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World
President Joe Biden will host a second summit with Pacific island leaders this week, part of a U.S. charm offensive to block further Chinese inroads into a strategic region Washington has long considered its own backyard.
During the three-day meeting, the U.S. will announce diplomatic recognition for two Pacific islands, promise new money for infrastructure, including to improve Internet connectivity via undersea cables, and honor regional leaders at an NFL game.
Biden held an inaugural summit with the islanders at the White House a year ago and was due to meet them again in Papua New Guinea in May. That plan was scrapped when a U.S. debt- ceiling crisis forced Biden to cut short an Asia trip.
At last year's summit with 14 Pacific island nations, Biden's administration pledged to help islanders fend off China's "economic coercion" and a joint declaration resolved to strengthen their partnership, saying they shared a vision for a region where "democracy will be able to flourish."
Manila accuses Beijing of placing floating barrier in South China Sea (Page no. 2)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
The Philippines accused China's coast guard of installing a "floating barrier" in a disputed area of the South China Sea, saying it prevented Filipinos from entering and fishing in the area.
Manila's coast guard and Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources "strongly condemn" China's installation of the barrier in part of the Scarborough Shoal, Commodore Jay Tarriela, a coast guard spokesperson, posted on the X social media platform, formerly Twitter.
The barrier blocking fishermen from the shoal was depriving them of their fishing and livelihood activities.
The (Philippine Coast Guard) will continue to work closely with all concerned government agencies to address these challenges, uphold our maritime rights and protect our maritime domains.
The Chinese embassy in Manila did not immediately reply to requests for comment.
Nagorno – Karakabh’s 120000 Armenians to leave: Authorities (Page no. 2)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
The 120,000 ethnic Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh will leave for Armenia as they do not want to live as part of Azerbaijan and fear ethnic cleansing, the leadership of the breakaway region.
Armenia’s Prime Minister also said the Karabakh Armenians were likely to leave the region, and that Armenia was ready to take them in, following a defeat last week at the hands of Azerbaijan in a conflict dating to the fall of the Soviet Union.
The Armenians of Karabakh, a territory internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan but previously beyond Baku’s control, were forced to declare a ceasefire on Sept. 20 after a lightning 24-hour military operation by the much larger Azerbaijani military.
Azerbaijan says it will guarantee their rights and integrate the region, but the Armenians say they fear repression.
“Our people do not want to live as part of Azerbaijan.
Ninety-nine point nine percent prefer to leave our historic lands,” David Babayan, an adviser to Samvel Shahramanyan, the president of the self-styled Republic of Artsakh.
NASA’s first asteroid samples from deep sea land on earth (Page no. 2)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Technology)
NASA’s first asteroid samples fetched from deep space parachuted into the Utah desert on Sunday to cap a seven-year journey.
In a flyby of the earth, the Osiris-Rex spacecraft released the sample capsule from 63,000 miles (100,000 km) out. The small capsule landed four hours later on a remote expanse of military land, as the mothership set off after another asteroid.
Scientists estimate the capsule holds at least a cup of rubble from the carbon-rich asteroid known as Bennu, but won’t know for sure until the container is opened.
Some spilled and floated away when the spacecraft scooped up too much and rocks jammed the container’s lid during collection three years ago.
Japan, the only other country to bring back asteroid samples, gathered about a teaspoon in a pair of asteroid missions.
Explained
NEET eligibility percentile now zero: Why and the likely impact (Page no. 4)
(GS Paper 2, Education)
In a surprising announcement earlier this week, the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC), responsible for allotting the post-graduation seats for medical education through NEET-PG exam, said the eligibility for the seats still vacant this year will be zero percentile.
This is the first time that the eligibility cut-off has been completely done away with since the examination replaced all other medical entrance tests in 2017. Over 13,000 PG seats in medical colleges across the country remain vacant at present even after two rounds of counselling.
