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Better regional connectivity is only possible if members grant each other “full transit rights”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, referring to Pakistan’s refusal to give India transit trade access by land to Afghanistan and Central Asia, at the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Council of Heads of State (CHS).
In a speech that was otherwise free from references to India’s regional issues on terrorism with Pakistan and on territorial sovereignty with China, Mr. Modi called for greater cooperation in the Eurasian region, and pointed to the “unprecedented” energy and food crisis arising from the twin issues of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Ukraine conflict. He also focused on initiatives on manufacturing that India is willing to pilot in the next year, when India assumes the chair of the SCO and hosts the Summit in mid-2023.
SCO has an important role in developing reliable, resilient and diversified supply chains. For this, better connectivity is necessary, but along with that, it is also important that we give each other full transit rights.
Mr. Modi said, speaking at the SCO plenary session that also marked the first time he had shared a forum in person with Chinese President Xi Jinping since the 2020 LAC standoff, as well as with Pakistan’s new Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
While Mr. Modi didn’t exchange words with Mr. Sharif or Mr. Xi at the publicly broadcast sessions, he stood next to Mr. Xi, host Uzbek President Mirziyoyev and Russian President Putin during one of the photo-ops for the SCO and observer and dialogue partners. Later, all the leaders attended a lunch together hosted by Mr. Mirziyoyev, which was closed to media.
Speaking at the SCO meet, Mr. Xi congratulated India for taking over the chair of the grouping and promised “China’s support” to India in hosting the event next year. Significantly, both Mr. Xi and Mr. Sharif referred to the issue of terrorism, and the need to collectively fight the “menace” and “monster”.
Briefing the media, Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra said that Prime Minister Modi also raised the issue of terrorism during the “restricted” meeting between SCO leaders, and that all SCO countries have agreed to prepare a consolidated list of terrorist entities and individuals in their respective countries.
In his speech, Mr. Sharif, who focused on Afghanistan and the flood situation in Pakistan for most part, responded to Mr. Modi’s remarks, calling for a more “structured” SCO approach to connectivity in the region, adding that “if there is connectivity, transit rights will automatically come”.
India has developed Iran’s Chabahar port as an alternative to Pakistan for the land route to Central Asia and Russia. At present, delays by Pakistan have meant that even India’s plan to send 50,000 MT of wheat for Afghanistan by the land route has not been completed over several months, as permissions for the last tranche of 10,000 MT to be transported have not been granted.
Kedarnath temple to get a ‘golden’ makeover (Page no. 1)
(GS Paper 1, Art and Culture)
A Mumbai based businessman will fund the facelift of Kedarnath temple’s sanctum sanctorum, which will now be gold-plated. Currently the sanctum sanctorum of one of the famous Char Dham temple is covered with 230 kilogram of silver.
Ajendra Ajay, chairman shriBadarinath - Kedarnath temple committee told The Hindu that the firm which has done the gold plating of sanctums of the Kashi Vishwanath and many temples in the South India has been given the task of the replacing the silver inside Kedarnath temple’s sanctum with gold plating. The silver plating of the temple was done in 2017.
We have already started removing silver from the sanctum of the temple. Then the copper plates will be placed on the walls and four pillars inside the sanctum.
This will be done to take measurements. Once the measurements will be done, they will replace the same with gold plating.
The work inside the temple began earlier this week will be completed before Deepawali, said the chairman who claimed that the donation of gold made by the businessman is a ‘guptadaan’ (secret donation). The gold plating will be done on walls, pillars and on the shed (chatra) above the deity.
The officials in the Badri-Kedar temple committee said that the secret-donor is a diamond merchant who has not shared what would be the amount of gold he would be donating but has only sought permission from the government to do the gold plating of the temple’s sanctum.
His permission was approved last month and we still don’t know what amount of gold would go in the task. Around 230 kg silver has been removed from the walls of the sanctum so even if it will have a copper base beneath gold, we can expect that atleast half of the gold may go in the process.
