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China’s Foreign Ministry announced on Monday that President Xi Jinping will for the first time skip a G-20 summit, with the Chinese Premier and second-ranked leader Li Qiang instead deputed to attend the September 9-10 meet in New Delhi.
No reasons have been given for Mr. Xi skipping the summit, a key annual diplomatic event that China has usually placed special emphasis on, viewing it as an important platform to shape the global order and exert its rising clout.
Mr. Xi only recently attended the BRICS summit in South Africa on August 24, when he hailed the decision to expand the grouping. Mr. Xi and Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not have a formal bilateral meeting in South Africa but had an informal conversation on the sidelines, when they discussed the as yet unresolved crisis along the Line of Actual Control.
As the world economy experiences more downward pressure and challenges grow for global sustainable development, it is important that the G-20, being the premier forum for international economic cooperation, strengthen partnership and rise up to the big challenges facing global economy and development so as to contribute to world economic recovery and growth and global sustainable development.
Editorial
A ‘distraction’ balloon in the winds of federalism (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 2, Polity and Constitution)
The ‘one nation one election’ proposal mooted yet again by the Narendra Modi government is deeply flawed. The reasons for the proposal are fallacious.
The idea is unimplementable. It is nothing but a ‘distraction’ balloon floated to tide over the negative headlines about the Prime Minister’s cronyism and the Chinese President Xi Jinping’s snub to the G-20 summit.
The government argues that India is in a ‘permanent campaign’, to borrow the words of the American political commentator Sidney Blumenthal. India has had either a State or a national election every year for the last 36 years.
This devours enormous financial resources and efforts, and the time of the government and political parties is the seeming concern.
An election held constantly in some part of the country with a ‘model code of conduct’ distracts from governance and leads to policy paralysis. This is the essence of the opening argument in the notification issued a few days ago to constitute a panel to study a ‘one nation one election’.
Except ‘India’ does not have an election every year, one of India’s States does. There is a fundamental difference between the two.
When there is an election in say Bengal, with the Trinamool Congress, the Congress, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Left contesting, a Tamil Nadu governed by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam or the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam is not impacted.
An election in Assam with a model code of conduct does not stop road projects or ‘development’ in Gujarat. So, when there are elections in a few States, ‘India’ is not in an election mode; some of India’s States are.
All of India’s major political parties are not in an election mode, only some are. It is important to not conflate the two, since this notion is the basis for all arguments used to propagate the ‘one election’ idea.
Emerging countries need women-led climate action (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 1, Social Issues)
“Gender equality and environmental goals are mutually reinforcing and create a virtuous circle that will help accelerate the achievement of the SDGs [Sustainable Development Goals]” (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2021)
The impact of climate change is one that has profound consequences for humans and has emerged as one of the biggest global challenges in recent decades.
The effects of climate change vary according to location, socioeconomic status, and gender. An International Labour Organization study (2019) said that “…in 2030, 2.2 percent of total working hours worldwide will be lost to high temperatures, a productivity loss equivalent to 80 million full-time jobs”.
The United Nations (2009) highlighted that across genders, women are considered to be highly vulnerable and disproportionately affected by climate change than men to the impact of climate change.
In addition, women across the world face severe risks to their health, safety, and quality of life. However, women in developing and less developed countries (especially in low-income areas) are more vulnerable to climate change because of their dependence on natural resources and labour-intensive work for their livelihood.
Women are more likely to live in poverty than men, which is just one of several social, economic, and cultural variables that makes them more susceptible to the effects of climate change.
Women from low-income households are more at risk because they are more responsible for food, water, and other homely unpaid work.
Opinion
25% PMUY customers took no cylinder refill or just one last year (Page no. 9)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
One out of every four beneficiaries of the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY), a scheme that aims to make LPG gas cylinders available to rural and deprived households, either did not take any cylinders during 2022-2023 or took just one refill.
The spike in LPG cylinder prices made them an expensive proposition even for subsidised households; rates have almost doubled since 2018, reaching ₹903 a cylinder in March 2023 even after a subsidy of ₹200 per cylinder was offered to PMUY beneficiaries in May 2022.
One in nine PMUY beneficiaries, or over 1.18 crore households, bought no refill cylinders at all last year. Another 1.51 crore beneficiaries bought only one refill cylinder, according to data from three major gas companies — Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) — obtained via multiple Right to Information queries.
