30 Jun 2022: UPSC Exam Comprehensive News Analysis

CNA 30 June 2022:- Download PDF Here

TABLE OF CONTENTS

A. GS 1 Related
B. GS 2 Related
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
1. How Turkey made peace with Sweden and Finland joining NATO
C. GS 3 Related
INFRASTRUCTURE
1. Speeding major cause of death: Lancet study
D. GS 4 Related
E. Editorials
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
1. The Indian challenge in Afghanistan
ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY
1. A direct approach to conservation
F. Prelims Facts
1. NewSpace India
G. Tidbits
1. Rupee weakens past 79 on dollar buying by FPIs, oil firms
H. UPSC Prelims Practice Questions
I. UPSC Mains Practice Questions

Category: INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

1. How Turkey made peace with Sweden and Finland joining NATO

Syllabus: Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries

Prelims: NATO

Mains: Key provisions of the MoU signed between Turkey, Finland and Sweden and its implications.

Context

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between Turkey, Finland and Sweden through which Turkey has agreed to support Finland and Sweden joining NATO.

Background

For the background on the issue refer to the following article:

UPSC Exam Comprehensive News Analysis dated 14th May 2022

Details about the MoU signed

• The MoU was signed in a trilateral meeting held in Madrid, Spain.
• The MoU was signed after the leaders of France and Sweden agreed to address the national security concerns of Turkey. 
• Following this assurance, the President of Turkey agreed to support Finland and Sweden in their bid to join NATO.

Key provisions of the MoU

• A joint commitment between the three countries to counter-terrorism.
• Efforts would be undertaken to address the pending extradition of terror suspects through a bilateral legal framework.
• Investigating the financing and recruitment activities of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party  (PKK) and all other terrorist groups.
• Finland and Sweden also assured that their respective national regulatory frameworks for arms exports would enable new commitments to the Allies.
• Finland and Sweden further vowed to act against disinformation and fully commit to the European Union’s Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) and Turkey’s participation in the Permanent Structured Co-operation (PESCO) Project on Military Mobility.

Reasons for Turkey’s withdrawal of opposition

• Finland and Sweden have assured to address counter-terrorism provisions in their countries. 
  • Finland has committed to reforming its criminal code, and Sweden has promised to implement its new Terrorist Offenses Act
• Turkey was concerned about Finland and Sweden sheltering Kurdish activists and other militant organisations. 
  • The EU and Washington both recognise the PKK as a terrorist organisation because of the brutal tactics employed during their insurgency against the Turkish state.
  • However, Finland and Sweden have now assured that they would go ahead with the pending extraditions of listed ‘terror’ suspects made by Turkey. 
  • Turkey has announced that it would seek the extradition of 12 suspects from Finland and 21 from Sweden.
• Turkey also wanted the two countries to lift the embargoes on the weapons deliveries, which they had imposed in response to Turkey’s 2019 military incursion into Syria.
  • There has been no clear definition of the category of weapons, but Finland and Sweden have assured to remove the arms embargo against Turkey.

Impact on Turkey

• Turkey has claimed a full victory after securing agreements from Finland and Sweden.
• Turkey has also secured the promise of a long-sought meeting with the U.S.
• Also, the U.S. has shown interest to improve its engagements with Turkey after a strain in their relations caused due to Turkey’s crackdown on human rights.

Implications on Russia

• Russia shares a 1,340 km border with Finland and shares the Baltic Sea with Sweden despite not having a land border. This means that both countries are under direct threat from Russia.
• Finland, Sweden and Russia have maintained cordial economic cooperation since the late 1940s, but the relations have been strained due to the Cold War and Finland’s neutrality principle. 
  • Russia had warned Finland and Sweden against their decision to join NATO and had held that these countries need not worry about any security threat from Russia as they shared respectful and mutually friendly relations.
• If Sweden and Finland join NATO, the expansion of NATO would now surround Russia with NATO countries in the Baltic Sea and the Arctic. 
  • This was the very reason (to maintain its influence in its immediate neighbourhood) why Russia interfered in Ukraine. 
• The increased NATO presence would also impact Russia’s interests in the Arctic region as both Sweden and Finland are part of the Arctic States.
  • Russia at present holds the Arctic Council chair (until 2023).

Implications on NATO

• With Finland and Sweden joining NATO, the organisation will be further strengthened, guarantee security against Russia and also provide NATO with the power to engage.
• This eastward expansion of NATO will provide a strategic edge to NATO as it will be able to exercise military operations both on land and in the Baltic Sea, where Russia traditionally enjoyed a strategic position.
  • It will also help NATO position its weapon systems, combat formation and plan its attack techniques to increase deterrence and defence.
• In 1997, NATO had proposed a rapprochement to build bridges with Russia but these rapprochement efforts came to an end as Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula and invaded Ukraine. 
  • However, with NATO encircling Russia from the West, Russia might look to return to the table and negotiate a deal. 

Implications on the geopolitics of the region

• This expansion and strengthening of NATO will ensure a secured Euro-Atlantic.
• NATO extended presence will securitise and protect the Baltic states, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, which were earlier at risk due to their close proximity to Russia and were wary of Russian attacks. 
  • This expansion will enable NATO to establish advanced weapons like fifth-generation aircraft, technological weapon systems and strong political institutions across the allied countries.
• Also, the strengthening of NATO will help Ukraine win the ongoing war.

