UPSC Daily Current Affairs- September 04, 2022 | Current Affairs & Hindu Analysis: Daily, Weekly & Monthly PDF Download

GS-II

Context

• The Tenth Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) concluded recently.
• Marking 52 years of a treaty that every speaker described as the ‘cornerstone of the global nuclear order’
• And after four weeks of debate and discussion, the delegates failed to agree on a final document.

NPT’s success and weakness

• About NPT
  • The NPT was negotiated during the 1960s to reconcile three competing objectives:
    • Controlling the further spread of nuclear weapons beyond the P-5 countries (the U.S., the U.S.S.R., the U.K, France and China) that had already tested;
    • Committing to negotiating reductions of nuclear arsenals leading to their elimination; and
    • Sharing benefits of peaceful applications of nuclear science and technology.
• Success
  • Over the years, the non-proliferation objective has been achieved in large measure.
  • Despite apprehensions that by the 1980s, there would be close to 25 nuclear powers, in the last 50 years, only four more countries have gone on to test and develop nuclear arsenals — India, Israel, North Korea and Pakistan.
  • After the end of the Cold War and the break-up of the U.S.S.R. in 1991, non-proliferation remained a shared priority for the major powers and the International Atomic Energy Agency.
• Weakness
  • Progress on the other two aspects took a back seat; no meaningful discussions or negotiations on nuclear disarmament have ever taken place in the NPT framework. In fact, in the early 1980s, there was a growth in nuclear arsenals.
  • All that the five nuclear-weapon-states party to the NPT could manage at the conference was a reiteration of the 1985 Reagan-Gorbachev declaration that ‘a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought’.
  • The statement remains valid but clearly sounded hollow in the face of growing strategic rivalry between China, Russia and the U.S., rising nuclear rhetoric, and modernisation plans for nuclear arsenals being pursued.

Concerns

Nuclear modernisation

• USA
  • The U.S.’s 30-year nuclear modernisation programme, intended to provide ‘credible deterrence against regional aggression’ is already underway.
  • This has been used to justify developing and deploying more usable low-yield nuclear weapons.
• Russia and China
  • Russia and China is developing hypersonic delivery systems that evade missile defences as well as larger missiles that do not need to travel over the Arctic.
  • Also on the cards are nuclear torpedoes and new cruise missiles.
  • Recent, satellite imagery over China revealed that at least three new missile storage sites are being developed.
  • China is on the track to expand its arsenal from current levels of approximately 350 warheads to over 1,000 by 2030.
  • Such a dramatic expansion raises questions about whether this marks a shift in the Chinese nuclear doctrine that has relied on a credible minimum deterrent and a no-first-use policy for the last six decades.
• Cyber Threat
  • Developments in space and cyber domains are blurring the line between conventional and nuclear weapons, leading to nuclear entanglement and rendering command and control systems vulnerable.
  • This, in turn, compresses decision-making time and creates incentives for early use, raising nuclear risk.

Other treaties, their state

• Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons
  • Frustrated by the absence of progress on nuclear disarmament, the nuclear have-nots successfully negotiated a Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW, also called Ban Treaty) in 2017 that entered into force in January 2021.
  • All 86 signatories are nuclear have-nots and parties to the NPT.
  • It is the first legally binding international agreement to comprehensively prohibit nuclear weapons, with the goal of leading towards their total elimination.
• Strategy
  • For those nations that are party to it, the treaty prohibits the development, testing, production, stockpiling, stationing, transfer, use and threat of use of nuclear weapons, as well as assistance and encouragement to the prohibited activities.
  • For nuclear armed states joining the treaty, it provides for a time-bound framework for negotiations leading to the verified and irreversible elimination of its nuclear weapons programme.
• Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT)
  • The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) was concluded in 1996 but has yet to formally enter into force because two major powers, the S. and China, have yet to ratify it.
  • The CTBT is the Treaty banning all nuclear explosions – everywhere, by everyone.
  • The Treaty will enter into force after all 44 States listed in Annex 2 to the Treaty will ratify it. These States had nuclear facilities at the time the Treaty was negotiated and adopted.
  • India, North Korea and Pakistan have not yet signed the Treaty.
  • While it is true that they do observe a moratorium on nuclear testing, modernisation plans could soon run up against the CTBT.

Nobody wants a breakdown of the NPT but sustaining it requires facing up to today’s political realities. The rivalries in a multipolar nuclear world create new challenges, different from what the world faced in a bipolar era of the 1960s when the NPT was concluded. Without addressing the new challenges, the NPT will weaken and with it, the taboo against nuclear weapons that has held since 1945.

Context

Recently, Microsoft has partnered with the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE), and Capacity Building Commission (CBC) to empower India’s civil servants with future-ready skills.

• The partnership under the project ‘Capacity Building by MSDE in Microsoft Digital Productivity Skills’ aims to enhance the functional computer literacy of nearly 2.5 million civil servants of Government of India (GoI).
• This project is in line with the Mission Karmayogi.

