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With Egypt battling a serious economic crisis, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, who was the chief guest at the Republic Day parade, has reached out to India for investments and participation in mega infrastructure projects in his country.
Sources said this was one of the consistent themes of discussion between the Egyptian side and the Indian leadership over the past two days, including with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. These discussions took place at a time when China’s economic ties to Egypt have been growing over the years.
This push was also reflected in the joint statement issued by both sides, saying that both leaders welcomed the expansion of Indian investments in Egypt, which is currently more than $3.15 billion.
They agreed to encourage businesses from their respective countries to explore emerging economic and investment opportunities in each other’s countries, it said.
“Egypt welcomes the flow of more Indian investments and promises to offer incentives and facilities as per applicable regulations and frameworks.
On its part, India underlines its support for this approach by encouraging its companies, which have the potential to establish overseas investments, to make use of the available investment opportunities in Egypt.
According to sources, the Egyptian President said there are various investment opportunities offered by mega projects being implemented in Egypt.
Although Egypt has not asked for budgetary support, the big projects that were highlighted include Metro projects in Cairo and Alexandria, the Suez Canal economic zone, the second channel of Suez Canal, and a new administrative capital in Cairo’s suburbs.
The development of the Suez Canal area, which includes a number of major industrial and logistics zones, was one of the key areas underlined, they said.
The joint statement said: “In this context, the Egyptian side considers the possibility of allocating a special area of land for the Indian industries in the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCEZ), and the Indian side can arrange for the master plan.”
Made in India weapons, women power showcased at Republic Day parade (Page no. 1)
(GS Paper 2, Polity and Governance)
“Aatmarnirbharta” (self-reliance) and “Nari Shakti” (women power) were the two themes on display at the Republic Day parade on Thursday — by many of the marching contingents as well as the different tableaux.
The Indian military showcased only indigenous equipment and weapon systems to drive home the message of self-reliance in defence.
The Army’s British-era 25-pounder guns — which traditionally offered the symbolic 21-gun salute — were replaced by the indigenous 105-mm Indian Field Guns (IFG) this year.
Despite the fog and reduced visibility, a 50-aircraft grand air show was put up by the Indian Air Force (IAF) for President Droupadi Murmu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and others at the parade. It included 23 fighter aircraft, 18 helicopters, and eight transport aircraft alongside a Dakota aircraft.
With Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi as the chief guest, a combined band and marching contingent of the Egyptian Armed Forces also participated.
Blending vintage and modernity, the Navy’s vintage IL38 SD aircraft flew overhead Kartavya Path for the first and last time, as well as the modern Rafale jet. The indigenous Light Combat Helicopter Prachand, inducted into the IAF in October last year, was also part of the flypast.
The Army’s mechanised column comprised three MBT Arjun MK-I, one Nag Missile System (NAMIS), two BMP 2/2K, three Quick Reaction Fighting Vehicles (QRFV), two K-9 Vajra Self Propelled Howitzer Guns, one Brahmos missile, two 10m Short Span Bridges, a Mobile Microwave Node and Mobile Network Centre, and two Akash missile systems.
The theme of the IAF’s tableau was “power beyond boundaries”, which had the airborne early warning and control aircraft Netra, LCA Tejas MK II, LCH Prachand and Airbus C-295 aircraft.
The Navy’s tableau showcased a woman air crew of Dornier aircraft (flying overhead), highlighting the all-women crew of a surveillance sortie undertaken last year, the Make-in-India initiatives with the model of the new indigenous Nilgiri class ship, a Dhruv helicopter deploying marine commandos, and three models of autonomous unmanned systems being developed under IDEX-Sprint Challenge.
Both the Navy and the IAF contingents were led by women officers – Lt Cdr Disha Amrith and Sqn Ldr Sindhu Reddy respectively. Another woman Army air defence officer, Lt Chetana Sharma, led the Akash missile system column.
Intranasal vaccine launched; symbol of innovation: Govt (Page no. 1)
(GS Paper 2, Health)
Nearly one month after it was inducted into the country’s Covid vaccination drive, Bharat Biotech launched its intranasal vaccine Incovacc in the presence of Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya and Union Science Minister Jitendra Singh on Republic Day.
The vaccine is to be used as a third booster dose for those who have already taken two doses of Covaxin or Covishield. It will cost Rs 325 for the Central government and states placing large orders, and Rs 800 for private players, according to the company.
