23 May 2023

• International Relations: India hosted the FIPIC-3 summit in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, covering 14 Pacific island nations.
• Economy: The Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) is shifting e-commerce toward an open-network model.
• Education: PARAKH, the National Assessment Centre under NEP 2020, will unify 60 school examination boards.
• EV policy: The FAME-II two-wheeler subsidy was reduced from 40 per cent to 15 per cent of ex-factory price.
• Heritage: International Museum Day was observed on 18 May. India plans the world's largest museum covering 5,000 years.

GS area: International Relations

The Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation third summit was held in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.

• FIPIC members: 14 Pacific island nations across three Pacific sub-regions: Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia.
• India's new commitments:
  • Annual grant-in-aid per country increased from 125,000 to 200,000 US dollars.
  • A special climate adaptation fund of 1 million US dollars.
• Current trade: India-Pacific Islands annual trade is approximately 300 million US dollars.
• FIPIC origin: Established in 2014 during the Prime Minister's Fiji visit.
• Strategic significance: China has been expanding its presence in the Pacific through bilateral security agreements, aid and infrastructure investment. FIPIC is India's counter-engagement with these small but strategically important states.

Static linkage: India's Pacific policy, FIPIC, climate diplomacy (International Relations).

GS area: Economy (Digital economy, Competition)

The Open Network for Digital Commerce shifts e-commerce from a platform-centric model to an open-network model.

• What ONDC does: Creates interoperable infrastructure where buyers and sellers on different platforms can transact without being locked into one marketplace.
• Analogy: UPI did for payments what ONDC aims to do for commerce. Any bank app can send money to any other bank.
• Democratisation goal: MSMEs and small traders can reach buyers without being dependent on Amazon or Flipkart and paying their commission structures.
• Challenge: Major players (Amazon, Flipkart) are reluctant to join. Customer complaint resolution across platforms remains unclear.
• Similarity to UPI: Both are government-backed open networks using interoperability as the lever to reduce platform monopoly.

Static linkage: Digital economy, competition policy, MSMEs (Economy/Governance).

GS area: Governance (Education policy)

PARAKH (Performance Assessment, Review and Analysis of Knowledge for Holistic Development) was established as the national assessment centre under NEP 2020.

• Goal: Unify and standardise assessments across India's approximately 60 state and central school examination boards.
• Three focus areas: Large-scale assessments (benchmarking Indian students internationally), school-based assessments (formative evaluation) and examination reforms.
• Linkage to NEP 2020: NEP envisions moving from rote learning to competency-based assessment.
• Parent body: Ministry of Education / NCERT.

Static linkage: NEP 2020, education reform, assessment (Governance).

GS area: Economy (EV policy, Green economy)

The FAME-II (Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric vehicles) subsidy for two-wheelers was restructured.

• Old incentive cap: 40 per cent of ex-factory price.
• New incentive cap: 15 per cent of ex-factory price.
• Per-unit subsidy: Reduced from 15,000 rupees per kWh to 10,000 rupees per kWh.
• Total fund: Total allocated funds were increased despite the per-unit reduction, reflecting expected volume growth.
• Policy rationale: The earlier subsidy levels were seen as inflating demand beyond market readiness and in some cases fuelling fraudulent claims.

Static linkage: EV policy, FAME scheme, green economy (Economy).

GS area: Art and Culture (Heritage)

The International Museum Day was observed on 18 May. India is planning the world's largest museum, named Yuge Yugeen Bharat, covering 5,000 years of Indian history.

• Location: New Delhi (North Block and South Block of Central Secretariat, which are being vacated as the new Central Vista complex comes into use).
• Scale: Aims to be the world's largest museum.
• Mohenjodaro Dancing Girl: Featured as the mascot inspiration for the International Museum Expo 2023. The bronze figurine is over 4,500 years old, 10.5 cm tall and is housed at the National Museum of India in New Delhi.
• Archaeological significance: The Dancing Girl from Mohenjodaro represents one of the earliest examples of artistic human representation in the Indian subcontinent.

Static linkage: Harappan civilisation, museums, heritage conservation (Art and Culture).

• Forum shopping: The practice of litigants deliberately selecting courts or judges expected to be favourable to their case. The Supreme Court termed it a "disreputable practice with no legal sanction" and ruled courts may refuse jurisdiction where it is apparent.
• RBI surplus transfer: RBI transferred 87,416 crore rupees to the government as dividend for FY 2022-23. This was approximately three times the previous year's transfer. The Contingency Risk Buffer was increased to 6 per cent from 5 per cent. The CRB is the reserve RBI maintains to cover monetary, operational and systemic risks.
• Pangenome Map: Scientists created a pangenome map from 47 individuals across Africa, the Caribbean, the Americas, East Asia and Europe. Unlike the single reference genome sequenced in 2003, the pangenome captures global genetic diversity and aids disease research.