March 29, 2024

Lukmaan IAS

A Blog for IAS Examination

DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS (SEPTEMBER 26, 2022)

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THE INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

1. INDIA-UAE CEPA MAKES SIGNIFICANT POSITIVE IMPACT ON INDIA-UAE TRADE

THE CONTEXT: The India-UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) which came into effect on the 1st of May 2022 is already creating a significant positive impact on India-UAE trade. Indian exports to the UAE, excluding petroleum products grew from US$ 5.17 billion during June-August 2021 to US$ 5.92 billion during June-August 2022, which denotes an increase of 14%.

THE EXPLANATION:

  • It is pertinent to note that India’s global non-petroleum exports during the same period (Jun-Aug 2022) grew by 3% on an annual basis. This implies the growth rate of India’s non-petroleum exports to the UAE is almost 5 times as that of India’s non-petroleum exports to the world.
  • Excluding petroleum related imports, Indian imports from the UAE during the same three-month period grew from US$ 5.56billion (June-August 2021) to US$ 5.61 billion (June-August 2022) or an increase of 1% in percentage terms.
  • It may be noted that India’s non-oil export growth of around 14% on year-on-year basis comes in the context of significant macroeconomic headwinds such as conflict in Ukraine, COVID-19 related lockdowns in China, rising inflationary pressures, expected Policy tightening in advanced economies, global growth slowdown and consequent reduced demand, reduction in global merchandize trade (growth slowed down to 3.2% in Q1 2022 vis-a-vis 5.7% in Q4 2021)etc.
  • Indian exports are likely to increase further in the coming months with increasing use of the CEPA by the exporters and with dedicated efforts from Department of Commerce, in association with Indian Mission in the UAE, through organization of a series of trade promotion events in the UAE during the current Financial Year.
  • The analysis of the India-UAE CEPA was carried out from the period of June-August 2022, excluding statistics of oil trade. The month of May has not been included for the purpose of the analysis as it is considered as a transitory period. Oil trade has not been considered as import increase in oil/petroleum products is largely on account of the rise in global prices and to a certain extent on an increase offtake in volumes. Further, it is pertinent to mention that bulk of the oil imports from the UAE are of Crude Petroleum, the demand for which is inelastic and the customs duty for which is very low.

VALUE ADDITION:

What is CEPA?

  • It is a kind of free trade pact that covers negotiation on the trade in services and investment, and other areas of economic partnership.
  • India has signed CEPAs with South Korea and Japan.

India-UAE CEPA trade deal

The new strategic economic agreement will increase bilateral trade in goods to $100 billion in five years (2022-27) of the signed agreement and increase trade in services to $15 billion.

The Agreement is a comprehensive agreement which will cover:

  • Trade in Goods, Rules of Origin,
  • Trade in Services,
  • Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT),
  • Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) measures,
  • Dispute Settlement,
  • Movement of Natural Persons,
  • Telecom,
  • Customs Procedures,
  • Pharmaceutical products,
  • Government Procurement,
  • IPR, Investment,
  • Digital Trade and Cooperation in other Areas.

It will include a digital trade element, which is a first of its kind for both countries.

  • The United Arab Emirates is India’s third largest trading partner and second largest export destination.
  • The UAE is also the eight largest investor in India with an estimated investment of US$ 18 billion.
  • Bilateral trade between India and the UAE stood at $43.3 billion in 2020-21.
  • Exports were $16.7 billion, and imports, driven by oil, pushed the balance in favor of the UAE at $26.7 billion in 2020-21.

Issues/ Challenges:

Lack of negotiations:

  • A free trade agreement with the GCC comprising Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE, Oman, Qatar and Bahrain as its members was first envisaged in 2007, but got stuck after a couple of rounds of negotiations.

Lacking Global Giant Experience:

  • Despite being a US $2.5 trillion economy, Indian businesses are small in size. In fact, none of the Indian business giants come close to the big global conglomerates that have the capacity, infrastructure and experience to handle huge investments.

Procedural Issues:

  • Including lack of planning, lack of complete information, bureaucratic bottlenecks continue to remain a challenge for foreign investors despite significant efforts by the government in this direction to make investments easy and convenient.

