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Feb 28, 2022
WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM AND THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF URBAN AFFAIRS SIGN A MOU TO COLLABORATE ON A JOINTLY DESIGNED ‘SUSTAINABLE CITIES INDIA PROGRAM’
Recently, the World Economic Forum and the National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to collaborate on a jointly designed ‘Sustainable Cities India program’.
Sustainable Cities India Program
Treasury Bills
Genesis of India Out Campaign
UN World Food Programme
Dugongs
About Inclusive, Equitable and Quality Education
- It will aim to create an enabling environment for cities to generate decarbonization solutions across the energy, transport, and the built environment sectors.
- This initiative is particularly noteworthy as it comes after India’s commitment to turn net zero by 2070 as a climate mitigation response at COP26.
Sustainable Cities India Program
- The ‘Sustainable Cities India program’ intends to enable cities to decarbonize in a systematic and sustainable way that will reduce emissions and deliver resilient and equitable urban ecosystems.
- The Forum and NIUA will adapt the Forum’s City Sprint process and Toolbox of Solutions for decarbonization in the context of five to seven Indian cities across two years.
- The City Sprint process is a series of multi-sectoral, multi-stakeholder workshops involving business, government, and civil society leaders to enable decarbonization, especially through clean electrification and circularity.
- The outcome of the workshop series will be a shortlist of relevant policies and business models, which not only reduce emissions but also maximize System Value, such as improved air quality or job creation.
- City Sprints will help to jumpstart and/or accelerate net zero planning and action. The City Sprint process uses the Toolbox of Solutions - a digital platform containing over 200 examples of clean electrification, efficiency and smart infrastructure best practices and case studies across buildings, energy systems and mobility from over 110 cities around the world.
- The City Sprint process will also enable cities to run pilot solutions and, based on findings, India will be able contribute 10 to 40 best practice case studies which will be integrated into the Toolbox of Solutions and showcased across the world.
- The World Economic Forum’s Net Zero Carbon Cities’ mission is to create an enabling environment for clean electrification and circularity, resulting in urban decarbonization and resilience.
- The program aims to do this by fostering public-private collaboration to bridge the gap across the energy, built environment and transport sectors.
- Established in 1976, the National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA) is India’s leading national think tank on urban planning and development.
- As a hub for the generation and dissemination of cutting-edge research in the urban sector, NIUA seeks to provide innovative solutions to address the challenges of a fast-urbanizing India, and pave the way for more inclusive and sustainable cities of the future.
- India is committed to become Net Zero by 2070, aligning with its vision for a ‘future ready’ India set during the COP26 summit in Glasgow. In realizing this vision to accelerate the clean energy transition, conversation and more importantly, action amongst all actors of the quadruple helix is critical.
- This partnership between NIUA and WEF is an important step towards that direction. This collaboration will help cities in India and cities globally to learn from one another and drive action towards sustainable development and climate resilience.
- The Government of India in consultation with Reserve Bank of India will continue to have the flexibility to modify the notified amount and timing for auction of Treasury Bills depending upon the requirements of the Government of India, evolving market conditions and other relevant factors, after giving due notice to the market.
Treasury Bills
- These are short term debt instruments issued by the government of India for a maturity of less than one year.
- Treasury Bills are zero coupon securities and pay no interest. Instead, they are issued at a discount and redeemed at the face value at maturity.
- Treasury Bills are traded in the money market.
- A short-term treasury bill helps the government raise funds to meet its current obligations which are in excess of its annual revenue generation.
- Its issue is aimed at reducing total fiscal deficit in an economy, and also in regulating the total currency in circulation at any given point of time.
- The RBI issues Treasury bills under its Open Market Operations (OMOs) strategy to regulate is inflation level and spending/borrowing habits of individuals.
- It effectively curbs the surging demand rates, and in turn, high prices hurting the poorer section of society.
- Its disincentives individuals into channelling their resources, thereby boosting cash flows to the stock markets instead, ensuring a boost in the productivity of most companies.
