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World
Beijing called for a cease-fire in Myanmar after a coalition of ethnic fighters seized several crossings along Myanmar’s border with China in the past month.
However, China will continue live-firing drills on its side of the frontier aimed at “testing the mobility, border control abilities and firepower capabilities of the military units so that the People’s Liberation Army is ready for any emergency.
Myanmar heavily relies on trade with China, especially for importing manufactured goods and exporting agricultural products. Unrest in Myanmar’s border region has been a constant irritant to China, which nevertheless backed the military leaders who seized power in the Southeast Asian nation in 2021 from an elected government.
Yet China is highly wary of conflicts spilling over the shared border that is already rife with drug trafficking and people smuggling.
Cybercrime targeting Chinese victims has become a major concern, and China has pushed hard to eliminate the groups based in Myanmar and other countries and to send the perpetrators back to China for prosecution.
Govt & Politics
EC tells KCR govt to stop farm aid, cites model code (Page no. 7)
(GS Paper 2, Governance)
In a stern message on maintaining the sanctity of the poll code, the Election Commission withdrew permission to the Telangana government to distribute financial aid to farmers for rabi crops under the Rythu Bandhu Scheme after a state minister violated the code by going public about it.
Assembly elections in Telangana will be held on November 30 and results announced on December 3.
The poll panel had given its nod to the state government to disburse the rabi instalment during the model code of conduct period on certain conditions and had asked it not to publicise the disbursement.
The Congress slammed the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) over the Election Commission’s (EC) withdrawal of permission, alleging it was a result of the irresponsible and self-serving approach of the K Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR)-led party.
In a post on X, Congress general secretary, organisation, K C Venugopal said due to the irresponsible and narrow self-serving approach of the BRS and (minister) Harish Rao, under the instructions of his boss KCR, the EC has denied permission for the disbursement of the Rythu Bandhu instalments.
Express Network
Starting December 1, Indians will not require a visa to visit Malaysia (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
Close on the heels of Sri Lanka and Thailand, Malaysia will grant visa-free entry to Indians for stays of up to 30 days starting December 1, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has said.
The visa exemption — which has also been extended to Chinese citizens — will last until December 31, 2024. Ibrahim made the announcement late Sunday in a speech at his People’s Justice Party congress.
India and China are among Malaysia’s top five source markets for tourism. According to the Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board, the country recorded 91 lakh tourist arrivals until June this year, with around five lakh from China and 2.8 lakh from India. In the same period in 2019, before the pandemic, the number was higher — 15 lakh arrivals from China, 3.5 lakh from India.
Positive on its post-pandemic recovery, the country is looking at 1.5 crore foreign tourist arrivals this year, Malaysian government officials said. Several West Asian countries such as Turkey and Jordan already enjoy a 30-day visa-free entry into Malaysia.
In a first, COP 28 to see health ministerial meet; declaration Dec 3 (Page no. 9)
(GS Paper 3, Environment)
In a first, the upcoming 28th Conference of Parties (COP28) in Dubai will host a health ministerial meet, likely to be attended by ministers from 65 countries. There will also be a declaration on climate and health on December 3.
There will be a high-level political declaration. It will focus on increasing resilience of health systems, decreasing carbon footprint of the health systems– health sector accounts for around 5% of the total carbon emission–and the need to invest in health.
At present, less than 1% of the multi-lateral climate finance goes to health and that has to change,” said Dr Diarmid Campbell-Lendrum, WHO Team Lead, Climate Change and Health. The health argument is likely to bring to the fore the health costs of climate change.
Editorial
The diplomat’s challenge (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
India’s response to Canada’s charge of its potential involvement in the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar in June has been very different from its reaction to the US’s claims that its agencies foiled a possible Indian conspiracy for the assassination of Gurpatwant Singh Pannun. Significantly, Canada and the US also adopted entirely different approaches to publicly reveal their respective allegations.
What unites both North American states, and their allies too, is a drawing of redlines on foreign action against the security and safety of their nationals.
India called the Canadian charge, made by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Parliament on September 18, “absurd”. It has also openly maintained that no evidence has been shown to back it.
Following a report in the Financial Times, a White House spokesperson confirmed that the US had engaged India at the “highest level” on the conspiracy against Pannun.
