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For the first time, the Indian Armed Forces are planning to go ahead with cross-services postings of a large number of senior officers in the ranks of Brigadier and Major General and equivalent shortly.
This will be in line with efforts towards tri-service integration and the planned creation of theatre commands, senior officials familiar with the development.
This comes days after inter-service postings of a large batch of around 40 officers of the rank of Major and Lieutenant Colonel and equivalent, again a first, were announced.
Earlier, only a handful of such postings had taken place within the services. The officers would be transferred to missile units, for handling UAVs, and for logistics, repair and recovery and material and supplies management among other roles in the two other services.
Editorial
Don’t fiddle in Manipur (Page no. 14)
(GS Paper 3, Internal Security)
The grisly violence that continues unabated in Manipur since May 3 has generated widespread concern and animated debates. Taking a cue from Paul Brass, I maintained in my last article that Manipur’s violence follows an established pattern of “institutionalised riot system” (IRS) witnessed earlier in other parts of India.
Although various explanations are offered from disparate quarters, IRS remains the major and constant source of structural violence in the state.
If the deafening silence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and unheeded appeal of Home Minister Amit Shah for a 15-day peace after his visit to Manipur on May 29 are any guide, structural violence that stems from this system shows no sign of immediate closure.
A major source of structural violence remains the lack of political will to fix accountability with Chief Minister Biren Singh who continues to preside over the complete breakdown of law and order.
The reluctance to formally impose Article 355 and President’s Rule in Manipur leverages a proxy arrangement where “security” is purportedly placed under the unified command of Kuldeep Singh, security advisor to Singh.
This spawns a constitutional anomaly whereby absent formal proclamation of Article 355 and President’s Rule, the role of 40,000 additional central paramilitary forces deployed in the state remains circumscribed to merely “aiding” the state in maintaining “law and order”.
Ideas Pages
A narrative in search of data (Page no. 15)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
That India is one of the best-performing macro-economies in the world (the best by far in the G20 over the last two years) is now well established.
However, the debate remains on whether this growth has translated into exceptional growth for the poor, especially in rural India. According to the most comprehensive wage data available in India (NSSO/PLFS), real casual worker wage growth between 2011 and 2021 is entirely consistent with macro-GDP data.
These results are presented in the second half of this article. But first, a digression on the unfounded claims of Jean Dreze — former member of Sonia Gandhi’s Economic Advisory Council and Visiting Professor at Ranchi University — that my method of computation of real wage growth was flawed.
Critics assert that “representative” rural wage data is inconsistent with the picture of a rosy economy as revealed by GDP data. Dreze’s database is not NSS/PLFS, but a rarely used source for real wages — rural occupation data as published by the Ministry of Labour in the pages of the Indian Labour Journal.
One reason for the relative obscurity of the ILJ data is that it is not based on individual wages, but rather on a survey of 600 villages in 20 states. For each village, average wage data are compiled for 25 occupations (12 agricultural and 13 non-agricultural).
The average all-India ILJ wage is “derived by dividing the sum total of wages of all the 20 states by the number of quotations”.
Explained
Paddy and the price of water (Page no. 17)
(GS Paper 1, Geography)
The southwest monsoon season (June-September) has registered 37.2% deficient rain so far. With most global weather agencies predicting El Niño — which typically suppresses rainfall in India — to fully set in by this month-end, the outlook for the rest of the season doesn’t look great.
A weak monsoon can particularly impact paddy (rice with husk). A highly water-intensive crop, its cultivation entails preparing nurseries, where the seeds are first raised into young plants that are uprooted and re-planted around 30 days later in the main field. During the nursery stage, water equivalent to one round of irrigation is given.
But the real water consumption starts after that: The field in which the seedlings are transplanted is usually irrigated once, before being “puddled” or tilled in standing water.
Puddling churns the soil, making it softer for transplanting, and breaks its capillary pores through which water percolates down. This operation alone consumes water equivalent to three irrigations.
For the first two weeks or more after transplanting, farmers have to irrigate every 1-2 days to maintain a water depth of 4-5 cm, necessary to prevent weed growth during the crop’s early stage. In the remaining 110-odd days — out of the total 155-160 days duration (seed to grain) — the irrigation requirement reduces to once a week.
Miyawaki forests (Page no. 17)
(GS Paper 3, Environment)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his latest ‘Mann ki baat’ episode spoke about Miyawaki plantation, the Japanese method of creating dense urban forests in a small area.
The PM also cited the example of a Kerala-based teacher, Raafi Ramnath, who used the Miyawaki technique to transform a barren land into a mini forest called Vidyavanam by planting 115 varieties of trees.
Meanwhile, to fight climate change, curb pollution levels, and increase the green cover of the financial capital, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has been creating Miyawaki forests in several open land parcels of Mumbai.
