TOPIC : GS 2 Bilateral, Regional and Global Groupings and Agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests.
Not on the same page at sea
What is the news?
- India’s strategic community was agitated when the USS John Paul Jones carried out a freedom of navigation operation (FONOP) 130 nautical miles west of the Lakshadweep Islands
- The operation, which was carried out in India’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), “asserted navigational rights and freedoms without requesting India’s prior consent
Different interpretations
- S. Pentagon defended the military operation off India’s waters terming it “consistent with international law”
- Freedom of navigation operation (FONOP) are a way of showing that the maritime claims of certain states are incompatible with international law
- India’s requirement of prior consent for the passage of foreign warships through Indian EEZ
- Indian experts note that the UNCLOS does not explicitly permit the passage of military vessels in another state’s EEZ
UNCLOS Provision
- When UNCLOS ratified the convention in 1995, New Delhi stated, “India understands that the provisions of the Convention do not authorize other States to carry out in the exclusive economic zone and on the continental shelf military exercises or manoeuvres, in particular those involving the use of weapons or explosives without the consent of the coastal State”
- This position is consistent with India’s domestic law — the Territorial Waters, Continental Shelf, Exclusive Economic Zone and Other Maritime Zones of India Act of 1976 — and remains unchanged
Strategic
- Indian observers have come to accept U.S. FONOPs as an instrument in Washington’s military and diplomatic tool kit that gives the S. Navy leverage in the contest with China in the South China Sea
- Indian government real concern is the possibility of greater Chinese naval presence in Indian waters, in particular the threat of People’s Liberation Army Navy submarines near Indian islands
- S. FONOPs in Indian EEZs have been relatively low key, serving mainly to check a box on the U.S. Navy’s record of activity in Asia.
Lakshadweep: A smart choice
- The choice of Lakshadweep for the FONOP doesn’t seem incidental. U.S. planners are likely to have known that a U.S. naval foray close to the ‘strategic’ Andaman and Nicobar Islands would be controversial
- With maritime boundaries around the Lakshadweep more settled than the Andaman and Nicobar Islands where straight baselines on the Western edge of the islands have in the past raised uncomfortable questions, Indian officials could even afford to ignore the operation
- The U.S. Navy coupled its FONOP in Indian waters with another sail through the territorial seas of the Maldives, a country with which the S. signed a defence agreement in 2020
Bridging the divide
- The U.S. must recognise that FONOPs have implications for New Delhi that go beyond the infringement of Indian jurisdiction in the near seas
- This operations normalize military activism close to India’s island territories that remain vulnerable to incursions by foreign warships
- The U.S. Navy’s emphasis on navigational freedoms in the EEZs encourages other regional navies to violate India’s domestic regulations in the waters surrounding the Andaman and Nicobar Islands
- The reality is that India’s domestic regulation is worryingly out of sync with international law.
- India’s declaration of straight baselines delineating zones around the Andaman and Nicobar Islands (on the Western edge), in particular is a disagreeing that cannot be explained as a minor departure from the provisions of the UNCLOS
Way forward
The U.S. Navy sail through the waters off Lakshadweep highlights a gap in the Indian and American perception of navigational freedoms, complicating an already complex domain of international maritime law. Yet it is not the betrayal of a friend that many have sought to portray the FONOP to be.
Mains question
Provocation at Lakshadweep shows not a betrayal by the U.S. but a diff erent understanding of navigational freedom. Examine
Source : https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/not-on-the-same-page-at-sea/article34304977.ec
TOPIC : GS 2 Bilateral, Regional and Global Groupings and Agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests.
What is news?
- The Vienna talks between the remaining members of the Iran nuclear deal — China, Russia, the U.K., France, Germany and Iran — have raised hopes for the revival of the agreement
- The U.S. wants Iran to end its uranium enrichment and centrifuge development programmes and return to the 2015 agreement, while Tehran has demanded the U.S. lift all sanctions imposed
- The American government has displayed flexibility in its approach towards Iran
- The President appointed a special envoy, ended the S.’s support for Saudi Arabia’s war against the Houthis, Iranbacked militants, in Yemen and promised to lift sanctions if Tehran returns to the JCPOA terms
- The administration has also reportedly made an offer to Iran to release $1 billion of Iranian money frozen in South Korea as part of the sanctions in exchange for ending its 20% uranium enrichment
- Iran which was fully compliant with the agreement when previous administration abandoned it and slapped back sanctions, has rejected the offer, seeking more concrete measures from the U.S.
Challenges
- Iranbacked Shia militias in Iraq continue to target U.S. forces and bases in Iraq.
- The IsraelIran shadow conflict is now being fought inside Syria and on the seas. Last time, an Iranian ship was attacked in the Red Sea
- If security tensions rise in the region involving Iran and its proxies, it could derail the diplomatic efforts
Way forward
The U.S. and Iran should exercise restraint, stay focused on talks and rebuild the lost trust, and take measures to get the deal back on track that would resolve the nuclear crisis in return for dismantling the sanctions regime
Mains question
U.S. and Iran should rebuild the lost trust and resolve the nuclear crisis before time runs out. Discuss
Prelims question
Project Bhasha is a key milestone in Microsoft effort to stimulate local language computing and take IT to the masses, driven by the fact that 95 percent of Indians use their local language rather than English in their work and personal life. Project Bhasha is a comprehensive program, that aims to localize (provide local interfaces) to Microsoft flagship products, Windows and Office. Bhasha is a program which brings together the governments, the academia and research institutions, the local ISVs and developers and the industry associations on a common ground for promoting local language computing. Microsoft focuses its efforts along four key areas primarily were Product Localization, Government Collaboration , Academia and Developer Integration and Bhasha Online Community portal.
