transition

Context:

Britain and the European Union have agreed upon a trade deal that is going to govern the trade ties between the two in the future.

This topic has been covered in 25^th December 2020 and 26^th December 2020 Comprehensive News Analysis.

Details:

• The new rules would be effective 1^st January 2021. The U.K. left the EU almost a year ago, but remained within the bloc’s economic embrace during a transition period that ends on December 31.
• The deal will ensure Britain and the 27-nation bloc can continue to trade in goods without tariffs or quotas.
• However, the British government has warned businesses to get ready for disruptions and bumpy moments when the new rules take effect.
• The end to Britain’s membership in the EU’s vast single market and customs union would bring inconvenience and new expenses for both individuals and businesses.

2. Dhaka moves refugees to barren island

Context:

Bangladesh has started moving a second group of Rohingya refugees to a controversial flood-prone island in the Bay of Bengal despite opposition from rights activists.

• More than 1,600 of the Muslim minority from Myanmar were taken to Bhashan Char earlier.
• Rohingyas are being moved from camps in Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh (where nearly one million refugees are packed) to Chittagong port where they will be taken to the barren island.

This topic has been covered in 13^th December 2020 Comprehensive News Analysis.

3. China defends progress of Pak. corridor

Context:

China has asserted that the reports suggesting it was seeking additional guarantees from Pakistan before sanctioning a loan for a key project under the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) were “baseless”.

Details:

• It is a flagship plan under President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
• The progress of CPEC has been under scrutiny.
• China’s most ambitious BRI project aims to build a network of roads, railway lines and power projects throughout Pakistan with an estimated value of more than $60 billion.
• India has voiced concerns about the CPEC plan, one main reason why it has stayed out of the BRI is that it includes projects in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) as part of a corridor connecting Xinjiang with Pakistan.

Read more on China Pakistan Economic Corridor.

Category: POLITY

1. Activists upset with new Food Commission

Context:

The formation of the Food Commission in Rajasthan, with the appointment of government officers as its ex-officio chairperson and members, has left social activists disappointed.

Details:

• These departments are responsible for the implementation of the National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013, in the State.
• The intention behind establishing the Commission was that if the government does not implement or inadequately implements NFSA, depriving the exploited and vulnerable groups of its benefits, then there should be an independent body with the powers to hold the government accountable for the deficiencies.

Read more on the National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013.

Issue:

• Activists argue that the appointment of government officers as its ex-officio chairperson and members would result in the officers sitting in judgment on their own acts against which the complaints will be made to the Commission.
• They have pointed out “gross violation” of the principles of natural justice, which states that no one should be a judge in their own cause.
• The activists demanded that an active and independent Food Commission be constituted in the State with the appointment of persons of eminence in public life who have the knowledge and experience in agriculture, human rights, food policy, health and social service.

D. GS 4 Related

Nothing here for today!!!

Context:

• The farm acts have brought the farmers and farmer unions into a confrontation with the central government.

Details:

• The Central Government passed three major pieces of legislation in the form of:
  1. Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act
  2. Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act
  3. Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act of 1955
• These acts have become the reason for the farmer protests, there have been concerns expressed over the future of Agricultural Produce Market Committees (APMC) and the Minimum Support Prices (MSP).
• The farmers have also alleged that the corporates will take over agriculture trade, and farmers’ land will be taken over by powerful corporates.

The sides to the debate

• The acts have divided people’s opinions. There are those who want an absolute rollback of the acts, while there are some who stand by the acts because it brings about modernizing agriculture, there are still others who believe that reforms are much needed in the agriculture sector but the acts in the current form will not bring about desired reforms.
• The fact that the acts are polarizing people’s opinions mean that the matter requires further discussion, a deeper analysis with empirical data.

