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The G-20, under the Indian Presidency, should convene virtually towards November-end to take stock of the progress made on the proposals received during the September 9-10 summit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said.
Mr. Modi handed over the ceremonial gavel to Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva, initiating the process of transition of the President’s Chair for the next round of the G-20 in Brazil.
“In these two days, all of you have put forth many things, given suggestions, that have come forward, to see how their progress can be accelerated.
I propose that we hold another virtual session of the G-20 Summit at the end of November,” Mr. Modi said expressing hope that the goals of the G-20 will be further advanced during the upcoming Presidency of Brazil. The virtual meeting will be held at the end of the Indian Presidency in November.
The Delhi summit witnessed a high point with the admission of the African Union as a new G-20 member. This was followed by a personal announcement by Prime Minister Modi on the “Joint Declaration” of the summit which was adopted through consensus overcoming sharp differences among members regarding the Ukraine crisis.
Soon after he declared the end of the summit, Mr. Modi held a series of meetings with visiting leaders that included German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, President Lula Da Silva, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol.
Editorial
The larger project of subverting the idea of India (Page no. 6)
(GS Paper 2, Governance)
It would be dangerous to dismiss the fresh impetus to introduce “simultaneous” elections to the Lok Sabha and the State Assemblies as yet another gimmick in the run-up to the next general election scheduled for 2024.
While several committees since 1999 have examined the proposal, the push to introduce and make permanent simultaneous polls once every five years has come over the past decade, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi often speaking about its desirability.
This, however, is perhaps the first time that a high-level committee is headed by a former President of India, a most unusual appointment that is meant to impose a stamp of legitimacy on the recommendation.
Of all the “One India” decisions taken by the Union Government since 2014, this proposal is the most important. If carried through, it will further centralise power in New Delhi, strengthen the hold of national parties when in office, and reduce the importance of regional parties. This is the immediate political purpose behind putting in place and codifying a system of simultaneous polls.
The idea is being sold under the garb of saving expenditure and avoiding the disruption of administration during elections.
The argument that elections somewhere in the country throughout the year disrupt ‘hard work and good governance’ and are an expense we can ill-afford is a simplistic one.
It yet appeals to a section of an electorate that is unhappy with bureaucratic and insensitive governance.
Opinion
Redouble efforts to reduce disaster risks (Page no. 7)
(GS Paper 3, Environment)
As leaders underscored at the G20 summit in New Delhi yesterday, ahead of the United Nations General Assembly SDG (Sustainable Development Goals) summit in New York next week, the world stands at a critical juncture.
Risks are being created faster than they are being reduced. The aftershocks of the COVID-19 pandemic, combined with a polycrisis of war, debt, and food insecurity, are putting our collective ability to cope to the test.
And all against the backdrop of the climate crisis, driving the extreme weather events that are occurring more frequently and with greater intensity.
The rise in disasters is a trend, not an aberration. Headlines this year alone have brought a relentless wave of bad news across the world, from severe flooding in China to destructive wildfires in Europe and Hawaii to the hottest month ever on record in July. This is set to become the new normal if more action isn’t taken.
And perversely, it is the most vulnerable countries and communities which are paying the greatest price despite having contributed least to the problem. The majority of the 50 countries most vulnerable to climate change also suffer from severe debt issues.
India, already among the world’s most disaster-prone countries, is experiencing this new reality acutely. In 2022, the country was battered by disasters or extreme weather nearly every day, while this year’s severe monsoon has caused widespread loss of livelihood and lives.
Yet, there is also good news. First, we have the solutions for both adaptation and mitigation at hand. The SDGs remain our best blueprint for peace and prosperity, together with commitments made in Paris to limit global warming to 1.5°C, and the global framework for reducing disaster risks — the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction. Eight years into the implementation of the Sendai Framework, progress is severely lacking. However, in May this year, UN member states committed to accelerate resilience building with renewed urgency.
