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Few illustrators would have created art history like Karuvattu Vasudevan Namboodiri, 97, who passed away on July 6. When back in the 1960s he began his career in Mathrubhumi Weekly, he signed his illustrations for short stories, serialised novels and poems as NAMBOODIRI.
That is how the journal’s committed readership came to know him. By the time he left the publication in the 1980s he had outgrown the job role as an accompanying artist. He was one in his own right. Kerala has since known him as Artist Namboodiri.
In Namboodiri’s days, Mathrubhumi Weekly pretty much defined mainstream Malayalam in prose and poetry, fiction and non-fiction. It was to Kerala what Desh was to Bengal. These two states in two corners of the subcontinent seemed to radicalise in tandem — left politics, pathbreaking literature, new cinema.
Between the two, Kerala had a bigger appetite for creative chaos. As though domestically sourced turbulence wasn’t enough, Mathrubhumi Weekly outsourced from Bengal.
A serialised Bengali novel was a permanent fixture. In about a year from the release of Pather Panchali the weekly carried a review by a Malayali in Kolkata who knew Bengali well enough to watch the film without subtitles and write.
This eclectic editorial content often extended to fiction from other Indian languages. Movies must have helped. And once to visualise some tale on the Chambal valley, Namboodiri modelled the characters on footballers from Madhya Pradesh who had come to his soccer-crazy town of Kozhikode for the Sait Nagjiee Trophy tournament.
Post Galwan, in ban on Made in China, 1500-cr BSNL deal got through (Page no. 5)
(GS Paper 3, Internal Security)
Just months before the Galwan clash between India and China in June 2020, a crucial backend project of the state-owned telecom operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) was awarded to a China-based company with links to Chinese telecom company ZTE.
And despite the increasingly protectionist stance New Delhi adopted against Beijing subsequent to the clashes, BSNL persisted with the Chinese firm till its completion.
In early 2020, a tender worth around Rs 500 crore or $61 million to create new systems around BSNL’s call data record data centres, was awarded to a company called Whale Cloud Technology, which was routed to it through state-owned Telecommunications Consultants India Ltd (TCIL).
Whale Cloud Technology was initially a subsidiary of ZTE, and in 2018, received strategic investment and became part of another Chinese behemoth, Alibaba.
BSNL is considered to be a strategic enterprise, particularly since it operates in border areas and regions affected by Left-wing extremism, where it is often the sole telecom operator.
The scope of work in this contract entailed developing a software system to address certain legacy issues and facilitate rating of call duration on BSNL’s network by referencing call data records and creating a billing system around it.
The call data records show that person A has called person B for, let’s assume, 10 minutes. Now what the software will do is automatically create a bill for it, depending on the per minute rate for the call.
The City
First-of-its-kind dual elevated taxiway at Delhi airport soon (Page no. 7)
(GS Paper 3, Internal Security)
The Delhi Airport is set to launch a fourth runway along with a first-of-its-kind dual elevated taxiway that will reduce time spent on the tarmac by flyers before take-off and after landing by 15-20 minutes. While the runway will be inaugurated on July 13, the date of operation for the elevated taxiway is to be decided later.
According to sources from the Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL), the Eastern Cross Taxiways (ECT) will connect the northern and southern airfields and reduce taxi distance for aircraft by 7 km.
It will be 2.1-km long and 202-m wide. The ECT will be wide enough to accommodate two aircraft at the same time, including big aircraft such as A-380 and B-777.
The two taxiways will be separated by a 47-m-wide gap, which will allow safe simultaneous passage. There will also be carriageways on both ends to allow emergency vehicles to move.
The goal of the ECT is to not only to reduce waiting time for passengers but also cut down on aircraft fuel and emissions and enhance operational efficiency. The ECT would lead to 350 kg of fuel and 1,114 kg of CO2 saved per flight.
Currently the airport’s Terminals 1 and 3 are 9 km away which compels aircraft to take a long roundabout route from one terminal to another. The ECT will reduce this distance between them to 2 km.
The elevated taxiway will form an underpass through which cars can access Terminal 3 from Mahipalpur through the Central Spine Road.
Editorial Page
Changing battlefields (Page no. 14)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
No two wars are alike. Studying the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict may, however, offer some insights as to its changing nature, the impact of new technologies and new dimensions of strategy. At least 10 military lessons can be enumerated.
First, unstable deterrence upended by big-power geopolitical conflict is inherently escalatory. How well Russia fares on the battlefield remains key to the fate of Ukraine as an independent state and the future of NATO.
Given the high stakes, all parties to the conflict are in escalation mode, with its consequential deeply worrying risks. Short of membership, NATO may double down on supporting Ukraine.
