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Despite the United States-led sanctions on Russia post its invasion of Ukraine, India has decided to not just continue with, but also double its trade with Moscow in the “near foreseeable future”.
The increase in trade volumes between the two countries has mainly come on the back of sharply higher import of discounted Russian crude by India.
India, which imported less than 1 per cent of its total crude from Russia before the Russia-Ukraine war, now imports about 22 per cent of its total requirement from it.
Crude imports from Iraq and Saudi Arabia, which were the top two suppliers of crude to India, constitute around 21 and 16 per cent, respectively, of India’s total import.
The department of commerce mentioned that it was ready to support the initiative, and on the basis of feedback from various exporters and business entities, DoC was confident of doubling India-Russia trade within the near foreseeable future, and this would be further spurred by the use of INR for trade settlement,” stated the minutes of a high-level meeting in September on the issue of trading in Indian Rupee – the meeting details have been obtained by The Indian Express under the Right to Information Act.
Sanjay Malhotra, then Secretary of Department of Financial Services, and T Rabi Sankar, Deputy Governor, RBI, chaired the meeting that was attended by representatives of Ministries including Commerce, Finance and External Affairs, alongside those from the RBI, the Indian Banks Association, and private and government banks. The Ministry of Commerce was represented by Manish Chadha, Joint Secretary in the Ministry.
The meeting by the Department of Financial Services was called to discuss the issue of overseas trading in Indian Rupee announced by the RBI in July.
While the first beneficiary of this trading arrangement has been Russia, countries like The Maldives, Sri Lanka and others in Southeast Asia, Africa and Latin America have also evinced interest.
On November 9, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met in Moscow and India made it clear that it will continue its purchases from Moscow.
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, countries in the West led by the US have imposed sanctions on Moscow and the country is off the SWIFT messaging system (used by banks for payments in foreign currency for cross-country transactions).
The sanctions on Russia and India’s increased dependence on Russian imports were the key reasons behind the provision for overseas trade in Indian Rupee.
UN prepares to monitor methane emission globally using satellite based MARS(Page no. 3)
(GS Paper 2, Environment)
In keeping with the relatively new focus on cutting methane emissions, the UN has decided to set up a satellite-based monitoring system for tracking it and alerting governments and corporations to respond.
The Methane Alert and Response System, or MARS, will integrate data from a large number of existing and future satellites that have the ability to detect methane emission events anywhere in the world, and send out notifications to the relevant stakeholders to act on it.
In the last few years, there has been a lot of emphasis on reducing methane emissions. Methane is the second-most common of the six major greenhouse gases, but is far more dangerous than carbon dioxide in its potential to cause global warming. Accounting for about 17 per cent of the current global greenhouse gas emissions, methane is blamed for having caused at least 25 to 30 per cent of temperature rise since the pre-industrial times.
However, unlike carbon dioxide, methane is largely a sectoral gas, and there are only a few sources of emission. It is possible, therefore, to cut down on methane emissions without having widespread impact on the economy. Because its global warming potential is about 80 times that of carbon dioxide, a reduction in methane emissions also brings big benefits in a short time.
“Fortunately, action on methane emissions is one of the most cost effective and impactful actions a country can take,” Marcelo Mena, CEO of Global Methane Hub, said.
At the Glasgow climate conference last year, nearly 100 countries had come together in a voluntary pledge — now referred to as the Global Methane Pledge — to cut methane emissions by at least 30 per cent by 2030 from the 2020 levels. More countries have joined in this initiative since then, bringing the total to nearly 130. A 30 per cent reduction in methane emissions by 2030 is expected to result in avoiding 0.2 degree rise in temperature by the year 2050, and is considered absolutely essential in the global efforts to keep the temperature increase below the 1.5 degree Celsius target.
The MARS initiative is intended to strengthen these efforts. It would feed into the recently formed International Methane Emissions Observatory of the UN Environment Programme. To start with, MARS will track the large point emission sources, mainly in the fossil fuel industry, but with time, would be able to detect emissions from coal, waste, livestock and rice fields as well, a UN statement said.
US President Joe Biden, who came to the climate conference for a few hours on Friday, announced, among other things, a proposal to strengthen domestic standards with the aim of reducing methane emissions from the oil and gas sector by 87 per cent from 2005 levels.
Govt & Politics
At summit, India & ASEAN reaffirm importance of freedom of navigation(Page no. 7)
In an oblique reference to China’s assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific region, India and the ASEAN countries on Saturday reaffirmed the importance of maintaining and promoting peace, freedom of navigation and overflight in the region, and peaceful resolution of disputes.