Legal Issues:

  • Legal problems have in the past dampened foreign investments from coming to India. For example, the investments from UAE’s Etisalat and Etihad had got stuck in legal problems, thus dampening investor enthusiasm. While checks and regulations are needed, better streamlining of the procedures and processes help in avoiding such problems.

Political Will: 

  • There are challenges pertaining to political diversions, especially when an election year is approaching.
  • India has a tendency to become focused inward and in the process, ignore foreign policy.
  • The UAE with an appetite for large-scale investments needs to be continuously engaged.

Significance of the deal:

Enhanced market access: The agreement will provide significant benefits to Indian and UAE businesses, including enhanced market access and reduced tariffs.

  • The CEPA will boost bilateral trade from the current $60 billion to $100 billion in the next 5 years.
  • India welcomed investment from the Gulf country into Jammu and Kashmir that would open new routes for regional trade and connectivity and advance the collective interests of India, Israel, the UAE and the United States.
  • The deepening of the relationship with the UAE would also help Indian exporters gain access to other West Asian countries, Africa and some parts of Europe.

Digital trade: Early harvest agreement would likely include a chapter on digital trade which would be aimed at enhancing cooperation between the two countries on digital trade in the future.

  • Digital trade is likely to include frameworks on paperless trading, digital payments and online consumer protection, as well as address issues such as intellectual property rights in digital trade, and challenges to small and medium enterprises.
  • The UAE hopes to get enhanced market access in India for its petrochemicals, metals and dates.
  • Indian goods will flow to the other GCC countries as the UAE has no customs barriers.

Energy ties: UAE is India’s third largest supplier of crude oil and second largest supplier of LPG and LNG. Renewable energy is the next stop for bilateral energy ties.

  • It may also give a boost to India’s jewellery exports.
  • It is expected to create new jobs, raise living standards, and provide wider social and economic opportunities in both nations.

2. THE GROUP OF FOUR (G4) ON UNSC REFORM

THE CONTEXT: India’s External Affairs Minister met with his counterparts from Germany, Brazil and Japan under the Group of Four (G4) banner.

THE EXPLANATION:

  • The G4 met on the sidelines of the 77th Session of the United Nations General Assembly to discuss issues related to the reform of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).
  • The group is primarily focused on N. Security Council (UNSC) reform and  Permanent membership of the body for G4 members.
  • The G4 nations, comprising Brazil, Germany, India, and Japan, are four countries that support each other’s bids for permanent seats on the United Nations Security Council.
  • Unlike the G7, where the common denominator is the economy and long-term political motives, the G4’s primary aim is the permanent member seats on the Security Council.
  • Each of these four countries have figured among the elected non-permanent members of the council since the UN’s establishment.

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE MEETING:

Pushing forward for Reforms:

  • In the recent meeting, the group reiterated their commitment to pushing forward reform.
  • They also expressed dissatisfaction at the lack of progress in this regard.

Complex Global issues and need of reforms:

  • The G4 felt that the U.N. decision-making bodies needed to be urgently reformed as global issues were increasingly complex and interconnected.

No meaningful progress & lack of transparency:

  • G4 ministers expressed concern that the 76 th Session of the U.N. General Assembly (i.e., the year-long session that just concluded) did not make “meaningful progress” in the Inter-Governmental Negotiations (IGN).
  • This session, according to the G4, was constrained by a lack of transparency.

African representation:

  • They also batted for the Common African Position (CAP) and emphasized that African nations need representation in both the permanent and non-permanent categories of membership of a reformed and expanded Security Council.
  • G4 also called for dialogue with all pro-reform Member States.

Text-based negotiations:

  • The G4 Ministers welcomed the recommendation of the President of the 76 th General Assembly to “gradually move the process towards text-based negotiations”.
  • The group hoped this principle would be followed in the 77th General Assembly Session.

VALUE ADDITION:

UNITED NATIONS SECURITY COUNCIL

  • It is one of the UN’s six main organs and is aimed at maintaining international peace and security.
  • It held its first session on 17th January 1946 in Westminster, London.
  • Headquarters: New York City.
  • Membership: The Council is composed of 15 Members:
    • Permanent members with veto power: 
      • China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States.
  • More than 50 United Nations Member States have never been Members of the Security Council.