Why is Digital Literacy important for Civil Servants?

• To Provide Efficient and Effective Citizen Centric Services
  • Digital Literacy will empower India’s civil servants to provide efficient and effective citizen centric services to the vulnerable and underprivileged sections of the society.
  • It will enable them to deliver last mile social welfare services.
• Bridging the Competency Gap
  • One of the major competency gaps identified in various job roles among the civil servants is the lack of digital productivity application skills while working on Microsoft Office tools like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint presentation, at a professional level. So digital empowerment will help in bridging competency Gaps.

What Competencies will the Civil servants of the Future Need?

• Unifying Framework across Various Sector
  • There is currently no unifying framework across the public sector, private sector and civil society.
  • While the technical competencies that civil servants need are similar to those required in the private sector, the digital governance competencies are something else entirely.
  • There is a need for a shared language and understanding of what Artificial Intelligence (AI) for the public good is.
• Scaling up Digital Solutions
  • Public services face difficulties in scaling up digital solutions, due to infrastructure gaps.
  • Sometimes, the solutions from the private sector are not ready for the public sector. So, the need is to design technology for the public sector.
• Bridging Cooperation Gap
  • The government should never be viewed as a singular entity, but rather be encouraged to communicate with one another.
  • Additionally, the need is to engage existing institutions and foster collaborations instead of reinventing the wheel.

Context

Recently, according to a report by United Nations, China is conducting serious human rights violations against Uyghurs that may amount to crimes against humanity.

What are the Key Highlights of the Report?

• Persecution of Uyghurs:
  • The report accuses China of sweeping a million or more people from minority groups into detention camps where many have said they were tortured, sexually assaulted, and forced to abandon their language and religion.
  • Ruthless campaign: There is a ruthless campaign against extremism in the far western province of Xinjiang that also included draconian birth control policies and all-encompassing restrictions on people’s movement.
• Set-up Independent International Body: Human rights groups renewed calls for the UN Human Rights Council, to set up an independent international body to investigate the allegations.

Who are Uyghurs?

• About
  • The Uyghurs are a predominantly Muslim minority Turkic ethnic group, whose origins can be traced to Central and East Asia.
    • The Uyghurs speak their own language, similar to Turkish, and see themselves as culturally and ethnically close to Central Asian nations.
  • The Uyghurs are considered to be one of the 55 officially recognized ethnic minority communities in China.
    • However, China recognizes the community only as a regional minority and rejects that they are an indigenous group.
  • Currently, the largest population of the Uyghur ethnic community lives in the Xinjiang region of China.
    • A significant population of Uyghurs also lives in the neighbouring Central Asian countries such as Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan.
      • Xinjiang is technically an autonomous region within China — its largest region, rich in minerals, and sharing borders with eight countries, including India, Pakistan, Russia and Afghanistan.

GS-III

Context

Prime Minister of India unveiled the new Naval Ensign (flag) at Kochi, which bears the seal of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, who laid the foundations of a modern navy.

How does the Indian Navy identify with Shivaji (reign 1674-80) and the great Maratha admiral Kanhoji Angre (1669-1729), and how did they ensure Maratha supremacy of the seas?

• Shivaji and the seas
  • Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj put great emphasis on sea-faring prowess, and laid the foundations of a modern naval force in the 17th century.
  • The Indian Navy has named a training establishment in Lonavla as INS Shivaji and a shore based logistics and administrative hub of Western Naval Command as INS Angre after Kanhoji Angre, the acclaimed Maratha naval commander.
  • The use of the octagonal design of the seal of Shivaji on the new Naval Ensign is a formal stamp on the umbilical ties of the Indian Navy with the navy of the Maratha empire.
• Extent of naval prowess
  • Shivaji’s strategic thought ensured that a strong naval presence was established along the Konkan coast to protect the sea trade of the Maratha empire.
  • The navy under Shivaji was so strong that the Marathas could hold their against the British, Portuguese and Dutch.
  • Shivaji built ships in towns such as Kalyan, Bhivandi, and Goa, both for trade and to establish a fighting navy.
  • He also built a number of sea forts and bases for repair, storage and shelter. Shivaji fought many lengthy battles with Siddis of Janjira on coastline.
  • He started trading with foreigners on his own after possession of eight or nine ports in the Deccan.
• Kanhoji Angre
  • Kanohji Angre was the commander of Maratha navy, and is credited with laying a strong naval foundation which ensured that the Marathas were a sea-faring power to reckon with.Kanhoji is credited with holding his own against the English, Portuguese and Dutch naval forces.
  • He ensured that the merchants plying their trade for the Maratha empire were protected on the seas.
  • He set up a base in Colaba with more bases at Suvarndurg and Vijaydurg near Ratnagiri.
• Siddis of Janjira
  • Janjira State was a princely state in India during the British Raj.
  • Its rulers were a Siddi dynasty of Habesha descent and the state was under the suzerainty of the Bombay Presidency.
  • Janjira State was located on the Konkan coast in the present-day Raigad district of Maharashtra.