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The economy sprung a surprise in July-September 2023-24, recording a 7.6 per cent growth in the second quarter, considerably higher than the consensus estimate.
The surge was largely led by the manufacturing sector which jumped 13.9 per cent year-on-year in the second quarter, helped by a favourable base and improved volume growth, data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO).
With the latest print, GDP growth during the first half of the year — April-September 2023 — added up to 7.7 per cent compared with 9.5 per cent in the year-ago period.
The GDP had recorded a four-quarter high growth of 7.8 per cent in April-June this year, and had grown 6.2 per cent in July-September 2022.
Reacting to the growth uptick, Chief Economic Adviser V Anantha Nageswaran said overall investment and consumer sentiment will underpin solid momentum in the current and next financial years.
In terms of projections, these numbers impart a certain upside to 6.5 per cent estimate for real GDP growth in the current year, but we will have to work the numbers to see what kind of upside the current numbers impart for the full year estimates.
Until then we will keep the estimate at 6.5 per cent, except to signal that we are now probably more comfortable with this number than we were before.
Govt & Politics
DAC nod to buy 97 Tejas jets, 156 combat helicopters (Page no. 6)
(GS Paper 3, Defence)
The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) cleared the procurement of 97 Light Combat Aircraft Tejas Mk 1 A and 156 Light Combat Helicopters from Hindustan Aeronautics Limited among other big-ticket acquisitions worth Rs 2.23 lakh crore.
According to a Defence Ministry statement, the DAC has granted Acceptance of Necessity (AoN) for the procurement of LCHs for the Indian Air Force and the Army and LCA Mk 1A for IAF.
The DAC is among the top bodies for clearing major capital acquisitions for defence. The AoN is only the first step in the long defence procurement process; it does not necessarily lead to a final order.
Both the orders were already in the pipeline. While addressing the media in October, IAF Chief Air Chief Marshal V R Chaudhari had said the contract for the additional 97 Tejas Mk 1A jets is expected to be signed by the end of the year. The fighter jets will be an addition to the 83 jets ordered for the IAF in February 2021.
Malaria cases continue to dip in India, up globally WHO report (Page no. 6)
(GS Paper 2, Health)
Contrasting the global trend, India continued to witness a decline in malaria cases and deaths in 2022, according to a new WHO report released.
There were around 33 lakh malaria cases and 5,000 deaths in India last year, a decrease of 30% and 34 % respectively compared with 2021. Globally, there were 249 million cases in 2022, 5 million more than in 2021.
According to the World Malaria Report 2023, the number of malaria cases globally had plateaued over the last decade or so — down from 243 million in 2000 to 233 million in 2019 — and increased during the pandemic.
In 2020, the first year of the pandemic, there were 11 million more cases. The figures remained the same in 2021 only to increase in 2022.
The number of global malaria deaths was also higher: 608,000 deaths in 2022 compared with 576,000 in 2019.
This is due to good preventive and case management strategies and availability of effective vector control tools as well as point of care diagnostics and prompt treatment at community level.
Express Network
$475mn pledged to climate disaster fund in good start to meet (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 3, Environment)
On the opening day of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, or COP28, the UAE has greenlit a crucial decision, making the loss and damage fund for developing nations operational.
The European Union committed around $275 million, while the host, UAE, pledged an additional $100 million. Germany and the UK pledged $100 million and $75 million, respectively.
The US will contribute $17.5 million and Japan has committed $10 million for the climate disaster fund. India welcomed the decision. “India strongly supports the operationalisation of the loss and damage fund. It is a landmark decision,"said environment minister Bhupender Yadav, who represented India at the meeting.
Earlier in the day, the International Monetary Fund’s managing director Kristalina Georgieva, said in an interview: “There has been progress in getting money for the loss and damage fund. It’s coming. How much, depends on the negotiations. However, it must not be less than $200 million."
