Significances of the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) for India

[1] Thwart to China’s BRI: IMEC is seen as a potential counter to China's BRI in the Eurasian region. It can serve to counterbalance China's growing economic and political influence. It would help India in balancing China efficiently without much investments.

[2] Exploring West Asia: After economic liberalization in 1991, India largely explored East Asia through Look East policy followed by Act East policy. Now, it is providing opportunity to extend cooperation beyond balancing west Asia.

[3] Potential strategic Role in Africa: The corridor's model could be extended to Africa, aligning with the US and EU's plan to develop a Trans-African corridor. It signifies India's intent to strengthen its engagement with Africa.

[4] Deepening relations with USA: It dispels the notion that India and the United States may collaborate in the Indo-Pacific but not in the Middle East. The project showcases how India and the U.S., along with Israel and the UAE, can partner in developing joint economic projects through forums like the I2U2.

[5] Bypassing neighbourhood syndrome: It would help in bypassing Pakistan’s veto over India’s overland connectivity to the Central Asia. It is so because Jabel Ali port in UAE is near to Chahbahar port developed in Iran with India's assistance. It may help in further connecting central Asia.

♛ Decoding World Affairs

Thousands of people marched through the freezing streets of Leh, braving the bitter cold, to demand statehood for Ladakh and protection under the 6th Schedule of the Constitution.

What are the Arguments in Favour of Ladakh's Demand for Inclusion in the 6th Schedule?

[1] Lack of Public Participation: After dilution of Article 370, Ladakh was designated as a Union Territory without a legislative assembly. Thus, the decision-making has shifted from public participation to bureaucratic processes.

[2] Ladakh’s Fragile ecosystem: Climate activists have flagged concerns regarding mining in the glacial ecology. People in Ladakh fear that if there are industries, each industry will bring lakhs of people and this fragile ecosystem cannot support so many people.

[3] Border sensitivity: Addressing the China-Pakistan axis necessitates strategic infrastructure development supported by the local community. It demands 6th schedule for the people in Ladakh.

[4] Preservation of Cultural Identity: Inclusion in the 6th Schedule would provide legal safeguards to protect Ladakh's unique cultural heritage and traditional customs. The 6th Schedule empowers tribal communities with a degree of autonomy in governance.

[5] Strengthening of Democratic Institutions: The establishment of autonomous councils under the Sixth Schedule would strengthen democratic institutions at the grassroots level, promoting inclusive governance and accountability.

♛ Decoding World Affairs

Recently, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice informed the Lok Sabha that the Law Ministry has accepted its recommendation to establish regional benches of the Supreme Court across India. Let's look into it...

Why should India have regional benches of the Supreme Court?

[1] Speedy disposal of cases: The former Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu once in his speech has suggested that the Supreme Court institute four regional Benches to tackle the enormous backlog of cases, and to ensure their speedy disposal.

[2] Ensure equal opportunities: It has been pointed out that Article 39A says that the state shall ensure that the operation of the legal system promotes justice, on a basis of equal opportunity.

[3] Cost effective for litigants: It is obvious that travelling to New Delhi or engaging expensive Supreme Court counsel to pursue a case is beyond the means of most litigants.

[4] Increasing appeal rate: There was a correlation between geographical proximity to the Supreme Court and appeal rate. It is to be noted that the appeals from the High Court of Punjab and Haryana comprised a large portion of the total appeals, with no appeals from the High Courts of the North East.

👑 Decoding World Affairs

Challenges associated with regional branches of the Supreme Court

[1] Dilute the prestige of SC: The Supreme Court has not agreed with the proposal, which in its opinion will dilute the sacrosanct nature of the Supreme Court.

[2] Break unitary character: A full court of the Supreme Court on the administrative side, headed by Chief Justice of India KG Balakrishnan, had turned down a plea seeking regional benches, and had said that dividing the Supreme Court would ‘break its unitary character.’