Between January 2018 and March 2023, there was an 82% spike in the rate of subsidised LPG cylinders. In January 2018, a PMUY household could purchase a subsidised cylinder for ₹495.64; by March 2023, the same cylinder cost ₹903.
Factoring in the additional subsidy of ₹200 for the 14.2 kg LPG cylinders for all consumers, announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi this week, this cylinder will now cost ₹703.
A non-subsidised LPG cylinder of 14.2 kg cost ₹741 in January 2018. By March 2023, the price of the cylinder had increased by 49% to ₹1,103. As the recent ₹200 subsidy is applicable for all consumers, the LPG cylinder for non-PMUY households will now cost ₹903.
Text & Context
Aditya L1: its functioning and purpose (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Technology)
Usually when we huddle near a fire, we feel warm and as we move away, that warmth is reduced. But surprisingly the sun and its atmosphere don’t follow this rule.
Made up of a soup of positively charged protons, negatively charged electrons and other ions mixed with the solar magnetic field, extending somewhere between 10 and 20 solar radii from the surface of the Sun, the solar corona, the atmosphere of the Sun is an enigma.
While the surface of the Sun is 5,600 degrees, the corona, interestingly, is about two million degrees. “We have some idea of why it is so, but the problem is not fully resolved,” says Dipankar Banerjee, Director of Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES).
Observations from Adtiya L1 will help us understand the dynamics of the Sun and how solar variability impacts the climate on Earth and affects the space weather.
Discovered by mathematician Joseph Louis Lagrange, L1 is one of the five points located approximately 1.5 million kilometres away, where the gravitational forces of the Sun and the Earth are in equilibrium.
Hence, a spacecraft placed at L1 orbits the Sun at the same rate as Earth and affords an uninterrupted view of the Sun, making it an ideal observation post for space-based solar observatories.
The L1 is currently home to the European Space Agency (ESA)- National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) observing the Sun and its dynamics. Aditya L1 will join this observatory to unravel the mysteries of the dynamics of the Sun.
Launched on September 2, the craft will undergo five orbit-raising manoeuvres before being slingshot to the L1 point. The ship will coast for about four months before it reaches L1. At that stage, the thrusters will be fired to make the craft circle around the L1, placing it in what is known as a halo orbit around L1.
From this vantage point, Aditya L1 can observe the Sun 24X7 using its four remote sensing payloads, and measure in-situ the various parameters of space weather.
News
Navy brings out maritime infrastructure road map (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 3, Defence)
Minister of State for Defence Ajay Bhatt released the Maritime Infrastructure Perspective Plan (MIPP), 2023-37 at the second edition of the biennial Naval Commanders Conference, which commenced on Monday. Also released were the Indian Register for Shipping (IRS) rules and regulations handbook, family logbook, and electronic service document project
The MIPP aims to synchronise and enmesh the infrastructure requirements of the Navy, over the next 15 years, through a comprehensive perspective plan model.
The Plan Document is aligned with the government’s vision on creation of sustainable infrastructure, and encompasses salients for compliance with broader policy directives on PM Gati Shakti project, disaster resilience, transition to net zero, among others.
The IRS Rules and Regulations Handbook for construction and classification of Naval combatants has been revised since the previous 2015 edition to cater for technological advancements and Aatmanirbharta, the Navy said.
Vikram lander does a hop, goes to sleep; goodnight till Sept. 22 (Page no. 14)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Technology)
After Chandrayaan-3’s rover Pragyan, its lander, Vikram, has been put into sleep mode. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said that it had put Vikram into sleep mode around 8 a.m.
Hours before, the ISRO said, Vikram had achieved another significant milestone as it successfully undertook a hop experiment, elevating itself by about 40 cm as expected and landing safely at a distance of 30 cm to 40 cm. This “kick-start” enthuses future sample return and human missions, it said.
Before sleep mode was activated, ChaSTE, RAMBHA-LP and ILSA payloads on the lander did in situ experiments at the new location.
The data collected were received back on earth. Payloads were now switched off. Lander receivers were kept on. The space organisation said that Pragyan had completed its assignments and it had been safely parked and set into sleep mode.
The ISRO had said that Vikram would fall asleep next to Pragyan once solar power was depleted and battery drained. The agency was hoping that it would wake up Vikram and Pragyan on September 22. Hoping for their awakening, around September 22, 2023.
