General Studies Paper -3

Context: The article discusses India’s advancements in space research, including its solar observatory Aditya-L1 and other missions planned for 2024. It explains the motives behind space exploration, highlighting nationalism, economic growth, technological development, and international prestige as key drivers.

What is India’s space mission plan for 2024?

• Aditya-L1: Observing the solar atmosphere and contributing to the understanding of space weather from a unique vantage point at the Sun-Earth Lagrange point 1.
• XPoSat: India’s first X-ray Polarimeter Satellite, dedicated to studying cosmic radiation and understanding high-energy processes in stellar and galactic systems.
• Gaganyaan-1: Laying the groundwork for future manned spaceflights.
• Mangalyaan-2: Orbiting Mars again to continue exploration and research.
• NISAR (NASA-Isro Synthetic Aperture Radar): A collaboration with NASA for Earth observation, highlighting the importance of international partnerships.
• Shukrayaan-1: Exploring Venus to expand knowledge of the solar system.

How does space research benefit India?

• National Security and Prestige: Successful missions like Aditya-L1 not only enhance India’s global standing and national pride but also position it as a competitor in the global space race, traditionally dominated by powers like the U.S., Russia, and China.
• Economic Growth: The Indian space economy, valued at $8.4 billion, is projected to expand to $44 billion by 2033. This growth is fueled by rising investments and a burgeoning number of space startups.
• Technological Advancements: Missions necessitate technological advancements, specifically in the miniaturization of electronic components essential for spacecraft. These innovations extend to wider industries, significantly impacting the development of semiconductors and integrated circuits.
• International Collaboration: Projects like NISAR with NASA show the growing importance and benefit of international partnerships in space exploration.
• Start-up Ecosystem: A significant increase in space startups from 1 in 2014 to 189 in 2023, receiving investments worth $124.7 million, indicates a booming sector fueled by space research.

General Studies Paper -2

Context: The article discusses the recent attacks on civil society in India. It also highlights the instruments being used to attack civil society.

What is civil society?

Civil society refers to a wide variety of communities and groups such as non-governmental organizations (NGOs), labor unions, indigenous groups, charitable organizations, faith-based organizations, professional associations, and foundations that function outside of government to provide support and advocacy for certain people or issues in society.

• A free civic space regulated under constitutionally guaranteed principles is the essence of democracy. India is lucky to have a diverse and vibrant civil society.
• However, according to the author, the anti-communal and progressive civic space is under attack by the state.

What is the status of attacks on civil society?

• According to the author, civil societies in India are under varied degree of attacks:
• Highly attacked organisations: These include organisations that actively fight against communalism. This has led to them running out of funds and their leaders sent to prison or being charged.
• This includes organisations such as Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP), Amnesty India, Oxfam, Centre for Equity Studies and Lawyers Collective.
• Moderately attacked institutions: This has led to some organisations almost closing their operations. They have been attacked, for example, for having connections with Adivasi rights movements impacting mining interests.
• They include the Centre for Policy Research (CPR) and anti-communal NGOs such as ANHAD.
• Low-level attacks: These include Institutions that are generally not active in the anti-communal area but pursuing significant human rights causes.
• For instance, organisations such as Navsarjan, which is a leader in Dalit rights, and Save The Children’s work on child rights.

What are the instruments being used to attack civil society?

• Legal Charges: They have been attacked with charges that may lead to penal consequences such as imprisonment on charges of money laundering. This is done through:
• Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002: The 2019 amendments enabled the Department of Revenue to work with a broader definition of proceeds of crime. This has resulted in attacks on NGOs by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
• Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010: The FCRA was made stringent in 2010 and in 2020. This has been used to take away the right of NGOs to access foreign funds from 18,000 organisations between 2015 and 2022.
• Under the FCRA, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) too is empowered to investigate NGOs and their personnel with lethal impact.

Restrictions on Domestic funding: The 2020 amendments to the Income-Tax Act provisions on tax exemptions for NGOs and donors have now made renewals of 12A and 80G certificates mandatory every 5 years.

• Also, donor data (including their PAN card numbers) must be made available to the Ministry of Finance. This can enable the state to intimidate these domestic donors.

