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News Analysis 07 Sept, 2022

INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATIONS INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS INTERNATIONAL
07 Sep, 2022

NEWS HIGHLIGHTS

1. The difficult path to India- Pakistan Peace
2. Gorbachev and India
3. Global vision for G-20

1. The difficult path to India- Pakistan Peace.

 

Theme : India and Neighboring Countries.

 

GS - 2

 

                                   TABLE OF CONTENT 

  1. Context

  2. India - Pakistan Relations : At Glance

  3. Bone of Contention between the two Countries

  4. Current Issues of Pakistan

  5. Benefits that can be reaped from a good India-Pakistan Equation.

 

Context :
It was reported that the Pakistan Army chief had started backchannel talks and a “limited trade resumption package” with India.With the promulgation of Shehbaz Sharif as Prime Minister, there have been signs of a thaw in India-Pakistan relations.

 

 

India - Pakistan Relations : At Glance

  • With the partition of British India, two separate nations, India and Pakistan were formed.

  • Since the very beginning, the immediate violent partition, wars, terrorist attacks and various territorial disputes overshadowed the connection.

  • The Composite Dialogue between India and Pakistan from 2004 to 2008 addressed all outstanding issues. It had completed four rounds and the fifth round was in progress when it was paused in the wake of the Mumbai terrorist attack in November 2008.

  • Then again in April 2010, then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistani PM Yousuf Raza Gillani on the margins of the SAARC Summit, spoke about the willingness to resolve the issue and resume the bilateral dialogue. 

  • In 2011, after a meeting between the Foreign Ministers of both the countries, the bilateral ties were resumed on issues including:

    1. Counterterrorism & Humanitarian issues 

    2. Economic issues at Commerce 

    3. Tulbul Navigation Project at Water Resources Secretary-level

    4. Siachen at Defense Secretary-level

    5. Peace & Security including Confidence Building Measures (CBMs)

    6. Jammu & Kashmir

    7. Promotion of Friendly Exchanges at the level of the Foreign Secretaries. 

  • Cross LoC travel was started in 2005 and trade across J&K was initiated in 2009.

 

Bone of Contention between the two Countries :

  • Cross Border Terrorism,Propaganda and Ceasefire Violations

  • Trade Conflict 

  • Territorial Disputes (Kashmir, Siachen Glacier, Sir Creek Dispute)

  • Water Dispute

 

Current Issues of Pakistan :

  • High food prices: Floods have impacted two million acres of agricultural land in a country that was already reeling under high food prices.

  • Lack of healthcare: There are thousands of pregnant women among the displaced population who need to deliver and raise their babies under proper medical care, in hygienic conditions.

  • Regional cutoff: A major part of Balochistan, the largest province, is cut off from the rest of the country through road, rail and air links.

  • Unstable politics: Politics in this country has been unstable and divisive for quite some time

  • Lack of climate agenda: The absence of climate change as a political agenda is being conspicuously felt as is the state’s mistrust of civil society organizations.


 

Benefits that can be reaped from a good India-Pakistan Equation.

  • If there is peace at the border and a solution of Kashmir is arrived upon, then the China Pakistan Economic Corridor, which is passing through Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) can certainly benefit Kashmir, its people and the economy. Kashmir can act as a gateway to Central Asia.

  • Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) pipeline which originates in Turkmenistan and passes through Afghanistan, Pakistan before reaching and terminating in India can also get huge benefits as it can help secure the National Energy needs of both Pakistan and India, which are potentially growing nations with increasing needs of energy.

  • The Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline is another project, which is currently stalled. If relations are cordial, then this pipeline can also supply the energy needs of both nations.

  • A stable Afghanistan is in the best interest of both Pakistan as well as India. Terrorism is affecting both India as well as Pakistan and the porous boundary between Afghanistan and Pakistan provides a safe haven for terrorists. Also, a better relationship with Pakistan can give direct road access to Afghanistan. Currently, India has to go via Iran to Afghanistan to send any trade goods and vice versa.

  • South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and the initiatives taken by the association will start to hold more relevance as the same hasn’t lived up to its expected potential as the elephant in the room during any summit is sour in the India-Pakistan relationship.

     

2. Gorbachev and India

 

Theme : International Relations

 

GS-2

 

                              TABLE OF CONTENT

           (a)Context

           (b) Who was Gorbachev and What were His Policies

           (c ) Present Day Russia

           (d) Relevance of Gandhian Economics

           (e) India & Gorbachev : Evolution

 

Context : Mikhail Gorbachev, the last president of the Soviet Union, passed away recently.

 

Who was Gorbachev and What were His Policies

  • He was the last leader of the United USSR.

  • Dynamic soviet leader who wanted to reform communist regime on the lines of democratic principles by giving some freedom to citizens.

His Policies :

  • Policy of Glasnost: He recognised the policy of Glasnost or freedom of speech which was severely curtailed during the earlier regime.

