Significance of India’s Act East Policy and Engagement with ASEAN - Pragnya IAS Academy - News Analysis.

Significance of India’s Act East Policy and Engagement with ASEAN.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid a visit to Singapore from 14-15 November, 2018 for the ASEAN-India Breakfast Summit. The ASEAN-India Summit provides opportunities for the leaders to interact in a multilateral setting, as well as for informal interactions on a one-to-one basis.

This was PM Modi’s fifth ASEAN-India Summit meeting and the fifth EAS meeting. The ASEAN-India Summit cannot be seen in isolation. PM Modi also participated in the East Asia Summit and the 2nd Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Summit on 14 November, besides delivering the Keynote address at the Singapore Fintech Festival. He held important meetings, including with Lee Hsien Loong, the prime minster of Singapore; Scott Morrison, PM of Australia; the PM of Thailand, Prayut Chan-o-cha and the Vice President of the United States, Mike Pence.

Earlier on 25 January 2018, New Delhi hosted the ASEAN-India Commemorative Summit themed “Shared Values, Common Destiny”, attended by the leaders of the ten ASEAN States. The Delhi Declaration was issued on this occasion, covering the entire spectrum of political-security, economic, socio-cultural and development cooperation. This was sought to be achieved through “further strengthening of relevant institutional mechanisms and broadening of the network between government institutions, parliamentarians, business circles, scientists, academicians, think-tanks, media, youth and other stakeholders, for the building of a peaceful, harmonious, caring and sharing community in our regions.”1 Modi had visited Singapore in June this year to attend the Shangri-La Dialogue, where he spoke about India’s vision of the Indo-Pacific.
India’s Act East Policy was unveiled at the 12th ASEAN-India Summit in 2014 held in Nay Pyi Taw. In his Opening Statement on the occasion, Modi said: “A new era of economic development, industrialization and trade has begun in India. Externally, India's 'Look East Policy' has become 'Act East Policy’."2 At this point of time, the 2nd Plan of Action (POA) or the 2010-2015 Plan of Action to Implement the ASEAN-India Partnership for Peace, Progress and Shared Prosperity, was in operation. This was adopted by the leaders of the ASEAN Member States and India at the 8th ASEAN India Summit held in Hanoi, Vietnam on 30 October 2010.
This was followed by the 3rd POA or the 2016-2020 Plan of Action to Implement the ASEAN India Partnership for Peace, Progress and Shared Prosperity. It aims to pursue the goals set forth in the POA for the next five years (2016-2020) and seeks to build on the achievements made in the implementation of the previous POA. Within this POA, the two sides had drawn a list of priority areas for the period 2016-2018. In his Opening Statement at the 14th ASEAN-India Summit, at Vientiane, Laos on 8 September 2016, Prime Minister Modi stated that “the ASEAN India Plan of Action for the period 2016-2020 has served us well in fulfilling our objectives. We have already implemented 54 out of 130 activities identified in the Plan of Action.” This number has since increased to 70.
The 2010-2015 POA laid out three broad areas of cooperation — Political and Security Cooperation; Economic Cooperation and Socio-Cultural Cooperation. It provides a clear follow-up mechanism “to review the progress of implementation of the Plan of Action through the existing mechanism of the ASEAN-India Dialogue Relations” and provides for submission of progress reports on the implementation to the annual ASEAN-Post Ministerial Conference with India (PMC+1 session) and the annual ASEAN-India Summit.
Political and Security Cooperation
PM Modi speaking during the ASEAN-India Breakfast Summit in Singapore on 15 November 2018 (chaired by Singapore PM Lee Hsien Loong) stressed on some of the main tenets of India’s Act East Policy — ASEAN Centrality; ASEAN’s consensus driven approach; support for an open and inclusive regional security architecture (based on ASEAN centrality), besides the economic elements of the relationship.
India and ASEAN are cooperating in the following security-related fields:
1. Counter-terrorism: by sharing best practices and information, law enforcement and capacity building (under existing ASEAN-led mechanisms);
2. Cyber-security capacity building, policy coordination and CBMs, including by implementing ASEAN Cybersecurity Cooperation Strategy and ARF Work Plan on Security of and in the Use of Information and Communication Technologies;
3. Maritime Cooperation between India and ASEAN takes place via existing ASEAN-led mechanisms like the Expanded ASEAN Maritime Forum (EAMF) for the purpose of better coordination in search and rescue, to prevent and manage accidents/incidents at sea in accordance with ICAO and IMO guidelines.
India participated in the 3rd EAMF in Danang, Vietnam, on 27-28 August 2014. India has also successfully organised the 2nd ASEAN-India Workshop on Blue Economy in New Delhi on 18 July 2018. India has strengthened its bonds of maritime cooperation and connectivity with the region. India’s vision of Security and Growth for all in the Region (SAGAR) has been recognised by ASEAN. There is congruence of views on the importance of a rules-based order in the region, including through upholding international law such as the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. This has meant a reaffirmation of the “importance of maintaining and prioritising peace, security, stability, safety and freedom of navigation, in and overflight above, the SCS”.
Modi joined EAS leaders in the adoption of five EAS Statements, viz., Foreign Terrorist Fighters and Returnees; Marine Plastic Debris; Smart Cities; Safe and Secure use of Nuclear and Radioactive Materials; ICT and Digital Economy. In particular, Modi hoped that the understanding on counter-terrorism would move beyond statements to more practical cooperation.
India’s support for ASEAN centrality was clearly evident when it elevated the relationship to the Strategic Partnership level following the ASEAN-India Vision Statement 2012. India actively participates in ASEAN-led mechanisms to address security challenges (both traditional and non-traditional). This includes the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), ASEAN PMC+1 with India, East Asia Summit (EAS), ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting Plus (ADMM-Plus), ASEAN-India Senior Officials’ Meeting and ASEAN-India Joint Cooperation Committee. In addition, it participates in other sub-regional forums like Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC), and the Mekong-Ganga Cooperation (MGC) forum.
India has supported and promoted the shared values and norms as enshrined in the ASEAN Charter, the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia (TAC) and the EAS Declaration on the Principles of Mutually Beneficial Relations (Bali Principles), for developing regional security architecture. To this end, India has a dedicated Mission to ASEAN in Jakarta. Then Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh announced India’s decision to appoint a separate Ambassador to ASEAN at the 11th India-ASEAN Summit in Brunei on October 1, 2013. Based on this decision, Mr. Suresh K. Reddy became the first Resident Ambassador of Indian Mission to ASEAN on January 15, 2015 and the Mission started functioning from its new Chancery premises in Jakarta from January 2015 onwards. India set up its own ASEAN-India Centre, and for several years held the annual Delhi Dialogue conference.
Economic Cooperation
India was ASEAN’s sixth largest trading partner in 2017. Trade between India and ASEAN was over $ 81 billion in 2017-2018 and constitutes 10 per cent of India’s total trade. India’s strength lies in its services sector. The ratification process of the Agreement on Trade in Services under the Framework Agreement on Comprehensive Economic Cooperation between ASEAN and India is already completed. The aim of the agreement is to “fully tap the potential, offered by the vast markets of ASEAN and India through the effective implementation of the ASEAN-India Free Trade Area, and the operationalization of the ASEAN-India Trade and Investment Centre.”
It is hoped that the RCEP negotiations, which are in their final stage and expected to be concluded in 2019, will result in the world’s largest trading bloc (40 per cent of global GDP). Domestic manufacturers and also some international trade experts in India advise cautious approach to RCEP given the fact that India already faces trade deficit with many RCEP members, including with China ($ 63 billion), South Korea ($ 11.96 billion), Indonesia ($ 12.47 billion), and Australia ($ 10.16 billion). The aim is of course, to foster a “global trade environment that is open, mutually beneficial, rules based and inclusive.”
India is committed to connectivity (land, air and maritime) cooperation with ASEAN in line with the Masterplan on ASEAN Connectivity 2025, which was adopted on 6 September 2016. Once the India-Myanmar-Thailand Trilateral Highway Project is completed, it could be extended to Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam. Economic Research Institution (ERIA), Jakarta is expected to undertake a feasibility study on this extension. India has emphasized the importance of trade and investment in enhancing prosperity and security of the Indo-Pacific. Prime Minister Modi clearly articulated in Singapore recently India’s commitment to the early conclusion of a balanced and comprehensive RCEP.
Conclusion
ASEAN is faced with many new challenges today. The region is faced with the US-China trade war (although the prevailing tension may have cooled following the Trump-Xi meeting at G-20). The leadership within ASEAN also presents a challenge. ASEAN can only be as good as the sum of its Members. After Singapore, it is Thailand’s turn to chair ASEAN. How would ASEAN cope with growing Chinese influence in the region?
The problem is further compounded by the fact that Thailand has not remained untouched by Chinese influence and is coping with its own internal democratic transition. From playing host to a large number of Chinese tourists, to ordering Chinese submarines, to reviving hopes for Kra Canal as an integral part of Chinese Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the quiet Chinese moves can be seen. After Thailand, it will be Vietnam’s turn. Hanoi would like ASEAN to play a more proactive role given the fact that Vietnam has faced continuous Chinese threats to its sovereignty in the South China Sea.
Given the above dynamics, some concerned nations are paying greater attention to other meetings on the sidelines of the ASEAN Summit. The third round of Quadrilateral Security Dialogue or Quad, between the US, Australia, Japan and India, was held with senior officials participating. The meeting emphasised the centrality of ASEAN. An upgradation of the Quad with more political content to the mechanism provided by participation of political leaders at the highest level may not be very likely in the near future. The most viable alternative on the security front seems to be the East Asia summit, along with the ADMM-Plus mechanism.
On the economic front, when the Trans Pacific Partnership negotiations failed with the withdrawal of the United States, it is the RCEP which holds greater hope for the regional countries. And the 2nd RCEP Summit held on the sidelines of the ASEAN meetings on 14 November appears to indicate the emergence of a regional economic architecture by 2019. (Source:idsa.in)