Second, prolonged wars are more than stalemated wars due to their escalating aims. For some in our expert-community, long used to analysing American wars fought in easy combat environments, Russia’s ability to defy numerous predictions of its defeat has come as a surprise. Counting on Russia’s defeat has been a bad bet.
Third, prolonged wars require a steady hand on the battlefield and a stable domestic front. Following the dramatic Prigozhin rebellion, Russia was shaken but stabilised.
It is Europe’s political economy, long used to cheap Russian energy, ample Chinese markets, and inexpensive US security, where uncertainties abound, most visibly in France.
Ideas Page
Lessons from post Brexit UK (Page no. 15)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
Much has changed in the United Kingdom since January 31, 2020 when it withdrew from the European Union. A recent work trip to the UK over the summer recess of the Supreme Court, revealed a country with high inflation, boarded-up shops and restaurants, and a palpable dearth of labour. On the morning of June 27, I was astonished to read the main headline of the frontpage of a leading newspaper.
Senior doctors of the National Health Service had voted to go on strike. They would go on a two-day strike over pay for the first time in 50 years to reverse deep cuts in their salaries.
This would considerably worsen healthcare in the UK, given that after Brexit there was already a shortage of doctors. More than 4,000 European doctors have left the NHS.
The Migration Observatory at Oxford University in August 2022 explains that in sectors like hospitality, transport and storage, which have relied heavily on EU workers, there is an immense shortage of workers.
They also note that in some sectors like agriculture, employers have been able to switch from EU to non-EU workers. But, in most low wage industries, the immigration system does not permit them to do so.
The “free movement” of labour from the UK to and from the EU ended on December 31, 2021. Formal estimates indicate a shortage of 330,000 workers.
It’s well reported that since Brexit and leaving the EU, as of now, the UK faces a recession and cost of living crisis. Inflation is at a 40-year high.
The governor of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey has noted that the “hole in the UK job markets” could add to inflation woes.
Express Network
Mario Marinda’s art at centre of G20 tug of war (Page no. 16)
(GS Paper 2, International Organisation)
Days after the family of renowned cartoonist and painter Mario de Miranda threatened to sue Goa’s chief secretary and the organisers of the G20 summit, the Mario Gallery has served a legal notice to the event management agency involved in organising the summit in Goa for allegedly using the late artist’s works without its permission.
Gerard da Cunha, curator of Mario Gallery, said, “The Mario Gallery has served a legal notice on Sean AdEvent, which is the event management agency for the G20 summit in Goa.
The notice is with respect to the installation of Mario Miranda’s famous caricature drawings in the form of life-sized figurines placed at Old Goa and Dona Paula for the G20 summit.”
The statement said that the event management agency has been given seven days to recall and hand over all figurines of Miranda’s artwork from various locations.
Till now, we have taken note of eight figurines at Old Goa, eight figurines in two clusters at Goa University and four figurines at NIO circle. There are reports of many more figurines which are being verified.
The legal notice states that if the agency does not comply within the time given, the Mario Gallery will initiate appropriate legal proceedings,” said Cunha in the statement.
Performance grade index out: Chandigarh Punjab top performers in school education (Page no. 18)
(GS Paper 2, Education)
Chandigarh and Punjab emerged as the best performers in school education across indicators such as learning outcomes, equity and infrastructure in the Union Ministry of Education’s Performance Grade Index (PGI) for the year 2021-22 report released Friday.
Punjab and Chandigarh have been placed in the sixth grade of the index. The PGI grades states and UTs in 10 categories. No state or UT could make it to the top five grades. Chandigarh and Punjab are on ‘Prachesta -2’ level for which a state should score between 641-700 out of total 1,000 points.
Following them, there are six states and UTs at the level below. Gujarat, Kerala, Maharashtra, Delhi, Puducherry, and Tamil Nadu have been placed at the 7th level — Prachesta-3 — with a score between 581-640 points. Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, and Mizoram are placed at the bottom of the pile with a score between 401-460 (Akanshi–3).
Last year, the top-performing states—Kerala, Punjab, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, and Andhra Pradesh—had scored between 901 and 950 points out of 1,000.
The government attributed the drop in scores to a change in the assessment parameters. This year, the ministry reassigned weightage to the existing parameters and introduced a new one, acknowledging that the PGI assessment was “heavily tilted towards indicators related to governance processes rather than the quality indicator.”
Explained
Cluster munitions (Page no. 19)
(GS Paper 3, Defence)
The United States has decided to send cluster munitions to Ukraine to help its military push back Russian forces entrenched along the front lines.
The Biden administration is expected to announce on Friday that it will send thousands of them as part of a new military aid package worth $800 million, according to people familiar with the decision who were not authorized to discuss it publicly before the official announcement and spoke on condition of anonymity.
