Weekly Current Affairs (8th to 14th November 2022) - 2 | Current Affairs & Hindu Analysis: Daily, Weekly & Monthly - UPSC PDF Download

India-Belarus Relation

Context: Recently, the 11th Session of the India-Belarus Inter-Governmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technological and Cultural Cooperation was held.

What are the Highlights of the Session?

• The Intergovernmental Commission reviewed the results of bilateral cooperation that took place after the tenth session of the Commission in 2020.
• While expressing satisfaction at the progress made in regard to some projects, the Commission also directed concerned Ministries and Departments to focus on key sectors in the trade & investment spheres to finalise concrete outcomes.
• India and Belarus reiterated their strong desire to further broaden their cooperation with emphasis on key sectors such as pharmaceuticals, financial services, science and technology, heavy industries, culture, tourism, and education.
• The two ministers directed their respective business communities to engage with each other in these sectors to further mutually beneficial cooperation.
• The two sides agreed to promote cooperation among various states in India and regions in Belarus, especially in focus areas.

How Has Been India-Belarus Relations?

Diplomatic Relations:

• India’s relations with Belarus have been traditionally warm and cordial.
• India was one of the first countries to recognize Belarus as an independent country in 1991 after the break-up of the Soviet Union.

Supports at Multilateral Fora:

• The cooperation between the two countries is visible at many multilateral fora such as the UN Security Council (UNSC) and Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).
• Belarus was one of the countries whose support helped in consolidating India’s candidature for the non-permanent seat at the UNSC in July 2020.
• India has also reciprocated Belarus’s support at various international fora, such as Belarus’s membership in the Non Aligned Movement (NAM) and other international and multilateral groups like IPU (Inter-Parliamentary Union).

Comprehensive Partnership:

• The two countries enjoy a comprehensive partnership and have established mechanisms for exchanging views on bilateral, regional and multilateral issues through Foreign Office Consultations (FOC), Intergovernmental Commission (IGC), and Joint Commission on Military Technical Cooperation.
• The two countries have signed a number of Agreements/MoUs on various subjects, including trade and economic cooperation, culture, education, media and sports, tourism, science & technology, agriculture, textiles, Avoidance of Double Taxation, Promotion and Protection of Investments, and defence and technical cooperation.

Trade and Commerce:

• In the economic sector, the annual bilateral trade turnover in 2019 stands at USD 569.6 million.
• India’s special gesture in 2015 that granted Belarus the Market Economy Status and a USD 100 million Line of Credit has also helped in the growth in the economic sector.
• Market Economy status is a status conferred on the country exporting the goods accepted as the benchmark. Prior to this status, the country was considered as a Non-Market Economy (NME).
• India’s encouragement to the Belarusian businessmen to invest in ‘Make in India’ projects are bearing fruits.

Indian Diaspora:

• The Indian Community in Belarus consists of around 112 Indian nationals and 906 Indian students pursuing studies in medicine in State medical universities in Belarus.
• Indian art and culture, dance, yoga, ayurveda, films, etc. remain popular among Belarusian nationals.
  • Many young Belarusians also take keen interest in learning Hindi and dance forms of India.

Way Forward

• Belarus needs several footholds in Asia diversified by geographical subregions.
  • India could become one of such pillars in South Asia, but Belarusian initiatives should definitely fall into the "matrix" of India's national interests and sacred meanings.
• There are also certain hidden reserves for cooperation in the field of cybersecurity.
  • Belarus may become an "entry point" for Indian pharmaceutical companies to the Eurasian market.
• The potential of military and technical cooperation, including shared developments, has not been fully disclosed.
  • Cinema (Bollywood) could stimulate the interest of the Indian business community and tourists.
• An additional increase in the export of tourism and medical services could be ensured by recreational centres being established in Belarus based on Indian traditional medicine models (Ayurveda + Yoga).

2nd BIMSTEC Agriculture Ministers Meeting

Context: Recently, India hosted the Second Agriculture Ministerial-level meeting of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC).

What are the Highlights of the Meeting?

• India urged the member countries to cooperate in developing a comprehensive regional strategy to strengthen cooperation for the transformation of agriculture.
• It also urged the member countries to adopt a conducive agricultural food system and a healthy diet for all by referring to the importance of millet as a nutritious food and the efforts made by India to promote millet and its products during the International Year of Millets - 2023.
• Natural and ecological farming should be promoted to conserve agricultural biodiversity and reduce the use of chemicals.
  • Along with digital farming and precision farming, initiatives under the 'One Health' approach are also taking shape in India.
• Highlighted India’s statement at the 5th BIMSTEC Summit held in Colombo in March, 2022 on enhancing regional cooperation between BIMSTEC nations for food security, peace and prosperity in the region.
• Adopted the Action Plan for Strengthening BIMSTEC Agricultural Cooperation (2023-2027).
• An MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) between the BIMSTEC Secretariat and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) has been signed and approval has been given to bring fisheries and livestock sub-sectors under the Agricultural Working Group.