The need for reforms

Reforms in agriculture are inevitable due to several reasons such as,

1. Agricultural income
   • The degree of divergence between the agri-income of a farmer and that of a non-agriculture worker in the last two decades has been appalling.
   • The difference of ₹25,398 in 1993–94 has managed to become ₹1.42 lakh in 2011-12.
   • These figures indicate how agriculture has become a failing economic activity and there is a widespread feeling of agrarian distress.
2. Agriculture import-export
   • India has achieved food grain self-sufficiency, surplus production has been witnessed for a number of years now.
   • Aggregate food demand has remained short of domestic production requiring the export of a large quantity to ensure the domestic prices do not plunge very low.
   • India currently possesses an excess stock of 60 lakh tons of sugar and close to 72 million tons of extra buffer stock of wheat and rice which is causing a huge drain on fiscal resources.
   • India’s agriculture-exports are not getting an easy ride in the global market, imports are turning attractive as domestic prices are turning much higher than international prices.
3. Market dynamics
   • The agrarian distress and the decline of agriculture as a viable economic activity have become push factors for rural youth including farmers’ children to look for opportunities beyond agriculture and there is a serious problem of unemployment in the countryside.
   • There is plenty of evidence of market failures which have been detrimental to the interests of producers and consumers.
   • The market failures have forced the farmers to look towards MSP guarantee to ensure a stable return.
4. Stagnancy in production
   • Agriculture and its markets have not progressed into the next stages of development.
   • Indian agriculture appears to be built upon the shaky edifices of various kinds of subsidies and output price support.
   • There is a need to improve the economic viability of agriculture in India by promoting competition, integration into global value chains, value addition, export promotion.
   • Efforts towards creating such an ecosystem will require deep reforms, and merely providing MSP or periodic loan waivers cannot be expected to make agriculture more remunerative.
5. APMC
   • The role of the APMC has been misunderstood, it has nothing to do with the payment of the MSP.
   • Case in point being, crops outside of paddy, wheat and cotton are selling at prices below the MSP in the APMC mandis of Punjab on an almost regular basis.
   • The necessary and sufficient conditions for the MSP are procurement by the government, with or without the APMC.
   • Experience shows that even after fruits and vegetables were de-notified from the APMC, they continued to arrive at APMC mandis in large quantities while farmers got additional options.
   • The threat to the APMC comes from the action of States to use these mandis for extra revenue generation. The protesting farmer leaders have raised a genuine concern to keep a level-playing field for the APMC and private players, and the Agriculture Minister has shown agreement to address this fully.

Traders’ registration

• The simplification for new traders to come into the market has come under attack as well, the need to only submit a PAN card for a trader under the New Trading Act will bring in new traders thus creating competition.
• But the demands of the protesting farmers favour stringent criteria and registration for traders in a trade area.
• Applying stringent criteria such as bank guarantee, etc. will create an entry barrier to the registration of traders.
• This may lead to agriculture trade being concentrated in the hands of the trading class and the spirit of the new law to facilitate farmers and rural youth to become agribusiness entrepreneurs will be lost.

Contract farming

• Contract farming is in operation in India on a limited scale, however, from the protests that are underway, there appears to be a lot of confusion in distinguishing contract farming from corporate farming.
• The new Act aims to protect interested farmers (especially small farmers), against market and price risks so they can go in for the cultivation of high-value crops without worrying about the market and low prices in the harvest season.
• The Act is not mandatory, it leaves both the parties with a choice to continue or discontinue post the expiry of agreement.
• The Act also places safeguards by prohibiting the farming agreement to include the transfer, sale, lease, mortgage of the land or premises of the farmer.
• The Act has the potential to encourage diversification, quality production for a premium price, export and direct sale of produce, with desired attributes to interested consumers.
• The Act can channel in new capital and knowledge into agriculture and lead the way for farmers’ participation in the value chain.

Conclusion:

• The policy reforms undertaken by the central government through these Acts are with the intention of modernizing agriculture with the changing times.
• No other sector supports directly or indirectly as large a population as the agriculture sector does, thus the sector needs reforms that will bring it out of decades of stagnancy.
• Reforms in agriculture will have a wide-ranging effect, it might be the catalyst that brings about a transformation of rural India.

