📰 Define ‘strategic partners’
The Indian and U.S. conceptions are different. This needs to be addressed
•It is no surprise that U.S. President Donald Trump has turned down an invitation from India to attend next year’s Republic Day parade as the chief guest. We shouldn’t have expected Mr. Trump to rearrange his schedule at home to attend an event abroad that entails sitting for hours in polluted air and observing another country’s military parade, even if that country is a purported U.S. strategic partner. That’s how Mr. Trump rolls.
•To be sure, former U.S. President Barack Obama shifted the date of his State of the Union address so that he could come to India in January 2015. But the U.S.’s relationship with India, and the broader world, is drastically different now, amid the revolution in its foreign policy since Mr. Trump’s arrival in the White House. For more than a decade, a bipartisan consensus in Washington had supported India’s entry into an exclusive club of the U.S.’s strategic partners. Only the likes of Israel, the U.K., Australia, Japan, South Korea and Saudi Arabia — all of which attract the “strategic” or “special” relationship designation — enjoy membership. Today, U.S. officials pay lip service to notions of a strategic partnership with India; the Trump administration, led by its businessman-in-chief, is transactional to the core.
•There’s nothing wrong with transactional relationships, and the t-word need not be a dirty one in international diplomacy. Indeed, Mr. Trump’s emphasis on deal-making has helped move the needle forward on U.S.-India security cooperation, as evidenced by the recent inking of the Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement. Additionally, the emphasis on the transactional hasn’t harmed bilateral ties. On the contrary, the fact that U.S.-India relations have remained relatively robust despite a flurry of new tension points — from U.S. tariffs and sanction policies to controversial statements by Mr. Trump about India — attests to the partnership’s overall strength.
•Still, what’s missing from the relationship in the Trump era is a commitment from the U.S. side to go deeper than deal-making. For example, Washington and New Delhi need to resolve critical definitional issues to make the relationship truly strategic. What does “strategic partnership” mean for each side? Indian conceptions emphasise technology transfers and intelligence-sharing, while U.S. conceptions envision deep levels of operational cooperation to which New Delhi hasn’t assented. To fully take advantage of the relationship’s repositories of trust and goodwill, and of its enduring shared interests — from China’s rise to terrorism — these fundamental questions must be addressed. But for Mr. Trump, doing deep dives on the definitional disconnects in U.S.-India relations is simply not a priority. And neither was that Republic Day invitation, despite the pomp and prestige that the trip would have generated for the U.S. President.
📰 The unifier of modern India
Remembering Sardar Patel’s stupendous role in integrating the princely States into independent India
•“By common endeavour we can raise the country to a new greatness, while a lack of unity will expose us to fresh calamities.” These pragmatic but profound remarks defined the vision and the sterling character of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the principal unifier of modern India.
Force behind unification
•Sardar Patel’s foresight and tactful navigation of the most turbulent period in post-Independence, and the resolve he demonstrated in integrating the more than 500 disparate princely States into the Dominion of India is an unparalleled accomplishment in modern history.
•Hailing Patel’s feat, Lord Mountbatten, the last Viceroy of India, had said: “By far the most important achievement of the present government is the unification of the States into the Dominion of India. Had you failed in this, the results would have been disastrous… Nothing has added to the prestige of the present government more than the brilliant policy you have followed with the States.”
•Patel was a statesman with a strong sense of realpolitik, a realist to the core and an earthy politician whose sole aim was to build a strong and united India.
•What makes the merger of the princely States truly incredible is the fact that the princely rulers had the option at that time to either accede to India or Pakistan or remain independent. Yet, Patel’s sagacity, foresight, patriotism, tact, persuasive powers and abiding commitment to fair play enabled him to untangle a highly complex political and social problem of an unprecedented scale, without triggering any kind of revolt or civil unrest.
•However, he was also compelled to use coercion by launching ‘Operation Polo’ to liberate and integrate Hyderabad after the Nizam of Hyderabad entertained false hopes of either joining Pakistan or remaining independent. In a swift operation lasting five days, Hyderabad State was liberated in September 1948.
•Writing about Patel’s decisiveness in the Christian Science Monitor, W. Gordon Graham observed: “Hyderabad, a State covering 80,000 square miles in the heart of peninsular India, was at that time in the grip of an unscrupulous minority which aimed at secession from India. Had the bid succeeded, India might not have survived as a political unit. This situation needed a man of iron who would not balk at coercive action, and in the Sardar, India had at that vital moment just the man.”
