📰 Mysterious night side of Venus revealed for first time
Venus’ atmosphere is dominated by strong winds that whirl around the planet far faster than Venus itself rotates.
•Scientists have characterised wind and cloud patterns of the night side of planet Venus for the first time, and found that it behaves very differently from the part facing the Sun.
•The night side exhibits unexpected and previously-unseen cloud types, morphologies, and dynamics — some of which appear to be connected to features on the planet’s surface.
•“This is the first time we’ve been able to characterise how the atmosphere circulates on the night side of Venus on a global scale,” said Javier Peralta of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).
•“While the atmospheric circulation on the planet’s dayside has been extensively explored, there was still much to discover about the night side. We found that the cloud patterns there are different to those on the dayside, and influenced by Venus’ topography,” said Peralta, lead author of the study published in the journal Nature Astronomy.
•Venus’ atmosphere is dominated by strong winds that whirl around the planet far faster than Venus itself rotates.
•This phenomenon, known as ‘super-rotation’, sees Venusian winds rotating up to 60 times faster than the planet below, pushing and dragging along clouds within the atmosphere as they go.
•These clouds travel fastest at the upper cloud level, some 65 to 72 kilometres above the surface.
•“We’ve spent decades studying these super-rotating winds by tracking how the upper clouds move on Venus’ dayside-these are clearly visible in images acquired in ultraviolet light,” said Peralta.
•“However, our models of Venus remain unable to reproduce this super-rotation, which clearly indicates that we might be missing some pieces of this puzzle,” he said.
•“We focused on the night side because it had been poorly explored; we can see the upper clouds on the planet’s night side via their thermal emission, but it’s been difficult to observe them properly because the contrast in our infrared images was too low to pick up enough detail,” he added.
•The team used the Visible and Infrared Thermal Imaging Spectrometer (VIRTIS) on European Space Agency (ESA)’s Venus Express spacecraft to observe the clouds in the infrared.
•“VIRTIS enabled us to see these clouds properly for the first time, allowing us to explore what previous teams could not-and we discovered unexpected and surprising results,” adds Peralta.
•Rather than capturing single images, VIRTIS gathered a ’cube’ of hundreds of images of Venus acquired simultaneously at different wavelengths.
•This allowed the team to combine numerous images to improve the visibility of the clouds, and see them at unprecedented quality.
•The VIRTIS images thus reveal phenomena on Venus’ night side that have never before been seen on the dayside.
📰 India under U.S. pressure to scale down ties with North Korea
•As war clouds gathered over the Korean peninsula following the North Korean missile tests, visiting U.S. officials have asked India to cut down ties with Pyongyang, senior diplomatic sources have said.
•American pressure on the issue has been rising over the last few months even as India joined Japan last week in describing North Korea as a common threat.
•An India-Japan joint statement issued at the end of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s visit last week called upon North Korea to roll back its nuclear and missile programmes.
•“They (India and Japan) pledged to work together to deal with the current serious situation and called on the international community to rigorously and fully implement relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions to maximise pressure on North Korea.”
•The American message was communicated shortly before Mr. Abe’s visit.
📰 Tweaks to pact with S. Korea mooted
Rapid rise in gold imports from Asian nation causes alarm; ‘criminal’ angle comes under lens
•India is looking to plug loopholes in its Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with South Korea following concerns over a recent sudden surge in imports of gold and related articles from that country.
•Authorities are also learnt to be probing a possible ‘criminal angle’ behind the recent rapid rise in imports of the yellow metal from South Korea. The rise has happened due to certain firms, ‘owned and operated by some Indians’, allegedly misusing the India-South Korea FTA that allows duty-free import of the precious metal and its articles.
GST, the cause
•Gold imports from South Korea had shot up to about $340 million in the period July 1-August 3, 2017, compared with about $71 million for all of FY17. The implementation of the Good and Services Tax (GST) from July 1 led to the import surge.