Category: SECURITY ISSUES

1. Dealing with India’s two-front challenge

Context:

• The possibility of a two-front challenge at the borders cannot be discounted. There is a school of thought in India’s strategic community that wants to have a sound doctrine to combat a potential China-Pakistan front to prevent any such surprises at the border.

Details:

• According to military terminology, a two-front war occurs when opposing forces encounter on two geographically separate fronts. The forces of two or more allied parties usually simultaneously engage an opponent in order to increase their chances of success.
• The possibility of a two-front war against a China-Pakistan combine has been evoking a mixed response, while some outrightly deny saying that China has hitherto not intervened militarily in the India-Pakistan conflict, the other side responds by saying that the two have been embracing each other more than ever.

How has it has been perceived for long?

• The common knowledge in the military is that there is less likelihood of conventional conflict breaking out with China than with Pakistan.
• Though China is more potent, there is far more certainty in terms of Chinese actions on the border, while it is different from the deep-state of Pakistan.
• Pakistan with its state-sponsored terrorism provokes and invites India into a confrontation on the western borders.
• The military believes that while both China and Pakistan are foes, they’re chalk and cheese in their modus operandi.

Intrusions change things

• The Galwan valley incident, Ladakh intrusions and other skirmishes along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in 2020, followed by a stalemate in negotiations have brought in to focus the Chinese military threat.
• In the event of a possible breakthrough in the border crisis between India and China, China’s military challenge will garner greater attention from Indian military planners in the months and years to come.
• The two-front challenge is gathering steam because the situation along the Line of Control (LoC) with Pakistan has been steadily deteriorating.
• The ceasefire violations during the time interval of 2017 and 2019 have quadrupled.
• Some media reports had indicated that Pakistan had moved 20,000 troops into Gilgit-Baltistan, matching the Chinese deployments in Eastern Ladakh.

China-Pakistan military links

• The Sino-Pakistan relationship has been a feature since the 1950s, but it has far serious implications today than ever before. China has always seen Pakistan as a counter-balance to India’s influence in its neighbourhood.
• China and Pakistan have tried to paint India’s image as a ‘regional bully’ in India’s backyard.
• The Pakistan-China ties have been inching closer over the years, the strategic thinking between them has found a bit of coherence.
• Military cooperation is growing, with China accounting for close to three-fourth of the total arms imports of Pakistan between 2015-2019.
• The Shaheen IX Pakistan-China joint exercise between the Pakistan Air Force and People’s Liberation Army Air Force is expected to enhance combat capacity of both air forces significantly and also improve interoperability between them with greater strength and harmony.

Two-front threat

• The above-mentioned facts point to a threat of two-front warfare, however slight the possibility of it maybe.
• The Indian military needs to analyze deeply about the nature of the threat and think of strategies that could be deployed to nullify such a threat.
• In a two-front scenario, India’s military will be largely tested along the northern border with China.
• Pakistan in the meantime will likely try and make the most of India’s engagement with China by attempting military actions in Jammu and Kashmir and expend its efforts in stoking militancy in Kashmir.
• Strategists have hinted at a more passive involvement on behalf of Pakistan and have called the likelihood of Pakistan engaging in full-fledged warfare to capture territories far-fetched.
• The reason behind Pakistan’s abstinence is that a full-blown war among the three nuclear-armed states has the possibility to damage Pakistan’s economy and military significantly, far outweighing what it can possibly gain through a full-blown war.
• Thus Pakistan would restrict itself to taking up the low-risk option of pursuing a hybrid conflict that remains below the threshold of war.

Dilemmas for India

• Resource and strategy will occupy a major chunk in India’s military doctrine in a two-front conflict.
• It is obvious that the resources required will be more, it is neither practical nor feasible to build a level of capability that enables independent warfighting on both fronts.
• A major decision will be the quantum of resources to be allocated for the primary front. The primary front will be the one that is preoccupied with China, that would require a majority of the assets of the Indian Army and the Indian Air Force to be sent towards the northern border.
• This will mean that the military has to re-evaluate its strategy on the western border. There will be an option to go defensive against Pakistan since it is involved in a hybrid war below the threshold of war, however, the defensive option will only encourage Pakistan to continue its pursuits in J&K.
• Taking a more aggressive offensive strategy on the western border may wean away precious limited resources.