Income-Tax Surveys: It is a way of collecting data that can be used to file more cases either by the CBI or the Tax Department.

• Because of the use of these instruments, the last ray of hope for India’s democracy, its civic space, is under serious threat.

General Studies Paper -2

Context:

The article discusses the status of graduate unemployment in India. It also highlights the structural problems with the Higher Education sector.

What is the status of graduate unemployment in India?

• Unemployment Rate: In 2012, the unemployment rate among graduates was 20%; it has now increased to 34% in 2021. Among postgraduates, it used to be 18% in 2012; it has now doubled to nearly 37%.
• Employability: Some reports state that fewer than half of India’s graduates were employable in 2021.
• Status of Women: India’s female labour force participation is among the lowest in the world.

What are the problems with the education system leading to unemployment?

• The problem with the education system is structural. It includes:
• Deteriorating Quality of Higher Education: The rise in the number of private colleges, industrial training institutes (ITIs) and polytechnic colleges has led to a lowering of quality. The governments and the University Grants Commission did not have the capacity to regulate these colleges.
• Lack of Access to Higher Education: A vast majority of the country’s youth don’t get higher education. Higher education enrolment rates are still about 27% (18-23 year olds).
• Impact of Online Learning: There were learning deficiencies, which affected students’ abilities to acquire knowledge and become employable.

Apart from the above, other issues leading to unemployment includes:

• Lack of Job Creation in the Economy: Unemployment is also because the economy is not creating enough jobs.
• Sector-wise Issues in the Economy: Agriculture has not become high tech, so graduates are not likely to join it. Jobs, such as delivery boys, are not preferred jobs for educated people. In the services sector, the jobs being created require high knowledge.

What are the structural problems with the Higher Education sector?

• Higher education institutions create new knowledge, and it leads to the development of new technologies. This leads to the possibilities of new businesses, innovation, entrepreneurship, and start-ups. However, it is constrained by the following issues:
• Low R&D Expenditure: India’s R&D expenditure is only 0.7% of GDP. In Korea, it is 4%.
• Lack of Participation of the Private Sector in R&D: Globally, the private corporate sector accounts for about 70% of total R&D expenditure. In India, the public sector accounts for some 70% of total R&D expenditure.
• Lack of Research Funding to Universities: A very small proportion of public funding goes towards research within universities in India, unlike other countries.
• Most of it goes towards the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Indian Council of Medical Research, etc. This is problematic because these institutions don’t translate their research into usable products/processes.
• Foreign Ownership of Research: Indian researchers are absorbed in MNCs. There are 800 MNCs which have their global research hubs in India. The value of that research goes abroad.
• Equity Issues: There is a larger issue of social equity. Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Muslims are underrepresented in higher education.
• Issues with the National Education Policy (NEP): It has not led to substantive change in the education system.
• For instance, there is an emphasis on autonomy of higher education, however imposing the Central University Entrance Test on colleges was against that ideal, leading to confusion.

What should be done?

• Converting Research into Products: Creating institutions that convert patents or research scientific research papers into products and processes.
• Increasing Funding: Universities must be funded more, and private industry will have to play a role in this.
• Vocational Training: Divert students at the end of Class 10 and Class 12 away from higher education towards ITIs and vocational training can increase employability.

General Studies Paper -3

Context: NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), ISRO’s commercial arm, will launch GSAT-20 satellite on-board SpaceX’s Falcon-9 during the second quarter of 2024.

About the GSAT-20

• It is, weighing 4700 kg, a High Throughput Satellite (HTS) with Ka-Ka-band which is fully owned, operated and funded by NewSpace India Limited (NSIL).
• It was recently renamed as GSAT-N2.
• It will be the second ‘demand driven’ satellite launch enabled by NSIL.

Significance:

• It is a high-capacity communication satellite that is meant to offer broadband services, including In-flight and Maritime Connectivity (IFMC) services.
• It offers Pan-India coverage including Andaman and Nicobar and Lakshadweep islands, along with an HTS capacity of nearly 48 Gbps and has been specifically designed to meet the demanding service needs of remote and unconnected regions.

Why Falcon 9 of SpaceX?