•Pre-GST, gold imports through the non-FTA channel attracted a 10% basic customs duty (BCD) and an additional 12.5% countervailing duty (CVD), while those from the FTA route were levied a 12.5% CVD (as the FTA eliminated the customs duty on gold imports) — which discouraged such gold imports. Under the new tax regime, a 3% GST replaced the CVD.
•This meant gold imports from the non-FTA route attracted 10% BCD and 3% GST, while those from the (S. Korea) FTA channel paid only 3% GST, which could be later claimed as input tax credit. What has raised eyebrows is that South Korea is not among the world’s leading producers or exporters of gold and related items.
•Significantly, the authorities are examining a possible criminal angle in such transactions as those entities were allegedly sending gold medallion directly from Dubai to South Korea and then exporting to India, violating FTA norms. Under the FTA, duty-free import of gold medallion into India is currently allowed only if it has met the norm of ‘Change in Tariff Heading’ under the Harmonised System Code.
•This means one could send gold bars and rods from a third country to South Korea, convert them into medallion there, export to India and avail the zero-duty benefit. Though the Centre had last month ‘restricted’ imports of jewellery, precious metal and related items from South Korea, official sources said it was only a temporary measure.
•In an upcoming trade meeting with South Korea, India will push for inclusion of tighter norms in the FTA on imports of gold and its items to prevent misuse.
•India will insist on a clause in the FTA specifying the criteria of (at least 35%) ‘value addition’ as well as ‘Change in Tariff Sub-Heading’ to ensure that the item has undergone substantial transformation in South Korea, and not been just routed through that country to take advantage of duty-free norms.
•Only those furnishing the required certificate, stating the criteria have been met, will be allowed FTA benefits. Else, such imports from South Korea will attract 10% duty. Since gold is a sensitive item for India, the other plan is to shift gold and articles to the negative list in the FTA. Work is also on to impose safeguard duty (12.5%) on gold imports from South Korea.
📰 PDS digitisation moving at snail’s pace
At least 11 States have not yet taken the elementary step
•The Narendra Modi government’s claim to ensure end-to-end digitisation of the Public Distribution System (PDS) is coming to naught even after three years of being in mission mode. At least 11 States have not taken the elementary step of digitising fair price shops and nine other States, including Uttar Pradesh, have hardly made any progress.
•The project was launched in 2012 at a cost of Rs. 884 crore to ensure that, at every step from field to fork, the government would be able to track the movement of foodgrains so that they reached the right beneficiaries. As part of the effort, all fair price or ration shops were to be digitised. But out of 5.26 lakh ration shops, only 51% have been digitised in three years, it was found at a review meeting chaired by the Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Ram Vilas Paswan, on Friday.
•“When we took over in 2014, fewer than 10,000 fair price shops had been digitised even after two years of launch. In the last three years, we have made significant progress,” a senior Ministry official said.
Connectivity issues
•The numbers are most stark in the northeast. Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland have cited connectivity issues for their inability to commence the process of digitisation.
•Jammu & Kashmir, Kerala, Punjab and West Bengal fall in this category of non-starters, too.
•Another nine States have made meagre progress. In Bihar, less than 1% of ration shops are digitised; the figure is 1% for Tripura, Delhi and Uttarakhand. Uttar Pradesh fares better with 16% shops digitised. The project also calls for automation of the supply chain — online monitoring of stock positions in godowns, tracking the movement of the food grains from the godowns to the fair price shops, SMS alerts to beneficiaries, etc. Thirteen States are yet to take the first step in this direction.
•The Centre, meanwhile, has sought to present the digitisation of 23.11 crore ration cards as a great success, in the process uncovering 2.48 crore bogus cards, which have been deleted to save the nation a subsidy of Rs. 15,000 crore per annum.
📰 Decoding shell companies
•The Centre has initiated action against more than two lakh shell companies as part of Operation Clean Money. Separately, the market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India has identified 331 companies and initiated action against them. Here is all you need to know about shell companies.