•Indeed at the most critical time when the country’s political unity was in jeopardy, India found the man of the moment in Sardar Patel, who displayed amazing patience, tact and a steely determination in dealing with an intransigent ruler, who refused to see the writing on the wall and even wanted to take the issue to the United Nations. Displaying statesmanship of the highest order, Sardar Patel prevented the attempts to not only Balkanise India but internationalise the issue as well. The complicated case of Junagarh, Gujarat,was also handled with dexterity by Patel. I feel that the problem of Jammu and Kashmir would have been resolved long back had Sardar Patel been given a free hand to handle it at that time.
📰 Statehood sought for Assam’s Barak Valley
Student outfit says NRC, Citizenship Bill divided linguistic groups
•A students’ organisation has advocated statehood for southern Assam’s Barak Valley because of a “sharp division” between linguistic groups created by the National Register of Citizens and Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016.
•Barak Valley comprising three districts — Cachar, Hailakandi and Karimganj — is Bengali-dominated. The relationship between the people of this valley and the Assamese-dominated Brahmaputra Valley has been ambivalent.
•“Organisations such as All Assam Students’ Union, Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti and pro-talks ULFA are making lives of Bengalis hell over the Citizenship Bill and NRC. It would be better if Barak Valley breaks away from Assam,” Pradip Dutta Roy, advocate and founder-president of the All Cachar Karimganj Hailakandi Students’ Association, said in Silchar on Tuesday.
•He also said that the Assam beyond Barak Valley should be divided into three parts — Bodoland, NC Hills-Karbi Anglong and Kamatapur — to ensure peace.
•“We don’t want to hurt the Assamese people. They can live in peace all alone,” Mr. Dutta Roy said, lamenting that CM Sarbananda Sonowal’s dream of unity between Barak and Brahmaputra valleys “will remain a dream”.
📰 India invites Italy for defence production
•India on Tuesday invited Italy to participate in the defence sector under the “Make in India” scheme. The invitation was extended during the high level discussions between visiting Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which also included mutual agreement to counter terrorist financing and state sponsors of terrorism.
•“India invited Italian defence equipment manufacturing companies to invest in India under the Make-in-India initiative and to collaborate with Indian companies for design and construction of defence equipment” said a Joint Statement issued at the conclusion of the visit by the Prime Minister of Italy.
•Both sides held the 9th Military Group Meeting earlier in October in which they agreed on cooperation in 2019. Tuesday’s announcement was the first time when they agreed on broad defence production since the Augusta Westland case exploded on the national scene in 2013. India’s Scorpene submarine project has suffered due to the controversy, which left the submarines without the Black Shark torpedoes.
•Prime Minister Conte’s visit is the first since he took charge in June 2018 and is dealing with an economic downturn in Italy.
•Mr Conte also indicated Italy’s support to India’s quest for membership in the Nuclear Suppliers Group underlined Rome’s support to India’s membership in the global technology export groups.
•The visiting side also joined India in condemning terrorism and state sponsors of terrorism. In a clear reference to Pakistani support to developments in Kashmir, the Joint Statement said, “They condemned all kinds of State support to terrorists including cross border terrorism and providing safe havens to terrorists and their network,”
•Italy also joined India in demanding the UN Global Counter Terrorism Strategy, UNSC Resolution 1267 and other other UN resolutions regarding prevention of terrorism and terror financing. This is significant especially as Pakistan last week conveyed that terror groups like Jamaat ud Dawa are no longer in the list of forbidden organisations in the country. India blames JuD of 2008 Mumbai attacks.
📰 ‘Birthright citizenship has to end’
Donald Trump says he is planning to sign an executive order ending the ‘ridiculous practice’
•President Donald Trump has said that he is planning to sign an executive order ending the birthright citizenship provision — the automatic conferral of U.S. citizenship on any individual born in the country.
•“We’re the only country in the world where a person comes in, has a baby, and the baby is essentially a citizen of the United States for 85 years with all of those benefits,” Mr. Trump said to ‘Axios on HBO’, a documentary series, clips of which have been released.“It’s ridiculous. It’s ridiculous. And it has to end,” he said.
•It is factually incorrect that the U.S. is the only country in the world with birthright citizenship laws, although only a minority have such laws.
Legal challenges
•Mr. Trump said he has consulted his counsel on this and plans to proceed with the executive order, which is almost certain to face legal challenges — as have his executive orders banning the entry into the U.S. of citizens from certain Muslim-majority countries.
•It is by no means clear that the President has the legal authority to effect such a broad legal change through an executive order.