• GSAT-20 weighs about 4,700 kg, much heavier than launch capacity of ISRO’s most powerful rocket, LVM-3.
• For its heavier satellites, weighing more than 4,000 kg, India had been depending on Arianespace’s heavy launch vehicle Ariane-5.
• However, it was retired and its successor Ariane-6 is yet to make its debut.
• Typically, communication satellites are launched into space at an orbit that is 170 km x 36,000 km (also known as Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit or GTO).
• India’s GSLV and LVM3 rockets are designed and reliably proven to deliver payloads into such a highly elliptical (egg-shaped) orbit.
• GSLV can deliver around 2250 kg to GTO
• LVM3 can deliver 4000 kg to GTO.
• However, GSAT-20 is beyond the payload capacity of India’s operational rockets.

General Studies Paper -2

Context: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his Nepal counterpart NP Saud co-chaired the seventh meeting of the Nepal-India Joint Commission.

About

Established in 1987, the India-Nepal Joint Commission provides a platform to review all aspects of the bilateral partnership.

India and Nepal have signed five key agreements. They are:

• An agreement to export 10,000 megawatts of electricity to India in the next decade.
• Fifth tranche of Indian assistance for people affected by an earthquake in Jajarkot area of Nepal in November 2023.
• Launch of Nepali space satellite,
• Cooperation in renewable energy development,
• Implementation of high-impact community development projects,

They inaugurated three 132-kV cross-border transmission lines, including the second circuits of the Raxaul-Parwanipur line and the Kataiya-Kusaha line, and the New Nautanwa-Mainhiya line.

India-Nepal Relations

• Nepal is important for India in the context of its overall strategic interests in the region, and the leaders of the two countries have often noted the age-old ‘roti beti’ relationship, which refers to cross-border marriages between people of the two countries.
• Shared Border: The country shares a border of over 1,850 km with five Indian states – Sikkim, West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Land-locked Nepal relies heavily on India for the transportation of goods and services and access to the sea is through India.
• The India-Nepal Treaty of Peace and Friendship: Signed in 1950, it forms the bedrock of the special relations that exist between India and Nepal.
• Nepalese citizens avail facilities and opportunities on par with Indian citizens in accordance with the provisions of the Treaty. Nearly 8 million Nepalese citizens live and work in India.
• Defense Cooperation: India has been assisting the Nepal Army (NA) in its modernization by supplying equipment and providing training.
• Assistance during disasters, joint military exercises, adventure activities and bilateral visits are other aspects.
• The ‘Indo-Nepal Battalion-level Joint Military Exercise SURYA KIRAN’ is conducted alternately in India and in Nepal.
• Since 1950, India and Nepal have been awarding each other’s Army Chief with the honorary rank of General in recognition of the mutual harmonious relationship between the two armies.
• The Gorkha regiments of the Indian Army are raised partly by recruitment from hill districts of Nepal.
• Connectivity and Development Partnership: India has been assisting Nepal in development of border infrastructure through upgradation of 10 roads in the Terai area; development of cross-border rail links at Jogbani-Biratnagar, Jaynagar-Bardibas; and establishment of Integrated Check Posts at Birgunj, Biratnagar, Bhairahawa, and Nepalgunj.
• Water Resources Cooperation: Cooperation in water resources primarily concerning the common rivers is one of the most important areas of bilateral relations.
• A three-tier bilateral mechanism established in 2008, to discuss issues relating to cooperation in water resources, flood management, inundation and hydropower between the two countries, has been working well.
• Energy Cooperation: India and Nepal have had a Power Exchange Agreement since 1971 for meeting the power requirements in the border areas of the two countries, taking advantage of each other’s transmission infrastructure.
• India is currently supplying a total of about 600 MW of power to Nepal. An Agreement on ‘Electric Power Trade, Cross-border Transmission Interconnection and Grid Connectivity’ between India and Nepal was signed in 2014.
• Trade and Economic: India remains Nepal’s largest trade partner, with bilateral trade crossing US$ 7 billion in FY 2019-20. India provides transit for almost the entire third-country trade of Nepal.
• India’s export to Nepal has grown over 8 times in the past 10 years while exports from Nepal have almost doubled. Despite the difficulties due to the pandemic, India ensured uninterrupted flow of trade and supplies to Nepal.
• Nepal is India’s 11th largest export destination, up from 28th position in 2014.
• In FY 2021-22, it constituted 2.34% of India’s exports. Infact exports from India constitute almost 22% of Nepal’s GDP.
• The ‘New Partnership in Agriculture’: It was announced in April 2018, which focuses on collaborative projects in Agriculture, Education and R&D.
• Mahakali River bridge: Recently, a MoU was signed between India and Nepal for the construction of a motorable bridge across the Mahakali River connecting Dharchula (India) with Darchula (Nepal), under Indian grant assistance.
• Operation Maitri & post-earthquake reconstruction assistance: In the wake of the 2015 earthquake in Nepal, GoI was the first responder and carried out its largest disaster relief operation abroad (Operation Maitri).
• India extended US$ 1 billion to Nepal as part of its long-term assistance for post-earthquake reconstruction in housing, education, health and culture heritage sectors.