- 14-day Treasury Bill
- 91-day Treasury Bill
- 182-day Treasury bill
- 364-day Treasury Bill
- Minimum investment as regulated by RBI that the minimum of Rs. 25000 has to be invested by individuals.
- Zero-coupon Securities as they don’t yield any interest on total deposits. Upon redemption, the entire par value of this bond is paid to investors, thereby allowing them to realise substantial profits on total investment.
- Trading forms an integral part of essential treasury bill details.
- These are risk free as they are issued by RBI and backed by Central Government.
- Individuals looking to generate short term gains through secure investments can choose to park their funds in such securities to ensure liquidity.
- They are auctioned by the RBI every week through non-competitive bidding, thereby allowing retail and small-scale investors to partake in such bids without having to quote the yield rate or price.
- They are known to generate relatively lower returns when compared to standard stock market investment tools.
- Total returns generated by such zero-coupon securities remain constant through the tenure of bond, irrespective of economic conditions and business cycle fluctuations.
- It comes in contrast to the stock market, wherein market variations heavily influence returns generated by both equity and debt tools.
- A treasury bill is one of the most secure forms of investment available in the country. It is not only ideal for risk-averse individuals weary of stock market tools but is also popular for portfolio diversification in the case of experienced investors who allocate a portion of their funds into government securities to dilute the overall risk to their corpus. These sovereign bills play a crucial role in regulating the total money supply in an economy, which in turn, influences funds pooled into the capital market.
- Then, the Maldivian government has taken steps to curb the ‘India Out’ campaign, showcasing the strategic importance of India.
Genesis of India Out Campaign
- Dhruv Advanced Light Helicopters (ALF) that were given by India to the Maldives in 2010 and in 2015, both of which were used for ocean search-and-rescue operations, maritime weather surveillance and for airlifting patients between islands, and were based in Addu Atoll and at Hanimaadhoo.
- Some in the anti-India constituency, were trying to portray that by gifting these helicopters, India was creating military presence in the country because they were military choppers.
- According to the terms of bilateral agreements between the two countries, Indian officers had been sent to the Maldives to train the Maldives National Defence Force, under whose command these helicopters operate.
- A recurring complaint is the lack of transparency in agreements being signed between the Solih government and India. The UTF Harbour Project agreement signed between India and the Maldives, where India was to develop and maintain a coastguard harbour and dockyard at Uthuru Thilafalhu, a strategically located atoll near the capital Malé.
- In 2016, an Action Plan between India and the Maldives was signed for ‘defence cooperation’ to enhance “shared strategic and security interests of the two countries in the Indian Ocean region”.
- The government has rejected the ‘India Out’ campaign, expressing concern at attempts to spread “misguided and unsubstantiated information to propagate hatred towards India”.
- The government said it reaffirms that the country’s long-standing ties with all its international partners are based on principles of mutual respect and understanding, and in accordance with respective national and international law.
- Such interactions in the international sphere does not, and will not undermine the Maldives’ independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity. In fact, they are designed to enhance the Maldives’ national interests, and deliver for the people of the Maldives.
- Maldivian food security depends a lot on imports from India, listed rice, flour, sugar, chicken, eggs, potatoes, onions, and lentils as amongst the basic foodstuffs supplied by India.
- India is also a major source for tourism sector, the nation’s economic mainstay.
- Certain quantities of sand and gravel for construction work supplied by India helps Maldives to ensure its economic development.
- It has disrupted internal stability.
- It may pose a threat to national and regional security.
- Threat to foreign nationals’ resident in the Maldives, and Maldivian’s resident abroad.
- MDP is divided on the ‘criminalisation’ concept and those concerns centre on domestic issues pertaining to democracy and freedom of expression should silence critics of India on this and also the larger issues of their ‘India Out’ campaign.
UN World Food Programme
- The World Food Programme (WFP) is the food-assistance branch of the United Nations. It is the world's largest humanitarian organization focused on hunger and food security, and the largest provider of school meals.