What is BIMSTEC?

About:

• The BIMSTEC is a regional organisation comprising seven Member States: five deriving from South Asia, including Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and two from Southeast Asia, including Myanmar and Thailand.
• This sub-regional organisation came into being on 6th June 1997 through the Bangkok Declaration.
• The BIMSTEC region is home to around 1.5 billion people which constitute around 22% of the global population with a combined Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of 2.7 trillion economy.
• The BIMSTEC Secretariat is in Dhaka.
• Institutional Mechanisms:
  • BIMSTEC Summit
  • Ministerial Meeting
  • Senior Officials’ Meeting
  • BIMSTEC Working Group
  • Business Forum & Economic Forum

Significance:

• The BIMSTEC has huge potential as a natural platform for development cooperation in a rapidly changing geopolitical calculus and can leverage its unique position as a pivot in the Indo-Pacific region.
• The growing value of BIMSTEC can be attributed to its geographical contiguity, abundant natural and human resources, and rich historical linkages and a cultural heritage for promoting deeper cooperation in the region.
• The Bay of Bengal region has the potential to become the epicentre of the Indo-Pacific idea, a place where the strategic interests of the major powers of East and South Asia intersect.
• It serves as a bridge between two major high-growth centres of Asia — South and Southeast Asia.

What are the Challenges with BIMSTEC?

• Inconsistency in Meetings: BIMSTEC planned to hold summits every two years, ministerial meetings every year, but only five summits have taken place in 20 years.
• Neglected by member states: It seems that India has used BIMSTEC only when it fails to work through SAARC in the regional setting and other major members like Thailand and Myanmar are focused more towards ASEAN than BIMSTEC.
• Broad Focus Areas: The focus of BIMSTEC is very wide, including 14 areas of cooperation like connectivity, public health, agriculture etc. It is suggested that BIMSTEC should remain committed to small focus areas and cooperate in them efficiently.
• Bilateral Issues between Member Nations: Bangladesh is facing one of the worst refugee crises of Rohingyas from Myanmar who are fleeing prosecution in the state of Rakhine in Myanmar. There is a border conflict between Myanmar and Thailand.
• BCIM: The formation of another sub-regional initiative, the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM) Forum, with the proactive membership of China, has created more doubts about the exclusive potential of BIMSTEC.
• Inadequate Focus on Economic Cooperation: A quick look at the unfinished tasks and new challenges gives an idea of the burden of responsibilities on the grouping.
  • Despite signing a framework agreement for a comprehensive Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in 2004, BIMSTEC stands far away from this goal.

Way Forward

• There is a need for finalisation of the BIMSTEC Free Trade Agreement among the member countries.
  • As the region is facing challenges of health and economic security and stressed the need for solidarity and cooperation, the FTA will make the Bay of Bengal a bridge of connectivity, a bridge of prosperity, a bridge of security.
• India would have to counter the impression that BIMSTEC is an India-dominated bloc, in that context India can follow the Gujral doctrine that intends to chalk out the effect of transactional motive in bilateral relations.
• BIMSTEC should focus more in the future on new areas such as the blue economy, the digital economy, and promotion of exchanges and links among start-ups and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).

Not on Track to Achieve Forest Goals

Context: According to a new report, the world is not on track to achieve forest goals of ending and reversing deforestation by 2030.

• Ending deforestation is critical for a credible pathway to the Paris Agreement’s goal of limiting warming by 1.5°C.

What are the Highlights of the Report?

• Only 24% of the necessary commitments for emissions reductions have been made so far.
• Forest-based actions can make an essential contribution to meeting the Paris Agreement’s ambition. It can provide nearly 27% of the solution to help avert climate catastrophe.
  • Forest-based solutions provide a crucial annual mitigation potential of around four gigatonnes by 2030.
  • Indigenous peoples and local communities play a key role in achieving these outcomes.
• High-Forest-Low-Deforestation (HFLD) countries store 18% of tropical forest carbon worldwide and their access to sufficient climate finance must be rapidly improved.
  • But current forest climate finance mechanisms are not adequate for rewarding their historical conservation and resisting increasing pressures to deforest.

What are the Suggestions Given by the Report?

