30 Oct 2020: UPSC Exam Comprehensive News Analysis

B. GS 2 Related

Category: POLITY AND GOVERNANCE

1. Yashvardhan likely to be next CIC

Context:

Former diplomat and Central Information Commissioner Yashvardhan Kumar Sinha is tipped to be appointed the next Chief Information Commissioner (CIC).

Background – Issues:

• The Central Information Commission consists of a chief and up to 10 commissioners.
  • It has been headless twice this year and has not functioned at full strength for almost four years.
• At present, it has only five commissioners, leading to a backlog of 37,000 pending cases.
• In a February 2019 order, the Supreme Court had directed that appointments be made in a transparent and timely manner.
  • The SC directed the government to put up all necessary information on its website, including particulars of the applicants and the composition of the search committee which shortlists candidates.
  • The DoPT has not made this information public.

Read more about the Central Information Commission.

Appointment of the Chief Information Commissioner:

• The commissioners are appointed by the President of India on the recommendation of a committee.
• As per the RTI Act, the appointment of commissioners in the Central Information Commission is recommended by a committee comprising the prime minister (chairperson), a cabinet minister and the leader of the single largest Opposition party in the Lok Sabha.

E. Editorials

Category: INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

1. The India-U.S. defence partnership is deepening

Context:

• The article analyzes the evolving bilateral relationship between India and the U.S. over the years, particularly in the domain of defence partnership.

Background:

The 2+2 Dialogue in Delhi:

• The India-United States defence partnership received a major boost recently with the visit of the U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and U.S. Defence Secretary Mark Esper for the third round of the 2+2 ministerial dialogue.
• Given that most ministerial engagements and even bilateral summits are taking place virtually due to travel restrictions, the fact that the U.S. Secretary of State and U.S. Defence Secretary travelled to India for the summit a week before the U.S. goes to the polls is an indication of the defence partnership between the two democracies having come of age.

History of the defence partnership:

Kicklighter proposals:

• India-U.S. defence partnership began with the end of the Cold War, through the 1991 Kicklighter proposals (Lt. Gen. Claude Kicklighter was the Army commander at the U.S. Pacific Command) which suggested the establishment of contacts between the three Services to promote exchanges and explore areas of cooperation.
• An Agreed Minute on Defence Cooperation was concluded in 1995 instituting a dialogue at the Defence Secretary level together with the setting up of a Technology Group.

Nuclear issue:

• The nuclear issue continued to cast a shadow on the relationship between the two countries. The U.S. imposed a slew of economic sanctions and led an international condemnation campaign against India after India conducted its nuclear tests in 1998.

Defence relationship framework:

• After extensive talks, sanctions were gradually lifted and in 2005, a 10-year Framework for Defence Relationship was established, followed by a Joint Declaration on Defence Cooperation in 2013. The Framework Agreement was renewed in 2015 for another decade.
  • The Defence Relationship Framework laid out an institutional mechanism for areas of cooperation including joint exercises, intelligence exchanges, joint training for multinational operations including disaster relief and humanitarian assistance, technology transfer and a sharing of non-proliferation best practices.

Decisive shift:

• Breaking away from the outdated notion of India’s strategic autonomy being impacted by its closer alignment with the U.S., the biggest push to the India-US relationship has come from the current government. This move has been reciprocated by the following U.S. measures.
  • A Joint Strategic Vision for the Asia-Pacific and Indian Ocean Region was announced in 2015.
  • The India-U.S. Strategic and Commercial Dialogue was elevated to the status of the 2+2 dialogue in 2018, reflecting the ‘Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership’ between the two countries.
  • The U.S. categorised India as “a Major Defence Partner” in 2016 and formalised it through the National Defense Authorisation Act (2017). This is a position unique to India given that such categorization was mostly limited to its NATO allies and a few other nations.