- Founded in 1961, it is headquartered in Rome and has offices in 80 countries. As of 2020, it served 115.5 million people in 80-plus countries, the largest since 2012.
- In addition to emergency food relief, WFP offers technical assistance and development aid, such as building capacity for emergency preparedness and response, managing supply chains and logistics, promoting social safety programs, and strengthening resilience against climate change.
- The agency is also a major provider of direct cash assistance and medical supplies, and provides passenger services for humanitarian workers.
- WFP is an executive member of the United Nations Sustainable Development Group, a consortium of UN entities that aims to fulfil the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), with a priority on achieving SDG 2 for "zero hunger" by 2030.
- The World Food Programme was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2020 for its efforts to provide food assistance in areas of conflict, and to prevent the use of food as a weapon of war and conflict.
- Intense Tropical Cyclone Emnati was a tropical cyclone that affected Madagascar, only two weeks after Cyclone Batsirai.
- The sixth tropical disturbance, the second tropical cyclone, and the second intense tropical cyclone of the 2021–22 South-West Indian Ocean cyclone season, Emnati formed from a zone of disturbed weather.
- It continued westward, and steadily intensified before getting named Emnati.
- Due to present dry air and wind shear, the storm had struggled to intensify significantly, and it became a category 1-equivalent on the Saffir-Simpson Scale later.
- Emnati then underwent a lengthy Eyewall Replacement Cycle, which strongly weakened the storm as it moved closer to Madagascar.
- A tropical cyclone is a weather phenomenon that is essentially a rapidly rotating storm system with characteristics such as a low-pressure center, strong winds and thunderstorms that produce heavy rain, among others.
- Cyclones rotate in a counter clockwise direction in the Northern Hemisphere and in a clockwise direction while in the Southern Hemisphere.
- In the tropics, there is a narrow zone of low pressure which stretches across the equator. The winds on the north side of this zone blow from the north-east (the north-east trades) and on the southern side blow from the south-east (south-east trades).
- The low-pressure area is heated over the warm tropical ocean which leads to the rise of air from this are in discrete parcels, ultimately causing the formation of thunderstorms.
- This creates a flow of very warm, moist, rapidly rising air, leading to the development of a centre of low pressure, or depression, at the surface.
Dugongs
- The dugong is a marine mammal. It is one of four living species of the order Sirenia, which also includes three species of manatees.
- It is the only living representative of the once-diverse family Dugongidae; its closest modern relative, Steller's sea cow (Hydrodamalis gigas), was hunted to extinction in the 18th century.
- The dugong (Dugong dugon), also called the sea cow, is an herbivorous mammal. They can grow up to three meters long, weigh about 300 kilograms, and live for about 65 to 70 years, grazing on seagrass and coming to the surface to breathe.
- They are found in over 30 countries and in India are seen in the Gulf of Mannar, Gulf of Kutch, Palk Bay, and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
- The dugong is largely dependent on seagrass communities for subsistence and is thus restricted to the coastal habitats which support seagrass meadows, with the largest dugong concentrations typically occurring in wide, shallow, protected areas such as bays, mangrove channels, the waters of large inshore islands and inter-reefal waters.
- Dugongs are listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
- Dugongs are protected under Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.
- Internationally, dugongs are listed in Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), which prohibits the trade of the species and its parts.
- Fishing communities hunt dugongs for meat and oil.
- The loss of seagrass habitats, water pollution and degradation of the coastal ecosystem due to developmental activities have made life tough for these slow-moving animals.
- Dugongs are also victims of accidental entanglement in fishing nets and collision with boats and trawlers.
- Oil spills are a danger to dugongs in some areas, as is land reclamation.
- Banning trawling and gill nets in the area and only allowing the local communities to continue their fishing activities in the traditional way.
- Awareness programmes can be conducted for fishing communities.
- The fisheries and forest departments can work together to conduct regular patrols and inspections in the region.
About Inclusive, Equitable and Quality Education
- Along with Academic education, giving equal importance to sports, co-curricular and recreational activities.