 THE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

3. CHINA DISCOVERS A NEW MINERAL ON THE MOON: CHANGESITE-(Y)

THE CONTEXT: A new type of crystal was discovered by researchers in China from the near side of the Moon.

THE EXPLANATION:

  • The newly discovered crystal was named Changesite-(Y) after the Chinese moon goddess Chang’e.
  • This small and transparent crystal was found among the volcanic debris of the near side of the moon.
  • It is more than a billion years old and its width is almost comparable to human hair.
  • It has a unique composition and is related to other minerals found only found on the lunar surface or in meteors.
  • The crystal was found among the 1.8 km of lunar rocks brought back by Chang’e-5 mission in 2020.
  • These samples are the first to the delivered to the Earth from Moon since 1976 and the first ever lunar samples collected by China.
  • The Changesite-(Y) crystal is the sixth new mineral to be discovered on the Moon and the first identified by China. The previous 5 discoveries were made by either the United States or Russia.
  • The lunar samples from Chang’e-5 also had helium-3, a version of helium that is extremely rare on Earth but highly abundant on the Moon.
  • It is seen as a potential source of fuel for nuclear fusion, as it is known to emit lesser radiation and nuclear wastes than other elements.
  • It is found in abundant quantities as it was deposited directly onto the lunar soil for billions of years by solar wind.
  • The availability of Helium-3 on Earth is few and far between. Hence, its discovery has triggered a potential lunar resource race.
  • Several space-faring nations and private companies are looking to mine the moon for Helium-3, including the US and China.

VALUE ADDITION

About Chang’e-5 Mission

The Chang’e 5 is China’s first lunar sample-return mission launched in November 2020. It is China’s fifth lunar exploration mission. It returned the sample back to Earth in December 2020. It is the first lunar sample-return mission since the Soviet Union’s Luna 24 in 1976. With Chang’e 5 mission, China became the third country after the US and the USSR to return lunar samples to the Earth.

 THE GOVERNMENT SCHEMES AND INTERVENTIONS

4. THE SIGN LEARN – INDIAN SIGN LANGUAGE DICTIONARY

THE CONTEXT: The Central Government has launched the Sign Learn to make Indian Sign Language usage more widespread.

THE EXPLANATION:

  • Sign Learn is a mobile application-based Indian Sign Language Dictionary having 10,000 words.
  • The application was launched by the Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Pratima Bhoumik.
  • It was developed based on the Indian Sign Language Dictionary of the Indian Sign Language Research And Training Centre (ISLRTC).
  • In the application, all the words can be searched either in Hindi or English.
  • The purpose of this mobile application is to make Indian Sign Language (ISL) more accessible for the general public.
  • All sign videos in the application can be shared via social media.
  • It was launched on the occasion of Sign Language Day.
  • On this occasion, ISL e-content of NCERT textbooks of class 6 and Indian Sign Language versions of selected books of ‘Veergatha’ series were launched.
  • The e-content was developed after an MoU was signed in 2020 for converting NCERT textbooks for classes 1 to 12 into digital ISL format to make them more accessible for children having hearing disabilities.

VALUE ADDITION:

What is Sign Language Day?

The Sign Language Day was celebrated on September 23 as part of the Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav. Its theme was “Sign Languages Unite Us”. The theme was chosen to declare the support for sign language as a human rights for deaf people. The event was approved by the National Implementation Committee (NIC), which was chaired by Home Minister. The event was organized by the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, which comes under the aegis of Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.

About ISLRTC

The ISLRTC is an institute focusing Indian Sign Language teaching and research. It was established under the 11th Five Year Plan (2007-2012). Earlier, it existed as an autonomous center of the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), Delhi. Later, in 2015, it became a society under the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities.

 THE PRELIMS PERSPECTIVE

5. NEELAKURINJI FLOWERS THAT BLOOM ONCE IN EVERY 12 YEARS

THE CONTEXT: Neelakurinji flowers have bloomed in Kodagu district of Karnataka after 12 years. This kind of mass flowering is known as gregarious flowering.

