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Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who returned home after visiting the United States and Egypt, chaired a high-level meeting Monday in which the Centre decided to ensure distribution of essential resources including petrol and cooking gas in Manipur as part of measures to return normalcy in the state roiled by ethnic violence.
The ruling party leadership, it is learnt, is still undecided on a change of guard in Manipur amid calls for the removal of N Biren Singh as Chief Minister.
Modi chaired a meeting in which Home Minister Amit Shah, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri were present along with senior officials.
Editorial
In a sweet spot (Page no. 13)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
Reflecting on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the United States, this column is about the primacy of geopolitics, or national security, over economics and democracy in international relations.
Whether that should be so is not my principal concern here. That geopolitics typically overrides other considerations is my principal argument. Let me first state why.
In the field of international relations, which deals with the external, not internal, conduct of modern states, a central assumption is that nations are primarily guided by security.
The underlying philosophical claim comes from Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679), whose book Leviathan (1651), written during the English Civil War, made the argument that without public order and security, which only a government could provide, lives would be “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short”. Basic human life requires order and security.
While Hobbes wrote this argument about the English Civil War, the international system has been the site of its greatest application in modern times (though it has been tried internally, too).
Unlike national polities, the international system does not have a government. The United Nations is not a sovereign authority.
Lacking world government, it is the primary task of nations to make themselves secure. If there is no security, societies can’t pursue freedom or development, protect citizen rights, or provide justice.
Ideas Page
Transforming the bank (Page no. 13)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
Multilateralism, as the most transparent and preferred mode of international cooperation, has been undergoing constant evolution in scope, dimension, and outcomes.
Depending on the context, the term evokes mixed responses. The current debate on the reforms of multilateral development banks (MDBs) is a subset of the wider debate on the value, content and scope of multilateralism.
In recent years, the restructuring of MDBs has received increasing attention. In his address to the US Congress, Prime Minister Narendra Modi talked about the relevance of MDBs and the need to reform them.
In their joint statement, President Joe Biden and PM Modi underscored the need to strengthen and reform the multilateral system to reflect contemporary realities.
Therefore, it was logical that under India’s G20 presidency, the Expert Group on Strengthening MDBs comprised finance ministers and central bank governors.
At the end of WWII, delegates from 44 countries met in Bretton Woods to agree upon a series of new rules for international cooperation and reconstruction.
This led to the creation of the IMF and World Bank Group (WBG). The latter was responsible for providing financial assistance for the post-war reconstruction and economic development of the less developed countries.
The role evolved over the years and as of date, the WBG comprises the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) which lends to low-and middle-income (LICs and MICs) countries, the International Development Association (IDA) that lends to LICs, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) that lends to the private sector, the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) that encourages private companies to invest in foreign countries and the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) for dispute settlement.
Explained
In 10 yrs of Meitei ST demand repeated pleas to state centre (Page no. 16)
(GS Paper 3, Internal Security)
A Manipur High Court order on the demand for ST status for the state’s valley-dwelling Meitei people observed that no action had been taken by the government despite the multiple requests submitted by the community since 2013.
The order triggered protests by tribal groups in the hill districts on May 3, and started a cycle of ethnic violence that has plunged the state into a deep crisis.
The demand for Scheduled Tribe status for Manipur’s dominant, mostly Vaishnava Meitei community has run alongside the demand for Inner Line Permit (ILP) — restricting the entry of outsiders into the state — which was first made in Parliament in 1980. The demand for ST status is more recent.
Assam delimitation draft (Page no. 16)
(GS Paper 2, Judiciary)
Last week, the Election Commission (EC) released a draft delimitation document for Assam, proposing a change in boundaries of several Lok Sabha and Assembly constituencies of the state.
The proposal has run into controversy in Assam. While the ruling BJP has welcomed it for “protecting indigenous interests”, Opposition parties like the AIUDF, which represents the state’s Bengali-origin Muslims, are unhappy, alleging that the draft divides voters on religious lines.
The proposed boundaries also threaten the electoral futures of some sitting legislators and parliamentarians, who now may lose their constituencies.
Economy
Centre approve Rs 56415 crore to 16 states for capital investment (Page no. 17)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
The Department of Expenditure under the Finance Ministry has approved capital investment proposals of Rs 56,415 crore for 16 states in the current financial year 2023-24.
With an intent to tap into a higher multiplier effect of capital expenditure by frontloading the spending by states, the amount has been approved for 16 states including Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram, Odisha, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, and West Bengal.
The approval has been given under the scheme titled ‘Special Assistance to States for Capital Investment 2023-24’.
The scheme, which was announced in the Budget for 2023-24 in continuation of a similar push for capex from the last three years, special assistance is being provided to the state governments in the form of 50-year interest free loan up to an overall sum of Rs 1.3 lakh crore during the financial year 2023-24.
World
Wagner chief says did not plan to topple govt, PM admits to a challenge within (Page no. 18)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
Wagner mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin broke his silence for the first time since leading an armed rebellion to insist he had no intention of ousting President Vladimir Putin’s government.
“We did not have the goal of overthrowing the existing regime and the legitimately elected government,” Prigozhin said Monday in an 11-minute audio message on his press service’s Telegram channel. “We didn’t want to spill Russian blood.”
The march on Moscow by Wagner troops to within 124 miles of the capital on Saturday was a protest aimed at bringing to account those responsible for “enormous mistakes” in Russia’s war in Ukraine as well as to prevent the “destruction” of his mercenary group, he said.
Prigozhin spoke out hours after Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu was shown on state television Monday at what the Defense Ministry said was the forward command post of Russia’s “Zapad” group of forces in the war zone in Ukraine. The Wagner founder has heaped abuse on Shoigu for months, accusing him of bungling the invasion of Ukraine and of attempting to “destroy” Wagner.
Putin hasn’t been seen since early Saturday when he denounced the revolt as “treason” in a TV address to the nation and threatened “harsh” punishment that never transpired. Instead, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko brokered a deal for Prigozhin to end the revolt in return for Putin allowing him to travel to Belarus and dropping criminal mutiny charges against the Wagner leader and his fighters.
Mr Goodenough winner of nobel for lithium-ion battery dies at age 100 (Page no. 18)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Technology)
John Goodenough, who became the oldest Nobel Prize winner in 2019 for his work developing the lithium-ion battery which allows for rechargeable power in devices ranging from mobile phones to electric cars, has died aged 100.
The American "was a leader at the cutting edge of scientific research throughout the many decades of his career , president of the University of Texas at Austin where Mr Goodenough was a faculty member for 37 years.
The scientist died on Sunday at an assisted living facility in Austin, the university announced. No cause of death was given.
Mr Goodenough was the oldest person to receive a Nobel Prize when he shared the award with British-born American scientist M. Stanley Whittingham and Japan's Akira Yoshino.
"Live to 97 and you can do anything," he said when the Nobel was awarded, adding that he was grateful he wasn't forced to retire at 65.