Issues between India & Nepal

• Treaty of Peace and Friendship of 1950: On 31 July 1950, India and Nepal signed a treaty of peace and friendship in an effort to “strengthen and develop these ties and to perpetuate peace between the two countries”.
• As time passed, Nepal believed the treaty was “incompatible with national self-respect”.
• Madhesi Issue: India’s entrenched interests in Nepal suffered a setback in 2015, when a blockade at the borders ensued following protests by Madhesis and some other ethnic groups against marginalization of their interests in the newly-passed Nepalese Constitution.
• Kalapani dispute: The area is in India’s control but Nepal claims the region because of historical and cartographic reasons. The area is the largest territorial dispute between Nepal and India consisting of at least 37,000 hectares of land in the High Himalayas.
• Susta Border dispute: Susta is a disputed territory between Nepal and India. It is administered by India as part of West Champaran district of Bihar.
• Nepal claims the area a part of West Nawalparasi District under Susta rural municipality, alleging that over 14,860 hectares of Nepali land in Susta has been encroached upon by India.

Way ahead

• There are several irritants that have developed, straining this relationship, and for now there seems to be a concerted attempt by both governments to return to bonhomie, with the Indian government seeking to utilize “religious diplomacy” as a means to emphasize the special relationship.
• India-Nepal relations need to graduate to a more meaningful partnership on economic and geopolitical issues, with the Indian government continuing to retain a substantial role in partnering the Nepali regime in development projects.

General Studies Paper-3

Context: Around 50% of cyber-crime complaints received on the national cybercrime helpline every day have their origin in China and pockets of Cambodia and Myanmar.

What is Cybercrime?

• Cybercrime refers to criminal activities that involve the use of computers, networks, and digital technologies.
• It encompasses a wide range of illicit activities conducted in the virtual space, often with the intent to compromise, damage, or gain unauthorized access to computer systems, networks, and data.
• Cybercriminals employ various techniques and tools to exploit vulnerabilities in networks, and they may target individuals, organizations, or even governments.

Common types of cybercrime include:

• Hacking: Unauthorized access to computer systems or networks to steal, alter, or destroy data.
• Phishing: Deceptive attempts to acquire sensitive information, such as usernames, passwords, and financial details, by posing as a trustworthy entity.
• Malware: Malicious software designed to disrupt, damage, or gain unauthorized access to computer systems. This includes viruses, worms, trojans, ransomware, and spyware.
• Identity Theft: Stealing and using someone’s personal information, such as social security numbers or credit card details, for fraudulent purposes.
• Cyber Espionage: Covert activities aimed at gaining unauthorized access to sensitive information for political, economic, or military purposes.
• Cyberbullying: Using digital platforms to harass, threaten, or intimidate individuals.
• Online Fraud: Engaging in fraudulent activities, such as online scams and financial fraud, to deceive and exploit victims for monetary gain.

Cybercrime in India

• Chief executive officer of Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), mentioned that on average 5,000 cyber complaints are registered in the country every day and around 40-50% originate outside the country.

There were five major cybercrime trends noticed last year:

• complaints were received against Investment Apps/Websites which offered part time jobs or lured people into Ponzi schemes;
• complaints pertaining to Illegal loan Apps;
• complaints on Customer Care Number and One Time Password (OTP) frauds;
• complaints of Impersonation or takeover of social media accounts and
• complaints of Sextortion.
• Most cyber crimes were reported from Haryana, Telangana, Uttarakhand, Gujarat and Goa. Among Union Territories, most complaints came from Delhi, followed by Chandigarh and Puducherry.