THE EXPLANATION:

About the flower:

  • It is a shrub that is found in the shola forests of the Western Ghats in Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
  • Locally known as Kurinji, the flowers grow at an altitude of 1,300 to 2,400 metres.
  • Nilgiri Hills, which literally means the blue mountains, got their name from the purplish blue flowers of Neelakurinji that bloom only once in 12 years.
  • Kurinjimala Sanctuary of Kerala protects the kurinji in approximately 32 km2 core habitat in Kottakamboor and Vattavada villages in Idukki district.
  • Kurinji Andavar temple located in Kodaikanal of Tamil Nadu dedicated to Tamil God Murugan also preserves these plants.
  • The Paliyan tribal people living in Tamil Nadu used it as a reference to calculate their age.
  • Karnataka has around 45 species of Neelakurinji and each species blooms at intervals of six, nine, 11 or 12 years.
  • Besides the Western Ghats, Neelakurinji is also seen in the Shevroy in the Eastern Ghats, Sanduru hills of Bellary district in Karnataka.

THE MAINS PERSPECTIVE-VALUE ADDITION

6. THE FOOD BARONS 2022 REPORT

THE CONTEXT: The Food Barons 2022 report released ahead of the Committee on World Food Security.

THE EXPLANATION:

About Food Barons 2022 report:

  • The report titled “Food Barons 2022 — Crisis Profiteering, Digitalization and Shifting Power” was released by Canada-based global research firm ETC Group.
  • It was created based on the 2020 sales and analysis of three annual reports of several agro-food companies.

KEY FINDINGS OF THE REPORT

Macroeconomic findings

  • The report revealed that large corporations have profited from the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change and war.
  • Small-scale operators in food sector are adversely impacted because of the strategies used by agri-food giants to consolidate and expand their dominion over global food systems.
  • Food prices are surging because of the structural inequality and corporate concentration in this sector.

Food delivery sector

  • According to this report, India’s major food delivery platforms have been ranked among top 10 e-commerce-based food delivery companies.
  • The top 3 performers in this sector Chinese food platform named Meituan, Deliveroo in the UK and Uber Eats in the US.
  • In majority of countries across the globe, the delivery workers are treated as independent contractors and not employees, making them ineligible for social security, personal injury, settlements and other benefits.
  • Several governments are looking to reform their labour laws to address this trend. New York became the first city to pass a law to regulate food delivery sector, mandating minimum pay and social security for gig workers.
  • The food delivery sector is currently facing the major issue of an increased trash from takeaways using single-use packaging.
  • Several food delivery platforms faced significant losses and were forced to shift towards grocery delivery.

Grocery sector

  • Walmart receives 30 per cent of consumer spending across the world.
  • The Indian companies are not among the top 10 meat companies or in the global grocery retail sector. Small grocery stores are currently dominating the retail market in the country.
  • India currently has over 20 million grocery stores or kirana stores. During the pandemic, these stores have been digitized to retain the customer base.
  • Currently, big corporations like Amazon, Walmart, Reliance and others are looking to consolidate these kirana stores into a single value chain.
  • India’s retail market is expected to grow nearly 1.5 trillion USD by 2030 and these corporations are looking to profit from it.

Agrochemicals sector

  • China’s Syngenta Group dominates a quarter of the global market of agrochemicals like seeds, pesticides and fertilizers.
  • Syngenta and German-based Bayer and BASF Agricultural Solutions, and Corteva in the United States account for 62.3 per cent of global market share.
  • China is the leading manufacturer of off-patent and generic pesticides.
  • India’s UPL Limited is the fifth largest agro-chemical firm in the world. In 2020, it had 7.9 per cent of the global market share with 4,900 million USD sales. 71 per cent of revenue came from generic pesticides.

Farm sector

  • In the commercial seed market, 10 companies controlled 40 per cent of global market 25 years ago. Now, only two firms have 40 per cent of the market share.
  • These firms made use of intellectual property laws, mergers and acquisitions and new technologies to take control of this market.
  • In the farm equipment sector, which includes tractors, farming tools and machines, 6 companies account for nearly half of the international market share.
  • India’s Mahindra and Mahindra is the sixth largest firm in this sector, with 2 per cent market share at the international level. Over 40 per cent of the Indian market is dominated by this firm. It reported a 31 per cent rise in domestic sales in June 2021 when compared with the previous year.
  • Companies are currently investing in drone technology in agriculture sector.
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