•The concept of jus soli (right of the soil) derives from the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, enacted in 1868 after the Civil War, in order to grant legal rights to former slaves. It says: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside.”
•Therefore, individuals born in the U.S., to parents on temporary visas or here without a valid visa, are also U.S. citizens. This has been central to motivating Republicans who want to end birthright citizenship.
Illegal immigrants
•The U.S. Department of Homeland Security put the number of foreigners without legal status in the U.S. at a little above 12 million in 2014.
•Mr. Trump has been talking tough on borders, security and immigration, highly divisive topics in the U.S. these days, in the run-up to November 6 midterm elections.
📰 India among nations that face grave danger to soil biodiversity: WWF
Country’s high population makes it vulnerable to an ecological crisis, says World Wide Fund for Nature
•India’s soil biodiversity is in grave peril, according to the Global Soil Biodiversity Atlas prepared by the World Wide Fund for Nature.
•The WWF’s ‘risk index’ for the globe — indicating threats from loss of above-ground diversity, pollution and nutrient over-loading, over-grazing, intensive agriculture, fire, soil erosion, desertification and climate change — shows India among countries whose soil biodiversity faces the highest level of risk. Coloured red on the Atlas, these include Pakistan, China, several countries in Africa and Europe, and most of North America.
•Soil biodiversity encompasses the presence of micro-organisms, micro-fauna (nematodes and tardigrades for example), and macro-fauna (ants, termites and earthworms).
•The findings were part of the bi-annual Living Planet Report 2018.
•“A key aspect of this year’s report is the threat to soil biodiversity and pollinators [such as bees],” Ravi Singh, CEO, WWF-India, told reporters at an event marking the report’s release.
•Mr. Singh cited a Tamil Nadu Agricultural University study that observed that while 150 million bee colonies were needed to meet the pollination requirements of about 50 million hectares of agricultural land in India, only 1.2 million colonies were present.
•The population of fish, birds, mammals, amphibians and reptiles have dwindled by an average of 60% from 1970 to 2014, and fresh-water species have declined by 83% in the same period. Since 1960, the global ecological footprint has increased by more than 190%. Globally, the extent of wetlands was estimated to have declined by 87% since 1970.
•“Science is showing us the harsh reality that our forests, oceans and rivers are enduring at our hands,” Marco Lambertini, Director General, WWF International, said in a press release. “Inch by inch, species by species, shrinking wildlife numbers are an indicator of the tremendous impact and pressure we are exerting on our planet.”
•The two key drivers of biodiversity loss were the over exploitation of natural resources and agriculture, the WWF added in its report.
•While India’s per capita ecological footprint was less than 1.75 hectares/person (which is in the lowest band, among countries surveyed) its high population made it vulnerable to an ecological crisis, even if per-capita consumption remained at current levels, the WWF warned.
•To address these challenges, the WWF suggests three necessary steps: “clearly specifying a goal for biodiversity recovery; developing a set of measurable and relevant indicators of progress; and agreeing on a suite of actions that can collectively achieve the goal in the required time frame.”
📰 Universities and patents
The ambitious goal set by India’s IPR Policy rests on how universities embrace patents
•Universities and patents benefit each other. Patents help universities to improve their ranking, establish an innovation ecosystem, incubate knowledge-based start-ups, earn additional revenue and measure research activity. In its biggest push to create entrepreneurial universities, the University Grants Commission (UGC) has now asked all universities in India to set up Intellectual Property (IP) Centres. As universities line up to set up these centres, they will face a strange human resources problem: despite the policy push to have more IP, we simply do not have enough IP professionals in the country.
•The dearth of IP professionals is a problem related to the field of intellectual property itself. Its recent rise to prominence in the international arena, thanks to various international treaties and trade agreements, alongwith with the legal-centric approach where law schools and colleges are the only institutions which mandate teaching these subjects, are reasons why the supply of IP professionals is not keeping pace with demand. But there is a great opportunity now that should not be missed. The Central government conducts the only competitive examination in the country to check a person’s proficiency in IP. Fine-tuning the patent agent examination to cater to the growing IP needs of the country can be a successful way to build a band of professionals and create career opportunities.
Patent exam
•On October 28, the Central government conducted the competitive examination to test proficiency in patent law, a type of intellectual property right (IPR), after a hiatus of two years. Any Indian citizen with a bachelor’s degree in science or technology can take the examination. Upon clearing it the person is entitled to practise before the Patent Office as a registered patent agent. Qualifying the exam allows science graduates to draft, file and procure patents from the Patent Office on behalf of inventors.
