A brief of newspaper articles for the day bearing
relevance to Civil Services preparation
National
[1]. ASEAN to ease travel, mobility of labour
What is ASEAN?
Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) is a political and economic organization of ten Southeast Asian countries. It was formed on 8 August 1967 by Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand. Since then, membership has expanded to include Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar (Burma), and Vietnam.
What has happened?
- ASEAN declared a community – The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was proclaimed a community through a declaration signed by the ASEAN leaders at its 27th Summit in Kuala lumpur
- ASEAN 2025: Forging ahead – Leaders at the summit endorsed a road-map for consolidation, integration and cohesiveness as a community
What these declarations mean to the general people?
Such declarations entailing close co-operation between the member nations mean,
- Increased economic opportunities
- Increased job opportunities and access to quality jobs
- Ease of intra-ASEAN travel and mobility of labour
- Better protection against pandemic, natural calamities, transnational crimes and trans-boundary challenges due to enhanced co-operation between the member nations and more so because of being declared as a community now.
[2]. Hollande’s takeaway will be the Rafale deal
Background: India and France are working to finalise the agreement for direct purchase of 36 Rafale jets before the visit of President Fancois Hollande on Republic day as a chief guest.
During his visit to Paris in April 2015, PM had announced the direct purchase of Rafale jets as quickly as possible due to critical operational necessity of the Indian Air Force (IAF).
Main issues in the deal,
Offset clause: The main sticking point in the negotiations was the offset clause. Under this clause a companies are to invest 30% of the value of the contract back in the country. It applies to the deals under Rs 300 Crore. For this deal it has been fixed at 50% by the government.
Changes: IAF wanted some structural changes to the aircraft to incorporate the indigenously built “Astra” beyond visual range (BVR) missiles.
Why this deal is important?
IAF needs to maintain a combat edge against China and Pakistan by arresting its depleting force levels. It has said it would need around 108 Rafale jets to fulfil that purpose. So, there might be a purchase of more fighter jets in line.
Why IAF’s fighter strength has depleted?
Reason: MiG 21s and MiG 27s have been phased out and induction of indigenous light combat aircraft has been delayed time and again
[3]. India ready to work with Malaysia for the war memorial
Context: PM is in Malaysia to attend India-ASEAN & East Asia Summits and bilateral visit
What has happened?
Paying homage to the “countless” Indian soldiers who laid down their lives in World War II, the Prime Minister said his govt. was prepared to work with the Malaysian government to build a war memorial for them at the site of the Battle of Kampar in Perak
[4]. Can India deliver in South-East Asia?
Context: 10th East Asia Summit held at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. As per author, India needs to engage with the region as a whole more substantively.
India’s role
India needs to emerge as a leader in the east Asian and the south-east Asian region to balance the rise of China. In order to do so it needs to shed its diffidence of sitting on the fences.
India is slowly and steadily building towards that role now.
An example: India has aired its views on the South China sea dispute by calling to the UN convention on sea of 1982 and has also agreed to co-operate with the U.S to ensure freedom of navigation. Recently, in its joint statement with the Philippines, India referred to the South China Sea as the West Philippine Sea, a term that Manila has been using since the escalation of its maritime dispute with China.
Contrast to China’s policies: India, unlike China’s aggressive policies, has resolved its maritime dispute with the Bangladesh through international arbitration
Defence co-operation: Defence cooperation is soaring with regional countries ranging from Japan, Vietnam, the Philippines and Singapore to extra-regional powers such as the US and the UK.
How India has made itself relevant in the region?
- India has been a full dialogue partner of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) since 1995, a member of the ASEAN Regional Forum, the regional security forum, since 1996, and became a founding member of the East Asian Summit launched in December 2005
- India has also cultivated extensive economic and trade linkages with various countries in the region and simultaneously increased defence co-operation too
- Free trade agreement (FTA) with ASEAN: India and ASEAN marked their 20 years of partnership with a commemorative summit in New Delhi in December 2012. The highlight of the summit was the conclusion of talks on services and investment, which is expected to increase bilateral trade to $200 billion by 2022 and lead to talks on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, which also includes Australia, China, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand.
Conclusion
Smaller states in the region are now looking to India to balance China’s growing influence and America’s anticipated retrenchment (reduction) from the region in the near future. And larger states see this as an attractive engine for regional growth.
It remains to be seen if India can indeed live up to its full potential, as well as to the region’s expectations.