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Significance of India’s Act East Policy and Engagement with ASEAN.

Greenland ice melts four times faster in a decade: Study - Pragnya IAS Academy - News Analysis.

Greenland ice melts four times faster in a decade: Study.

Greenland's melting ice, which causes sea levels to rise, disappeared four times faster in 2013 than in 2003 and is noticeable across the Arctic island, not just on glaciers, researchers warned on Tuesday.

"While 111 cubic kilometres of ice disappeared per year in 2003, 10 years later this figure had almost quadrupled to 428 cubic kilometres," the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) Space Lab said in a statement.
Its researchers contributed to a study on changes to Greenland's ice sheet, published in the US journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
"These are notable and surprising changes we are seeing in the ice melt pattern," DTU professor Shfaqat Abbas Khan said.
Until now, most of Greenland's ice melt was observed on the ice cap, predominantly on the glaciers in the island's northwest and southeast.
But most of the ice loss from 2003 to 2013 was from Greenland's southwest region, which is largely devoid of large glaciers.
Michael Bevis, a professor at Ohio state university and lead author of the PNAS paper, said the ice now appeared to be melting from the surface mass, "melting inland from the coastline." That means that in the southwestern part of Greenland, growing rivers of water are streaming into the ocean.
"We knew we had one big problem with increasing rates of ice discharge by some large outlet glaciers," Bevis said.
"But now we recognise a second serious problem: Increasingly, large amounts of ice mass are going to leave as meltwater, as rivers that flow into the sea." He warned this would have major implications, causing additional sea level rise.
"We are watching the ice sheet hit a tipping point," he said, which would condemn the entire giant ice block to melting over a time scale of hundreds, or several thousand, years
The Greenland ice sheet — up to three kilometres thick — contains enough frozen water to raise global sea levels some six metres (yards).
The melting ice observed in the study is caused by rising land temperatures, and in part, the fact that the ice comes into contact with waters that are increasingly warmer.
"As the atmosphere's temperature gradually rises, we will immediately notice an acceleration of the ice melt," Khan said.
While the amount varies from region to region, sea levels rose worldwide by an average of 20 centimetres (about eight inches) in the 20th century. They are currently rising by about 3.3 millimetres per year. (Source: The Economic Times)


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Greenland ice melts four times faster in a decade: Study.

A water crisis is brewing between India and Pakistan - Pragnya IAS Academy - News Analysis.

A water crisis is brewing between India and Pakistan.

• Both have accused each other of violating the World Bank-brokered 1960s Indus Waters Treaty
• Imran Khan’s six-month-old Pakistani government has sought to mend ties with India
Women and children walk miles each day in search for water in a crowded, downtrodden district of Pakistan’s financial capital, Karachi — a scene repeated in cities throughout the country.

Across the border in India, government research indicates about three-quarters of people don’t have drinking water at home and 70% of the country’s water is contaminated.
As rivers and taps run dry, water has the potential to become a major flash point between arch-rivals India and Pakistan. Both have repeatedly accused each other of violating the World Bank-brokered 1960s Indus Waters Treaty that ensures shared management of the six rivers crossing between the two neighbors, which have fought three major wars in the past 71 years.
The latest dispute is over hydroelectric projects India is building along the Chenab River that Pakistan says violate the treaty and will impact its water supply. Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan is sending inspectors to visit the site on January 27. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi — who faces elections in the next few months — has vowed to proceed with construction, and it remains unclear how the impasse will be resolved.
“Tensions over water will undoubtedly intensify and put the Indus Waters Treaty — which to this point has helped ensure that they have never fought a war over water — to its greatest test," Michael Kugelman, a senior associate for South Asia at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington said by email.
“The prospect of two nuclear-armed rivals becoming enmeshed in increasing tensions over a critical resource like water is unsettling and poses highly troubling implications for security in South Asia and the world on the whole," he said.
For now, relations between India and Pakistan appear to be stable, and even looking more positive. Khan’s six-month-old Pakistani government has sought to mend ties with India, and has said the country’s powerful military supports those efforts — a notion greeted with skepticism in New Delhi.
Still, all sides see the long-term risks of a conflict over water: Khan himself is attempting to raise $17 billion via the world’s largest crowd fund for the construction of two large dams, one of which would be built in the disputed territory of Kashmir. In a region that’s home to about a quarter of the world’s population, failure to manage water shortages could be catastrophic.
“Any future war that happens will be on these issues," Major General Asif Ghafoor, Pakistan’s military spokesman, told reporters last year, referring to water issues. “We need to give it a lot of attention."
The most serious threat to the water agreement of late followed a terrorist attack on an Indian army camp in September 2016, when Modi stated that “blood and water and cannot flow together" and vowed to review the treaty.
If Modi is re-elected “there’s a possibility that water may become a tool to try bring Pakistan to heel," said Ashok Swain, professor of peace and conflict research and the director of research at the School of International Water Cooperation at Uppsala University in Sweden.
“He may not do something immediately after resuming power but if relations with Pakistan deteriorate, by 2020-21, it’s a possibility," Swain said. And although Pakistan’s new political leaders are aware the two dams being built by India are only one part its problem, “a water conflict with India can be a good way to hide their own mismanagement."India's Ministry of Water spokesman Sudhir Pandey didn't respond to phone calls, while Pakistan's Commissioner for Indus Waters Syed Muhammad Mehar Ali Shah was unavailable to comment.
Pakistan, India and Afghanistan are among the world’s eight most water stressed countries. Waiting for hours or going days without water supply is the new normal in some crowded South Asian cities. The Indus river, one of Asia’s longest that originates in the Tibetan Plateau and flows into the Arabian sea near Karachi, has shriveled to a shadow of its former self. Water scarcity has led to regular protests in cities from Shimla in India to Lahore in Pakistan.
Most South Asian nations are heavily dependent on agriculture that consumes the majority of fresh water supply. Rice and sugarcane are grown by flooding the entire area with more than four feet of water. About 60 percent of households in India rely on agriculture while about half of Pakistan’s labor force is employed by the industry.
“South Asia has a water crisis," said Pervaiz Amir, a regional expert for the Stockholm-based Global Water Partnership, pointing to the cities of Karachi and India’s capital, New Delhi. “You immediately start a ripple effect, first it is poverty that will increase. In the southern areas of Pakistan, extremism and terrorism will increase."
Global agencies have made dire predictions that Pakistan — despite having the world’s largest glaciers — will face mass water scarcity by 2025. Already availability per capita has dropped by a third since 1991 to 1,017 cubic meters, according to the International Monetary Fund.
In most areas of Karachi flowing piped water is a rarity and its more than 15 million residents receive less than half of their daily needs. Even when it is supplied in the densely populated district of Lyari it only reaches a handful of houses through a leaking line that passes through mounds of garbage and leaves it smelling of sewage.
“When water comes, women come from far, far away to fill water," said 30-year-old fisherman Abdul Qadir, pointing out dilapidated pipelines in Lyari’s Khadda Market area. “There is a line of more than 200 people here."
Last year a judicial report showed that 91% of Karachi’s water was unsafe to drink. Pakistan’s poorest urban dwellers have access to only 10 liters per capita — just one fifth of the requirement, according to James Wescoat, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The World Economic Forum rates the water crisis as the biggest risk in Pakistan, with terrorist attacks third on the list. Waseem Akhtar, Karachi’s mayor, told Bloomberg the city needs to fix widespread leakages and theft, but funding is scarce.
India’s water demand is projected to be twice the available supply by 2030 and will lead to a 6% loss in the country’s economic growth by 2050, according to the New Delhi-based government think-tank NITI Aayog.
While a solution will need regional cooperation, there's been little coordination between India and Pakistan apart from their decades-old river-sharing agreement. Still, officials on both sides of the border recognize they need to act with urgency.
“We have a near crisis," said S. Massod Hussain, chairman of India’s central water commission. “We need better management of our water resources." (Source:Livemint)


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A water crisis is brewing between India and Pakistan.

