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Editorial
As Prime Minister Narendra Modi heads to Washington for a state visit in two weeks, the unfolding geopolitical churn in Asia triggered by China’s rise will form a critical background to his talks with US President Joe Biden.
In two and a half years, Biden has made significant strategic gains and reversed the dominant perception that China’s domination of Asia is inevitable and America’s retreat is irreversible.
There is no better place than the annual Shangri-La Dialogue, which concluded its 20th edition in Singapore over the weekend, to capture the shifting strategic trends in Asia.
Since it was first convened in 2002, the SLD has become the premium forum where defence ministers of Asia gather to publicly articulate their positions on regional security as well as conduct bilateral and minilateral defence diplomacy behind closed doors. It has also become a venue in recent years for quiet consultations among the region’s intelligence chiefs.
The Director of US Intelligence Avril Haines as well as the chief of India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) Samant Goel, were among those taking part in this year’s conclave.
This year’s SLD highlighted the deepening tensions between the US and China. Even as it mobilises a broad-based coalition to balance China, Washington is seeking to resume high-level talks between the two sides and focus on confidence-building measures to prevent the tensions from escalating into a hot war.
Ideas Page
From artists to lawmakers (Page no. 13)
(GS Paper 2, Governance)
As artists committed to improving the quality of life for all, our critical role as citizens has motivated this attempt to reach out to the public through our elected representatives. There was a time when artists participated in the making of our Constitution: Nandalal Bose illustrated the manuscript and Prem Behari Narain Raizada calligraphed it, all keeping in mind our rich cultural legacies.
India’s electoral system is one of the largest and most complex in the world and our elected vidhayaks constitute the tana bana, the warp and weft, of our federal democratic ethos.
The National Legislators Conference (NLC), due to start next week, is a pioneering initiative bringing together 4,000 MLAs and MLCs from all political parties under one roof.
The three-day boot camp is an opportunity to exchange notes across ideological lines, presenting case studies of best practices and governance.
With increasing ideological divisions among political parties and their supporters, grandstanding often hampers constructive debates and leads to policy gridlocks. The spirit of consensus building is undermined even as the few paths for possible convergences get sidelined.
Explained
Why is CRS, the body investigating the Odisha rail accident, under the Aviation Ministry (Page no. 15)
(GS Paper 2, Governance)
Investigation into the recent tragic train accident in Odisha, the deadliest train crash in India in over two decades, is being conducted by the Commissioner of Railway Safety for the south-eastern circle. Rail safety commissioners are part of the Commission of Railway Safety (CRS), a government body that acts as the railway safety authority in the country.
As the name suggests, CRS deals with matters related to safety of rail travel and operations, among some other statutory functions – inspectorial, investigatory, and advisory – as laid down in the Railways Act, 1989. Investigating serious train accidents is one of the key responsibilities of the CRS, which is headquartered in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh.
It is, however, worth noting that the CRS does not report to the Ministry of Railways of the Railway Board. It is, in fact, under the administrative control of the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA).
The reason or principle behind this, put simply, is to keep the CRS insulated from the influence of the country’s railway establishment and prevent conflicts of interest. One needs to go back in time to understand the evolution of the CRS and its unique relationship with MoCA.
The first railways in India came into being in the 1800s and were constructed and operated by private companies. At the time, the British Indian government appointed ‘consulting engineers’ for effective control and oversight of the developing railway network and operations. Their job was to ensure efficiency, economy, and safety in railway operations in India.
Apple’s breakthrough AR headset, and why it is a big deal (Page no. 15)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Technology)
Apple has unveiled the Vision Pro, a mixed reality headset that allows “spatial computing” by using the wearer’s eyes, voice and hands.
The headset is the biggest breakthrough product from Apple since the launch of the iPhone more than 15 years ago, and could mark the next chapter in personal technology.
At its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) Apple spent a lot of time on Monday explaining the headset and what it can do.
Apple’s first major new product category in eight years, the Vision Pro is a headset that the wearer can control with her eyes, hands, and voice, a feature that other headsets do not have.
The headset features a glass 23 million-pixel screen that covers the upper part of the user’s face like a pair of oversized ski goggles.
The facial interface is adjustable, which means it should provide a closer and more comfortable fit than competing headsets.
The headset is encased in “aerospace grade alloys”, glass, and fabric, and contains five sensors, 12 cameras, a 4K display for each eye, and a wearable computer that is cooled by a fan.
World
River dam between Ukraine and Russia breached (Page no. 16)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
A deliberate explosion inside the Kakhovka dam, on the front line of the war in Ukraine, most likely caused its collapse, according to engineering and munitions experts, who said that structural failure or an attack from outside the dam were possible but less plausible explanations.
Ukrainian officials blamed Russia for the failure, noting that Moscow’s military forces — which have repeatedly struck Ukrainian infrastructure since invading last year — controlled the dam spanning the Dnieper River in the city of Nova Kakhovka, putting them in a position to detonate explosives from within.
Russian officials, in turn, blamed Ukraine, but did not elaborate on how it might have been done. For months, each side in the war has repeatedly accused the other of plotting to sabotage the hydroelectric dam, without offering evidence — allegations that rarely rose above the wartime fog of claims and counterclaims, both real and fabricated.
Just last week, both said an attack on the dam was imminent; Ukrainian officials said the Russians wanted to create an emergency at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, which uses river water for cooling, to stall an expected Ukrainian offensive.
It may be that at least one side was telling the truth, but in the midst of a war zone, there is little prospect of an independent forensic investigation into the dam’s destruction, which flooded a wide area downstream.
Tehran claims creating its first hypersonic ballistic missile (Page no. 16)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
Iran claimed that it had created a hypersonic missile capable of travelling at 15 times the speed of sound, adding a new weapon to its arsenal as tensions remain high with the US over Tehran's nuclear programme.
The new missile -- called Fattah, or "Conqueror" in Farsi -- was unveiled even as Iran said it would reopen its diplomatic posts on Tuesday in Saudi Arabia after reaching a détente with Riyadh following years of conflict.
The tightly choreographed segment on Iranian state television apparently sought to show that Tehran's hard-line government can still deploy arms against its enemies across much of the Middle East.
"Today we feel that the deterrent power has been formed," Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said at the event. "This power is an anchor of lasting security and peace for the regional countries.
"Gen Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the head of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard's aerospace programme, unveiled what appeared to be a model of the missile. Hajizadeh claimed the missile had a range of up to 1,400 kilometres (870 miles).
Economy
India's growth is expected to slow of 6.3%: World bank (Page no. 17)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
Growth in India is expected to slow to 6.3 per cent in FY 2023/24 (April-March), a 0.3 percentage point downward revision from January, the World Bank but noted there is an unexpected resilience in private consumption and investment and robust growth in the services.
The World Bank made these points in its latest edition of Global Economic Prospects according to which global growth is projected to decelerate from 3.1 per cent in 2022 to 2.1 per cent in 2023.
In Emerging Markets and Developing Economies (EMDEs) other than China, growth is set to slow to 2.9 per cent this year from 4.1 per cent last year. These forecasts reflect broad-based downgrades.
"Growth in India is expected to slow further to 6.3 per cent in FY 2023/24 (April-March), a 0.3 percentage point downward revision from January," the World Bank said.