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Tibetans are asking for more autonomy but not political separation, asserts the Dalai Lama, adding that while he wishes to revisit Lhasa, he will prefer to live on in Dharamshala.
Speaking to journalists at his home in Dharamshala, ahead of what is expected to be a gruelling series of trips around India, including visits to Sikkim, Karnataka, and Bodh Gaya in Bihar this year, the Dalai Lama repeated some of the seemingly conciliatory remarks he has made in the past.
China has, however, rejected these remarks, accusing the Dalai Lama, who has lived in exile in India since 1959, of being a “splittist” or separatist.
We want to have full autonomy, as a part of the People’s Republic of China. Then we can help millions of Chinese, without political separation, and remaining a part of the People’s Republic,” the Dalai Lama said while speaking to the small group of journalists.
He added jokingly that he could then “brainwash” the Chinese as well, in a light-hearted response to China’s allegations that the Tibetan Buddhist diaspora spreads “propaganda” about atrocities in Tibet by the Chinese government.
Southwest monsoon begins its withdrawal (Page no. 1)
(GS Paper 1, Geography)
It is the beginning of the end for southwest monsoon this year, with the India Meteorological Department (IMD) announcing its withdrawal from west Rajasthan.
This is a week behind the normal withdrawal date of September 17. As of Monday, monsoon rainfall over India was 5% below what’s usual for this time of the year.
Under the impact of an El Nino, India was staring at drought-like condition with August registering a nearly 36% deficit.
Editorial
G-20 diplomacy and a shifting world order (Page no. 6)
(GS Paper 2, International Organisation)
India scripted amazing success at the G-20 meeting in Delhi on September 9 and 10 and, despite the odds, succeeded in producing a consensus Declaration worthy of an event of this magnitude. Securing an agreement on almost a hundred issues on the agenda, apart from that on the Russia-Ukraine war, was no mean achievement.
All told, the G-20 outcomes seemed to mirror the hopes and the wishes of the wider global community. India, as the host, could rightfully take a large measure of credit for this result. The New Delhi Declaration does indeed seem to have something for everyone.
From condemnation of terrorism to climate issues, from trebling of renewable energy capacity to matters such as lifestyle for sustainable development and reform of multi-lateral development banks, apart from highlighting India’s contributions such as digital public infrastructure and Unified Payments Interface, the Declaration seemed to echo the prevailing mood in the G-20 of favouring compromise over conflict and fully endorsing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s dictum of “One Earth, One Family, One Future”.
Children, a key yet missed demographic in AI regulation (Page no. 6)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Technology)
India is to host the first-ever global summit on Artificial Intelligence (AI) this October. Additionally, as the Chair of the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI), India will also be hosting the GPAI global summit in December.
These events suggest the strategic importance of AI, as it is projected to add $500 billion to India’s economy by 2025, accounting for 10% of the country’s target GDP.
Against this backdrop, Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently called for a global framework on the ethical expansion of AI.
Given the sheer volume of data that India can generate, it has an opportunity to set a policy example for the Global South. Observers and practitioners will track India’s approach to regulation and how it balances AI’s developmental potential against its concomitant risks.
One area where India can assume leadership is how regulators address children and adolescents who are a critical (yet less understood) demographic in this context.
The nature of digital services means that many cutting-edge AI deployments are not designed specifically for children but are nevertheless accessed by them.
Opinion
It’s a long road to women’s equality (Page no. 7)
(GS Paper 2, Social Justice)
After almost a decade of silence, the Modi government’s sudden announcement took everyone by surprise: a Bill in favour of women’s reservation, now renamed Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam (roughly, Statute Revering Women’s Power), was to be presented in Parliament.
It has since been passed in both Houses without much ado, with just two votes against it in the Lok Sabha.
While voting in its favour, Opposition groups have rightly pointed out that the Bill has been presented late in the day, and that too with various conditionalities attached, which make actual implementation vague.
There is no question of its playing a direct role in the 2024 general elections. Some even wonder whether arrangements for implementation will be in place by 2029. Thus, the future of women’s reservations remains uncertain even though it is now the law.
One way is to revisit the history of the issue, which spans a century of campaigns over women’s rights.
Over 60% urban kids spend 3 hours daily on entertainment apps (Page no. 7)
(GS Paper 1, Social Issues)
After the COVID-19 period, as children returned to school and face-to-face teaching recommenced, there was an upswing in the use of the Internet for leisure.
