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In what appeared to be a breakthrough in efforts to reduce tensions between the two countries over the military standoff in eastern Ladakh since May 2020, Prime Minister Narendra Modi conveyed India’s concerns to Chinese President Xi Jinping on “unresolved issues” along the Line of Actual Control, and the two leaders “agreed” to “direct their relevant officials to intensify efforts at expeditious disengagement and de-escalation” of troops on the ground.
This development comes a fortnight before President Xi’s likely arrival in Delhi for the G20 Summit being hosted by India on September 9-10.
Briefing reporters on the Prime Minister’s engagements during the BRICS Summit in Johannesburg, Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra confirmed that a conversation between Prime Minister Modi and President Xi took place on the sidelines of the Summit.
In a conversation with President Xi Jinping of China, Prime Minister (Modi) highlighted India’s concerns on the unresolved issues along the LAC in the western sector of the India-China border area.
The Prime Minister underlined that maintenance of peace and tranquillity in the border areas and observing and respecting the LAC are essential for the normalisation of the India-China relationship.”
BRICS expands from 5 to 11, PM says this sends message to all (Page no. 3)
(GS Paper 2, International Organisation)
Leaders of the BRICS — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — decided to expand the grouping and admit six new members. Saudi Arabia, Iran, UAE, Egypt, Ethiopia and Argentina will become part of BRICS with effect from January 1, 2024.
At a joint media briefing in Johannesburg, South African President and Summit host Cyril Ramaphosa, along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, said.
We have decided to invite Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to become full members of BRICS.
We value the interests of other countries in building partnership with BRICS and have tasked our Foreign Ministers to further develop the BRICS partnership model and list of prospective countries (which want to join the grouping).
He said the decision on the new members was agreed upon after firming up the guiding principles, criteria and procedure for the expansion process. There are about 23 countries which have formally applied so far for membership of the grouping.
Govt & Politics
Article 370: Due process was followed, Govt tells SC (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 2, Polity and Constitution)
Rejecting arguments that changes made to Article 370 were a fraud on the Constitution, the Centre on Thursday told the Supreme Court that “due process was followed” in carrying out the exercise in August 2019.
All arguments on fraud on the Constitution are completely misconceived…no deviation from due process,” Attorney General R Venkataramani told a five-judge Constitution bench presided by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud.
The suspension of provisions of Article 3, the two provisos and various other provisions are in terms of a convention the Presidential proclamation follows.
No deviation has taken place as far as this particular Presidential proclamation is concerned,” the A-G told the bench, also comprising Justices S K Kaul, Sanjeev Khanna, B R Gavai and Surya Kant.
The A-G told the court that the running theme of his arguments would be on balancing between losing the nation and preserving the Constitution — that “equally, one cannot postulate a situation where the ends justify the means” and “means should also be consistent with the end”.
Appearing for the Centre and the J&K administration, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the court that J&K had fully surrendered its sovereignty to the Union of India upon accession, and that the petitioners “are confusing internal sovereignty with autonomy”.
Express Network
NMC puts on hold rules for doctors to prescribe only generic medicines (Page no. 11)
(GS Paper 2, Health)
The National Medical Commission (NMC) put on hold its new guidelines that made it mandatory for doctors to only prescribe generic drugs.
Released on August 2, the National Medical Commission Registered Medical Practitioner (Professional Conduct) Regulations, 2023 triggered a huge backlash, with the country’s largest doctors’ body, Indian Medical Association (IMA), as well as the Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance (IPA) calling it “not feasible”.
Even the country’s apex drug regulator, the Central Drugs Standard Drug Control Organisation (CDSCO), questioned the language in the notification.
Thursday’s decision came days after the Union Ministry of Health held a meeting to discuss the guidelines with various stakeholders, including the IMA and the IPA, who flagged concerns with the guidelines.
The National Medical Commission Registered Medical Practitioner (Professional Conduct) Regulations, 2023, are hereby held in abeyance with immediate effect.
Indian Medical Council (Professional Conduct, Etiquette and Ethics) Regulations, 2002, shall come into force with immediate effect.
Besides the instructions on generic drugs, the NMC guidelines included directives on issues ranging from continued medical education, usage of social media platforms and maintaining a dynamic register of doctors. It also barred doctors from attending events sponsored by pharmaceutical companies.