Average of 4,500 cases per judge pending in High Courts, says Govt - Pragnya IAS Academy - News Analysis.

Average of 4,500 cases per judge pending in High Courts, says Govt.

From January 1, Telangana has its own high court, taking the number of high courts in the country to 25.

Each high court judge is saddled with nearly 4,500 pending cases, according to the Law Ministry.
At the same time, each judge of the subordinate judiciary has nearly 1,300 cases pending, the same data shows.

Going by the number of cases pending in high courts and the lower courts, the ministry came up with the average cases pending per judge based on the sanctioned strength.
According to the National Judicial Data Grid, at the end of 2018, 2.91 crore cases were pending with the district and subordinate courts. In the 24 high courts, 47.68 lakh cases were pending.
From January 1, Telangana has its own high court, taking the number of high courts in the country to 25.
The data states that while 4,419 cases are pending per judge in the high courts, 1,288 are pending with each lower court judge.
It says that while the sanctioned strength of the subordinate courts is 22,644, the working strength is 17,509 -- a shortage of 5,135 judicial officers.
Similarly, in the high courts, the sanctioned strength is 1,079, the working strength is 695 -- a shortfall of 384 judges.
The data was collated for parliamentary use.
Successive law ministers have been writing to chief justices of high courts urging them to fill up vacancies in the lower courts.
Incumbent Ravi Shankar Prasad recently urged the chief justices of high courts to speed up the recruitment of judicial officers for the lower judiciary, as according to him, one of the main reasons for high pendency was the inordinate delay in filling up the vacancies of judicial officers.
The minister urged the chief justices to hold timely examination and interviews to recruit judges for lower courts. (Source: The Business Standard)


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Average of 4,500 cases per judge pending in High Courts, says Govt.

India launches military satellite Microsat-R and Kalamsat(lightest ever satellite) - Pragnya IAS Academy - News Analysis.

India launches military satellite Microsat-R and Kalamsat(lightest ever satellite).

India successfully launched Microsat-R, a military satellite onboard in its Polar rocket PSLV C44, from the spaceport here on Thursday, in the first mission for ISRO in 2019.

The Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) workhorse Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) blasted off from the first launch pad of the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at 11.37 pm at the end of a 28-hour countdown.

In a textbook launch, the 44-metre tall, four-stage PSLV-C44 soared into the clear and starry night sky majestically and injected the 740-kg Microsat-R into the orbit, precisely 13 minutes and 30 seconds later.
ISRO scientists broke into celebration at the mission control centre here, about 130 km from Chennai, as the Microsat-R was released in a 274-km polar sun-synchronous orbit, marking another success story for the space agency.
Former ISRO chairmen Krishnaswamy Kasturirangan and AS Kiran Kumar were among those who witnessed the launch.
The fourth stage of the rocket with co-passenger Kalamsat, a students’ payload, would now be moved to a higher circular orbit, around 450 km from earth, so as to establish an orbital platform for carrying out experiments.
The ISRO said it would take about 90 minutes for the fourth stage to reach the desired orbit.
Built at a cost of around Rs 12 lakh, the Kalamsat is an experimental satellite for studying the communication system of nanosatellites, which can be useful in many fields, predominantly disaster management.
The PSLV C44 is the first launch for the country’s space agency in 2019.
The PSLV-C44, assembled in 30 days, was the first mission of a new variant of the PSLV, called the PSLV-DL, as it was equipped with two strap-on configurations, the ISRO said.
Usually, PSLVs were launched without any strap-ons (boosters) or were equipped with six strap-ons fixed around the rocket, but the ISRO, for the first time, used only two boosters for the mission, an official of the space agency said.
He added that for the first time, the ISRO placed a satellite Microsat-R in a lower orbit, at around 274 km from earth.
Contributed by college students and the members of a Chennai-based organization Space Kidz India, Kalamsat is the first to use PS4 (the fourth stage of the vehicle) as a platform to orbit around the earth.
“We have been working on the project for over six years now. These students are from various backgrounds and the youngest one is studying B.Sc Physics,” said Space Kidz India CEO Srimathy Kesan
Kesan said Kalamsat was the lightest ever satellite to be launched by India.
Space Kidz India aims to nurture young scientists.
With this, the PSLV, basically a four-stage vehicle with alternating solid and liquid stages has launched 54 Indian and 269 satellites of international customers. (Source:rstv.nic.in)


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India launches military satellite Microsat-R and Kalamsat(lightest ever satellite).

India's 2018 thermal coal imports grew at fastest pace in four years: Report - Pragnya IAS Academy - News Analysis.

India's 2018 thermal coal imports grew at fastest pace in four years: Report.

• Coal is among the top five commodities imported by India, one of the world's largest consumers of coal
India's 2018 thermal coal imports rose at the fastest pace in four years, according to two industry sources, despite moves by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government to cut imports in a bid to reduce its trade deficit.
Coal is among the top five commodities imported by India, one of the world's largest consumers of coal, and the rise in imports of the fuel after two consecutive years of decline adds to its trade deficit.
That trade gap has been hurting the valuation of the rupee, the worst performing major Asian currency in 2018.
Thermal coal imports jumped 19% to 171.85 million tonnes in 2018, the highest since 2014, according to data from American Fuels & Natural Resources. Thermal coal is mainly used to produce electricity.
Imports of coking coal - which is mainly used in the manufacturing of steel - rose at the quickest rate since 2015 - according to consultancy firm Wood Mackenzie and American Fuels & Natural Resources, a trader of US based coal.

India imported 52.26 million tonnes of coking coal in 2018, up 14 percent from 45.93 million tonnes in 2017, the data showed.
The value of all coal imports for the nine months ended December 31, 2018 was 31.4 percent higher at 1.38 trillion Indian rupees ($19.45 billion) than it was in the same period in 2017, according to government data reviewed by Reuters.
The value of India's coal imports was 1.38 trillion in all of 2017.
Traders say coal imports grew largely due to restrictions on consumption of petroleum coke, a dirtier alternative to coal, in some parts of the country.
"2018 was a booming year for coal imports in India, mostly on the back of demand from cement and small and medium-scale industries in India," said Puneet Gupta, founder of online coal and petcoke marketplace Coalshastra.
"Higher demand was also fuelled by restrictions on the use of petcoke," he said. Petcoke consumption dropped about 15 percent in 2018, according to government data.
Imports of coking and non-coking coal totalled 176.65 million tonnes in the April-November period, compared with 156.92 million in the same period last year.
While higher coal imports may be bad news for India's trade deficit, they are a boon for international miners such as Indonesia's Adaro Energy, Australia's Whitehaven Coal, U.S, coal miner Peabody Energy Corp and global commodity merchants such as Glencore.
Indonesia provided more than 61 percent of India's thermal coal imports, while South Africa accounted for 22 percent and the United States more than 7 percent.
Imports of U.S. thermal coal, which burns better compared with Indonesian coal, almost doubled to 12.46 million tonnes in 2018, according to American Fuels.
The ports of Mundra, Krishnapatnam and Kandla handled about 37.5 percent of all of the the thermal coal imports, according to American Fuels.
The Adani Group, which handles about a third of India's imported coal, said last year it expects a "reasonable rise in imports" till fiscal year 2021 due to "rail transportation challenges" affecting India's domestic coal industry.
Analysts say they expect India to be a key market for global miners in 2019 as China's "war on pollution" will lead to lower demand from that country. (Source:Livemint)


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India's 2018 thermal coal imports grew at fastest pace in four years: Report.

India tests new Anti-Radiation Missile to take out Enemy Radars - Pragnya IAS Academy - News Analysis.

India tests new Anti-Radiation Missile to take out Enemy Radars.

Highlights
• The missile is designed to destroy a variety of surveillance and radar targets on the ground after being fired from a Sukhoi-30MKI fighter
• On Thursday, the DRDO-Navy combine also conducted another test of the advanced Barak long-range surface-to-air missile (LR-SAM) system
India has tested a new indigenous air-launched missile called NGARM, which is designed to destroy a variety of surveillance and radar targets on the ground after being fired from a Sukhoi-30MKI fighter.

