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India and China held the 17th round of Corps Commander-level talks on December 20, at the Chushul-Moldo border meeting point on the Chinese side, during which they agreed to continue dialogue through military and diplomatic channels and work out a “mutually acceptable resolution of the remaining issues at the earliest,” the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Thursday.
The talks — which were not announced ahead of time, unlike in the past — came 10 days after soldiers of the two armies clashed at the Yangtse area in the Tawang sector of Arunachal Pradesh, resulting in injuries on both sides.
Building on the progress made after the last meeting on July 17, 2022, the two sides exchanged views on the resolution of the relevant issues along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the western sector in an “open and constructive manner,” said an MEA statement.
They had a frank and in-depth discussion, keeping in line with the guidance provided by the State Leaders to work for the resolution of the remaining issues at the earliest which would help in restoration of peace and tranquility along the LAC in the Western Sector and enable progress in bilateral relations. In the interim, the two sides agreed to maintain the security and stability on the ground in the Western Sector.
Since the standoff began in May 2020, the two sides have so far held 16 rounds of talks. Both sides disengaged from Pangong Tso in February 2021, from patrolling point 17 in the Gogra-Hot Springs area in August 2021 and from patrolling point 15 in early November. This is in addition to the disengagement from Galwan in 2020 after the violent clash there.
Last month, Army Chief General Manoj Pande said that the situation along the LAC is “stable but unpredictable”, adding that five out of the seven friction points have been resolved, with the focus now on the remaining two points.
Infrastructure development is going on “unabated”, he stated, noting that there are roads, helipads and airfields being built right upto the passes.
States
Kerala govt. publishes map for people to seek exemption from ESZ (Page no. 7)
(GS Paper 3, Environmental Pollution & Degradation)
The Kerala government has published a forest department map that details human habitation, buildings and farmlands on the periphery of 22 protected forests spanning 115 densely populated villages in the State.
The government claims the map better reflects the block and plot-wise details of domiciliation in localities that could potentially fall under the Supreme Court-suggested one-km ecologically sensitive buffer zone (ESZ) around forests if imposed.
It said the map would serve as a benchmark for people living on the outer edge of forests to inform the government whether the authorities have overlooked their domains or erroneously included them as falling under ESZ in Kerala’s final report to the SC for the exemption of human habitats from the intended zone.
The Forest department map purportedly includes more details than the satellite mapping conducted at the SC’s behest by the Kerala State Remote Sensing and Environment Centre. The granular database incorporates survey numbers and detailed location maps.
The Forest department has colour coded the map for clarity. It has marked forests (green,) proposed buffer zone (pink), panchayats (black), commercial buildings (red), religious places of worship (yellow), educational institutions (blue) and residential areas (violet).
The government has moved for micro-level detailing of forest fringes to bolster its case in the SC for the total exemption of human habitats in Kerala from the proposed buffer zone.
It has also constituted an expert committee under the chairmanship of the Former Chief Justice of the West Bengal High Court, Thottathil. B. Radhakrishnan, to conduct field studies and record the details of houses, commercial establishments and other structures in the suggested ESZ. (The public can petition the committee online at sezexpertcommittee@gmail.com).
The government has urged people to flag their complaints to the concerned authorities before the January 7 deadline. The SC has scheduled Kerala’s case against ESZ imposition in mid-January.
The SC suggested the establishment of a buffer zone to lessen the human impact on protected forests. However, it accorded States the right to seek relief from the ESZ by quantifying human habitation and development abutting forests as proof of overwhelming public interest.
Editorial
Reshaping the world’s responses to the terror matrix (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 3, Internal Security)
The world has been witnessing a flurry of meetings and conferences on the issue of countering terrorism worldwide. The list resembles an alphabetic soup, viz., meetings of the United Nations Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee, the No Money for Terror Conference, and an Interpol Conference in which terrorism figured prominently.
The recurring theme has been the need to wage a coordinated fight against terrorism. Nothing much, however, seems to have changed. India and Pakistan, for instance, among the most affected by terrorism, have continued to hurl invectives at each other instead of finding ways to cooperate to deal with the terrorism menace. Much of the world is continuing on their paths. None of this augurs well for the fight against terrorism.
An oft-repeated comment is, hence, worth recalling, viz., history is most relevant when it comes to ensuring a proper understanding of threats such as terrorism, which have a long-term impact.
While there appears to be a lull as far as major terror incidents are concerned, it must not be lost sight of that it was as recently as at the beginning of this century that the world witnessed several landmark terror attacks.
Two that stood out were the September 11, 2001 terror attack in New York, and the November 26, 2008 attacks on multiple targets in Mumbai.
Both in their own way reflected the kind of paradigmatic changes that were taking place in the practice of violence. Both had profound strategic implications.
