9 PM Daily Brief – November 10, 2020

Good evening dear reader.

Here is our 9pm current affairs brief for you today

GS 2

Significance of Biden’s wins

India’s foreign policy concerns

GS 3

Lessons from Vietnam and Bangladesh

Firecrackers ban ahead of festival season.

The cost of clearing the air

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FACTLY

Significance of Biden’s wins

Source- The Hindu

Syllabus- GS 2 – Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests

Context- Impact of Joe Biden’s wins on ties with India.

How US-India relations under different administration?

1. Clinton administration-

• The Clinton years witnessed dip in India and the US bilateral relations.
• India was pressurized to “freeze, rollback and eliminate” its nuclear programme and to settle Kashmir dispute with Pakistan.

2. Bush administration-

• George W Bush ensured the success of the nuclear deal between India and the United States. The agreement mainstreamed India’s nuclear programme.
• Bush administration depended on Pakistani cooperation for its war in Afghanistan, and India’s importance was mostly as a lever to pressure Pakistan.
• Progresses in trade – S.-India trade were close to $40 billion.

3. Singh-Obama administration-

• Surge in Trade– Between 2009 and 2014, U.S.-India trade nearly doubled.
• Supported India– For permanent membership of the UN Security Council and the Nuclear Suppliers Group, helped it become a member of the East Asia summit.
• Military ties– strengthened military to military ties in the Indo-Pacific region.
• Promoted Indian engagement in Afghanistan and opening to Central Asia, encouraged the European Union to engage more closely with India.

4. Trump-Modi administration-

• S.-India ties did not strengthen under the Modi-Trump administrations.
• Trade grew at the slowest rate than in the preceding five years. Moreover trump administration terminated India’s designation as a preferential trade status under the Generalized System of Preference (GSP) trade programme.

What are the significances of Joe Biden win?

Concerns-

1. On Civil rights and democracy:

• This is a major concern for the Indian government, which has got support from the Trump administration on the issue of Jammu and Kashmir.
• Also, Biden co-associates have been particularly vocal in several issues against Indian administration. For example, Jammu-Kashmir issue, the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, communal and caste-based violence, actions against non-governmental organizations and media freedoms.

1. India not high on Biden-Harris priority list– Biden-Harris list of priorities includes

• Dealing with COVID-19.
• healing domestic divides.
• Reviving the U.S. economy– repairing ties with Europe, evolving a calibrated China policy, rejoining multilateral initiatives such as on climate change.
• Reinstating the Obama-era Iran policy and furthering peacemaking in Afghanistan.

Significance of Biden win-

• As India slide rapidly into autocracy, people desperately need leaders who will appeal to our better rather than baser instincts.
• Indian judiciary and media should take lessons from the U.S. Example, where so many State-level courts and the national media fought back against Mr. Trump’s attempts to cow them. They paved the way for this election result.

India’s foreign policy concerns

Source: The Hindu

GS2: Effect of Policies and Politics of Developed and Developing Countries on India’s interests, Indian Diaspora.

Context: Analysing the possible outcomes of the US foreign policy under new president Biden that will concern India

Background- India-US relation during Trump years

• Defence cooperation: India signed all the ‘foundational’ agreements with America and bought billions of dollars’ worth of military hardware from them.
• Strategic Autonomy: India resisted converting the Quad into a military or strategic grouping. The External Affairs Minister even once stated that India will not join any military alliance.

Two US Foreign policy issues which are of great concern for India

West Asia policy of US:

• What policy President-elect Joe Biden will adopt on the questions of West Asia peace plans and the nuclear deal with Iran-the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) is a huge concern of India.
• India has a huge stake in that region. For example, remittance, energy security, Largest Indian immigrants.
• Sanctions on Iran has also limited our ability to buy Iranian oil, and sell our pharma and other goods.
• If Biden administration choses to reduce tension with Iran it will significantly help India to invest openly in oil and other infra projects in Iran, including the rail project in which Indian Railways Construction Ltd has been interested.

China Policy of US:

• If Biden adopts a more conciliatory approach towards China, India will be left alone in confronting with China.
• On matter related to QUAD, it is highly likely that India will be forced to agree to some form of military alliance in future given the fact that all the other three countries are already in strategic alliance with one another.
• With India not in a position to deal with China on its own and we need external support to protect our territorial integrity.
• Even Jawaharlal Nehru, the architect of non-alignment, sought the help from America during the war with China in 1962.

Lessons from Vietnam and Bangladesh

Source: The Hindu

Gs3: Indian Economy and issues relating to Planning, Mobilization of Resources, Growth, Development and Employment

Context: Learning through the success stories of Vietnam and Bangladesh

More in News

• Bangladesh has become the second largest apparel exporter after China.
• Vietnam’s exports in apparel sector has grown by about 240% in the past eight years.

Vietnam’s success stories

• Duty free exports: Signing of Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with important trading partners like the U.S., the EU, China, Japan, South Korea and India makes their product competitive.
• Incentives to foreign firms: Mending domestic laws to allow Foreign firms to compete for local businesses. For example, EU firms can open shops, enter the retail trade, and bid for both government and private sector tenders. They can take part in electricity, real estate, hospital, defence, and railways projects etc.
• Cheap labour: over the year’s large brands such as Samsung, Canon, Foxconn, H&M, Nike, Adidas, and IKEA have shifted to Vietnam to manufacture their products owing to reduced costs.

Bangladesh Success story

• Duty free exports: Large export of apparels to the EU and the U.S. make the most of the country’s export. The EU allows the duty-free import of apparel and other products from least developed countries (LDCs) like Bangladesh.
• Supporting large firms: Because large firms are better positioned to invest in brand building, meeting quality requirements, and marketing. Whereas Small firms begin as suppliers to large firms and eventually grow.

