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India and China have agreed to step up efforts for the disengagement of troops and de-escalation of tensions along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) after a conversation between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in South Africa.
The meeting between Mr. Modi and Mr. Xi took place, as the two leaders attended the summit in Johannesburg along with leaders from Brazil, Russia and South Africa.
However, the announcement of the talks was kept under wraps until the next day, just prior to the PM’s departure for Greece.
In a conversation with President Xi Jinping of China, PM highlighted India’s concerns on the unresolved issues along the LAC in the western sector of the India-China border areas.
Mr. Modi had “underlined that the maintenance of peace and tranquillity in the border areas and observing and respecting the LAC are essential for normalisation of the India-China relationship.
While Mr. Modi and Mr. Xi had spoken briefly on the sidelines of the Bali G-20 summit dinner last year about the need to “stabilise the LAC”, this is the first such conversation in the last three years where the two leaders spoke at some length on resolving the issue.
The two leaders had decided to “direct their relevant officials to intensify efforts at expeditious disengagement and de-escalation”, indicating the current talks being held between military commanders at the LAC.
Chandrayaan rover has begun mobility operations, says ISRO (Page no. 1)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Technology)
Hours after the Pragyan lunar rover rolled out from the Vikram lander and took its first “walk on the moon” in the early hours of Thursday, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said that the historic Chandrayaan-3 mission was running on schedule, with all systems working normally.
Instruments aboard the lander and rover will now study the moon’s mineral composition and the seismic activities in its atmosphere.
The indigenous rover’s exploration of the lunar surface began a day after India became the fourth country to successfully land on the moon, spurring euphoric celebrations at ISRO and around the country.
“Chandrayaan-3 ROVER: Made in India Made for the MOON! The Ch-3 Rover ramped down from the Lander and India took a walk on the moon!” ISRO posted on X (formerly Twitter). President Droupadi Murmu had made the first announcement of the rover’s successful deployment at 7 a.m.
Editorial
India’s G-20 opportunity for an African Renaissance (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 2, International Organisation)
Like an absentee landlord, Africa is flagging its demands nowadays on multilateral fora such as BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), the G-20 and the United Nations General Assembly.
For a continent with 54 countries, over a quarter of the “Global South”, it is populated at BRICS and the G-20 by South Africa, an atypical representative of the Black continent.
Africa, in general, and the Sahel region in particular, are passing through several existential challenges such as misgovernance, unplanned development, the dominance of ruling tribes and corruption.
Recently, new disruptors such as the Islamic terror, inter-tribal scrimmage, changing climate, runaway food inflation, urbanisation and youth unemployment have further strained the traditional socio-political fabric.
As the past military interventions by France, the United States and Russia’s Wagner Group to curb the militancy have shown, they frequently become part of the problem.
These interventions have costs: keeping dictatorships in power to protect their economic interests, such as uranium in Niger, gold in the Central African Republic and oil in Libya.
Opinion
Should the CJI be part of the committee selecting the CEC? (Page no. 9)
(GS Paper 2, Judiciary)
On August 10, the Union government introduced a Bill in the Rajya Sabha that proposed that the selection panel for appointing the Election Commission, comprising the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and other Election Commissioners (ECs), will consist of the Prime Minister as the chairperson, the Leader of the Opposition as a member, and a Union Cabinet Minister nominated by the Prime Minister as another member.
In March, the Supreme Court had ruled that the selection panel should comprise the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition, and the Chief Justice of India (CJI) until Parliament enacts a law on the manner of appointment.
The Opposition has been arguing that the replacement of the CJI with a Cabinet Minister in the Bill indicates that the government is trying to make the poll body a puppet.
Explainer
India and the Northern Sea Route (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
Murmansk, popularly called the capital of the Arctic region and the beginning point of the Northern Sea Route (NSR), is witnessing the rising trend of Indian involvement in cargo traffic.
In the first seven months of 2023, India got the lion’s share with 35% of eight million tonnes of cargo handled by the Murmansk port, which is about 2,000 km northwest of Moscow. India has been showing greater interest regarding the NSR for a variety of reasons.
The vulnerability of the Arctic region, which is above the Arctic Circle and includes the Arctic Ocean with the North Pole at its centre, to unprecedented changes in the climate may have an impact on India in terms of economic security, water security and sustainability.
The region also constitutes the largest unexplored prospective area for hydrocarbons remaining on the Earth. There may also be significant reserves of coal, zinc and silver.
