5 July 2023 : Daily Current Affairs
DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS
5-July-2023
Daily Current Affairs For UPSC ,Daily Current affairs of The hIndu and Indian Express.
1. SCO calls for multipolar world order as Iran joins grouping.
Topic: GS2 – International relations
Context:
- The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) leaders emphasize the need for a more representative and multipolar world order.
- India hosts the virtual summit for the first time and refuses to join other members on paragraphs related to China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in the joint statement.
Highlights of the SCO summit:
- India also stays out of a joint statement on SCO Economic Development Strategy 2030, indicating a lack of consensus in the grouping.
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi criticizes Pakistan for cross-border terrorism and China for connectivity projects that do not respect sovereign boundaries.
- Iran is inducted as the ninth member of the SCO.
- Agreements signed include the New Delhi Declaration, countering radicalization, and digital transformation.
- SCO members jointly criticize non-UN sanctions, referring to the negative impact of sanctions on Russia and Iran.
- SCO members agree to explore the use of national currencies for payments within the grouping.
- India opposes the BRI due to its inclusion of projects in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
- Prime Minister Modi emphasizes the importance of upholding the basic principles of the SCO charter, including respecting sovereignty and regional integrity of member states.
Model question: Analyze the role and challenges of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in promoting regional cooperation among member states. Discuss India’s stance on China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) within the SCO and its implications. (Word limit: 150 words)
Source: the Hindu, 5 July 2023, page 1
2. Green tribunal orders SOP to curb pollution at hospitals.
Topic: GS3 – sustainable development.
Context:
- The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has formed a five-member committee to develop a standard operating procedure (SOP) for environmental management in government district hospitals and larger healthcare facilities.
- The NGT’s order aims to offset the adverse impact of polluting activities on the environment.
- The NGT has also directed specific measures for the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi, including multilevel parking, traffic management, and controlling air pollution.
About National Green Tribunal:
The National Green Tribunal (NGT) is a specialized judicial body in India established under the National Green Tribunal Act, 2010. It was formed to effectively handle cases related to environmental protection and conservation, and to provide speedy justice in environmental matters. Here are some key points about the National Green Tribunal:
- Establishment: The NGT was established on October 18, 2010, under the provisions of the National Green Tribunal Act, which was enacted by the Parliament of India.
- Composition: The NGT consists of both judicial and expert members. The Tribunal is headed by a Chairperson who is a retired Judge of the Supreme Court of India. The NGT also has other Judicial Members, who are either serving or retired Judges of High Courts, and Expert Members with specialized knowledge in environmental matters.
- Jurisdiction: The NGT has jurisdiction over all civil cases relating to environmental issues and disputes arising under various environmental laws, including the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981, and the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.
- Powers and Functions: The NGT has the power to hear cases, review environmental regulations and policies, and issue directions for the enforcement of environmental laws. It has the authority to award compensation for damages caused due to environmental violations and can impose penalties and fines on polluters.
- Appellate Authority: The decisions of the NGT can be appealed in the Supreme Court of India. However, no civil court has jurisdiction to hear matters that fall within the purview of the NGT.
- Regional Benches: The NGT has its principal bench in New Delhi and several regional benches across different parts of India. These regional benches provide accessibility to individuals and organizations from different regions to seek redressal for environmental issues.
- Speedy Disposal: The NGT follows a time-bound approach in disposing of cases, aiming to provide quick justice in environmental matters. The Tribunal is known for its expeditious handling of cases and for its efforts to reduce the backlog of pending environmental cases.
Model question: Discuss the role and significance of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) in ensuring effective environmental governance in India. Highlight its powers, functions, and jurisdiction. Also, examine the challenges faced by the NGT in its mission to protect the environment and promote sustainable development. (Word limit: 250 words)
Source: the Hindu, 5 July 2023, page 1
3. Impractical to bring tribals under UCC: Arvind Netam
Topic: GS2 – governance.
Context:
- Former Union Minister Arvind Netam cautions against rushing the implementation of the Uniform Civil Code (UCC).