[5]. Hold your ground in Paris
Context: On November 30th 2015 Paris will host the gathering of 21st session Conference of Parties (COP-21) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is an international environmental treaty (currently the only international climate policy venue with broad legitimacy, due in part to its virtually universal membership) negotiated at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), informally known as the Earth Summit, held in Rio de Janeiro from 3 to 14 June 1992.
Objective: The objective of the treaty is to “stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system.
What is COP?
The COP is the supreme decision-making body of the Convention. All States that are Parties to the Convention are represented at the COP.
Aim of COP-21:
It is to craft a universal and legally binding treaty to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) and contribute to mitigating the human component of the complex phenomenon of climate change.
Countries had been asked to submit INDCs (Intended Nationally Determined Contributions).
What are INDCs?
They are the national road maps on reducing Green House Gases (GHGs)
India’s commitment: India’s plan is ambitious, pledging to reduce the intensity of GHG emissions by up to 35% by 2030
India has also committed to altering its energy mix to ensure up to 40% of electricity is produced from non-fossil fuel sources
India should not bow to any pressure tactics that ask India more ambitious targets. It would be disastrous to tie our own hands with strict and improbable reduction targets. To fuel growth, until technology makes it possible, fossil fuels have to be used, emissions will exist too. We should try to make the environmental impact of our development as minimum as possible
International
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Opinions & Editorials
[1]. Clues from the Mali attack
What has happened?
Bamako, the capital city of Mali was attacked by terrorists. The group, AL-Mourabitoun, which has taken responsibility of this attack and has further, said that the attack was staged in co-operation with al-Qaeda.
What this means?
The recent attacks on Paris and then the attacks in Mali do not bode well for the rest of the world. Why?
It shows that IS and the al-Qaeda are engaged in a battle of control. Al-Qaeda is trying to match the terror capabilities of IS. This means that there might be a rise in the terrorist activates in the coming days around the world.
Problems in Mali
Mali has remained a training ground for Jihadists for quite some time but how did this whole problem began and gradually escalated, can be explained as follows,
Libyan revolution – Before we begin let us have a little background on Libya till the killing of Gaddafi.
1969: The Gaddafi era began. Libya was ruled by King Idris before being deposed by Colonel Muammar Gaddafi in a coup in 1969. He followed a pan-Arab agenda meaning he attempted to form mergers with other Arab countries and nationalised Libyan economy including the oil industry.
2011, February- Inspired by revolts in several Arab countries like Egypt and Tunisia, Benghazi, the second largest city of Libya broke out in protests. These protests spread to the other cities leading to clashes between security forces and anti-Gaddafi rebels.
2011, October – Gaddafi is captured and killed
During, Libyan revolution NATO invaded Libya in the name of helping the rebels. Gaddafi had ethnic tuaregs in his forces. They fled to Mali when Gaddafi regime was destroyed and took with them as many weapons as they could. They reached Mali, joined the rebel Tuareg forces in the North and launched a full-blown attack on the government. Al-Qaeda gradually captured the entire North Mali.
International response –
What the West did?
In a typical knee-jerk reaction, West resorted to counter-terror operations without even understanding the situation completely. France sent its troops in 2013 to fight the rebels. They drove the militants from major towns in North but could not defeat them. Militants went to their hide outs in the desert and to this day they keep on attacking civilians. Attack on Bamako is one such example.
What the West should have done?
Ethnic Tuaregs from Gaddafi’s forces joined the rebel forces in Mali. So, the first logical step would have been to stabilise the Libyan state of affairs, end the civil war there and establish a proper government control over there.
Secondly, Malian government should have been strengthened with all the support being provided to it to assert its control and authority over its land.
The way forward
Instead of a regional approach, a broader approach wherein the weapon supplies to rebels is checked, their financial sources stopped and Libya is stabilised, should be the way forward
[2]. Improving the craft of prediction
A little background
Most exit polls in the Bihar elections in 2015 showed a tight contest between the BJP and the Grand Alliance but the results have been way off the mark. Considering the difference in what was predicted and what actually happened, there are the lessons that we can learn from Bihar polls.
What is an exit poll, opinion poll, entrance poll?
An election exit poll is a poll of voters taken immediately after they have exited the polling stations. An exit poll asks for whom the voter actually voted.
Opinion poll – It asks for whom the voter plans to vote.
Entrance poll – A poll conducted before actual voters have voted.
Who invented it?
