Whatsapp 93125-11015 For Details
India and Nepal will together strive to take their bilateral ties to “Himalayan heights” and resolve all issues, including boundary issues, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said after meeting his Nepal counterpart Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’.
We will continue to strive to take our relationship to Himalayan heights. And in this spirit, we will resolve all the issues, be it boundary-related or any other issue,” Modi said in a statement in the presence of Prachanda after their bilateral talks in Delhi.
The Nepal Prime Minister, who is on a four-day visit to India, also mentioned resolving the “boundary matter”.
Prime Minister Modiji and I discussed the boundary matter. I urged PM Narendra Modiji to resolve the boundary matter through the established bilateral diplomatic mechanism.
The two sides also discussed “wider developments in the region”, Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra told mediapersons at a briefing later when he was asked if China was discussed.
Editorial
Big picture is bright (Page no. 16)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
Nobel laureate Robert Shiller has an interesting take on the impact of human psychology on narratives. According to Shiller, the relentless pushing of slanted news is born out of pessimism, it grows on scepticism and ultimately breeds cynicism.
The recent release of the GDP data best illustrates this. Most of the estimates for economic growth in 2022-23 were below 7 per cent, and even after the upgrades, most estimates for 2023-24 are still closer to 5.5 per cent.
While the continuing global uncertainty does make any estimate uncertain, it is paradoxical that such forecasts always build on an assumption of a downside drag on growth.
In contrast, such uncertainty has acted as a force multiplier for India in recent times, indicating the economy’s resilience. The most obvious example is the surge in exports in 2022-23, when everyone had written its obituary in the face of the global slowdown.
Contrary to market perception, GDP growth came in higher at 7.2 per cent in 2022-23. The largest revisions happened in the fourth quarter estimates, with growth pegged at 6.1 per cent, and value added at 6.5 per cent.
Core gross value added, an indicator of private sector buoyancy, grew by 7.7 per cent in 2022-23, a tad higher than the pre-pandemic growth of 7.5 per cent registered over 28 quarters (from the first quarter of 2012-13 to the fourth quarter of 2018-19) ending in the fourth quarter of 2018-19. Clearly, there seems to be a revival of investment activity that is driving this optimism.
Explained
BRICS that could be bigger (Page no. 20)
(GS Paper 2, International Organisation)
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar is in Cape Town, South Africa, to attend a meeting of the foreign ministers of BRICS — a grouping comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, which is seen as the closest that the ‘Global South’ has come to organising itself as a collective to challenge a western global narrative.
The foreign ministers’ meeting will finalise the agenda for the 15th BRICS summit scheduled to be held in South Africa in August.
Two items on the agenda are attracting notice for their potential for a greater geopolitical consolidation of the grouping: a plan to expand the membership of BRICS, and a common currency.
South Africa, which is in the chair this year, is hosting a Friends of BRICS meeting on Friday, with 15 foreign ministers from Africa and the Global South.
As many as 19 countries are said to be in the queue to join BRICS. Among the countries that have been mentioned frequently since last year:
Argentina, Nicaragua, Mexico, Uruguay, Venezuela from Latin America; Nigeria, Algeria, Egypt, Senegal, Morocco from Africa; Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Türkiye, Syria, Iran from West Asia; Kazakhstan from Central Asia; Bangladesh and Afghanistan from South Asia; and Indonesia and Thailand from South-east Asia.
GDP growth estimated to cross 7% what’s in store for the markets? (Page no. 20)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
The government announced 6.1% growth in gross domestic product (GDP) for the fourth quarter ended March 2023, raising the growth estimate for the full year 2022-23 to 7.2%. The numbers beat market expectations; however, the benchmark Sensex at the BSE fell 193 points or 0.3%.
Reason: the continuing war in Ukraine and persisting global concerns over inflation and slowdown — even as the United States Congress races to pass legislation to suspend the debt ceiling, and factory activity in China declines.
Even so, the broad sense in the market is that with valuations reasonable and the economy looking resilient, stocks are set to hit new highs in the coming months, and investors must stay put.
The Sensex, which usually follows Wall Street, fell to 62,428.54; the NSE Nifty lost 0.25% to fall to 18,487.75. Indian markets are up by only 2.6% so far in the calendar year 2023, while the Dow Jones at the New York Stock Exchange is down 0.68%.
The seasonally adjusted S&P Global India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) rose to a 31-month high to 58.7 in May from 57.2 in April.
The increase was on account of the remarkable strength demonstrated in demanding conditions — leading macro indicators like GST collections, FPI inflows, PMI data, credit growth, and strong Q4 GDP numbers suggest a resilient economy. However, the macro numbers have failed to improve sentiment as global concerns remain, an analyst said.
World
US partner singapore and China agree on top level defence hotline (Page no. 21)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
China and Singapore laid the groundwork for a hotline between the two countries that would establish a high-level communications link between Beijing and a close American partner in Asia at a time when Chinese tensions with Washington are high and dialogue has stalled.
Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu, a general in China’s People’s Liberation Army who was named minister in March, signed a memorandum of understanding with his Singaporean counterpart Ng Eng Hen to work toward establishing a secure telephone link “for high-level communications between our defense leaders,” according to a statement released by Singapore.
“Such high-level open lines of communications are important for strengthening mutual understanding and trust,” the statement said, without giving a timeline for when it would be established.
Li is on his first visit to Singapore as defense minister, and is broadly discussing global and regional security issues with a range of officials.
Singapore said both countries’ defense establishments “interact regularly through bilateral and multilateral exercises” and that his visit underscores “long-standing, warm and friendly” relations.