UPSC Essentials | Weekly news express with MCQs: Republic Day, India-Egypt ties, Padma Awards, and more
Written by on January 30, 2023
An invitation to be the Republic Day chief guest is highly symbolic from the Indian government’s perspective. New Delhi has been weaving strategy with hospitality to decide its chief guest for the Republic Day. The choice of chief guest every year is dictated by a number of reasons — strategic and diplomatic, business interests, and international geo-politics.
India and Egypt share close political understanding based on a long history of cooperation in bilateral, regional and global issues. The joint announcement of the establishment of diplomatic relations at the Ambassadorial level was made on August 18, 1947.
India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Egypt’s President Gamal Abdel Nasser signed the Friendship Treaty between the two countries, and they were key to forming the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) along with Yugoslav President Josip Broz Tito
Since the 1980s, there have been four Prime Ministerial visits from India to Egypt: Rajiv Gandhi (1985); P V Narasimha Rao (1995); IK Gujral (1997); and Dr. Manmohan Singh (2009, NAM Summit). From the Egyptian side, President Hosni Mubarak visited India in 1982, in 1983 (NAM Summit), and again in 2008.
High-level exchanges with Egypt continued after the 2011 Egyptian Revolution and then President Mohamed Morsi visited India in March 2013. India’s External Affairs Minister (EAM) visited Cairo in March 2012 and the Egyptian Foreign Minister visited India in December 2013.
After the new government led by President Sisi took over in June 2014, then EAM Sushma Swaraj visited Cairo in August 2015. PM Modi met President Sisi on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), New York, in September 2015. President Pranab Mukherjee and PM Modi met Sisi during the Third India-Africa Forum Summit in New Delhi in October 2015.
President Sisi also paid a State visit to India in September 2016. A joint statement was issued, outlining the three pillars of political-security cooperation, economic engagement & scientific collaboration and cultural & people-people ties as the basis of a new partnership for a new era.
PM Modi held a phone conversation with Sisi on April 17, 2020 to discuss efforts to halt the spread of the coronavirus, and again on April 26, 2020 to exchange Eid-ul-Fitr greetings. The PM expressed appreciation for the support extended by Egyptian authorities for the safety and welfare of Indian nationals in Egypt during the Covid crisis.
President Sisi expressed sympathy and solidarity with India during the second wave of Covid-19, on April 30, 2021. Egypt dispatched three planes with medical supplies to India on May 9, 2021. In addition, the Embassy of India also signed an agreement to procure 300,000 doses of REMDESEVIR from M/s EVA Pharma, Egypt, which were provided well before schedule.
Egypt has traditionally been one of India’s most important trading partners in the African continent. The India-Egypt bilateral trade agreement has been in operation since March 1978 and is based on the most-favoured nation clause.
The bilateral trade has increased more than five times in the past 10 years. In 2018-19, it reached USD 4.55 billion. Despite the pandemic, trade volume declined only marginally to USD 4.5 billion in 2019-20 and to USD 4.15 billion in 2020-21. Bilateral trade has expanded rapidly in 21-22 — climbing to 7.26 billion, a 75 per cent increase from FY 2020-2021.
Officials said that the two countries will be looking at a range of sectors, and agriculture will be one of the key areas of cooperation.
Egypt, which is facing a shortage of food grains as its major sources were the warring Ukraine and Russia, wants to buy wheat from India. In May last year, India — which had put a ban on sale of wheat — allowed export of 61,000 tonnes to Egypt. But the country wants more grains, in view of the shortages.
Egypt’s President is also coming at a time when the country is facing a massive economic crisis due to depleted forex reserves. While there has been no request for budgetary support, India is looking at increasing investments in the country, especially in major infrastructure projects in and around the Suez Canal, in terms of special economic zones in Alexandria and Cairo. Egypt is also keen to push for more tourism from India, and ease the movement of people so that there is more forex inflow into their tourism-dependent economy.
With Sisi being a former Army chief, Egypt is interested in procuring defence equipment from India, which includes LCA Tejas, missiles like Akash, DRDO’s Smart Anti-Airfield Weapon, and radars. This is being developed as part of defence industry cooperation, and one of the markers was that Defence minister Rajnath Singh visited Cairo last year when a defence pact was signed. Egypt has also been invited to participate in the Aero-India 2023 at Yelahanka Air Force Station, Bengaluru, next month.
