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India is exploring at least three options to clear outstanding Rouble payments worth around Rs 28,000 crore against weapons delivered by Russia.
So far, India could not process these payments as Russia has been hit by stringent sanctions since its war with Ukraine began February last year.
With most of India’s military hardware being of Russian origin, there have been concerns in the government about Russia’s ability to meet delivery schedules of critical spares and equipment if payments are further delayed.
India imports oil and weapons from Russia. A Reuters report Saturday quoted sources to say Indian refiners have started paying in United Arab Emirates Dirhams instead of US Dollars for Russian oil purchased through Dubai-based traders.
A top official told that India is currently considering three options to clear Russia’s dues for the weapons it has supplied, one of which is initiating Rouble payments in Chinese Yuan and UAE Dirham.
The matter was discussed with Russia as well as internally between officials of the Defence and Finance ministries last year and it was decided that the modalities would be discussed with the Reserve Bank of India.
Officials said that even as paying through the foreign currency of a third country is being explored, India has apprehensions because of the “sensitive” nature of most defence deals. “We are exploring the Dirham option but there is less comfort with the Yuan option.
Rajasthan plans zoo for dolphins, rhinos inside Bharatpur sanctuary (Page no. 3)
(GS Paper 3, Environment)
The Rajasthan state Forest Department has proposed to construct a zoo inside Keoladeo National Park, a World Heritage Site popularly known as Bharatpur bird sanctuary, to display a range of wetland species, including rhinos, water buffaloes, crocs, dolphins and exotic species.
The purpose of this zoo, called Wetland ex-situ Conservation Establishment (WESCE), says the Detailed Project Report (DPR) of the Rajasthan Forestry and Biodiversity Development Project (RFBDP), is “to rejuvenate the bio-diversity of Keoladeo National Park, thereby boosting its outstanding universal values.”
The Rs 15-crore WESCE plan for Bharatpur is part of the ambitious RFBDP for which Agence Française de Développement (AFD), the overseas development arm of the French government, has agreed to fund up to Rs 1,200 crore over eight years.
Experts have raised questions about the proposed zoo coming up in a globally significant habitat for migratory birds.Asked about this, Munish Garg, Rajasthan’s Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (development) and project director (RFBDP), said: “The project will not take off before April.
The forest department understands the importance of the bird habitat and has decided out of concern to move the construction work 1-2 km away from the (national park) boundary where forest land is available.
According to the DPR, several facilities are planned inside Keoladeo national park. These include: a breeding and re-introduction centre for locally extinct species, such as otters, fishing cats, blackbucks, hog deer, etc, “with collateral provision as exhibits for tourists”; an aquarium for indigenous species like Gangetic Dolphin, crocodiles; enclosures for the display of large wetland species like Indian Rhino, Water Buffalo, Barasingha (swamp deer); an aviary, a reptile house and a veterinary care facility; and an integrated administrative block, tourist facilities, and residential quarters for Park manager, field staff and families.
Govt & Politics
Jaishankar meets Canada counterpart; focus on plan to boost bilateral ties (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 2, International Relations)
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar held wide-ranging talks with visiting Canadian Foreign minister Melanie Joly with a thrust on boosting overall bilateral engagement, including in areas of trade and investment.
Joly, who began her two-day visit to India, said both ministers reviewed the progress in bilateral relations, which are anchored in shared democratic values, growing economic linkages, security cooperation, mobility of students and professionals and strong people-to-people ties.
Both sides expressed interest in deepening collaboration across domains and looked forward to the Early Progress Trade Agreement (EPTA).
The MEA said India welcomed the announcement of Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy, given the shared vision of a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific.
They exchanged views on India’s priorities during its ongoing G20 Presidency and agreed to work together to ensure its success.
The statement also said that the ministers had the opportunity to deliberate on contemporary issues, including developments in India’s neighbourhood, Ukraine and cooperation in the United Nations.
India’s economic and population growth are driving demand for education, health services, food, critical minerals and green infrastructure. These are all sectors of Canadian strength and we must grasp these opportunities.
Express Network
Fund cut for food grain procurement (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 3, Food Security)
The Centre has cut allocation for ‘Food Subsidy for Decentralised Procurement of Foodgrains’ under the National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013, Budget documents show.
The documents show Rs 59,793 crore has been allocated under the head “Food Subsidy for Decentralised Procurement of Foodgrains under NFSA” for 2023-24, which is lower than 2022-23 revised estimates (RE) of Rs 72,282.50 crore.It is also lower than the BE (budgetary estimates) of Rs 60,561.19 crore for the year 2022-23.
The money allocated under this head is used to give food subsidy to state governments procuring foodgrain for the Central Pool “under the Decentralised Procurement of Foodgrains Scheme and Fortification of Rice through PDS to address anemia and micronutrient deficiency”.
The procurement of foodgrain for the Central Pool is done under two systems: the Centralised procurement system (Non-DCP) and the Decentralised procurement system (DCP).
The reduction in allocation for the DCP states is significant, as these states contribute about half the total rice and about three-fourth of the wheat quantity procured for the Central Pool in the country.
As per details available on the FCI, there are 15 states under the DCP for rice: Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Kerala, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Telangana, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and Tripura. Out of the total rice procurement of 434.83 LMT till January 23 during the kharif marketing season 2022-23, about 43 per cent (188.9 LMT) came from these rice DCP stats.
Editorial
The growth triad (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
Infrastructure is universally acknowledged as a key driver of growth. Traditionally, though, infrastructure is associated with physical assets, typically roads, ports, power transmission lines, etc.
However, since 2014, India’s development story has been closely linked with a strong focus on not just physical, but also social and digital infrastructure.