What are shell companies?
•The Companies Act, 2013 has not defined what a ‘shell company’ is and as to what kind of activities would lead to a company being termed a ‘shell’.
•Shell companies are typically corporate entities which do not have any active business operations or significant assets in their possession. The government views them with suspicion as some of them could be used for money laundering, tax evasion and other illegal activities.
Is there a law governing shell companies?
•In India, there is no specific law relating to “shell companies.” However, some laws help, to an extent, in curbing illegal activities such as money laundering and can indirectly be used to target shell companies — Benami Transaction (Prohibition) Amendment Act 2016; The Prevention of Money Laundering Act 2002 and The Companies Act, 2013.
Is it easy to strike off a shell company from the records?
•According to Anant Merathia, a Chennai-based corporate lawyer, companies can be removed from the rolls of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs by two means: strike off by Registrar of Companies (RoC) — (Section 248 (1) of the Companies Act, 2013) and voluntary strike off — (Section 248 (2) of the Companies Act, 2013). Voluntary closure can be done with the approval of the board and shareholders and the firm should have nil liabilities.
What scenarios can lead to a company’s name being struck off by the RoC?
•The strike off happens in case of companies which have failed to commence business within a year of incorporation.
•Also, in case of companies that are not carrying on any business or operation for a period of two immediately preceding financial years and have not made any application within such period for obtaining the status of a ‘dormant company’ under Section 455 of the Companies Act can be struck off by the RoC unless cause is shown to the contrary.
•The RoC issues a show-cause notice to such companies and their directors seeking their response within 30 days. If the response is not satisfactory, the company’s name would be removed from the register.
What is a dormant company?
•According to Mr. Merathia, as per Section 455 of the Companies Act, 2013, a company that does not have significant financial activity or has been inactive can apply to the RoC and obtain the status of a dormant company.
•The company shall be a dormant company on the rolls of the RoC until it follows all the provisions of Section 455. If it fails to do so, the RoC shall have powers to strike of their names from the Register of Companies.
What is the difference between dormant and shell companies?
•A dormant company gets its title in two ways: it has chosen to get a ‘dormant’ status from the RoC by way of an application and is in compliance of the requirements of Section 455.
•Further, in case a company has not filed financial statements or annual returns for two financial years consecutively, the RoC shall issue notice and include it in the register of ‘dormant’ companies. But a shell company is one which is typically suspected of illegal activities.
📰 Time for caution
As the world looks to end the eraof easy money, India must be prepared
•India’s external balance sheet may have improved significantly since the infamous taper tantrum of 2013, but there are now signs that warrant more caution from policymakers. Last week, the current account deficit (CAD) widened to a four-year high of $14.3 billion in the first quarter of the current financial year, standing at 2.4% of gross domestic product, compared to 0.1% last year. The widening CAD was driven by a greater increase in merchandise imports than exports. A strong capital account surplus, however, has helped the country pay for its import bills without much trouble. Foreign investors starved of yield have been stepping up their investments in India, which remains one of the few places offering higher yields. Compared to last year, net FDI almost doubled to $7.2 billion in the first quarter, while net portfolio investment jumped about six times to $12.5 billion. The strong inflow of foreign capital has also led to a significant increase in foreign reserve holdings, thanks to the Reserve Bank of India which has been busy buying dollars to weaken the rupee. Forex reserves were at an all-time high of $400.7 billion for the week ending September 8, while the rupee has appreciated by over 6% against the dollar this year. Low global oil prices over the last two years have also helped contain a good portion of its import bills.
