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Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said there is a need to invest more in training, technology and resources for the safety and productivity of United Nations (UN) Peacekeepers deployed in conflict-torn regions and called for the “meaningful participation” of women in peacekeeping operations.
He was addressing a special commemorative seminar organised by the Army to mark 75 years of UN Peacekeeping. Since its first commitment in Korea in 1950, India is one of the largest contributors of troops to UN Peacekeeping operations.
It has contributed approximately 2.75 lakh troops to peacekeeping missions so far, with around 5,900 troops currently deployed in 12 UN missions.
Highlighting challenges faced by the peacekeepers, the Defence Minister said innovative approaches and enhanced cooperation among responsible nations are needed to ensure the safety and effectiveness of United Nations (UN) Peacekeepers for stability, prevention of conflicts and restoration of peace.
He also emphasised that the unique contribution of women in such missions must be recognised. In his address, Singh said it is necessary to make the UN decision-making bodies, including the Security Council (UNSC), more reflective of demographic realities of the world.
Editorial
Holes in the digital net (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 2, Governance)
On June 12, three events occurred that demonstrate a gulf between the rhetoric and reality of Digital India. In the morning readers of the Malayala Manorama were greeted with the front page news of a data breach on the CoWIN platform (first reported on the online portal, “The Fourth”).
Sensitive personal details including date and place of vaccination, with Aadhaar, PAN, Passport, Voter ID, & Mobile numbers were circulating on the internet-based messaging platform Telegram.
Though details of the breach were established by many, the Union Government responded with denials. This was first done by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare which termed the reports, “mischievous”, while Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Minister of State, Ministry of Electronics and IT (MEITY) tweeted that sensitive information had emerged from, “previously stolen data”.
Towards the evening an extensive statement was made through the Press Information Bureau (PIB) which claimed that, “Co-WIN portal of the Health Ministry is completely safe with adequate safeguards for data privacy.”
Ideas Page
A world to win (Page no. 11)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
The Director of IIT-Madras V Kamakoti noted the lack of interest in core engineering among IIT graduates. His concern is valid, though narrow. I offer a broader view.
My position is that all graduates, IITians included, must remain free to chart their career paths. Yet, IITs represent only a tiny part of Indian engineering education. Engineering, and STEM in general, is difficult and requires prolonged discipline. Excellence has a price.
Nationally, we have many colleges of poor quality producing mediocre graduates. Neither those colleges nor their graduates aspire to excellence because the present job market does not demand excellence in sufficient volumes.
But the international picture is changing. The demographics of international competition offer promise for future Indian engineers. Perhaps we can raise our national game to claim that opportunity. Let us now consider these points in detail.
First, should IIT graduates be allowed to take non-core jobs? Society juggles conflicting goals through hierarchies of principles. For example, if abused spouses are not allowed to leave marriages, then some social structures retain stability.
Stability is a good principle, but freedom ranks higher. Similarly, if all engineers from IITs are forcefully retained in engineering, then some national goals might be served. However, the freedom of students to choose career paths ranks higher. We must protect that freedom.
Explained
El Nino and the monsoon (Page no. 13)
(GS Paper 1, Geography)
Any discussion on Indian monsoon these days invariably has references to the El Nino phenomenon. It is almost as if the fate of the Indian monsoon depends on the abnormalities in sea surface temperatures in far-away Pacific Ocean.
This year’s monsoon is also progressing under the cloud of an El Nino in the Pacific Ocean. El Nino, as is commonly known, refers to an abnormal warming of surface waters in equatorial Pacific Ocean. It is known to suppress monsoon rainfall.
The opposite phase, La Nina, which is the abnormal cooling of sea surface waters in the same region, is known to aid rainfall over India.
There is a third, neutral phase, as well in which the sea surface temperatures remain roughly in line with long-term averages. Together, these three phases in the Pacific Ocean are referred to as El Nino Southern Oscillation, or ENSO.
Not everything about ENSO and Indian monsoon is very well understood, but scientists do have a fair idea of how this entire system works.
El Nino phenomenon was first noticed by the scientists in the 1920s, though local populations in Peru and Ecuador were aware of the periodic warming much earlier. The La Nina phenomenon, on the other hand, was discovered only in the 1980s.
Why the US walked out of UNESCO and Why it now wants to rejoin (Page no. 13)
(GS Paper 2, International Organisation)
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) announced on Monday that the United States will rejoin it in July, four years after it left the agency (along with Israel), alleging that UNESCO was biased against Israel. The move to rejoin will face a vote by UNESCO’s member states and is expected to pass easily.
UNESCO is a UN agency tasked with furthering international cooperation and peace through the promotion of educational, scientific and cultural causes.
For instance, it designates locations globally as World Heritage Sites, which means international recognition and possible funding. The United States was a founding member of UNESCO in 1945.
The US Department of State has now “welcomed the way in which UNESCO had addressed in recent years emerging challenges, modernised its management, and reduced political tensions,” according to UNESCO.
The issue goes back to 2011, when UNESCO inducted Palestine as a member. This led to the US halting the agency’s funding, worth millions of dollars, under then President Barack Obama.
Notably, Palestine is not recognised as a sovereign state by the United Nations. It was included as a non-member observer State over Israel’s objections in 2012, meaning it could participate in General Assembly proceedings but lacked voting rights.
A stunted middle-class role of manufacturing and informal sector (Page no. 13)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
In Part I of this article published on June 13, we showed that India’s genuine middle class is much smaller than is commonly presumed.
To realise the country’s economic ambition, a large, expanding, and increasingly prosperous genuine middle class is needed — one that has income stability, resilience, and the ability to grow its income steadily through value-added work.
We believe that it is both the cause and consequence of the widespread informal sector that is commonly estimated to account for 90% of employment, but generating only a third of the value added in the economy.
It is huge with limited efficiency because of its many constraints, and is a low-productivity trap that chokes off the formation of a genuine middle class in India.
Typically, informal workers either work as individual casual labour or in micro enterprises with very small operations, having fewer than 10 employees under conditions of instability in both employment and income.
Conditions in the informal sector vitiate workers’ effort to get ahead and become middle class regardless of the legendary Indian capability for hard work and a highly entrepreneurial spirit, trapping them in situations where they are unable to increase productivity and income by working with better tools, easy learning of new skills, getting the effort-multiplier benefit of team work, and accessing the full suite of reasonably priced and regulated financial services.
Economy
Disinflation process to be slow, protracted: RBI Guv (Page no. 15)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das said the disinflation process in the country is likely to be slow and protracted, with the 4 per cent inflation target to be reached only over the medium-term.
The RBI has been mandated by the government to keep consumer price index-based inflation (CPI) at 4 per cent with a band of +/- 2 per cent.
Das said there are signs of some softening in inflation, with headline CPI inflation easing to 4.25 in May from the peak of 7.8 per cent in April 2022. In April, CPI eased to an 18-month low of 4.7 per cent from 5.7 per cent in March.
While our inflation projection for the current financial year 2023-24 is lower at 5.1 per cent, it would still be well above the target.
As per our current assessment, the disinflation process is likely to be slow and protracted with convergence to the inflation target of 4 per cent being achieved over the medium-term,” Das said in a speech at the Summer Meetings organised by Central Banking, London, UK.
Based on this expectation of inflation and with a view to assess the impact of past rate actions, the central bank decided on a pause in the April and June 2023 monetary policies.
The Governor, however, reiterated that the pause in rate hikes in April and June monetary policies was not a pivot and also not a definitive change in policy direction.