Whatsapp 93125-11015 For Details
Foreign Ministers of the Quad countries called for lasting peace in Ukraine and, in an oblique reference to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, underlined respect for territorial sovereignty and integrity.
Meeting in New Delhi, the Quad ministers — US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Japan’s Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi and Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong — also targeted China’s aggressive behaviour in the Indo-Pacific as well as its attempts to block designation of terrorists at the United Nations.
They agreed to set up a new working group on counter-terrorism and looked forward to a meeting in the US of the working group on maritime security.
In their joint statement, a day after G20 Foreign Ministers were unable to agree on a joint communique because of opposition from Russia and China over the reference to Russia-Ukraine war, the Quad Foreign Ministers included, for the first time, a paragraph on the Ukraine conflict.
When they met last in the US in September last year, their statement did not have any paragraph on the Ukraine conflict.We continued to discuss our responses to the conflict in Ukraine and the immense human suffering it is causing, and concurred that the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons is inadmissible.
We underscored the need for a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in Ukraine in accordance with international law, including the UN Charter. We emphasised that the rules-based international order must respect sovereignty, territorial integrity, transparency and peaceful resolution of disputes.
We note with deep concern that terrorism has become increasingly diffuse, aided by terrorists’ adaptation to, and the use of emerging and evolving technologies such as unmanned aerial systems (UAS) and the internet, including social media platforms for recruitment and incitement to commit terrorist acts, as well as for the financing, planning, and preparation of terrorist activities.
We welcome the focused discussions on these themes at the Quad Counter-Terrorism Policy Meeting and tabletop exercise hosted by Australia in October 2022.
Govt & Politics
Raisina Dialogue: Quad like soft Beatles, members can release solo albums, says Japan minister (Page no. 5)
(GS Paper 2, International Relations)
Moments after the Foreign Ministers of Quad grouping met in New Delhi, Japanese Foreign minister Yoshimasa Hayashi compared the grouping to the Beatles, where a Paul McCartney, for instance, could release a solo album.
Hayashi was trying to make a case for flexibility in the grouping, which allows member-countries to make their own choices.
In the first panel discussion between the Quad Foreign Ministers at the Raisina Dialogue
And they always played together for 10 years. But this is more of a soft group, so that even within the Beatles, Paul McCartney could release an album solo.”
Referring to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong.
It’s pretty nice to talk about all these issues because we have a trust between the four of us…the same values and the same beliefs such as democracy, freedom and everything. So, without worrying about those big conditions, we can really freely talk within this group and communicate.
Hayashi said Quad as a whole will coordinate all key efforts of the four countries so that “we can do much better than just one plus one plus one plus one is four”.
But, he said, “the one plus one plus one plus one could be six, seven or eight by coordinating and listening.”Hayashi said Quad is a platform for practical cooperation and it is not trying to exclude anyone.
Explained
How forest certification works (Page no. 13)
(GS Paper 3, Environment)
Large-scale destruction of forests has always been a concern for the environment, but with climate change, deforestation has become a critically sensitive issue globally in recent years.
Forests absorb large amounts of carbon dioxide that is emitted in various economic activities, keeping a check on global warming.
At the Glasgow climate meeting in 2021, more than 100 countries took a pledge to stop, and start reversing, deforestation by 2030.
Several countries and corporates, keen to present an environment-friendly image, now try to ensure that they avoid consumption of any product that might be the result of deforestation or illegal logging. And Europe and the United States have passed laws that regulate the entry and sale of forest-based products in their markets.
This is where the certification industry comes in — offering a multi-layer audit system that seeks to authenticate the origin, legality, and sustainability of forest-based products such as timber, furniture, handicraft, paper and pulp, rubber, and many more.
Stopping deforestation does not mean forests cannot be harvested in a sustainable manner for the products. In fact, periodic harvesting of trees is necessary and healthy for forests. Trees have a life span, beyond which they die and decay.
Also, after a certain age, the capacity of trees to absorb carbon dioxide gets saturated. Younger and fresher trees are more efficient at capturing carbon dioxide.
The problem arises only when trees are felled indiscriminately, and the cutting of forests outpaces their natural regeneration.
