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Amid increasing concern over China’s aggressive behaviour in the region, Japan Prime Minister Fumio Kishida emphasised that India is “indispensable” in Tokyo’s plan for a “Free and Open Indo-Pacific”.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, too, underlined the importance of the India-Japan partnership for a stable Indo-Pacific. Following his meeting with his Japanese counterpart, Modi said the India-Japan Special Strategic and Global Partnership is based on shared democratic values, and respect for the rule of law in the international arena.
Strengthening this partnership is not only important for both our countries, it also promotes peace, prosperity and stability in the Indo-Pacific region.
As the world is standing at history’s turning point fraught with difficulties, what role should Japan and India play. While both leaders did not mention the Russian invasion of Ukraine in their public statements, officials said the issue figured prominently during the working lunch after the bilateral meeting.
Briefing reporters, Japan’s Cabinet Secretary for Public Affairs Noriyuki Shikata said: “Kishida was straightforward…they should not condone any unilateral change of status quo, including in Asia.”
Later, in a speech to unveil Japan’s new plan for a “Free and Open Indo-Pacific”, Kishida said the two countries are “in an extremely unique position in the current international relations” and have a great responsibility towards maintaining and strengthening “a free and open international order based on the rule of law”.
In an oblique reference to China’s zero-Covid policy, he said: “Even during the Covid-19 pandemic, there were no voices at all in either Japan or India that said that a totalitarian system of governance would be better.”
In Parliament
Extend PMAY-U to cover all deserving, assess needy afresh: House panel report (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 2, Polity and Governance)
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Housing and Urban Affairs has raised concerns that some people could not avail of the benefits of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban (PMAY-U) due to the eligibility criteria or other impediments, and has asked the Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry to conduct an assessment.
In its report on the implementation of the PMAY-U that was presented to the Lok Sabha, the committee recommended that the ministry extend the scheme, which is set to end on December 31, 2024, if need be, to cover those who remain in need of houses.
The panel, chaired by Rajiv Ranjan Singh, noted that when the scheme was launched in 2015, the ministry had estimated the housing shortage of 1.88 crore in 2012-17.
It [ministry] had further submitted that in India, at the slum decadal growth rate of 34%, the slum households are projected to go up to 18 million.
Also, 2 million non-slum urban poor households are proposed to be covered under the Mission. Hence, a total housing shortage envisaged to be addressed through the new mission is 20 million. However, the total validated demand as assessed by states/UTs stands at 1.23 crore,” the report said.
Panel suggests prepaid cards for power to save groundwater (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 2/3, Governance/Economy)
Observing that the primary reason for excessive exploitation of groundwater is wide cultivation of water guzzler paddy and sugarcane crops, which are “heavily incentivized”, a Parliamentary Standing Committee has said that use of electric pumps needs to be further discouraged by introducing measures such pre-paid cards for power supply and restricting power supply to few hours a day.
The committee has recommended that the Department of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation under Jal Shakti Ministry should take the initiative by urging both the Power Ministry and Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare along with state governments to take measures on the suggested lines.
In its report, “Groundwater: A Valuable but Diminishing Resource”, which was tabled in Parliament on Monday, the Standing Committee on Water Resources said, “States like Punjab, Haryana, Telangana and Tamil Nadu offer completely free power, while other states have provision for collection of token charges.”
According to the report, the committee observed that while restricting free electricity to the farmers will certainly reduce the misuse of groundwater, both the Department of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation and Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare “have expressed inability to persuade states to reduce/stop subsidy for power given in agriculture as electricity is a concurrent subject and SERCs determine the electricity tariff for retail supply of electricity to end consumers under the extant provisions of Electricity Act, 2003”.
Express Network
ISRO’s LVM-3 to launch the second fleet of 36 satellites Sunday (Page no. 10)
GS Paper 3, Space)
In its second commercial launch, India’s heaviest launch vehicle LVM-3 will launch a fleet of 36 OneWeb satellites, completing the first generation of the huge broadband constellation.
The launch is scheduled for March 26 at 9:00 am from the second launch pad of the country’s only spaceport at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh. The final launch will enable the company to initiate global coverage.
The satellites have already been integrated and the rocket is in place at the launch pad ahead of Sunday’s launch. This is the second OneWeb fleet that India is launching, with the first being carried out by the same vehicle in October last year. This initiated India’s journey into the commercial heavy lift-off space.
The United Kingdom-based company, backed by the UK government and India’s Bharti, plans to create a 588-satellite strong constellation to provide high-speed, low-latency global connectivity.
These satellites will be placed in 12 rings of 49 satellites each, with every satellite completing a full trip around the Earth in 109 minutes. Sunday’s launch will be the 18th fleet to be launched by the company.
Not doing enough to limit warming at 1.5 degree Celsius: IPCC (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 3, Environment)
Reiterating its earlier findings, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change on Monday reminded the world yet again that it was still not doing enough to rein in global temperatures from breaching the 1.5degree Celsius threshold despite there being “multiple, feasible and effective options” to do so.
In its latest report, the IPCC, a UN-backed global scientific body, said average temperatures had already touched 1.1 degree Celsius above the pre-industrial times, and the 1.5 degree Celsius threshold was “more likely than not” to be reached in the “near term” itself.
A summary of the five earlier reports released between 2018 and 2022, marks the culmination of IPCC’s sixth assessment cycle that began in 2015.
These include three parts of the main sixth assessment report, one special report on the feasibility of keeping temperature rise within 1.5 degree Celsius, and another one on the connections between oceans and cryosphere.
Together these form the most comprehensive scientific understanding of the science of climate change, its impacts and actions that need to be taken.
Editorial
An RBI lesson for Europe (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
Across the world, markets opened with a bit of nervousness, even as the takeover of the crisis-ridden Credit Suisse received the blessing of the local regulator and policymakers.
While the acquirer, the Union Bank of Switzerland, has the full might of the Swiss National Bank behind it, it is anyone’s guess whether the merged entity will emerge as a poster child of a failed confidence-building measure or not.
The reverberations of this deal, once it passes muster in jurisdictions outside Switzerland, will likely be felt for a long time.
The demise of the 167-year-old bank —once a darling of markets in revered niche areas of wealth management and investment banking but one that had been haemorrhaging post the global financial crisis of 2008 — could also mark the beginning of a new era.
It could bring to the fore major issues facing European banks that are battling lacklustre home markets and failed bets in mainland China, along with stiff competition from US banking behemoths.
The wipeout of the entire portfolio of contingent convertible/AT1 bonds (used for bolstering the bank’s capital) worth $17 billion will erode confidence for new issuers, and raise the risk premia disproportionately in this $250 billion bond market.
The CDS (credit default swap) of Credit Suisse, already approaching alarming high levels in recent days for protection against near-term default, may result in rating changes for financial markets and even sovereigns.
Moreover, the demands for payment from diverse protection buyers can be daunting for UBS, SNB and the entire banking system wanting safe harbour in the storm.
Lost in this kerfuffle is also the issue of leadership. In 2020, Tidjane Thiam, the then CEO of Credit Suisse, stepped down from the troubled Swiss bank, giving in to pressure from select quarters despite an impeccable record in bringing the beleaguered lender back on track.