The lander and the rover, with a mission life of one lunar day (14 earth days), have scientific payloads to carry out experiments on the lunar surface. The lander and the rover will stay on the moon for 14 days until they get sunlight.
World
No deal until West meets Moscow’s demands: Putin (Page no. 15)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
Russian President Vladimir Putin said that a landmark deal that allowed Ukraine to export grain safely through the Black Sea amid the war won’t be restored until the West meets Moscow’s demands on its own agricultural exports.
Mr. Putin’s remarks dashed hopes that his talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan could revive the agreement, seen as vital for global food supplies, especially in Africa, West Asia and the rest of Asia.
Russia refused to extend the deal in July, complaining that a parallel agreement promising to remove obstacles to Russian exports of food and fertilizer hadn’t been honored.
It said restrictions on shipping and insurance hampered its agricultural trade, though it has shipped record amounts of wheat since last year.
Mr. Putin reiterated those complaints on Monday, while saying that if those commitments were honored, Russia could return to the deal “within days.”
Mr. Erdogan also expressed hope that a breakthrough could come soon. He said Turkey and the UN — which both brokered the original deal — have put together a new package of proposals to unblock the issue.
A lot is riding on the negotiation. Ukraine and Russia are major suppliers of wheat, barley, sunflower oil and other goods that developing nations rely on.
Gabon’s coup leader moots amnesty for dissenters, ‘free’ polls (Page no. 15)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
Gabon’s coup leader vowed after being sworn in as interim President to restore civilian rule through “free, transparent and credible elections” after a transition and amnesty prisoners of conscience.
In a speech after taking the oath of office, General Brice Oligui Nguema said the elections would be the stepping stone to “handing power back to the civilians,” although he did not give a timeline.
Mr. Oligui said he was seeking the participation of all of Gabon’s “core groups” to draft a new Constitution, which “will be adopted by referendum.”
He also said he would be instructing “the future government... to consider ways of amnestying prisoners of conscience” and “facilitating the return of all exiles” from abroad.
Mr. Oligui, 48, who is head of the elite Republican Guard, led a coup that brought the curtain down on 55 years of dynastic rule by President Ali Bongo Ondimba and his father Omar, who died in 2009.
Business
CBDCs can make payments across borders efficient: Das (Page no. 16)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das said that high cost, low speed, limited access and insufficient transparency remained key challenges to existing cross-border payments, and that adoption of the Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) can make such payments efficient.
“Faster, cheaper, more transparent, and more inclusive cross-border payment services would deliver widespread benefits to people ,” he said in his keynote address at the G20 TechSprint Finale 2023.
With its instant settlement feature, I believe, CBDCs can play an important role in making cross-border payments cheaper, faster and more secure.
He added that the use of local currencies in cross-border payments could help to shield emerging market currencies from global shocks, protect against exchange rate fluctuations and encourage the development of local forex and capital markets.
As all of us are starting on a clean slate on the CBDC front, the adoption of the right technology platform, which is inter-operable, would be a great benefit to the future of cross-border payments ecosystem.
India may add 7 lakh gig jobs by November: TeamLease (Page no. 9)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
India’s e-commerce, retail, FMCG and logistics sectors are expected to hire seven lakh gig workers by November, according to a hiring-outlook report shared by TeamLease Services, a staffing solutions provider.
At least some four lakh of the gig jobs would be added in South India with most of the demand expected from Bengaluru (40%), Chennai (30%) and Hyderabad (30%), TeamLease forecast.
The trend overall was expected to be strong across tier-2 and tier-3 cities while most of these jobs would be in the areas of warehouse operations (30%), last-mile delivery personnel (60%) and call-centre operators (10%).
Over the last quarter, several prominent e-commerce players have announced bullish plans for this festive season. The positive growth synergy in the sector is influenced by the shift in the consumer demographic, government’s push towards Make in India, FDI and other initiatives and increased digitisation.
Compared with last year, TeamLease was anticipating a 25% increase in gig jobs pan India, while being frontrunner, South’s hiring would rise by 30% compared with the last year.
Meanwhile, Flipkart said it would create 1 lakh new job opportunities,ahead of the ‘Big Billion Days’ andfestive season, across its supply chain.