A military contingent from the Egyptian Army will participate in the Republic Day parade. The two countries will also look at the education sector, where Indian higher educational institutions can set up campuses in Egypt: a proposal for establishing an IIT in Egypt is in the works.
1. MCQ
The 1929 Session of Indian, National Congress is of significance in the history of the Freedom Movement because the (2014)
On January 25, the government announced the Padma awards.
Former Uttar Pradesh CM Mulayam Singh Yadav (Posthumous), ex-Karnataka Chief Minister SM Krishna, Architect Balkrishna Doshi (Posthumous), Shri Srinivas Vardhan ( Science and Technology), Oral Rehydration Solution (ORS) icon Dilip Mahalanabis, Zakir Hussain (Art) are among the prominent names who will be conferred with the Padma Vibhushan.
The Padma Awards are India’s highest civilian honours after the Bharat Ratna, seeking to “recognize achievements in all fields of activities or disciplines where an element of public service is involved,” the Padma Awards website said.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
The history of Padma Awards
Two awards, the Bharat Ratna and Padma Vibhushan were first instituted in 1954 as India’s highest civilian honours. The latter had three classes: Pahela Varg (1st Class), Dusra Varg (Second Class) and Tisra Varg (Third Class). In 1955, these were subsequently named as Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri respectively.
While the Bharat Ratna is treated as an exceptional award with only 45 Bharat Ratnas being handed over till date, the Padma Awards are annually conferred to deserving civilians. Except for interruptions in 1978, 1979 and between 1993 and 1997, every year the names of the recipients are announced on Republic Day eve.
Typically, not more than 120 awards are given in a year, but this does not include posthumous awards or awards given to NRIs and foreigners. While the award is normally not conferred posthumously, the Government can consider posthumous felicitation in exceptional circumstances.
The first ever Padma Vibhushan awardees in 1954 were scientist Satyendra Nath Bose, artist Nandalal Bose, educationist and politician Zakir Hussain, social worker and politician Balasaheb Gangadhar Kher, and diplomat and academic V.K. Krishna Menon. The first ever non-Indian Padma Vibhushan awardee was Bhutanese king Jigme Dorji Wangchuk, who also received the award in 1954.
What the Padma Awards entail
The awards are presented by the President of India, typically at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
The awardees do not get any cash reward but a certificate signed by the President apart from a medallion which they can wear at public and government functions. The awards are, however, not a conferment of title and the awardees are expected to not use them as prefix or suffix to their names.
While a Padma awardee can be given a higher award (i.e. a Padma Shri awardee can receive a Padma Bhushan or Vibhushan), this can only happen after five years of the conferment of the previous award.
The awards are given in certain select categories which include Art, Social Work, Public Affairs, Science & Engineering, Trade & Industry, Medicine, Literature & Education, Civil Service and Sports. Awards are also given for propagation of Indian culture, protection of human rights, wildlife protection among others.
The eligibility for Padma Awards
All persons without distinction of race, occupation, position or sex are eligible for these awards. However, government servants including those working with PSUs, except doctors and scientists, are not eligible for these awards.
The award seeks to recognise works of distinction and is given for distinguished and exceptional achievements or service in all fields of activities and disciplines.
According to Padma awards selection criteria, the award is given for “special services” and not just for “long service”. “It should not be merely excellence in a particular field, but the criteria has to be ‘excellence plus’.
The process of selection for Padma Awards
Any citizen of India can nominate a potential recipient. One can even nominate one’s own self. All nominations are to be done online where a form is to be filled along with details of the person or the organisation being nominated. An 800-word essay detailing the work done by the potential awardee is also to be submitted for the nomination to be considered.
The government opens the Padma awards portal for nominations between May 1 and September 15 every year. It also writes to various state governments, governors, Union territories, central ministries and various departments to send nominations.
There is also no rigid criteria or trenchant formula for selection, according to MHA. However, the lifetime achievement of an individual is among the main considerations.
All nominations received for Padma awards are placed before the Padma Awards Committee, which is constituted by the Prime Minister every year. The Padma Awards Committee is headed by the Cabinet Secretary and includes Home Secretary, Secretary to the President and four to six eminent persons as members. The recommendations of the committee are submitted to the Prime Minister and the President of India for approval.
Sources told The Indian Express in 2022 that once a preliminary selection is made, the antecedents of the selected awardees are verified using the services of central agencies to ensure nothing untoward has been reported or come on record about them. A final list is then prepared and announced.
Can the Padma Awards be refused?
While explicit consent is not sought from the awardee, before the final list is announced, they receive a call from the MHA. If they do not seek to receive the award, they can refuse at that time and their names will be removed without any noise. However, historically, there have been a few instances of more public refusals.
For instance, historian Romila Thapar refused to accept the Padma Bhushan twice, in 1992, and later again in 2005, stating that she would accept awards only “from academic institutions or those associated with my professional work.”
Former Kerala Chief Minister and doyen of India’s communist movement E.M.S. Namboodripad declined the award in 1992, as it went against his nature to accept a state honour.
Swami Ranganathananda declined the award in 2000 as it was conferred to him as an individual and not to the Ramakrishna Mission, his institution.
There have also been a few instances when the award has been “returned.” Recently, former Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal returned his Padma Vibhushan in 2020, in the wake of the raging farmers’ protests in the state.
Annulment of Padma Awards
While extremely rare, the President of India can annul/cancel someone’s Padma award in case of any egregious misconduct committed by the recipient. Recently, this issue came up when medal-winning wrestler and Padma Shri awardee Sushil Kumar was implicated in a case of murder.
( Source: Padma Awards 2023 announced: History of the awards, how the winners are chosen)
Point to ponder: Padma Award has emerged as People’s Award. Do you agree?
2. MCQ:
With reference to Padma Awards, consider the following statements:
1. The Padma Awards Committee is headed by the Home Secretary.
2. President of India can annul/cancel someone’s Padma award.
Which of the above statements are correct?
(a) Only 1
(b) Only 2
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar’s visit to Sri Lanka
Syllabus:
Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.
Main Examination: General Studies II: India and its Neighbourhood- Relations.
Why in news?
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar’s visit to Sri Lanka, after his visit to the Maldives, conveyed 1) glad tidings, 2) a much delayed invitation, and 3) two strong messages on India’s expectations of its nearest Indian Ocean neighbour. Taken together, the three provide an understanding of how Delhi views its relations with Colombo.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Nirupama Subramanian Explains
The good news
Jaishankar’s January 20 visit came a day after India had conveyed to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that India strongly supports Sri Lanka’s debt restructuring plan. New Delhi is the first bilateral creditor to do so. Sri Lanka has sought similar reassurances from China and other creditors as well.
“As soon as adequate assurances are obtained and remaining requirements are met…a Fund-supported program for Sri Lanka can be presented to the IMF’s Executive Board for approval that would unlock much needed financing,” the IMF said in a statement on Monday.
Fund Facility of $ 2.9 billion to tide over its economic crisis, but as a precondition, Colombo’s bilateral creditors must provide financing assurances on debt sustainability. China, Japan, and India are Sri Lanka’s main bilateral creditors.
The creditors’ main concern is that the restructuring plan must treat all creditors equally. India and China did not accept the invitation of the Paris Club — a group of 22 OECD nations of which Japan is part — to join the platform. India and Japan have been in bilateral discussions with Sri Lanka; China is yet to say clearly what it wants.
Jaishankar said in Colombo that in going to the IMF first, India “did not wait on others and decided to do what we believe is right”, acting on its Neighbourhood First principle. He hoped other bilateral creditors would follow suit. He did not mention any other country, but said India expected that its first move would not only help Sri Lanka consolidate its position, but that all creditors would would be treated equally.
The Sri Lankans were appreciative of last year’s $ 4 billion bailout from New Delhi; they would now be even more acutely aware that not only did Beijing not pitch in last year, its seeming reluctance to give the assurance the IMF requires, could derail any recovery plan.
Of the total bilateral debt, China’s share is 52 per cent, Japan’s 19.5 per cent, and India’s 12 per cent.
The invitation
New Sri Lankan Presidents have traditionally made their first foreign visit to New Delhi, within weeks if not days of taking charge. In 2019, India reversed the tradition: Jaishankar flew to Colombo to greet Gotabaya Rajapaksa on his election as President, and invited him to visit New Delhi. But after Ranil Wickremesinghe replaced Rajapaksa — the bulk of his support in the parliamentary vote came from the Rajapaksas’ Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna — India reacted cautiously.
The first response was from the Indian High Commission in Colombo, assuring India’s support to “the people” in their quest for economic recovery “through democratic means and values, established democratic institutions and constitutional framework”. Prime Minister Narendra Modi sent his congratulatory message only after a week, again mentioning India’s support to the people of Sri Lanka.
President Wickremesinghe’s first two visits abroad were to Japan and the UK, for the funerals of Minister Shinzo Abe and Queen Elizabeth respectively.
This is the first time since at least the 1990s that it has taken so long for New Delhi to invite a new Sri Lankan President. Wickremesinghe will “visit India at an early date to discuss how our partnership can facilitate Sri Lanka’s strong recovery”.
The messages
Since end-2020, when Sri Lanka’s then finance minister Basil Rajapaksa arrived in India to seek help to tide over the crisis that was rapidly building up at the time, India has been clear that its cooperation would rest on the “four pillars” of energy security, food security, currency support for foreign exchange, and Indian investment in Sri Lanka.
Over the last year, India has managed to push both long pending projects such as the Trinco oil tank farm, as well as new ones such as the Adani investment in wind farms in north-western Sri Lanka. The Adani Group is also developing the west container terminal at Colombo port. But rumblings continue in Colombo at the apparent quid pro quo in these deals.
Jaishankar’s first blunt message was that financial assistance is a quick-fix that cannot on its own put Sri Lanka on the path of economic recovery. India was ready to help with the investment it needs, but Colombo must create the right environment. India, Jaishankar made it clear, was interested in the energy, tourism, and infrastructure sectors.
“We count on the government of Sri Lanka to create a business friendly environment to create a pull factor. I am confident that the gravity of the situation is realised by policy makers here,” he said.
Sri Lanka’s renewable energy potential is said to be much more than it can consume. Selling the surplus to India by connecting to an Indian grid through undersea cables is projected as a sustainable source of revenue. Also, the oil storage capacity in Trincomalee could be utilised to provide energy security both to Sri Lanka and the region.
Jaishankar announced that the two countries had “agreed in principle on a renewable energy framework that would take this co-operation forward”.
The second message is one that India has sent loudly and emphatically over the past few months — asking the Sri Lankan government to implement the 13th amendment in its constitution.
The amendment, which provides for elected provincial councils, was introduced at India’s intervention in 1987. It is the only concession in the constitution on the Tamil demand for devolution.
The amendment — opposed tooth and nail by Sinhala-Buddhist nationalists both then and now — was intended to create a provincial council in Sri Lanka’s Tamil north-east. As it could not be an exceptional provision, the whole country was carved into provinces for the first time.
The first provincial council in the north-east, in 1989-90, was short-lived. The next elections to the northern and eastern provincial councils (the region had been separated into two by then) were held only in 2013, four years after the civil war ended. That was also the last time Sri Lanka conducted provincial council elections.
Jaishankar, who met leaders of the Tamil National Alliance, said the “full implementation of the 13th amendment” and early provincial council elections were “critical” for Sri Lanka’s political stability. During the Rajapaksa regime, there was talk of removing it from the constitution. On the other hand, sections of the Tamil political leadership have spoken about Tamil aspirations having moved beyond this provision, and the need for a “13th Amendment Plus”. Jaishankar’s message seemed intended for them too.
( Source: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar’s visit to Sri Lanka: Key takeaways by Nirupama Subramanian)
Point to ponder: Chinese presence threatens the equilibrium in India-Sri Lanka relations. Discuss.
3. MCQ:
Elephant Pass, sometimes seen in the news, is mentioned in the context of the affairs of which one of the following? (2009)
(a) Bangladesh
(b) India
(c) Nepal
(d) Sri Lanka
Kerala’s man-elephant conflict
Syllabus:
Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.
Main Examination: General Studies III: Environment and Ecology.
Why in news?
On Sunday, the Kerala forest department captured a rogue tusker that had been raiding villages in Palakkad district for over a year. Another had been sedated on January 9; this one had attacked a person in Sulthan Bathery in Wayanad. And demands are getting louder for capturing an elephant that has responded to overenthusiastic tourists in Munnar by thwacking a few vehicles since December.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Jay Mazoomdaar Explains:
Kerala not the worst
Yet, the magnitude of Kerala’s human-elephant conflict — projected as acute enough to trigger even political agitations — is not commensurate with the state’s relative abundance of wild jumbos.
Of the estimated nationwide population of 30,000 wild elephants in 2017, Kerala had about 5,700, or 19%. Between 2018-19 and 2021-22, elephants killed 2,036 people in India, data collected by the central government show. Kerala accounted for only 81 (4%) of these deaths. (Field data add up to 92 deaths.)