They provide the Visual studio CLIP (Caption Language Interface Pack) , a simple language translation solution that uses tooltip captions to display results – in the four languages of Hindi, Malayalam, Oriya and Tamil. In our latest offering, the Windows 7 beta – Hindi is one of the only 8 languages supported at the beta stage. Hence not only the idea, but the approach to language computing has also been very innovative and has helped us make a huge impact in the bridging the digital divide.
Source: http://digitalknowledgecentre.in/listings/project-bhasha/
- Treasury bills
Treasury bills are money market instruments issued by the Government of India as a promissory note with guaranteed repayment at a later date. Funds collected through such tools are typically used to meet short term requirements of the government, hence to reduce the overall fiscal deficit of a country.
They are primarily short-term borrowing tools, having a maximum tenure of 364 days, available at zero coupons (interest) rate. They are issued at a discount to the published nominal value of government security (G-sec). The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) also issues such treasury bills under its open market operations (OMO) strategy to regulate its inflation level and spending/borrowing habits of individuals. During times of economic boom leading to high and persistent inflation rates in the country, high-value treasury bills are issued to the public, which, thereby, reduces aggregate money supply in an economy. It effectively curbs the surging demand rates, and in turn, high prices hurting the poorer sections of the society.
It an umbrella organisation for operating retail payments and settlement systems in India, is an initiative of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) under the provisions of the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007, for creating a robust Payment & Settlement Infrastructure in India.
It has been incorporated as a “Not for Profit” Company under the provisions of Section 25 of Companies Act 1956 (now Section 8 of Companies Act 2013), with an intention to provide infrastructure to the entire Banking system in India for physical as well as electronic payment and settlement systems. The Company is focused on bringing innovations in the retail payment systems through the use of technology for achieving greater efficiency in operations and widening the reach of payment systems.
- The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS)
It is the national Standards Body of India working under the aegis of Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, Government of India. It is established by the Bureau of Indian Standards Act 1986 which came into effect on 23 December 1986. The Minister in charge of the Ministry or Department having administrative control of the BIS is the ex-officio President of the BIS.
A new Bureau of Indian standards (BIS) Act 2016 which was notified on 22 March 2016 has been brought into force with effect from 12 October 2017. The Act establishes the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) as the National Standards Body of India. As a corporate body it has 25 members drawn from Central or State Governments, industry, scientific and research institutions, and consumer organisations. Its headquarters are in New Delhi, with regional offices in Eastern Region at Kolkata, southern Region at Chennai, Western Region at Mumbai, Northern Region at Chandigarh and Central Region at Delhi and 20 branch offices. It also works as WTO-TBT enquiry point for India
Prelims question
Qn 1.Consider the following statement regarding Bureau of Indian standards
- It is the national Standards Body of India working under the aegis of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare Government of India
- It has 30 members drawn from Central or State Governments, industry, scientific and research institutions, and consumer organisations
Select the correct statement using code given below.
(a). 1only (b) 2 only
(c).Both (d). None of above
Answer: D
It is the national Standards Body of India working under the aegis of Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, Government of India. It is established by the Bureau of Indian Standards Act 1986 which came into effect on 23 December 1986. The Minister in charge of the Ministry or Department having administrative control of the BIS is the ex-officio President of the BIS.
A new Bureau of Indian standards (BIS) Act 2016 which was notified on 22 March 2016 has been brought into force with effect from 12 October 2017. The Act establishes the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) as the National Standards Body of India. As a corporate body it has 25 members drawn from Central or State Governments, industry, scientific and research institutions, and consumer organisations. Its headquarters are in New Delhi, with regional offices in Eastern Region at Kolkata, southern Region at Chennai, Western Region at Mumbai, Northern Region at Chandigarh and Central Region at Delhi and 20 branch offices. It also works as WTO-TBT enquiry point for India
Qn 2.Project Bhasha key milestone effort to stimulate local language computing and take IT to the masses is launched by which of the following companies
- Microsoft
- Infosys
Answer : 1
Project Bhasha is a key milestone in Microsoft’s effort to stimulate local language computing and take IT to the masses, driven by the fact that 95 percent of Indians use their local language rather than English in their work and personal life. Project Bhasha is a comprehensive program, that aims to localize (provide local interfaces) to Microsoft’s flagship products, Windows and Office. Bhasha is a program which brings together the governments, the academia and research institutions, the local ISVs and developers and the industry associations on a common ground for promoting local language computing. Microsoft focuses its efforts along four key areas primarily were Product Localization, Government Collaboration ,Academia and Developer Integration and Bhasha Online Community portal.
They provide the Visual studio CLIP (Caption Language Interface Pack) , a simple language translation solution that uses tooltip captions to display results – in the four languages of Hindi, Malayalam, Oriya and Tamil. In our latest offering, the Windows 7 beta – Hindi is one of the only 8 languages supported at the beta stage. Hence not only the idea, but the approach to language computing has also been very innovative and has helped us make a huge impact in the bridging the digital divide.