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The surge in India’s import of Russian crude oil has come under the spotlight, but a sharp pick-up in India-Russia trade in another commodity has largely been under the radar.
India’s exports of aluminium oxide, or alumina, to Russia jumped to 2.58 lakh tonnes in April-February of financial year 2022-23 (FY23) from nil in the corresponding period of FY22, latest available data with the Indian commerce ministry shows.
Like in the case of crude oil, shifting global trade flows in the aftermath of Moscow’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine is largely behind this trend.
As a major producer of aluminium, which is used in a wide array of industries, Russia is a major alumina consumer. Alumina is mainly used in the production of aluminium metal, but is also used as an abrasive due to its hardness and as a refractory material due to its high melting point.
Following the invasion of Ukraine, Russia was cut off from major supply sources like Australia and Ukraine after both countries decided not to supply alumina to Moscow.
In fact, Australia, while banning alumina and bauxite exports to Russia said it was doing so as these were “key components in the manufacture and development of weapons”.
In the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Australia has sided with the US and other major Western powers and has participated in various economic and trade-related sanctions designed to punish Moscow.
Govt & Politics
Anganwadi scheme for early childhood care, education launched (Page no. 7)
(GS Paper 2, Welfare Schemes)
Union Minister for Women and Child Development Smriti Irani on Wednesday launched the Centre’s flagship programme ‘Poshan Bhi, Padhai Bhi’, which will focus on Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) at anganwadis across the country
Irani said the ministry has allocated Rs 600 crore for the training of anganwadi workers to implement the ECCE.
The National Institute of Public Cooperation and Child Development (NIPCCD) has been roped in for the training of Anganwadi workers, she said.
The aim, the minister said, is not only to make anganwadi centres nutrition hubs but also education-imparting centres. The ECCE will focus on education in the mother tongue, as per the New Education Policy, she said.
“Poshan Bhi, Padhai Bhi is our endeavour to ensure that the ECCE material, which was prepared based on the New Education Policy, percolates to every anganwadi in the country through new training methodologies, with able guidance of officers in the ministry and participation of state governments and those in communities and civil societies,” Irani said.
PM to lay LIGO foundation stone today (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Technology)
A month after his government granted the final clearance to the ambitious LIGO project, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on remotely lay the foundation stone for the construction of the facility in Hingoli district in Maharashtra.
Also, to mark the 25th anniversary of the 1998 nuclear tests, the Prime Minister would launch several projects of the atomic energy department.
LIGO, short for Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory that is meant to detect gravitational waves, is set to become the largest scientific facility in India.
Two existing LIGO observatories in the United States detected gravitational waves for the first time in 2015, a feat that was acknowledged with the Nobel Prize two years later.
Since then, two more similar detectors have come onboard, one in Italy and the other in Japan. LIGO India would be the fifth node of this network, and possibly the last.
Editorial
Crime and Impunity (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 2, Polity and Governance)
Recognising the links between the severity of crime and punishment is one of the fundamental mandates of the criminal justice system.
At a time when intolerance, hatred, violence and the zeal to undermine diversity seem to have taken root in large parts of the country, the system should show greater diligence.
Of course, no one should be condemned as a criminal for perpetuity. But an act of compassion towards a convict should not be insensitive to the victim of the crime.
An act of mercy should not become a tool of oppression. In raising such concerns one is not alluding to a dystopia but referring to our lived realities.
Remission of punishment is meant to uphold a sense of community justice. Today, however, it has become a tool of unscrupulous politics, for leaders across party lines.
The recent remissions of Anand Mohan Singh and the convicts in the Bilkis Bano case are not about temperance of justice with mercy.
They seem to be politically-motivated. Articles 72 and 161 of the Constitution do mandate humanitarian remission. Sections 432, 433, 433A, 434 and 435 of the CrPC also empower the government to suspend or remit sentences.
Remission should, however, not be seen as the fundamental right of convicts. A substantial body of jurisprudence clarifies the role of the state in matters related to remission. In Mahender Singh v State of Haryana (2007), for instance, the Supreme Court said that the state must give due consideration to every case of clemency, but it also said that no convict has a right to remission.
Ideas page
Economic weather warning (Page no. 13)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
Objectively interpreting the state of the Indian economy is always difficult. It’s similar to what The Economist said about the world economy resembling the Mona Lisa, which looks different when viewed from different positions.
Commentaries generally take the stance that India is in a sweet spot and that we are well-positioned to be an economic superpower. Assuming the presidency G20, though coincidental, is seen as a vindication of this position.
The MPC meeting minutes give the impression that inflation is well under control, which is why a majority of members argued for a status quo.