Clearly, the conflict in Kerala is not comparable to the situation in, say, North Bengal or Odisha, where smaller jumbo populations are blamed for much bigger human casualties.
But Kerala has seen a relative spike in the conflict in recent years. In 2021-22, the number of human deaths scaled a new high of 35.
Managing perception
Assessment of Kerala’s jumbo conflict depends on who one asks — the tribal populations of the Western Ghats, or the settlers who came there from the central and southern parts of the state.
“Kerala has a history of settler-agriculture since pre-Independence days, and state policy continues to allow such migration. The tribal and the elephant are seldom in conflict, but their ways are alien to the settler who must outcompete both to gain control of the land. Their (settlers’) panic at the so-called conflict is often just optics,” said a sociologist who has worked in the Wayanad hills.
In places like Munnar, conflict tourism has become popular.
“An elephant on the road is neither an imminent threat nor an idle curiosity. All one needs to do is keep calm and allow it space. But people blow horns impatiently and try to drive the animal away. Tourists crowd around, and even approach (the elephant) on foot for selfies. The moment the animal decides it has had enough, it becomes a ‘marauder’ or a ‘terror’ in the media,” veteran wildlife crime investigator Jose Louise said.
Experts underline that simply altering how people perceive elephants can make their interaction a lot safer. However, they agree that on rare occasions, elephants can go rogue, with or without provocation.
Big boys on the loose
As a fraction of all encounters with elephants, the chances of coming across a rogue animal increase with the number of bull elephants roaming outside the forest. That number is on the rise in Kerala.
Elephants have traditionally preferred Kerala’s moisture-rich forests, where they move in from adjoining Tamil Nadu, particularly during the summer months. In recent years, this concentration of wild elephant populations in Kerala has exhibited a significant number of young bulls.
“Over the last two decades, the sex ratio in southern elephant populations, particularly those north of the Palghat gap, has recovered from the onslaught of ivory poachers who ruled these forests and selectively took out tuskers in the 1980s and ’90s,” ecologist Raman Sukumar, who has been working on Asian elephants since the late 1970s, pointed out.
In the matriarchal elephant society, bulls leave the natal herd after the onset of puberty between the ages of 14 and 16 years, and join what are known as boys’ groups to explore new foraging areas under the tutelage of older bulls. Many of them must step out of Kerala’s elephant forests — which are getting increasingly infested by exotic invasive weeds such as Lantana and Senna, leading to a loss of natural forest feed, especially in the swamp areas.
Saving a success story
Elephants are far-ranging animals. Most often, fragmentation of habitats and corridors due to legal and illegal changes in land use — clearances for mining, or encroachment for agriculture — squeeze the jumbos and fuel conflict. In Kerala, fortunately, the frontiers between the wilderness and civilisation have remained largely unaltered in recent years.
Changes in agricultural practices in cropland adjoining forests also lure herbivores, including elephants, into conflict. But while elephants do target paddy, banana or tapioca in Kerala’s villages, they have little interest in coffee, pepper or tea — the dominant crops in the plantations.
These factors have contributed to the success of elephant conservation in Kerala and helped limit conflict, otherwise an inevitable cost of such success. Significantly, Kerala recorded only 14 of the 251 elephants (5.6%) that India lost to electrocution and poaching between 2018-19 and 2020-21.
Proactive perception management and stricter enforcement by the state can ease the pressure on jumbos. Also, say experts, a pragmatic policy for problem elephants needs to recognise that zoos and temples are no place for these magnificent animals — and packing them into rescue centres is an untenable drain on resources in the long run. They are best absorbed in forest workforces for patrolling and conflict management.
(Source:Understanding Kerala’s man-elephant conflict)
Point to ponder: Mitigating human-wildlife conflict must factor in incentives for local communities. Discuss.
4. MCQ:
In which of the following States is lion-tailed macaque found in its natural habitat?(2013)
1. Tamil Nadu
2. Kerala
3. Karnataka
4. Andhra Pradesh
Select the correct answer using the codes given below.
(a) 1, 2 and 3 only
(b) 2 only
(c) 1, 3 and 4 only
(d) 1, 2, 3 and 4
ANSWERS TO MCQs: 1 (b), 2 (b), 3 (d), 4 (a)
Share your views, answers and suggestions in the comment box or at manas.srivastava@indianexpress.com
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