[3] Increase pendency of cases: With reduced costs involved in the litigation process and easier access, the introduction of regional benches could worsen the pendency.

[4] Differs in legal principles: With more benches in different regions, there will be more litigation, and in turn, the risk of a larger body of changing legal principles.

👑 Decoding World Affairs

Let's infer the recent national poll in Pakistan...

Key takeaways from elections in Pakistan

[1] Dominance of Imran Khan: The Pakistan elections is that the vote belongs to the PTI and Mr. Khan, even though the party did not have a level playing field. Mr. Khan has been arrested and just before the elections, two court verdicts barred him from contesting in elections. Also the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) debarred the PTI from contesting as a party. Despite all the above odds, the PTI-backed candidates won 93 seats for the National Assembly, 18 more than the PML-N.

[2] Wishes of Pakistan army prevails: Pakistan's army wanted the PML-N to win, especially in Punjab, and expected its pre-election political engineering to dent the widespread support for Mr. Khan and the PTI. Whether the vote is what it wanted, or against its plan, the Establishment will continue its political engineering. And political parties will fall in line; those who refuse, will face the wall and the jails.

[3] Nawaz’s diminishing returns: Nawaz Sharif came back to Pakistan on the Establishment’s approval. The plan was that Mr. Sharif’s return would increase the PML-N’s chances and dent PTI’s, especially in Punjab. However, the return of Mr. Sharif has not catapulted the PML-N back into the driver’s seat — either at the national level or in Punjab.

[4] Continuing political instability: Now the PPP and PML-N have agreed to form a government at the national level, along with other political parties minus the PTI. The PTI, the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) and a few other regional parties have already announced filing cases in courts, renouncing the results, and taking to the streets.

[5] Regional parties losing relevance: At the national level, except for the MQM-P (14 seats for the national assembly and 28 for the Sindh provincial assembly), no other regional party from the Sindh, Balochistan and KP have made an impact. The JI could not win a single seat for the national assembly.

♛ Decoding World Affairs

Popular Essays (2023)

1. Visionary decision making happens at the intersection of intuition and logic.  (Link: https://decodingworldaffairs.com/visionary-decision-making-happens-at-the-intersection-of-intuition-and-logic/)

2. Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school (Link: https://decodingworldaffairs.com/education-is-what-remains-after-one-has-forgotten-what-one-has-learned-in-school/)

3. Girls are weighed down by restrictions, boys with demands – two equally harmful disciplines (Link: https://decodingworldaffairs.com/girls-are-weighed-down-by-restrictions-boys-with-demands-two-equally-harmful-disciplines/)

4. A society that has more justice is a society that needs less charity (Link: https://decodingworldaffairs.com/a-society-that-has-more-justice-is-a-society-that-needs-less-charity/)

5. Thinking is like a game, it does not begin unless there is an opposition (Link: https://decodingworldaffairs.com/thinking-is-like-a-game-it-does-not-begin-unless-there-is-an-opposite-team/)

6. Not all who wander are lost (Link: https://decodingworldaffairs.com/not-all-who-wander-are-lost/)

7. Mathematics is the music of reason (Link: https://decodingworldaffairs.com/mathematics-is-the-music-of-reasons/)

8. Inspiration for creativity springs from the effort to look for the magical in the mundane (Link: https://decodingworldaffairs.com/inspiration-for-creativity-springs-from-the-effort-to-look-for-the-magical-in-the-mundane/)

♛ Decoding World Affairs

9 years ago, I started writing blog formally and professionally on this day 8th March 2015. Since then I have written more than 400 articles out of which some of them are published in national magazines, regional magazines, weekly newspapers etc. All of the articles are featured articles having word length around 1200-1400 words. It is available in three languages - Bhojpuri, Hindi and English.

Apart from articles, I have also written many essays as I have posted above. Along with articles and essays, I have also written a series on important events of Independent India from social and economic context instead of only relying in political issues. You can also find some book reviews in different segment of the blog.

