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French President Emmanuel Macron will be the chief guest at the Republic Day celebrations next January, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) announced. Mr. Macron has acknowledged India’s invite and announced that he will be here on January 26 for the festivities.
As Strategic Partners, India and France share a high degree of convergence on a range of regional and global issues. This year, we are celebrating the 25th anniversary of the India-France Strategic Partnership.
France has emerged as one of the key defence partners of India in recent years and the two sides have maintained consistent high-level contacts. Mr. Modi was Guest of Honour at the Bastille Day parade in Paris on July 14.
Editorial
Israel is fighting in the dark in Gaza (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
The Jewish state would form a part of a wall of defence for Europe in Asia, an outpost of civilisation against barbarism,” Theodor Herzl, one of the founders of modern political Zionism, a pamphlet published in 1896. In the pamphlet, he argued that security for Jews could be guaranteed only by the creation of a separate national state for them, and requested the Ottoman Sultan to give Palestine to the Jews.
He promised, in return, to undertake the regulations of the whole of Turkey’s finances. The movement Herzl began culminated in the creation of the state of Israel in historical Palestine in 1948.
More than 75 years later, the civilisational outpost Herzl had imagined, which continues its illegal occupation of Palestinian territories, is fighting a calamitous war on the Gaza Strip.
In just 10 weeks, Israel, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calls the “people of light”, has killed 20,000 Palestinians, a vast majority of them women and children, wounded over 50,000 and displaced almost 90% of the enclave’s population.
While Israel has managed to turn Gaza into what the United Nations called a “graveyard for children and a living hell for everyone else”, it also faces questions on whether it is meeting its objectives after two and a half months of bombing and invasion.
Telecom law upgrades for a digital authoritarian state (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 2, Governance)
The tweet by the Union Minister for Communications, Ashwini Vaishnav, announced the parliamentary passage of the Telecommunications Bill, 2023 and the repeal of The Indian Telegraph Act, 1885. under the, “vision of the PM @naredramodi Ji”. Notice the intentional use of the word “Bharat” in isolation, and the omission of, “India”.
Similarly, crediting the Prime Minister’s individual “vision” is by design. Similarly, crediting the Prime Minister’s individual “vision” is by design.
This is not peculiar to the Telecom Bill, 2023 and draws from a common brand kit used for claiming credit for any, and every event by the Union Government.
Put together, they are a clever call of cultural nativism for Indians, finally realising their manifest destiny under the leadership of one man. It programmes us to believe that we finally have a Union government that represents the interests of the masses in tarpaulin covered chaupals rather than those of the sniggering urban elites sipping chai lattes.
This facade and diversion have successfully cloaked scrutiny of the Telecom Bill which is a system upgrade of colonial laws for a digital authoritarian state. wards for words
News
Ministry calls NE States’ meet after projects under DevINE scheme are stuck (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 2, Governance)
With a little over 10% of funds under the Prime Minister’s Development Initiative for North East Region (PM-DevINE) sanctioned so far, the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) convened a meeting with the Chief Ministers of the States in the region, asking for “feasible concept notes”.
The meeting comes in the wake of a review by the Prime Ministers Office (PMO) that found that the scheme was yet to take off despite adequate funds.
Union Minister G. Kishan Reddy held a virtual meeting with the Chief Ministers of all the northeast States to discuss the implementation of all projects including those under DevINE.
Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh is said to have apprised the Minister about huge losses suffered by the State due to law and order issues and Internet shutdowns after the May 3 ethnic violence that has claimed the lives of at least 175 people.
Government aims to set up 17,000 creches across India (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 2, Social Justice)
The Women and Child Development Ministry said it aimed to establish 17,000 creches in anganwadis across the country. The Ministry added that 5,222 creches had been approved until now, and it planned to depute two additional creche workers in each anganwadi.
These initiatives are being taken under the ‘Palna’ scheme to address the need for quality day care facilities or creches for children of working women by providing a safe and secure environment for the nutritional, health and cognitive development of the children, thereby enabling more women among all socio-economic groups to take up gainful employment in the organised and unorganised sector.
On Thursday, Union Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani released a new Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for anganwadi-cum-creche centres being set up under the ‘Palna’ scheme.
They outline a comprehensive framework for the administration and implementation of the scheme, including administrative hierarchy, roles, and responsibilities of the workers and monitoring checklist.
Gujarat will permit liquor consumption in GIFT to attract financial institutions (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 2, Governance)
The Gujarat government has decided to allow alcohol consumption in GIFT City to attract global financial institutions.
The State government announced that alcohol would be allowed at hotels, restaurants and clubs offering “wine and dine” in Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City) near the State capital, Gandhinagar.
Officials, employees and owners working from GIFT City will be exempt from the prohibition law, which makes alcohol consumption illegal across the State.
A liquor access permit will be provided to all employees, owners and officials working in GIFT City.
The new rules for GIFT City also allow visitors to consume liquor in hotels, restaurants, clubs that have temporary permits in the presence of permanent employees of a company.
Accordingly, hotels, restaurants and clubs located in GIFT City will be able to obtain wine and dine facility licence there. Employees of GIFT City and visitors can consume liquor in them.
Business
Centre exploring one-stop health sector regulator (Page no. 13)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
The Central government is exploring setting up a health sector regulator that will bring private and government health insurance schemes under its purview to facilitate affordable insurance coverage for all.
The Ministries of Finance (MoF) and Health are in “initial discussions” over the need for a sector watchdog.
The Association of Healthcare Providers India (AHPI), in a letter to the MoF, welcomed this saying “making healthcare available, accessible, and affordable has been resolved by the present government. Penetration of private insurance is increasing at a fast rate and along with government-run insurance, India should soon be covering 70% of the population”.
Doctors’ bodies have urged that private and government insurance be brought under a single regulator. Meaning, regulating government schemes like Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana, the Central Government Health Scheme, Employees’ State Insurance Corporation, etc.
China bans export of rare earth technologies (Page no. 13)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
China, the world’s top processor of rare earths, banned the export of technology to extract and separate the strategic metals, as it overhauled a list of technologies deemed key to national security.
The commerce ministry sought public opinion last December on the potential move to add the technology to its “Catalogue of Technologies Prohibited and Restricted from Export”.
It also banned the export of production technology for rare earth metals and alloy materials as well as technology to prepare some rare earth magnets.
The move comes as Europe and the U.S. scramble to wean themselves off rare earths from China, which accounts for 90% of global refined output.
Rare earths are a group of 17 metals used to make magnets for use in EVs and other electronics.
World
UN approves watered-down resolution on aid to Gaza without call for suspension of hostilities (Page no. 14)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
China, the world’s top processor of rare earths, banned the export of technology to extract and separate the strategic metals, as it overhauled a list of technologies deemed key to national security.
The commerce ministry sought public opinion last December on the potential move to add the technology to its “Catalogue of Technologies Prohibited and Restricted from Export”.
It also banned the export of production technology for rare earth metals and alloy materials as well as technology to prepare some rare earth magnets.
The move comes as Europe and the U.S. scramble to wean themselves off rare earths from China, which accounts for 90% of global refined output.
Rare earths are a group of 17 metals used to make magnets for use in EVs and other electronics.