•All this might change with the impending tightening of monetary policy by the U.S. Federal Reserve and other central banks. After all, emerging Asian markets have been the biggest beneficiaries of loose monetary policy in the West, so any change in stance would most definitely affect them. Indian companies, for instance, have aggressively tapped into the market for rupee-denominated foreign debt, which can work against them if the flow of foreign capital turns volatile. The RBI has been regulating the amount and quality of such borrowings, so it may seem like things are under control for now. Further, India’s total external debt declined by 2.7% during the financial year 2016-17, standing at $471.9 billion, driven by a fall in external commercial borrowings and deposits by non-resident Indians. The World Bank, in fact, has said that India’s external dynamics remain very favourable given the size of its economy and foreign reserve holdings. But a prolonged period of unfavourable trade balance when combined with volatile international capital flows can lead to unsavoury macroeconomic situations. According to a report by India Ratings & Research earlier this year, a 10% depreciation of the rupee combined with a 50 basis point interest rate hike can severely affect most Indian borrowers. It added that as much as 65% of foreign debt exposure of Indian companies may be unhedged. As the world looks to withdraw from an era of historically low interest rates, it would be wise for India’s policymakers to be ready with an emergency plan to tackle a period of significant volatility.
📰 Reading the tea leaves
The emerging India-Japan alignment sets the stage for the reordering of the Asian strategic landscape
•In history, defining moments like 9/11 that can be identified as markers of change are rare. More often, there are trend lines of slow-moving geopolitical changes which come together at a particular moment in time resulting in an inflexion point. Reading the tea leaves indicates that 2017 may well be the year which marked the reordering of the Asian strategic landscape.
Two trend lines
•The two slow moving trend lines clearly discernible since the Cold War ended a quarter century ago are the shift of the geopolitical centre of gravity from the Euro-Atlantic to the Indo-Pacific region and the rise of China. The U.S. ‘rebalancing’ announced in 2011 was a belated recognition of these changes, driven home by the impact of the 2008 financial crisis. Most of the rivalries are being played out in the crowded geopolitical space of the Indo-Pacific, and Asian economies now account for more than half of global GDP and becoming larger in coming years.
•China’s rise is reflected in a more assertive China. According to President Xi Jinping’s ‘two guides’ policy announced in February, China should guide ‘the shaping of the new world order’ and safeguarding ‘international security’. Much has changed during the last quarter century when Deng Xiaoping advised China ‘to observe calmly, secure its position, hide its capability, bide its time and not claim leadership’.
•Today’s China is not just willing but eager to assume leadership and expects other countries to yield space. China has suggested ‘a new type of great power relations’ to the U.S. Its assertiveness in the East China Sea with Japan and in the South China Sea with its Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) neighbours sends a signal that while multipolarity may be desirable in a global order, in Asia, China is the predominant power and must be treated as such.
•Even though China has been a beneficiary of the U.S.-led global order, it is impatient that it does not enjoy a position that it feels it deserves, especially in the Bretton Woods institutions. During the last five years, it has set about creating a new set of institutions (the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the New Development Bank) and launched the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to create a new trading infrastructure that reflects China’s centrality as the largest trading nation.
•The BRI is also complemented by a growing Chinese naval presence in the Indian Ocean. Beginning in 2009, the PLA Navy started rotating three ship task forces through the Indian Ocean as part of the anti-piracy task force off the Somalia coast. Visits by nuclear attack submarines to littoral ports began to take place. In addition to Gwadar, China is now converting the supply facility at Djibouti into a full-fledged military base.
Accelerating the trends
•Recent developments have accelerated these geopolitical trends. The first was the outcome of the U.S. elections last year. By invoking ‘America first’ repeatedly, President Donald Trump has made it clear that the U.S. considers the burden of leading the global order too onerous. American allies, particularly in the Asia-Pacific, are nervous about Mr. Trump’s harangues that they are enjoying the benefits of the U.S. security umbrella on the cheap.
•Recent nuclear and long-range missile tests by North Korea have added to South Korean and Japanese anxieties. Japan has been particularly rattled by the two missiles fired across Hokkaido. Given the U.S. push for more sanctions that depend on China for implementation, most Japanese reluctantly admit that North Korea’s nuclear and missile capability is unlikely to be dismantled any time soon.