This new-generation anti-radiation missile (NGARM), with a strike range of around 100-km, is the first indigenous air-to-ground missile to be developed by the DRDO, after the supersonic BrahMos cruise missile developed jointly with Russia.
“The missile was tested from a Sukhoi-30MKI on January 18 at the integrated test range at Balasore. The missile, with all systems functioning properly, hit the designated target with a high degree of accuracy in the Bay of Bengal. The NGARM can be launched from Sukhois from different altitudes and velocities,” said a source
On Thursday, the DRDO-Navy combine also conducted another test of the advanced Barak long-range surface-to-air missile (LR-SAM) system, jointly developed by DRDO with Israeli Aerospace Industries and Rafael, from destroyer INS Chennai on the high seas.
The supersonic Barak-8 missile system, whose interception range is 70-100 km, is in the process of being tested from Indian warships. Once fully operational, the LR-SAM will equip all frontline Indian warships as an all-weather “defence shield” against incoming enemy fighters, drones, helicopters, missiles and other munitions.
“It will be the standard LR-SAM or area defence weapon for our warships, much like the 290-km BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles have become the standard precision strike weapon on them. PSU Bharat Dynamics is already gearing up for producing the LR-SAM systems in bulk,” said an official.
The LR-SAM development project was sanctioned for Indian warships in December 2005, with an initial amount of Rs 2,606 crore, but was hit by several delays. Over a dozen Indian warships are currently equipped with the Barak-I system, “a point defence weapon” with an interception range of just 9-km, acquired from Israel after the 1999 Kargil conflict.
The new LR-SAM system with Barak-8 interceptor missiles, which have “active seekers” for terminal guidance, is a much more advanced version with extended interception range. The ground-based version of Barak-8, which was sanctioned in February 2009 for Rs 10,076 crore, will in turn be utilized by the IAF to plug the existing gaps in air defence coverage of the country.


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India tests new Anti-Radiation Missile to take out Enemy Radars.

PSLV carries reusable final-stage rocket, a 1st for India and the world - Pragnya IAS Academy - News Analysis.

PSLV carries reusable final-stage rocket, a 1st for India and the world.

The latest Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) take off from Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh, at 11.37pm on Thursday, on a mission to help India notch up one more first in space technology— it will make use of the final stage of rocket as orbital platform for a satellite.

The fourth and final stage of the rocket normally turns into debris after ejecting a satellite. This time, the workhorse PSLV DL’s fourth stage, with a satellite built by school students strapped to its back, will continue orbiting the earth at a distance of 450km above it for six months, maybe more.
This gives Indian space scientists an innovative orbital platform for conducting experiments. The bonus is that Chennai-based school students who built Kalamsat, the world’s smallest student satellite, will also be able to conduct their own research.
The mission, called PSLV C-44, is India’s first this year and serves as a test for a new variant of the launch vehicle, the PSLV-DL, which has two strap-on motors.
PSLV is a launch vehicle with four stages—PS1, PS2, HPS3, and PS4 which is equipped with twin-liquid engines is equipped with twin liquid engines. After the launch vehicle enters space, it ejects the satellite and eventually becomes debris which is normally not recovered.
In the current mission, however, scientists at the Indian Space Research Organization (Isro) have powered up the fourth stage and given it an extended life of at least six months, so that it could serve as an experimental orbital platform.
The strategy is to move the fourth stage rocket (PS4) to a higher orbit and stabilise it by adding a power source. The orbital platform would enable scientists to conduct technology demonstrations and give an opportunity to school students across the country to perform experiments in space, through student satellites.
This is the ninth student satellite that India will fire off into space.
With this mission, Kalamsat will become the first payload to use PS4 as an orbital platform.
PSLV C44 also carries an imaging and surveillance satellite called Microsat for the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). Microsat will be separated at an altitude of 277km, in low-earth orbit.
“This year, the main focus of Isro is to expand its wings, to explore unknown places in space that have not been explored before" Isro chairman K. Sivan had said on 17 January, while announcing the first satellite mission for 2019. The thrust he said would also be on developing low-cost missions.
This was the 46th flight of the PSLV which, in 25 years, has carried out 43 successful missions, including the landmark Mars Orbital Mission and Chandryaan-1. It has undergone several technology upgrades since its first flight in September 1993 (Source:Livemint)


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PSLV carries reusable final-stage rocket, a 1st for India and the world.

India, South Africa to boost defence ties, trade - Pragnya IAS Academy - News Analysis.

India, South Africa to boost defence ties, trade.

• South African President Cyril Ramaphosa is on a two-day visit to India
• He will be the chief guest at India’s 70th Republic Day parade on Saturday

India and South Africa on Friday concluded a three-year strategic programme to boost cooperation in key areas, including defence and trade, after talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in New Delhi.
The pact sets out the direction that the partnership between the two countries is expected to take in the coming years, with the visiting South African president saying that his country was seeking "result-oriented" ties with India.
He listed defence and security, trade and investment, the blue economy, tourism, IT and agriculture as priority areas for cooperation from his government’s side.
Ramaphosa is on a two-day visit to India, his first since taking office as president of South Africa in February last year.
He will be the chief guest at India’s 70th Republic Day parade on Saturday, the second dignitary from South Africa to be invited as chief guest to the parade. Prior to this, India had invited former president Nelson Mandela as the guest of honor at the celebrations in 1995.
In the past several years, India has stepped up engagement with Africa, with 29 visits at the level of the president, the vice-president and the prime minister to African countries. This is part of India's effort to recast its ties with the resource and energy-rich continent against the backdrop of China making deep inroads into Africa.
In his comments to reporters after talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the South African president said during discussions “the prime minister and I were in agreement that considerable scope exists for our two countries to grow and extend and deepen our bilateral relations at a number of levels, but more particularly at the economic level."
Ramaphosa's visit was preceded by meetings of officials on agriculture, trade and investment — areas the two sides identified as priority, an Indian official said on Thursday.
T.S. Tirumurti, secretary, economic relations, Indian foreign ministry, also said that South African armaments firm Denel had been taken off an Indian blacklist after being placed on it for allegedly paying kickbacks to secure contracts from the Indian Army in 2005. Under the deal, the Indian Army was to procure 700 anti-material rifles. But the procurement was put on hold because of the ban.
In July, Ramaphosa had urged Modi to allow the state-run arms maker to do business in India.
In his comments, Modi recalled that he had first met Ramaphosa when the latter was vice-president in 2016. Last year, the two had met on three occasions — at the CHOGM (Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting) in London in April, the BRICS meeting in July in Johannesburg and later at the G-20 meet in Buenos Aires. (Source:Livemint)


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India, South Africa to boost defence ties, trade.

SC Agrees to Examine Centre's 10% Quota For Upper Caste Poor - Pragnya IAS Academy - News Analysis.

SC Agrees to Examine Centre's 10% Quota For Upper Caste Poor.

The bench, however, did not stay the operation of the Centre's decision granting quota to the poor in the general category.

The Supreme Court Friday decided to examine the Centre’s decision to grant 10% reservation in jobs and education to poor candidates belonging to general category.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Sanjiv Khanna issued notice to the central government on various petitions challenging the validity of the Constitution (103 Amendment) Act, 2019, which paved the way for grant of quota to poor belonging to general category.
“We are examining the matter and hence issuing notice returnable within four weeks,” the bench said.
The bench, however, did not stay the operation of the Centre’s decision granting quota to the poor in the general category.
In poll year, the Narendra Modi government had come out with the constitutional amendment bill giving quota benefits to the poor among general category candidates.
The petitions were filed by parties including organisations like Janhit Abhiyan and Youth For Equality challenging the Centre’s decision.
The petition, filed by Youth For Equality, has sought the quashing of the bill saying that the economic criterion cannot be the sole basis for reservation.
The plea has said the bill violates basic feature of the Constitution as reservation on economic grounds cannot be limited to the general categories and the 50% ceiling limit cannot be breached.
A similar plea has been filed by businessman Tehseen Poonawalla seeking to quash the bill, saying that backwardness for the purpose of reservation cannot be defined by “economic status alone”.
The quota will be over and above the existing 50 per cent reservation to SCs, STs and Other Backward Classes (OBCs).
Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha cleared the Bill on January 8 and 9 respectively and it has also been signed by President Ram Nath Kovind.


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SC Agrees to Examine Centre's 10% Quota For Upper Caste Poor.

Cabinet approves $400 million currency swap arrangement for SAARC nations - Pragnya IAS Academy - News Analysis.

Cabinet approves $400 million currency swap arrangement for SAARC nations.

Highlights:
• The facility, Standby Swap, will help India provide a faster response to requests from SAARC member countries
• The RBI will negotiate operational details bilaterally with central banks of SAARC countries
The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved amendments to the framework on currency swap arrangement for SAARC member countries by incorporating a stand-by facility of $400 million.