Marcel van Dam, Dutch sociologist and former politician, is credited with having invented the exit poll, and being the first to implement an exit poll during the Dutch legislative elections on February 15, 1967.
Lessons to be learnt
- Voting preferences of Indians is very volatile meaning a decision to vote for a particular party is usually made on the voting day itself. Therefore, any pre-poll survey, though, useful in painting a picture of the situation does not provides with the whole scenario.
- Shifting alliance arrangements make it hard to predict the outcome of an election. Shift in the vote banks from previous alliances like JD(U)+BJP to new Grand alliance is pretty complex phenomenon thereby making the business of prediction even more difficult.
- Caste-demographics – Voting surveys in India esp in Bihar would be more accurate if more data about caste demographics is there. Caste survey in India was last conducted in 1931 by the British. 2011 Indian census only provides data about the OBCs, Upper castes, Extremely backward classes (EBCs). So, a survey might be over-representing a particular caste like upper caste in a survey and be way off mark in its prediction.
- Wrong methodology, a built-in sampling bias – From previous few years alliances led by BJP have been given a clear lead in the exit-polls. An important point to note here is that the voter who airs his opinion as to whom he voted and agrees to be interviewed outside the polling station tends to be from more socially powerful groups
Conclusion
There has been a debate as to whether such surveys and opinion polls should be allowed or not and the agencies involved should disclose their methods and create awareness in the public, informing them that the data on which the polls are formed are not necessarily wrong but the predictions can still go off the mark.
Surveys that are conducted by rigorous random sampling techniques are still the most methodical means of measuring public opinion in India. With another election behind us, pollsters now must take the opportunity to learn from their results and improve their craft. The public should also take the opportunity to learn about how to interpret polls more intelligently.
[3]. Why the IS survives?
What has happened?
On November 13, 2015 Paris was attacked by IS which took responsibility of the attacks on November 14th. Three teams, including at least seven participants, attacked six sites in Paris, including the surroundings of the iconic Stade de France, where French President Francois Hollande was attending a soccer match; the Bataclan, a popular theatre where a concert was taking place that evening; and the terraces of several cafés where people had assembled on a particularly mild November night. The attacks left 129 people dead and 352 injured.
Immediate reaction & further steps
France termed this as an act of terrorism and bombed Raqqa the Syrian city known to shelter IS headquarters.
Further steps taken by France are,
- Reinforcement of France’s domestic security forces,
- The extension of the emergency to three months,
- A change of the French constitution in order to better fight terrorism within the rule of law.
- Francois Hollande also called for a meeting of the UN Security Council.
Why the chances of defeating the IS seem bleak?
No single coalition: French President’s hopes for a single international coalition to fight against Islamic State so far seemed to have been dashed. The coalition if formed would still be a ‘something for something’ affair. Moreover, the local parties like Assad has nothing to gain from the disappearance of IS, so he is never going to participate in anti-IS coalition.
Different countries different interests
Turkish government – This country is now itself a victim of the IS but it is more interested in tackling or containing the Kurd separatism
The Kurds and Iran see the IS as a factor of division within the Arab world but they are willing to contain it, not eliminate it.
Saudi Arabia – It sees IS as a useful instrument against Iran and will not do anything against it.
The divisive question
Russian and Iran are operating through Hezbollah in Syria. They are against U.S and any other country of the world playing any role in Syria‘s political affairs. Thus, fate of Assad hangs in balance unless some agreement is held between the major global giants regarding this situation. Due, to this confusing state of affairs, no nation would want to send in their troops against IS under an anti-IS coalition.
Well planned attacks
Though Paris attacks only generated a wave of hate amongst the population of the world against the IS but the sheer scale on which the attacks have been conducted and a narrative of victory is likel to attract disillusioned youths from the Europe
[4]. PM Narendra Modi’s second time in the land of Lee Kuan Yew
Context: PM is on his second visit to Singapore.
Who is Lee Kuan Yew?
Lee Kuan Yew, informally known by his initials LKY, was the first Prime Minister of Singapore, governing for more than three decades from 1959 to 1990, including through Singapore’s independence from Malaysia in 1965.
Lee’s rule was criticised, particularly in the West, for curtailing civil liberties (public protests, media control) and bringing libel suits against political opponents. He argued that such disciplinary measures were necessary for political stability, which together with rule of law, were essential for economic progress
Singapore & India
Design of Amravati: Singapore has designed the master-plan for the development of the new Andhra Pradesh capital Amravati.
