{"id":34165,"date":"2018-10-30T16:08:54","date_gmt":"2018-10-30T10:38:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=34165"},"modified":"2018-10-30T16:08:54","modified_gmt":"2018-10-30T10:38:54","slug":"beyond-big-game-hunting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/beyond-big-game-hunting\/","title":{"rendered":"Beyond big game hunting:\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/todays-paper\/tp-opinion\/beyond-big-game-hunting\/article19989361.ece\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Beyond big game hunting<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Context<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">India by accepting the <\/span><b>invitation to join the Quadrilateral<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> grouping to provide <\/span><b>alternative debt financing<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> for countries in the Indo-Pacific, has taken a <\/span><b>significant turn in its policy for the subcontinent<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>The Quad pivot<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><b>Japan-proposed<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><b>U.S.-endorsed plan<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><b>including Australia,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> it is necessary that India analyze the impact of this admission on all its relations.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As a growing economy with <\/span><b>ambitious domestic targets<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, India\u2019s <\/span><b>own needs often clash<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> with those of its neighbours.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">More connectivity will eventually mean <\/span><b>more competition<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, whether it is for trade, water resources, or energy.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Major concerns of Bhutan<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In April, the <\/span><b>International Monetary Fund\u2019s world economic outlook<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> had already put Bhutan at the top of South Asia in terms of the highest debt per capita, second only to Japan in all of Asia for <\/span><b>indebtedness.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The budget figures attracted much criticism for the Bhutanese government, and opposition taunts that Bhutan could become the \u201cGreece of South Asia\u201d forced Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay to appoint a three-member committee.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Among the committee\u2019s findings were that Bhutan\u2019s <\/span><b>external hydropower debt financed by India<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> at 9-10% rates were piling up, with the first interest and principal payments expected in 2018, and construction delays, mainly due to Indian construction issues, were taking the debt up higher.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Several pleas to the Ministries of External Affairs and Power<\/span><b>, the Cross Border Trade of Electricity (CBTE) guidelines<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> issued by India had not been revised, putting severe <\/span><b>restrictions on Bhutanese companies selling power<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and on allowing them access to the power exchange with Bangladesh.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Given falling prices for energy all around<\/span><b>, India could not sustain the Bhutanese demand that power tariffs be revised upwards<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>The confusing state<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">India has also been <\/span><b>ambivalent on tackling political issues in its region<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, often trapped between the more interventionist approach of the U.S., which has openly championed concerns over \u2018democratic values\u2019 and human rights in Sri Lanka, Maldives and Bangladesh, and the approach of China, which is to turn a blind eye to all but business and strategic interests.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In Nepal, India lost <\/span><b>out to China when it allowed a five-month-long blockade at the border<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, calling for a more inclusive constitution to be implemented by Kathmandu \u2014 but in the case of Myanmar, it lost precious ground in Bangladesh when Mr. Modi refused to mention the Rohingya refugee situation during a visit to Nay Pyi Taw. In both cases, India <\/span><b>reversed its stand, adding to the sense that it is unsure of its next steps when dealing with neighbours on political issues.<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Will it of any benefit for India?<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is important to note that while Indian government\u2019s new plan is to involve the U.S. and Japan in development projects in South Asia will yield the necessary finances, it will come at the cost of India\u2019s leverage in its own backyard.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">India\u2019s counter to China\u2019s persistent demand for a diplomatic mission in Thimphu.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In Sri Lanka, <\/span><b>the U.S. and Japan will now partner in India\u2019s efforts to counter China\u2019s influence<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, but whereas India objected to Chinese naval presence in the Indian Ocean, <\/span><b>it will not be able to object to an increase in U.S. naval warships<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and Japanese presence there.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Beyond big game hunting:\u00a0 Context India by accepting the invitation to join the Quadrilateral grouping to provide alternative debt financing for countries in the Indo-Pacific, has taken a significant turn in its policy for the subcontinent. The Quad pivot The Japan-proposed, U.S.-endorsed plan, including Australia, it is necessary that India analyze the impact of this&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/beyond-big-game-hunting\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Beyond big game hunting:\u00a0<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-test-1","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":1,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1703251074},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34165","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34165"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34165\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}