The facility would enable India to provide a prompt response to the current request from SAARC member countries for availing the swap amount exceeding the current limit prescribed under the SAARC Swap Framework.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will negotiate operational details bilaterally with central banks of SAARC countries availing the Standby Swap, an official statement said.
"The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given ex-post facto approval for amendment to the 'Framework on Currency Swap Arrangement for SAARC Member Countries' to incorporate a 'Standby Swap' amounting to $400 million operated within the overall size of the facility of $2 billion," the statement added.
Besides India, other members of SAARC grouping include Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and Maldives. (Source:Livemint)


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Cabinet approves $400 million currency swap arrangement for SAARC nations.

Environment Ministry notifies CRZ Regulations 2019; replaces CRZ norms of 2011 - Pragnya IAS Academy - News Analysis.

Environment Ministry notifies CRZ Regulations 2019; replaces CRZ norms of 2011.

The Central Ministry of Environment Forests and Climate Change notified new Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) norms to replace the existing CRZ Notification of 2011 on January 18.

The MoFCC said that the new CRZ notification, issued under Section 3 of the Environment Protection Act, 1986 seeks to "to promote sustainable development based on scientific principles taking into account the dangers of natural hazards, sea level rise due to global warming" and "to conserve and protect the unique environment of coastal stretches and marine areas, besides livelihood security to the fisher communities and other local communities in the coastal area".

Salient Features:

No Development Zone Reduced For CRZ-III (Rural) areas, two separate categories have now been stipulated as below:

(a) CRZ-III A - These are densely populated rural areas with a population density of 2161 per square kilometre as per 2011 Census. Such areas shall have a No Development Zone (NDZ) of 50 meters from the HTL as against 200 meters from the High Tide Line stipulated in the CRZ Notification, 2011. The reduction is made on the ground that densely populated areas have similar characteristics as urban areas.

(b) CRZ-III B - Rural areas with population density of below 2161 per square kilometre as per 2011 Census. Such areas shall continue to have an NDZ of 200 meters from the HTL.

FSI Norms Eased

As per CRZ, 2011 Notification, for CRZ-II (Urban) areas, Floor Space Index (FSI) or the Floor Area Ratio (FAR) had been frozen as per 1991 Development Control Regulation (DCR) levels. In the CRZ, 2019 Notification, it has been decided to de-freeze the same and permit FSI for construction projects, as prevailing on the date of the new Notification.

Tourism infrastructure permitted in coastal areas

Temporary tourism facilities such as shacks, toilet blocks, change rooms, drinking water facilities etc. have now been permitted in Beaches. Such temporary tourism facilities are also now permissible in the "No Development Zone" (NDZ) of the CRZ-III areas as per the Notification. However, a minimum distance of 10 m from HTL should be maintained for setting up of such facilities.

CRZ Clearances streamlined:

The procedure for CRZ clearances has been streamlined. Only such projects/activities, which are located in the CRZ-I (Ecologically Sensitive Areas) and CRZ IV (area covered between Low Tide Line and 12 Nautical Miles seaward) shall be dealt with for CRZ clearance by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. The powers for clearances with respect to CRZ-II and III have been delegated at the State level with necessary guidance.

No Development Zone (NDZ) of 20 meters for all Islands:

For islands close to the main land coast and for all Backwater Islands in the main land, in wake of space limitations and unique geography of such regions, bringing uniformity in treatment of such regions, NDZ of 20 m has been stipulated.

Pollution abatement :

In order to address pollution in Coastal areas treatment facilities have been made permissible activities in CRZ-I B area subject to necessary safeguards. The Notification contains provisions for defence and strategic projects.

Critically Vulnerable Coastal Areas (CVCA)

Sundarban region of West Bengal and other ecologically sensitive areas identified as under Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 such as Gulf of Khambat and Gulf of Kutchh in Gujarat,Malvan, Achra-Ratnagiri in Maharashtra, Karwar and Coondapur in Karnataka, Vembanad in Kerala, Gulf of Mannar in Tamil Nadu, Bhaitarkanika in Odisha, Coringa, East Godavari and Krishna in Andhra Pradesh are treated as Critical Vulnerable Coastal Areas (CVCA) and managed with the involvement of coastal communities including fisher folk who depend on coastal resources for their sustainable livelihood.

Background:

In June 2014, the Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change constituted a Committee under the Chairmanship of Dr. Shailesh Nayak (Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences) to examine the various issues and concerns of Coastal States/UTs and other stakeholders for recommending appropriate changes in the CRZ Notification, 2011. The Shailesh Nayank Committee held wide ranging consultations with State Governments and other stakeholders and submitted its recommendations in 2015. The recommendations were further examined in consultation with Members of Parliament of Coastal States and Union Territories besides other concerned Ministries of Government of India. A draft notification was issued in April, 2018 for inviting comments from public at large. In December 2018, the Union Cabinet accorded approval to that draft notification.

As stated by the Government in a PIB press release, the changes brought about in the CRZ Notification will help creating additional opportunities for affordable housing and sustainable development activities. It is stated that the new notification will boost tourism, creating employment opportunities. (Source:livelwa.in)

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Environment Ministry notifies CRZ Regulations 2019; replaces CRZ norms of 2011.

SC to take ‘in-chamber’ decision on pleas against Article 35A - Pragnya IAS Academy - News Analysis.

SC to take ‘in-chamber’ decision on pleas against Article 35A.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday said it will be taking an “in-chamber” decision on the listing of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of Article 35-A, which provides special rights and privileges to permanent residents of Jammu and Kashmir.

The oral observation came from a Bench led by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi in response to an oral mentioning for early hearing of the petitions.
Violates Statute
In August last year, the court indicated that it would consider the question of whether Article 35A was violative of the Basic Structure of the Constitution.
However, at that time, the Centre and J&K government had sought an adjournment on the ground that an interlocutor was carrying on dialogues with the State’s stakeholders.
The special status was bestowed on Jammu and Kashmir by incorporating Article 35A in the Constitution. Article 35A was incorporated by an order of President Rajendra Prasad in 1954 on the advice of the Nehru Cabinet. Parliament was not consulted when the President incorporated Article 35A into the Constitution through a Presidential Order issued under Article 370. Article 368 (i) of the Constitution mandates that only the Parliament can amend the Constitution by introducing a new article.
Article 35A gives the Jammu and Kashmir State Legislature a carte blanche to decide the ‘permanent residents’ of the State and grant them special rights and privileges in State public sector jobs, acquisition of property within the State, scholarships and other public aid and welfare programmes. The provision mandates that no act of the State legislature coming under the ambit of Article 35A can be challenged for violating the Indian Constitution or any other law of the land.
The three-judge Bench will decide whether or not to refer the issue to the Constitution Bench. One of the main writ petitions has been filed by the NGO, We the Citizens, which challenges the validity of both Article 35A and Article 370. It argues that four representatives from Kashmir were part of the Constituent Assembly involved in the drafting of the Constitution and the State of Jammu and Kashmir was never accorded any special status in the Constitution. Article 370 was only a ‘temporary provision’ to help bring normalcy in Jammu and Kashmir and strengthen democracy in that State. The Constitution makers did not intend Article 370 to be a tool to bring permanent amendments, like Article 35A, in the Constitution.
The petition said Article 35A was against the “very spirit of oneness of India” as it created a “class within a class of Indian citizens”. It said restricting citizens from other States from getting employment or buying property within Jammu and Kashmir is a violation of fundamental rights under Articles 14, 19 and 21 of the Indian Constitution. (Source: The Hindu)


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SC to take ‘in-chamber’ decision on pleas against Article 35A.

IMF forecasts India’s growth will improve to 7.5% in the next fiscal - Pragnya IAS Academy - News Analysis.

IMF forecasts India’s growth will improve to 7.5% in the next fiscal.

Highlights:
• Risks to global growth tilt to the downside, with IMF revising 2019 growth projection downwards by 20 bps to 3.5%
• The review comes even as trade tensions and a weakening Europe cast a shadow over global growth
India will grow at a world-beating 7.5% in 2019-20 amid slower global expansion, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said, upgrading its October forecast of 7.4%.
“India’s economy is poised to pick up in 2019, benefiting from lower oil prices and a slower pace of monetary tightening than previously expected, as inflation pressures ease," IMF said in an update to its biannual World Economic Outlook (WEO) on Monday.
The review comes even as trade tensions and a weakening Europe cast a shadow over global growth.
IMF estimates India to grow 7.3% in 2018-19 and 7.7% in 2020-21. India’s contribution to world growth has risen from 7.6% during 2000-08 to 14.5% in 2018, according to IMF.
Without naming India, IMF said that in emerging markets and developing economies, where inflation expectations are well-anchored, monetary policy could provide support to domestic activity as needed.
With retail inflation slowing to an 18-month low of 2.19% in December—though services inflation remains elevated—many analysts believe the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) monetary policy committee will cut policy rates at its review meeting on 7 February.
“We will take necessary steps to maintain financial stability and to facilitate enabling conditions for sustainable and robust growth," RBI governor Shaktikanta Das said in his first speech at the Vibrant Gujarat Summit on Friday after taking charge as the central bank’s 25th governor last month.