The administration of the needle-less vaccine is expected to begin in hospitals that have placed advanced orders. The vaccine has already been added to the Government’s vaccine management portal CoWIN.
Proud to launch Incovacc, the world’s 1st intranasal vaccine for Covid, along with Minister Jitendra Singh Ji on Republic Day. A mighty display of India’s research and innovation prowess under PM Narendra Modi Ji’s leadership. Congratulations to Bharat Biotech for this feat.
The intranasal vaccine’s induction comes as the country continues to record only about a couple of hundred cases a day. The move was cleared at the end of December when there was a push to increase coverage of the booster dose with a surge in cases reported from countries in the region like China and Thailand.
So far, 22.4 crore precaution doses have been administered in India, with the total coverage at around 27 per cent across age groups. The coverage continues to be low despite the Government’s 75-day free vaccination drive last year.
Incovacc is the first intranasal vaccine to be approved against Covid. Experts say the delivery mechanism can generate immunity in the mucosal membrane (in the nose and mouth) and better protect against infection.
Dr Krishna Ella, Executive Chairman of Bharat Biotech, said, “With the rollout of iNCOVACC today, we have achieved our goal of establishing a novel vaccine delivery platform for intranasal delivery.
It proves that India can innovate for itself and for the world. We and the country are well prepared for future COVID-19 variants and future infectious diseases.
To induce immunity, officials said, the vaccine uses a modified chimpanzee adenovirus, which cannot replicate in the body, to carry the Covid spike protein.
Express network
After covid delay first solar mission set to launch by July (Page no. 7)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Technology)
The Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bengaluru handed over the primary payload of the country’s first mission to sun to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for integration with the other payloads on board the satellite.
Called Aditya-L1, the mission to observe the sun from a vantage point 1.5 million kilometres from the earth, is likely to be launched by June or July this year after being delayed repeatedly through the pandemic.
He said the complexity of the chronograph and what it was attempting to do was the reason it took 15 years to develop. He said there was a need for a 50-year road map of scientific explorations and missions.
Also, Indian scientists need to come up with novel ideas not attempted by other countries – projects that might seem impossible or even never get approval, he said.
ISRO aims to play an important role in future science experiments in space and an ecosystem needs to be created for this, including a road map.
The payload handed over on Thursday called ‘Visible Emission Line Coronograph’ (VELC) will be the main payload among seven designed to study various aspects of the sun like its atmosphere, solar wind acceleration and the origin of coronal mass ejection.
To get an unobstructed, continuous view of the sun, the satellite will travel to the L1 or Lagrange point between the sun and the earth. Lagrange points — there are five between any two celestial objects — are referred to as parking spots in space because the gravitational pull of the celestial objects equals the force required to keep it in orbit. So, a satellite can stay in Lagrange points between any two celestial objects without expending fuel.
The VELC, which was conceptualised and designed in 15 years, may help is solving one of the main puzzles of solar astrophysics — why the sun’s atmosphere called corona is a million degrees hot even though the surface is just over 5,700 degrees Celsius?
To do this, the scientists have to observe the corona right from its lowermost parts upwards, which is difficult to do owing to the bright light emanating from the sun’s surface.
However, VELC has an ‘internal occulter’, which separates the light from the surface and discards it. The remaining light from the corona is sent for further processing. The VELC weighs 90kg and is 1.7mx1.1mx700mm in dimension.
Editorial page
Growing amid slowdown (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
India has done relatively well despite multiple shocks in the past three years. The reasons include its “double diversity” advantage, arriving on a feasible set of reforms and the success of counter-cyclical policy in smoothing shocks. These may help mitigate the very real downside risks and sustain growth at above 6 per cent.
A large and diverse country has an advantage under a global slowdown since some sectors continue to do well despite others slowing.
Currently, even as manufacturing exports slow down, services exports and remittances are robust, reducing the current account deficit. The trend growth in digitisation — not merely cyclical — is powering the growth of tier 2 and 3 cities.
The US is also doing relatively well as a large economy, but India has the additional advantage of less correlation across sectors.
The second advantage is global diversification away from over dependence on any one country. The China+1 and Europe+1 factor will continue to create opportunities for India.
There is a view, however, that the economy has fundamental problems, so growth cannot sustain without major reforms. This view points to the slowdown of the last decade and has been predicting a growth crash post-pandemic.