  • Perestroika: He began a program of economic reform called Perestroika or Restructuring which was necessary as Soviet economy was suffering from both hidden inflation and supply shortages

  • Brezhnev Doctrine: It was a Soviet foreign policy that proclaimed any threat to socialist rule in any state of the Soviet bloc in Central and Eastern Europe was a threat to them all, and therefore justified the intervention of fellow socialist states.

  • Cultural freedoms: It was granted to the press and the artistic community during Gorbachev’s time

  • Reduced party control: He launched radical reforms meant to reduce party control of the government apparatus.

  • Nuclear disarmament: He is accredited with the success of the nuclear disarmament agreement with the USA which won him the Nobel Peace Prize.

 

Present Day Russia :

  • Geopolitical- NATO is expanding eastwards and Russia has Ukraine as its battleground.

  • Political- The return of authoritarianism under Vladimir Putin could be witnessed.

  • Economy- Russia has not recovered from the shock it got from Boris Yeltsin’s “big bang” capitalisation imposed by U.S. economists.

  • Between the big bang capitalist reforms of the Russian economy in 1991 and 1994, life expectancy fell from 64 to 57 years.


 

 

 Relevance of Gandhian Economics :

  • New models of cooperative governance are required to realize the promise of humanity’s shared commons and to balance the Socialistic aspects with Thriving Capitalism.

  • Mahatma Gandhi’s calculus is guided by the principles of

    • Human rights

    • Community management

    • Equity

    • Ethics

    • Fair sharing of power and resources

 

India & Gorbachev : Evolution 

  • Hardware to India: From the mid-1980s, the USSR was supplying more sophisticated hardware to India than earlier.

  • Defense agreements: P V Narasimha Rao, defense minister in the Rajiv Gandhi cabinet, took a military delegation to Moscow for defense and signed several agreements.

  • Disarmament talks: Gorbachev wanted to get an Indian PM’s assessment of Ronald Reagan before he met the US President in Geneva for disarmament talks scheduled for the following month.

  • Gorbachev visited India twice, in 1986 and 1988: His objective was to extend his disarmament initiatives in Europe to Asia, and to secure Indian cooperation in this task.

    • It was Gorbachev’s first visit to a non-Warsaw Pact country after taking over as leader of the Soviet Union.

    • He also addressed the Indian Parliament during the visit.

  • Delhi Declaration: New positioning of security as the development of the individual, and of the threats to security as food scarcity, illiteracy, and communalism, and also mentioning environmental security.

  • Cultural exchanges: Between the two countries, with the Festival of India in the Soviet Union in July 1987 the centerpiece.

  • Scientific and economic cooperation: An agreement was signed for scientific and economic cooperation and both sides held talks about the deteriorating security situation in the region, a reference to Pakistan without mentioning it by name.

     

3.  Global vision for G-20

 

Theme : Important International institutions

 

GS-2

 

                        TABLE OF CONTENT

 

  1. Context

  2. About G-20

  3. Points India want to put in G-20

  4. Challenges Faced by Multilateral Organizations

  5. Opportunities for G-20

 

Context :
While India has taken a clear view of the role of the G20, there is concern that the agenda, themes and focus areas which India will set for 2023 lack vision.

 

 

About G-20 : 

  • The G20 is a strategic multilateral platform connecting the world’s major developed and emerging economies.

  • It was started in 1999 as a meeting for the finance minister and central bank governors, which later evolved into a yearly summit involving the Head of State and Government.

  • This forum was formed as an effort to find a solution to the global economic conditions hit by the global financial crisis in 1997-1999 by involving middle-income countries and having systemic economic influence.

 

Points India want to put in G-20 :

  • According to the Ministry of External Affairs, India will strengthen international support for priorities of vital importance to developing countries in diverse social and economic sectors. This range from energy, agriculture, trade, digital economy, health and environment to employment, tourism, anti-corruption and women empowerment, including in focus areas that impact the most vulnerable and disadvantaged.

 

Challenges Faced by Multilateral Organizations :

  •   Multilateral commitments on aid and trade are faltering,

  •  The role of the United Nations and the World Trade Organization in securing cooperation  between donor and recipient country groups is losing centrality.

  •  There are now three socio-economic systems the G7, China-Russia, and India and others

  • The Ukraine crisis is expanding the influence of the trade and value chains dominated by the U.S. and China.

 

Opportunities for G-20 :

1) The G20 can harness the potential of the digital-information-technology revolution by redefining digital access as a “universal service.”

2) The world can build on the global consensus in the Vienna Declaration on Human Rights 1993. There is a growing recognition of economic and social rights. So, ensuring adequate food, housing, education, health, water and sanitation and work for all should guide international cooperation.

3) The global agenda has been tilted towards investment, whereas science and technology are the driving force for economic diversification. This can be corrected.

4) Space is the next frontier for finding solutions to problems of natural resource management. Open access to geospatial data, data products and services and lower costs of geospatial information technology facilities do not require huge financial resources.