• Existing commitments must be transformed into reality and new commitments must urgently be made to finance forests, or we are at extreme risk of missing the milestone.
  • Only half of these commitments have been realised through emissions reduction purchase agreements. Funding for these commitments has not yet been disbursed.
• The countries must have financial aid to scale up their actions to develop and implement ambitious forest-based climate solutions.
• The actions to protect, sustainably manage and restore forests can deliver cost-effective climate change mitigation. These actions can also reverse declines in biodiversity and enhance resilience to climate change.
• Emission reduction must be achieved every year post-2025 for the 2030 goals to remain within reach.

What is the Paris Agreement?

About:

• The Paris Agreement (also known as the Conference of Parties 21 or COP 21) was adopted in 2015.
• It replaced the Kyoto Protocol which was an earlier agreement to deal with climate change.
• It is a global treaty wherein some 200 countries agreed to cooperate to reduce Green House Gas (GHG) Emissions and rein in climate change.
  • It seeks to limit global warming to well below 2°C, preferably to 1.5°C, compared to pre-industry levels.

Working:

• The Paris Agreement works on a 5- year cycle of increasingly ambitious climate action carried out by countries. In 2020, countries had submitted their plans for climate action known as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
• Long-Term Strategies:
• Long-term low greenhouse gas emission development strategies (LT-LEDS) provide the long-term horizon for the NDCs. Unlike NDCs, they are not mandatory.

Tracking Progress:

• With the Paris Agreement, countries established an Enhanced Transparency Framework (ETF). Under the ETF, starting in 2024, countries will report transparently on actions taken and progress in climate change mitigation, adaptation measures and support provided or received.
  • It also provides for international procedures for the review of the submitted reports.
  • The information gathered through the ETF will feed into the Global stocktake which will assess the collective progress towards the long-term climate goals.

Way Forward

• To achieve this long-term temperature goal, countries should aim to reach global peaking of greenhouse gas emissions as soon as possible to achieve a climate-neutral world by mid-century.
• There is a need for credible short-term commitments, with a clear pathway to medium-term decarbonization, that takes into account the multiple challenges states face, such as air pollution, and development might well be the more defensible choice for some.

Methane Alert and Response System

Context: Recently the United Nations (UN) has decided to set up a satellite-based monitoring system “MARS: Methane Alert and Response System” for tracking methane emissions and alerting governments and corporations to respond.

• The MARS initiative is intended to strengthen the efforts to cut methane emissions.

What is Methane Alert and Response System (MARS)?

About:

• The MARS was launched at the 27th Conference of Parties (COP27) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt.
• The data-to-action platform was set up as part of the UN Environment Programme’s (UNEP) International Methane Emissions Observatory (IMEO) strategy to get policy-relevant data into the right hands for emissions mitigation.
• The system will be the first publicly available global system to connect methane detection to notification processes transparently.

Objectives:

• MARS will integrate data from a large number of existing and future satellites that have the ability to detect methane emission events anywhere in the world, and send out notifications to the relevant stakeholders to act on it.
• MARS will track the large point emission sources, mainly in the fossil fuel industry, but with time, would be able to detect emissions from coal, waste, livestock and rice fields as well.

Why do we Need to Cut Methane Emissions?

About Methane:

• Methane is a colourless and odourless gas that occurs abundantly in nature and as a product of certain human activities.
• Methane is the simplest member of the paraffin series of hydrocarbons and is among the most potent of the greenhouse gases.

Concerns Regarding Methane:

• Methane is the second-most common of the six major greenhouse gases, but is far more dangerous than carbon dioxide in its potential to cause global warming.
• Accounting for about 17% of the current global greenhouse gas emissions, methane is blamed for having caused at least 25%- 30% of temperature rise since the pre-industrial times.
• It accounts for a small portion of human-induced greenhouse gas emissions compared to carbon dioxide. But it is thought to be 80 times more efficient than carbon dioxide at trapping atmospheric heat in the 20 years following its release.

What are the Initiatives to Cut Methane Emission?

Global:

• Global Methane Pledge: At the Glasgow climate conference (UNFCCC COP 26) in 2021, nearly 100 countries had come together in a voluntary pledge, referred to as the Global Methane Pledge, to cut methane emissions by at least 30% by 2030 from the 2020 levels. More countries have joined in this initiative since then, bringing the total to nearly 130. A 30% reduction in methane emissions by 2030 is expected to result in avoiding 0.2 degree rise in temperature by the year 2050, and is considered absolutely essential in the global efforts to keep the temperature increase below the 1.5 degree Celsius target.
• Global Methane Initiative (GMI): It is an international public-private partnership focused on reducing barriers to the recovery and use of methane as a clean energy source. GMI provides technical support to deploy methane-to-energy projects around the world that enable Partner Countries to launch methane recovery and use projects. India is a partner country.