Editorial
A Prisoner of Power (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
Henry Kissinger’s eventful 100-year life has become, to use W H Auden’s phrase about Freud, a “whole climate of opinion”. He shaped the post World War II world in unprecedented ways.
He is the most written about, most discussed, and most gossiped about public figure in recent memory. The sparkle of his own prose, running to thousands of pages, is itself a contribution to myth making.
Former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir once called him the miracle man. This is the kind of hagiography Kissinger could inspire.
But, in a riposte to Meir, Pakistani writer and activist Eqbal Ahmad argued, Kissinger was not a miracle man. He was a confidence man. This phrase comes as close to summing him up as any.
The confidence man is not ordinary. He is immeasurably talented and charming. He has the ability to size up a situation, is hard to resist, even if you have the nagging feeling that he has a hollow moral core.
The confidence man makes himself appear utterly indispensable. Kissinger made himself utterly indispensable to the power structure of the world for a career spanning close to 80 years.
His 100th birthday gala was a who’s who of the world’s elite; just before his death, he could command more of President Xi’s attention than a serving Secretary of State.
This ability to successfully pull off the appearance of indispensability made him larger than life, and overshadowed any assessment of his actions.
Ideas Page
The leader India needs to be (Page no. 11)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
On October 7, Hamas-led Palestinian militants launched an invasion of southern Israel from the Gaza strip, with a barrage of rockets and about 3,000 militants attacking Israeli military bases and civilian areas.
Over 800 civilians are estimated to have been killed along with over 200 Israeli soldiers. Post the attack, Israel responded with a ground invasion of Gaza, as well as an aerial bombardment campaign.
Over 14,300 Palestinians are likely to have been killed since, with a humanitarian crisis exacerbated by the cut-off of fuel, electricity, food and water.
More recently, a pause was agreed upon between Hamas and Israel, along with an exchange of captives and prisoners. This situation will get worse.
Israeli Jews have incontestable rights to this land. The land of Israel, as well as Judah and Palestine, has witnessed multiple settlements from various tribes.
Before 4500 BCE, it was inhabited by different hunter-gatherer tribes, who slowly gave way to farmers and herders. Between 4500 and 3500 BCE, there is evidence of early metal-working and farming, with city-state formation (including the establishment of Jerusalem) by 2500 BCE and a local hegemony was established by Egypt.
Egyptian control gave way due to political turmoil and invasions/migrations by the Sea Peoples between 1300 and 1200 BCE.
Over time, the Israelite culture grew out of the existing Canaanite civilisation, establishing the Kingdom of Israel and the Kingdom of Judah by 11th century BCE.
Explained
Paul Lynch wins the 2023 Booker: Ireland’s long tryst with the prize (Page no. 12)
(Miscellaneous)
In September, a couple of months before he emerged as the winner of this year’s Booker Prize, Paul Lynch, 46, tweeted a photograph featuring five of the six shortlisted authors: Sarah Bernstein (Study for Obedience), fellow Irish writer Paul Murray (The Bee Sting), Chetna Maroo (Western Lane), himself (for his fifth novel, Prophet Song), and Paul Harding (This Other Eden).
Since the inception of the Booker Prize in 1969 (then known as the Booker Prize for Fiction), the Irish have indeed been the light in its literary sky.
Lynch is the fifth writer to have won the Prize, for his novel that explores a dystopian Ireland where democratic rights are under threat from a totalitarian regime.
Economy
Fiscal deficit touches 45% of full year target (Page no. 13)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
The government’s fiscal deficit at the end of October touched 45 per cent of the full-year budget estimate, according to data released by the Controller General of Accounts (CGA).
In actual terms, the fiscal deficit — the difference between expenditure and revenue — was Rs 8.03 lakh crore during the April-October period of 2023-24.
In the corresponding period last year, the deficit was 45.6 per cent of the budget estimates of 2022-23.
For 2023-24, the fiscal deficit of the government is estimated to be Rs 17.86 lakh crore or 5.9 per cent of the GDP.