What are the challenges for Vietnam and Bangladesh?

• Lacks diversification: For example, Most of Vietnam’s exports happen in five sectors.
• Limited Investment sourcing: Due to Lack of developed domestic and capital market.
• Duty free markets: Bangladesh may lose its LDC status in four to seven years as its per capita income rises.
• Small gains: For example, most of Vietnam’s electronics exports are just the final assembly of goods produced elsewhere. In such cases, national exports look large, but the net dollar gain is small.
• Vulnerability: high dependence on exports brings dollars but also makes a country vulnerable to global economic uncertainty.

What are the lessons for India?

• Promote manufacturing and investment by setting up sectoral industrial zones with pre-approved factory spaces.
• Following an open trade policy, signing balanced FTAs, restricting unfair imports, and supporting a healthy mix of domestic champions and MNCs.
• While export remains a priority the focus is should be on organic economic growth through innovation and competitiveness.
• Reforms to promote innovation and lowering the cost of doing business.

Firecrackers ban ahead of festival season.

Source- The Hindu

Syllabus- GS- 3 – Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment.

Context- National Green Tribunal bans firecrackers in place where air quality is poor.

What are the guidelines of National Green Tribunal for firecrackers?

• The National Green Tribunal (NGT) directed that there would be a total ban on sale or use of all kinds of firecrackers between November 10 and 30 in places where air quality is ‘poor’ and above category.
• About Green crackers– NGT also directed that in places where the ambient air quality fell under the ‘moderate’ or below category, only green crackers would be permitted to be sold and timings restricted to two hours for bursting.
• The panel specified that data from November 2019 would be calculated to ascertain the average ambient air quality for both the instances.
• The Tribunal in its order noted that Odisha, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Delhi and Chandigarh among others had prohibited the sale and use of firecrackers to protect vulnerable groups.

What is the impact of air pollution on COVID-19?

1. COVID-19 –The potential modes of transmission of COVID-19 is through ambient air by droplets which carry the viruses. Changes in the environment will affect the transmission of the infection. Air pollution is one of the elements that can change the environment. So air pollution can indirectly influence the transmission.

• 40% of all pollution-linked deaths attributed to bad air quality in leading emerging economies and some evidence from the U.S. on higher COVID-19 mortality in highly polluted areas.

What are the concerns of the fireworks industry?

• The ban on firecrackers by some state governments has come as a double blow for the fireworks industry in Tamil Nadu, which cater to 90 per cent of the demand in the country, as they have already been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Disbursement of salaries to employees and uncertainty whether the units would receive payment for stocks already sent to states like Rajasthan and Haryana before the ban was announced.

Way forward-

• A compensation scheme for workers and suitable relief for firecracker producers may be necessary.
• Longer-term solution might lie in broad basing economic activity by reducing reliance on firecrackers.
• All State pollution control boards and committees must take special initiative to contain air pollution by regulating all other sources of pollution.

The cost of clearing the air

Source: The Hindu

Syllabus: GS-3- Environment

Context: In February, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a ₹4,400 crore package for 2020-21 to tackle air pollution in 102 of India’s most polluted cities.

More on news:

• The funds would be used to reduce particulate matter by 20%-30% from 2017 levels by 2024 under the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP).
• It was the largest yearly allocation by a government to specifically tackle air pollution.

What is the scale of the problem?

• Unclear scale: It is unclear if this amount is adequate to handle the task of improving air quality. Delhi, after being the epitome of pollution, has only in the last two years managed to firmly install an extensive network of continuous ambient air quality monitors.
• About 37 and the highest in the country managed by several government or allied bodies.
• It has also managed to conduct source apportionment studies to determine the degree of pollution that is contributed by its own activities (construction, road dust, vehicle movement) and that brought on from external sources such as stubble burning. Though the data is not enough.
• Insufficient allocations: The taxpayer money that has actually gone into it far exceeds allocations that find mention in the Centre and State government’s budgeting books.
• Funds expenditure: Several of the States with the most polluted cities that have been allotted NCAP funds are expected to spend a substantial fraction in the act of measurement. Maharashtra and U.P., by virtue of their size, got the maximum funds: close to ₹400 crore.
• An analysis by research agencies :Carbon Copy and Respirer Living Sciences recently found that only 59 out of 122 cities had PM 2.5 data available.
• Use of manual machine: Cites have used manual machines to measure specified pollutants and their use has been inadequate. Only three States, had all their installed monitors providing readings from 2016 to 2018.
• Prior to 2016, data aren’t publicly available making comparisons of reduction strictly incomparable.
• Manual machine replacement: Now manual machines are being replaced by automatic ones and India is still largely reliant on imported machines though efforts are underway at institutions such as the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur to make and install low-cost ones.

Read also :- Current affairs

Do these budgetary allocations help?

• Budgetary allocations alone don’t reflect the true cost :
• A Right to Information disclosure sourced by the research agencies revealed that for four cities in Maharashtra ₹40 crore had been assigned.
• Pollution clean-up activities have been assigned 50% of this budget and another ₹11 crore are allotted for mechanical street sweepers.
• Depending on the specific conditions in every city, these proportions are likely to change.
• In the case of the National Capital Region: at least ₹600 crore was spent by the Ministry of Agriculture over two years to provide subsidised equipment to farmers in Punjab and Haryana and dissuade them from burning paddy straw.
• Yet this year, there have been more farm fires than the previous year and their contribution to Delhi’s winter air remain unchanged.

Way forward

• While funds are critical, proper enforcement, adequate staff and stemming the sources of pollution on the ground are vital to the NCAP meeting its target.
  

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