The 9/11 attack heralded what came to be regarded as ‘new age terrorism’, while Mumbai underscored the dangers of state-sponsored terrorism. With these attacks the cognitive map of terrorism had changed.
This was confirmed by the series of major terror attacks that took place in 2015-16. The attacks on the Charlie Hebdo offices in Paris (January 2015) and on the Bardo Museum in Tunis (March 2015), were followed by the one in Istanbul (in which several were killed, in 2016) There was also the attack in Paris again, in November 2015 (in which at least 130 were killed, signalled not only the emergence of ‘new age’ terrorism but also the rise of new terrorist entities such as the Islamic State (IS) and the al Qaeda — each with their own caliphs.
During 2016, the IS launched several more spectacular attacks (some with its allies) across Asia, Europe and North Africa. The intensity has since declined to an extent, but this is offset by indications of new complicated patterns of relationships among various terrorist conglomerates.
In U.S. actions, the worry of global trade lawlessness (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 2, International Relations)
In a significant development in international trade law, four separate World Trade Organization (WTO) Panel reports have ruled that the tariffs of 25% and 10% on steel and aluminium, respectively, that the United States (U.S.) had imposed during the presidency of Donald Trump are inconsistent with WTO law. The cases were brought by China, Norway, Switzerland, and Turkey.
The WTO panellists held that these tariff rates breached the U.S.’s obligations under Article II.1 of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which obligates countries not to impose tariffs beyond bound rates.
Further, these tariffs breached Article I of GATT because they discriminated between some foreign producers of steel and aluminium over others.
Importantly, the U.S. tried to justify its tariff hikes under Article XXI of GATT which allows countries to deviate from their trade obligations on grounds of national security.
Specifically, Article XXI(b)(iii) of GATT allows a country to take any action ‘which it considers’ necessary for the protection of its essential security interests taken in time of war or other ‘emergency in international relations’.
Contrary to the U.S.’s flaccid assertion, the panel held that the national security rule in Article XXI is not entirely ‘self-judging’. A panel can review the action of a state taken purportedly to protect its national security.
The Panel’s decision on this point is consistent with previous WTO jurisprudence laid down in the Russia-Transit and the Saudi Arabia- IPR cases.
The Panel rejected the U.S.’s argument that it increased the tariff rates due to global excess capacity, which could lead to excessive imports of these two commodities used in defence production, thus compromising the U.S.’s national security.
The Panel held that the situation the U.S. referred to does not constitute an ‘emergency in international relations’ under Article XXI(b)(iii) because it lacked severity.
Opinion
Should the courts close for vacation? (Page no. 9)
(GS Paper 2, Judiciary)
The Supreme Court of India goes on vacation for a week during Holi, 45 days during summer and for around two weeks during Deepavali and winter.
This practice came into the news recently when Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud said that no vacation Benches in the apex court would be available this winter break.
He said this a day after Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju spoke of “long vacations” of the court and the inconvenience it caused to litigants.
In a conversation moderated by Sonam Saigal, Justice (retired) Indu Malhotra and DevadattKamat discuss whether courts should close for vacations amid the overall burden of cases on them. Edited excerpts:
India has the most overburdened judiciary. If we don’t have vacations, judges will break down. Judges require vacations for rest. The time during vacations is also utilised for writing judgments because judges are left with little time to do this when the courts are working. On working days, from Monday to Friday, there is a huge workload.
The Supreme Court has a minimum of 50-75 matters every day. Judges cannot discharge justice without having read the papers to pass appropriate orders. There are almost 25,000 matters which are filed each year.
You cannot compare the court to other arms of democracy. Files have become more voluminous; issues are complex. To read, comprehend and make an assessment requires time and effort.
This debate is being played out by the government to pander to populism. Whether or not a judge or a lawyer should go on vacation cannot be dictated by people who have never practicsed law.
We must see whether this system of vacations promotes efficiency in the delivery of justice or whether it creates a backlog of cases. If you compare judicial systems around the world, our Supreme Court is probably the most overburdened court.
Explainer
The uncontrolled reentries of satellites (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 3, Space)
More than 140 experts and dignitaries have signed an open letter published by the Outer Space Institute (OSI) calling for both national and multilateral efforts to restrict uncontrolled re-entries — the phenomenon of rocket parts falling back to earth in unguided fashion once their missions are complete. Among others, the letter is addressed to S. Somanath, chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
The Soviet Union launched the first artificial satellite in 1957. Today, there are more than 6,000 satellites in orbit, most of them in low-earth (100-2,000 km) and geostationary (35,786 km) orbits, placed there in more than 5,000 launches. The number of rocket launches have been surging with the advent of reusable rocket stages.