Budget 2023 gives a powerful thrust to these three dimensions of infrastructure development which, put together, accelerate inclusive growth.
The Government of India’s capital expenditure as a percentage of GDP increased from 1.7 per cent in 2014 to nearly 2.9 per cent in 2022-23.
In Budget 2023-24, Rs 10 lakh crore (3.3 per cent of the GDP), an increase of three times from 2019, was allocated for infrastructure.
The Ministry of Railways received its highest-ever allocation of Rs 2.4 lakh crore, approximately nine times the allocation in 2013-14.
The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways saw a 36 per cent increase in its budget to about Rs 2.7 lakh crore. These targeted investments will not only create vital physical infrastructure and improve connectivity that will accelerate the movement of passengers and freight, but also create jobs, spur private investments, and provide a cushion against global headwinds.
The direct capital investment by the Centre has been further supplemented by a one-year extension of the 50-year interest-free loan to state governments to encourage infrastructure investment and incentivise complementary policy actions, with a significantly increased outlay of Rs 1.3 lakh crore.
This will lead to decentralised infrastructure development in urban and peri-urban areas across regions. A 66 per cent increase in allocation to the PM Awas Yojana will not only provide housing but also create jobs in rural areas.
It is apt that the Finance Minister has observed that every rupee spent on infrastructure and capital expenditure gives 2.95 as a multiplier. In contrast, the money given through revenue expenditure gets less than a rupee for every rupee spent.
Ideas Page
In Assam, Beti Padhao (Page no. 13)
(GS Paper 1, Social Issues)
As many as 650 million women in the world today were married as children. About a third of them were married before the age of 15. In India, which has the dubious distinction of being home to the most number of child brides, UN estimates suggest that 1.5 million girls get married before they turn 18.
About 16 per cent of girls in the age group of 15-19 are married at present. According to the 2011 census, 44 per cent of women in Assam were married before the age of 18.
The figures for Rajasthan, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh were 47 per cent, 46 per cent and 43 per cent, respectively.
Assam Chief Minister HimantaBiswaSarma’s decision to give maximum priority to addressing this problem is well-meaning. Child marriages affect the national economy negatively and do not allow us to come out of the vicious cycle of inter-generational poverty.
Child marriage deprives women of education and life skills. Early pregnancies adversely affect the physical and mental health of young mothers.
The question, however, is: Are mass arrests and the indiscriminate use of criminal sanctions, that the Assam government has resorted to, the only solution to the problem of child marriage?
More than 4,000 FIRs have been filed and close to 2,500 people have been arrested in Assam in the past four days. Sarma has asserted that the crackdown will continue till the 2026 elections to the state assembly.
The links between the polls and arrests as a solution to the age-old social problem aren’t quite clear. More importantly, deterrent theories of punishment have not succeeded anywhere in the world and are relics of the past in most places.
Assam should not follow the example of regressive Muslim monarchies in the Middle East whose record on human rights and the rule of law is appalling. Scandinavian countries are good examples to follow.
Modern international laws and conventions — the UN Convention on Consent to Marriage, Minimum Age for Marriage and Registration of Marriages (1962), the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (1979) and the Beijing Declaration (1995) — do mandate countries to stipulate a minimum legal age for marriage. But child marriages continue to have religious sanction in large parts of India.
Explained
Science of earthquakes (Page no. 17)
(GS Paper 1, Geography)
Turkey has been getting hammered by a series of powerful earthquakes since the early hours of Monday, with the first one, a quake of magnitude 7.8, being described as the strongest the country has experienced in over a century.
Within a span of 12 hours, at least 41 more earthquakes of magnitude 4 or more have been recorded in the same area — south-eastern Turkey close to the borders with Syria — according to information on the United States Geological Survey (USGS) website. One of these later earthquakes was as large as the first one, measuring 7.5 in magnitude.
Both Turkey and Syria have been badly affected by the tremors, with news agencies reporting the death of at least 1,700 people by Monday evening. Over 1,000 of these casualties have been reported from Turkey.
As is expected in big earthquakes, aftershocks are likely to continue for the next few days, even weeks.
The region where the earthquake has struck lies along a well known seismic fault line called the Anatolia tectonic block that runs through northern, central, and eastern Turkey.
It is a seismically active zone — though not as active as, say, the Himalayan region which is one of the most dangerous regions in the world from the perspective of earthquakes.
Large earthquakes, of magnitude 5 or higher, have not been very frequent in recent years. According to USGS, only three earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more have happened in the region since 1970. The last major quake in this area came in January 2020.
Economy
India’s Energy landscape witnessing unprecedented growth, opportunities: PM (Page no. 19)
(GS Paper 3, Environment)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has invited investors to participate in the rapid growth being charted out by India’s energy sector, saying that major investment opportunities are being developed in the space.
In his address at the inauguration of India Energy Week in Bengaluru, Modi said that numerous areas of India’s energy landscape—from conventional hydrocarbons to renewables and biofuels to promising futuristic fuels like green hydrogen—are witnessing unprecedented growth and are replete with opportunities.
Modi said that India’s strategy for the energy sector is centred around four major verticals—increase in domestic exploration and production of oil and gas, diversification of energy supplies, expansion of alternative sources of energy like biofuels, ethanol, compressed biogas, and solar energy, and achieving decarbonisation through electric vehicles and green hydrogen. The PM said that India is working at a rapid pace in all these areas.
The PM highlighted numerous examples of growth and capacity ramp-up across the energy value chain. He said that while India is already the world’s fourth largest refiner with an installed capacity of 250 million tonnes per annum (MTPA), refining companies are working rapidly to increase the capacity to 450 MTPA along with upgrading their units and increasing petrochemical production.