The Hindu Newspaper Analysis 25 August 2023

The Hindu Newspaper Analysis for UPSC

The Hindu Newspaper Analysis 24 August 2023

• India and China have agreed to step up efforts for the disengagement of troops and de-escalation of tensions along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) after a conversation between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in South Africa, Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra said on Thursday.
• The meeting between Mr. Modi and Mr. Xi took place on Wednesday, sources said, as the two leaders attended the summit in Johannesburg along with leaders from Brazil, Russia and South Africa. However, the announcement of the talks was kept under wraps until the next day, just prior to the PM’s departure for Greece.

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• Hours after the Pragyan lunar rover rolled out from the Vikram lander and took its first “walk on the moon” in the early hours of Thursday, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said that the historic Chandrayaan-3 mission was running on schedule, with all systems working normally.
• Instruments aboard the lander and rover will now study the moon’s mineral composition and the seismic activities in its atmosphere, according to ISRO Chairman S. Somanath.
• The indigenous rover’s exploration of the lunar surface began a day after India became the fourth country to successfully land on the moon, spurring euphoric celebrations at ISRO and around the country.

• Africa is flagging its demands nowadays on multilateral fora such as BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), the G-20 and the United Nations General Assembly. For a continent with 54 countries, over a quarter of the “Global South”, it is populated at BRICS and the G-20 by South Africa, an atypical representative of the Black continent.
• These interventions have costs: keeping dictatorships in power to protect their economic interests, such as uranium in Niger, gold in the Central African Republic and oil in Libya.
• China has been Africa’s largest trading partner and investor, but a slowing economy and trade have reduced its appetite for Africa’s commodities. Its Belt and Roads Initiative has raised the debts of some African countries to unsustainable levels, in turn causing them to cede control of some of their assets to China.
• Russia previously promoted the Wagner Group in Africa as a shortcut for security, but after the militia’s mutiny against the Kremlin and the death of its chief in an air crash on Wednesday, the situation is unclear.
• France, the United Kingdom and other colonial powers as well as the United States have continued to exploit mineral wealth in Africa, but their economic downturn has limited their outreach. Moreover, Europe’s main concern is limited to stopping illegal migration from African shores.

• Against this worrying backdrop, the 15th BRICS summit took place in South Africa on August 23-24 with the theme “BRICS and Africa”.
• India was the fifth largest investor in Africa and has extended over $12.37 billion in concessional loans. India has completed 197 projects and has provided 42,000 scholarships since 2015. Approximately three million people of Indian origin live in Africa, many for centuries.
• We can offer force multipliers such as targeted investments and transfer of relevant and appropriate Indian innovations, such as the JAM trinity (Jan Dhan-Aadhaar-Mobile), DBT (Direct Benefit Transfer), UPI (Unified Payments Interface), and Aspirational Districts Programme.
• By offering a more participative and less exploitative alternative, New Delhi can make the India-Africa ecosystem an exemplary win-win paradigm for the 21st century.

• With consumer food prices rising 11.5% in July, likely the third highest since the current retail inflation data series began in 2014, the government last Saturday made yet another gambit to arrest prices. A 40% export levy on onion exports was imposed with immediate effect till at least December 31.
• This move follows curbs on non-basmati rice shipments outside India in July, and stock limits on pulses and wheat imposed in June.
• Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh account for almost 60% of India’s onion supplies, and the deficient rainfall this month in parts of these States after excess rains in July had put a question mark on the moisture-sensitive tuber’s prospects this kharif season.
• A Bank of Baroda report cautioned that steps such as export curbs also have a tendency to reinforce the scarcity factor worrying markets and push up prices further. How this attempt to balance the interests of consumers and farmers plays out remains to be seen.

• On August 10, the Union government introduced a Bill in the Rajya Sabha that proposed that the selection panel for appointing the Election Commission, comprising the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and other Election Commissioners (ECs), will consist of the Prime Minister as the chairperson, the Leader of the Opposition as a member, and a Union Cabinet Minister nominated by the Prime Minister as another member.
• In March, the Supreme Court had ruled that the selection panel should comprise the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition, and the Chief Justice of India (CJI) until Parliament enacts a law on the manner of appointment.

• By doubling its number of members from five to 11 in one quick sweep, the BRICS grouping has strengthened its position as a global grouping to be reckoned with.
• In addition, the choice of countries, bringing in four major players from the West Asian region — Egypt, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the UAE — apart from Ethiopia and Argentina from Africa and South America is significant, as it denotes a shift in the non-western economic grouping’s underpinnings, to make it a more politically relevant bloc.
• BRICS founders chose from 22 countries that formally applied for BRICS membership, and more than 40 in all that have evinced interest in the group.
• The message that the summit and the BRICS expansion took place despite the U.S. and Europe’s moves to “isolate” Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, and to push for an ICC international warrant that prevented Russian President Vladimir Putin from travelling to Johannesburg would not be lost on the Western bloc either.
• The induction of Iran in BRICS sends a further message against U.S. sanctions, just as Iran’s induction in the SCO this year did, and it is significant that Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi before the summit.
• However, many international observers have pointed out that all the new members have very close economic ties to China, and the acceptance of Iran and Saudi-UAE to the same grouping has only been made possible by the peace deal brokered by Beijing earlier this year.
• This factor means that in the future, India may have to lobby harder to make its vote in the BRICS grouping count.

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