In early January, crude prices were around $55 a barrel and analysts expect prices to remain broadly at that level over the next 4-5 years. Prices of metals and agricultural commodities have softened slightly since August, in part due to subdued demand from China.
IMF has projected average oil prices to stay just below $60 per barrel in 2019 and 2020 (down from about $69 and $66, respectively, in the last WEO). It has also revised price forecasts for most major agricultural commodities modestly downwards.
The multilateral lending institution said China’s economy would slow due to the combined influence of regulatory tightening and trade tensions with the US, despite fiscal stimulus that offsets some of the impact of higher US tariffs. However, IMF retained its growth projection of 6.2% for China in 2019 as well as 2020, despite growing risks.
IMF’s new chief economist, Gita Gopinath, in a statement said China’s growth slowdown could be sharper than expected, especially if trade tensions continue. “This can trigger abrupt sell-offs in financial and commodity markets as was the case in 2015-16," she added.
Data released by the Chinese National Bureau of Statistics showed that December quarter GDP grew at the slowest pace since the global financial crisis, easing to 6.4%. That pulled full-year growth down to 6.6% in 2018, the slowest annual pace in 28 years since 1990.
Gopinath said that though downward revisions to growth forecasts are modest, IMF believes that the risks to more significant downward corrections are rising. “Overall, the cyclical forces that propelled broad-based global growth since the second half of 2017 may be weakening somewhat faster than we expected in October. While this does not mean we are staring at a major downturn, it is important to take stock of the many rising risks," she added.
Risks to global growth tilt to the downside, with IMF cutting 2019 growth projection by 20 basis points to 3.5%.
IMF said a range of triggers beyond escalating trade tensions could spark further deterioration in risk sentiment with adverse growth implications, especially given the high levels of public and private debt. “These potential triggers include a ‘no-deal’ withdrawal of the UK from the EU and a greater-than-envisaged slowdown in China," it added.
IMF advised that countries resolve quickly their trade disagreements rather than raising harmful barriers. “Across all economies, measures to boost potential output growth, enhance inclusiveness, and strengthen fiscal and financial buffers in an environment of high debt burdens and tighter financial conditions are imperatives," it said. (Source:Livemint)


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IMF forecasts India’s growth will improve to 7.5% in the next fiscal.

Govt revives plan to change fiscal year to January-December: Report - Pragnya IAS Academy - News Analysis.

Govt revives plan to change fiscal year to January-December: Report.

Highlights:
• India has been following the April-March fiscal year since 1867
• The change in the fiscal year is expected to help the government include the monsoon forecast in its Budget projections
The government has revived plans to change the fiscal year to January-December from the current April-March, a report by business news channel BTVi, quoting news agency Cogencis, said. Opposition from the states had forced the central government to put the idea on the backburner after first being very enthusiastic about it.

The change is expected to help the government include the monsoon forecast in its Budget projections, as this will align the financial year with the south-west monsoons and thus help in better allocation of resources to the agricultural sector.
India has been following the April-March financial year since 1867, in line with what was followed by the British government.
Aligning the financial year with the calendar year and shift in date of presentation of the Union Budget to the start of February from the end of that month were among the pet themes of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the early part of his administration. The Budget has since been presented on the new date, February 1, for the last two years.
The government had first initiated the idea some time in 2016 and had even tasked a committee to look into the merits of effecting such a change. That panel, headed by former chief economic advisor Shankar Acharya, is reported to have been against the idea of changing the financial year.
Implementation of the goods and services tax and the disturbance caused by it might have also forced the government to drop the idea then. (Source:Livemint)


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Govt revives plan to change fiscal year to January-December: Report.

India set to surpass China to become second-largest oil demand centre in 2019 - Pragnya IA Academy - News Analysis.

India set to surpass China to become second-largest oil demand centre in 2019.

Highlights:
• India's oil demand growth recovered strongly in 2018 overcoming the effects of GST and demonetisation
• India contributed 14% of the global demand growth, or 2,45,000 barrels per day last year
India will surpass China to become the second-largest oil demand growth centre globally in 2019 on the back of buoyant auto fuel and LPG consumption, research and consultancy group Wood Mackenzie said on Tuesday.

In a report, Wood Mackenzie said India's oil demand growth recovered strongly in 2018, overcoming the aftermath of the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and demonetisation, and contributed 14% of the global demand growth, or 2,45,000 barrels per day.
"We forecast oil demand to grow at the same level in 2019. This will result in India becoming the second largest demand growth centre globally in 2019, behind the US, but ahead of China. Transport fuels — gasoline and diesel — and residential LPG will continue to be the two main drivers of oil demand growth," the report said.
According to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), India is currently ranked behind the US and China as the world's third-largest oil consumer. It consumed 206.2 million tonnes (over 4 million bpd) in 2017-18.
During April-December, consumption of petroleum products stood at 157.4 million tonnes, up 2.5% over the year-ago period.
Last August, the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) projected India's oil demand to rise by 5.8 million barrels per day (bpd) by 2040, accounting for about 40% of the overall increase in global demand during the period.
Mackenzie said diesel, the most consumed fuel in the country, is projected to grow by 6.4%, or 1,12,000 bpd year-on-year in 2019, compared with 93,000 bpd in 2018.
This was because of "buoyant commercial vehicle sales facilitated by sustained infrastructure growth, and increasing demand from the construction, logistics, e-commerce and consumer goods sectors," it said.
Also, the push will come from a demand-based approach instead of a tax-based approach in the logistics sector, following the implementation of the GST, which led to the removal of inter-state taxes. "This is a structural shift, resulting in increased demand for heavy and medium-duty trucks to achieve economies of scale and operational efficiency."
More importantly, general elections in May will lead to increased travel activity for campaigning and implementation of infrastructure projects, which will bolster demand in the first half of 2019, Mackenzie said.
"Key risks ensue as crude price volatility is expected to persist. Historically, short-term gasoline demand has been relatively inelastic to retail prices in developing economies such as India. Even though higher retail prices affect consumer sentiment for new vehicle purchases, we believe this trend will continue with income effects driving the demand, subduing the price effects."
LPG demand growth will remain robust in 2019 at 5% (40,000 bpd), lower than the 56,000 bpd growth achieved in 2018. "The number of new household LPG customers continued to surge, driven by the Ujjwala scheme to promote clean cooking fuel in rural areas. That said, there is a largely untapped market, as around 50 million households remain deprived of LPG."
On the use of electric vehicles, it said only 2,60,000 EVs had hit Indian roads, the majority being two-wheelers.
"Electric car sales, for instance, declined by 40% to a mere 1,200 units in 2017-18 over 2016-17, while electric two-wheeler sales rose 138% to 54,800 units during the same period. In contrast, China had a stock of 1.8 million EVs and 258 million e-bikes at the end of 2018," it said.
This year, Mackenzie said, will be an important year since the final version of the National Auto Policy and the second phase of the FAME scheme will be released.
"The question is the timing — will it be before or after the elections? Will the Modi government change tack if it is not re-elected? Will this ambiguity continue to deter wider adoption? Automakers seem to have realised that EV adoption is not a question of 'if'. Maruti Suzuki, for instance, will launch an electric version of one of its best-selling entry-segment cars — the Wagon R — in Q1 2019."
Another key challenge will be stakeholder management and coordination across different ministries, government bodies and industry participants, while the policy is formalised.
Stating that two-wheelers will dominate the electric mobility landscape in the personal transport sector, it said India offered huge potential for automakers since car ownership levels were very low (23 per 1,000 capita).
Rising income levels will increase car ownership and most global automakers are closely eyeing the Indian market. At the same time, two-wheelers should not be ignored — with current ownership six times larger than four-wheelers.
"We believe that two-wheelers are the more effective option, given their utility in intra-city travel, less need for public charging infrastructure and availability of battery technology. Two-wheelers will eventually leapfrog four-wheelers towards the goal of a greener and sustainable mobility future."(Source:Livemint)


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India set to surpass China to become second-largest oil demand centre in 2019.

India among most trusted nations globally, but Indian brands among least-trusted: Report - Pragnya IAS Academy - News Analysis.

India among most trusted nations globally, but Indian brands among least-trusted: Report.

