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A dozen agencies from the state and the Centre, regular coordination between the backroom and the ground, and experts from myriad fields collaborating to solve a single puzzle — that’s what it took for rescuers to get 41 men out from Uttarkashi tunnel after 400 hours.
At least 652 government employees were deployed in the rescue operation that lasted 17 days. These included 189 from the police department, 106 from the health department, 77 from the Indo Tibetan Border Police, 62 from the National Disaster Response Force, 39 from the State Disaster Response Force, 46 from Jal Sansthan Uttarkashi, 32 from the electricity department, and 38 from the Border Roads Organisation.
According to Bhaskar Khulbe, a former adviser to the Prime Minister’s Office and Officer on Special Duty to the Uttarakhand tourism department, if one were to include independent workers and private company employees, the number of those who contributed to the operation would cross 1,000.
Express Network
Rajnath unveils crest of Navy advanced warship Imphal (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 3, Defence)
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh unveiled the crest of the Navy’s stealth guided missile destroyer Imphal, which is fitted with BrahMos surface-to-surface missiles among other indigenous weapons.
“The Indian Navy is immensely proud of naming its latest and technologically most advanced warship after the historic city of Imphal,” a statement issued by the defence ministry said, highlighting the maritime tradition and the naval custom of naming Navy ships on prominent cities, mountain ranges, rivers, ponds and islands.
The ship — which is the third among the four Project 15B stealth guided missile destroyers — was delivered to the Navy last month by Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDL).
The defence minstry statement said the unveiling of Imphal’s crest, adorned with the Kangla Palace and ‘Kangla-Sa’ is a tribute to the sacrifice made by the people of Manipur towards India’s independence, sovereignty and security. ‘Kangla-Sa’ is also the state emblem of Manipur.
NASA to train an Indian astronaut for ISS mission (Page no. 9)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Technology)
US space agency NASA will train an Indian astronaut for a mission to the International Space Station by the end of 2024, said the organisation’s administrator Bill Nelson during his Delhi visit.
Terming India as a “great future partner”, Nelson said that US would be open to collaborate on an Indian Space Station.
The Prime Minister called on ISRO scientists to set up an Indian Space Station by 2035 and send an Indian to the moon by 2040.
We are going to de-orbit our space station in 2031. We expect by that time to have commercial space stations. If India wants us to counsel or collaborate with them, of course we would be willing to.
Nelson said another major programme emerging from India-US collaboration would be the NISAR satellite to be launched in the first quarter of 2024.
“It was part of the agreement …. that NASA will help train an Indian astronaut and that astronaut will fly to the International Space Station at the end of 2024,” said Nelson, adding that the astronaut would be selected by ISRO.
The selection will likely be from among the four persons who have undergone basic space astronaut training in preparation for the Gaganyaan mission. The science objectives for the two-week long mission will be decided by India.
Editorial
Choosing our future (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 3, Environment)
As another United Nations Climate Conference rolls around — COP28 opens tomorrow in Dubai, UAE — the nations of the world will come together to take stock of how far we have come and where we are headed in the global effort to combat the climate crisis.
Three decades of multilateral negotiations have resulted in three legally binding treaties, including the 2015 Paris Agreement, and innumerable decisions calling for urgent action, all aiming to deliver a climate-safe planet.
Without these multilateral instruments, we would be well on our way to an unimaginable 4°C world. But these global agreements have still not put us on the path to a liveable future and the world is rapidly running out of time.
The recent 2023 UNEP Gap Report found that if all unconditional national contributions made under the Paris Agreement are fully implemented, it would put us on track to limiting the average global temperature rise to 2.9°C, a far cry from the 1.5°C goal agreed in Paris and affirmed in Glasgow in 2021.
If all conditional contributions — “conditional”, that is, on uncertain financing from rich nations — are implemented, we are still on track for 2.5°C.
In its 2022 report, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) found that finance flows are three to six times below those needed for a Paris-aligned pathway.
At 2.9°C, there will be catastrophic disruptions to natural systems, triggering many natural tipping points, and resulting in cascading impacts on people and the planet.
Against this foreboding backdrop, and in the hottest year in recorded history, the world will be looking to COP28 to deliver a much-needed clarion call that can “course correct” our current unsustainable trajectory.
Ideas Page
A swing in the Maldives (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
The international evolution of the Maldives has long been framed in terms of the entrenched geopolitical rivalry between India and China.
The new president of Maldives, Mohamed Muizzu, has muddied that framework by choosing Turkey as his first foreign destination.
That Ankara is Muizzu’s first destination underlines the recent pattern of significant swings in foreign policy with every change of government.
It is tempting to view the shift in the strategic orientation of the Maldives under Muizzu as a natural inclination of small countries to diversify their security partnerships. But more is at play in the Maldives.
Smaller states of the Subcontinent are becoming attractive geopolitical targets not only for the US, China and Russia but also for middle powers like Turkey.
Muizzu’s visit is also a reminder of Turkey’s growing strategic footprint in the Subcontinent and rising geopolitical friction between Delhi and Ankara.