Editorial
Growth and the tier 2 city (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
As the fastest-growing large economy in the world, India’s high growth has attracted headlines. But, with nearly a quarter of the youth being unemployed, India’s youth unemployment has also attracted attention.
More than 50 per cent of India’s population is below the age of 25 and more than 65 per cent is below the age of 35. The coexistence of high economic growth and high unemployment is a puzzle.
For a young country like India, high growth and unemployment is not a paradox or a reflection of automation or artificial intelligence, but lop-sided development policies that have resulted in fewer jobs being created for millions who join the labour force every year. India’s young demographic is an asset in an ageing world, and changes in the trajectory of globalisation have opened new doors for India.
India needs good infrastructure, both physical and human, to create more jobs. The country has made huge progress in improving its physical infrastructure but has fallen behind on human infrastructure like education and skills.
Physical infrastructure in the absence of good human infrastructure has slowed the pace of job growth. Physical infrastructure investments are also focused on urban areas, but the manufacturing sector is migrating away from urban to rural areas to remain cost-competitive.
However, poor physical and human infrastructure in rural areas has constrained the growth drivers and limited the size of the manufacturing sector in India.
Express Network
Rocketry best film, Alia, Kirti, Allu Ajun bag acting honours (Page no. 14)
(Miscellaneous)
Alia Bhatt and Kriti Sanon have jointly won the National Film Award in the Best Actress category for their films Gangubai Kathiawadi and Mimi, respectively, while Telugu actor Allu Arjun has been named the Best Actor for his film Pushpa: The Rise’.
R Madhavan’s Rocketry: The Nambi Effect, based on the life of former ISRO scientist Nambi Narayan, has been adjudged the Best Feature Film in the 69th National Film Awards announced by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in New Delhi.
Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s biographical drama Gangubai Kathiawadi has also won the Best Screenplay (adapted) — written by Bhansali and Utkarshini Vashishtha — and the Best Dialogues award for Vashishtha and Prakash Kapadia. Bhansali has also been named the best editor for the film, while Preetisheel Singh D’souza has won the award for best make-up artist for Gangubai. Actors Pankaj Tripathi and Pallavi Joshi have bagged the best supporting actor awards for Mimi and The Kashmir Files, respectively.
The Kashmir Files has also won the Nargis Dutt Award for Best Film on National Integration. Shoojit Sircar’s biographical historical drama Sardar Udham has also bagged several awards. Apart from being named the Best Hindi Film, it has been awarded Best Cinematography (Avik Mukhopadhyay), Best Audiography (Sinoy Joseph), Best Production Design (Dmitrii Malich and Mansi Dhruv Mehta) and Best Costume Design (Veera Kapur Ee) awards.
With 7-MW solar power plant, Pune CME is India’s first carbon negative garrison (Page no. 14)
(GS Paper 3, Environment)
PUNE-based College of Military Engineering (CME) that with the commissioning of a 5-megawatt (MW) solar power plant — taking its solar power generation capacity to 7 MW — it has become India’s first carbon negative garrison or military formation.
The CME, which was established in 1948 as a premier institute of the armed forces, trains all ranks of Indian Army, Navy and Air force, including those from friendly foreign countries in various technical and tactical aspects with changing character of warfare.
A plethora of projects has been undertaken in the recent past at CME by the Military Engineering Services (MES) through the office of Garrison Engineer (CME), Khadki, in order to reduce the institute’s carbon footprint.
The biggest project is implementation of the 7-MW solar power plant in CME in two phases, apart from multiple important pilot projects such as solar steam cooking plants for community cooking for troops at CME and installation of Retrofitting Emission Control Devices (RECDs) on diesel generator sets to curb emissions.
The first phase of the 7-MW solar power plant was undertaken with the commissioning of a 2-MW solar power plant in 2021 fulfilling the daytime energy requirements of the CME.
The commissioning of the 5-MW plant in the second phase has been key in achieving the objective of ‘National Solar Mission under Government of India.
Success of the project has paved the way for other formations and tri-services establishments to become carbon negative in the future, officials said.
Explained
An ISRO veteran speaks: What Chandrayaan – 3’s success means for India (Page no. 15)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Technology)
The phenomenal achievement of Chandrayaan-3’s Moon-landing is the culmination of a process set in motion years ago, and puts India on the path to having a greater say in space exploration policy-making. K Kasturirangan, during whose tenure as ISRO chairman the Moon missions were planned.