India’s growth recovery, however, is one of the highest among major economies. Since it exceeds that of countries with a worse slump, it is not only the base effect.
Another criticism is that India’s GDP is not measured correctly. Official figures, however, are very much in line with high frequency and other economic indicators. Revised figures were expected to show a destruction of small firms. But evidence coming in is pointing to their resilience.
As a global slowdown looms, a further argument is that India cannot grow without a push from good global growth. It is true India’s highest growth was in the 2000s when there was a global growth boom.
Research finds some late starters, with better policies, including openness to new technology, trade and to more efficient forms of organisation, grow rapidly after crossing a certain threshold and double per capita incomes in 10 years. India reached this threshold in 2000. There was doubling in the 2000s but not in the 2010s.
India’s Egypt opportunity (Page no. 11)
(GS Paper 2, International Relations)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi agreed to elevate the India-Egypt bilateral relationship to a “strategic partnership”.
The strategic partnership will have broadly four elements: political, defence, and security; economic engagement; scientific and academic collaboration; cultural and people-to-people contacts.
Sisi is the Chief Guest at this year’s Republic Day, the first time that an Egyptian President has been accorded this honour. A military contingent from Egypt participated in the parade on Thursday.
Sisi is the fifth leader from the region of West Asia and North Africa to be the Republic Day Chief Guest, after Algeria’s President Abdelaziz Bouteflika (2001), Iran’s President Mohammed Khatami (2003), King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al-Saud of of Saudi Arabia (2006), and the Crown Prince — now President and ruler — of the UAE, Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan (2017).
An invitation to be Chief Guest is an important honour that is very high on symbolism. New Delhi’s choice of Chief Guest every year is dictated by a number of reasons — strategic and diplomatic, business interest, and geopolitics.
The history of contacts between India and Egypt, two of the world’s oldest civilisations, can be traced back to at least the time of Emperor Asoka.
In modern times, Mahatma Gandhi and the Egyptian revolutionary Saad Zaghloul shared common goals on independence from British colonial rule, and the two nations made a joint announcement of establishment of diplomatic relations at the ambassadorial level three days after India became free.
Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru was a close friend of President Gamal Abdel Nasser, and India and Egypt signed a friendship treaty in 1955.
In 1961, Nehru and Nasser, along with Yugoslavia’s President Josip Broz Tito, Indonesia’s President Sukarno. and Ghana’s President Kwame Nkrumah, established the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM).
Prime Ministers Rajiv Gandhi, P V Narasimha Rao, I K Gujral, and Dr Manmohan Singh visited Egypt in 1985, 1995, 1997, and 2009 (NAM Summit) respectively, and Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak came to India in 1982, 1983 (NAM Summit), and 2008. After the 2011 revolution, President Mohamed Morsi visited India in March 2013.
Economy
T+1 settlement: what is it and how will investors gain? (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
After China, India will become the second country in the world to start the ‘trade-plus-one’ (T+1) settlement cycle in top listed securities today (January 27), bringing operational efficiency, faster fund remittances, share delivery, and ease for stock market participants.
The T+1 settlement cycle means that trade-related settlements must be done within a day, or 24 hours, of the completion of a transaction.
For example, under T+1, if a customer bought shares on Wednesday, they would be credited to the customer’s demat account on Thursday. This is different from T+2, where they will be settled on Friday. As many as 256 large-cap and top mid-cap stocks, including Nifty and Sensex stocks, will come under the T+1 settlement from Friday.
Until 2001, stock markets had a weekly settlement system. The markets then moved to a rolling settlement system of T+3, and then to T+2 in 2003.
T+1 is being implemented despite opposition from foreign investors. The United States, United Kingdom and Eurozone markets are yet to move to the T+1 system.
In the T+1 format, if an investor sells a share, she will get the money within a day, and the buyer will get the shares in her demat account also within a day.
“The shorter trade settlement cycle that is set to be implemented augurs well for the Indian equity markets from a liquidity perspective, and it shows how well we have grown on the digital journey to ensure seamless settlements within 24 hours.
This will also help investors in reducing the overall capital requirements with the margins getting released on T+1 day, and in getting the funds in the bank account within 24 hours of the sale of shares. The shift will boost operational efficiency as the rolling of funds and stocks will be faster.