EDITORIALS & ARTICLES
3rd July 2021
Istanbul Convention on Violence against Women
Recently, the Turkey’s controversial exit from Istanbul Convention on Violence against Women has received severe criticism from various quarters and has led to protests across the country.
Istanbul Convention on Violence against Women
- It was established by the Council of Europe.
- It is a human rights treaty, with the aim to prevent and prosecute all forms of violence against women,.
- It aims to promote gender equality and ensure protection and rehabilitation of women who are victims of violence.
- It was opened for ratification in 2011 and Turkey became the first country to ratify the Istanbul convention after 34 countries signed this treaty.
- In 2011, the treaty’s original signatories were Austria, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Luxembourg, Montenegro, Portugal, Slovakia, Sweden, and Turkey.
- It has been signed by all EU Member States.
Objectives of Istanbul Convention on Violence against Women
- The state has a responsibility to prevent all forms of violence against women, protect those who experience it and prosecute perpetrators.
- The state must promote equality between women and men and prevent violence against women by encouraging mutual respect or non-violent conflict resolution.
- The state must investigate allegations of violence and prosecute perpetrators.
- The state must ensure that victims can claim compensation from the offender and must award adequate compensation itself if it cannot be covered from other sources.
- The state must ensure a coordinated approach among all relevant agencies, civil society organisations and other stakeholders to support those who experience violence.
Reasons for Turkey’s withdrawal from Istanbul Convention
- The officials of Turkey’s nationalist party claimed that the convention demeans traditional family structure, promotes divorces and encourages acceptance of LGBTQ in the society.
- They argued that the Istanbul Convention, originally intended to promote women’s rights, was hijacked by a group of people attempting to normalize homosexuality.
Conditions of Women in Turkey
- Violence against women and honour killings are persistent in Turkey.
- Turkey ranks 133 out of 156 countries in the Global Gender Gap report 2021.
- According to UN women data, 38 per cent of women in Turkey face violence from a partner in their lifetime.
- A report by KAGIDER (Women Entrepreneurs Association of Turkey) states that violence against women and femicides were concerningly high even before Turkey ditched the convention.
Autonomous Hill Development Council (HDC)
Recently, a committee under Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy will seek to address the demands from Ladakh after Jammu and Kashmir was bifurcated into two Union Territories.
Key Highlights
- The August 2019 changes were immediately opposed by the people of Kargil, where the leaders of the majority Shia population demanded that the district should remain part of J&K.
- They argued that the special status be restored to safeguard the rights of Kargil people over their land and employment opportunities.
- A UT for Ladakh had been a long-standing demand in Buddhist majority Leh, which believed it was marginalised in the larger state of J&K.
- The Ladakh districts’ fear is that alienation of land, loss of identity, culture, language, and change in demography, will follow their political disempowerment.
Autonomous Hill Development Council
- Leh and Kargil have separate Autonomous Hill Development Councils, set up under the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Councils Act, 1997.
- The AHDCs have no legislative powers.
- The councils are elected, and have executive powers over the allotment, use and occupation of land vested in them by the Centre.
- The AHDCs have the powers to collect some local taxes, such as parking fees, taxes on shops etc.
- The democratic constitution of the Council has heralded democratic decentralization of planning process with the involvement of people at the grass root level.
- The Hill Council is endeavoring to register prompt monitoring of the developmental works by ensuring transparency and accountability in the district administration.
Movement for Sixth Schedule Status in Ladakh
- The People’s Movement for Sixth Schedule put forth its demand for an autonomous hill council under the Sixth Schedule, modelled on the lines of the Bodoland Territorial Council in Assam.
- The Sixth Schedule is a provision of Article 224(A) of the Constitution, originally meant for the creation of autonomous tribal regions in Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Tripura.
- The Hill councils under Article 224(A) provision have legislative powers.
Platforms launched for Development of Technologies
Recently, the Minister of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises has inaugurated six Technology Innovation Platforms which will focus on development of technologies for the globally competitive manufacturing in India.
Key Highlights
- The platforms have been developed by IIT Madras, Central Manufacturing Technology Institute (CMTI), International Centre for Automotive Technology (iCAT), Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI), BHEL and HMT in association with IISc Bangalore.