The move will likely trigger outrage from some allies and humanitarian groups that have long opposed the use of cluster bombs. Proponents argue that Russia has already been using the controversial weapon in Ukraine and that the munitions the US will provide have a reduced dud rate, meaning there will be far fewer unexploded rounds that can result in unintended civilian deaths.
A cluster munition is a bomb that opens in the air and releases smaller “bomblets” across a wide area. The bomblets are designed to take out tanks and equipment, as well as troops, hitting multiple targets at the same time.
The munitions are launched by the same artillery weapons that the US and allies have already provided to Ukraine for the war — such as howitzers — and the type of cluster munition that the US is planning to send is based on a common 155 mm shell that is already widely in use across the battlefield.
China’s slowing economy (Page no. 19)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
United States Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen criticised China’s “unfair economic practices” on the first day of her ongoing visit to Beijing, saying she was “particularly troubled by punitive actions that have been taken against US firms in recent months”.
However, she said that the US “does not want a wholesale separation of our economies”, and seeks to “diversify and not decouple”.
In May, G7 had taken a nuanced pledge to “de-risk” without decoupling from China — drawing a warning from Chinese Premier Li Qiang last month that Western attempts to de-risk could lead to fragmentation of global supply chains.
A new Chinese law that came into effect at the beginning of this month provides a legal framework for policymakers in Beijing to respond to export bans imposed by the US.
In October 2022, the Biden Administration announced steps to block the access of Chinese companies to advanced microchips and related equipment built in the US.
Earlier this week, as its own law took effect, Beijing hit back by banning exports of gallium and germanium, two minerals that are critical to the global chipmaking industry.
The escalation of trade hostilities coincides with increasing signs of trouble in the Chinese economy. While the US has its own problems — it has been trying to contain inflation even as the robustness of its economic growth continues to surprise policymakers — China’s economy has been slowing.
World
Yellen criticises China’s actions against US companies, calls for market reforms (Page no. 20)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen called on Friday for market reforms in China and criticized the world’s second-largest economy for its recent harsh actions against U.S. companies and new export controls on some critical minerals.
Yellen arrived in Beijing to try to repair fractious U.S.-Chinese relations, but made clear in her public remarks that Washington and its Western allies will continue to hit back at what she called China’s “unfair economic practices.
Yellen spoke to the American Chamber of Commerce in China (AmCham) after what a Treasury official called “substantive” talks with former Chinese economy czar Liu He, a close confidante of President Xi Jinping, and outgoing top Chinese central banker Yi Gang.
The United States is seeking healthy competition with China based on fair rules that benefit both countries, not a “winner-take-all” approach, Yellen told Chinese Premier Li Qiang in a subsequent meeting.
She said she hoped her visit would spur more regular communication between the two rivals, and said any targeted actions by Washington to protect its national security should not “needlessly” jeopardize the broader relationship.
Yellen and other U.S. officials are walking a difficult tightrope of trying to repair fractious ties with China after the U.S. military shot down a Chinese government balloon over the United States, while continuing to push Beijing to halt practices they view as harmful to U.S. and Western companies.
NATO pledges entry to Ukraine, Zelenskyy drums up bid support (Page no. 20)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
The head of NATO said on Friday the military alliance would unite at a summit next week on how to bring Kyiv closer to joining, while Ukraine’s president drummed up support for its membership bid on a tour of several NATO states.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy visited the Czech Republic and Slovakia a day after holding talks in Bulgaria, and was due to travel to Turkey later on Friday on the next stage of his tour.
In Prague, he won a pledge of support for Ukraine to join NATO “as soon as the war (with Russia) is over”, and in Sofia secured backing for membership “as soon as conditions allow”.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg reiterated that Ukraine would become a member, but the alliance is divided over how fast this should happen. Some countries are wary of any step that might take the alliance closer to war with Russia.
For 500 days, Moscow has brought death and destruction to the heart of Europe,” Stoltenberg told a press conference in Brussels ahead of the July 11-12 NATO summit in Vilnius.
Economy
SEBI increases accountability of MF trustees (Page no. 21)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on Friday issued a detailed circular, which will put the onus on mutual fund (MF) trustees to protect unitholders’ interests.
These include monitoring fees and expenses, prevention of mis-selling and front running and conflict of interest between various stakeholders.
The market regulator has stated that asset management companies (AMCs) shall constitute a unit holder protection committee (UHPC) to oversee the protection of unit holders’ interests, adoption of sound and healthy market practices, and compliance with laws/regulations or other related processes.
Further, the UHPC must keep unit holders well informed about and educate them on MF products, the investor charter, and complaint-handling procedures. It shall submit its observations, along with recommendations periodically to the board of the AMC.
As a result, the board of directors of the AMCs and board of directors of the trustee company will meet at least once a year to discuss the issues concerning the mutual fund, and future course of action wherever required, says the circular.