Named after Japanese botanist Akira Miyawaki, this method involves planting two to four different types of indigenous trees within every square metre. In this method, the trees become self-sustaining and they grow to their full length within three years.
The methodology was developed in the 1970s, with the basic objective to densify green cover within a small parcel of land.
The plants used in the Miyawaki method are mostly self-sustaining and don’t require regular maintenance like manuring and watering.
Over the years, this cost effective method has become the go-to solution for the civic body to restore the green cover in a space-starved city like Mumbai.
The dense green cover of indigenous trees plays a key role in absorbing the dust particles of the area where the garden has been set up.
The plants also help in regulating surface temperature. Some of the common indigenous plants that are used for these forests include Anjan, Amala, Bel, Arjun and Gunj.
What’s in a name change? The right to life under Art 21 say 2 High Courts (Page no. 17)
(GS Paper 2, Polity and Governance)
The right to change one’s name or surname is a part of the right to life under Article 21, the High Courts of Allahabad and Delhi recently said.
Allowing a man called Shahnawaz to change his name to Md. Sameer Rao, the Allahabad HC on May 25 said the fundamental right to keep or change one’s name is vested in every citizen under Articles 19(1)(a), 21, and 14 of the Constitution.
The Delhi HC on May 19 allowed a plea filed by two brothers to reflect their father’s changed surname — from “Mochi” to “Nayak” — on their Class 10 and 12 Board certificates, stating that the right to identity is an “intrinsic part” of the right to life under Article 21.
In ‘Sadanand & Anr. vs CBSE & Ors’, a plea was filed by two brothers before the Delhi HC seeking to set aside a letter issued by the CBSE on June 1, 2017, refusing to change their father’s last name from ‘Mochi’ to ‘Nayak’ in their 10th and 12th Board certificates.
Owing to caste atrocities suffered by him, the father had earlier changed his surname and published it in the newspaper and the Gazette of India as required. His surname was changed across various public documents, such as Aadhaar, PAN, and Voter ID. However, CBSE refused to update the brothers’ certificates with the father’s new surname.
World
Blinken kicks off meeting in Beijing to cool soaring tensions in US-China ties (Page no. 18)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday kicked off two days of high-stakes diplomatic talks in Beijing aimed at trying to cool exploding U.S.-China tensions that have set many around the world on edge.
Blinken opened his program by meeting Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang for an extended discussion to be followed by a working dinner.
Neither Blinken nor Qin made any substantive comments to reporters as they began the meeting at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse.
Despite Blinken’s presence in the Chinese capital, prospects for any significant breakthroughs are slim, as already strained ties have grown increasingly fraught in recent years.
Animosity and recriminations have steadily escalated over a series of disagreements that have implications for global security and stability.
Blinken is the highest-level American official to visit China since President Joe Biden took office and the first secretary of state to make the trip in five years.
Biden and Xi agreed to Blinken’s trip early at a meeting last year in Bali. It came within a day of happening in February but was delayed by the diplomatic and political tumult brought on by the discovery of what the U.S. says was a Chinese spy balloon flying across the United States that was shot down.
Putin rebuts key points of Africa peace plan (Page no. 18)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday gave African leaders seeking to mediate in the war in Ukraine a list of reasons why he believed many of their proposals were misguided, pouring cold water on a plan already largely dismissed by Kyiv.
The African leaders were seeking agreement on a series of “confidence building measures”, even as Kyiv last week began a counteroffensive to push back Russian forces from the swathes of southern and eastern Ukraine that they occupy.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said after meeting them in Kyiv on Friday that peace talks would require Moscow to withdraw its forces from occupied Ukrainian territory, something Russia has said is not negotiable.
Putin opened Saturday’s talks with representatives of Senegal, Egypt, Zambia, Uganda, Congo Republic, Comoros and South Africa in a palace near St Petersburg by stressing Russia’s commitment to the continent.
But after presentations from the Comoran, Senegalese and South African presidents, he stepped in to challenge the assumptions of the plan – predicated on acceptance of internationally recognised borders – before the round of statements could go any further.
Economy
India, UK seeking equal treatment for service sector firms under proposed FTA (Page no. 19)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
India and the UK are seeking equal treatment in each other's market for their respective companies engaged in the services sector under the proposed free trade agreement, which is under negotiations.
The two countries are looking at promoting trade in services through this agreement, negotiations for which was launched on January 13, 2021.
As many as ten rounds of talks have been completed till June this year and both sides are aiming to conclude the negotiations at the earliest.
In the services sector, the official said the UK is showing keen interest in areas such as financial sectors, while India is looking at areas such as education and movement of skilled professionals.
Under the services chapter of the free trade agreement, there are no customs duty concessions given to each other.
The two trading partners negotiate issues like giving national treatment to Indian and British companies in different sectors and ease norms to promote trade in services like simple visa processes for skilled labour force and easy foreign direct investment norms in the sector.