Renovation of the 8th century Kedarnath temple, which was at the epicentre of the disaster in 2013, is one of the dream projects of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Over 200 crore has already been collectively spent by the Uttarakhand and Central government on the project that has been going on for a decade now.
Editorial
The consequences of declining fertility are many (Page no. 6)
(GS Paper 2/3, Health/Economy)
Though the global population, in terms of numbers, has been steadily increasing — some reports suggest that it could grow to around 8.5 billion in 2030 — there is an interesting aspect to this: average global fertility has been consistently declining over the past 70 years.
The average number of children per woman in the reproductive age group has declined by 50%, from an average of five children per woman in 1951 to 2.4 children in 2020, according to the World Population Prospects 2022 by the United Nations population estimates and projections, and prepared by the Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat.
This is the result of speeding up the social phenomenon of demographic transition. Poorer countries seem to be speeding up the transition ladder a lot faster than the richer ones. Britain took 130 years to transition from a fertility rate of five per woman in 1800 to two in 1930, whereas South Korea took 20 years from 1965 to 1985 to achieve the same.
The newly released World Population Prospectus notes that the global fertility rate fell from three in 1990 to 2.3 in 2021. Sub-Saharan African countries are expected to contribute more than half the population growth after 2050 and grow through 2100.
Most advanced economies have their fertility rate below the replacement rate of 2.1, with South Korea reporting the lowest at 1.05 children per woman.
The Indian setting is no different, with its fertility rate falling below the replacement level for the first time to 2.0 in 2021, according to the latest National Family Health Survey (NFHS).
The rate has dipped 10% in just five years.
At the time of Independence, India’s fertility rate was six per woman, and it had taken 25 years to reach five, with the government launching the first ever family planning programme in the world in 1952.
India’s fertility further declined to four in the 1990s when Kerala became the first State in India to have a fertility rate below replacement level; slowly, other States followed suit.
As reported by the NFHS 2021, only five States have a fertility rate above the replacement rate: Bihar (3), Meghalaya (2.9), Uttar Pradesh (2.4), Jharkhand (2.3), and Manipur (2.2).
The steady dip in fertility rates has been explained as an effect of increased use of contraception, more years of average schooling, better health care, and an increase in the mean marriage age of women.
Remember Periyar with a pledge to embrace dissent (Page no. 6)
(GS Paper 1, History /Society)
We celebrate Periyar E.V. Ramasamy’s birth anniversary (September 17) as Social Justice Day. At a fundamental level, I consider this a day for recalibrating our vision for a world where social justice and rationality define “the best possible version of truth” for a large majority of people.
Even Periyar would have wanted us to question every concept and framework in the world, and not accept anything, because someone told us so.
He converted interested crowds into keen listeners, listeners into avid thinkers, and thinkers into principled politicians and die-hard activists. Even those who did not enter the political fray tried to understand why he was steadfast about what he stood for.
When he presented his thoughts, there was nuance, honesty, and an explicitness, which prompted even people practising different faiths to discuss and debate his ideas on rationality and religion. Periyar himself said, “Everyone has the right to refute any opinion. But no one has the right to prevent its expression.”
Periyaris often referred to as an iconoclast, for the rebellious nature of his ideas and the vigour with which he acted. His vision for the future was a part of all his actions.
He did not merely aim at the eradication of social evils; he also wanted to put an end to activities that do not collectively raise standards of society. The radical nature of his ideas drew constant opposition.
Here, I would also want to debate some of the concepts propounded by Periyar. It is good that we refer to Periyar as an iconoclast and not an icon, because he would have dismantled that notion of an all-powerful icon himself.
He was one of the pioneering voices against the Kula KalviThittam introduced by the then Chief Minister C. Rajagopalachari. It was not just a political statement; Periyar felt that it would encourage divisions based on caste that might cause irreparable damage to the social fabric.
Kula KalviThittam proposed to impose on schoolchildren a method of education, wherein students would learn their family’s profession as part of the school curriculum.
