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Prime Minister Narendra Modi, US President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron took the lead in announcing Air India’s order for 470 new aircraft – 250 from Airbus and 220 from Boeing – and underlined that the agreements will deepen “our partnership” further.
Of the 470 aircraft for Tata Group-owned Air India, 70 will be wide-body planes for long-haul flights.The airline signed letters of intent with Airbus and Boeing, making it the largest-ever pipeline of new aircraft ordered by an Indian airline.
Air India and Airbus announced the deal at a virtual event attended by Modi and Macron. Calling it a “landmark agreement”, Modi said it was an “important achievement” for the India-France strategic partnership.
Macron hailed it as a “new success” in the “aerospace sector” and said there is a “historic opportunity” to come together.Later in the evening, Biden announced the Air India-Boeing agreement for “over 200 American-made aircraft”.
The United States can and will lead the world in manufacturing. I am proud to announce today the purchase of over 200 American-made aircraft through a historic agreement between Air India and Boeing.
This purchase will support over one million American jobs across 44 states, and many will not require a four-year college degree. This announcement also reflects the strength of the U.S.-India economic partnership.
Together with Prime Minister Modi, I look forward to deepening our partnership even further as we continue to confront shared global challenges—creating a more secure and prosperous future for all of our citizens.
The Prime Minister’s Office, in a statement, said Modi had a “warm and productive phone call” with Biden and they “expressed satisfaction at the deepening of the India-US Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership, which has resulted in robust growth in all domains”.
Express Network
New data projects 4% increase in wheat production this fiscal (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 3, Agriculture)
Wheat production is estimated to reach 112.18 million tonnes during 2022-23, which is 4.12 per cent higher than 107.74 million tonnes recorded during 2021-22, according to the Second Advanced Estimates of production of major crops released by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.
The estimated figure of wheat production for 2022-23 is also higher than the target of 112 million for the year.During 2021-22, wheat production had witnessed a slight dip, compared to 109.58 million tonnes in 2020-21.
Due to the slight dip in domestic production, and other factors, including a higher demand outside India in wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, wheat prices rose sharply.
The government banned wheat export in May, 2022 to cool down rising prices. However, wheat and atta prices remained high. Last month, the Centre decided to offload 30 lakh metric tonnes of wheat in the market from the Central pool under its Open Market Sale Scheme. However, the retail and wholesale prices of wheat and atta are yet to see a significant drop in prices.
According to the data, the total foodgrain production in the country is estimated to reach 323.55 million tonnes during 2022-23, higher than 315.61 metric tonnes during 2021-22.
The data shows mustard and rapeseed production is expected to reach a record level 12.81 million tonnes during 2022-23, which is higher than 11.96 million tonnes recorded during 2021-22.
The total pulses production is expected to reach 27.81 million tonnes during 2022-23, a marginal increase from 27.30 million tonnes during 2021-22. The increase in mustard production is significant in view of higher edible oil prices in recent years.
Vacant LS Dy Speaker post: Cong says govt again ‘destroying all established practices’ (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 2, Parliament)
With the Supreme Court taking up a PIL on the non-election of Deputy Speaker in the Lok Sabha apart from several state Assemblies, the Congress said it was another example of “the government destroying all established practices and conventions”.
The post of Deputy Speaker, usually held by the main Opposition party, is vacant in the Lok Sabha since June 23, 2019.
Calling the issue “very important”, a Bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud sought the assistance of Attorney General R Venkataramani in dealing with the PIL that, besides the Lok Sabha, referred to the Assemblies of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Uttarakhand and Rajasthan, where there are no Deputy Speakers.
Secretary General of the Lok Sabha and principal secretaries or secretaries of the Assemblies have been made parties in the case.
Speaking to The Indian Express, Congress leader in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said that this government is destroying all established practices and conventions of the Lok Sabha. It is the right of the Opposition.
Traditionally, the post of Deputy Speaker has always been held by Opposition parties. The government can give it to whichever party they want, but the tradition should not be broken.
Chowdhury said he had written several letters to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, asking him to elect a Deputy Speaker. He said that he pointed out to Birla that “according to the Constitutional mandate, the seat of the Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha should be filled either by election or consensus as early as it may, after a new Lok Sabha is constituted.
