07 Sep 2021: UPSC Exam Comprehensive News Analysis

Sept 7th, 2021, CNA:- Download PDF Here

TABLE OF CONTENTS

A. GS 1 Related
B. GS 2 Related
POLITY AND GOVERNANCE
1. T.N. makes it official: workers have right to sit
2. Fill tribunal vacancies by Sept. 13, SC tells Centre
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
1. What is the ‘food emergency’ in Sri Lanka?
C. GS 3 Related
D. GS 4 Related
E. Editorials
POLITY AND GOVERNANCE
1. Spirit of federalism lies in consultation
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
1. A Taliban-led Afghanistan and the Chinese conundrum
ECONOMY
1. The long and the short of the NMP
F. Prelims Facts
G. Tidbits
1. Taliban claim total control as Panjshir resistance folds
H. UPSC Prelims Practice Questions
I. UPSC Mains Practice Questions

2. Fill tribunal vacancies by Sept. 13, SC tells Centre

Context

• The Supreme Court (SC) criticized the Central government for its inaction in filling vacancies in tribunals.

Details

• The SC said it did not want any confrontation with the government and asked the Centre to make some appointments to the tribunals.
• The court said it had three options.
  • One, close the tribunals.
  • Two, to make the appointments itself.
  • Three, to initiate contempt.

Background

UPSC Comprehensive News Analysis of 17th Aug 2021

Category: INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

1. What is the ‘food emergency’ in Sri Lanka?

Context

• Sri Lanka has declared a state of emergency over food shortages.
• The President declared an emergency under the public security ordinance to maintain the supply of food items such as sugar and rice at fair prices.

Details

• It empowers the authorities to seize stocks of staple foods and set their prices, to contain soaring inflation after a steep devaluation of its currency due to a foreign exchange crisis.

Why is Sri Lanka witnessing such a crisis?

• Sri Lanka, a net importer of food and other commodities, is witnessing a surge in COVID-19 cases and deaths which has hit its tourism sector. It is one of the main foreign currency earners.
  • Major sources of foreign exchange earnings — exports and worker remittances.
• Production shortages and logistical bottlenecks.

Concerns

• Emergency regulations are not sustainable.
  • Sri Lanka does not have a universal public distribution system or ration cards that can ensure essential goods reach all consumers.
  • The current regulations may not address the economic problem, and instead, pose the risk of creating black markets.
• Budget-2021 banned the import of food items, including turmeric and chemical fertilisers, purportedly to encourage local farmers and organic farming, but it created more problems than solving any.
  • The real idea was to save that much on forex-outflow, but the urgent, unplanned import ban caused multiple crises at different levels, from the farm to the food table.

Way forward

• The government has announced massive penalties for hoarders but that may not be enough to end food-panic and long queues at retail stores. The situation can ease only if the government pumps in more forex into the system.

Category: INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

1. A Taliban-led Afghanistan and the Chinese conundrum

The article talks about the impact of the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan on China’s Belt and Road initiative.

Background:

• With the exit of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, the country has seen a number of unsettling events.
• A devastating bomb blast took place outside Kabul airport.
• Besides the umpteen number of bomb blasts, there was one at the Gwadar East Bay Expressway project, targeting Chinese nationals.
• For the Afghan economy that is driven by the opium trade and ruled by tribal leaders, the new normal is bound to be governed by instability, fighting groups, and thereafter, boom, gloom, and doom.
• The return of the Taliban is seen as a victory of Chinese diplomacy and a defeat for the United States; comparable to the U.S.’s symbolic evacuation of Saigon, in 1975, at the end of the Vietnam war.

The U.S exit from Afghanistan:

• The U.S decided to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan as the Afghan occupation was costing it more than what it was getting in return.
• Since 2001, the U.S. has spent $2.26 trillion ($1.53 trillion on defence).
• However, the Afghan economy did not flourish, with 90% of its population still living below the poverty line, with less than $2 a day.
• The only thing that the economy can still brag about is its ability to produce opium.

China’s gains:

• China (and Russia) have kept their embassies running in Kabul while the western embassies have disappeared.
• China is engaging with the Taliban, with an eye to complete the new Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) investment. And a Chinese presence in Afghanistan with an all-weather ally Pakistan may sound unfavourable for India.
• Afghanistan has a few resources that are valuable: rare-earth metals and huge deposits of copper.
• The Chinese have the technology to excavate them.

Crucial link in the BRI:

• Afghanistan is indeed vital for the BRI.
• Without counting on Afghanistan, the bulk of Chinese investment in the China-Pakistan corridor will be at risk.
• Considering the heavy infrastructure investment in the BRI, only many years of successful operation could repay it. The amount of trade that should flow through the new Silk Road should be massive and long term. Otherwise, it will cost money and effort.

China’s Investment Strategy:

• The Chinese successfully implemented this investment strategy, and it worked well in the context of Southeast Asia and Africa.
  • With the cost of production being lower in Southeast Asia, Chinese firms could gain by shifting their production bases outside China.
  • Investing in these regions meant access to bigger markets for Chinese firms and more uniform regional development.
• Chinese firms could evade protectionist measures targeted at their exports when they began exporting from Southeast Asian countries instead.
• Investing in Africa and Asia has also reduced some of China’s energy requirements, enabling it to access cheaper foreign energy (oil and power) and minerals.
• Chinese firms have also constructed hydropower plants and a thermal power station in Myanmar. China has also invested in power transmission and copper processing activities in Vietnam.
• The Chinese want to mimic the same strategies in the case of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Success in these two countries would imply that China will be able to bring together a large part of the Indian Ocean littoral and Eurasia through high speed rail lines, pipelines, and maritime linkages. The idea of connecting to the rest of the world stems from China’s aspiration to get out of manufacturing, go up the global value chains, and start focusing on product designing and innovation. According to the government of China, the development of the BRI would impact 4.4 billion people and generate trade worth $2.5 trillion within a decade.