The proposal led to an uproar in the State led by voices such as Periyar and C.N. Annadurai. It was withdrawn and a message was sent to the wider world that Tamil Nadu stood united when it comes to caste oppression-related issues.
Periyar’s vision was about inclusive growth and freedom of individuals. He was an important ideologue of his day because of the clarity in his political stand.
More importantly, he understood the evolution of political thought and was able to glide through time with this. He presented rationalism as a solid foundation for thinking along these lines. He said, “Wisdom lies in thinking. The spearhead of thinking is rationalism.”
News
SC seeks Centre’s reply on issue of marital rape (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 1, Social Issues)
The Supreme Court, sought a response from the government on appeals to criminalise marital rape.A Bench led by Justice Ajay Rastogi indicated that several similar petitions were also pending in the apex court and they would be listed together for hearing in February next year.
The appeals follow a split decision from the Delhi High Court on whether or not to prosecute husbands for non-consensual sex with their wives.
During the brief hearing, All India Democratic Women's Association, represented by advocate KarunaNundy, said both judges in the Bench in the Delhi High Court had agreed that the case raised a substantial question of law which required an authoritative ruling from the Supreme Court.
The issue focuses on the exception in rape law in the Indian Penal Code which dismisses the idea of rape within marriage. The questions raised include whether or not a married woman has bodily autonomy. In short, whether a husband should accept that his wife's "no means no", and any transgression would amount to rape.
Justice Rajeev Shakdher, the lead judge on the Delhi High Court Bench which delivered a split opinion in May, had favoured striking down the marital rape exception for being "unconstitutional".
He had said it would be "tragic if a married woman's call for justice is not heard even after 162 years" since the enactment of the IPC.
Justice C. Hari Shankar, the other judge on the HC Bench, had however disagreed and said the exception under the rape law was based on an "intelligible differentia".
The petitioners had challenged the constitutionality of the marital rape exception under Section 375 IPC (rape) on grounds that it discriminated against married women who are sexually assaulted by their husbands.
Under the exception given in Section 375 of the IPC, sexual intercourse or sexual acts by a man with his wife, the wife not being minor, is not rape.
Eklavya schools for tribal students get short shrift in teacher recruitments (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 2, Social Justice)
Despite sanctioning the record numbers of Eklavya Model Residential Schools for tribal students since 2014 and setting up of the National Education Society for Tribal Students (NESTS) to manage these schools in 2018, the Ministry of Tribal Affairs has so far been unable to fix the teacher shortage faced across 378 of such schools that are currently functional.
According to the data gathered by the Ministry, just about 4,000 teachers have been appointed across the 378 schools, of which nearly 70 per cent are either contractual teachers or on deputation from state government schools.
According to the guidelines issued to states in 2020 by NESTS, each school had been recommended to have a total of 52 staffers, of which 30 were meant to be teaching positions (1 Principal, 1 Vice-Principal, 12 Post-Graduate Teachers, 12 Trained Graduate Teachers, 1 Arts teacher, 1 Music teacher, and 2 Physical Education teachers). This would mean that 378 schools would have a total of 11,340 teachers.
Officials said that the structure under which the NESTS was set up in 2018, had made it difficult for it to monitor and enforce its own recommendations to the schools as far as teacher recruitment was concerned.
After the NESTS was set up, the State Education Societies for Tribal Students (SESTS) were also set up, which would receive the funding from the Ministry and allocate it accordingly.
The guidelines said that while NESTS would be responsible for recommending the syllabi, the school and hostel standards, and the teacher recruitment guidelines, the SESTSs would be in charge of implementing these guidelines with room for local modifications in each of these areas.
The guidelines never mandated that the state societies must follow our recommendations, which were made considering the minimum requirements to maintain a standard education quality and uniformity across schools.
Officials added the Ministry had found that leaving the teacher recruitment to the states was leading to a non-uniformity in the quality of teachers, not enough recruitment happening in reserved positions, and a large number of schools recruiting teachers contractually, in a bid to save on the salary expenses, which was resulting in large gaps in the salaries of teachers working at the same level, discouraging many qualified teachers from even applying.