Last year in around September-October 2023, I also started YouTube channel with the same name Decoding World Affairs. A lot of love and affection have been shown by you people. Within 3-4 months, due to the love poured by you people, this channel got monetized by completing 1K subscribers and 4K watch hours. It becames one of the fastest growing channel in this profile. Many of the aspirants found this platform helpful for preparing their interview.

With due apology, I inform you that it has been in a passive phase. It will be in this phase for next 1-2 months due to time constraints in personal sphere and serious health issues in family. But I will start back with more stronger force with regular videos afterwards. Till then, I am covering important events through shorts with the help of AI. I hope you will keep continuing your love and affection along with getting benefits out of it.

- Gaurav Singh, Founder of Decoding World Affairs

Blog - https://bit.ly/dwa-blog

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One of my article published in newspaper back in 2017. It was being put forward with leading journalist of our country, Ved Prakash Vaidik.

What are the basis on which Supreme Court Struck down electoral bond scheme?

[1] Unlimited corporate donations violate free and fair elections: Electoral bonds also removed the earlier limits on how much of its profits a company could donate to political parties (7.5% of the average profits of the preceding three fiscal years). The scheme even allowed loss-making companies to make donations. This could have opened the door for shell companies to be formed with the purpose of channelling funds to political parties.

[2] Amendment to the Finance Bill: In most of the country, the central bank alone has the authority to issue currency such as notes and bonds. The Govt amended the RBI Act using a Finance Act, and allowed under a new clause 31(3), the central govt to authorise any scheduled bank to issue electoral bonds. This amendment to the Finance Act too has been struck down.

[3] Violate fundamental rights: The court held that the scheme by permitting anonymous political donations infringed upon the fundamental right to information under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution. It pointed out that such a right is not only restricted to fulfilling the freedom of speech and expression but plays a key role in furthering participatory democracy by holding the government accountable.

[4] Quid pro quo financial arrangements: It highlighted that economic inequality leads to differing levels of political engagement because of the deep association between money and politics. As a result, there is a legitimate possibility that financial contribution to a political party would lead to quid pro quo arrangements.

[5] Unbalancing the voters’ right to information with the right to privacy of donors: Initially, Section 29C of the RPA 1951, required parties to declare all contributions higher than ₹20,000, and specify whether they were received from individual persons or companies. However, the Finance Act, 2017, amended this provision to create an exception wherein such a requirement would not apply to donations received through electoral bonds. Earlier provision balances these two rights because donations below this threshold were far less likely to influence political decisions.

[6] Right to privacy can't be shield for major contributors: The Chief Justice held that the right to privacy of political affiliation does not extend to those contributions, which may be made to influence policies. It only extends to contributions made as a genuine form of political support- e.g. a student, a daily wage worker, an artist, or a teacher.

Telegram - https://bit.ly/dwa-telegram

Ms. Kamboj presented the ‘G4 model’ on behalf of Brazil, Germany, Japan and India for debate, dialogue and finally negotiations. The proposals elicited strong support from wider UN members.

(1) The G4 model proposes that the Security Council’s membership increase from the current 15 to 25-26, by adding six permanent and four or five non-permanent members.

(2) Among the six new permanent members, two each are proposed to be from African states and Asia Pacific states, one from Latin American and Caribbean states; and one from Western European and Other states.

👑 Decoding World Affairs

A detailed video on the above topic.....

▶️ CHAPTERS
(1) Context of United Nations - 2:43
(2) Past performances of the UN under current P5 countries - 3:40
(3) Need for Reform in UNSC - 7:17
(4) Why should India be given a permanent seat at UNSC? - 13:41
(5) What are the challenges in getting a permanent seat at UNSC? - 22:34
(6) What should be the possible way ahead? - 28:20
(7) Implications for getting permanent seat at UNSC - 29:50

👑 Decoding World Affairs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-TCV7YEr5w&t=167s