The official spokesperson of the External Affairs Ministry reacted to the Financial Times (FT) report and the White House comments on November 22.
He said that during recent interactions on “India-US security cooperation” the US “shared some inputs pertaining to nexus between organised criminals, gun-runners, terrorists and others”.
Economy
Surplus liquidity normalisation, robust credit growth bolstered monetary policy transmission (Page no. 13)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
The external benchmark-based lending rate (EBLR) system of loan pricing, calibrated normalisation of surplus liquidity and robust credit growth strengthened the monetary policy transmission during the current rate tightening cycle, according to an article in the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI’s) monthly bulletin.
Monetary policy in the country moved into a tightening mode in May 2022 amidst inflationary pressures emanating from the conflict in Ukraine, rise in international commodity prices, disruption of supply chains and volatility in global financial market.
Between May 2022 and February 2023, the RBI raised the repo rate – the rate at which the RBI lends money to banks to meet their short-term funding needs – by 250 basis points (bps). One basis point is one-hundredth of a percentage point.
S&P raises India’s GDP growth rate forecast for FY 24 too 6.4% (Page no. 13)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
S&P Global Ratings has raised India’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth forecast for the current financial year (FY24), saying robust domestic momentum seems to have offset headwinds from high food inflation and weak exports.
The US-based ratings agency, in its report released on Monday on the growth outlook for the Asia-Pacific region, revised upwards India’s growth projection for FY24 by 0.4 percentage points to 6.4 per cent.
However, S&P has cut the country’s growth estimates for FY25 to 6.4 per cent. “We expect growth to slow in the second half of the fiscal year amid subdued global growth, a higher base, and the lagged impact of rate hikes. As a result, we have lowered our outlook for growth in FY25 to 6.4 per cent from 6.9 per cent.
It mentioned that India’s GDP exceeded the 2019 level by 15.5 per cent in the first half of the current fiscal year, and the fixed investment had recovered considerably more than private consumer spending.
Explained
Rat-hole mining: risky practice being used in tunnel rescue (Page no. 15)
(GS Paper 3, Infrastructure)
After efforts to release 41 workers trapped in the collapsed Silkyara-Barkot tunnel faced another major setback Sunday — the auger joint of the machine drilling through the debris broke — rescuers spent the last two days cutting through the blade stuck inside the rescue pipes and removing it piece by piece.
However, with large metal pieces hindering the machine drilling and breaking the auger, the rescuers are now planning to drill through the remaining few meters using the practice of rat-hole mining.
Jhansi resident Parsadi Lodhi, a rat hole miner who arrived in Silkyara to aid in the rescue operation, said he would enter the rescue pipes and use hand-held tools to dig through the remaining debris blocking the exit to the tunnel.
How Napolean’s invasion sparked off the modern study of Egypt (Page no. 15)
(GS Paper 1, History)
A scene in Ridley Scott’s latest film depicts Napoleon directing his troops to fire cannons at the pyramids of Giza. Sensational as its may be, it is inaccurate — just like the famous apocryphal story of Napoleon’s troops blasting off the nose of Giza’s Great Sphinx (evidence suggests that the nose was chiselled off centuries before his time).
From what we know, Napoleon held the Sphinx and the pyramids in high esteem,” Salima Ikram, a professor of Egyptology at the American University in Cairo, told The New York Times. “He definitely did not take pot shots at them.
In fact, many scholars credit Napoleon for bringing Ancient Egypt to global consciousness, and literally giving birth to Egyptology as we know it.
Kambala comes to Bengaluru: How buffalo race’s popularity outran bans (Page no. 15)
(GS Paper 1, Culture)
The past weekend saw Bengaluru hold its first Kambala race, with 159 pairs of buffaloes and their jockeys racing through the specially made slush tracks in the city’s Palace Grounds. Lakhs of people visited the venue to watch the event.
Kambala has in the past been banned by the Supreme Court, but the Karnataka government, keeping its popularity in mind, amended legislation to allow the races to go on.
It is a folk sport practised in coastal Karnataka districts, especially in regions where Tulu speakers form a majority. In the past, races were hosted by various families and groups in sludgy fields in the days after paddy was harvested.
More recently, various Kambala Samithis or organising bodies have come up, which host weekly events from the end of November till the first half of April across Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts.