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Friday, September 09, 2022

Daily Current Affairs, 09th September 2022

19:45

 


1)  International Day to Protect Education from Attack: 09th September

•The International Day to Protect Education from Attack is an international observance established by a unanimous decision of the United Nations General Assembly in 2020. It is observed on September 9 of each year. The purpose of the day is to raise awareness regarding the importance of safeguarding schools as places of protection and safety for students and educators and the need to keep education at the top of the public agenda.


•International Day to Protect Education From Attack aims to safeguard and shape the future of more than 75 million children in the age group of three to 18-year-olds living in 35 countries. This day sends a clear message regarding the importance of safeguarding schools and the safety of students, as well as educators and giving the children constant access to education.


2)  PM Modi to unveil Central Vista: Erratic path to the megaproject

•PM Modi to unveil Central Vista: Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled Delhi’s Central Vista‘s new look. Beginning in December 2020, a massive makeover of India’s power corridor will result in the construction of a new Parliament building, a unified central secretariat, and an updated version of the three-kilometer-long Kartavya Path between Rashtrapati Bhavan and the India Gate.


3)  Mongolian President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh gifts horse ‘Tejas’ to Rajnath Singh

•The first Indian Defence Minister to visit Mongolia, Rajnath Singh was gifted a majestic horse “Tejas” by President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh. Seven years after Prime Minister Narendra Modi received a similar gift from the leadership of this country. In 2015, Prime Minister Modi received a special gift a brown racehorse from his then Mongolian counterpart Chimed Saikhanbileg during his historic visit to this country. The horse was named Kanthaka’.


•Defence Minister Singh is on a five-day visit to Mongolia and Japan with an aim to expand India’s strategic and defence ties with the two countries in the backdrop of evolving regional security matrix and geo-political turmoil.


•The Mongolian President expressed satisfaction with the expansion of relations and cooperation with India, Mongolia’s important third neighbour while pointing out that the official visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Mongolia in 2015, and the ongoing visit of the Defence Minister Singh are important impetus for further development.


4)  India, China Troops Disengage At LAC Friction In Ladakh

•Indian and Chinese troops have begun disengaging at Patrolling Pillar (15) in the Gogra-Hotspring region of Eastern Ladakh, the government said. Forces of the two countries have been locked in a confrontational position in the area since April 2020. “On 8th September 2022, according to the consensus reached in the 16th round of India China Corps Commander Level Meeting, the Indian and Chinese troops in the area of Gogra-Hotsprings (PP-15) have begun to disengage in a coordinated and planned way, which is conducive to the peace and tranquility in the border areas,” a ‘Joint Statement’ issued by the Ministry of Defence said.


5)  Rajasthan launched 100 days urban employment guarantee scheme

•Rajasthan government launched an ambitious scheme to provide 100 days of employment to needy families in urban areas on the lines of the rural employment guarantee scheme MGNREGA. More than 2.25 lakh families have already registered for the Indira Gandhi Urban Employment Scheme which was proposed by chief minister Ashok Gehlot in the state budget this year.


•The scheme to be launched on September 9 would cover works like environment protection, water and heritage conservation, garden maintenance, and removing encroachments, illegal sign boards, hoardings, banners etc. Sanitation, cleanliness and other such works will also be undertaken under the scheme.


6)  300 New Cargo Terminals To Boost Railway Revenue

•The Union Cabinet had approved a policy on long-term leasing of Railways’ land as well as a proposal to develop 300 Gati Shakti cargo terminals over the next five years. A senior official said on Thursday that the Railways expect an incremental revenue of at least ₹30,000 crore per annum from freight services when 300 Gati Shakti cargo terminals will be operational.


7)  UNDP’s human development index: India ranks 132 out of 191 countries

•A report on the 2021 Human Development Index (HDI) is part of the Human Development Report 2021-2022 released by the United Nations Development Programme. The HDI measures the average achievement of a country in three basic dimensions of human development — a long and healthy life, education and a decent standard of living. It is calculated using four indicators — life expectancy at birth, mean years of schooling, expected years of schooling, and the Gross National Income (GNI) per capita.


8)  U.S. Announced 450 Million $ Package To Pakistan

•The Biden Administration has approved a whopping USD 450 million F-16 fighter jet fleet sustainment programme to Pakistan. As a notification to the US Congress, the State Department has made a determination approving a possible foreign military sale of F-16 case for sustainment and related equipment for an estimated cost of USD 450 million, arguing that this will sustain Islamabad’s capability to meet current and future counterterrorism threats by maintaining its F-16 fleet.
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PIB Compilation August 2022 PDF: LEARN FINITE Monthly PIB Compilation

14:38

PIB Compilation August 2022 PDF: LEARN FINITE Monthly PIB Compilation

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The HINDU Notes – 09th September 2022

14:32

 


📰 India ranks 132 in HDI as score drops

•India ranks 132 out of 191 countries in the Human Development Index (HDI) 2021, after registering a decline in its score over two consecutive years for the first time in three decades.

•The drop is in line with the global trend since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic during which 90% of the countries have fallen backward in human development.

•The Index is part of the Human Development Report 2021-2022 released by the United Nations Development Programme on Thursday. The HDI measures average achievement of a country in three basic dimensions of human development — a long and healthy life, education and a decent standard of living. It is calculated using four indicators — life expectancy at birth, mean years of schooling, expected years of schooling, and the Gross National Income (GNI) per capita.

📰 The outline of an essential global pandemic treaty
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THE HINDU NEWSPAPER IMPORTANT ARTICLES 09.09.2022

07:31
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Thursday, September 08, 2022

The HINDU Notes – 08th September 2022

15:07

 


📰 Cabinet approves PM SHRI scheme

Government schools will be selected if a State agrees to implement NEP in ‘entirety’

•The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the ‘PM Schools for Rising India’ (PM SHRI) scheme to turn existing government schools into model schools for implementation of the National Education Policy, 2022.

•The scheme will be implemented as a Centrally sponsored scheme with a total project cost of ₹27,360 crore, with the Centre’s share being ₹18,128 crore for the period of five years from 2022-23 to 2026-27 for transforming nearly 14,500 schools across the country.

•However, schools will be selected only if the State government agrees to implement the NEP “in entirety with the Centre laying down commitments for supporting these schools for achieving specified quality parameters” to become PM SHRI schools, according to a press statement of the Ministry of Education. These schools will also be “monitored vigorously” to assess their progress in implementing NEP.

•The scheme has been announced at a time when some States, including Tamil Nadu, continue to oppose the NEP for imposing a centralised education system on the entire country when education is a State subject as well as enforcing the three-language policy under which students will learn three languages out of which two have to be native to India. Other grounds for opposition include mandatory school entry at three years, which could leave out many from marginalised communities, promotion of vocational courses from Class 6 at the cost of formal education, as well as the option to exit schools in Class 10 with the option to re-enter in Class 11.

•“A school will receive nearly ₹2 crore, and the money will be transferred directly to the school’s account through Direct Benefit Transfer. The principal or the local committee will be given the flexibility to determine the use of 40% of the fund,” Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said at a press conference.

•The PM SHRI scheme also provides a “School Quality Assessment Framework” which will be developed for measuring key performance indicators for carrying out quality evaluation of schools selected from the current academic year.

•The quality parameters that will be evaluated once a school is selected for the scheme will include implementation of NEP 2020, student registry for tracking enrolment and learning progress, improvement in learning outcomes of each child to achieve levels above State and national average, linkage of school with higher education institutions and local entrepreneurial ecosystem for mentoring as well as creating “students rooted in the heritage of India, proud of values of Bharat, conscious of duties towards society and responsibilities towards nation-building”.

•Earlier, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the scheme and said there was a need to pay attention to all government schools, which he said were worse than “kabaadkhana” (scrapyard). “You have only prepared a scheme for 14,500 schools. There are more than 10 lakh government schools in the country,” he wrote

📰 Rajpath, Central Vista lawns renamed ‘Kartavya Path’

Proposal passed day before PM inaugurates revamped avenue

•Rajpath and Central Vista Lawns in the national capital will now be known as “Kartavya Path” after the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC), in a special council meeting on Wednesday, approved a proposal to rename the iconic stretch.

•Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the revamped Central Vista Avenue, which encompasses the stretch, lawns and adjoining areas, on Thursday.

•Referring to the renaming, Union Minister and NDMC member Meenakshi Lekhi said that the name “Rajpath” reflected a “colonial mindset”, which had to be done away with since “India adopted a democratic system after Independence”. During British rule, Rajpath was known as Kingsway. Ms. Lekhi said the change came into effect “immediately” after the council meeting. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who is also an NDMC member, was not present at the meeting.

•NDMC vice-chairman Satish Upadhyay said the stretch and area from India Gate to the Rashtrapati Bhavan will now be known as “Kartavya Path”.

Renaming signages

•A senior official at the Central Public Works Department said that vinyl films will be pasted on signages in 14 locations highlighting the renaming. “The work will be completed before the inauguration of the revamped Central Vista Avenue on Thursday,” said the official.

•The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), in a statement, said the renaming of the stretch symbolises a shift from the “erstwhile Rajpath being an icon of power to Kartavya Path being an example of public ownership and empowerment”.

•The statement issued by the PMO said Mr. Modi will on Thursday also unveil a statue of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose at India Gate, where a hologram of the late freedom fighter was installed earlier this year.

📰 The Spirit of 1971

India and Bangladesh must focus on future cooperation based on past partnership

•Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s ongoing state visit to India and meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi have resulted in positive outcomes and seven agreements, which include the conclusion of the first water sharing agreement in 26 years, the launch of free trade agreement talks, and infrastructure projects particularly in the railways sector. The water sharing agreement on the Kushiyara, which was preceded by the first Joint River Commission meeting in 12 years, is a particularly hopeful sign on resolving water management, and a very contentious issue, of 54 trans-boundary rivers. While there has been a smaller agreement on the withdrawal of 1.82 cusecs from the Feni in the interim period, the Kushiyara agreement is the first time the Centre has been able to bring on board Assam and other north-eastern States, for the agreement since the 1996 Ganga water treaty. However, the Teesta agreement, of 2011, held up by West Bengal, remains elusive, a point Ms. Hasina made several times. Clearly, the Teesta river agreement will require more efforts by the Modi government, and flexibility from the Mamata Banerjee-led State government, if the deal is to be sealed soon. The timeline grows more important for Ms. Hasina, who is due to hold elections at the end of next year, after three terms in office. Much of her focus was also on attracting investment by Indian industry, which now constitutes a small fraction of Bangladesh’s FDI inflows. Ms. Hasina made particular mention of two dedicated Special Economic Zones for Indian companies, coming up at Mongla and Mirsarai.

•Ms. Hasina’s visit, which follows her previous state visit in 2017, and Mr. Modi’s visit to Bangladesh in 2021, have set India-Bangladesh ties on a firmer footing, and on course for closer engagement in trade, connectivity and people-to-people ties. However, the positive trend in ties goes further back, to Ms. Hasina’s advent to power in 2009, her unilateral moves to shut down terror training camps, and to hand over more than 20 wanted criminals and terror suspects to India. It is incumbent on New Delhi, which has benefited from such outcomes and the turnaround in relations with what used to be an inimical neighbour, to be equally sensitive to Dhaka’s concerns, particularly when it comes to comments made by ruling party leaders on deporting Rohingya refugees, comparing undocumented migrants to “termites”, the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, and more recent references to annexing Bangladesh for “Akhand Bharat”. While cross-border sensitivities in South Asia often run high over such political rhetoric, it is necessary that New Delhi and Dhaka remain focused on their future cooperation, built on their past partnership, and what is referred to as the “Spirit of 1971”.

📰 The evolving role of CSR in funding NGOs

Beyond signing cheques, corporates are recognising that what’s good for society is good for business

•When COVID-19 spurred a nationwide lockdown in India in 2020, a grave need for localised social support emerged. Giving, both private and public, flowed to NGOs working towards combating pandemic-induced challenges such as loss of livelihood for vulnerable communities, food banks, and health and medical support. 

•In any such social effort, programme expenses attract the big cheques — especially when they come from corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives in India. For example, an NGO working on education outcomes might receive funding for books, other online resources, teacher training, curriculum design, etc. But NGOs have other expenses too. In order to achieve long-term and sustained impact, they need to pay for administrative and support expenses not specifically tied to programmes— for instance, rent, electricity, technology and human resource costs. These organisational development and indirect costs, combined with programme expenses, make up an NGOs’ true costs. And underfunding an NGO’s true costs reduces the efficacy and impact of the very programmes that funders support.

•To understand how funders and NGOs perceive an NGO’s true costs, and what it takes to build a financially resilient social sector, we surveyed and interviewed over 500 NGOs, funders and intermediary organisations across India as part of our multi-year Pay-What-It-Takes-India initiative.

The funder archetypes

•Based on a recent survey of nearly 80 diverse social sector funders, we discovered three distinct funder archetypes — programme proponents, adaptive funders, and organisation builders. The three archetypes represent different beliefs in terms of how philanthropy becomes impact. And those beliefs manifest in different practices around funding indirect costs and organisational development. Programme proponents value programme outcomes above all. Adaptive funders are not rigid and support indirect costs and organisational development, if the NGO makes a case. Organisation builders see value in investing in stronger organisations in addition to programmes.

•CSR funders, who now represent a fifth of all private giving in India, principally fall under programme proponents. They mostly contribute little or no money to organisational development and limit what they pay for indirect costs to a fixed rate often below 5%. Our 2020 primary research showed that NGOs’ indirect costs range from 5% to 55%, depending on their mission and operating model, much as a corporate’s sales and administration costs vary significantly by industry and product.

•These practices are partly a consequence of CSR funders’ focus on regulatory compliance — amendments to the CSR law in 2021 include substantial financial penalties for non-compliance. Roughly 90% of the CSR funders are relatively small, unlisted companies — and companies that spend less than ₹50 lakh annually on CSR are not required by law to have a CSR committee. They generally leave decision-making and action plans to company boards, who may have little to no experience working with NGOs or on social impact. Hence, their priorities tend to sway towards risk avoidance, compliance, and cost minimisation. Several larger companies have added CSR to the responsibilities of their HR or administration or communications head, rather than hiring professional leads, experienced in the social sector. 

•Further, not every company is aware of all the facets of the CSR rules they are complying with. For instance, the 5% cap on administrative overhead costs is applicable only to a business’ internal CSR operation cost, not to the grantee’s administrative costs, as is widely perceived. Many CSRs make errors on safety with the unintended consequence of leaving an NGO with unpaid bills or worse still, drawing on its scarce core funding from other donors to pay for these essential costs.

•How might this change? For one thing, companies can pool their resources with other mission-aligned CSR or social sector stakeholders, increasing their collective impact potential, and also hire or tap into professionals with experience working with NGOs. Since 2020, the number of philanthropic collaboratives, such as the Migrants Resilience Collaborative that supports migrant workers or Revive Alliance that finances semi- and unskilled workers, have more than doubled.

Learn from peer organisations

•In addition, CSR funders would learn from peers who view organisational development and indirect costs differently. For example, ASK Foundation, the CSR arm of ASK Group, is working to enable better livelihoods for rural communities. Until four years ago, the ASK gave annual programme grants to NGOs, limited indirect cost coverage to between 5% and 10%, and did not provide organisational development expenses. Then, it shifted to a multi-year grant making approach and started providing up to 20% support for indirect costs. The shift in practice came after the CSR team presented benchmarks of the higher rates paid by peer CSR organisations and the beneficial effects of a stronger NGO partner on its programme outcomes. These peer examples and impact stories were instrumental in ASK getting board approval for changing its NGO funding policy.

•The pandemic also exposed how vulnerable NGOs are to financial stress. Our research revealed that 54% of NGOs had less than three months in reserve funds in September 2020. This number stood at 38% before the pandemic. Without adequate reserves, NGOs cannot pay salaries or bills when faced with an unexpected funding shortfall.

•The CSR programmes cannot currently contribute to NGO reserves/corpus by law. However, by covering indirect costs and organisational development, they still help to relieve financial pressure and make organisations more resilient. What’s more, corporates have considerable accounting and finance capabilities that they can offer to NGOs, in addition to their funding. NGOs don’t have clear financial reporting standards and many lack the internal capabilities to undertake a true-cost analysis. A corporate that has developed a relationship of mutual trust with an NGO could offer volunteer financial analysis services to help the NGO calculate true costs and communicate with other funders, and build financial resilience.

•Not many CSR funders think this way right now, but CSR practices are maturing. As our research has shown, more CSR decision-makers are shifting their focus from compliance with CSR laws to the social impact they are making. CSR funders are following several themes to make this transition, such as hiring professionals, coming together in collaboratives, and defining and publishing their impact metrics to hold themselves accountable. The idea is to move beyond signing cheques to recognising that, ultimately, what’s good for Indian society is also good for business.

📰 Time for a joint space exercise
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Wednesday, September 07, 2022

The HINDU Notes – 07th September 2022

15:00

 


📰 No compromise

Air safety is paramount, and politicians should not be allowed to pressure ATC officials

•The incident, on August 31, wherein two BJP Members of Parliament, Nishikant Dubey and Manoj Tiwari, and their entourage are alleged to have ‘forcibly obtained take-off clearance’ close to sunset, from the Air Traffic Control (ATC) at Deogarh airport in Jharkhand for their flight is a case of ‘tail-scraping’ established air safety norms. The politicians — they were in the State to meet the family members of a minor girl in Dumka who had been set ablaze by a stalker on August 23 — are reported to have reached the airport at around 5.25 p.m. to fly back to Delhi on a chartered twin-engine business jet. Based on complaints by the airport security-in charge and the Deputy Commissioner of Deogarh, the allegation is that the ATC was coerced into allowing the flight to depart, resulting in the Jharkhand police registering an FIR against the MPs and the others. Various sections of the Indian Penal Code such as ‘endangering life or personal safety’ have been applied. Mr. Dubey in turn filed an FIR in Delhi against the Deputy Commissioner and the Jharkhand police which includes, bizarrely, their being booked under Section 124A (sedition). It is at this point, air safety experts concur, that the clutter must be swept aside and the core issue of flight safety brought firmly into focus.

•Deogarh, according to data available in the Aeronautical Information Publication, is still a Visual Flight Rules (VFR) airport, and night operations are not permitted. Further, point 3 under ‘En-Route–1.2 Visual Flight Rules’ states that “VFR flights shall not be operated between 20 minutes after sunset to 20 minutes before sunrise, except when exempted by air traffic control for local flights....”, the principle being that the airfield should be available in the event of an emergency after take-off under VFR conditions. It must be noted that sunset at Deogarh was at 6.03 p.m. and the flight left at 6.17 p.m. The difficulties the crew could have faced at such an airport in the event of an emergency, such as a bird hit or engine failure, do not have to be elaborated — avian life is active at twilight and Jharkhand is known to be a bird-rich spot. Other airports in the region available for a diversion are not close either. Additionally, to have one of the politicians who is part of a committee constituted by the Ministry of Civil Aviation attempting to push the boundaries of safety is unacceptable. The episode also highlights the pressures faced by air traffic controllers and officials, especially in small airports in India. As a member of the International Civil Aviation Organization and bound by its stringent rules, India must ensure that directives are followed and that there is a thorough and fair probe, with penalties, by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation and the Ministry of Civil Aviation. The politics should be fenced off.

📰 For Vizhinjam, business as usual is not an option
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Tuesday, September 06, 2022

VISION IAS Mains 2022 Ethics Test 1 With Solution in Hindi & English PDF

12:38

VISION IAS Mains 2022 Ethics Test 1 With Solution in Hindi & English PDF

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The HINDU Notes – 06th September 2022

12:23

 


📰 The difficult path to India-Pakistan peace

The failure to manage the domestic audience in Pakistan is a recurrent trope that has overwhelmed peace attempts

•After the unceremonious ouster of Imran Khan from the seat of government in Pakistan and the promulgation of Shehbaz Sharif as Prime Minister, there have been signs of a thaw in India-Pakistan relations. It was reported that the Pakistan Army chief, General Qamar Bajwa, had countenanced backchannel talks and a “limited trade resumption package” with India. This was to help alleviate some of the stresses on Pakistan’s flailing and cash-strapped domestic economy that was veering on the edge of a default in the face of a widening current account deficit and high inflation brought on by the after-effects of a global novel coronavirus pandemic, unprecedented floods, and decades of poor planning.

•As a respite, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) recently agreed to a one-year extension for Pakistan’s 39-month, $6 billion Extended Fund Facility programme begun in 2019, and further added an additional $1.17 billion to its coffers. To ease its situation further, especially considering the devastating impact of the floods on food supply in Pakistan, Pakistan’s Finance Minister Miftah Ismail had indicated his openness to import “vegetables and edible items from India”. However, Mr. Sharif had to quickly retract Mr. Ismail’s suggestion and restate his government’s commitment to prioritising a resolution of the Kashmir dispute before normalisation of bilateral relations could take place. There has been no official confirmation of India’s proposal to provide food aid to Pakistan, nor of any Pakistani request for the same.

Domestic pressures

•It is abundantly clear that Mr. Sharif, despite the obvious economic benefit of seeking trade in essential commodities with India, is unable to overcome the pressures of domestic public opinion in Pakistan. His predecessor’s controversial and unpopular departure via a vote of no-confidence and upcoming general elections in Pakistan has swayed Mr. Sharif’s decision-making. Mr. Khan’s party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf, won a convincing victory in the hugely important Punjab by-polls earlier this year. Meanwhile, the stock of the Sharif-led coalition is sinking as he has been forced to introduce austerity measures and rollback public subsidies to meet the IMF’s demands.

•A simple application of rational choice theory would suggest that Mr. Sharif’s choice is fairly straightforward. Pakistan should ask India, a large agricultural producer in the neighbourhood, to provide it essential aid in its moment of crisis. India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi had even tweeted that he was “saddened to see the devastation caused by the floods in Pakistan”. This suggests an implicit willingness to provide food aid if required. It is worth noting that India provided essential vaccine supplies to Pakistan during the COVID-19 pandemic and there is precedence for cooperation between the two nations when faced with such emergencies. But still, Mr. Sharif could not muster the political will to serve Pakistan’s short-term interests, despite the fact that such trade would not create long-term dependencies on India, or require extreme concessions, or entail a compromise of principles.

Leader equations

•This episode sheds light on the enduring nature of India-Pakistan relations. Due to the deep securitisation of the Kashmir dispute in Pakistan’s social imaginary, it is quite challenging for Pakistan’s leadership to sustain any sort of peacemaking with India, even if strong material incentives are present. It is known that the electoral costs of such an undertaking would be suicidal, making Pakistani peacemakers susceptible to popular backlash.

•In my research on conflict termination, I have found that the personal reputations of leaders as well as moments of weakness can be useful to trust-building processes between rivals. Mr. Sharif and Mr. Modi have reputations that are conducive. Mr. Modi, as former Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee’s successor, was seen by Nawaz Sharif, Shehbaz Sharif’s brother and former Pakistani Prime Minister, as a populist leader capable of countenancing an Indian compromise on the Kashmir dispute. It is likely that this view still holds sway.

•Similarly, the Modi government in India has long seen the Sharif regime in Pakistan as supportive of stability in bilateral ties. Mr. Modi had even made a surprise visit to Lahore in 2015 to meet Nawaz Sharif and demonstrate his sincerity in resolving pending disputes. Pakistan’s weakness and need for food aid is also apparent in the given circumstances. India too would like to refocus its overstretched defence capacities on handling China. Still, a breakthrough remains elusive.

In the 1950s

•This was also the case in 1953 when Mohammed Ali Bogra and Jawaharlal Nehru negotiated the Kashmir dispute. Bogra was a Bengali and desirably seen in New Delhi as lacking Punjabi sentimentality on Kashmir. Nehru on the other hand was considered a strong, popular, and secular leader who was able to withstand the crosscurrents of public opinion in India. Then too, Pakistan faced economic distress. Bogra and Nehru made reciprocal visits to New Delhi and Karachi. They got close to an agreed solution on Kashmir, but each time, Bogra’s inability to foster domestic coalitions to support the peacemaking process with India overrode the negotiations. The ire of domestic publics against Bogra as well as the disapproval of his cabinet colleagues were insurmountable. Such failure to manage domestic audience costs in Pakistan and insulate the peace process from spoilers has been a recurrent trope and has derailed several India-Pakistan peace dialogues.

•In the circumstances, much will depend on the outcome of the next general elections in Pakistan and the choice of Gen. Bajwa’s successor. If the Sharif-led coalition government returns to power and a similar-minded army chief is appointed, there may indeed be renewed opening for a sustained backchannel dialogue and trade. However, these talks too are likely to remain unfruitful until there is bipartisan support in Pakistan on the need to normalise ties with India and the two states enter a long period of de-securitisation. This may be too much to ask for. But, without it, the price of peace with India will be too high for Pakistan’s leaders. As long as the option of peace (or in this case, trade) forces Pakistan’s leaders to choose between their survival as political agents and the larger interests of the state, the answer is likely to disappoint.

📰 Gorbachev, macro-economics, and Gandhi
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Impact of Pandemic on Crimes and Suicides

07:34

 What is the issue?

Increase in violent crimes, suicides in NCRB’s Crime in India report 2021 points to indirect consequences of pandemic.

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Kurukshetra Magazine September 2022 ( English ) PDF

07:29

Kurukshetra Magazine September 2022 ( English ) PDF

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