The 2019 Edelman Trust Barometer report is based on an online survey in 27 markets covering over 33,000 respondents.

Davos: India is among the most trusted nations globally when it comes to government, business, NGOs and media but the country’s brands are among the least-trusted, according to a report.

The 2019 Edelman Trust Barometer report released Monday, ahead of the the World Economic Forum (WEF) meet here, noted that the Global Trust Index witnessed a marginal increase of 3 points to 52.
China topped the Trust Index among both the informed public and the general population segments, with scores of 79 and 88 respectively.
India was at the second place in the informed public category and third place in the general population category.
The Index is the average per cent of trust in NGOs, business, government and media.
The findings are based on an online survey in 27 markets covering over 33,000 respondents. The fieldwork was conducted between October 19 and November 16, 2018.
In terms of trust in companies headquartered in each market, the most trusted are those from Switzerland, Germany and Canada. The brands from these countries have a trust score of 70 each while that of Japan is 69 per cent.
However, companies headquartered in India, Mexico and Brazil are the least trusted, followed by China and South Korea, as per the report.
While the score of India and Brazil is 40 per cent, that of Mexico and China stood at 36 per cent and 41 per cent, respectively.
The report noted that there is a growing feeling of pessimism about the future, with only one-in-three mass population respondents in the developed world believing his or her family would be better off in the next five years.
Among the mass population, just one-in-five believe the system is working for them and 70 percent desire change. And despite a full-employment economy, fear of job loss remains high among the general population.
This is based on views of respondents about global companies headquartered in specific countries and how much these firms are trusted by them ‘to do what is right’.
According to the report, globally ‘my employer’ is significantly more trusted than NGOs, business, government and media
“The last decade has seen a loss of faith in traditional authority figures and institutions,” said Richard Edelman, president and CEO of Edelman.
When it comes to reliable sources for news, search and traditional are among the most trusted. Search and traditional media have a score of 66 each, while the score of social media is 44 per cent, the report noted.
“73 per cent worry about false information or fake news being used as a weapon,” it added.
Stephen Kehoe, global chair, Reputation at Edelman said that divergent levels of confidence between the mass population and informed public about the future signal a continued underlying rot in the structure of society.
“While not everyone is taking to the streets, the data shows why protests like the Gilet Jaunes in France, the women’s marches in India and walkouts by employees at some major tech companies could become more mainstream,” Kehoe said.


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India among most trusted nations globally, but Indian brands among least-trusted: Report.

One in every three under-trial prisoners in India is either SC or ST: Study - Pragnya IAS Academy - News Analysis.

One in every three under-trial prisoners in India is either SC or ST: Study.

The report also finds that certain states have strikingly higher levels of disparity between the percentage of SC/STs in their total population and in their prisons

Members of the Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) are over-represented, in relation to their population, in India’s prisons, a new study has found. While the groups account for 24% of India’s population, their representation in prisons is significantly higher, at 34%.
The report titled ‘Criminal Justice in the Shadow of Caste’ has been prepared jointly by the National Dalit Movement for Justice and the National Centre for Dalit Human Rights. It draws heavily from National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data.
The report also finds that certain states have strikingly higher levels of disparity between the percentage of SC/STs in their total population and in their prisons. It says that Assam, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Rajasthan as the worst performers. In Tamil Nadu, for instance, the difference is as high as 17%. As many as 38% of under-trials in Tamil Nadu are either SC or ST, while their share in the total population is 21%.
“These facts together point to a pattern of targeting Dalit and Adivasis and call for investigation of factors leading to the continued victimization of the community by the Police and further victimization as under trials,” the report said.
It also notes that when members of the Dalit or Adivasi communities register atrocity complaints, the accused often register counter FIRs against the victims. “This is done with the sole intention of counter blasting the complaint filed by the SC victims. As a result of the counter cases, SC victims of atrocities are being arrested and subjected to criminal litigation as accused in the counter cases,” the report said.
This is the kind of misuse that the Supreme Court said the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act was subject to, and based on which it decided to dilute the Act in March last year.
The 2015 NCRB report noted that Dalits, Adivasis and Muslims constitute 55% of the undertrial prisoners in India. This figure is considerably disproportionate to their total share of the population. According to the 2011 Census, the three communities constitute 39% of the total population in India.
The report on criminal justice also pointed out that a disproportionately high percentage of those sentenced to death are from the backward classes.
The analysis, based on the Death Penalty India Report by the National Law University launched in 2016, found that of the 279 prisoners on death row, 127 or 34% are from the backward classes. Those from the general category constitute 24%.
Another 20% of those sentenced to death belonged to religious minorities. That figure climbed to 79% in Gujarat, where 15 of the 19 prisoners sentenced to death were Muslims.
According to the report, ‘deeply entrenched prejudices’ play a crucial role in the harassment and incarceration of underprivileged communities. “Usually the victims of police torture are mainly Dalit’s and Adivasis. They are often picked up and jailed on concocted charges,” it said.
The report also highlighted that delayed police investigations result in large number of Dalits and Adivasis in jail. “Many prisoners languish in prisons because the police do not complete investigation and file the chargesheet on time. This is a very serious matter because such people remain in prisons without any clue of a police case against them.” (Source: The Business Standard)


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One in every three under-trial prisoners in India is either SC or ST: Study.

Super blood wolf moon - Rare total Lunar Eclipse to appear in Northern Hemisphere skies - Pragnya IAS Academy - News Analysis.

Super blood wolf moon - Rare total Lunar Eclipse to appear in Northern Hemisphere skies.

The Super Blood Wolf Moon, a total Lunar Eclipse, will take place Sunday. It will be seen on January 20 and January 21 and will be visible around the world including North America, Central America, and South America. However, a total lunar eclipse will not be visible in India.

What is the Super Blood Wolf Moon and why is it called that?
You need to know that an eclipse occurs when the Moon passes through Earth’s shadow, and the Sun, Moon and Earth lineup in space. Super Blood Wolf Moon is a lunar eclipse that will last 62 minutes. The moon will appear to glow like a red ball – the result of sun scattered and refracted around Earth.
Due to all lunar events happening at once and perhaps the reason this moon is called January wolf super moon, or some variations of that. Historically the term “full wolf moon” was used by Native Americans.
The term ‘Blood Moon’ comes from the eclipse that’s expected to happen just before the full moon. Many also say that the term blood moon comes from the colour of the eclipsed moon. Expect the colour of this moon to be the dark reddish orange. According to NASA, the colour depends on the amount of dust and clouds in the atmosphere.
When is it and can you view it?
According to a National Geographic report, the eclipse is expected to be visible from the part of North, South and Central Americas and some parts of Western Europe. Unfortunately, Australia and Asia, including India, will miss the eclipse. For the first time, a total lunar eclipse will be visible entirely in the US since 2010.


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Super blood wolf moon - Rare total Lunar Eclipse to appear in Northern Hemisphere skies.

India likely to surpass UK in the world’s largest economy rankings: Report - Pragnya IAS Academy - News Analysis.

India likely to surpass UK in the world’s largest economy rankings: Report.

Highlights:
• PwC’s Global Economy Watch report projects real GDP growth of 1.6% for the UK, 1.7% for France and 7.6% for India in 2019.
• According to World Bank data, India became the world's sixth largest economy in 2017 surpassing France and was likely to go past the UK which stood at the fifth position.
India is likely to surpass the United Kingdom in the world’s largest economy rankings in 2019, according to a report by global consultancy firm PwC. As per the report, while the UK and France have regularly switched places owing to similar levels of development and roughly equal populations, India’s climb up the rankings is likely to be permanent.

PwC’s Global Economy Watch report projects real GDP growth of 1.6% for the UK, 1.7% for France and 7.6% for India in 2019.
"India and France are likely to surpass the UK in the world’s largest economy rankings in 2019, knocking it from fifth to seventh place in the global table," the report said.
According to World Bank data, India became the world's sixth largest economy in 2017 surpassing France and was likely to go past the UK which stood at the fifth position.
PwC’s Global Economy Watch is a short publication that looks at the trends and issues affecting the global economy and details its latest projections for the world's leading economies.
"India should return to a healthy growth rate of 7.6% in 2019-20, if there are no major headwinds in the global economy such as enhanced trade tensions or supply side shocks in oil.
"The growth will be supported through further realisation of efficiency gains from the newly adopted GST and policy impetus expected in the first year of a new government," said Ranen Banerjee, Partner and Leader - Public Finance and Economics, PwC India.
Mike Jakeman, senior economist at PwC, said India is the fastest growing large economy in the world, with an enormous population, favourable demographics and high catch-up potential due to low initial GDP per head.
"The UK and France have regularly alternated in having the larger economy, but subdued growth in the UK in 2018 and again in 2019 is likely to tip the balance in France’s favour. The relative strength of the euro against the pound is an important factor here," Jakeman said.
The global economy as a whole is expected to slow in 2019 as G7 countries return to long-run average growth rates, the PwC report said.
PwC expects that the pick-up in growth of most major economies seen between the end of 2016 and the beginning of 2018 is now over.
As per the World Bank data, in 2017, India became the sixth largest economy with a GDP of $2.59 trillion, relegating France to the seventh position. The GDP of France stood at $2.58 trillion.
The UK, which is facing Brexit blues, had a GDP of $2.62 trillion, which is about $25 billion more than that of India, the data showed.
The US was the world's largest economy with a size of $19.39 trillion, followed by China ($12.23 trillion) at the second place in 2017.
Japan ($4.87 trillion) and Germany ($3.67 trillion) were at the third and fourth places, respectively. (Source:Livemint)


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India likely to surpass UK in the world’s largest economy rankings: Report.