G20 Summit
Russian FM praises India for summit statement success (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
Praising the New Delhi Declaration as a “milestone” for the G-20 process, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the summit hosted by India had prevented Western countries from making the Ukraine conflict the centre point of its agenda.
While Mr. Lavrov denied any change to military and technical supplies to India due to the conflict, including the delivery of S-400 missile systems to India, he said that India has promised Russia new avenues of investment so that the “billions of rupees” now lying in trade surpluses with India can be utilised.
He said India had been instrumental in achieving a “fair” outcome at the summit, and presented the summit statement as a diplomatic win for Russia.
The text doesn’t mention Russia at all,” Mr. Lavrov said, adding that the “Ukrainian crisis is mentioned but only in the context of the need to settle all conflicts in the world in accordance with the UN Charter”.
In the eight paragraphs on geopolitical issues in the New Delhi Declaration issued on Saturday, the only direct mentions of Russia are with regard to reviving the Black Sea Grain Initiative, a major shift from the Bali G-20 statement where Russia’s actions in Ukraine were severely criticised. Mr. Lavrov said that he had not expected the outcome, but seemed clearly pleased with it.
In a press conference full of barbs about the G-7 and EU, which he repeatedly referred to as “the West”, Mr. Lavrov said that all G-20 declarations need a compromise. “It is good that Western countries agreed to compromise.
G-7 nations, Turkey defend ‘climbdown’ on Ukraine to clinch Delhi Declaration (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
A day after G-20 leaders adopted the Delhi Declaration with significantly “watered-down” language on Russia which the Western media called as a “sellout” by the G-7 and “eye opening departure” from Bali and as Ukraine slammed the outcome, G-7 countries mounted a defence that the language against Russia was not weakened but was something needed to obtain consensus for G-20.
We believed that it is a declaration to be proud of and so we put our signatures,” said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at a press conference responding to a question on Ukrainian Foreign Ministry stating that the Delhi declaration has “nothing to be proud of”.
Referring to the “war in Ukraine”, the Delhi Declaration adopted on Saturday called for a “just and durable peace in Ukraine”, and said “there were different views and assessments of the situation.”
We highlighted the human suffering and negative added impacts of the war in Ukraine with regard to global food and energy security, supply chains, macro-financial stability, inflation and growth.
Speaking on this at a press conference, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that if it was just up to him, the statement would have been much stronger particularly on Ukraine while if it had been just up to other countries around the table it would have been much weaker particularly on Ukraine.
The G-20 is an extremely disparate group and we worked very hard to get as strong language as we possibly could into the statement.
Any grain initiative that isolates Russia is bound to fail: Erdogan (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
Any initiative that isolates Russia in the Black Sea Grain Initiative is bound to fail, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, while Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Moscow would return to the “collective implementation” of the grain deal “the same day” its conditions for the export of its grain and fertilizers to the global markets are met.
We believe that any initiative that isolates Russia is bound to fail. Its success is a very little possibility. We believe that any step that may escalate the tensions in the Black Sea should be avoided.
Mr. Erdogan said at a press conference here. He said representatives of Russia, Ukraine and the United Nations would meet very soon on this issue.
Giving details of the initiative, Mr. Erdogan said that 33 million tonnes of grain had been exported by Russia through the Black Sea corridor so far. “Fact is, out of this, 33% was bought by the West, 14% came to us, and a smaller amount went to Africa.
Mr. Erdogan said Russian President Vladimir Putin insisted that the West had not kept the promises it made to Moscow.
Mr. Putin says Russia can possibly give the grain free of charge, turn it into flour, join hands with Qatar and give it to poor African countries.
Japan keen to deepen military ties with India, says Kishida (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
Japan sees India as an “indispensable” partner in the Indo-Pacific and is keen to develop deeper defence cooperation to ensure maritime security in the region, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said.
Our Self-Defence Forces and the Indian Armed Forces have already conducted joint exercises this year between all services of land, sea and air. Our cooperative relationship is deepening steadily.