Science and technology: Indian chambers of commerce have identified science and technology as well as education as two sectors where there is vast potential for Singapore to invest in India.
Investment: Singapore is the second-largest investor in India. Indian companies have also made a beeline to open offices in Singapore thanks to its tax-friendly environment and its unparalleled advantage of hosting other global corporations which are based in the city-state.
Diaspora: Indian Singaporeans, a majority of them being Tamils, comprise 9% of the population and have often overachieved in terms of representation in government and parliament in the Lion City They ensure a balance in Singapore’s strategic outlook in Asia.
Defence co-operation: With defence cooperation, especially in the maritime and counter-terrorism realms, also being upgraded, it is not an exaggeration to claim that Modi is laying the foundation for a robust, modernisation-centred strategic partnership.
Economic Digest
[1]. Implications of Yuan’s rise
Background: China wanted the reserve currency status for Yuan way back in 2009. At that point of time Chinese monetary officials had advocated replacing U.S dollar with a group of currencies administered by the IMF but nobody took them seriously.
What has happened?
The international Monetary Fund (IMF) is poised to approve the inclusion of China’s renminbi (or Yuan as it is called) as a reserve currency.
What is a reserve currency?
A foreign currency held by central banks and other major financial institutions as a means to pay off international debt obligations, or to influence their domestic exchange rate.
What are Special Drawing Rights (SDRs)?
You can think of SDRs as an artificial currency used by the IMF and defined as a “basket of national currencies”. The IMF uses SDRs for internal accounting purposes. SDRs are allocated by the IMF to its member countries and are backed by the full faith and credit of the member countries’ governments.
Significance of including Yuan as a reserve currency
When the Yuan is formally inducted into the SDR portfolio it will be the first new currency to be so honoured since the euro was created.
Benefits to China
- The flexibility in settling all its international obligations with its own currency.
Benefits to Other countries
- Diversification: they can diversify their forex reserve portfolios to include renminbi. That would once again be recognition of China’s economic strengths.
Despite of having 7 reserve currencies, world financial order is heavily tilted towards the U.S dollar. About 62 per cent of international currency assets are held in dollars. What is wrong in that?
- Even a miniscule rise in the American interest rate or even a talk about it is enough to cause huge upheavals in the markets of developing countries such as India’s.
- There are limits to the Federal Reserve’s capacity to meet liquidity shortages in the global economy. It can only supply the global economy until a specific point
World financial system can’t be left to the vagaries of American politics
[2]. Insolvency resolution in India plagued by wide range of problems: report
What are stressed assets?
Stressed assets are the ones on the way to become NPAs, where interest has not been serviced for 1-2 quarters.
What is an NPA?
NPA are the loans overdue for more than 90 days.
What is insolvency?
When an individual or organization can no longer meet its financial obligations it is termed as insolvent. Insolvency means the liabilities are greater than assets, in simple words.
What has happened?
A report by Global consultancy Alvarez and Marsal has delineated that,
- Total stressed assets in India have surged fivefold from 2011 to 2015
- There are problems in the way such assets are being handled
- Average time of insolvency resolution in India is 4.3years
What industry has to say?
It deems execution difficulties as the biggest challenge with respect to revival of a stressed asset.
Some execution difficulties include,
- Inabilities to raise working capital as lenders are unwilling to put additional capital at risk.
- Difficulties faced in replacing the existing management.
In regulatory space,
Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRTs have been created to help financial institutions recover dues speedily without being subjected to the lengthy procedures of usual civil courts,) and the Debt Recovery Appellate Tribunal don’t have sufficient resources to deal with the volume of applications filed every year.
Regarding legal infrastructure to deal with insolvency and bankruptcy,
The report recommends that the proposed National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT is a proposed quasi-judicial body in India that will govern the companies in India. It will be established under the Companies Act, 2013 and is a successor body of the Company Law Board) should have a separate bench for handling bankruptcy cases.
What is a quasi-judicial body?
A quasi-judicial body is an entity such as an arbitrator or tribunal board, which has powers and procedures resembling those of a court of law or judge.
[3]. RBI likely to keep interest rate unchanged in December 2015
What has happened?
Repo Rate might remain unchanged during the December policy review.
What is Repo rate?
Repo rate is the rate at which the central bank of a country (RBI in case of India) lends money to commercial banks in the event of any shortfall of funds.
Why RBI might keep Repo rate unchanged?
- High retail inflation
- Possibility of a US fed rate increase in Dec 2015
By: ForumIAS Editorial Team
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