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Chinese President Xi Jinping held talks with his Maldivian counterpart Mohamed Muizzu following which the two countries signed 20 key agreements, including one on tourism cooperation, and elevated their bilateral ties to a comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership.
The two heads of state announced the elevation of bilateral ties to a Comprehensive Strategic Cooperative Partnership, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
"20 key agreements were signed today between the Government of the Maldives and the Government of China this afternoon and both the Presidents witnessed the signing ceremony," Maldivian President's office said in a post on X.
The agreements signed included one tourism cooperation, disaster risk reduction, blue economy, strengthening investment in the digital economy and the Belt and Road Initiative. China will also provide grant assistance to the Maldives, but the amount was not disclosed.
Muizzu and his wife Sajida Mohammad were given a ceremonial red carpet welcome at the Great Hall of People. President Xi and his wife Peng Liyuan later hosted a state banquet in their honour.
Front Page
EU carbon tax: India flags risk of trade info getting compromised (Page no. 3)
(GS Paper 3, Environment)
India has flagged concerns relating to sensitive and confidential trade data of its exporters getting compromised while complying with the European Union’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) — the world’s first system that imposes carbon emission tariffs on iron, steel, aluminium and cement, among other such items imported into the 27-nation bloc.
Indian manufacturing exports in sectors such as steel, oil refining and cement align extremely favourably with global cost competitiveness benchmarks and the concerns flagged by Indian exporters pertain to sensitive trade secrets in these segments getting compromised.
While the CBAM is set to come into effect from 2026, the transition period requiring exporters to submit data to EU authorities began October 1, 2023.
The CBAM requires EU importers to submit nearly 1,000 data points and methods used in production by exporters. While the EU says the data collection is aimed at ascertaining carbon emission, Indian exporters fear losing competitive edge by revealing such crucial information.
Express Network
All states, UTs to get equal chance to display tableaux on R-Day : Govt (Page no. 4)
(GS Paper 2, Polity and Constitution)
All the states and union territories will get equal opportunity to display their tableaux in the next three Republic Day celebrations at Kartavya Path, under a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between the Ministry of Defence and governments concerned.
This year’s Republic Day parade at Kartavya Path will see the participation of upto 75 per cent women in marching contingents of the three defence services and other uniformed forces, the officials told The Indian Express on Wednesday.
The clarification over the new selection process for the tableaux comes amid criticism from states with the opposition in power, including Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah (Congress) and Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann (Aam Aadmi Party), over the rejection of their tableaux.
Govt & Politics
UK to send navy ships to Indian Ocean this year: Defence Secy (Page no. 6)
(GS Paper 3, Defence)
Amid Defence Minister Rajnath Singh’s two-day visit to London, UK Defence Secretary Grant Shapps announced plans to send the country’s Littoral Response Group to the Indian Ocean Region later this year and the Carrier Strike Group in 2025 to operate and train with Indian forces.
In a statement, the UK said Shapps welcomed Singh to the UK “to agree unprecedented levels of UK-India defence cooperation”.
The two nations also discussed cooperation in defence from joint exercises to knowledge sharing and instructor exchanges, building on the comprehensive strategic partnership envisaged in the 2030 India-UK roadmap, announced in 2021.
In the coming years, the UK and India will also embark on more complex exercises between their respective militaries, building up to a landmark joint exercise to be conducted before the end of 2030, supporting shared goals of protecting critical trade routes and upholding the international rules-based system.
It said collaboration with industry is also key in the strategic defence partnership between the UK and India, with the two nations working together on electric propulsion systems that will power our future fleets, and cooperating on the development of complex weapons.
Editorial
Missing a maritime doctrine (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
The incipient tensions between India and its tiny neighbour, Maldives, simmering for over a decade, finally came to a head when three junior ministers of the island nation’s government made crude and disparaging remarks on social media about Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the Lakshadweep islands.
Once New Delhi conveyed its displeasure over this gross impropriety, the Maldivian government distanced itself from the remarks, and President Mohamed Muizzu “suspended” the errant ministers before departing for his maiden visit to Beijing.
While it may be tempting to dismiss this contretemps as a “storm in a teacup,” there are a few dimensions to this episode, with implications that go beyond the transgressions of juvenile politicians. They could serve as lessons for the future.
First, the strategic dimension. The Maldives archipelago — consisting of 27 coral atolls dispersed north-to-south over 900 km of the southern Indian Ocean, with an exclusive economic zone of nearly a million square km — is an important element in India’s maritime security matrix.
While the Indian Navy (IN) has taken cognisance of this in formulating its doctrine and deployments, our decision-makers have continued to suffer from a “continental fixation”, and in the absence of a national security strategy, our maritime initiatives have remained random and sporadic.
Ideas Page
A plan to measure (Page no. 9)
The World Bank has a Logistics Performance Index (LPI) with a focus on trade logistics. This is based on six heads of customs, infrastructure, international shipments, logistics competence, tracking and tracing, and timeliness.