These are the same problems that the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Research and Training Institute in Odisha had identified at EMRSs in an official report in 2015.
World
Sri Lanka set to revive and upgrade FTA with India: Ranil (Page no. 11)
(GS Paper 2, International Relations)
Sri Lanka will revive its Free Trade Agreement with India and upgrade it to a “a comprehensive economic and technological partnership”, President RanilWickremesinghe has said, signalling Colombo’s willingness to revisit a stalled pact.
Addressing the Sri Lanka India Society, Mr. Wickremesinghe said his government would take steps for better trade integration with India.
“We will revive and upgrade the Free Trade Agreement into a comprehensive economic and technological partnership. We started that in 2018 and 2019,” he said referring to the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) that was later known as the Economic and Technical Cooperation Agreement (ETCA).
Both versions of the proposed agreement sparked stiff resistance within Sri Lanka, as critics feared it would impact Sri Lankans’ job prospects with more competition from Indians.
We look forward to trade integration in many areas with the RCEP [the China-led Regional Cooperation Economic Partnership], with the EU, but the cornerstone of this is to achieve trade integration with India.
The current Indo-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement (ISFTA) came into effect in 2000 and several rounds of bilateral discussions later, Colombo and New Delhi are yet to reach an agreement on its upgraded version.
Mr. Wickremesinghe, as Prime Minister between 2015 and 2019, attempted to sign an upgraded trade pact with India, but was unsuccessful.
Mr. Wickremesinghe reiterated that his government is looking into India’s bilateral development cooperation projects in Sri Lanka and set up an international trade office for negotiations. The “slow” pace of the projects has remained a concern for New Delhi.
Speaking of areas with potential for bilateral cooperation, Mr. Wickremesinghe referred to the “long-term energy solution”, the power grid connection between India and Sri Lanka, offshore wind energy, the solar power plant at Sampur and the renewable energy projects on three islands of Jaffna Peninsula. “We have a tremendous scope of potential renewable energy, and India has stepped in first,” he said.
Citing the Trincomalee Oil Tank Farm project, being developed with Indian assistance, as having “big potential”, President Wickremesinghe said Sri Lanka would further develop itself as a logistics hub.
Together with India, Adani Group has already taken over part of the West terminal [at the Colombo Port,” he said, underscoring the scope for private investment both ways.
Business
FM urges banks to use tech to detect fraud, warning signals (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Technology)
Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman asked banks to be more digital savvy and give immediate priority to use Web3 and Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology in fraud detection and to generate early warning signs in an unforeseen event.
She was addressing the 75th Annual General Meeting of Indian Banks' Association in Mumbai."Use of Web3, data analysis, Artificial Intelligence, deep dive into data - all of these should have some coordination by the IBA.
Leveraging Web3 and AI should be an immediate priority for the banks, especially in fraud detection and generating early warning signs about something going wrong.
The Minister said that such technologies also bring in benefits such as detecting fraud, tracking of money, detecting unusual transactions and alerting financial institutions and the government in case of suspicious changes.
Nudging banks to appoint staff who must speak the local language, she said, "Show inclusivity in your staff, in the way you speak to your customers.
When you have staff who do not talk the regional language and who demand citizens to speak in a particular language, you have a problem."
Please review the people getting posted at branches, people who cannot speak the local language should not be assigned to roles dealing with customers. You must have a lot more sensible ways of recruiting people.She pointed out to an incident when a bank official told a customer that he did not understand Hindi.
Stressing the need for professionalism, the Finance Minister said, "As we move towards greater professionalism of banks, we should realise the need for banks to stand up on their own and raise their own capital.
“No fraudulent account will be left without being taken to the court, fraudsters have no place in their country, banks will not suffer for money taken away by fraudsters," she said.
She also pointed out the importance of technology upgradation of Regional Rural Banks. “RRBs need a lot more assistance in digitalisation, sponsoring banks need to give more attention to RRBs, including in bringing them to Account Aggregator Framework and in disbursal of agricultural credit.”