A recent survey by LocalCircles indicates that urban Indian youngsters spend more and more time listening to music, viewing clips, maintaining social connections, and playing games on the Internet.
This trend has given rise to a growing addiction to electronic gadgets among children aged 9 to 18. This addiction, in some instances, has manifested as impatience, aggression, concentration problems, memory issues, headaches, eye and back discomfort, stress, communication difficulties, lethargy, and even depression. In many cases, parents reported that they are unaware of the apps that their children use.
The nationwide survey aimed to grasp the primary concerns parents had regarding their children’s prolonged usage of social media, OTT, and online gaming platforms.
Additionally, it sought parents’ views on the necessity of parental permission for accessing these platforms. The survey gathered feedback from over 46,000 urban Indian parents spanning 296 districts in India.
Of these respondents, 62% were male and 38% were female. Respondents were from districts across tiers, with 47% from tier 1, 35% from tier 2, and 18% from tiers 3 and 4.
Text & Context
What were the findings of Parliament report on NEP? (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 2, Educatiion)
The Parliament Standing Committee on Education, headed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Vivek Thakur, tabled a report during the special session of Parliament on the “Implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP), 2020 in Higher Education.”
The report looked at the salient features of the NEP’s implementation in the higher education sector and the progress made so far.
The panel met representatives of various State governments, Union Ministries, higher education institutions and other stakeholders to prepare the report.
The report noted that of the 1,043 universities functioning in the country, 70% are under the State Act and that 94% of students are in State or private institutions with just 6% of students in Central higher educational institutions, stressing the importance of States in providing higher education.
The 31-member panel tried to discuss issues such as the rigid separation of disciplines, limited access to higher education in socio-economically disadvantaged areas, lack of higher education institutes (HEIs) that teach in local languages, the limited number of faculty, lack of institutional autonomy, lesser emphasis on research, ineffective regulatory system and low standards of undergraduate education.
The panel said that by 2030, every district in the country should have at least one multidisciplinary HEI and that the Gross Enrolment Ratio in higher education, including vocational education, should be increased from 26.3% in 2018 to 50% by 2035.
News
Centre rebuffs Moody’s Aadhaar report; says a billion Indians trust it, no breach of database (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 2, International Organisation)
The Electronics and IT Ministry took on a report from Moody’s Investors Service that raised questions about the efficacy of Aadhaar, and dismissing concerns about security and privacy in a centralised system, asserted that there had been no breaches reported from the unique ID system’s database till date.
In a note titled “Aadhaar, the most trusted digital ID in the world — Moody’s Investors Service opinions baseless” , the Ministry said a number of international agencies, including the IMF and the World Bank, had lauded Aadhaar and several nations had also engaged with the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) to understand how they may deploy similar digital ID systems.
In a report, the global rating agency had said that Aadhaar’s biometric authentication systems often resulted in “service denials” for users and were unreliable in hot and humid conditions.
The agency had also red-flagged security and privacy risks to users of such centralised systems where a single entity such as a government electoral roll “controls and manages a user’s identifying credentials and their access to online resources”.
Jaishankar, Guterres discuss reform of global financial institutions, sustainability (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 2, International Organisation)
External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres held bilateral talks on Monday, and discussed the sustainability agenda and the reform of international financial institutions, as per Mr. Jaishankar.
The Minister met with Mr. Guterres at the UN’s headquarters on the eve of the Minister’s address to the 78th session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA).
“Discussed how India’s G20 Presidency has contributed to strengthening UN’s sustainable development agenda,” Mr. Jaishankar wrote on X (formerly, Twitter).
“We have coordinated closely in this regard over the last year. Appreciate UNSG’s strong commitment to reforming International Financial Institutions,” he added, referring to the reform of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.
On the reform agenda is greater lending capacity for the World Bank and more board-based representation for countries on the boards of these institutions. Mr. Guterres has been a vocal critic of the performance of these institutions.
Eight institutes give an array of reasons for Joshimath sinking (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 3, Environment)
Separate studies conducted by eight premier institutions of India to know the cause of land subsidence in Joshimath town of Uttarakhand attributed seismic activities, construction loopholes, population pressure, poor drainage system and others as the ‘likely’ reason for the sinking of the Himalayan town.