Impact of Cyber Crimes

• National Security Threats: Cyber crimes pose a threat to national security when state-sponsored actors or criminal organizations target critical infrastructure, government institutions, or military systems.
• Financial Loss: This includes theft of personal information, online banking fraud, credit card fraud, and ransomware attacks.
• Data Breaches: Data breaches can lead to the exposure of personal information, trade secrets, intellectual property, and other confidential data, causing severe damage to the affected entities.
• Disruption of Services: Cyber attacks can disrupt essential services such as power grids, communication networks, and transportation systems.
• Reputational Damage: Organizations that fall victim to cyber attacks often suffer reputational damage.
• Customer trust can be eroded, and it may take a significant amount of time and resources to rebuild a positive image.
• Increased Costs for Cybersecurity Measures: This includes implementing robust security protocols, training employees, and deploying advanced technologies, which can result in increased operational costs.

Initiatives by Government of India to Prevent Cybercrimes

• Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In): CERT-In is the national nodal agency for responding to cybersecurity incidents.
• It provides proactive and reactive cybersecurity support and plays a crucial role in ensuring the security and resilience of the country’s cyber infrastructure.
• National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre (NCIIPC): NCIIPC is responsible for protecting critical information infrastructure from cyber threats.
• It identifies and designates critical sectors and advises organizations in these sectors on enhancing their cybersecurity measures.
• Cyber Crime Prevention against Women & Children (CCPWC) scheme: The Ministry of Home Affairs has provided financial assistance to all the States & UTs under the scheme to support their efforts for setting up of cyber forensic-cum-training laboratories, training, and hiring of junior cyber consultants.
• Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C): The Government has established I4C to provide a framework and ecosystem for Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) to deal with cyber crimes in a comprehensive and coordinated manner.
• ‘Joint Cyber Coordination Teams’ have been constituted for seven regions at Mewat, Jamtara, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Chandigarh, Vishakhapatnam and Guwahati under the I4C.
• National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal: The Government has launched the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal to enable the public to report incidents pertaining to all types of cyber crimes.
• A toll-free number 1930 has been operationalized to get assistance in lodging online cyber complaints.
• The Citizen Financial Cyber Fraud Reporting and Management System module has also been launched for immediate reporting of financial frauds and to stop siphoning off funds by the fraudsters.

Cyber Swachhta Kendra (Botnet Cleaning and Malware Analysis Centre): This initiative is aimed at creating awareness about botnet and malware infections and providing tools for detection and cleaning.

General Studies Paper-2

Context: The India-Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement, recently completed one year.

Negotiations are also underway for concluding the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement between the two countries but there is no defined deadline at the moment.

India-Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement:

The ECTA is a bilateral free trade agreement signed between India and Australia on December 2, 2022. It came into effect on December 29, 2022.

Objectives:

• Boost bilateral trade and investment: Removing tariffs and trade barriers aims to increase trade volume and create opportunities for businesses in both countries.
• Enhance market access: The agreement provides preferential access for Indian and Australian goods and services in each other’s markets. India has agreed to Negative listing after 5 years of coming into force of the Agreement.
• Streamline customs procedures: Simplifying customs processes aims to save time and costs for businesses involved in cross-border trade.
• Promote regulatory cooperation: ECTA encourages harmonization of technical standards and regulations between the two countries.

Expected benefits for India

• Duty-free access for 96.4% of India’s exports to Australia: This includes key sectors like textiles, agriculture, and leather products.
• Exports: Exports are expected to increase by 10 billion by 2026-27 and the total bilateral trade is expected to cross US $ 45-50 billion by 2035.
• Increased job creation: Increased trade is expected to generate approximately 10 lakh new jobs in various sectors in India.
• Greater foreign investment: Improved market access and a more predictable regulatory environment could attract more foreign investment into India.
• Closer economic ties with Australia: ECTA strengthens the economic partnership between India and Australia, opening up new avenues for collaboration.