This was stated in the joint statement of the 19th ASEAN-India Summit in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
The two sides agreed to advance maritime ties and enhance cooperation against terrorism, transnational crimes and cybercrimes.
The joint statement said that they reaffirm the importance of maintaining and promoting peace, stability, maritime safety and security, freedom of navigation and overflight in the region, and other lawful uses of the seas and unimpeded lawful maritime commerce and to promote peaceful resolutions of disputes, in accordance with the principles of international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
They also agreed to “enhance cooperation against terrorism and transnational crimes including international economic crimes and money laundering, cybercrime, drugs and human trafficking and arms smuggling.
Dhankhar and Cambodia Prime Minister Hun Sen held discussions on enhancing bilateral ties, including in areas such as human resource, de-mining and development projects.
This year marks the 30th anniversary of ASEAN-India relations and is being celebrated as the ‘ASEAN-India Friendship Year’.
Express Network
After hailing EWS quota, cong for relook(Page no. 9)
Days after it enthusiastically welcomed the Supreme Court judgment upholding 10 per cent reservation for economically weaker sections (EWS) in general category, the Congress signaled that it is having a relook, or a political review of the ruling in the wake of strong objection from leaders from southern states, especially Tamil Nadu.
This came on a day Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin, chairing an all-party meeting in Chennai, including the Congress, “rejected” the 103rd Constitutional Amendment providing a 10 per cent EWS quota.
Congress had welcomed the top court’s judgment and claimed credit. Party general secretary in charge of communications, Jairam Ramesh, had said that the Amendment “was the result of a process initiated by Manmohan Singh government in 2005-06 with the appointment of the Sinho Commission that submitted its report in July 2010.”
Thereafter, widespread consultations were held and the Bill was ready by 2014. It took the Modi sarkar five years to get the Bill enacted.
It also bears mention here that the Socio Economic and Caste Census was completed by 2012, when I myself was the Union Rural Development Minister.
The Modi Sarkar has yet to clarify its position on an updated Caste Census, something that the Congress party supports and demands.
Ramesh’s statement was surprising since the party had, in its 2009 and 2014 Lok Sabha election manifestos, promised to carve out reservation for EWS category for “all communities” without in any way “affecting existing reservations for SCs, STs and OBCs”.
Several leaders from Tamil Nadu, sources said, have told the leadership that the party’s blanket welcome for the judgment was inappropriate given that it had been in favour of reservation for EWS of “all communities”.
Many leaders argued the party should not have rushed to welcome the SC verdict.The churning has forced the party to have a review of the judgment to nuance its stance.
Sources said party president MallikarjunKharge and some other leaders are studying the social and political impact of the order, while senior leaders P Chidambaram and Abhishek Singhvi would look at the legal aspect.
In fact, Chidambaram was among MPs from Tamil Nadu who had gone public with their opinion expressing reservations against the judgment.
Economy
India-US trade may reach $500-600bn by 2030 says Goyal(Page no. 13)
Commerce and Industry Minister PiyushGoyal on Saturday exuded confidence that the India-US bilateral trade in goods and services will reach USD 500-600 billion by 2030 as their relation continues to strengthen.
The trade between the two countries stands at about USD 175 billion at present.On whether India will join the trade pillar of 14-member Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF), Goyal said it would depend on what India will get in return.
While 13 member countries have joined all four subjects — trade, supply chains, clean economy and fair economy– under IPEF, India has opted out of the trade pillar as of now. It has joined the other three subjects.
With regard to joining the trade pillar of IPEF, India decides its strategy on its own terms…If you want binding commitments (from India) on different subjects, tell me what I am getting in return. It has to be good for my people and my country.
What you give me in return will determine whether I will join the trade pillar. You negotiate and if we see some advantage, then we will join.
India and the US relations are continuously improving and strengthening and today we have a bilateral trade of about USD 175 billion (exports and imports of goods and services). I believe that in the coming 7-8 years, it will be USD 500-600 billion by 2030, when our exports in goods and services will be USD 2 trillion each”.
On a free trade agreement with the US, the minister said America is not looking for a new trade pact with any country.The US is looking at India as its friend and a trusted partner.
The IPEF was launched jointly by the US and other partner countries of the Indo-Pacific region on May 23 in Tokyo.The 14 IPEF partners represent 40 per cent of the global GDP and 28 per cent of global goods and services trade.
The members include the US, Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.
On trade pacts, he said the government conducts comprehensive consultation with all the stakeholders before taking a call on these agreements.