As is the case with every index, especially when data are based on subjective responses to questionnaires, methodology can always be questioned and improved.
In the 2023 LPI, India is ranked 38 out of 139 countries. In 2014, India was ranked 54. Despite possible caveats about LPI, it is obvious that logistics performance has improved and the goal has also been clearly articulated in 2022: “Targets for achieving the vision of the National Logistics Policy are to (i) reduce cost of logistics in India to be comparable to global benchmarks by 2030; (ii) improve the Logistics Performance Index ranking — endeavour is to be among top 25 countries by 2030; and (iii) create data driven decision support mechanism for an efficient logistics ecosystem.”
In addition, there is PM Gati Shakti, which was launched in 2021. Because of understandable time lags, the impact of this doesn’t show in LPI 2023, but will, eventually.
Express Network
Should minority not have controlling voice in institution’s administration: SC on AMU status (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 2, Judiciary)
The Supreme Court wondered whether a minority should not have the controlling voice in the administration of an educational institution for it to qualify as one one administered by a minority, or would the mere presence of the community members in the governing body suffice?
The test is of management right, for the purpose of administration. We take your point that as a university governed by law, you have to induct people who are representatives of various stakeholders in the university.
But this would lead to a de minimis argument that even though the controlling voice in the administration is not that of the minority, yet, we must still treat it as being administered by that minority.
For treating an educational institution as administered by a minority, should the controlling voice in the administration not be of the minority.
Or could it be the position in constitutional law that, even if the controlling voice in the administration is not of the minority yet, it should be treated as a minority education institution under Article 30.
At 14 Darjeeling zoo has world’s largest number of snow leopard in captivity (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 3, Enviornment)
Nearly four decades after Darjeeling zoo began a conservation breeding programme, it now has the world’s largest number of snow leopards in captivity — 14 in total with 7 males and 7 females.
Among them, there are six cubs from three mothers, the highest since the launch of the breeding programme at Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park (PNHZP), also commonly known as Darjeeling zoo.
The announcement was made by the World Association for Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA) — a global alliance of regional associations, national federations, zoos, and aquariums — on its social media handle.
This is great news and an immense recognition from an international body, like the WAZA. It indicates and signifies the success of our conservation breeding programme.
Darjeeling Zoo has the only conservative breeding programme for snow leopards in the entire country. Apart from snow leopards, we have conservative breeding programmes for red pandas, mountain orals and pheasants at the zoo.
Economy
India to be a $5tn economy by FY 28: Pushing for sunrise sectors (Page no. 11)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman expressed confidence that India will be the third largest economy in the world with a gross domestic product (GDP) ofover$5trillionby2027- 28.
At the end of 2022-23, the Indian GDP stood at $3.7 trillion, and its economy is now the fifth largest in the world. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has projected India to become a $5 trillion economy with the third-largest GDP in 2027-28, by overtaking Japan and Germany.
It is possible that we will be the third-largest economy by 2027-28, and our GDP will cross $ 5 trillion by that time.By 2047, it is a conservative estimate that we will reach at least $30 trillion in terms of economy.
Explained
Maldives row: 3 key issues (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
The new government led by President Mohamed Muizzu asked India to withdraw military personnel, chose China for one of his first overseas visits, and then moved to scrap a key pact involving a water survey.
The latest trigger has been undiplomatic words used by ministers in Muizzu’s cabinet against Prime Minister Narendra Modi in particular and Indians in general.
Male has moved to control the damage by sacking all the three leaders who made the disparaging remarks. In India, calls are growing louder for boycotting Maldives as a tourist destination.
Income vs Price support: Price deficiency payment option for MSP (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
Farmers, for the most part, operate in a buyer’s market. Since their crops — barring maybe milk — are harvested and marketed in bulk, it leads to sudden supply increases relative to demand, putting downward pressure on prices.
Such market conditions, favouring buyers over sellers, also mean farmers are price takers, not price makers.
Lacking the market power to influence the prices of their produce — or to even set the MRP (maximum retail price), as firms in most industries do — they sell at prevailing supply-and-demand-determined rates.
Worse, while their crops are sold wholesale, they pay retail prices for everything from seeds, pesticides, diesel, and tractors to cement, medicines, toothpaste, and soap.
Not for nothing do farmers from time to time demand minimum support prices (MSP) for their crops. As the Lok Sabha elections approach, there could be a clamour for parties to include “legal guarantee for MSP” in their manifestos.
Most economists, though, are opposed to government-fixed MSPs based on cost-plus pricing, sans any consideration to market demand.
Farmers, they say, should plant what the market wants, as reflected in the prices for various crops at a given point in time.
Cost-plus MSPs that are oblivious to demand conditions will distort farmers’ production decisions, resulting in the oversupply of some crops and an undersupply of others.