The qualifying percentile for NEET PG Counselling 2023 has been reduced to ‘ZERO’ across all categories by MoHFW. In this regard, it is mentioned that Fresh Registration & Choice Filling for Round-3 of PG Counselling will be opened again for candidates who have become eligible after reduction of percentile,” the notice from MCC says
Five eyes alliance (Page no. 4)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
Since Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau alleged in his country’s Parliament on September 19 that the Indian government may have “potential links” to the killing of separatist leader Harmeet Singh Nijjar in Canada, the ties between the two countries are under strain.
US Ambassador to Canada David Cohen has now said in an interview with Canada’s CTV that it was “shared intelligence among Five Eyes partners” that helped “lead” Canada to the claims that PM Trudeau made.
“Five Eyes” refers to an intelligence-sharing alliance of the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and New Zealand.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken had said on Friday the US is “deeply concerned” about the allegations and Washington was “closely coordinating” with Ottawa on the issue and wants to see “accountability” in the case.
Other Five Eyes countries, such as the UK and Australia, have also said they are monitoring the situation and communicating with Indian officials.
Three Hoysala temples on UNESCO heritage list: What sets them apart (Page no. 4)
(GS Paper 1, Culture)
Three Hoysala-era temples in Karnataka recently made it to UNESCO’s World Heritage List, under the collective entry of ‘Sacred Ensembles of the Hoysalas’.
Hoysala temples are known for the rare beauty and finesse of their wall sculptures, and have been described as “art which applies to stone the technique of the ivory worker or the goldsmith”.
Built in the 12th and 13th centuries, the three temples selected for the UNESCO list are important not just because they demonstrate their builders’ superior skill, but also because they narrate the tale of the politics that shaped them.
The three temples include the Chennakeshava temple in Belur, the Hoysaleswara Temple in Halebidu, and the Keshava Temple in Somanathapura.
The announcement was made by UNESCO on September 18, during the World Heritage Committee’s 45th session in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. India submitted the nomination dossier for the temples in January 2022.
Govt & Politics
New Economic corridor will drive the world trade (Page no. 6)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday hailed the proposed India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor and said it “is going to become the basis of world trade for hundreds of years to come, and history will always remember that this corridor was initiated on Indian soil”.
Plans for the multimodal transport and energy corridor between India and Europe via the Middle East were announced at the recently concluded G20 Summit in the National Capital.
In his monthly radio programme Mann Ki Baat, PM Modi touched upon the “successful conduct” of the G20 event and said that “in this summit, India has proved the mettle of her leadership by making the African Union a full member” of the grouping.
The PM said that “these days, most of the letters and messages” he has been receiving “are largely on…the successful landing of Chandrayaan-3 and…the successful hosting of G20 in Delhi.”
He pointed out that “more than 80 lakh people watched the landing of Chandrayaan-3 on ISRO’s YouTube Live Channel which is a record in itself”, and added that “this conveys how deep the attachment of crores of Indians is to Chandrayaan-3”.
PM Modi said that “after the success of Chandrayaan-3, the grand hosting of G20 doubled the joy of every Indian”.
Bharat Mandapam, where it was held, “has turned out to be a celebrity in itself” and “people are taking selfies with it and also posting them with pride,” he said.
Express Network
India, UN launch global capacity building initiative (Page no. 7)
(GS Paper 2, International Organisation)
As part of this initiative, the UN India team and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will partner to leverage India's Technical and Economic Cooperation platform to share India's development experiences and best practices across the world.
India and the United Nations have launched a joint capacity-building initiative that will operationalise development-relevant deliverables of India's G20 Presidency and aims to share the country's best practices with partner countries in the Global South.
The India-UN Capacity Building Initiative was announced at the event India-UN for the Global South-Delivering for Development' in the presence of the External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.
This Initiative will also operationalise the development-relevant deliverables of India's G20 Presidency, including the G20 Action Plan for Accelerating Progress on the SDGs, technological transformation and building Digital Public Infrastructure, among others, a press release by India's Permanent Mission to the UN said.
Editorial
Then inclusion test (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 2, Polity and Constitution)
The Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Eighth Amendment) Bill, 2023 or the women’s reservation Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha on September 19 during the special session of Parliament, under a new name, Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, and was passed by an overwhelming majority of 454 votes in favour and only two against, on the very next day.