For example, as we did last year, our maritime Self-Defence Forces and the Indian Navy engaged in joint exercises this July and the Japan-Australia-India-U.S. Quad joint drill Malabar was also held on a continuous basis.
So, going forward, to ensure the Indo-Pacific will not be a region that will be decided by force, and will be a region that values freedom and rule of law, we will continue active defence cooperation and exchanges with India.
Mr. Kishida stressed that Japan’s FOIP was “an inclusive and open concept and has no specific country in mind.
At the same time, he described “an increasingly harsh security environment in the region”, and said Japan was “opposed to unilateral changes to the status quo in East and South China Seas”, and also “firmly condemned North Korea’s missile activities”.
“The FOIP that Japan is promoting is a concept to uphold and reinforce a free and open international order based on rule of law in the Indo-Pacific region.
And by doing so we aim to ensure peace and stability and prosperity in the entire region and ultimately across the world. That is the vision.”
Ukraine not a ‘wedge issue’ between West and Global South at G-20, says Biden (Page no. 9)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
U.S. President Joe Biden on Sunday attributed the absence of criticism of Russia for its invasion on Ukraine to gaps in positions between Russia, China and the G-20.
Specifically, Mr. Biden said the Russia-Ukraine war was not a “wedge issue” between the Global South and the U.S. or the West.
Speaking at a press conference in Hanoi, Vietnam, shortly after the conclusion of his whirlwind trip to New Delhi for the G-20 Summit, visibly exhausted Mr. Biden was questioned on the language describing the war in Ukraine in the New Delhi declaration.
The document did not name Russia directly or call it out for the invasion of Ukraine, unlike the G-20 Bali declaration from 2022.
It’s not a wedge issue with the Global South, it’s a wedge issue with Russia which is present and with China, which is present.
Mr. Biden said there was “sufficient” agreement at the G-20 on the need for a “just and lasting peace that upholds the principles of the UN Charter and respect sovereignty and territorial integrity”.
Thanking Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his hospitality in New Delhi, Mr. Biden said that he had held substantial discussions with Mr. Modi on continuing to strengthen the India-U.S. relationship, building on the Prime Minister’s June state visit to Washington DC.
And as I always do, I raised the importance of respecting human rights and the vital role of civil society and a free press have in building a strong and prosperous country with Mr. Modi.
Text & Context
On the crime of ‘false promise to marry’ (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 2, Governance)
If a man promises to marry a woman but never intends to, and still has ‘consensual’ sex with her, it will amount to a criminal offence under Section 69 of the proposed Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023.
The Bill, which seeks to replace the Indian Penal Code (IPC), 1860, identifies ‘sexual intercourse on false promise of marriage’ as an offence.
At present, the offence is not carved out separately in the IPC, but courts have dealt with similar cases through other provisions within the criminal law framework.
Chapter 5 of the Bill, titled “Offences against woman and children” describes ‘sexual intercourse by employing deceitful means etc.’
Section 69 creates two violations: one by deceitful means, and one by a ‘false promise to marry.’ Deceitful means will include the “false promise of employment or promotion, inducement or marrying after suppressing identity.”
The false promise to marry will be attracted only when a man makes a promise to marry a woman, with the intention of breaking it, for the purpose of getting her consent and sexually exploiting her. Both offences will extract a penalty of up to ten years of imprisonment.
While introducing the Bills, Home Minister Amit Shah said, “crime against women and many social problems faced by them have been addressed in this Bill.
For the first time, intercourse with women under the false promise of marriage, employment, promotion and false identity will amount to a crime.”
In 2016, a quarter of the total rape cases registered in Delhi pertained to sex under ‘false promise of marriage’, as per Delhi Police data.
The National Crime Records Bureau in the same year recorded 10,068 similar cases of rape by “known persons on a promise to marry the victim” (the number was 7,655 in 2015).