- In an inclusive education system, all learners with and without disabilities learn together with their peers in schools and classes in their local community schools.
- They all receive the support they need, from preschool to tertiary and vocational education, in inclusive and accessible schools that are responsive to cultural and community values, evidence and best practices, and individual preferences.
- An inclusive education system is geared towards providing quality education to all children and youth equitably.
- Inclusive education means different and diverse students learning side by side in the same classroom.
- They enjoy field trips and after-school activities together. They participate in student government together. And they attend the same sports meets and plays.
- Such an approach will lead to the all-round growth of students and make them confident individuals.
- Need of call for promotion and propagation of mother tongue.
- Inclusive systems provide a better-quality education for all children and are instrumental in changing discriminatory attitudes.
- Education excludes and segregates perpetuates discrimination against traditionally marginalized groups.
- When education is more inclusive, so are concepts of civic participation, employment, and community life.
- Enrolment rate of children with disabilities at least on par with that of nondisabled children in the mainstream education system.
- Teachers are the key actor to successfully implementing inclusive education. There is Lack of Competency, Proper knowledge and educational qualifications which are required from teachers in order to fulfil the predetermined purpose.
- Large classes are a big hindrance for the special students in order to take full advantage of the mainstream classes.
- Rigidity in curriculum does not allow the special students to go at par in learning with the normal ones. No special curriculum is here to fulfil the diverse needs of special students.
- Lack of training and professional development of mainstream teachers at all levels are the big issues in inclusive education.
- Lack of infra structural facilities in our institution is one of the big issues which hinders us to realize the dream of inclusive education.
- Enforcement of non-discrimination and Zero Rejection policies should be implemented.
- Significant investments (human, social and financial) are made in recruiting and training qualified teachers, including teachers with disabilities, who can provide inclusive and quality learning for all learners.
- Teacher education and curriculum reforms incorporate the principles of Universal Design for Learning, including equal access and participation.
- The educational institutions involve students in activities such as gardening, tree plantation and water conservation. It will bring children close to nature.
- Well-resourced support services are made available at all levels, to assist all schools and all teachers in providing effective learning for all students, including those with disabilities.
- A diversity of languages and modes of communication are used throughout the system. Priority is given to teachers who are already fluent in their use with adequate support provided to ensure all teachers have opportunities to develop fluency.
- In decentralised systems, a consistent set of regulations, accountability mechanisms and resource planning for inclusive education at all levels of government is ensured.
- Multi-stakeholder engagement between ministries of education, schools, educators, support services, parents and communities, is promoted to ensure equal access and effective inclusion.
- Engagement with stakeholders with disabilities (parents, educators, government officials and others) is properly supported to ensure full participation in decision-making.
- UK Prime Minister is surrounded by domestic scandal.
- France begins its preparation for its Presidential Elections due in April.
- The new German coalition government is yet to find their unified voice against Russia.
- The Eurozone is encountering increasing inflation largely due to higher energy prices.
- Europe has been dealing with an energy crisis for the past several months which has led to rising energy prices.
- Europe has unequivocally outsourced security and diplomatic efforts to Washington. The transatlantic relationship over the years has become skewed and asymmetrical largely dictated by the US.
- The French President, Emmanuel Macron, ever since coming to power in 2017 has advocated establishing a true European army and increasing Europe’s military spending. However, his appeal has found minimal resonance across the bloc with the majority of the member states finding comfort in aligning with Washington for its security purposes than creating a European army.
- The collaborative military defence spending dropped from €5.5 billion in 2017 to €4.1 billion in 2020 due to which the EU member states fell short of their 2017 commitment to spend at least 35 percent of their equipment procurement budget with other member states.
- Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO): Ambitious initiatives such as the Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO), the European Defence Action Plan, and establishing new defence funds to facilitate the financing of research and development of EU military capabilities have not necessarily progressed as the European Defence Agency (EDA) warned EU member states over the lack of spending on defence research and technology.
- After the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan in 2021, the European policymakers pro-actively sponsored investing in European strategic autonomy to decrease its dependence on Washington and conjure consensus within Brussels to make its own autonomic decisions.