National:

• ‘Harit Dhara’ (HD): Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has developed an anti-methanogenic feed supplement ‘Harit Dhara’, which can cut down cattle methane emissions by 17-20% and can also result in higher milk production.
• India Greenhouse Gas Program: The India GHG Program led by World Resources Institute (WRI) India (non-profit organization), Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) is an industry-led voluntary framework to measure and manage greenhouse gas emissions. The programme builds comprehensive measurement and management strategies to reduce emissions and drive more profitable, competitive and sustainable businesses and organisations in India.
• National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC): NAPCC was launched in 2008 which aims at creating awareness among the representatives of the public, different agencies of the government, scientists, industry and the communities on the threat posed by climate change and the steps to counter it.

Jawaharlal Nehru

Context: India is celebrating Children's Day on 14th November 2022 to commemorate the 133rd birth anniversary of the Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru.

• World Children’s Day is celebrated on 20th November each year.

Who was Jawaharlal Nehru?

About:

• Birth: 14th November 1889 in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh.
• Father’s Name: Motilal Nehru (a lawyer who held the office of Indian National Congress as President two times.)
• Mother’s Name: Swarup Rani

Brief Profile:

• Author, politician, social activist, and lawyer who rose to prominence as the face of Indian national movement against British rule of India.

Education:

• Nehru received his education at home from English governesses and tutors until the age of 16.
• He attended Harrow, a prestigious English school, in 1905, where he spent two years.
• He spent three years at Trinity College in Cambridge where he earned a degree in natural science.
• He qualified as a barrister from the Inner Temple, London.

Return:

• In 1912, when he returned to India, he immediately entered in to politics.

Contribution in Indian Freedom Movement:

• Nehru participated in the Bankipore Congress as a delegate in 1912.
• In 1916, he joined Annie Besant’s Home Rule League.
  • He became Secretary of the Home Rule League, Allahabad in 1919.
• When the Non-Cooperation Movement began in 1920, he interacted with Mahatma Gandhi and joined the national independence movement.
• In 1921, he was detained on suspicion of engaging in anti-government activity.
• Nehru was appointed as General Secretary of the All India Congress Committee in September 1923.
• Since 1927, he has twice served as the general secretary of the Congress party.
• Nehru was lathi-charged in Lucknow in 1928 while leading a protest against the Simon Commission.
• Nehru was elected as president of the Lahore Session of Indian National Congress in 1929.
  • Nehru advocated for India's complete independence in this session.
• In 1929-31, he drafted a resolution called Fundamental Rights and Economic Policy, which outlined the congress's main goals and the nation's future.
  • The resolution was ratified by the Congress party during the Karachi Session in 1931, which was presided over by Saradar Vallabhai Patel.
• He participated in the Salt Satyagraha in 1930 and was put in jail.
• Nehru became a more prominent leader within the Congress and grew close to Mahatma Gandhi.
• In 1936, he presided over the Lucknow session of the Indian National Congress.
• Nehru was arrested for attempting to organize an individual satyagraha to oppose India's forced participation in the war.
• He took part in the civil disobedience movement in 1940, for which he received a four-year jail term.
• Nehru introduced the historic 'Quit India' movement at the All-India Congress Committee session in Bombay in 1942.
• Nehru along with other leaders was arrested on August 8, 1942 and taken to Ahmednagar Fort.
• He was released in 1945 and went on to arrange legal defence for officers and troops accused with disloyalty in the Indian National Army (INA).
• He was chosen to serve as the president of Indian National Congress fourth time in 1946.
• To recommend a strategy for the transfer of power, the Cabinet Mission was dispatched to India in 1946.
  • An interim government headed by Jawaharlal Nehru as Prime Minister was formed.
• On August 15, 1947, India attained independence but also suffered the pain of partition.

First Prime Minister of India:

• A princely state must join in the constituent assembly, according to Nehru, who also affirms that there would be no princely states in an independent India.
• He assigned Vallabhbai Patel to oversee the effective integration of the states.
• India became a sovereign democratic republic on January 26, 1950, when the new Indian Constitution came into effect.
• In order to divide up states according to languages, Jawaharlal Nehru created the states reorganization committee in 1953.
• In addition to promoting democratic socialism, he promoted India's industrialization by carrying out the first five-year plans.
• The Non-alignment movement (NAM) is regarded as his greatest geopolitical accomplishment.
  • India decided to not align with any superpower during the cold war era after World War II.
• His final term as prime minister was troubled by the Sino-Indian War, 1962.
• He promoted democratic socialism during his 17 years as prime minister, highlighting the necessity for India to attain both democracy and socialism.
• His internal policies were founded on the four tenets of democracy, socialism, unification, and secularism. He was able to incorporate these pillars into the construction of new independent India.
• Books Written: The Discovery of India, Glimpses of World History, An Autobiography, Letters from a Father to His Daughter.
• Death: 27th May 1964.