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Hours before Prime Minister Narendra Modi was to land in Paris, the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, accorded approval for the procurement of 26 Rafale-M fighters, which will be operated off the aircraft carriers, and three additional Scorpene-class diesel-electric submarines from France.
The DAC granted acceptance of necessity [AoN] for procurement of 26 Rafale Marine aircraft, along with associated ancillary equipment, weapons, simulator, spares, documentation, crew training and logistic support for the Indian Navy from the French government based on Inter-Governmental Agreement [IGA].
The price and other terms of purchase will be negotiated with the French government after taking into account all relevant aspects, including comparative procurement price of similar aircraft by other countries.
Further, integration of Indian-designed equipment and establishment of a maintenance, repair and operations hub for various systems will be incorporated into the contract documents after due negotiations.
The DAC granted the AoN for procurement of three additional Scorpenes under the Buy (Indian) category. The submarines will be constructed by Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders.
The procurement of additional submarines, with a higher indigenous content, will not only help in maintaining required force level and operational readiness of the Indian Navy, but also create significant employment opportunities in the domestic sector.
Editorial
An unacceptable verdict in the constitutional sense (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
A judgment by the Allahabad High Court recently, declining the prayer by an inter-faith couple in a live-in relationship for protection from police harassment has caught national attention.
The judgment in Kiran Rawat vs State of UP negates the very idea of constitutional morality in personal relations, which the Supreme Court of India has repeatedly affirmed. The High Court in its judgment implied that the live-in relationship is a “social problem”.
The case of the petitioners, a Muslim man and a Hindu woman, was short and simple: They are around 30 years of age, living together and their relation is based on mutual love and affection.
They alleged that the local police have been torturing them while living in a rented house, and sought protection from police harassment, allegedly done on the basis of a complaint made by a family member.
The judgment by the High Court is unacceptable in the constitutional sense. First, the court is ostensibly carried away by the notions of conventional social morality rather than the constitutional principles on individual autonomy and personal liberty.
Second, in the process, the court also discarded several Supreme Court judgments, even after citing them, by giving untenable reasons.
Third, the High Court travelled much beyond the brief and relied on personal laws on marriage which were irrelevant.
The Allahabad judgment said that Supreme Court verdicts on live-in relationships such as D. Velusamy (2010), Indra Sarma (2013) and Dhanu Lal (2015) were not intended “to promote such relationships” and that the law traditionally has been “biased in favour of marriage”.
Thereby, the High Court essentially rejected the precedential value of the top court verdicts. The High Court also made an unnecessary reference to Section 125 of the Criminal Procedure Code (Cr.PC) which talks about maintenance to wives (and not “other women”).
The High Court also said that extramarital and premarital sex are not recognised under the Muslim law. Even the “sexual, lustful, affectionate acts such as kissing, touching, staring etc.” prior to the marriage, are ‘Haram’ in Islam, says the judgment.
Scientists need the oxygen of free speech (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Technology)
Last week, more than 500 scientists and academics wrote to the Indian institute of Science (IISc) criticising its administration for prohibiting a discussion on the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act.
In response, the director of a different research institute, the Indian Institute of Science, Education and Research (IISER) at Mohali, Punjab, issued a show cause notice to two faculty members at his institute who had signed the letter to the IISc.
As a signatory of the letter, this writer would like to explain why it is important for scientific research institutions to encourage social and political discussions, rather than seeking to shut them down like the IISc and IISER administrations have done.
Scientific research institutes are part of the broader society; and so their members have the same constitutional right as others to participate in social discussions.
Researchers at such institutions are offered the leisure and the training to pursue critical inquiry into a variety of subjects. This privilege, which relies on the public support that these institutions receive, means that they have an added responsibility to educate and express themselves on matters of public interests.
For scientific researchers to fail to stand up for justice, especially at a time of great social turmoil, would be an abdication of this responsibility.
A narrow perspective might suggest that scientists should restrict themselves to science and stay away from social questions.
However, it is artificial to erect intellectual silos around what is considered “science” and proscribe discussions outside those limits.
For instance, an investigation of the science of climate change can naturally flow into complex geopolitical issues about colonialism and historical responsibility.
This, in turn, leads to broader questions about inequality and justice. These issues are not peripheral to the subject but help to determine which scientific questions deserve focus.
As another example, research on energy policy cannot be separated from environmental concerns or questions about the usage and equitable distribution of energy. Most recently, research on artificial intelligence has thrown up a host of ethical dilemmas.
Opinion
Are regional parties in India facing a succession problem? (Page no. 11)
(GS Paper 2, Polity and Constitution)
Twenty-four years after its formation, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) split on July 2 over the question of succession. In 2022, the Shiv Sena went through a similar churn.
This malady is not unique to Maharashtra; many regional parties in India, such as the Samajwadi Party (SP), have gone through this. Others, such as the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), seem poised to undergo this churn.
Essentially, the problem of succession has arisen because regional parties, or at least most of them, have become ‘Hindu undivided families’.
Many of these parties began with the lofty goals of promoting sub-nationalism and protecting their own caste or ethnicity. Several others, such as the DMK [Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam], came up on the question of larger federal interests.
But over a period of time, they have all become parties run by a single family. There are several strands in these families which come into conflict with one another.
This has primarily given rise to the succession issue. That is what we saw in the NCP [Nationalist Congress Party] recently. And more importantly, they [the parties] have given up their larger purpose.
The rise of regional parties coincided with the decline of the Congress in the 1990s. Back then, you saw politicians going to the highest bidder.
Coalition governments regularly fell apart or came together in complicated ways. The one way to ensure some sort of stability was to make sure that the voter was beholden to the leader or the family at the top.