- France: In Macron’s recent visit to Kremlin, he reiterated avoiding war and bridging the differences between Europe and Russia through diplomacy and trust-building measures.
- Germany: Germany’s new chancellor, Olaf Scholz also visited Moscow. Germany’s refusal to supply weapons to Kyiv, hesitancy in increasing Germany’s troop presence in Eastern Europe and the future of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline was severely opposed by Washington.
- NATO: The defence ministers from NATO member states have met to strengthen their diplomatic strategy against Russia which is a major threat to European security since the Cold War. Fearing the fallout in Eastern European states, NATO troops have been deployed in Poland and the Baltic states to contain any Russian aggression. NATO is set to come up with four new battle groups in South-Eastern Europe as France has offered to lead the battlegroups in Romania.
- Europe and the West have threatened heavy sanctions on Russia if it invades Ukraine; however, Europe also faces a major energy security conundrum if it imposes sanctions on Russia.
- Energy security: The EU imports 39 percent of its total gas imports and 30 percent of petroleum oil imports from Russia with CEE (Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia) countries being almost 100 percent dependent on Russian gas.
- Temporary resolution: In absence of any signs of de-escalation from Russia, the EU has asked Qatar and Japan to provide LNG shipments as an alternative to Russian imports. However, this is a temporary solution to a longer problem.
- Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP): The EU now attempts at diversifying its hydrocarbon imports by looking at Norway and Southern Europe can increase its imports via the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) and the Trans Adriatic Pipeline.
- Nuclear energy: The EU is also aiming to incorporate nuclear energy into its energy architecture; however, nuclear availability is declining in Western European states due to phase-outs and other countries have raised objections against the inclusion of nuclear energy.
- EU–AU: EU is now looking at Africa for its energy imports and is eager to invest in joint EU–AU research on renewable energy, therefore, the EU aims to bolster Africa’s role in the EU’s hydrogen imports.
- Regional security affecting climate actions can be detrimental not only to carbon neutrality ambitions but also cause disruption to livelihood across the continent.
- Poland is increasingly worried about Ukraine’s invasion primarily because it shares its border with Ukraine, and any war-like scenario would create a massive influx of migrants from Ukraine.
- The Baltic states are cautious fearing that Russia will cut its energy supply, thereby, causing economic distress in the region.
- France, which is set for Presidential elections in April is concerned with cyber-attacks and Kremlin’s interference in their election.
- The European Commission has proposed a new emergency macro-financial assistance (MFA) programme for Ukraine for €1.2 billion with €600 million ready to be dispatched immediately to maintain Ukraine’s macroeconomic stability.
- In a span of seven months, Brussels has faced multiple geopolitical challenges particularly the Afghanistan crisis, the natural gas crisis, the influx of migrants at the Poland–Belarus border and now the Russian presence at the Ukrainian border.
- The aforementioned challenges now compel Brussels to investigate deeply into establishing European strategic sovereignty which would allow the bloc to be at the forefront of its geopolitical decisions against external threats. While seeking solutions for the future, Brussels could perhaps consider adopting Gestalt psychology whose adage states that, ‘the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Likewise, a collected, cohesive, and unified EU is more likely to achieve optimal outcomes against external threats rather than being divisive which not only threatens Europe but could also have significant geopolitical repercussions.
- Diplomacy has retreated as the smouldering Ukraine crisis took a decisive turn this week
- On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin launched “special military operations” with the objective of “demilitarising Ukraine” but not “occupying” it.
- Prior to this, Russia had recognised the sovereignty of the Peoples’ Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk, two of Ukraine’s easternmost provinces and deploying Russian peace-keeping forces in these territories.
- The Russian actions have been strongly condemned and sanctions imposed by the U.S., the European Union (EU), the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and Japan.
- After 1945, this is the second time that national boundaries are being redrawn by force; the first was the 1999 North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) air strikes on Serbian forces that led to the creation of Kosovo.