Express Network
Mumbai, Dhaka, London, New York in line of threat from rising sea-level (Page no. 9)
(GS Paper 3, Environment)
India, China, Bangladesh and the Netherlands face the highest threat of sea-level rise globally, according to a new report by the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO).
The report — “Global Sea-level Rise and Implications” — stated that several big cities in all continents are threatened by the rise in sea level.
These include Shanghai, Dhaka, Bangkok, Jakarta, Mumbai, Maputo, Lagos, Cairo, London, Copenhagen, New York, Los Angeles, Buenos Aires and Santiago.
“It is a major economic, social and humanitarian challenge. Sea-level rise threatens coastal farmlands and water reserves and resilience of infrastructures as well as human lives and livelihoods,” the report noted.
The impacts of average sea-level rise are boosted by storm surges and tidal variations, as was the situation during the landfall of hurricane Sandy in New York and Cyclone Idai in Mozambique.
According to future estimates based on climate models and ocean-atmosphere physics, the WMO reported that the speed of melting of the largest global ice mass in Antarctica is uncertain.
While sea-level rise is not globally uniform and varies regionally, continued and accelerating sea-level rise will “encroach on coastal settlements and infrastructure and commit low-lying coastal ecosystems to submergence and loss”, according to the report.
Editorial
Hindi in the world (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 2, Government Policies and Interventions)
Suva, the capital of Fiji, is hosting the 12th World Hindi Conference between February 15 and 17. According to the Ministry of External Affairs’ officials, India has achieved limited progress at the United Nations regarding Hindi.
The UN has now made a provision to provide all the important messages and press releases in Hindi, just as in languages such as Urdu and Bangla.
However, the government is making all efforts to ensure a rightful place for Hindi at the UN. Hindi is India’s outreach to the world, especially in places that received Indian indentured labourers during the 19th century.
Though Hindi is not officially the national language of India, it is the strongest link language besides being one of the two official languages.
According to the 2011 census, 528 million Indians speak Hindi as against Bengali (97.2 million), Marathi (83 million) Telugu (81 million) and Tamil (69 million) speakers.
In this backdrop, it would be pertinent to appreciate the importance of India’s efforts to make Hindi a UN-recognised language. For any Indian language to go global, the first and foremost need is to recognise and respect all of them.
When it comes to politics, many recklessly indulge in linguistic chauvinism. But as observed often, the next-generation family members of such politicians are schooled in English medium.
Unlike in France, Germany or Spain, speaking in Hindi or regional languages is considered inferior in India, thanks to the burden of colonialism.
Sadly, the ability to converse in English has become a status symbol. For Indian languages to go global, they need to be first respected in their motherland.
Ideas Page
Japan and the global south (Page no. 13)
(GS Paper 2, International Relations)
Japan has long been viewed as a passive member of the Global North. Its only apparent contribution was to lend an “Asian colour” to the predominantly Caucasian G7 forum.
The colour of the G7, of course, has been changing thanks to the likes of Barack Obama and Rishi Sunak who have risen to the top of the political heap in the democratic societies of the North.
But this column is not about the changing racial character of the G7 chancelleries. Its focus is on Japan’s impressive recent leadership in the world of strategic ideas.
It is Tokyo, for example, that has constructed and popularised the Indo-Pacific construct over the last decade and more. Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe first articulated the idea of the Indo-Pacific in an address to the Indian Parliament in August 2007.
That speech had called for a coalition of Asian democracies that eventually took the form of the Quadrilateral forum. While most countries, including India and the US, hummed and hawed about the Indo-Pacific, it was Tokyo’s persistence that helped the emergence of the Indo-Pacific as integral to the geopolitics of Asia.
Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has now taken the initiative to raise the Global South — an omnibus term for the developing or the so-called Third World — to the top of the G7 agenda.
When Delhi resurrected the idea of “Global South” last year in the run-up to its presidency of the G20, there was widespread scepticism as well as concern.
The sceptics said there is no such thing as the Global South any more. After all, there is enormous economic differentiation within the Third World today and many developing nations have become developed.
Others wondered if Delhi was going back to its Cold War trade unionism — mobilising the Global South against the North. But Japan’s adoption of the case for urgent engagement of the Global South lends much-needed nuance to the debate.