Defence contracts:

• From less than $400 million of defence acquisitions till 2005, the U.S. has since signed defence contracts worth $18 billion with India. This marks a major shift given that India had been traditionally almost completely dependent on Russia for defence products.
  • As per reports published by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), India was the world’s second-largest arms importer during the period 2015-19, with Russia being the largest supplier though Russia’s share of the Indian weapons market declined from 72% to 56%.  Israel, the U.S. and France have substantial arms exports to India.
  • India has imported Apache, Chinook and MH 60 ‘Romeo’ helicopters and P8I maritime aircraft from the US. The US could also sell Predator, Reaper Armed Drones to India amid rising tensions with China.
• In 2018, India was placed in Category I of the Strategic Trade Authorisation, easing exports of sensitive technologies.
• India and the US have also decided to deepen defence and security cooperation by collaborating on the co-development and production of advanced military systems along with other aspects like defence technology transfer.
  • The Defence Trade and Technology Initiative (DTTI) was formed in 2012 between the US and India, to enhance the bilateral relations in defence by venturing into the field of advanced defence research and development and manufacturing. The aim was to strengthen the US and India’s defence industrial base by moving away from the traditional “buyer-seller” dynamic toward a more collaborative approach.

Joint defence exercises:

• Joint military exercises with the U.S. have expanded, both in scale and complexity over the years.
  • Ex Yudhabhayas and Ex Vajra Prahar are joint military exercises.
  • Ex Cope India is a joint Airforce exercise.
  • Ex Malabar is a joint navy exercise which also involves Japan (Australia has been invited for Malabar 2020).
  • Tiger Triumph is a bilateral tri-service amphibious military exercise involving the armed forces of India and the United States. It is the first tri-service military exercise between the two countries.
    • India has previously only held tri-service exercises with Russia.

Foundational agreements:

• The General Security Of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA), relating to the security of each other’s military information was signed in 2002.
• In 2016, Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) relating to the exchange of logistics support had been concluded, followed by Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA) in 2018 permitting encryption standards of communication systems.
• The recent signing of the Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA) providing for the sharing of geospatial data is the last of the foundational agreements.

Cooperation in multilateral forums:

• India and the US are part of the Quad grouping along with Australia and Japan.
• India has been invited for the first time to attend the Five Eyes (a signals intelligence grouping set up in 1941 consisting of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the U.S.) meeting.
• The U.S. has aided India’s entry into export control regimes (Australia Group, Missile Technology Control Regime and Wassenaar Arrangement).

Factors which have helped the strengthening of India-US relationship:

Landmark nuclear deal:

• The 2008 India-U.S. civil nuclear deal marks a watershed moment in the bilateral relationship. It helped remove the biggest legacy obstacle between the two countries and marked a decisive shift from being “estranged democracies” to “natural allies”.

Economic aspects:

• India has been managing impressive annual GDP growth rates over the years. The progressive opening up of the Indian economy which boasts of a large consumer market is a big incentive for a country like the U.S. for lucrative trade deals. Notably, the U.S. market also accounts for a large proportion of India’s services exports.
  • Bilateral trade in goods and services was $20 billion in 2000 and exceeded $140 billion in 2018.

Indian diaspora in the U.S.:

• The four million-strong Indian diaspora in the U.S and its substantial political representation has had a positive role in the strengthening of ties between India and the U.S.

Bipartisan consensus:

• A bipartisan political consensus supporting the steady growth in India-U.S. ties in both India and the U.S. has been a critical supporting factor for the relationship. There has been a consistent deepening of ties over the years irrespective of which party has been in power either in the U.S. or India.

Converging interests:

• The current geopolitical context with China exhibiting increasing assertiveness in the region and globally, makes China the biggest threat not just for India but also the U.S.
• The common threat perception from China has been a major factor which has facilitated greater cooperation between the two countries.

Conclusion:

• The defence ties between the two countries have come of age. Even though there continues to be a certain divergence of interests in some areas, there seem to be higher potential benefits of cooperation and collaboration between the two countries.
• Working together would require mutual respect and trust while accepting differences.
• The policy debate in India should not get driven by ideologies but by India’s immediate as well as long term national interest. The policy objective has to enhance India’s strategic space and capability.