- In the post-Cold War world that promised a rule-based liberal international order, the present act clearly sends the message— “the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must”.
- In 2022, Russia has fired the first shot but NATO is not blameless either.
- After the fall of the Berlin Wall in late-1989, then U.S. Secretary of State James Baker was meeting Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev in Moscow in February 1990 to help ease the way for German unification. He assured Mr. Gorbachev that NATO understood the “need for assurances to the countries in the East”, adding that even with Germany a part of NATO, “there would be no extension of NATO’s jurisdiction one inch to the east”.
- By end-1991, USSR had broken up into 15 countries; Rather than look for a new European security framework, the newly independent Baltic and central European states sought security in a U.S.-led NATO.
- The cost of expansion goes up as it reaches closer to the Russian border was discarded and NATO adopted an ‘open door’ policy.
- Beginning in 1999, NATO has added 14 new members in stages. At the NATO summit in 2008, at U.S. President George Bush’s urging, an in-principle opening for Ukraine and Georgia was announced, though France and Germany, conscious of Russian concerns, successfully opposed defining a time frame. It was a bad compromise and the damage was done.
- Later that year, Russia intervened in Georgia on the grounds of protecting the Russian minorities and took over the northern provinces of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
- In 2014, following the Euromaidan protests against the pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovich, Mr. Putin annexed Crimea. For Russia, Crimea is vital as the peninsula hosts Russia’s Black Sea fleet, providing it access to the Mediterranean and its bases at Latakia and Tartus in Syria.
- At the same time, pro-Russia separatists, assisted by Russian mercenaries, created autonomous regions in the Donbas region.
- Despite no timeline for membership, Ukraine was made a NATO Enhanced Opportunity Partner in 2020.
- The presence of British and U.S. warships in the Black Sea began to increase since 2019 a move that Russia saw as potentially threatening.
- Beginning with NATO’s bombing of Serbia in 1999, interventions in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya and colour revolutions to engineer regime changes, the U.S.’ unilateral withdrawal from the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty in 2002 coupled with missile defence deployments in Poland and Romania that Russia perceived as offensive, were accumulating.
- France and Germany initiated talks between Ukraine and Russia under the Normandy format leading to the Minsk agreements, in 2014 and 2015.
- Minsk-1 was for a ceasefire between Ukraine and the Russian-backed separatists.
- Minsk-2 was between Ukraine, Russia, the two separatist regions of Luhansk and Donetsk and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).
- Supportive declarations by France and Germany were intended to address Russian security concerns.
- Ukraine undertook to introduce certain constitutional amendments to provide a degree of autonomy to the two provinces and Russia was to assist in withdrawal of all foreign forces.
- Implementation failed: However, neither side implemented and positions have only hardened since.
- France: In the intense diplomacy during the last six weeks, particularly the back-to-back visits by French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Schulz to Moscow and Kiev, there was talk of reviving the Normandy format.
- But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was in no mood to oblige with over 1,50,000 Russian troops poised on his border and Mr. Putin was looking for his own face saver.
- Mr. Macron has a difficult re-election coming up in April and Chancellor Schulz has already been criticised for being soft on Russia because of energy dependency.
- USA: Mr. Biden faces a critical mid-term election in November that could see the Senate shift to Republican control and had already faced considerable flak for the messy withdrawal from Afghanistan last year. His aim was to ensure trans-Atlantic unity in NATO.
- Mr. Putin would not want to take over Ukraine. However, the separatist groups that currently control only part of the provinces of Luhansk and Donetsk would want to extend their territory beyond the current Line of Contact dividing the separatists and the Ukrainian forces.
- A Russian military presence in Belarus puts pressure on the 65-mile long Suwalki corridor that constitutes the boundary between Lithuania and Poland and more importantly, separates Belarus from Kaliningrad, the Russian enclave on the Baltic Sea that hosts its Baltic fleet.
- Mr. Putin may claim victory in the near term, but in the long term, he has over-reached himself. NATO has been rejuvenated, the trans-Atlantic unity strengthened and Russia’s economic ties with Europe have been adversely impacted.