It is a landmark event, no doubt. But if you look beyond the event, it gives us a very important capability. It gives us physical access to another planetary body.
The fact that we are only among a handful of countries with this capability means we are at the forefront of this technology.
And therefore, we will be part of all decision-making related to future planetary explorations and even extraction of resources from space. We are naturally part of the club that formulates these policies.
And this is significant, because in the past we have suffered by being kept out of such clubs. We have been denied access to technology — in atomic energy, in space, and other critical areas.
We were kept out because we did not have our own capabilities and were, in some ways, dependent. Of course, that has changed over the years and is rapidly changing as as India transitions from a developing country to a developed one.
World
Japan starts releasing Fukushima water into pacific, its seafood banned by China (Page no. 16)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Technology)
The tsunami-wrecked Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant began releasing its first batch of treated radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean— a controversial step that prompted China to ban seafood from Japan.
People inside and outside the country protested the wastewater release, with Japanese fishing groups fearing it will further damage the reputation of their seafood and groups in China and South Korea raising concerns, making it a political and diplomatic issue.
In response to the wastewater release, Chinese customs authorities banned seafood from Japan, customs authorities announced.
The ban started immediately and will affect all imports of “aquatic products” including seafood, according to the notice. Authorities said they will “dynamically adjust relevant regulatory measures as appropriate to prevent the risks of nuclear-contaminated water discharge to the health and food safety of our country.
Shortly after China’s announcement, Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings President Tomoaki Kobayakawa said the utility was preparing to compensate Japanese business owners appropriately for damages suffered by export bans from “the foreign government.”
He said China is a key trading partner and he will do his utmost to provide scientific explanations of the release so the ban will be dropped as soon as possible.
Economy
India – UK FTA talks in final stages business mobility on the table (Page no. 17)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
Without putting a deadline to the ongoing negotiations for the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between India and the UK, UK Secretary of State for Business and Trade Kemi Badenoch said the trade pact talks are in the final stages.
On the outcome of the ongoing G20 Trade and Investment Ministers’ Meeting, Badenoch also said that it is “very difficult to get many countries to agree on a communique”.
India and the UK are “actively” discussing business mobility under the proposed FTA, the UK minister said, clarifying that the overall visa liberalisation issues do not come under the ambit of trade pacts.
She said that both countries are working to accommodate issues with regard to bilateral investment treaty and business mobility so that it works for both the nations.
With any negotiation, the hardest bit tends to come at the end. We have closed many chapters. We’ve done many, perhaps more simple tasks, we’ve come to accommodations in several areas, and we are now in the final stages.
When asked about the outcome at the ongoing G20 meeting amidst differences between member countries over the Russia-Ukraine war, the UK minister said getting many countries to agree on a communique is difficult.
From our perspective, what we are really emphasising…is how significant the war in Russia-Ukraine has had an impact on UK trade, European trade, global trade. So given who the members of the G20 are, of course, it’s going to be difficult.
Russia must implement black sea grain deal to save millions: USTR (Page no. 17)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
Calling for Russia to “reverse its decision to suspend the Black Sea Grain Initiative, end its unjustified war of aggression, and withdraw all of its forces from Ukraine”, United States Trade Representative Katherine Tai in her remarks at the G20 Trade and Investment Ministers’ Meeting in Jaipur said the topic of the meeting could not be discussed properly without acknowledging the serious and continuing impact of Russia’s premeditated and unprovoked war of aggression against Ukraine.
The USTR also said that a fundamental rethink is required of the dispute settlement system under the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
There is a new and constructive process taking place in Geneva that is designed to find a way to reform where previous efforts have failed.
This requires a fundamental rethink of the dispute settlement system, for example to ensure that we end the practice of judicial rulemaking.
She said the global food price index has been rising over the last one month after Russia suspended its participation in the Black Sea Grain deal.
One month ago, Russia suspended its participation in the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which provided a lifeline for hundreds of millions worldwide facing hunger and spiraling food costs by enabling the delivery of 20 million tons of grain to lower and middle-income countries.
The global food price index has seen a steady rise over the past month. Russia’s suspension of the Black Sea Grain Initiative now threatens the food security of the most vulnerable populations around the world.”