Hidden corridor in 4500-year-old Giza Pyramid: significance of find (Page no. 13)
(GS Paper 2, Miscellaneous)
A hidden corridor, 9 m long and roughly 2 m wide, has been unearthed by scientists close to the main entrance of the 4,500-year-old Great Pyramid of Giza. Egyptian antiquities officials confirmed the discovery.
The discovery was originally made by the ScanPyramids project in 2016 using a non-invasive technique called cosmic-ray muon radiography.
Since then, scientists have carried out a dedicated study of the discovered structure using multiple methods, the results of which were published in Nature journal.
We’re going to continue our scanning so we will see what we can do…to figure out what we can find out beneath it, or just by the end of this corridor, head of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, told reporters in a press conference in front of the pyramid.
The Great Pyramid of Giza is the largest of the three pyramids in Giza, originally standing roughly 147 m above the Giza plateau. Construction was started in circa 2550 BC, during the reign of Khufu, often considered the greatest pharaoh of Egypt’s old kingdom.
It is estimated that the pyramid was built using 2.5 million stone blocks, each weighing between 2.5 and 15 tonnes according to The National Geographic.
Building the Great Pyramid was a feat of engineering unmatched for thousands of years. Of note is not only the scale of the building – it was the tallest structure on the planet until the main spire of the Lincoln Cathedral in the United Kingdom overtook it in 1400 AD – but also its symmetry and perfect alignment to the four cardinal directions (the error is less than 1/15th of a degree).
Satellites photobombing Hubble wrecking its iconic images: study (Page no. 13)
(GS Paper 3, Space)
The Hubble Space Telescope, known for recording awe-inspiring images of the cosmos while advancing the field of astronomy, is under threat.
Private companies are launching thousands of satellites that are photobombing the telescope — producing long bright streaks and curves of light that can be impossible to remove. And the problem is only getting worse.
A study, published in the journal Nature Astronomy, reveals an increase in the percentage of images recorded by the Hubble that are spoiled by passing satellites. And the data goes only through 2021.
Thousands more satellites have been launched since then by SpaceX and other companies, and many more are expected to go to orbit in the years ahead, affecting the Hubble and potentially other telescopes in space.
The Hubble Space Telescope’s legacy cannot be overstated. Because of the observatory, we now know, for example, that the universe is 13.8 billion years old, that most galaxies contain a supermassive black hole at their centers and that stars form in violent processes.
The Hubble’s images — including the gorgeous clouds of gas and dust in the “pillars of creation” and the view of nearly 10,000 galaxies in the “Hubble ultra deep field” — never fail to inspire.
But the number of satellites in orbit has significantly increased since the Hubble launched in 1990, and now it is staring at the cosmos through a field of satellites.
The story of Humayun, beyond his failure and exile (Page no. 13)
(GS Paper 1, History)
In popular consciousness, Humayun, the son of Babur and the second Mughal emperor, is perhaps best known for the tomb dedicated to him in Delhi. He is one among the six great Mughals but people are usually not sure what his claim to greatness is.
Babur was the founder of the dynasty, Akbar the inclusive king, and Jahangir, although overshadowed by both his father and his son, is remembered as an emperor in whose reign peace, prosperity, and the arts flourished.
Shah Jahan was the master builder who gave India its most recognised monument, the Taj Mahal. Under Aurangzeb, the empire expanded to its farthest boundaries.
But not many know how to place Humayun on this lofty list. This is what Ebba Koch, one of the greatest authorities on the art, architecture, and culture of Mughal India, sets out to do in her new book, The Planetary King: Humayun Padshah, Inventor and Visionary on the Mughal Throne.
Koch, who has been a professor at the Institute of Art History in Vienna and has taught at Oxford and Harvard, is advisor to the Aga Khan Trust for Culture.
He is chiefly remembered as a political and military failure, because he lost back to his rival, the Afghan Sher Shah, whom Babur had conquered in India, and had to seek refuge in Iran and fight in Afghanistan to regain his throne in Delhi.
He did not write his autobiography, nor had he a historian like his son Akbar’s Abu’lFazl to glorify him; and what his historian Khwandamir recorded is so eccentric that it eludes general comprehension,” writes Koch.