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Stubble Burning

✔️About:

●Stubble (parali) burning is the act of setting fire to crop residue to remove them from the field to sow the next crop.

●In order to plant the next winter crop (Rabi crop), farmers in Haryana and Punjab have to move in a very short interval and if they are late, due to short winters these days, they might face considerable losses. Therefore, burning is the cheapest and fastest way to get rid of the stubble.

●It begins around October and peaks in November, coinciding with the withdrawal of southwest monsoon.

✔️Effects of Stubble Burning:

〰️Pollution:

◆Emits large amounts of toxic pollutants in the atmosphere which contain harmful gases like methane (CH4), Carbon Monoxide (CO), Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) and carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.

◆These pollutants disperse in the surroundings, may undergo a physical and chemical transformation and eventually adversely affect human health by causing a thick blanket of smog.

〰️Soil Fertility:

●Burning husk on the ground destroys the nutrients in the soil, making it less fertile.

〰️Heat Penetration:

◆Heat generated by stubble burning penetrates into the soil, leading to the loss of moisture and useful microbes.

✔️Alternatives to Stubble Burning:

〰️In-Situ Treatment of Stubble: For example crop residue management by zero-tiller machine and Use of bio-decomposers.

〰️Ex-Situ (off site) Treatment: For example use of rice straw as cattle fodder.

〰️Use of Technology- For example Turbo Happy Seeder (THS) machine, which can uproot the stubble and also sow seeds in the area cleared. The stubble can then be used as mulch for the field.

〰️Changing Cropping Pattern: It is the deeper and more fundamental solution.

〰️Bio Enzyme-PUSA: The Indian Agriculture Research Institute has devised a radical solution for stubble burning in the form of a bio-enzyme called PUSA.

●It leads to an increase in organic carbon and soil health while significantly reducing the fertiliser expense for the next cropping cycle.

✔️Other Action Plan:

【】The State Governments of Punjab, National Capital Region (NCR) States and Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD) have developed detailed monitorable action plans based on the framework by the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) to tackle the problem of air pollution.

❗️Way Forward

◆Imposing a fine is not going to work in our socio-economic conditions for curbing stubble burning. There is a need to focus on alternative solutions.

◆Although the government is distributing but everyone is not getting the machines for in-situ management. The government should ensure their availability to everyone.

◆Similarly, in ex-situ management, some companies have started collecting stubble for their use, but more effort on this front is needed.

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India-Myanmar Relations{1/2}

◆Myanmar has been in turmoil since February, 2021 when the military seized control of the country in a coup and detained Aung San Suu Kyi and other leaders of her National League for Democracy (NLD).

◆Being the world’s largest democracy, India shall feel concerned when democracy in such a proximity is threatened. However, India also has vital interests in Myanmar that it would like to protect and enhance.

◆While the West has made democracy the sole prism of its Myanmar policy, India doesn’t have that luxury.

◆Like most other immediate neighbours, India has been keen to push back against Myanmar military’s authoritarian tendencies. Its multiple interests too suggest India to keep its channels of communication open with all stakeholders.

▪️India and Myanmar

❗️Significance of Myanmar for India:

●Myanmar is geopolitically significant to India as it stands at the center of the India-Southeast Asia geography.

●Myanmar is the only Southeast Asian country that shares a land border with northeastern India.

●Myanmar is the only country that sits at the intersection of India’s “Neighborhood First” policy and its “Act East” policy.

●As part of India’s SAGAR Vision, India developed the Sittwe port in Myanmar’s Rakhine state.

●The port is meant to be India’s answer to the Chinese-fronted Kyaukpyu port, which is intended to cement China’s geostrategic footprint in Rakhine.

❗️India’s Response towards Myanmar: India had been categorical from the very beginning that the gains made by Myanmar over the last decades on the path towards democracy should not be undermined.

●On Suu Kyi’s imprisonment for 2 years (sentenced recently), India also expressed its deep concerns as such developments accentuate differences.

●It suggested all the sides take efforts to advance dialogues for the sake of their nation’s future.

❗️Global Response to the Coup: The Western countries continue to condemn and sanction.

●The US has continued to use the overused threat of ever more sanctions, though to little avail.

●Myanmar’s army seems to have ceased bothering about the rhetoric from the West.

●China is investing and pulling Myanmar into its orbit.

●Countries like Japan, South Korea and most ASEAN members have all moved forward with engaging the military junta in Myanmar.

●The Cambodian Prime Minister has also scheduled to visit Myanmar in January, 2022 and is likely to set new terms of engagement.

✔️Challenges for India

◆China’s Influence on Northeast Insurgency: Ever since the coup, China’s economic grip over Myanmar has become tighter with a special focus on projects critical for the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor.

◆Moreover, the recent deadly attack on an Assam Rifles convoy near the Myanmar border was a reminder about the proclivity of China for creating trouble in the Northeast.

❗️Rohingya Issue: Aung San Suu Kyi’s silence on the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar has only led to the plight of the hapless Rohingya take a backseat. This is not in India’s national security interest in the north-east.

❗️Porous Indo-Myanmar Border: The 1643-km-long Indo-Myanmar border, which facilitates cross-border movement of militants, illegal arms and drugs, is extremely porous.

◆The border runs along hilly and inhospitable terrain and provides cover to the activities of various Indian Insurgent Groups (IIGs).