- It will facilitate the development of the key ‘mother’ manufacturing technologies' indigenously through ‘Grand Challenges’ on the Platforms to help achieve the vision of an Aatmanirbhar Bharat
- It will help in bringing all India’s technical resources and the concerned Industry on to one platform to kick start and facilitate identification of technology problems.
- It will facilitate industry, start-ups, domain experts/professionals, R&D institutions and academia (colleges & universities), to provide technology solutions, suggestions and expert opinions.
- It will facilitate exchange of knowledge with respect to research & development and other technological aspects.
ASPIRE
- It is an Automotive Solutions Portal for Industry, Research & Education.
- Its primary objective is to enhance the technological capability of Indian automotive sector through exchange of knowledge & expertise.
- It aims to facilitate the growth of automobile sector and overall socio-economic progress of the country.
SanRachna
- It is an indigenous, multi-domain collaborative platform developed with the aim of enabling our brightest minds to unlock the potential of new technologies and innovations to shape the future.
- It is developed under the guidance of Department of Heavy Industry (DHI).
- It aims to be a one-stop solution to bring together and enable Start-ups, Entrepreneurs, Industries, Institutes and Researchers.
TechNovuus ARAI
- It is an indigenous, multi-domain collaborative platform developed with the aim of enabling our brightest minds to unlock the potential of new technologies and innovations to shape the future of Mobility.
- It is developed under the guidance of Department of Heavy Industry (DHI).
- ARAI is the leading automotive R&D organization of the country set up by the Automotive Industry with the Government of India.
- ARAI is an autonomous body affiliated to the Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises.
Technology and Innovation Platforms (TIPs)
- It aims to cater to related areas of manufacturing by providing a common coordinating platform for all the allied stakeholders.
- The HMT Machine Tools Limited (HMT) is in the process of creating the Technology & Innovation Platform for the Machine Tools Sector (TIP-MT).
- The core objective of TIP-MT is to promote collective and coordinated efforts to enhance the technological capabilities of the Machine Tool Sector.
- Its primary objective is to provide impetus to the increase in competitiveness of the Machine Tools Sector and enable accelerated growth of the Manufacturing Sector.
KITE Platform
- The Knowledge Integration for Technology Enrichment (KITE) is a Technology Eco-Platform created by AMTDC-IIT Madras.
- It is aimed at enrichment of Manufacturing Innovation, Product Development and Skill Development.
Drishti Platform
- It is Design, Research and Innovation by Harvesting Science and Technology for Industries.
- It is an online platform developed by CMTI that provides a synergy between industries and young innovators to solve complex challenges.
Gender Samvaad
Recently, the Second Gender Samvaad was organised by the Ministry of Rural Development.
Gender Samvaad
- It is a joint initiative of Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM) and the Initiative for What Works to Advance Women and Girls in the Economy (IWWAGE) at LEAD.
- It is an attempt to create a common platform for generating greater awareness on NRLM’s interventions, and the impact of its gender operational strategy, across the country.
- It focuses on highlighting best practices and the lessons learnt in implementing gender responsive interventions.
- It is a bi-monthly webinar which will provide states with opportunities to exchange knowledge on how to improve women’s agency, share international experiences of successful gender interventions.
Objectives of Gender Samvaad
- It will provide states with opportunities to:
- Understand best practices/initiatives that other states have been undertaking to improve women’s agency;
- Understand gender interventions globally;
- Engage with experts and other colleagues on suggestions regarding how to handle issues/implementation barriers;
- Contribute to creation of a ‘gender repository’ with resource materials on best practices for gender interventions across the country/other countries; and
- Build advocacy around the need to focus on gender issues across SRLMs and the NRLM.
IWWAGE
- It is an initiative of LEAD, an action-oriented research centre of IFMR Society (a not for profit society registered under the Societies Act).
- It aims to build on existing research and generate new evidence to inform and facilitate the agenda of women’s economic empowerment.
- It is supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
- The IWWAGE focuses on three thematic areas:
- Barriers to Work
- Quality of Work
- Women’s Agency
Social Behaviour of Male Asian Elephants
Recently, the researchers from Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR) studied social behaviour of male Asian elephants.
Key Highlights
- The study had collected and analyzed data on behaviour of identified wild Asian elephants of Nagarahole and Bandipur National Parks.
- They found that the time spent by male Asian elephants in all-male and mixed-sex groups depended on the age of the male.