The answer depends on understanding three imperatives that are producing structural changes in the geopolitics of the Subcontinent.
World
China navy ships visit Myanmar amid heightened security tensions (Page no. 14)
(GS Paper 2, International relation)
Three Chinese navy ships have arrived in Myanmar on a goodwill visit as part of renewed Chinese defence engagement amid Chinese concern about a surge of fighting between Myanmar junta forces and insurgents near the Chinese border.
The guided-missile destroyer Zibo and the guided-missile frigate Jingzhou were escorted by a Myanmar frigate to docks in Myanmar’s main city of Yangon on Monday, China’s People’s Liberation Navy (PLAN) said.
The 700-strong force, on a four-day visit, is being led by Senior Captain Sun Bo and includes a Chinese resupply ship, the Qiandaohu, the Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper reported.
The Chinese task force would “conduct naval security exercises” with Myanmar. The Chinese vessels are part of the Chinese navy’s 44th fleet that has conducted anti-piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden and off the coast of Somalia since 2008.
The 44th fleet was sighted in the United Arab Emirates this month. China’s military has stepped up defence engagement in Southeast Asia this year after the lifting of zero-COVID restrictions in late 2022.
First human case of flu strain similar to pig virus detected (Page no. 14)
Health officials in the UK are closely examining the first confirmed case of a new strain of swine flu, identified as A(H1N2)v.
The infection surfaced during a routine flu screening test at a general practitioner in North Yorkshire complaining of breathing problems. The individual exhibited respiratory symptoms, experienced a mild illness and has fully recovered.
The affected person is not known to have had contact with pigs.
Ongoing investigations aim to determine the source of the infection and assess its potential risk to human health. Despite global reports of 50 cases of A(H1N2)v in the past two decades, this case in the UK is slightly different from recent global human swine flu cases but is similar to viruses found in UK pigs.
Economy
FinMin suggests tighter cyber norms; closure of mule, inert bank accounts (Page no. 15)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
Appointing nodal officers to tackle cyber security issues, closing down ‘mule’ bank accounts, stepping up monitoring of dormant ones, and calling for more information sharing between various government agencies – these were some of the suggestions that came up during a meeting, organised by the Finance Ministry, on issues related to online financial frauds.
The meeting, which was called to discuss issues related to financial cyber security and curbing digital payment frauds, was chaired by Financial Services Secretary Vivek Joshi.
It came days after the fallout of the recent case involving erroneous money transfers to the tune of Rs 820 crore at public-sector lender UCO Bank. A second meeting is expected to happen in mid-January next year.
At the meeting, it was discussed that ‘mule’ bank accounts, which are typically bought over by fraudsters from their original users should be closed, since they often form the bedrock of accounts into which money gathered through online scam is deposited.
For accounts that have been lying dormant for a while but suddenly become active with money transfers, Joshi said there should be some restrictions when money is withdrawn.
For instance, the balance would have been Rs 50, but suddenly Rs 50,000 would have come into the account. While it is not an issue when the money comes, there should be some restrictions at the time of withdrawal.
Explained
What are partheon sculptures at the centre of UK Greece row (Page no. 16)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
A diplomatic row sparked between Greece and the UK after British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak cancelled a meeting with his Greek counterpart Kyriakos Mitsotakis over the status of the Parthenon Sculptures housed at the British Museum.
It prompted Athens to accuse London of trying to avoid discussing the contested sculptures, also known as the Elgin Marbles.
Over the years, Greece has repeatedly asked for the sculptures’ permanent return to Athens, but Britain and the British Museum have refused to do so.
The Parthenon Sculptures at the British Museum are more than 30 ancient stone sculptures from Greece that are more than 2,000 years old.
Most of them originally adorned the walls and grounds of the Parthenon temple on the rocky Acropolis hill in Athens. Completed in 432 BC, the temple is dedicated to the goddess Athena and is seen as the crowning glory of Athens’ Golden Age.
While one notable sculpture, which is 75 metres long, depicts a procession for the birthday of Athena, others show gods, heroes or mythical creatures.
They were removed from the Parthenon in the early 19th century by Thomas Bruce, the 7th Earl of Elgin and then-British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire. The marbles were taken to Britain and purchased by the British Museum in 1816.
Who’s Milei, what’s dollarization (Page no. 16)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
Last week something quite remarkable happened in the history of global politics: For the first time, a self-proclaimed “libertarian” and “anarcho-capitalist” became the head of one of the world’s biggest economies.
Javier Milei, the leader of the Freedom Advances party, registered a stunning electoral victory to become the President-elect of Argentina.
The chief import of those two expressions is that he is someone who believes that the government has either little or no role in the functioning of a country and an economy.
Libertarianism is a political philosophy that gives primacy to individual liberty over everything else. A libertarian believes that individuals have certain God-given rights — such as the right to life and liberty, freedom of speech, right to property, freedom of worship, moral autonomy etc. — and seeks to define the powers of a government in this context.
The purpose of government, according to liberals, is to protect these and other individual rights, and in general liberals have contended that government power should be limited to that which is necessary to accomplish this task.