C. GS 3 Related

Category: INFRASTRUCTURE

1. Speeding major cause of death: Lancet study

Syllabus: Infrastructure: Roads

Mains: The need for the government interventions regarding road safety

Context

New Lancet study on fatal road injuries.

Details

• This Lancet study points out that interventions focusing on four key risk factors namely speeding, drunk driving, non-use of crash helmets and seat belts could help avoid about 25% to 40% of the 13.5 lakh fatal road injuries worldwide every year.
• This is the first study that provides country-specific estimates of the impact of addressing four key road safety risk factors through interventions for 185 countries.
• It says that in India, interventions to check speeding could help save 20,554 lives. promotion of crash helmets could save about 5,683 lives and encouraging the use of seat belts can save 3,204 lives.

Image source: The Hindu

Data on accident-related deaths in India

• About 14 lakh people die each year and up to 5 crore are injured due to road traffic injuries globally.
  • India accounts for close to 10% of all crash-related deaths while accounting for only 1% of the world’s vehicles.
• According to a report by Road Transport and Highway Ministry in 2020, a total of 1,31,714 deaths were recorded due to road accidents.
  • Over speeding constituted about 69.3% of deaths 
  • Non-wearing of helmets accounted for 30.1% of deaths 
  • Non-use of seat belts resulted in 11.5% of deaths
• According to the data from Global Burden Diseases, 2017, over 2 lakh deaths were estimated in India due to road injuries in 2017.

The Decade of Action for Global Road Safety In 2010, the UN General Assembly proclaimed the period 2011–2020 as the Decade of Action for Road Safety. Aim: to stabilize and then reduce the forecast level of road traffic fatalities around the world by increasing activities conducted at the national, regional and global levels. The second decade of Action for Road Safety 2021-2030 sets an ambitious target of preventing at least 50% of road traffic deaths and injuries by 2030. The Lancet report says that the current challenges in the field of road safety and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic are the key challenges to achieving the ambitious goal of the second Decade of Action for Global Road Safety.

Also read: Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, 2019

Nut Graf

Road traffic injuries are said to be the eighth leading cause of death worldwide for all ages and the first cause in the age group of 5-29 years. This requires the policymakers and the global road safety community to immediately intervene and undertake steps to address key road safety risk factors.

Category: ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY

1. A direct approach to conservation

Syllabus: Conservation, Environmental Pollution and Degradation

Mains: Payments for ecosystem services- Significance and impediments in its successful implementation

Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES):

• Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) occur when the beneficiaries or users of an ecosystem service make payments to the providers of that service. It works through the establishment of performance contracts.
• People who can help provide the desired ecosystem service are rewarded based on their actions, or the quantity and quality of the services themselves.
• Payments for ecosystem services (PES) policies compensate individuals or communities for undertaking actions that increase the provision of ecosystem services such as water purification, flood mitigation, or carbon sequestration.

Significance:

Environmental conservation:

• The PES system is one way to conserve and increase ecosystem services offered by the environment. This will contribute to environmental conservation efforts.

Dual benefit:

• PES could go a long way in incentivising local land stewards to manage threatened ecosystems. Hence it has the potential to achieve the dual goals of conservation and poverty alleviation in tandem.

Ensure adequate financing:

• The PES system helps ensure finance flows towards the conservation of natural resources. They incentivize biodiversity protection and their more sustainable use.

Outcome-based:

• Also, this system has the ability to tether investments more directly to outcomes and hence could be considered more effective.

Concerns:

• While tools like levies, fees, and fines for mobilizing finance towards conservation activities have gained governmental support and political will, there has been no such thing in the case of the PES system.
• The monetisation of environmental benefits and lack of additionality (how much environmental service would have been provided without conditional payments) remain two of the biggest issues around the PES system.
• The lack of a solid institutional mechanism to implement and monitor the PES system along with the lack of sustainable funds in this segment remain the main impediments to the successful implementation of PES in India.
  • Unlike in India, Latin America and African countries have witnessed successful implementation of the PES system.

Recommendations:

• Initiatives like the Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) should be mainstreamed to help prioritize ecosystem restoration financing towards the more direct PES system.
• There is a need to have more evaluative studies to help understand the efficacy of the PES system.
• A global initiative such as the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative to mobilise private sector finance to benefit people and the environment would help ensure timely and adequate funds towards the PES system.

Q1. Which of the following statements are correct with respect to election to the 
Office of the Vice President of India?  (Level – Medium)

Q2. Consider the following statements with respect to Marine Exports from India. 
(Level – Medium)

Q3. Which of the following statements is/are correct with respect to mRNA vaccines? 
(Level – Easy)

Q4. Which of the following statements best describes the Tunguska event?  (Level – 
Difficult)

Q5. Which one of the following groups of plants was domesticated in the ‘New World’ and 
introduced into the ‘Old World’?  (Level – Difficult) PYQ (2019)

Read the previous CNA here.

CNA 30 June 2022:- Download PDF Here