The Bill is the culmination of a legislative debate that has spanned over 27 years since 1996, including the lapsed Women’s Reservation Bill (2010), due to lack of consensus among political parties.
The women’s reservation Bill was the first that was considered in the new Parliament building, Sansad Bhavan, and was passed in the Rajya Sabha on September 21.
The legislation seeks to allocate 33 per cent seats in the state and central legislative bodies for women which, at present, is abysmally low — around 15 per cent in the Lok Sabha and 12 per cent in the Rajya Sabha.
According to the Inter-Parliamentary Union, India ranks 148th out of 193 countries in terms of women’s representation while the global average is 26.5 per cent.
Similarly, women’s representation in state assemblies is also dismal, ranging from 3.1 per cent in Nagaland to 23.1 per cent in Bihar. The Bill aims to increase the number of women MPs to 181 from the current 82 and women MLAs to more than 2,000 from the current 740.
Ideas Page
Gap between law and justice (Page no. 9)
(GS Paper 2, Governance)
On August 11, the Home Minister presented three Bills in the Lok Sabha that, if passed, will replace the existing criminal laws of the country.
Strengthening law and order is the intended aim of this effort according to the statement of objects and reasons. Implicit in this articulation is the correlation between social order and enforcement of criminal law.
The Bills assume that the law can maintain “public order” by reducing crimes. But the role of criminal law in achieving this goal is often exaggerated.
With its exclusive focus on blaming and punishing individual offenders for crimes, criminal law obscures the socially rooted nature of crimes.
Given this reality, the capacity of criminal law to be an instrument of crime control is rather limited. Yet, governments routinely insist on the ability of legislative reforms to control crimes and provide security. It must force us to question what this “overhaul” is really about.
Economy
New easternroute to handle cargo shipments between India, Russia
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
Much of the cargo traffic that comes into India is transshipped through major hubs such as Colombo, Singapore, Jabel Ali or Port Klang. In an interaction with Sukalp Sharma and Anil Sasi, Union Minister for Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal said the government is cognisant of this issue and is building international transshipment ports like Galathea Bay and Wadhavan ports to tackle the problem. He said the upcoming global maritime summit would give a fillip to investments in the ports and shipping sector and that his Ministry was actively charting out a new route to Russia through the east to handle rising cargo shipments between the two countries. Edited excerpts:
Global players are now recognising India’s potential as a maritime country and are also interested in the huge market that the country offers in the form of 1.4 billion people. There is no doubt about India’s potential and it is our responsibility to channel and realise that potential.
Centre to tweak policies to attract global patient funds for infra projects (Page no. 11)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
With India requiring massive investments in infrastructure and green transition in the coming years and domestic financing structures making slow headway, the Centre is set to make a renewed effort to tie up global patient funds for such projects.
Close on the heels of an agreement among UK-India Infrastructure Financing Bridge, the City of London Corporation and Niti Aayog signed on September 11, discussions are being held with Saudi Arabian and Australian authorities to seek active exposure of their sovereign wealth, pension and insurance funds to Indian projects.
Concerns among such potential large investors about the Indian concession agreements would be addressed.
32 firms out of 40 to be selected for IT hardware PLI 2.0 (Page no. 11)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
Just two out of 70 projects approved under the Ministry of Food Processing Industries’ Agro Processing Clusters (APC) scheme are complete and operational as per latest government figures accessed.
The APC scheme was in the news earlier this month when a political controversy erupted over the scheme allegedly benefiting Pride East Entertainments, a company related to Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma’s wife.
A total of 17 projects have completed building the core processing and basic enabling infrastructure but do not yet meet the requirement of operationalising at least 5 food processing units in the cluster.
Of the remaining 51 projects under implementation, 30 are running behind the stipulated time schedule. Incidentally, the APC scheme is a modified version of the ministry’s Mega Food Parks (MFP) scheme, which was discontinued in 2021 as it “could not achieve” its desired outcomes.
According to the ministry, delays in projects in the revamped APC scheme include time-consuming processes like change of land use, clearances from pollution control boards, sanction of term loan by lending bank/financial institutions, and Covid related delays.