This is good from a policy stance but is worrying for households, which are witnessing a relentless increase in the prices of goods and services. The base effect will bring down the inflation numbers for sure but that is a delight for only the policymaker.
Interestingly, we are happy that the inflation number has come below the upper band of tolerance — the 4 per cent figure is still some distance away. Households would still complain that they have had a cumulative inflation of over 18 per cent in the last three years.
Deterence and us (Page no. 13)
(GS Paper 3, Nuclear Technology)
On this day 25 years ago, then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee announced that India had conducted three nuclear tests at Pokhran.
On May 13, after the conduct of two more tests, he declared, “India is now a nuclear weapon state”. Why did India choose to exercise the nuclear option in 1998 after having followed a policy of ambivalence since conducting a peaceful nuclear explosion (PNE) in 1974.
The answer lies in two developments of the 1990s — an increasingly nuclearised neighbourhood; and, a progressively constraining non-proliferation environment.
By the mid-1990s, China had already conducted as many as 45 nuclear tests, developed modest delivery systems, including first-generation nuclear missile-carrying submarines.
China had also conducted a nuclear test for Pakistan, reportedly in May 1990, thereby boosting Rawalpindi’s nuclear confidence and emboldening it to foment insurgency in J&K and Punjab.
Meanwhile, Washington was pressurising countries to join the non-proliferation treaty as non-nuclear weapon states and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty had been put out for signature.
Caught in a security and non-proliferation bind, India felt compelled to develop its own nuclear weapons to establish credible deterrence against nuclear coercion or blackmail by countries that claimed Indian territories.
Explained
The law on polygamy among religious groups in India (Page no. 15)
(GS Paper 1, Social Issues)
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has said that the state government will move to ban the practice of polygamy through “legislative action”, and that an “expert committee” would be formed to examine the issue.
Polygamy is the practice of having more than one married spouse — wife or husband. The issue is governed both by personal laws and the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Traditionally, polygamy — mainly the situation of a man having more than one wife — was practised widely in India. The Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 outlawed the practice.
IPC Section 494 (“Marrying again during lifetime of husband or wife”) penalises bigamy or polygamy. The section reads: Whoever, having a husband or wife living, marries in any case in which such marriage is void by reason of its taking place during the life of such husband or wife, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to seven years, and shall also be liable to fine.”
This provision does not apply to a marriage which has been declared void by a court — for example, a child marriage that has been declared void.
The law also does not apply if a spouse has been “continually absent” for the “space of seven years”. This means a spouse who has deserted the marriage or when his or her whereabouts are not known for seven years, will not bind the other spouse from remarrying.
The slower heating in India (Page no. 15)
(GS Paper 3, Environment)
The annual mean temperature of the world is known to have increased by 1.1 degree Celsius from the average of the 1850-1900 period. But this increase, as can be expected, is not uniform.
It varies in different regions and also at different times of the year. This single number denoting global temperature increase, very effective for communicating the dangers of climate change, is built on top of several layers of averages.
Temperature rise over land is much higher than over oceans. Over land, the annual mean temperatures have risen by as much as 1.59 degree Celsius since preindustrial times, according to the latest report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Oceans, in contrast, have warmed by about 0.88 degree Celsius.
The warming trends over the Indian region are very different. An assessment of climate change over the Indian subcontinent, published by the Ministry of Earth Sciences in 2020, said annual mean temperatures had risen by 0.7 degree Celsius from 1900.
This is significantly lower than the 1.59 degree Celsius rise for land temperatures across the world. It could give the impression that the problem of climate change over India was not as acute as other parts of the world. But that is not entirely accurate.
Persona non grata (Page no. 15)
(Miscellaneous)
A day after Canada announced it would expel a Chinese diplomat over allegations of involvement in a campaign to intimidate a Canadian politician, China declared a Canadian diplomat in Shanghai as persona non grata.
“As a reciprocal countermeasure in reaction to Canada’s unscrupulous move, China decides to declare Jennifer Lynn Lalonde, consul of the Consulate General of Canada in Shanghai persona non grata,” China’s foreign ministry said in a statement. According to the media reports, Lalonde has been asked to leave China before May 13.
On Monday (May 8), Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said her government had decided to expel Chinese diplomat Zhao Wei for his alleged participation in the intimidation campaign against Canadian opposition lawmaker Michael Chong, who had accused Beijing of human rights abuses.
The move came after a local newspaper, The Globe and Mail, last month published a report by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) that said Wei was involved in gathering information about Chong and his relatives based in Hong Kong to deter anti-China positions.