- Netam believes that including tribal communities with diverse and rooted customs under the UCC is impractical.
- Tribal communities have their own customary laws governing matters of birth, divorce, inheritance, which are part of their identity and differ from other castes, communities, and religions.
Potential consequences of bringing tribals under uniform civil code:
- Cultural and Identity Concerns: Tribals have distinct cultural practices, customs, and traditions that are deeply rooted in their communities. Imposing a uniform civil code could undermine their cultural identity and erode their traditional way of life.
- Legal Challenges: Implementing a uniform civil code for tribals may face legal challenges as their customary laws and practices differ significantly from mainstream civil laws. Adapting tribal customs to fit within a uniform code may lead to conflicts and legal complexities.
- Social Disruption: Tribals often have communal land ownership, kinship-based systems, and unique social structures. Imposing a uniform civil code might disrupt their social fabric and traditional systems of governance, potentially leading to social unrest and conflicts within tribal communities.
- Lack of Representation: Tribals are diverse and have different sub-groups and tribes with their own unique customs and practices. The development and implementation of a uniform civil code without proper representation and consultation with tribal leaders and representatives may lead to the marginalization of their voices and interests.
- Access to Justice: Tribals residing in remote and marginalized areas may face difficulties in accessing justice under a uniform civil code. Their customary laws and dispute resolution mechanisms may be better suited to their needs and circumstances. Imposing a uniform code may create barriers and hinder their access to justice.
Way forward:
- Consultation and Participation: Engage in extensive consultations with tribal communities, their leaders, and representatives to understand their concerns, needs, and aspirations. Their perspectives and voices should be given importance in the decision-making process.
- Customary Law Recognition: Recognize and respect the customary laws and practices of tribal communities. It is essential to strike a balance between preserving their cultural identity and ensuring justice and equality.
- Special Provisions: Consider incorporating special provisions within the uniform civil code to accommodate the unique needs and customs of tribal communities. This may involve providing flexibility or exemptions that align with their cultural practices while safeguarding fundamental rights and principles.
- Education and Awareness: Conduct educational programs and awareness campaigns to promote understanding and acceptance of tribal customs and traditions. This can help bridge the gap between different communities and promote social harmony.
- Capacity Building: Invest in capacity-building initiatives for tribal communities to enhance their legal knowledge and empower them to navigate the legal system effectively. This can include legal aid services, training programs, and support for community leaders.
- Gradual Implementation: Instead of abrupt enforcement, consider a phased approach to the implementation of the uniform civil code for tribal communities. This allows for a smooth transition and allows time for adaptation and understanding.
Model question: Analyze the challenges and potential implications of bringing tribal communities under a uniform civil code in India. What are the key factors that need to be considered and addressed for a smooth implementation of the uniform civil code for tribals? (250 words)
Source: the Hindu, 5 July 2023, page 12
4. SC seeks govt. response on failure to fill NHRC vacancies
Topic: GS2 – governance.
Context:
- The Supreme Court has taken up a plea filed by Radhakanta Tripathy regarding the Union government’s alleged inaction in filling vacancies in the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).
- The petitioner has pointed out that there are three vacant positions in the commission, including two judicial members and one woman member.
- The vacancies have reportedly been vacant since September 11, 2021, January 4, 2023, and April 4, 2022, respectively.
- The Chief Justice of India, D.Y. Chandrachud, along with a bench, has issued a notice regarding the plea.
Why the Issue of vacancies in national human rights commission exist:
- Delayed appointments: The process of appointing members to the NHRC may face delays, leading to vacant positions. This could be due to administrative procedures, bureaucratic hurdles, or delays in the selection and appointment process.
- Lack of prioritization: Sometimes, filling vacancies in the NHRC may not be given sufficient priority by the government or relevant authorities. This lack of prioritization can result in prolonged vacancies and hinder the commission’s functioning.
- Political considerations: The appointment of members to the NHRC can involve political considerations, including the selection of individuals who align with the government’s ideology or interests. This can lead to delays or disputes in the appointment process, causing vacancies to persist.