Rockets have multiple stages. Once a stage has increased the rocket’s altitude and velocity by a certain amount, the rocket sheds it.
Some rockets jettison all their larger stages before reaching the destination orbit; a smaller engine then moves the payload to its final orbit. Others carry the payload to the orbit, then perform a deorbit manoeuvre to begin their descent. In both cases, rocket stages come back down — in controlled or uncontrolled ways.
In an uncontrolled re-entry, the rocket stage simply falls. Its path down is determined by its shape, angle of descent, air currents and other characteristics.
It will also disintegrate as it falls. As the smaller pieces fan out, the potential radius of impact will increase on the ground.
Some pieces burn up entirely while others don’t. But because of the speed at which they’re travelling, debris can be deadly.
A 2021 report of the International Space Safety Foundation said, “an impact anywhere on an airliner with debris of mass above 300 grams would produce a catastrophic failure, meaning all people on board would be killed.
Most rocket parts have landed in oceans principally because earth’s surface has more water than land. But many have dropped on land as well.
The OSI letter cited examples of parts of a Russian rocket in 2018 and China’s Long March 5B rockets in 2020 and 2022 striking parts of Indonesia, Peru, India and Ivory Coast, among others. Many news reports have focused on Chinese transgressions of late, but historically, the U.S. has been the worst offender.
What do the J&K Land Grants Rules, 2022 entail? (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 2, Polity and Governance)
The J&K Lieutenant Governor’s administration, in the third week of December, notified fresh land rules under J&KLand Grant Rules-2022 and replaced the J&K Land Grants Rules-1960, which dealt with the special rules to grant government land on lease in erstwhile State of J&K.
Under the previous rules, prime locations such as Srinagar, Jammu, Gulmarg and Pahalgam were opened up for construction of hotels, commercial structures and residential buildings in the past.
According to the new land laws, the leases of current land owners will not be extended in case of their lease expiry. It reads that all leases, except the subsisting or expiredresidential leases, expired or determined prior to the coming into force of these rules or issued under these rulesshall not be renewed and shall stand determined. Unlike the previous up to 99 years of lease, the lease period has been reduced to 40 years.
An expert committee will enlist all properties where lease had ended. It willbe e-auctioned afresh. The rules open bidding to “any person legally competent under Section 11 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872.”
These rules deem a person or an entity in default of Government Revenue accrued to the government under J&K Land Grant Act, 1960 or Government convicted under Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 shall not be eligible for participation in the auction.
According to now-repealed land laws, no such land shall be granted on lease to the person, who is not a permanent residence of the State; except where the Government, for the reasons to be recorded, relax this restriction in the interest of industrial or commercial development or in the favour of aregistered charitable society.
The L-G administration has diversified the use of land on lease toeducation, healthcare, agriculture, tourism, skill development and development of traditional art, craft, culture and languages.
The land could be leased for hydro-electric projects, stadiums, playgrounds, gymnasiums or other recreational purposes. It also included provisions for self-employment or for housing purposes of ex-servicemen, war widows and the families ofmartyrs, one who has sacrificed his life in the line of duty. In a first, the land could also beusedforfacilities of migrant workers, buildings and other construction workers.
Text & context
Afghan women’s rights are at risk under the Taliban regime (Page no. 11)
(GS Paper 2, International Relations)
Despite initially promising a more moderate rule and women’s and minority rights, the Taliban, on December 20, 2022 banned women from private and public universities in Afghanistan with immediate effect and until further notice.
They have banned girls from middle school and high school, and ordered them to wear head-to-toe clothing in public. ShanthieMariet D’Souza talks about the regressive mindset of the Taliban since the capture of Kabul in the article dated June 13, 2022.
In a rare interview, broadcast by CNN on May 17, Afghanistan’s Interior Minister and head of the dreaded Haqqani Network, Sirajuddin Haqqani, promised “very good news” soon on the return of girls to secondary schools that have remained shut since March this year, just hours after their reopening.
However, any euphoria about this could be misplaced given the number of regressive steps taken by the Taliban to curb women and girls’ freedom since they took power in August 2021.
The initial shock following the Taliban’s seizure of power in Kabul is waning. The Taliban, who during the initial period of the takeover had demonstrated a modicum of moderation to gain international acceptability, funding and recognition, have now started showing their true colours.
For long-term observers of Afghanistan, this is hardly surprising. Notwithstanding the U.S.-mediated 2020 peace deal, which seemed to erroneously pin hopes on a “reformed” Taliban to govern the country, many observers had issued warnings that the takeover of power by the Taliban would result in the loss of the fragile gains made in Afghanistan over the last two decades.
While there can be a debate over the gains made by the international community in Afghanistan in the last 20 years, it was unmistakable that opportunities for girls and women in education and employment had expanded vastly. Female participation in Afghanistan’s labour force had climbed from around 15% in 2009 to nearly 22% in 2019.