Achievements so far

• According to official data, India’s exports to Australia grew 14% year on year in value terms to $5.87 billion between April and November 2023 while imports contracted 19% year on year to $11.46 billion in the period.
• The trade deficit between the two countries was $5.2 billion between April and November 2023 as against $8.6 billion in the corresponding period a year ago.
• Exports to Australia on preferential lines grew by 17.8% in the same period and grew by 15.14% on non-preferential lines.
• Meanwhile, agricultural exports to India from Australia are 50% higher since the trade agreement came into force.

Way Ahead

• While ECTA presents promising opportunities, some challenges remain, such as differences in regulatory standards and potential implementation issues.
• Continued dialogue and collaboration between both countries are crucial to maximize the benefits of the agreement.
• Its successful implementation could pave the way for further cooperation and contribute to regional economic growth and development.

General Studies Paper – 3

Context: The article discusses how 2023 was India’s second-warmest year, causing various weather issues and affecting the economy, agriculture, and employment due to climate change.

How did the year 2023 bring a grim retrospect from the India Meteorological Department (IMD)?

• Temperature Rise: 2023 was marked as the second warmest year since 1901, with the average temperature 0.65°C above the long-term mean.
• Extreme Rainfall: December 2023 saw rainfall 60% above normal, making it an exceptionally wet month, except in the north and Northeast regions.
• Tropical Storms: The Indian Ocean experienced six tropical storms, significantly higher than usual, with three escalating to severe cyclonic storms, indicating a rise in extreme weather events.
• El Nino Contribution: The unusual weather patterns and increased global temperatures were partly attributed to El Nino, underscoring the broader impact of climate change.

How is climate change going to impact India?

• The Reserve Bank of India’s 2022-23 Report on Currency and Finance projects a potential 2% loss in GDP and a decline in living standards for half the population by 2050. It particularly emphasizes the loss in productivity in major sectors such as agriculture and construction due to increasing heat stress.
• The World Bank predicts India will face over 40% of global job losses due to heat-induced productivity decline by 2030.
• It is bad for poorest populations, as evident by skyrocketing prices of essentials like vegetables (tomatoes, onions, potatoes, chilly, and cumin) due to erratic weather impacting production.

Way forward:

• Accelerate strategies to reduce carbon intensity in GDP by 2030 due to increasing climate challenges.
• Allocate sufficient funds for both mitigation and adaptation to climate impacts.
• Prioritize renewable energy sources over thermal power to meet 2030 targets and reduce coal dependency.

General Studies Paper – 2

Context: Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates have joined BRICS as new full members.

About

• It was done as per the decision adopted by the 15th BRICS Summit in 2022.
• A proposal to admit six countries, including Argentina, into the bloc with effect from January 1.
• Argentina’s new President announced withdrawing his country from becoming a member of the BRICS.

About BRICS

• BRICS is an acronym that refers to a group of five major emerging national economies: Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.
• The term was originally coined by economist Jim O’Neill in 2001.
• BRICS brings together five of the largest developing countries of the world, representing around 41% of the global population, around 24% of the global GDP and around 16% of global trade.
• Origin: As a formal grouping, BRIC started after the meeting of the Leaders of Russia, India and China in St. Petersburg on the margins of the G8 Outreach Summit in 2006.
• The grouping was formalized during the 1st meeting of BRIC Foreign Ministers on the margins of UNGA in New York in 2006.
• The success of the meet led to the crystallisation of an annual summit under the aegis of BRIC.
• Initially, the grouping was termed BRIC as South Africa was inducted in 2010 and from there on it has been referred to as BRICS.

Summits:  The governments of the BRICS states have met annually at formal summits since 2009.

Over a period of time, BRICS countries have come together to deliberate on important issues under the three pillars of:

• Political and security,
• Economic and financial and
• Cultural and people-to-people exchanges.

New Development Bank: Formerly referred to as the BRICS Development Bank, is a multilateral development bank established by the BRICS states.

The Bank shall support public or private projects through loans, guarantees, equity participation and other financial instruments.

Significance of Expansion

• Strengthening the Group: BRICS currently represents around 40% of the world’s population and more than a quarter of the world’s GDP.