News
European Parliament asks India to act promptly to end Manipur violence (Page no. 14)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
Shortly before Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Paris on a State visit, in another French city, Strasbourg, the European Parliament (EP) called on the Indian government to act “promptly” to halt the violence in Manipur and protect religious minorities.
The resolution was passed by a show of hands after a debate on the issue on Wednesday evening. The government called the E.U. legislature action “unacceptable”.
The EP resolution asked the government “to protect all religious minorities, such as Manipur’s Christian community, and to pre-empt any further escalation”.
It also calls on authorities to grant unhindered access to the area by journalists and international observers and to end Internet shutdowns.
The resolution called on the government “to repeal the unlawful Armed Forces Special Powers Act in line with the recommendations of the UN Universal Periodic Review”.
Through the resolution, Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) called on the EU to make human rights prominent in its dialogue and relationship with India — a point that was repeatedly raised during the pre-vote debate.
The process brought together an unlikely mix of left and right parties which also approved two other resolutions on rights in Venezuela and Kyrgyzstan.
Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Arindam Bagchi called the European move “unacceptable” and reflective of a “colonial mindset”, in a statement.
Centre lists new Bill to replace Delhi Ordinance in House (Page no. 14)
(GS Paper 2, Governance)
The government has listed the Bill to replace the contentious ordinance on Delhi services for the upcoming Monsoon Session of Parliament, that begins on July 20.
The Ordinance amending the Government of National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi Act, 1991 curtails Delhi government’s powers over bureaucracy.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal met the heads of various Opposition parties over the last one month garnering support for AAP’s campaign against the Bill.
The Congress, despite pressure from the AAP, has not taken a stand publicly on the Bill, though the party’s president Mallikarjun Kharge promised support to Mr. Kejriwal during the Opposition strategy meeting in Patna last month.
The AAP wants the Bill to be defeated in Rajya Sabha where the Opposition is numerically in a better position, but without the support of Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and YSR Congress.
A total of 21 new Bills have been listed for the session with 17 sittings, as per a bulletin issued by the Lok Sabha Secretariat.
Also listed for consideration and passage during the session were the Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Bill and the Multi-State Cooperative Societies (Amendment) Bill.
News
Ukraine war not a priority of G-20 presidency, says India (Page no. 15)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
With little movement on consensus between G-7 countries and Russia and China over a joint statement, India’s G-20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant said that the Ukraine war was not on India’s list of priorities for outcomes from its presidency of the grouping.
Instead, India is focused on finalising the language of the “Leader’s Declaration” pertaining to economic and development issues, while leaving the “contentious” issues for later.
Mr. Kant was speaking to presspersons at the start of the third meeting of the Sherpas — personal representatives of the heads of government, preparing for the summit — of the G-20 countries and special invitees, at the temple town of Hampi, in Karnataka.
The Russia-Ukraine war is not our creation, or that of developing or emerging countries. It is not a priority for us. He listed India’s priorities as “development issues, growth, more financing from multilateral institutions, technological transformations and supporting the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.”
He also said that language about the Ukraine war was at present being discussed “bilaterally”, and not in the full G-20 group. In the absence of a consensus on the statement to be released at the Delhi Summit, India may be forced — for the first time in G-20 history — to issue only a “Chairman’s Outcome Statement”, which would not be endorsed by other countries.
World
Germany stresses economic security in strategy for China (Page no. 17)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
The German government presented a long-awaited strategy for relations with China that points to a “systemic rivalry” with the Asian power and a need to reduce risks of economic dependence, but highlights Berlin’s desire to work with Beijing on challenges such as climate change and maintain trade ties.
The 64-page document approved by Chancellor OIaf Scholz’s Cabinet builds on Germany’s first national security strategy, issued a month ago. Mr. Scholz’s three-party coalition had pledged when it took office in late 2021 to draw up a “comprehensive China strategy.”
Germany has Europe’s biggest economy and is the 27-nation European Union’s most populous member. Its strategy is a balancing act; it is keen to maintain good ties with China, its biggest single trading partner in recent years, despite wariness over Beijing’s growing assertiveness and refusal to criticise the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said that “for Germany, China remains a partner, competitor and systemic rival, but the aspect of systemic rivalry has in recent years increasingly come to the fore.”
Anyone who listens to China knows with what self-confidence it will decisively influence the development of our world — more repressive at home and more offensive abroad.
India’s January-June trade with China declines amid slowdown (Page no. 18)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
India’s trade with China declined in the first half of 2023 after more than two years of record growth, part of a broader slump in China’s trade performance that has underlined a sharp slowdown in the world’s second-largest economy
Two-way trade reached $66.02 billion in the first half, data from China’s General Administration of Customs (GAC) showed. India’s imports from China slid 0.9% to $56.53 billion, while exports to its northern neighbour fell by 0.6% to $9.49 billion. India’s imports of Chinese goods were $57.51 billion in the first half of 2022.
However, India’s trade deficit — the largest it has with any country — did not narrow much because exports to China also fell due to weak demand. The January-June trade deficit stood at $47.04 billion, marginally narrower than H1 2022’s $47.94 billion.
China’s overall first-half exports declined by 12.4%, a contraction that exceeded most economists’ expectations. The trade slump is expected to reinforce concerns that China’s brief recovery, after emerging in January from three months of harsh COVID-19 restrictions, is already running out of steam.
India’s trade with China in 2023 may see a rare decline after years of breakneck growth, with the first year of the pandemic being an exception. Trade rebounded to historic highs in 2021 and 2022.
In 2022, trade reached a record $135.98 billion, driven by a 21% rise in imports into India. The trade deficit crossed $100 billion for the first time last year.
India’s biggest imports from China have included active pharmaceutical ingredients, chemicals, machinery, auto components, and medical supplies.