Contours of a doctrine

• It is hard to simulate the possible manner of two-fold warfare, but with an impending threat, there is nothing wrong in being prepared for different scenarios with different strategies.
• Indian leadership needs to develop a doctrine and the capability to deal with this contingency. Developing a doctrine will require cooperation and coordination with the political leadership.
• The doctrine will need to have the acceptance and endorsement of the political class, for any doctrine that is prepared without a political aim and guidance will not be able to deliver effectively on the ground.
• Capability building is a major issue, especially with the country’s economic situation not being strong enough to pursue an aggressive capacity building process.
• A possible paradigm shift is necessary to increase the potency of the Indian military in warfare. Currently, there is a disproportionate focus on major platforms such as aircraft, ships, and tanks, and not enough on future technologies such as robotics, artificial intelligence, cyber, electronic warfare, etc. The right balance will have to be struck based on a detailed assessment of China and Pakistan’s war-fighting strategies.

Diplomacy is crucial

• The importance of diplomacy cannot be emphasized enough in the event of a two-front challenge.
• India’s immediate neighbourhood will be very critical, relations with neighbours will have to be on an even keel given how both China and Pakistan will try to leverage any bilateral issues with immediate neighbours against India’s interests.
• An unfriendly, hostile neighbourhood would only help play into the opponent’s hands.
• The extended neighbourhood cannot be ignored. The government’s present engagement with the key players in West Asia, including Iran, should be further enhanced in order to ensure energy security, increase maritime cooperation and enhance goodwill in the extended neighbourhood.
• India’s nous will be tested especially in balancing the relationship between the two superpowers, the USA and Russia.
• A tighter embrace of Washington must not endanger New Delhi’s relationship with the Kremlin. Russia could play a very important role in diffusing tensions in the region given its influence and relationship with the major players of the region.
• Even as the Quad, or the quadrilateral security dialogue (India, Australia, Japan and the U.S) and the Indo-Pacific appear to form the mainstay of India’s new grand strategy, the maritime strategy will only be limited in easing the Sino-Pakistan pressure in the continental sphere.

Outreach to Kashmir

• Pakistan’s engagement on the western frontier is hinging upon a political vacuum in Kashmir and the militancy angle.
• Therefore, building political consensus will be helpful in easing pressure, the recent conduct of the District Development Council elections will create a vibrant grassroots democracy.
• China is a rising and aggressive superpower sharing a border with India. It is the bigger strategic threat for India, with Pakistan playing second-fiddle to Beijing’s ‘contain India strategy’.
• New Delhi has to expend political and diplomatic capital to offset the impact of a collusive Sino-Pakistan containment strategy aimed at India.

Conclusion

• The Chinese behaviour on the border, the mounting ceasefire violations along the Line of Control and the increasing proximity of China and Pakistan carry a significant threat to India’s territorial integrity.
• Therefore, India has to be politically, militarily and strategically ready for the two-front threat.
• A politically guided doctrine will be essential to lend support to the military in order to counteract the threat posed at the border by the China-Pakistan challenge.
• India will also have to look towards engaging constructively the regional platforms like BIMSTEC, SCO, SAARC to ensure regional peace and stability.

Q1. Consider the following statements with respect to Blue Flag Certification:

Q2.“Bhashan Char Island”, recently in news, is a part of which country?

1. India
2. Bangladesh
3. Myanmar
4. Malaysia

Q3.Consider the following statements regarding the Hubble Space Telescope:

1. It was built by the United States space agency NASA, with contributions from the European Space Agency.
2. Hubble is the only telescope designed to be serviced in space by astronauts.
3. It is the first space telescope.

Which of the given statement/s is/are INCORRECT?

1. 1 only
2. 2 and 3 only
3. 3 only
4. None of the above

Q4.“Malayali” tribe belongs to which state?

1. Karnataka
2. Tamil Nadu
3. Kerala
4. Telangana