China’s Concerns:

• Afghanistan and Pakistan are not comparable to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
• The recent suicide attacks indicate the resurgence of terrorist groups such as al Qaeda, Daesh, and the Islamic State.
• No businesses can flourish in the presence of terrorism, especially when the Taliban are known to have a soft corner for the East Turkestan Islamic Movement — a militant group active in the Uighur province of China.
• Even in Pakistan, a country relatively better off than Afghanistan, the Chinese are facing problems.
  • Pakistan is unable to repay a China-funded energy project, built under the BRI.
  • The economy of Pakistan faltered because of dynastic politics and corruption.
  • There is an excessive dependence of the political class on the military.
  • Business decisions are not economically driven but are motivated by the vested interests of the army.

Conclusion:

• The Taliban ruling groups are far from united, making it impossible to make any reliable domestic and international policy predictions.
• There are good reasons to believe that the return of the Taliban in Kabul will spell gloom and doom for the Chinese.
• The dependence on opium export makes Afghanistan vulnerable to world mafias and corruption.
• Embargoes, rebellions, factional wars, will be the likely events in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. These issues will spread to Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Turkey, and other essential rings in the BRI chain.
• While the Taliban are among the world’s least acceptable ruling elite for the western countries, enormous markets controlled by the western powers are the most lucrative for China.
• Hence, the next decade will likely show a sequence of BRI trade flow following likely European and American decisions to block or sanction trade from Afghanistan.
• The U.S. decision of vacating Afghanistan may prove costly for China.

Category: ECONOMY

1. The long and the short of the NMP

The Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs launched the National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP) for Central ministries and public sector entities.

This topic has been covered in  Aug 24th, 2021 CNA and Aug 30th, 2021 CNA.

Read more on the challenges and concerns associated with National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP) covered in Aug 27th, 2021 CNA  and  Aug 29th, 2021 CNA.  

H. UPSC Prelims Practice Questions

Q1. Which is the best description of NAMASYA Mobile App?

1. It is an app developed exclusively for the benefit of NALCO’s MSE Vendors
2. It is an electronic marketplace providing a platform to connect aqua farmers and the buyers.
3. It is an app to log in and track the grievances of the consular services offered by the Indian embassies in foreign locations.
4. It is an app where citizens can pay homage and contribute financially to the bereaved families of soldiers

CHECK ANSWERS:-

Answer: a

Explanation:

• National Aluminium Company Ltd (NALCO) is a Navratna CPSE under the Ministry of Mines.
• It has been playing a key role in empowering the Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) by providing a modern & innovative platform ‘NALCO Micro and Small enterprise Yogayog Application’ (NAMASYA).
• It is a bi-lingual App developed exclusively for the benefit of the Company’s MSE Vendors.
  • The NAMASYA App provides a platform to highlight the Company’s efforts towards the development of MSEs.
  • The App empowers MSEs with required information about the vendor registration process, items that can be supplied by them with technical specifications, vendor development and training programmes of NALCO.

Q2. Consider the following pairs:

Operation                                            Objective

1. Samudra Setu – national effort to repatriate Indian citizens from overseas during the COVID-19 pandemic
2. Pawan – military operation undertaken by the IPKF to take control of the Jaffna Peninsula
3. Maitri – rescue and relief mission in quake-hit Nepal

Which of the above pairs is/are correctly matched?

1. 1 and 2 only
2. 2 only
3. 2 and 3 only
4. 1, 2 and 3

CHECK ANSWERS:-

Answer: d

Explanation:

Operation Samudra Setu:

Samudra Setu II

Operation Pawan:

Operation Pawan

Operation Maitri:

• It is the name of the rescue and relief operation in Nepal that was undertaken by the Government of India and Indian Armed Forces in the aftershock of the 2015 Nepal earthquake.

Q3. With reference to Manda buffalo, which of the following statements is/are correct?

1. They are found in the Western Ghats.
2. The Manda are resistant to parasitic infections and are less prone to diseases.

Options:

1. 1 only
2. 2 only
3. Both
4. None

CHECK ANSWERS:-

Answer: b

Explanation:

• The National Bureau of Animal Genetic Resources (NBAGR), an Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) institute, has recognised the Manda buffalo, as one of the unique breeds of buffaloes found in India.
• It is found in the Eastern Ghats and plateau of the Koraput region of Odisha.

Source: Indian Express

Q4. Consider the following statements:

1. It is a landlocked country.
2. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, and by Ukraine to the south.
3. It is not a member of the European Union.

The above statements describe:

1. Poland
2. Slovenia
3. Belarus
4. Lithuania

CHECK ANSWERS:-

Answer: c
Explanation: 

Q5. Consider the following pairs: 

       Region                                                  Well-known for the production of

1. Kinnaur:                                                                    Areca nut
2. Mewat:                                                                          Mango
3. Coromandel:                                                             Soya bean

Which of the above pairs is/ are correctly matched? (UPSC 2014)

1. 1 and 2 only
2. 3 only
3. 1, 2 and 3
4. None

CHECK ANSWERS:-

Answer: d
Explanation: 

• Kinnaur is known for Apples. It is in Himachal Pradesh.
• Mewat in Haryana is not known for Mangoes.
• Coromandel in Tamil Nadu is known for many agricultural crops but not Soya Bean.
  • The production of soybean in India is dominated by Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.

Read the previous CNA here.

Sept 7th, 2021, CNA:- Download PDF Here