Category: ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY

1. Less pollution, more soil fertility

Context:

• Stubble burning in the north Indian states.

Background:

Stubble burning:

• Stubble burning refers to the practice of farmers setting fire to plant debris that remains in farms after harvest.

Green revolution and stubble burning:

• The origin of stubble burning can be traced to the advent of the Green Revolution.
  • Mechanised harvesting, a feature of the Green Revolution, utilised the combined harvesting technique which left behind substantial plant debris after harvest. The combined harvesting technique left behind one-foot-tall stalks. This prompted stubble burning as a low-cost and speedy solution to get rid of the plant debris just in time for the next crop sowing.
  • The Green Revolution increased greatly rice and wheat production, which simultaneously increased stubble post-harvest.

For more on stubble burning, its causes, effects, and solutions, click on the linked article.

Concerns:

Health impact:

• Stubble burning releases harmful gases including nitrogen oxide and carbon monoxide into the atmosphere. In recent years, this practice has created vast smoke blankets across the Indo-Gangetic Plain, including Delhi.
• This has exposed millions of people to air pollution.
  • As per a TERI (The Energy and Resources Institute) report, in 2019 the air pollution in New Delhi and other parts of north India was 20 times higher than the safe threshold level as prescribed by the World Health Organization.

Effect on soil fertility:

• Stubble burning has a negative impact on soil fertility by destroying organic fertilizers, killing critical soil microbes and reducing groundwater levels.

Efforts taken to tackle stubble burning:

• In 2013, stubble burning was banned by the Punjab state government.
• In 2015, the National Green Tribunal imposed a ban on stubble burning in Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab. The governments were directed to assist farmers by ensuring the availability of equipment like happy seeders and rotavator to the farmers.
• Stubble burning has been made an offence under Section 188 of the Indian Penal Code and the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act of 1981.
• Recently, in Aditya Dubey v. Union of India case, the Supreme Court appointed a one-man committee to monitor and provide steps to prevent stubble burning activities in Punjab, Haryana and U.P.
• The Union government has brought out an ordinance to set up a permanent commission for air quality management.

Way forward:

Deterring violators:

• There needs to be a robust system in place to detect and notify authorities about stubble burning. Suitable action against violators could deter other farmers.

Supporting farmers:

• The administration should support the farmers through setting up of Custom Hiring Centres which will facilitate farmers to remove stubble by providing them with machinery such as the happy seeder, rotavator, paddy straw chopper, etc. on rent.

Look for alternatives:

PUSA decomposer:

• An innovative method called the PUSA Decomposer, developed at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, Pusa, is being tested by the Union government.
  • The PUSA Decomposer is a set of four tablets made by extracting fungi strains that help the paddy straw to decompose at a much faster rate than usual, giving farmers the option to shred the straw, spray a solution containing the fungal strains, and mix it with the soil for decomposition.
• This method has the potential to both reduce air pollution and increase soil fertility and consequently help improve agricultural productivity.

Using stubble as stock for biofuels:

• Developing stubble based biofuel generating methods could incentivize the farmers to avoid stubble burning by attaching economic value to the stubble.
• Apart from helping avoid stubble burning, this could also provide an avenue to increase the incomes of farmers, incentivize biofuel based units in rural areas and also help reduce India’s import dependency of crude oil.

Q1. Which of these countries border the Red Sea?

Q2. Consider the following statements:

Q3. Consider the following statements with respect to River Mahanadi:

Q4. Arrange the eight Core Industries in decreasing order of their weightage in the 
Index of Industrial Production:

I. UPSC Mains Practice Questions

1. Analyze the deepening bilateral relationship between India and the U.S. over the years, particularly in the domain of defence partnership and discuss the factors which are driving this partnership forward. (15 marks, 250 words)(GS Paper 2/International Relations)
2. Discuss the factors which have contributed to the problem of stubble burning in North Indian states and the associated concerns. Also suggest what measures can be taken to address the stubble burning challenge in India. (15 marks, 250 words)(GS Paper 3/Environment and Ecology)

Read the previous CNA here.