However, the government’s Arctic Policy of 2022 mentions that the country’s approach to economic development of the region is guided by UN Sustainable Development Goals.
News
Means used must be consistent with the ends achieved: CJI on dissolution of Article 370 (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 2, Polity and Constitution)
Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud said the government cannot justify the “means” used to dissolve Article 370 from the Constitution and erase Jammu and Kashmir as a full-fledged State in August 2019 by simply pointing to the “ends” achieved.
The Chief Justice, heading a Constitution Bench, reminded the government that while persuasion, real politic and the genius of Sardar Vallabhai Patel drew 562 princely States to the Union of India, Jammu and Kashmir “bucked the trend” and followed the route of Article 370.
The government began its response in the Article 370 case with Attorney-General R. Venkataramani and Solicitor-General Tushar Mehta taking turns to convince the court that the dissolution was not a “fraud on the Constitution”.
Mr. Venkataramani argued that Jammu and Kashmir had lost all traces of sovereignty the moment it signed the Instrument of Accession with the Government of India in October 1947.
BRICS now a non-western grouping with the induction of six more member nations (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 2, International Organisation)
By doubling its number of members from five to 11 in one quick sweep, the BRICS grouping has strengthened its position as a global grouping to be reckoned with.
In addition, the choice of countries, bringing in four major players from the West Asian region — Egypt, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the UAE — apart from Ethiopia and Argentina from Africa and South America is significant, as it denotes a shift in the non-western economic grouping’s underpinnings, to make it a more politically relevant bloc.
Chief among the messages the BRICS has sent out is that despite misgivings and even mockery of the cohesion in the grouping in the west, it is an attractive club for members of the Global South. BRICS founders chose from 22 countries that formally applied for BRICS membership, and more than 40 in all that have evinced interest in the group.
The message that the summit and the BRICS expansion took place despite the U.S. and Europe’s moves to “isolate” Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, and to push for an ICC international warrant that prevented Russian President Vladimir Putin from travelling to Johannesburg would not be lost on the Western bloc either.
RRR bags six national awards, Gangubai Kathiawadi takes five (Page no. 14)
(Miscellaneous)
S.S. Rajamouli’s blockbuster RRR bagged six awards and Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Gangubai Kathiawadi won in five categories at the 69th National Film Awards for the year 2021 announced.
Rocketry: The Nambi Effect, written, produced, and directed by R. Madhavan, was adjudged the best feature film, while the best male actor award went to Allu Arjun for his performance in the Telugu superhit Pushpa: The Rise-Part 1.
Alia Bhatt and Kriti Sanon shared the best female actor award for Gangubai Kathiawadi and Mimi, respectively.
The Kashmir Files, directed by Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri, was selected for the Nargis Dutt Award for best feature film on national integration.
The Indira Gandhi Award for Best Debut Film of a director went to Meppadiyan, directed by Vishnu Mohan and produced by Unni Mukundan Films. The best director award was bagged by Nikhil Mahajan for the Marathi film Godavari (The Holy Water).
RRR, produced by DVV Entertainments, won in six categories including best popular film providing wholesome entertainment.
Business
Modi seeks level playing field for smaller e-com companies (Page no. 15)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a strong pitch to ensure “equitable” competition between large and small vendors in the e-commerce space and to empower small enterprises to integrate with global supply chains.
Seeking more attention from global policy makers on the needs of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), the Prime Minister pointed out that they accounted for 60% to 70% of employment and 50% of the global gross domestic product (GDP).
Noting that empowering smaller firms translates to societal empowerment, Mr. Modi said that enhancing their participation in global trade and global value chains had been a priority of the Indian G20 presidency.
“The proposed ‘Jaipur Initiative to foster seamless flow of information to MSMEs will address the challenge of inadequate access to market and business-related information faced by MSMEs,” he said.
World
Japan releases water from Fukushima plant (Page no. 16)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
Japan began releasing wastewater from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant into the Pacific Ocean, prompting a furious China to ban all seafood imports from its neighbour.
The start of the discharge of around 540 Olympic swimming pools’ worth of water over several decades is a big step in decommissioning the still highly dangerous site 12 years after one of the world’s worst nuclear accidents.
Japan has repeatedly insisted the wastewater is treated and will be harmless, a position backed by UN atomic watchdog the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
But China has warned the release will contaminate the ocean, and banned all Japanese seafood imports.