- The adult Asian male elephants preferred to spend their time alone than in mixed-sex or in all-male groups.
- The old males were found mostly in the company of their age peers and less frequently with young males.
- The adult male Asian elephants are less social than females and they enter musth i.e. a mate-searching strategy for old (above 30 years of age) males.
- The researchers hypothesised that when the adult males enter musth, dominance relationships may affect the number of mating opportunities they procure.
- The team observed male elephants and identified them using features of their ears, tails, and tusks and recorded whether males associated with each other in the presence or absence of females.
- The results showed that all-male groups (in the absence of females) were rare and small.
- In contrast, African savannah elephants have been found to spend more time in all-male groups and to form larger groups, and young males preferred to associate with older males.
Asian Elephants
- The Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) is polygynous, with males and females exhibiting different morphologies and adult lifestyles.
- It is the largest land mammal on the Asian continent.
- It inhabits dry to wet forest and grassland habitats in 13 range countries spanning South and Southeast Asia.
- It lives in forested regions of India and throughout Southeast Asia, including Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos.
- It is listed as ‘Endangered’ under the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
- It can be identified by their smaller, rounded ears and an African elephant's ears resemble the continent of Africa.
- It is protected under Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.
- It is included in Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
Bandipur National Park
- It is located in Chamarajanagar district of Karnataka.
- It is the part of Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve making it largest protected area in Southern India and largest habitant of Wild Elephants in South Asia.
- It shares its boundary with 3 other National park namely Nagarahole National Park, Wayanad National Park and Mudumalai National park.
- Tigers, Indian Elephants, Leopard, Dhole, Sambar, Sloth bear, Chital many more animals and Birds can be spotted in the Bandipur National park.
- The reserve was brought under Project Tiger in 1973.
OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS)
Recently, India has announced its joining under OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS).
OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS)
- It is a tax deal which consists of two components:
- Pillar One which is about reallocation of additional share of profit to the market jurisdictions; and
- Pillar Two consisting of minimum tax and subject to tax rules
- The framework brings together over 135 countries and jurisdictions to collaborate on the implementation of the BEPS Package.
- The BEPS package provides 15 Actions that equip governments with the domestic and international instruments needed to tackle tax avoidance.
Significance of OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework on BEPS
- It allows interested countries and jurisdictions to work with OECD and G20 members on developing standards on BEPS related issues and review and monitor the implementation of the BEPS Package.
- It will actively monitor the implementation of all the BEPS Actions and reports annually to the G20 on this progress.
- All countries and jurisdictions joining the framework will participate in the review process, which allows members to review their own tax systems and to identify and remove elements that pose BEPS risks.
Reasons for India joining OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework on BEPS
- The principles underlying the solution vindicates India’s stand for a:
- Greater share of profits for the markets;
- Consideration of demand side factors in profit allocation;
- Need to seriously address the issue of cross border profit shifting; and
- Need for subject to tax rule to stop treaty shopping
- It further noted that India is in favour of a consensus solution which is simple to implement and simple to comply.
- The solution should result in allocation of meaningful and sustainable revenue to market jurisdictions, particularly for developing and emerging economies.
- India will continue to be constructively engaged for reaching a consensus based ready to implement solution with Pillar one and Pillar two and contribute positively for the advancement of the international tax agenda.
Impact of OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework on BEPS on India
- The Pillar I seek to usher in a special purpose nexus rule and profit allocation formula for reallocating a part of super normal profits of the largest and most profitable multinational groups, amongst market countries like India and China.
- The outcome will have quantitative benefits since it will ensure India gets its fair share of corporate tax on earnings from massive market it provides to MNEs.
- The broader agreement reached on Pillar II solutions is the most significant step towards ending the’ race to the bottom’ that countries have indulged in for decades.
- A global Min tax rule will ensure level playing field for countries like India that offers massive market for MNEs without providing a tax safe harbor.
- It would have potential to significantly contain the practice of treaty shopping, whereby companies or individuals attempt to indirectly access the benefits of a tax treaty between two jurisdictions.
Base Erosion & Profit Shifting (BEPS)
- In September 2013, the G20 Leaders endorsed the ambitious and comprehensive BEPS Action Plan, developed with OECD members.
- It refers to tax planning strategies used by multinational enterprises that exploit gaps and mismatches in tax rules to avoid paying tax.
