The Hindu Newspaper Analysis 12 September 2023

The Hindu Newspaper Analysis for UPSC

The Hindu Newspaper Analysis 11 September 2023

 The Hindu Editorial Today

• Two days after the launch of the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday described Saudi Arabia as “one of the most important strategic partners of India”.
• The project aims to counter China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and includes India, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, the European Union, France, Italy, Germany and the US.
• The project aims to foster economic growth and political cooperation. It would help to boost trade, transport energy resources and improve digital connectivity.
• What is the project?
• Part of the Partnership for Global Infrastructure Investment (PGII)
• The rail and shipping corridor is part of the PGII.
• PGII is a collaborative effort by G7 nations to fund infrastructure projects in developing nations.
• This project is also called as a green and digital bridge across continents and civilizations.
• Route
• The plan seeks to bolster trade between India, the Middle East as well as Europe.
• It will establish a modern-day Spice Route to bind regions that account for about a third of the global economy.
• Projects
• The corridor will include a rail link as well as an electricity cable, a hydrogen pipeline and a high-speed data cable.
• One proposed project would link railway and port facilities across the Middle East — including the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Israel.
• This would speed up trade between India and Europe by up to 40 percent.

• The rise in the price of food first accelerated sharply in 2019, and has climbed in most years thereafter. In July this year, annual inflation exceeded 11%, the highest in a decade.
• The ‘State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World’ of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates the proportion of the population across countries unable to afford a healthy diet (reported in this newspaper on August 31, 2023, under a datapoint).
• Over 50% of adult women were estimated to be anaemic. This suggests that the FAO’s finding, that over half of India cannot afford a healthy diet, is plausible.
• Ensuring that Indians have access to a healthy diet is the most important task of economic policy today.
• a second agricultural revolution is needed now. To contain the rising price of food would require action on many fronts; a mission mode is necessary.
• As for policy, it is clear that procurement prices, cash transfers, the Public Distribution System, and priority lending required of public sector banks are not sufficient. Yield increasing interventions on the farm are needed to at least contain the cost of production, if not to actually lower it.

• The Leaders’ Summit of India’s presidency of the G-20 grouping, held over the weekend, resulted in major success with the unanimous adoption of the New Delhi Declaration — especially significant as there was little hope of one.
• Experts, diplomats and officials had downplayed expectations of India’s negotiators being able to pull off what few have achieved thus far: a détente between the “western” G-7-EU axis and the Russia-China combine over the issue of the Ukraine war.

• At the UN Security Council, not a single statement has been passed so far as a result of vetoes by both sides.
• While Indonesian G-20 negotiators in 2022 were able to pull off a joint statement with references critical of Russia (the G-7 pushed for these), the consensus did not last, and Russia and China refused to have them repeated this year.

• J&K produces over 73% of the total apples grown in the country. Official data show apple production in Kashmir crossed 20 lakh tonnes in 2022, and is likely to touch 22 lakh tonnes in 2023.
• The Union government’s decision to relax 20% customs duty on apples imported from the U.S. at the recently concluded G-20 summit left orchardists in the Kashmir Valley jittery.
• The announcement has come in the wake of a dip in apple prices this year. Kashmir’s apple industry is battling a number of issues.
• They faced huge losses as their input cost increased and the crop was sold at cheap rates.

• China, in its first official reaction to the G-20 Summit, on Monday said it welcomed the New Delhi Declaration which had “reaffirmed” that the G-20 was a forum for “economic cooperation” and “not a platform to resolve geopolitical and security issues.”
• Beijing said it also “welcomed” the ambitious new India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) plan unveiled on Saturday — announced by India, the U.S., Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, France, Germany, Italy and the European Union, seen as a counter to China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) — but said it should not become a “geopolitical tool”.
• The IMEC comprises an Eastern Corridor connecting India to the Gulf region and a Northern Corridor connecting the Gulf to Europe, and will include a railway and ship-rail transit network and road transport routes.

• An initiative of the Kota Police to address mental health issues and generate awareness of suicide prevention is said to have helped the students at coaching centres in the city. Twenty-three students had been found dead this year, the highest number since 2013.
• The police have made a collaborative effort with the coaching institutes to identify the students experiencing distress and have provided them essential support, counselling and medical assistance.
• All police stations in the city have been asked to refer such cases to a dedicated specialised unit, student cell, comprising a team of skilled counsellors.

• the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has publicised the list of winners of the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar (SSB) awards for 2022, considered among the prestigious prizes for science in India.
• The prizes were not announced last year, without any official reason being ascribed.
• This year’s awardees constitute 12 scientists below the age of 45.
• The Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar (SSB) Prize, instituted in the memory of the first Director-General (D-G) of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), is usually announced on the foundation day of the institution on September 26.
• What is CSIR?
• About:
• Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) is the largest research and development (R&D) organisation in India.
• CSIR has a pan-India presence and has a dynamic network of 37 national laboratories, 39 outreach centres, 3 Innovation Complexes and 5 units.
• CSIR is funded by the Ministry of Science and Technology and it operates as an autonomous body through the Societies Registration Act, 1860.
• Established: September 1942
• Headquarters: New Delhi
• President: Prime Minister of India (Ex-officio)
• Vice President: Union Minister of Science and Technology (Ex-officio)
• Governing Body: The Director-General is the head of the governing body.

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