- Worse, Russia will become more dependent on China — for political support as well as a market for its energy exports. This will eventually weaken its hand in central Asia.
- The challenge is to constrain the adversary’s options while increasing one’s own options and space for manoeuvre. His actions this week may yield tactical gains but hardly pass the test for strategic victory.
- As the Russian invasion unfolds in Ukraine with dramatic alacrity, most Indians seem to be united in their condemnation of, no, not Russia, but the West.
- In one of the most brazen violations of a weak State’s sovereignty and territorial integrity in recent memory, a big section of the Indian intelligentsia is tying itself up in knots in trying to defend the indefensible.
- Knowing fully who the aggressor is in this case, we continue to target the West, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and, worse still, even blame the victim.
- Western mess: And then, of course, there is the West with all its talk of democracy and autonomy that continues to entice nations and is responsible for this mess in Europe, the worst crisis since World War II.
- Unique: Across the political spectrum, there is a unique convergence in India in refusing to condemn Russia for this bizarre show of strength.
- Indian silence: If this were the United States (US) attacking any other nation like this, sections of our political class would be out on the streets, demanding India cut off ties with the US and organisations big and small would be burning American flags. But an eerie silence pervades India even as we witness one of the most egregious violations of State sovereignty in recent times. Instead, we are trying, oh so very hard, to justify Russian actions.
- The Indian government’s reaction is understandable to a certain extent.
- In his outreach to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Prime Minister Narendra Modi appealed for an immediate cessation of violence, and called for concerted efforts from all sides to return to the path of diplomatic negotiations and dialogue.
- Primary responsibility: New Delhi’s primary concern is the safety and security of its citizens in Ukraine and the impact of the crisis on the global economy that is just about beginning to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic.
- Cautious path: Diplomatically, India has to weigh the balance between its ties with the West and those with Russia. The latter is India’s primary defence partner and at a time when Indian soldiers are eyeball to eyeball with their Chinese counterparts at several points along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), antagonizing Russia is not really an option.
- There is a lot of blame that can be apportioned to various actors – the way NATO expanded after the end of the Cold War without taking into account Russian sensitivities.
- The way Ukraine was mismanaged over the years and its foreign policy was bereft of any sense of direction.
- The manner in which the Biden administration conveyed its priorities; and the divisions within the European Union on its future course of action vis-à-vis the Russian show of strength in Ukraine.
- Russia’s violation of Ukrainian sovereignty should be an issue of principles for India, which has supported the norm of sovereignty globally. New Delhi will find it difficult to talk of a “rules-based” order in the Indo-Pacific if it is unwilling to stand up for the same principles elsewhere.
- However, it can be argued, and rightly so, that morality has little place in the rough and tumble world of global power politics.
- This crisis and the Western response will have a significant bearing on the strategic environment in the Indo-Pacific, a theatre that India claims is different from the European one.
- China is watching carefully and planning accordingly. The China-Russia entente is blossoming into a full-fledged strategic partnership.
- Despite India’s historic ties with Russia, Moscow has been more vocal than even China in showcasing its opposition to the Indo-Pacific construct and the Quad platform. Russia has even begun to flirt with Pakistan.
- The foundations of the Indo-Russia partnership are weakening by the day. The long-term trajectory is rather clear.
- Today as Russia continues to play the role of the great disruptor, India should be thinking about reconfiguring its ties with Russia. Perhaps if India were not so dependent on Russia for its defence needs, New Delhi’s response to the present crisis would have been different.
POSTED ON 28-02-2022 BY ADMIN
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General Studies
Political Science and International Relations
Some Reference Essays
List of previous year essay topics (1997-2019)
IAS GOOGLE is googled by the team of Raja Sir’s Cracking IAS Academy. Sources include The Hindu, Indian Express, pib.nic.in, Down To Earth, Economic Times, Vigyan Prasar, AIR and the like. IAS GOOGLE has been prepared in pace with emerging UPSC Trends.