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India-Myanmar Relations {2/2}

❓Way Forward

◆Acknowledging the Military’s Primacy: The role of Myanmar’s army would be key to the unfolding of any democratic transition there, so India’s active engagement would be needed with the military.

◆Even as India continues to call for a restoration of the democratic process, it shall engage with the army in Myanmar to address Indian concerns as well. Marginalising the army will only push it into China’s arms.

◆Cultural Diplomacy: India’s cultural diplomacy through the lens of Buddhism can be leveraged for strengthening its ties with Myanmar.

◆India’s “Buddhist Circuit” initiative, which seeks to double foreign tourist arrivals by connecting ancient Buddhist heritage sites across different states in India, should resonate with Buddhist-majority Myanmar.

◆This could also build up India’s diplomatic reservoir of goodwill and trust with Buddhist-majority countries such as Myanmar.

◆Resolving Rohingyas Issue: The quicker the Rohingya issue is resolved, the easier it will be for India to manage its relations with Myanmar and Bangladesh, focusing instead more on bilateral and subregional economic cooperation.

❓Conclusion

●It is imperative that, like the other immediate neighbours of Myanmar, India too reaches out and shapes its own trajectory in Myanmar.

●The complexity of India’s regional security and neighbourhood demands India to adopt a more nuanced position without losing its essential pragmatism in engaging with Myanmar.

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Nuclear Submarine Alliance : AUKUS

✔️Why in News: Recently, Australia, the US and the UK signed an agreement allowing the exchange of sensitive “naval nuclear propulsion information” between their nations.

◆It is the first agreement on the technology to be publicly signed since the three countries announced the formation of a defence alliance, AUKUS, to confront strategic tensions in the Pacific where China-US rivalry is growing.

◆Under the AUKUS deal, Australia would obtain eight state-of-the-art, nuclear-powered but conventionally armed submarines capable of stealthy, long-range missions.

❗️AUKUS

▪️About:

●In September 2021, the US announced a new trilateral security partnership for the Indo-Pacific, between Australia, the UK and the US (AUKUS).

●The major highlight of this arrangement is the sharing of US nuclear submarine technology to Australia.

●Its Indo-pacific orientation makes it an alliance against China’s assertive actions in the South China Sea.

●It will involve a new architecture of meetings and engagements between the three countries, as well as cooperation across emerging technologies (applied AI, quantum technologies and undersea capabilities).

❗️Impact on Indo-Pacific Realm/QUAD:

◆There is concern that AUKUS could leave a deep scar on US-EU relations and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), and weaken the international coalition in the Indo-Pacific.

◆NATO was established by the North Atlantic Treaty (also called the Washington Treaty) of 4th April, 1949, by the United States, Canada, and several Western European nations to provide collective security against the Soviet Union.

◆NATO's primary goals are the collective defence of its members and the maintenance of a democratic peace in the North Atlantic area.

◆France had cancelled a scheduled meeting of the foreign ministers of Australia, France, and India at the UN.

◆In the last couple of years, the trilateral has become an important element in the emerging Indo-Pacific architecture. But the cancellation of the meeting is a blow to the trilateral engagement.

◆It is not clear whether the QUAD and AUKUS will reinforce each other or remain mutually exclusive.

◆There are some beliefs that the “Anglosphere nations” — which share common cultural and historical ties to the UK — inspire more confidence in each other.

◆QUAD is a grouping of India, USA, Australia and Japan which aims to safeguard the interests of democratic nations in the Indo-Pacific region and address global challenges.

✔️Implications for India:

●India has stated that the new partnership is neither relevant to the Quad, nor will it have any impact on its functioning.

●Despite indifference towards AUKUS, India may derive secondary benefits from the AUKUS arrangement having three advanced nations with arguably the most sophisticated military power in the world coming together to support a free and open Indo-Pacific in the light of the increasingly assertive attitude of China in the region. This could provide some degree of deterrence to China.

●Also, India’s concerns regarding ‘encirclement’ by China may be partially mitigated by AUKUS.

●China has made massive inroads in India’s neighbourhood in terms of infrastructure development projects and presence.

●There is apprehension, the deal may eventually lead to crowding of nuclear attack submarines (SSNs/submersible ship nuclear) in the Eastern Indian Ocean, eroding India’s regional pre-eminence.

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Contd..................

❓Way Forward

◆While the warming of the Indo-US relationship brings comfort to Indians, India should beware of hyperbole, obscuring reality, in the bilateral discourse.

◆American offers of help “to make India a great power” and declarations that “two of the world’s great democracies should also have the world’s two greatest militaries,” must be taken with a generous pinch of salt.

◆We need all the technologies being offered to Australia, in addition to “know-how” and “know-why” of much else, including stealth fighters, jet engines, advanced radars and nuclear propulsion for submarines as well as aircraft-carriers.

◆As India discovers that every European nation, from tiny Luxembourg to a rising Poland, has something to offer, Europe has become a thriving hub of India’s international relations.

◆The last few years have seen an intensification of India’s strategic engagement with France. For example, the government has overcome the earlier reluctance in Delhi to work with France on Indian Ocean security.

◆One is to remind France, Australia, the UK and US of the shared interests in securing the Indo-Pacific and the dangers of letting the current quarrel undermine that larger goal.

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AUKUS: Nuclear Submarine Alliance

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