Green transition enabler (Page no. 13)
(GS Paper 3, Environment)
Energy transitions are central to the G20 agenda. In 2023, during India’s presidency, the geopolitics and governance of energy have become immensely challenging, as the shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy, concerns about energy security and, in many cases, the pressure on keeping financial commitments made related to tackling climate change have become complicated.
The International Energy Agency counts 20 million more people worldwide without electricity now compared to 2021. Predictably, the worst-affected are in sub-Saharan Africa, which is back to its lowest rate of electrification since 2013.
In Europe, the number of people experiencing inadequate energy supply has risen to 80 million from 34 million in 2021. Even middle-income countries in Africa, South America and Asia face fuel and electricity shortages and high levels of inflation. Reduced availability of energy is hurting economies as industries close, and is impacting public health as safe fuels such as cooking gas become expensive.
A number of countries also face a balance of payments crisis, partly driven by high energy costs. “Energy poverty” is global and widespread, impacting technology implementation, industry and sustainable development goals — all of which are also G20 goals.
An independent task force initiated by Gateway House in October 2022 seeks urgently to find ways to provide energy access, security and affordability.
This requires resolving the conflicts between short-and long-term energy targets, addressing energy disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and the Ukraine-Russia conflict, and using creative financing to accelerate the development and adaptation of renewable technologies and new business models utilising these technologies. The G20 has a key role to play in advancing solutions.
Explained
The missing Dy speaker:the post, and what the Constitution says (Page no. 15)
(GS Paper 2, Parliament)
The Supreme Court issued notices to the Centre and five states — Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, and Jharkhand — over the failure to elect a Deputy Speaker.
A Bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) D Y Chandrachud sought responses on a PIL that contends that not electing a Deputy Speaker to the 17th (present) Lok Sabha, which was constituted on June 19, 2019, is “against the letter and spirit of the Constitution”.
The post has been lying vacant in the five state Assemblies as well, which were constituted between four years and almost one year ago, the plea states. (Shariq Ahmed v. Union of India AndOrs)
Article 93 says “The House of the People shall, as soon as may be, choose two members…to be…Speaker and Deputy Speaker…and, so often as the office of Speaker or Deputy Speaker becomes vacant, the House shall choose another member…”
Article 178 contains the corresponding position for Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of a state.
Constitutional experts point out that both Articles 93 and 178 use the word “shall”, indicating that the election of Speaker and Deputy Speaker is mandatory under the Constitution.As soon as may be”, say Articles 93 and 178. But they do not lay down a specific time frame.
In general, the practice in both Lok Sabha and the state Assemblies has been to elect the Speaker during the (mostly short) first session of the new House — usually on the third day after the oath-taking and affirmations over the first two days.
The election of the Deputy Speaker usually takes place in the second session — and is generally not delayed further in the absence of genuine and unavoidable constraints.
Geo-heritage Sites and Geo-relics Bill (Page no. 15)
(GS Paper 3, Conservation)
Today (February 14) is the last day for comments and suggestions to be sent in for the draft Geo-heritage Sites and Geo-relics (Preservation and Maintenance) Bill, as notified by the Ministry of Mines.
The Bill is aimed at providing for the declaration, preservation, protection and maintenance of geo-heritage sites and geo-relics of national importance, for geological studies, education, research and awareness purposes.
The comments/suggestions should be sent by e-mail in an MS Office Word file to the following ID: dirtech.mom@nic.in with the subject of the e-mail as “Comments/ suggestions on the Draft Geoheritage Sites and Geo-relics (Preservation and Maintenance) Bill, 2022”.
Here are the key pointers of the draft Bill, and some of the criticisms that have emerged.
According to a 2016 press release by the Ministry of Mines, the Geological Survey of India (GSI) declares geo-heritage sites/ national geological monuments for protection and maintenance. The GSI or the respective state governments take necessary measures to protect these sites.
Coming under the Ministry of Mines, the GSI was established in 1851 to investigate and assess coal and other mineral resources of the country through regional-level exploration.
The draft bill defines Geoheritage sites as “sites containing geo-relics and phenomena, stratigraphic type sections, geological structures and geomorphic landforms including caves, natural rock-sculptures of national and international interest; and includes such portion of land adjoining the site,” that may be required for their conservation or to access to such sites.