With the additions, it will represent almost half the world’s population, and will include three of the world’s biggest oil producers, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Iran.

• Focus on Middle East: With the inclusion of Saudi Arabia, Iran, the UAE, and Egypt, there is a discernible Middle East focus, bearing geo-economic, geostrategic, and geopolitical implications.
• Representative of Developing Countries: The addition of new members bolsters the BRICS group’s influence as a representative body of the developing world.
• Voice for Global Governance: The grouping now represents a larger share of the world’s population and economy.

However, this only means that the group is potentially a powerful voice for reform of the arrangements for global governance and a powerful actor in these arrangements.

Impact on India’s Position

Chinese Dominance: Among the newly admitted members, India regards each as a valuable partnership to cultivate.

• Apprehensions have emerged regarding the potential for the group to become more pro-China, potentially overshadowing India’s influence and concerns.
• Although China desires BRICS to embody an anti-western stance, India’s perspective is inclined toward maintaining the group as a “non-Western” entity.

Addressing the Challanges: For BRICS to maintain long-term effectiveness, India and China must address their border disputes and cooperate on complex global matters, including allocating resources for the growth of developing economies.

If India aims to genuinely represent the voice of the Global South, harmonizing these diverse interests into a unified stance could present a more formidable challenge than initially anticipated.

Way Ahead

• As the BRICS operates based on consensus-driven decision-making, attaining consensus among 10 countries characterized by diverse economies, geographical locations, and interests proves to be substantially more challenging than doing so among the original five members.

To ensure the continued effectiveness and consistency of the institution, in the long run, BRICS might opt to focus on easier-to-achieve objectives.

General Studies Paper – 1

Context: The Prime Minister of India paid tributes to social reformer Savitri Bai Phule & Rani Velu Nachiyar on their Jayanti.

Savitribai Phule (3 January 1831 – 10 March 1897)

• She was a woman from the Mali Community and went on to become an educator, a challenger to caste hierarchies and barriers, and a writer.
• Married Jyotirao Phule at an early age.
• At a time when it was considered unacceptable for women to even attain education, she with her husband went on to open a school for girls in Pune, in 1848.
• This became the country’s first girls’ school.
• They opened more such schools for girls, Shudras, and Ati-Shudras (the backward castes and Dalits, respectively) in Pune, leading to discontent among Indian nationalists like Bal Gangadhar Tilak.

Major Contributions:

• Social Reformer: Along with Jyotirao, Savitribai started the Balhatya Pratibandhak Griha (Home for the Prevention of Infanticide) for pregnant widows facing discrimination.
• Savitribai Phule advocated inter-caste marriages, widow remarriage, and eradication of child marriage, sati, and dowry systems, among other social issues.
• Satyashodhak Samaj: In 1873, the Phule’s set up the Satyashodhak Samaj (Truth-seekers’ society), a platform open to all, irrespective of their caste, religion or class hierarchies, with the sole aim of bringing social equity.
• Satyashodhak Marriage, as an extension, started with the aim of rejecting Brahmanical rituals where the marrying couple takes a pledge to promote education and equality.
• Relief work during famine and Bubonic plague: Savitribai became involved in relief work during the 1896 famine in Maharashtra and the 1897 Bubonic plague.
• Literary Works: Savitribai Phule published her first collection of poems, called Kavya Phule (Poetry’s Blossoms), at the age of 23 in 1854.
• She published Bavan Kashi Subodh Ratnakar (The Ocean of Pure Gems) in 1892.

Rani Velu Nachiyar (3 January 1730 – 25 December 1796)

• She was the first queen to fight against the British colonial power in India.
• She is known by Tamils as Veeramangai.
• Early Life: She was the princess of Ramanathapuram and the only child of Raja Chellamuthu Vijayaragunatha Sethupathy and Rani Sakandhimuthal of the Ramnad kingdom.
• Skills Acquired: She was trained in war to match weapons usage, martial arts like Valari, Silambam (fighting using a stick), horse riding, and archery.
• She was a scholar in many languages and she had proficiency with languages like French, English and Urdu.
• Marriage: She married the king of Sivagangai.
• Succession: She succeeded her husband in 1780 and granted powers to the Marudu brothers to administer the country in 1780.