The Hindu Newspaper Analysis 4 July 2023

The Hindu Newspaper Analysis for UPSC

The Hindu Newspaper Analysis 3 July 2023

• Role of ECI in Alloting Symbols:
• The Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968 empowers the EC to recognise political parties and allot symbols.
• Evolution of Symbol order:
• Before 1968, the ECI issued notifications and executive orders under the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961.

 The Hindu Editorial Today

• The Election Commission of India (ECI) promulgated Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order in 1968 to deal with the allocation of symbols.
• Provisions:
• Symbols order has provisions regarding the registration and recognition of political parties as state and national parties.
• Under Paragraph 15 of the Order, it can decide disputes among rival groups or sections of a recognised political party staking claim to its name and symbol.

• Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO):
• It is a permanent intergovernmental international organisation of Eurasian Nations with a secretariat in Beijing.
• It is a political, economic and military organisation that aims at maintaining peace, security and stability in the region.
• Origin: Journey from Shanghai Five to SCO
• Shanghai Five emerged in 1996 from a series of border demarcation and demilitarization talks between 4 former USSR republics and China.
• Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan were members of the Shanghai Five.
• With the accession of Uzbekistan to the group in 2001, the Shanghai Five was renamed the SCO.
• The SCO Charter was signed in 2002 and entered into force in 2003.
• Inclusion of India & Pakistan:
• India and Pakistan both were initially observer states.
• Both were given full membership in 2017.
• Members:
• Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, India, and Pakistan.
• Language:
• The SCO’s official languages are Russian and Chinese.

• Indian refiners have begun paying for some oil imports from Russia in Chinese yuan, sources with direct knowledge of the matter said, as Western sanctions force Moscow and its customers to find alternatives to the dollar for settling payments.
• Western punishments over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have shifted global trade flows for its top export, with India emerging as the largest buyer of seaborne Russian oil even as it casts about for how to pay for it amid shifting sanctions.
• The U.S. dollar has long been the main global oil currency, including for purchases by India, but now the yuan is playing an increasingly important role in Russia’s financial system because Moscow has been frozen out of the dollar and euro financial networks by international sanctions.

• Before the Ukraine war began on February 24, 2022, Mr. Putin had made a host of risky geopolitical moves that helped him shore up his support at home and expand Russia’s influence abroad. He neutralised Georgia through a short but powerful intervention in 2008.
• He took Crimea in 2014 without a fight and backed Russian-speaking Ukrainian rebels in the Donbas.
• In 2015, he sent troops to Syria, which hosts Russia’s only naval base outside the former Soviet territory, and turned around the civil war.

• NATO is a transatlantic military alliance of 31 countries, with the majority of members from Europe.
• On the contrary, NATO has not only survived but also expanded, with Finland joining as its 31st member (April 2023), and Sweden waiting in the wings.
• “NATO plus” refers to a security arrangement of NATO and the five treaty allies of the U.S. — Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Israel, and South Korea as members — to enhance “global defence cooperation” and win the “strategic competition with the Chinese Communist Party”.
• Interestingly, the term ‘NATO Plus’ is not an officially recognised or established concept within NATO itself, but has been used in discussions and debates regarding the potential expansion of the alliance.
• While NATO’s earlier target was the Soviet Union and now Russia, the focus of NATO Plus is clearly on containing China.
• First, getting into any NATO framework will annoy Russia and China.
• Second, while aligning with a U.S.-led alliance system may be tempting due to the threats posed by China, it could ultimately prove counterproductive and detrimental.
• Third, India has traditionally maintained a policy of strategic autonomy, allowing it to engage with various nations and blocs based on its own interests.
• India’s priorities lie in addressing its own regional dynamics that includes a unique set of security challenges such as border disputes, terrorism, and regional conflicts.

• Access to potable tap water is a basic necessity. However, of the roughly 25 crore households in India (2016), a tap water connection that delivers 55 litres per capita every day of potable water is a rarity in most of rural India, which accounts for about 19.5 crore households.
• In August 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised that rural households would be assured of piped, potable water by 2024 — before his government’s tenure ended.
• What is Jal Jeevan Mission?
• About:
• Launched in 2019, it envisages supply of 55 litres of water per person per day to every rural household through Functional Household Tap Connections (FHTC) by 2024.
• JJM looks to create a jan andolan for water, thereby making it everyone’s priority.
• It comes under Jal Shakti Ministry.

• In 2015, under the Paris Agreement, countries had agreed to “pursue efforts” to limit global temperature rise to 1.5°C. That the Bonn Conference was held in the context of overweening emphasis on restricting global average temperature.
• Diplomats from around the world met once again in the German city of Bonn for climate negotiations before the UNFCCC’s COP28 in Dubai, UAE.
• The objective of the conference: To chart out a massive and immediate climate action plan to keep alive any realistic chance of meeting the 1.5-degree or 2-degree Celsius targets.
• The key issue at Bonn – Global Stocktake (GST):
• Mandated by the 2015 Paris Agreement, GST is an exercise aimed at assessing the progress in the fight against climate change, and deciding ways and means to enhance global action to bridge the adequacy gap.

• The Paris Agreement says GST must be conducted every five years, starting in 2023.
• Outcome: The Bonn conference produced a short framework on the elements to be included in the stocktake exercise.
• The bone of contention between the developed and developing countries: Provisions related to finance and historical responsibility of the rich countries.
• Climate finance flows are not aligned with the priorities identified by countries in their nationally determined contributions. In the domain of international monetary transfers, accounting remains highly contested.
• Many observers say that only a fraction of the $100 billion has actually been realised (At the 2009 Copenhagen Climate Change Conference, 2020 was made the deadline for developed countries to jointly mobilise $100 billion a year of climate finance for developing countries).

• What is Purchasing Managers Index?
• It is a survey-based measure that asks the respondents about changes in their perception about key business variables as compared with the previous month.
• The purpose of the PMI is to provide information about current and future business conditions to company decision makers, analysts, and investors.
• It is calculated separately for the manufacturing and services sectors and then a composite index is also constructed.
• The PMI is a number from 0 to 100.
• A print above 50 means expansion, while a score below that denotes contraction.
• A reading at 50 indicates no change.

What is Greedflation?

• Greedflation refers to the situation where corporate greed drives inflation. Rather than a wage-price spiral, it is a Profit-Price Spiral where companies exploit inflation by raising prices excessively, going beyond covering their increased costs, and aiming to maximize their profit margins. These further fuels inflation.
• There is a growing consensus in developed countries, like Europe and the US, that greedflation is the true culprit.

Scenario:

• During crises like natural disasters or pandemics, prices often surge as businesses raise them due to increased input costs.
• However, in some cases, businesses exploit the situation by making excessive profits through significantly higher price mark-ups.

Sharing is caring!