- It is of major significance for developing countries due to their heavy reliance on corporate income tax, particularly from multinational enterprises.
Short Span Bridging System (SSBS)
Recently, the Ministry of Defence has announced the induction of Short Span Bridging System (SSBS) into the Indian Army.
Short Span Bridging System (SSBS)
- It is designed and developed by the Research & Development Establishment Pune, a premier engineering laboratory of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
- The production agency of SSBS is M/s L&T Ltd.
- It plays a crucial role of bridging the gaps up to 9.5 m as a single span providing a 4 m wide, fully decked roadway, ensuring faster movement of the troops.
- It involved the development of two prototypes of 5 m SSBS on Tatra 6x6 chassis and another two prototypes of 10 m SSBS on Tatra 8x8 re-engineered chassis.
- It is compatible with Sarvatra Bridging System (75 m), where the last span requires covering gaps less than 9.5 m.
Significance of Short Span Bridging System (SSBS)
- It will help in quick movement of troops and enhance the mobilization of resources.
- It will give a boost to the fast-growing Indian defence industrial ecosystem.
- It will help the industry to contribute towards ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’.
- It will enhance the mechanised formation in western front capability and operation speed will also increase.
- It will help the force overcome geographical obstacles like small rivers and canals in case of operations along the western borders with Pakistan.
6th BRICS Culture Ministers
Recently, the Minister of State (I//C) for Culture and Tourism had hosted 6th BRICS Culture Ministers’ Meeting.
Key Highlights
- It called for advancement and expansion of cultural activities amongst BRICS countries under the theme Bonding and Harmonizing Cultural Synergy.
- It emphasized on collaborations in the field of online exchange of cultural experiences on knowledge of tangible and intangible heritage amongst BRICS countries.
- It proposed for formation of BRICS Alliance in the field of conservation, preservation and digitization of ancient manuscripts with the intent of utilizing the invaluable treasure of information contained in manuscripts.
- It highlighted the need to protect the tangible and intangible cultural heritage through mutual help and support within the BRICS framework in addition to the compliance of prevailing UNESCO Conventions.
- It was agreed upon to strengthen and enhance cultural cooperation amongst BRICS Nations in the fields of museums, art galleries, theatre, and libraries and promote use of modern technologies.
BRICS
- It is an informal group of states comprising the Federative Republic of Brazil, the Russian Federation, the Republic of India, the People’s Republic of China and the Republic of South Africa.
- It was the Russian side that initiated the creation of BRICS.
- In 2006, the first BRICS Ministerial Meeting was held at the proposal of Russian President Vladimir Putin on the margins of a UN General Assembly Session in New York.
- In 2009, Yekaterinburg hosted the first BRIC Summit.
- BRICS countries are influential members of leading international organisations and agencies, including the UN, the G20, the Non-Aligned Movement and the Group of 77.
- The Russian Federation is a member of the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Collective Security Treaty Organisation and the Eurasian Economic Union.
- Russia, India and China are members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation.
- Brazil is a member of the Union of South American Nations, MERCOSUR and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States.
- The Republic of South Africa is a member of the African Union and the Southern African Development Community.
- India is a member of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation and BIMSTEC.
Importance of BRICS for India
- The one of the factors behind the persistence of international institutions is because of “sunk costs” i.e. efforts expended to set up an institution that cannot be recovered and binding the actors involved in setting it up permanently.
- New Delhi has often equated BRICS with its participation in other “Western-led” groupings such as the Quad, in order to signal to domestic constituencies that its commitment to strategic autonomy remains intact.
- The “cost” India would pay from dissolving the BRICS is far higher than simply playing along, despite its diminishing dividends from participation in that grouping.
- The BRICS also allows India and China to modulate their rivalry within the setting of a small grouping, even when bilateral relations remain rocky.
- The groupings like the BRICS and the SCO afford both India and China the opportunity to “decouple” their strategic contest from the other dimensions of the relationship.
- BRICS provides India a transcontinental reach by virtue of Brazil and South Africa’s presence.
- India is a proudly revisionist power when it comes to the extant structure of international organizations and the United Nations system.
- It continues to maintain that the international system does not recognize the country’s economic and political heft and demands top-down reform, beginning with the U.N. Security Council (UNSC) where it seeks permanent membership.
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