With every study conducted with a different approach, these reports reaffirmed the sensitivity of the area but nothing concrete has come out on what exactly went wrong in January.
The Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology (WIHG), the National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI), the National Institute of Hydrology (NIH), the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Roorkee, the Indian Institute of Remote Sensing (IIRS), the Geological Survey of India (GSI), the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) and the Central Building Research Institute (CBRI) were given the mandate to identify the causes of land subsidence by the government.
The reports of these institutions were submitted earlier this year, but they were made public after the Uttarakhand High Court last week questioned the State for hiding them.
ISRO tests engine for Gaganyaan mission (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Technology)
The Indian Space Research Organisation has successfully completed the CE20 E13 engine hot test for Gaganyaan qualification and 22-tonne thrust qualification.
The engine was tested at the ISRO Propulsion Complex (IPRC), Mahendragiri on September 22.
The CE20 engine is a vital component, serving as the powerhouse of the Cryogenic Upper Stage (CUS) responsible for propelling the upper stage (C25) of the LVM3 vehicle.
It has demonstrated its capability by successfully operating at a thrust level of 19 tonnes in six successive LVM3 missions and two commercial OneWeb missions.
To enhance the payload capacity of the LVM3 vehicle, ISRO is upgrading the CE20 engine. The upper cryogenic stage is being transformed into the C32 stage with increased propellant loading capacity, and the engine is being modified to operate at a higher thrust level of 22 tonnes.
World
Philippines removes China’s barrier in disputed shoal (Page no. 13)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
The Philippine coast guard said on Monday it has complied with a presidential order to remove a floating barrier placed by China’s coast guard to prevent Filipino fishing boats from entering a lagoon in a disputed shoal in the South China Sea.
Philippine officials condemned the installation of the 300-metre-long barrier at the entrance to the lagoon at Scarborough Shoal as a violation of international law and their Southeast Asian nation’s sovereignty.
The Philippine coast guard’s report that it has removed the barrier underscores intensifying Philippine efforts to fight China’s increasingly aggressive actions, against many odds, in one of the world’s most hotly contested waters.
Chinese coast guard vessels laid the rope and net barrier, held up by buoys, last week as a Philippine government fisheries vessel approached and more than 50 Philippine fishing boats swarmed outside the shoal.
The Philippine coast guard said on Monday night that it has successfully removed the floating barrier in a “special operation” in compliance with the order of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
It did not provide other details like if the entire barrier was removed and when, and how Chinese coast guard ships, which have closely guarded the shoal for years, reacted.
Business
Banks told to display information on borrowers linked to SARFAESI Act (Page no. 14)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has asked Regulated Entities (REs), namely commercial banks and Non-Banking Finance Companies (NBFCs), to display information regarding borrowers whose secured assets have been taken into possession by the REs under the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest (SARFAESI) Act, 2002. The information would have to be displayed in a prescribed format.
This is part of a move towards greater transparency. REs shall upload this information on their website in the format as prescribed.
The first such list shall be displayed on the website of REs within six months from the date of this circular, and the list shall be updated on a monthly basis.
Science
Newly minted NRF has a chance to bridge India’s science, society gap (Page no. 20)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Technology)
The National Research Foundation (NRF) is a new research funding agency that the Union Cabinet recently approved. It has a budget of ₹ 50,000 crore over five years and was set up to help boost research and innovation in India by providing more funding, streamlining the research funding process, and strengthening linkages between academia, industry, society, and government.
Following the announcement, there have been discussions among scientists around the kind of research that the NRF should fund such that the outcomes are innovative solutions to practical challenges.
This is a difficult task due to an academic culture that is mainly directed by internal academic priorities and incentives, but not generally related to social problems and challenges.
One prominent narrative on funding rationales is that the ‘relevance’ and/or the ‘utility’ of research work should not matter.
This has been echoed in the NRF debate, with some commentators arguing that, since scientific advancements often arise unexpectedly, research should not be prescriptive or directed.
Other experts have highlighted the importance of forging ties between academic scholars and other key players within the science, technology, and innovation (STI) system.
This includes liaison with line ministries and the relevant industrial sectors right from the inception of the problem statement.
Finally, a few experts have emphasised the importance of including societal stakeholders in thinking about both the issues and research pathways that STI should address.