- Lack of qualified candidates: Finding suitable candidates who meet the required qualifications and experience for NHRC membership can be a challenge. The limited pool of eligible individuals can contribute to delays in filling vacancies.
- Institutional limitations: The NHRC’s autonomy and independence may be compromised, affecting its ability to operate effectively. If the commission lacks sufficient resources, support, or decision-making powers, it may face difficulties in appointing and retaining members.
Implications of these vacancies:
- Impacted decision-making: The absence of judicial members and a woman member in the commission can affect its ability to make informed and diverse decisions on human rights issues. The vacant positions may hinder the commission’s ability to address cases effectively and provide timely justice.
- Delayed justice: The backlog of cases may increase due to the lack of sufficient members in the NHRC. This can lead to delayed justice for victims of human rights violations, undermining the purpose and credibility of the commission.
- Lack of expertise: Judicial members bring legal expertise to the commission, ensuring that human rights violations are assessed from a legal standpoint. The absence of such members may result in a lack of legal insight and guidance in the commission’s proceedings.
- Gender representation: The presence of a woman member in the NHRC is crucial to address gender-specific human rights issues effectively. The absence of a woman member can undermine the commission’s ability to address and advocate for women’s rights.
- Public trust and confidence: The existence of vacancies in the NHRC for a prolonged period can erode public trust and confidence in the commission’s ability to protect and promote human rights effectively. It may raise questions about the government’s commitment to upholding human rights standards.
Model question: Discuss the implications and challenges arising from the vacancies in the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) in India. Suggest measures to address the issue and strengthen the functioning of the NHRC. (Word limit: 250 words)
Source: the Hindu, 5 July 2023, page 12
5. CAUTIONING CANADA
Syllabus – GS II
Context – The resurgence of radical Sikh propaganda is cause for serious concern in India. It should worry Canada even more.
Terrorism and Canada
- Much before the 9/11 attack on the Twin Towers in New York became the defining image of terrorism and Osama bin Laden its face, the biggest terrorist attack in North America was the June 1985 bombing of Kanishka, Air India’s Flight 182 from Toronto to London, killing all 329 passengers and crew aboard.
- Most of those who perished in the attack were Canadian citizens.
- In large part due to a sloppy investigation by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, members of the Babbar Khalsa International, held to be the perpetrators, went unpunished, the last of them, bomb-maker Inderjit Singh Reyat walking free in 2017.
- But Ottawa and Canada’s provincial governments remain sanguine in the face of what is an effort by radical groups such as Sikhs for Justice to ramp up the noise.
- Canada’s liberal immigration policies have kept its doors open to many immigrants from around the globe.
- This is commendable in a world where the words immigrant and refugee have become terms of abuse.
- Most of the large Sikh community that has made Canada its home is peace-loving and law-abiding.
- But a vociferous extremist fringe comprising radical groups has hijacked the agenda.
- Promotional posters for a planned pro-Khalistan “freedom rally” in Toronto openly threaten violence against Indian diplomats posted in Canada.
- This is unacceptable; Canadian law-enforcing authorities cannot pass this off as a free speech issue.
India and the issue of Khalistan
- The summons by the Ministry of External Affairs to the Canadian High Commissioner to India over this latest Khalistani outrage comes a month after a milder rebuke from External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar last month for a float depicting the assassination of Indira Gandhi in a Toronto parade taken out by members of the Sikh community to mark the anniversary of the 1984 storming of the Golden Temple in Amritsar.
- He attributed the Canadian tolerance for Khalistani elements to “vote bank”
- Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau depends on his government’s survival on well-known Khalistani propagandist Jagmeet Singh, the leader of the New Democratic Party.
- It is no coincidence that ever since the campaign began some five years ago for the so-called “Referendum 2020” in countries such as Canada, the US, Australia and the UK, where large Sikh diasporas reside, Punjab has witnessed an uptick in pro-Khalistan activities.
- Indeed, the sudden emergence of Amritpal Singh in Punjab as a self-styled Khalistani leader in the mould of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale pointed to several failures of Punjab’s political elites to address economic and social challenges that plague the state.
