The Hindu Editorial Analysis | 16th Jan’19

Table of Contents

WEF

World Economic Forum is making final preparations for its landmark 50th-anniversary summit at Davos, Switzerland.
2020 theme: “stakeholders for a cohesive and sustainable world” .
US President Donald Trump’s “America First” vision.
Trump’s vision has been a key driver of the breakdown in international agreements and cooperation.

In the last few years it has undermined a range of global agreements, including the Paris climate change treaty.
At Davos, Trump will not be very popular because of his vision.
In this vacuum, others have been warmly received in Davos.
2017: Xi Jinping made an impassioned defence of globalisation in the face of Trump’s protectionist rhetoric.
The WEF itself has ridden this wave of optimism and pessimism through its provision in the last several decades of a global platform for dialogue.
Davos Declaration signed in 1988 by Greece and Turkey, which saw the two turn back from the brink of war.
In 1989, North and South Korea held their first ministerial-level meetings at the WEF in Switzerland.
East German Prime Minister Hans Modrow and German Chancellor Helmut Kohl met there to discuss German reunification.
As multiple reports highlight, there is currently a potentially toxic cocktail of trade disputes, environmental risks, cyber threats, and geopolitical dangers threatening the fundamental fabric of the global political economy.

Positive side of the ledger.
Landmark global climate change deal agreed in Paris in 2015.
once-every five-years review framework means that countries can toughen their response to climate change in the future
The rise of China is one of the biggest game-changers in global affairs.
Washington and Beijing sign a first stage trade deal.
The future of the international order may well depend on the shape of bilateral relations which could be shaping what is sometimes called a multi bilateral world – or a network of loosely coordinated bilateral and regional trade deals.

Bilateral agreements are more desirable than multilateral deals

Since 1991, the narrative has been created that the policy of free movement of goods and capital across nations and amending IPR laws to suit investors is the panacea of all ills for developing countries.
A reality check shows that freeing trade in goods from tariff and non-tariff barriers, had led to deindustrialization in many sectors and a manifold increase in import dependence in general. This has led to a constantly multiplying trade deficit, especially after the entry of China in the World Trade Organization (WTO).
It is notable that India’s trade deficit increased from $6 billion in 2000-01 to $176 billion in 2018-19.
Focus should be on making Indian industry more competitive.
Decision to walk out of RCEP
Future of Free Trade Agreement
We should not forget that in the past, opposition to India-EU FTA was similar to those of RCEP, such as on non-agriculture market access, agriculture, IPR, and investment.
The same arguments that were being given in support of RCEP are back in the narrative in favour of an India-EU FTA.
The bizarre argument in favour of MTAs and RTAs is that they save nations from negotiating with other individual nations.
However, 72.6% of India’s imports are from merely 15 countries and 60.5% of exports go to just 15 countries.
Therefore, making trade deals with major trading partners is not a big exercise.
Rather, it gives us an opportunity to increase our trade relations with countries where our penetration is less, by making agreements with them and also helps us make diplomatic inroads there.
It is always a good idea to negotiate with our trade partners and have a trade deal, based on mutual needs, competitiveness and local requirements.
We must not forget that the essential condition for India becoming a part of the global value chain is not FTAs but ease of doing business.
We need to work out a deal that is a win-win for all sectors, including manufacturing, agriculture, and dairy, and all people including workers, farmers, and small businesses and not merely corporate.

Idiom Of Hope

He is a hero to India’s aspiring youth.
He was born in a low income country, he failed to get into high ranked IIT, but he is now CEO of Microsoft.
This is the American company that fronted the personal computing revolution of the last century but then hit a slump, until getting its mojo back under Nadella, and rising to trillion dollar market capitalisation.
Answering an interview question on the Citizenship (Amendment) Act 2019 he said, “It’s just bad. ”
In explanation, Nadella added that if anything he would love to see a Bangladeshi immigrant coming to India and creating the next unicorn here, or becoming CEO of Infosys.
This is the sensibility that for long made America the shining city on the hill.
BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi is among those who have set out to school Nadella.
she sarcastically suggested that the US should grant such opportunities to Syrian Muslims instead of Yazidis.
Actually none other than Steve Jobs’s biological father was a Syrian Muslim immigrant.
Immigration has in fact been the umbilical cord of the entire Silicon Valley ecosystem.
In 2018 a study by the National Foundation for American Policy found that 55% of the country’s $1 billion startups had at least one immigrant founder.
Diversity reaps great business benefits; this is now part of global MBA curriculums. It is true that a growing politics of fear has seen the walls going up in countries like the US.

Living Machines

Researchers at the University of Vermont and Tufts University have built the first ever ‘living robots’
With stem cells from frog embryo that can replicate basic human actions like walking, swimming, pushing, carrying and working in groups.
The creators have called them xenobots.
These xenobots are unlike any living organism or organ we’ve encountered or created to date.

After using a supercomputer to design the most efficient organisms, skin cells and heart tissue from the frog embryo were incubated, cut and joined together to approximate the designs proposed by the computer.
The cells – termed xenobots – began to work together much like the supercomputer envisaged and could survive for a week with pre-loaded nutrients.
The scientists can claim to have created life, albeit repurposed from another living organism: a frog has been turned into an entirely different organism.
Alongside stem cell research and genome editing, this could offer new insights into synthesising body parts and repairing dead tissues and organs
The researchers believe their xenobots could scrape plaque from artieries, collect microplastic in oceans, and attack radioactive contamination.
Manipulating complex biological systems could lead to consequences beyond our control.
Though the xenobots cannot reproduce, all living organisms do keep evolving making some like viruses a constant menace.
That AI designed these xenobots adds another layer of risk, the possibility of weaponising them against humans.
Iron-clad regulation is necessary but is dampened by widely diffused research, individual egos, and nations racing to pip rivals.
So it is that someday the rudimentary xenobot may redefine the humanoid robot, even the human.

NEWS

Union Home Minister Amit Shah has said, the government’s target to make India a 5 trillion US dollar economy is doable.
72nd Army Day celebration: Army Chief General Manoj Mukund Naravane has said that Indian Army is ready to tackle any threat. He reiterated the zero tolerance policy against terrorism.
The Army Day is celebrated on January 15 every year to mark the taking over as commander-inchief of the Indian Army by then Lt Gen K M Carriappa in 1949 from General Francis Butcher, the last British Commander-in-Chief of India.
The Delhi High Court today declined to entertain the plea of one of the four death row convicts in the Nirbhaya gang rape and murder case.
With the beginning of nomination process, the political activities are gaining momentum in the national capital.
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has resigned.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif today called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi amid the ongoing tension in West Asia. Mr. Modi mentioned India’s strong interest in peace, security and stability in the region. He reiterated India’s continued commitment in developing of strong and friendly relations with Iran.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said, it is vital for neighbours to reach an understanding on crucial issues. Referring to India’s relations with China, he said, it is important that the two countries find equilibrium in ties.