The Hindu Newspaper Analysis 9 June 2023

The Hindu Newspaper Analysis for UPSC

The Hindu Newspaper Analysis 8 June 2023

• The Reserve Bank of India’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) decided unanimously on Thursday to keep the policy repo rate unchanged at 6.50% for the second straight meeting, with Governor Shaktikanta Das stressing that the RBI “will remain watchful and proactive in dealing with emerging risks to price and financial stability”.
• Laying out the rationale for the MPC’s decision, Mr. Das stressed that “the best contribution monetary policy could make in helping the economy realise its potential would be by ensuring price stability”.
• “Headline inflation, however, is still above the target as per the latest data and is expected to remain so according to our projections for 2023-24,” he noted. “Therefore, close and continued vigil on the evolving inflation outlook is absolutely necessary, especially as the monsoon outlook and the impact of El Nino remain uncertain.”

 The Hindu Editorial Today

• Monetary Policy Committee (MPC)
• Constituted by RBI under section 45ZB of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Act, 1934.
• Chaired by the Governor of RBI.
• Mission: Fixing the benchmark policy interest rate (repo rate) to restrain inflation within the particular target level (2% to 6%).
• MPC conducts meetings at least 4 times a year.
• The monetary policy is published after every meeting with each member explaining his opinions.

• Ethnic violence has been brewing in the State for sometime as mutual suspicion between ethnic groups in the Imphal valley and the hills turned into simmering conflict between the Meiteis and the Kukis, especially after the order of the Manipur High Court on March 27, asking the State to recommend Scheduled Tribe (ST) status to Meiteis.
• They form 52% of the State’s population but are restricted to 10% of the geographical area, that is the Imphal valley.
• There are rumours that thousands of weapons which include AK-47s have been looted by Meities and Kukis have also looted weapons from the police in their area of influence.

• A tableau, in Brampton, Canada, glorifying the assassination of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, has expectedly caused outrage across the polity in India. The tableau was part of an annual parade by Canadian Sikh separatist or “Khalistani” groups to mark their protest against Operation Bluestar, in 1984.
• India-Canada relations have been fraught over similar issues, as India has been protesting incidents of vandalism and anti-India and anti-Modi graffiti on temples and community centres there, as well as over Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s remarks criticising the Narendra Modi government’s treatment of Punjab farmers who were protesting the 2020 agriculture Bill.
• Given that Khalistani protests have been seen in Australia, the United Kingdom, the United States and parts of Europe, the Modi government must now chalk out a broader diplomatic strategy to ensure a more effective way of dealing with the problem, which could even be discussed with the leaders of all these countries, who are expected to visit India in September for the G-20 summit.
• India established diplomatic relations with Canada in 1947.

• Prime Minister of India’s visit to Canada in April 2015 elevated the bilateral relation to a strategic partnership.
• In recent years, both countries have been working to enhance bilateral cooperation in a number of areas of mutual importance.
• Major Items of Indian Exports are:
• Medicines, Garments, diamonds, chemicals, gems and jewellery, petroleum oils, made-up, sea food, engineering goods, marble and granite, knitted garments, rice, electric equipment, plastic products, etc.
• Major items of Canada’s export to India are:
• Pulses, fertilizers, newsprint, aircrafts & aviation equipment, diamonds, copper ores and concentrates, bituminous coal, wood pulp, nickel, unwrought aluminum, asbestos, god, cameras, lumber, ferrous waste, etc.

• India remains a major trade and transit partner, where a number of Nepalis continue to earn a living or pursue higher education.
• change of government in Nepal with the fall of the hawkish regime led by Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli and the restoration of the pre-2022 election Nepali Congress and Maoist alliance to power raised expectations of a thaw in this matter.
• The finalisation of an agreement to increase the export of power from Nepal to India to 10,000 MW within 10 years, development of new transmission lines, an MoU for the construction of a petroleum supply pipeline between Siliguri and Jhapa, besides extensions to existing pipelines and construction of new terminals were positives.
• But the highlight of Mr. Dahal’s visit was an agreement to take forward the Indian proposal of the export of Nepal’s hydropower to Bangladesh through Indian territory.

• The PLI scheme was introduced by the Centre in 2020. Lakhs of crores of rupees have been allocated towards subsidising companies that manufacture in India.
• So far, the government has announced PLI schemes for 14 sectors including automobile and auto components, electronics and IT hardware, telecom, pharmaceuticals, solar modules, metals and mining, textiles and apparel, white goods, drones, and advanced chemistry cell batteries.
• The Government introduced this scheme to reduce India’s dependence on China and other foreign countries.
• It supports the labour-intensive sectors and aims to increase the employment ratio in India.
• This scheme works to reduce down the import bills and boost up domestic production

• Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman S. Somnath on Thursday said that the space agency was planning to launch the Chandrayaan-3 moon mission in mid-July.
• Elite league: It puts India in the coveted league of being only the 4th country in the world after the United States, Russia and China to have successfully landed on the moon.
• Chandrayaan-1 mission
• It was launched in October 2008 and it orbited the Moon and performed a number of scientific experiments and observations.
• It was India’s first lunar mission and the first to discover water on the Moon.
• Involved an orbiter and an impactor, both built by Isro
• It was launched by the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle and made more than 3,400 orbits around the Moon.
• It carried 11 scientific instruments on board, five of which were Indian while the others were from the European Space Agency (ESA), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.
• It was operational for 312 days till August 29, 2009.
• Chandrayaan-2 mission
• It was launched in July 2019, and involves an orbiter, a lander (Vikram), and a rover (Pragyaan), all built by ISRO.
• It was India’s first to attempt a soft landing near the south pole of the Moon.
• It was launched from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh by the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mk-III.
• It aimed to land the Vikram lander on the lunar surface and deploy the Pragyaan rover.
• It carried eight scientific payloads for mapping the lunar surface and studying the exosphere (outer atmosphere) of the Moon.
• It’s lander Vikram crashed into the lunar surface apparently because of an issue with its braking rockets.

• The United States and the United Kingdom on Thursday (June 8) struck a fresh strategic pact underlining the “special relationship” to tackle China, Russia and economic instability.
• US President Joe Biden and UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak adopted an “Atlantic Declaration” which is aimed at boosting industry ties on defence and renewable energy.
• The countries have come together in the face of growing competition from China.

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