News
As G-20 plans to explore crypto regulation, India may wait to firm up domestic laws (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
With the G-20 countries agreeing to explore a coordinated regulatory framework for crypto assets, India could wait a while longer before firming up its domestic regulations for cryptocurrencies, and initiate a dialogue with stakeholders on the way forward.
An outright ban on cryptocurrencies that was mooted by the Reserve Bank of India, and under consideration by the government, is likely off the cards, a senior government official indicated.
Earlier, India was contemplating a ban on it. A lot of conversation happened. In late 2021, there was a lot of interest in cryptocurrencies, a lot of people were buying it and even advertisements were coming in IPL matches, which we felt was not on,” the official recalled.
When we went deeper into regulating it, we realised one country alone cannot do it. Unless we get into monitoring and controlling every device on the Internet, which is not the kind of regulation we want in India. So whatever we do, all along this thought has been there to build a global consensus.
The G-20 leaders’ declaration has endorsed the Financial Stability Board (FSB) recommendations to regulate and supervise crypto-assets’ activities.
It welcomed a synthesis paper from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the FSB, which includes a road map for a coordinated regulatory framework that factors in risks, including those specific to emerging markets, and pertaining to money laundering and terror financing.
The G-20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors will discuss taking forward this road map at a meeting in Marrakesh next month.
Aditya L1 completes another step in its journey towards sun (Page no. 14)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Technology)
The third earth-bound manoeuvre of the Aditya L-1 spacecraft, India’s first space-based mission to study the sun, was successfully performed in the early hours.
The manoeuvre was carried out by the Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) in Bengaluru. “The third Earth-bound manoeuvre (EBN#3) is performed successfully from ISTRAC, Bengaluru.
ISRO’s ground stations at Mauritius, Bengaluru, SDSC-SHAR and Port Blair tracked the satellite during this operation,” the ISRO posted on X.
The new orbit attained is 296 km x 71767 km, the space agency said. Two more manoeuvres are scheduled to take place. “The next manoeuvre (EBN#4) is scheduled for September 15, 2023.
After the final manoeuvre on September 18, Aditya-L1 will undergo a Trans-Lagrangian1 insertion manoeuvre, marking the beginning of its 110-day trajectory to the destination around the L1 Lagrange point.
Upon arrival at the L1 point, another manoeuvre will bind Aditya-L1 to an orbit around L1, a balanced gravitational location between the earth and the sun.
Aditya-L1 will stay approximately 1.5 million km away from earth, directed towards the sun, which is about 1% of the earth-sun distance.
World
Biden assures Xi that Quad is not about isolating China (Page no. 15)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
U.S. President Joe Biden rejected the notion that he was seeking to isolate China or engage in a cold war. Speaking from Hanoi, Vietnam, Mr. Biden said he had told Chinese President Xi Jinping that the Quad grouping (India, the U.S., Australia and Japan) was not about containing China but about stability in the region.
Addressing a press conference in Hanoi, hours after his departure from the G-20 Summit in New Delhi, Mr. Biden said Mr. Xi had asked him about why the Quad was coming together.
Mr. Biden made repeated references to China’s economic problems including specifically pointing to difficulties in its real estate sector, and “overwhelming” youth unemployment.
However, Mr. Biden said he was not going to sell China materials that would aid it in making nuclear weapons or engage in “defensive” (military) activities that are counter to the region’s development.
Responding to a question, Mr. Biden said he did not believe that China’s economic difficulties would make Beijing more aggressive militarily, especially towards Taiwan.
And so I don’t think it’s going to cause China to invade Taiwan. And matter of fact, the opposite,” he said suggesting that Beijing would have decreased capacity for such an attack.
Mr. Biden also pushed back against Beijing’s characterisation that he had “cold war mentality”. Citing the recently announced India Middle East Europe Economic Corridor, Mr. Biden said it was focussed on economic growth and had nothing to do with hurting China or helping it.