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India resumed e-visa services for Canadian citizens on sources told . The move came two months after India suspended all visa facilities for Canadian citizens in the wake of a row triggered by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s remarks on Indian agents being responsible for the June 18 killing of Khalistan Tiger Force chief Hardeep Singh Nijjar in British Columbia.
External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said the situation in Canada had “relatively improved” for the Indian diplomats to perform normal duties.
What had happened was we had temporarily suspended visa issuance because the situation in Canada made it difficult for our diplomats to go to office and do the necessary work for processing visas.
As the situation there has become more secure or relatively improved, I think we have found it possible for the visa services to progressively resume,” he said during an interaction with the media.
Editorial
Listen to the people, not the numbers (Page no. 6)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
The Indian economy has an incomes problem, not a growth problem. Incomes are not growing sufficiently or sustainably for very large numbers of people.
Even though overall GDP growth is good, there is increasing pressure for reservations of jobs for all “economically weaker” sections regardless of caste or religion.
Economists on both sides, for the government and those against it, are debating whether the economy is creating enough jobs and are questioning the veracity of the government’s data.
Those against the government also want to show that the problem of growth with insufficient jobs has been created by the policies of the present government and not the previous one.
They are like Sheikh Chilli, who was looking for his lost keys under the lamp, rather than in the darkness where he lost them. The data is what they can see, but it cannot explain the problem, and will not point to the right solutions.
Opinion
Same-sex couples: A judge to the rescue (Page no. 7)
(GS Paper 2, Social Justice)
Justice Anand Venkatesh of the Madras High Court has innovated yet again. On November 17, 2023, in Sushma vs Commissioner of Police, he tasked the State government with working out a “Deed of Familial Association” which would provide legal status to relationships between same-sex couples and other LGBTQIA+ couples.
This order is truly trendsetting in the light of the recent Supreme Court decision in Supriyo vs Union of India wherein the Supreme Court refused to recognise the right to marry, or even the right to civil unions, of same-sex couples.
While the SC Bench in Supriyo was unanimous, sadly, in holding that there was no fundamental right to marry, there was a difference in the majority and minority opinions when it came to the question of civil unions.
While all the judges paid eloquent lip service to the rights of queer couples, the action was a rather different story. The minority endorsed recognition of a bouquet of entitlements but failed to carry the matter further by spelling out rights and giving focused directions.
The majority wiped out even this timid advance and went into wholesale retreat by abandoning the field and leaving same-sex couples to the mercy of the government and the legislature, whose policy on this matter is clear.
How an avowedly, and loudly, liberal and progressive Court can become so retrograde is a question rich for enquiry.
Text & Context
Haryana’s employment reservation law (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
The Punjab and Haryana High Court on November 17 quashed a law enacted by the Haryana government in 2021 that guaranteed 75% reservation to locals in private sector jobs in Haryana.
A division bench of Justices G. S. Sandhawalia and Harpreet Kaur Jeewan ruled that the Haryana State Employment of Local Candidates Act, 2020, was unconstitutional and violated fundamental rights.
In November 2020, the Haryana Assembly passed the Haryana State Employment of Local Candidates Bill which made it mandatory for employers in the State to reserve 75% of jobs paying a monthly salary of less than ₹30,000 (originally ₹50,000) for local residents of the State.
The Bill received the Governor’s assent on March 2, 2021, and came into effect in January last year. The law is applicable to all private entities in the State including companies, trusts, societies, partnerships, and limited liability partnerships. It also covers any person employing 10 or more persons for the purpose of manufacturing or providing any service.
News
NMC clarifies norms for FMG’s to register, work, study in India (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 2, Health)
The Undergraduate Medical Education Board and the Ethics and Medical Registration Board, National Medical Commission (NMC) issued a clarification, specifying the provisions under which foreign medical graduates, especially students from Ukraine and the Philippines, can register, work, and study in India.
The clarification comes after various problems and representations were received from these graduates.
The NMC has said that those who have completed the medical course in foreign medical institutes (course equivalent to MBBS in India) in the offline mode, with or without one year of internship, and returned to India need to obtain provisional registration from the State Medical Council and thereafter undergo a year’s compulsory rotating medical internship under the CRMI Regulation, 2021.
It has also specified provisions for those who had taken a break in their final year and returned to India (owing to pandemic or war) and completed the course (including examination) in online mode only.
World
‘China may help develop Fiji ports and shipyards’ (Page no. 13)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
China may help Fiji develop its ports and shipyards, the Pacific Island country’s Prime Minister said on Wednesday.
Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka, who has been cautious about China’s expanding security footprint in the Pacific, praised Beijing’s record of aid to Fiji in fighting COVID-19, developing agriculture and revamping infrastructure.
The modernisation of Fiji’s port and shipyards is a “key focus” for sustainable development, Mr. Rabuka told Parliament after meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping last week.
Business
India seeks private money for coal-fired power plants despite Western opposition (Page no. 14)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
India asked private firms to ramp up investments in new coal-fired power plants to meet a dramatic rise in electricity demand and bridge almost 30-gigawatts of additional requirement by 2030, despite international pressure to stop building such facilities.
India’s power and renewable energy minister R. K. Singh in New Delhi asked private companies to invest in coal projects and “not miss the growth opportunity,” according to three sources present in the meeting.
The government meeting with investors comes weeks before the U.N. climate conference, at which France, backed by the U.S., plans to seek a halt to private financing for coal-based power plants, according to a Reuters report.
The private investment share in the Indian power sector started dwindling after 2018, when it was more than, or at par with, government investments. Currently, it stands at 36% of the country’s total installed capacity.
Science
CoP28 turns attention to potent methane emissions (Page no. 20)
(GS Paper 3, Environment)
Climate talks often revolve around reducing the most dangerous greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide (CO2). But other powerful heat-trapping emissions, namely methane, are also likely to be in the crosshairs of negotiators at the crucial CoP28 meeting in Dubai next week.
Potent but relatively short-lived methane is a key target for countries wanting to slash emissions quickly and slow climate change.
That is particularly because large amounts of methane are simply leaking into the atmosphere from fossil fuel infrastructure.
Atmospheric methane (CH4) occurs abundantly in nature as the primary component of natural gas. It is the second largest contributor to climate change, accounting for around 16% of the warming effect.
Methane remains in the atmosphere for only about 10 years, but has a much more powerful warming impact than CO2.