- But what is happening in Canada is adding to the security concerns in Punjab. It is time that the Canadian government took this seriously, or else bilateral ties, which the two sides are trying to boost, are bound to be affected.
6. The rise of swing states
Syllabus – GS II
Context – Goldman Sachs, the global investment bank that talked of “dreaming with the BRICs” two decades ago, has a new idea now—“swing states” that will shape the balance of power globally.
BRICS and SCO
- The concept of BRICs — Brazil, Russia, India, and China—was about Goldman Sachs drawing investor attention to the economic potential of these nations at the turn of the millennium.
- But the idea acquired a political life of its own. As the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation was formed in 2001, the idea of the BRICs was simple: to limit American power in the unipolar moment of the 1990s.
- The Russians, who were looking for a way to reclaim their global position after the collapse of the Soviet Union, found BRICs a useful platform to counter the West.
- The Russia-India-China (RIC) forum pushed by Moscow provided the scaffolding.
- If the ambition of the BRICS was global, the focus of the SCO was regional — to keep the US and its “colour revolutions” out of the shared inner Asian periphery of Russia and China.
- The “Shanghai Five” was convened by Russia and China in 1996 along with Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan — three former Soviet Republics that shared borders with China.
- Formally set up in 2006, the four initial members of the BRICs forum welcomed South Africa into their ranks in 2010 to make it BRICS.
- Both the SCO and the BRICS are now debating the expansion of their membership as the worldwide interest in them grows.
- Notwithstanding the ambitious plans for their expansion, the SCO and BRICS are running out of their geopolitical steam as the context that brought them together at the turn of the millennium no longer exists.
- Large membership does not necessarily make any group more effective; by that count, the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) should be powerful organisations. They are not today and unlikely to be in future. The story repeats itself with SCO and BRICS.
- The SCO’s core objective was to counter “external threats” from the US. Central Asia’s rulers welcomed the protection Russia and China offered against the “regime change” threat sponsored by the West.
- After Moscow invaded, Ukraine and the Russian nationalists claimed that many former Soviet republics were “artificial states”; Central Asia’s source of “external threat” looked different.
- Nor does the region seek to trade Russian hegemony for Chinese dominance. Central Asian states, instead, are looking to diversify their international relations, including with the US, Europe, Japan, Turkey, and India.
- The geopolitics of BRICS looks different today. China is more powerful than its former peers. Beijing’s GDP is bigger than all the other BRICS put together.
- Russia has locked itself into an expensive and unwinnable conflict with the West even as its relative economic weight declines.
The idea of Swing States
- Delhi might have wanted a “multipolar world” in the 1990s, but its preference today is a “multipolar Asia”—to stop the region from becoming China’s backyard.
- The idea of “swing states” could endure because it is less ideological. It is rooted in the structural condition of the international system—the emergence of several nations, big or small, with significant resources, capacities, or locations to influence geo-political outcomes.
- According to the report published by Goldman Sachs, “geo-political swing states are critical to the world economy and balance of power, but they don’t have the capacity by themselves to drive the global agenda, at least for now”.
- “As long as the tensions between the US and China continue to get worse,” the report says, the swing states “will have outsized abilities to navigate geopolitical competition and take advantage of and influence it”.
- The report identifies four kinds of swing states. These are countries that can dominate “critical components of the world’s supply chains”; states that can “capitalise on current trends toward near-shoring, off-shoring, and friend-shoring”; nations with “disproportionate amount of capital and willingness to deploy it around the world in pursuit of strategic objectives”, and countries that can bring global leadership to critical issues.
- Addressing global investors, Goldman Sachs says, “The most effective business leaders will be those who work relentlessly to understand how changes in the geopolitical landscape create new risks and present new business opportunities.”
India and Way Ahead
- As global capital relearns the logic of geopolitics, leaders are paying greater attention to “geo-economics”. India is no exception.
- While it continues to sit in SCO and BRICS, Delhi’s growing bilateral engagement with key swing states—in resource-rich Africa, capital-rich Gulf, and technology-rich Europe — will likely be more consequential for India’s rise.
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