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French President Emmanuel Macron will visit India as Chief Guest for the 75th Republic Day celebrations, the Ministry of External Affairs said Friday, days after it became clear that US President Joe Biden will be unavailable.
This will be the sixth time a French leader will be the Chief Guest at the R-Day celebrations.
In New Delhi, the choice of guest has been guided by a set of imperatives: strategic and diplomatic, blending business, global geo-politics and bilateral engagement.
As Strategic Partners, India and France share a high degree of convergence on a range of regional and global issues. This year, we are celebrating the 25th anniversary of the India-France Strategic Partnership.
The Prime Minister was the Guest of Honour at the Bastille Day Parade held on 14 July 2023 in Paris. President Macron visited India for the G-20 Summit on 8-9 September 2023,” the MEA said, while announcing the confirmation of the visit.
While Macron had last visited India during the G20 summit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had made a stopover in Paris on May 4, 2022, on his way back from Denmark, to meet President Macron, thus becoming the first world leader to meet the French President after he won his second term on April 17, 2022.
Doklam remains a challenge influx from Myanmar in north Manipur new trend (Page no. 1)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
Even as he said that Doklam continues to remain a challenge since 2017, Eastern Army Commander Lt Gen R P Kalita has flagged concerns from next-door Myanmar and its fallout at home in Manipur.
Talking about challenges posed by the increased influx of migrants from Myanmar in the past three months, Lt Gen Kalita, in an exclusive interview to The Indian Express, said that a new trend has come to light.
He said that earlier the Myanmar Army would carry out attacks in areas close to the border, which forced several migrants to cross over. Most migrants crossed over to Mizoram while some came over to Manipur.
But in the last three to four months, the fighting with Myanmar Army has intensified after the launch of operations by the Three Brotherhood Alliance and other pro-democratic groups.
With the fighting intensifying, the migration, which was earlier limited to Mizoram-Myanmar border, has now started expanding to the northern side.
Earlier, the refugees were only coming into the southern part of Manipur, but now they have started coming towards the northern part of Manipur in the Kamzong district, adding that this is a recent trend.
Editorial
Grand gesure, small details (Page no. 16)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
A true assessment of a country’s foreign policy has to take into account its attention to issues which go out of the public eye. Such an evaluation has to also focus on the response of states whose interests, a country believes, it is promoting.
As the Narendra Modi government enters the last stretch of its present electoral term, it would be useful to examine how it fared on some matters germane to these propositions.
While not detracting from the government’s diplomatic achievements, including the finalisation of a “clean” Delhi G20 summit joint statement, such scrutiny would help in fully judging its foreign policy record.
India has emphasised, over the past several years, its affinities with the Global South. It has claimed that it is keeping the interests of developing countries front and centre in its positions on social and economic issues in multilateral contexts.
The Modi government especially stressed during India’s G20 Presidency that it was giving voice to the aspirations of the Global South. For this purpose, it held a “Voice of the Global South” summit in January and again its iteration virtually in November.
These were noble efforts, for the disparities between the advanced and developing worlds are growing in the digital era. And, as India straddles both worlds and joins the high tables where global rules are set, it wishes to signal that it will not turn its back on the interests of the developing countries.
World
UNSC clears Gaza aid resolution without call to suspend fighting (Page no. 20)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
The U.N. Security Council adopted a watered-down resolution Friday calling for immediately speeding aid deliveries to hungry and desperate civilians in Gaza but without the original plea for an “urgent suspension of hostilities” between Israel and Hamas.
The long-delayed vote in the 15-member council was 13-0 with the United States and Russia abstaining. The U.S. abstention avoided a third American veto of a Gaza resolution following Hamas’ surprise Oct. 7 attacks inside Israel. Russia wanted the stronger language restored; the U.S. did not.
It was the Christmas miracle we were all hoping for,” said United Arab Emirates Ambassador Lana Nusseibeh, who sponsored the resolution. She said it would send a signal to the people in Gaza that the Security Council was working to alleviate their suffering.
The resolution culminated a week and a half of high-level diplomacy by the United States, the UAE on behalf of Arab nations and others.
Economy
Govt looks to replace FAME scheme with Auto PLI 2.0 (Page no. 21)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
The government is likely to put an end to the FAME (Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles) subsidy scheme once FAME II comes to an end in March, 2024.
Instead of introducing a third phase of the scheme or FAME III, inter-ministerial discussions are on to replace it with a modified production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for the auto sector, which will also be applicable for passenger electric vehicles.
Currently the FAME II scheme is applicable to two-wheelers, three-wheelers, and four-wheelers which are used for public transport. It has a budgetary outlay of Rs 10,000 crore.
Sources said that since the government is working on some sops, which would enable Tesla to set up its manufacturing plant in India, it makes sense to come out with a modified auto PLI (PLI 2.0) which takes into account subsidies given to two-wheelers, three-wheelers, four-wheelers used for public transport as well as EVs.
Explained
How India choose the chief guest for Republic day (Page no. 23)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
France’s President Emmanuel Macron will be India’s chief guest for its 2024 Republic Day celebrations, the Elysee French presidential palace said.
The Ministry of External Affairs also confirmed the same in a statement saying: “At the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, H.E. Mr. Emmanuel Macron, President of France, will be visiting India as the Chief Guest for the 75th Republic Day celebrations.”
Here is a look at how India’s Republic Day chief guest is chosen, why it is an honour to be invited as the chief guest, and what is the significance of the invitation.
Being invited as the chief guest at Republic Day celebrations is the highest honour a country accords in terms of protocol. The chief guest is front and centre in many ceremonial activities which have over time become a part of the fabric of the event and the run-up to it.
They are given the ceremonial guard of honour at Rashtrapati Bhavan followed by a reception hosted by the President of India in the evening. They also lay a wreath at Rajghat, to honour Mahatma Gandhi.
There is a banquet in their honour, a lunch hosted by the Prime Minister, and calls by the Vice-President and the External Affairs Minister.
Credit ratings: the govt view (Page no. 23)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
The Finance Ministry released a document titled Re-examining Narratives: A Collection of Essays, which Chief Economic Advisor V Anantha Nageswaran said was an “attempt to present alternate perspectives on diverse areas of economic policy that have long-term implications for India’s growth and development priorities”.
The first of the five essays in the document is a criticism of what the government calls the “opaque methodologies adopted by credit rating agencies to arrive at sovereign ratings”.
The essay seeks to flag issues with the methodology adopted by the three main global credit rating agencies, and to show, based on calculations by the Finance Ministry, how these gaps affect India adversely.
Sovereign ratings are about the creditworthiness of governments. They provide a marker for investors around the world about the ability and willingness of governments to pay back debt.
Just as an individual’s credit rating is critical to whether she gets a loan and at what interest rate, sovereign ratings affect a country’s ability to borrow money from global investors.