•Another significant development was the Doklam stand-off between India and China that lasted from June to August. The Chinese playbook followed the established pattern — creating a physical presence followed by sharpened rhetoric, together becoming an exercise in coercive diplomacy. This worked in pushing the nine-dash line in the South China Sea with the Philippines and Vietnam even as China built additional facilities on reclaimed land in the area. India, however, chose to block China and a few hundred soldiers on the plateau maintained their hostile postures even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi attended the the G-20 summit in July amidst heightened rhetoric recalling the 1962 war.
•Differences with China did not begin with Doklam. It was preceded by the stapled visa issue for Indians belonging to Arunachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir, growing incidents of incursions along the disputed boundary, blocking of India’s bid to join the Nuclear Suppliers Group last year, ensuring that no language relating to Pakistan-based terrorist groups found mention in the BRICS summit in Goa and preventing the inclusion of Masood Azhar from being designated as a terrorist by the UN Security Council by exercising a veto.
•Since 1988, India has followed a consistent China policy based on putting aside the boundary dispute and developing other aspects of the relationship in the expectation that this would create mutual trust and enable a boundary settlement. However, the gap between India and China has grown, both in economic and military terms, and with it has emerged a more assertive China. The shared vision of an Asian century with a rising India and rising China is long past. Mr. Modi’s personal diplomacy with Mr. Xi has had little influence on changing Chinese attitudes or behaviour. After Doklam, there is finally a consensus that the old China policy does not serve our national interests and a review is long overdue.
A new strategic landscape
•It is against this backdrop that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe’s visit to India took place last week. The contours of a new relationship were defined during Mr. Abe’s earlier tenure, in 2006-07, when annual summits were introduced, the relationship became a ‘Special Strategic and Global Partnership’, Japan was invited to join in the Malabar naval exercises and a Joint Declaration on Security Cooperation was concluded. Since then, significant content has been added.
•A singular achievement was the conclusion of the agreement for Cooperation in the Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy last year. Under negotiation for five years, this was a sensitive issue for Japan given the widespread anti-nuclear sentiment (though Japan enjoys the U.S. nuclear umbrella) and (misplaced) faith in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty; it would not have gone through but for Mr. Abe’s personal commitment.
•To deepen strategic understanding, the two sides initiated a 2+2 Dialogue involving the Foreign and Defence Ministries in 2010. A memorandum on enhancing defence and technology/security cooperation was signed and talks on acquiring the amphibious maritime surveillance ShinMaywa US-2i began in 2013. Trilateral dialogue involving both the U.S. and Japan and covering strategic issues was elevated to ministerial level in 2014. Japanese participation in the Malabar exercises, suspended because of Chinese protests, was restored in 2015. Once the agreement for the 12 US-2i aircraft is concluded with a follow-up acquisition as part of Make in India, the strategic relationship will begin to acquire critical mass.
•However the strategic partnership needs stronger economic ties. Today, India-Japan trade languishes at around $15 billion, a quarter of trade with China while Japan-China trade is around $300 billion. Therefore, the primary focus during the recent visit has been on economic aspects. The Mumbai-Ahmedabad high speed rail corridor is more than symbolism, in demonstrating that high-cost Japanese technology is viable in developing countries and that India has the absorption capacity to master it. Completing it in five years is a management challenge but the bigger challenge will be to transfer the know-how of best practices to other sectors of the economy.
•Another major initiative is the recently launched Asia-Africa Growth Corridor to build connectivity for which Japan has committed $30 billion and India $10 billion. This adds a critical dimension to the ‘global partnership’ between the two countries. However, to make this productive, India needs to change its style of implementing projects abroad, most of which have been plagued by cost and time over-runs.
•Ensuring effective implementation and setting up mechanisms for delivery will align Mr. Modi’s Act East policy with Mr. Abe’s Free and Open Indo-Pacific Strategy. This alignment sets the stage for the reordering of the Asian strategic landscape.