India likely to surpass UK in the world’s largest economy rankings: Report - Pragnya IAS Academy - News Analysis.

The Government of India and JICA sign Loan Agreements on Japan’s Official Development Assistance Loan to India - Pragnya IAS Academy - News Analysis.

The Government of India and JICA sign Loan Agreements on Japan’s Official Development Assistance Loan to India.

The Loan Agreements were signed here today in New Delhi between the Government of India and JICA, New Delhi under Japanese Official Development Assistance Loan Program. The Loan Agreements were signed by Dr. C.S. Mohapatra, Additional Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Government of India and Mr. Katsuo Matsumoto, Chief Representative, JICA, New Delhi on Japanese Official Development Assistance Loan for the (i) Project for the Construction of Chennai Peripheral Ring Road (Phase 1) for JPY 40.074 billion (Rs.2470 Crore approx.), and (ii) Program for Japan-India Cooperative Actions towards Sustainable Development Goals in India for JPY 15.000 billion (Rs.950 Crore approx.).

The Project for the Construction of Chennai Peripheral Ring Road (Phase 1) aims to meet increasing traffic demands in Chennai metropolitan area by constructing the Chennai Peripheral Ring Road (Section 1) and installing Intelligent Transport Systems, thereby contributing to mitigation of Traffic Congestion and promoting Regional Economic Development.
The Program for Japan-India Cooperative Actions towards Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in India aims to contribute to promotion of SDGs in India especially in social development by supporting the efforts by the Government of India to strengthen the Policy Framework and Implementation Mechanism, thereby supporting India in achieving SDGs by 2030.
India and Japan have had a long and fruitful history of Bilateral Development Cooperation since 1958. In the last few years, the Economic Cooperation between India and Japan has steadily progressed. This further consolidates and strengthens the Strategic and Global Partnership between India and Japan. (Source: pib)


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The Government of India and JICA sign Loan Agreements on Japan’s Official Development Assistance Loan to India.

Rural housing reaches only 66% target - Pragnya IAS Academy - News Analysis.

Rural housing reaches only 66% target.

States are delaying the allotment of land for landless beneficiaries, says Centre.

With two and a half months to go for the end of this financial year, the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Grameen) scheme to provide housing for the rural poor has achieved only 66% of its target to complete one crore houses.

The Ministry of Rural Development still hopes to advance further towards the goal by the deadline of March-end, given that about 15 lakh homes have reached the late stages of construction with roofs ready to be added. Another 11 lakh homes have reached the lintel level, and may be completed in the next few months even if they do not meet the March 31 deadline. The scheme has been successful in reducing the average time of construction from 314 days to 114 days, according to an official statement.
However, there has been little headway made with regard to one bloc of beneficiaries: the landless, who do not possess the land on which to construct the PMAY homes they are entitled to.
In a letter to States dated January 4, the Ministry pointed out that only 12% of the 4.72 lakh identified landless beneficiaries had been provided land for house construction.
Laggard States
According to data provided in the letter, some of the most laggard States as of July 2018 were Maharashtra, which had provided land for only 890 of 1.39 lakh landless beneficiaries and Assam, which had provided land for 574 of 48,283 landless beneficiaries. In Bihar, only 55 out of 5,348 beneficiaries had been allotted land. West Bengal had not allotted land for even a single one of its 34,884 landless beneficiaries. “There are about 2.4 lakh left [to be sanctioned] in Bihar and about 30,000 each in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu,” said a senior official of the Ministry. (Source: The Hindu)


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Rural housing reaches only 66% target.

Satellite images show China is building underground facility 50 km from India border - Pragnya IAS Academy - News Analysis.

Satellite images show China is building underground facility 50 km from India border.

The People’s Liberation Army has constructed an underground facility (UGF) barely 50 km from the India-China border, and just 60 km from the Indian forward posts at Demchok in Ladakh.

So far, there was just one UGF in Tibet, with another one which could possibly target India being a fair way away in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. But now, thanks to satellite imagery, ThePrint has identified a deeply buried hardened target (DBHT) under construction near the town of Ngari, also known as Shiquanhe in Mandarin, which could of worry to India.
Construction of this UGF began in December 2016, about six months before the Doklam standoff near the India-China-Bhutan tri-junction in the east. The slow speed of construction indicates that special personnel are being used instead of locals, clearly in order to maintain secrecy and security of the facility.
Overview of the UGF ::
The UGF is served by four large tunnel entrances and three small ones. Most of them have barracks at the entrance for security personnel.
The facilities are in two separate groups, not very far from each other, and connected with proper roads. They have hardened entrances constructed with reinforced cement concrete. It is assessed that all entrances would soon be covered with other material to withstand even a direct hit.
Excavated earth has been piled nearby to avoid detection, but a temporal comparison indicates clear mensuration.
The amount of earth excavated indicates that approximately 3.5 lakh cubic metres of space has been created inside the UGF.
Construction material ::
The construction material for this facility is dumped at two places very close to the entrances. These dumps also have two cement plants sufficient for construction activity inside the tunnels.
The material dump has some iron rebars, indicating that the construction work is reinforced concrete.
The vehicle park and barrack type of accommodation for workers and staff is located very close to one of the dumps.
Garrisons ::
The tunnelled facility has a support garrison constructed in 2016 and 2017. Construction of another support garrison has probably just begun.
Both the garrisons are very close to the main road. The roads are wide enough to let large transporters with big turning radii move smoothly.
Although it is difficult to indicate the exact purpose of this facility with such low temporal resolution, it can safely be assumed that it may be used for storage of missiles and/or ammunition on wheels.


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Satellite images show China is building underground facility 50 km from India border.

2018 sixth warmest year on record, says IMD - Pragnya IAS Academy - News Analysis.

2018 sixth warmest year on record, says IMD.

According to IMD, the anomaly in winter temperatures (+0.59°C) and those of the pre-monsoon (+0.55°C) season contributed to this warming.

Floods triggered by heavy rains took more than 800 lives across states in 2018, which was the sixth warmest year on record, raising concerns over the increasing human cost of climate change.
In its latest report, on ‘climate of India’, the government’s weather department, India Meteorological Department (IMD), stated that the annual mean land-surface air temperature for the country was +0.41°C above the 1981-2010 average, showing an increasing warming trend.
The year 2016 has so far been the warmest year for the country, when the mean annual surface temperature was +0.7°C above the 1981-2010 average. The five warmest years on record in order are 2016 (+0.7 °C), 2009 (+0.56°C), 2017 (+0.5°C), 2010 (+0.54°C) and 2015 (+0.42°C) ever since the nation-wide records commenced in 1901.
According to IMD, out of the 800 deaths in floods triggered by unprecedented rains last year, 223 deaths were reported from Kerala, which witnessed the worst floods in a century in August. As many as 158 deaths were reported in Uttar Pradesh, 139 in Maharashtra and 116 in West Bengal during the monsoon season from June to September.
Uttar Pradesh was the most affected by extreme-weather events, reporting 600 deaths due to cold waves, thunderstorms, dust storms, lightning and floods. Thunderstorms and dust storms together claimed 258 lives in Uttar Pradesh, 75 in Jharkhand and 68 in Rajasthan.
The coastal regions bore the brunt of as many as seven cyclonic storms that formed over the north Indian Ocean last year. However, three of the systems that formed over the Arabian Sea did not have landfall over the Indian region.
As many as 110 lives were lost in cyclones Titli and Cyclone Gaja, which ravaged the coasts of Odisha and Tamil Nadu in October and November, respectively.
According to IMD, the anomaly in winter temperatures (+0.59°C) and those of the pre-monsoon (+0.55°C) season contributed to this warming. (Source:Livemint)


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2018 sixth warmest year on record, says IMD.