•India witnessed significant changes in IPRs since the introduction of the National IPR Policy in 2016. The grants rates at the Patent Office have increased: in 2017-2018, there was a 32% increase in the number of patents granted compared to the earlier year. The Patent Office increased its workforce with the inclusion of 459 new examiners and is on the lookout for more. The timeline for filing responses to official objections for patents has been reduced by half. While the disposal rate has increased, the filing rate for patents has not changed significantly. In 2016-17, the Patent Office reported a dip of 3.2% in filing compared to the previous financial year.
📰 CP redemptions keep NBFCs on edge
1 lakh crore worth of commercial paper coming up for redemption in mid November
•With commercial papers (CPs) worth ₹1 lakh crore coming up for redemption by mid-November, non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) and micro-finance institutions (MFIs) are in a quandary on how to tide over the liquidity crisis. The estimate is from two bankers who did not wish to be quoted.
•While large lenders are sitting on comfortable liquidity, it is the mid and small NBFCs and MFIs that are likely to face the crunch.
•Banks and mutual funds are the main sources of funding for housing finance companies and other NBFCs. While banks contribute about 40% of the funding, MFs contribute 30%.
•According to estimates, 55% of NBFC papers with mutual funds have less than 90 days maturity, which could lead to redemption pressures.
•Anticipating liquidity pressure, micro-finance institutions are meeting their lenders on November 1 to discuss ways to tide over the liquidity crunch. Close to 30 lenders and rating agencies will attend the meeting, which is convened by the Micro Finance Institutions Network (MFIN). Lack of cash would impact business growth for MFIs in the festive season when loan demand is typically high.
Cascading effect
•While large MFIs have access to bank finance, the mid-sized and smaller ones depend on funds from NBFCs.
•If NBFCs face cash crunch, then that will have a cascading effect on the MFI sector.
•“The small and medium MFIs are facing a bit of a liquidity crunch. They primarily borrow from large NBFCs. So, we have called all the lenders to MFIs to hear their specific concerns and expectation like whether they will charge higher interest rates,” said a top industry official. “Officials from credit rating agencies will also be there to provide their outlook on the sector,” the official said.
•Anticipating liquidity crunch, the RBI has announced ₹40,000-crore liquidity infusion in November through open market operations. The liquidity deficit in last fortnight was about ₹1 lakh crore on an average. On some days, the deficit spiked to ₹1.5 lakh crore.
📰 How Centre’s ‘board game’ fuelled the feud with RBI
Abrupt ending of Nachiket Mor’s tenure added to tension
•No RBI governor’s tenure is complete without a ‘lecture’ on the central bank’s independence. After Duvvuri Subbarao and Raghuram Rajan, the latest to join the chorus was the current RBI chief Urjit Patel via his deputy Viral Acharya.
•According to RBI sources, most differences between the RBI and the Centre in the past used to be over issues such as interest rates and when attempts were made to take way some functions such as debt management from the central bank.
•However, this time, what sparked tensions was the government’s intervention through the board.
•It all started with some board members asking for more dividends.
•Things took a drastic turn in September this year when the term of one of the board members, Nachiket Mor, was abruptly brought to an end by the government. This is said to be unprecedented in RBI’s history. Mr. Mor, one of the most articulate voices on the board, was extremely vocal against issues like regulatory forbearance and higher surplus transfer, which the government was aggressively pushing.
•A former ICICI Bank executive, Mr. Mor was first inducted in the board in May 2013 for a period of four years. He was again appointed in August 2017. However, his term was cut short in September over allegations of conflict of interest — since he is also the country director of Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
•Interestingly, Mr. Mor continues to be in the Eastern local board of RBI.
•Central banking sources claim that the induction of right-wing thinkers to the board like Swaminathan Gurumurthy only added to the tension. For example, Mr. Gurumurthy expressed discomfort over applying Basel norms to Indian banks.
•“Basel rules are designed for commercial banks, not universal banks which all Indian banks are, and term-lending institutions which IL&FS & the likes are. Applying NPA norms to them is to ask one play football with hockey rules. Unfortunate a good institution is being destroyed,” Mr. Gurumurthy had tweeted when the IL&FS crisis was unfolding.
•Apart from Mr. Gurumuthy some of the other board members inducted to the RBI board recently are Sachin Chaturvedi of think-tank RIS, Revathy Iyer, a former Indian Audit and Accounts Services officer, and Satish Marathe, former chairman and CEO of United Western Bank.