During my frequent visits to various provinces of Afghanistan, it was always heartening to see women play important roles in the government, parliament, the media, the health and education sectors, and in civil society.
They had carved space for themselves in conflict-ridden patriarchal structures and systems. Though the various interventions by the international community on women’s issues did not transform the structures, they did provide opportunities for women to be enablers of change.
In parliament, and in the provincial councils of Kandahar, Nangarhar, Badakhshan, Herat, Balkh and others, young women took grave risks in political participation and mobilisation.
News
Bill seeks to promote ease of doing business (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
The government introduced a Bill in the Lok Sabha seeking to decriminalise minor offences to promote ease of doing business. The Bill was later referred to a joint committee of both Houses of Parliament.
The Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Bill, 2022, which was introduced by Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal also envisages the rationalisation of monetary penalties, depending on the gravity of the offence and bolstering trust-based governance.
The Bill will amend certain enactments for decriminalising minor offences to enhance trust-based governance for ease of doing business, Mr. Goyal said. It was later referred to a 31-member Joint Parliamentary Committee.
The members of the committee from the Lok Sabha are P.P. Chaudhary, Sanjay Jaiswal, Rajendra Agrawal, Poonam Pramod Mahajan, Gaurav Gogoi, A. Raja and Sougata Roy. The names of 10 members from the Rajya Sabha will be announced later.
Sahitya Akademi Awards announced, Anuradha Roy among 23 winners (Page no. 14)
(Miscellaneous)
Tamil author M. Rajendran, Telugu writer Madhuranthakam Narendra and Sanskrit Poet Janardan Prasad Pandey ‘Mani’ were among 23 litterateurs awarded the Sahitya Akademi Awards for 2022. The Bhasha Samman was awarded to Udaya Nath Jha for his valuable contribution to the field of classical and medieval literature in the eastern region.
Seventeen books were selected for the translation awards which included Yaad Vashem by N. Nallathambi and AkupachaKavithalu by Varala Anand.
The awards in 23 languages included seven books of poetry, six of novel, two of short stories, three dramas, two literary criticism and one each of autobiographical essays, collection of articles and literary history.
The awards, recommended by distinguished jury members were approved by the Executive Board of the Sahitya Akademi which met on Thursday under its President Chandrashekhar Kambar.
In Assamese language, Manoj Kumar Goswami won the award for his collection of short stories Bhool Satya; Anuradha Roy won in English language for her novel All the Lives we never lived; Gulam Mohammad Shaikh won in Gujarati for GherJatan, a collection of autobiographical essays, while Mr. Rajendran won in Tamil for his novel Kala Pani.
Winners in other languages were: Maya Anil Kharangate (Konkani), Praveen Dashrath Bandekar (Marathi), Mr.Madhuranthakam Narendra (Telugu), Anis Asnfa (Urdu), Veena Gupta (Dogri), Kamal Ranga (Rajasthani), K.B. Nepali (Nepali), Farooq Fayaz (Kashmiri) and Rashmi Choudhury (Bodo).
M. Thomas Mathew won the award in Malayalam for his literary criticism AshaanteSeethayanam, while MudnakuduChinnaswamy won in Kannada for collection of articles BahutvadaBhaaratamattuBouddhaTaatvikate.
The award for the Bengali language would be announced later.
The Sahitya Akademi ‘YuvaPraskar’ for those under 35 years was awarded to Pawan Nalat for his Marathi Poetry collection Mi SandarbhaPokharatoy.
Business
Need taxonomy, definitions to avoid ‘greenwashing’: Rao (Page no. 16)
(GS Paper 3, Economy/Environment)
Reserve Bank Deputy Governor M. Rajeshwar Rao called for a taxonomy on green finance to avoid the risk of “greenwashing”. Green financing refers to lending to environmentally sustainable economic activities.
Speaking at an event here, Mr. Rao said a formal definition of green finance along with a taxonomy “is the need of hour” and added that it will enable more precise tracking of finance flows to green sectors.
A taxonomy would help banks and financial institutions in better assessing the climate risk in their loan portfolio, scaling up... sustainable finance and mitigating the risk of greenwashing.
The call for clear definitions and a classification system, establishing a list of environmentally sustainable economic activities, comes at a time when India is looking at increasing green finance to help the climate. Greenwashing refers to dishonest practices aimed at duping people.
Mr. Rao also said that green infrastructure investment trusts could help scale up green finance, given the need to rapidly scale up finance because of the country’s climate commitments.
There is a need for regulated entities to develop and implement comprehensive frameworks for understanding and assessing the potential impact of climate-related financial risks in their business strategy and operations.