18 June 2023

• Diplomacy: External Affairs Minister Jaishankar visited China for the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers meeting in Goa. India and China agreed to resolve remaining LAC friction points.
• Infrastructure: Rail services in Odisha's Balasore were fully restored, two weeks after the triple train crash.
• Health: WHO updated its guidelines on tuberculosis treatment, reducing the standard treatment period from 6 to 4 months for non-drug-resistant TB.
• Finance: Niti Aayog released its sixth Sustainable Development Goals progress index; India's overall score improved to 66 out of 100.

GS area: International Relations

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar met his Chinese counterpart Qin Gang on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Council of Foreign Ministers meeting held in Goa in June 2023. This was the highest-level bilateral contact since the Galwan Valley clash of June 2020.

• Galwan clash (2020): Twenty Indian soldiers and four Chinese soldiers were killed in the Galwan Valley in Ladakh, marking the first Line of Actual Control fatalities since 1975. India disengaged at five friction points (Galwan, Pangong Tso, Gogra, Hot Springs, PP-17A) through bilateral talks.
• Remaining points: Depsang bulge and Demchok remained unresolved friction points as of June 2023.
• Bilateral trade: Bilateral trade reached approximately 135 billion dollars in 2022-23, with India running a large deficit (India exports roughly 16 billion dollars and imports roughly 119 billion dollars).
• China's concerns: Chinese-built ports (Hambantota in Sri Lanka, Gwadar in Pakistan, Chittagong in Bangladesh) in India's neighbourhood are part of a string-of-pearls concern. The Brahmaputra dam construction by China upstream is a water security concern.
• SCO basics: The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation is a Eurasian political, economic, and security alliance. Founded in 2001 by China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. India and Pakistan joined in 2017. Iran joined in 2023.

Static linkage: International relations (India-China, SCO).

GS area: Economy, Social Justice, Environment

Niti Aayog released India's Sustainable Development Goals progress report for 2023-24.

• Overall score: India scored 66 out of 100, up from 60 in 2019 when the first index was released.
• Best performers: States with high scores include Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Himachal Pradesh.
• Challenges: SDG 10 (reduced inequalities) and SDG 15 (life on land) showed slow progress. SDG 7 (affordable clean energy) saw improvement.
• 17 SDGs: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by the UN General Assembly in September 2015, contains 17 goals and 169 targets.
• India's SDG Voluntary National Review: India has submitted two Voluntary National Reviews to the UN High-Level Political Forum.

Static linkage: Economy; social justice; environment.

GS area: Health, Science and Technology

The WHO updated its tuberculosis treatment guidelines, endorsing a 4-month regimen for drug-sensitive (non-resistant) TB, down from the standard 6 months.

• TB burden: India carries the world's highest TB burden: approximately 2.7 million new cases per year, about 26 per cent of global cases.
• National TB Elimination Programme: India's goal is to eliminate TB by 2025 (five years ahead of the global 2030 SDG target).
• Nikshay Poshan Yojana: A direct benefit transfer of 500 rupees per month to TB patients for nutrition support during treatment.
• The new regimen: A four-drug combination (2HPMZ/2HPM) for 4 months showed similar efficacy to the 6-month regimen in clinical trials. Shorter treatment improves adherence and completion rates.
• Drug resistance: Drug-resistant TB (MDR-TB, XDR-TB) is a major challenge. India has about 124,000 MDR-TB cases annually.

Static linkage: Health; government schemes.

GS area: Internal Security, Polity

Security forces conducted a significant anti-Naxal operation in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district.

• Left-Wing Extremism (LWE): India's internal security challenge from the Communist Party of India (Maoist), which operates in a swath of central and eastern India called the Red Corridor, spanning parts of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana.
• SAMADHAN doctrine: India's whole-of-government approach to LWE: Smart leadership, Aggressive strategy, Motivation and training, Actionable intelligence, Dashboard-based KPIs, Harnessing technology, Action plan for each theatre, No access to financing.
• CAPF role: The Central Armed Police Forces, particularly the CRPF and its jungle warfare-trained CoBRA (Commando Battalion for Resolute Action) units, lead operations.
• Trend: Naxal violence has fallen sharply over the past decade. The LWE-affected districts reduced from 180 in 2010 to 90 in 2022 under the Red Corridor classification.

Static linkage: Internal security; polity.

• Wild Orchids: India hosts over 1,200 orchid species, of which 388 are endemic. About 60 per cent are epiphytic (growing on other plants rather than in soil). Deforestation is the primary threat. North Bengal and Northeast India are the richest orchid regions.
• Geminid Meteor Shower: NASA's Parker Solar Probe found that the Geminid meteor shower originates from the asteroid 3200 Phaethon, which had a violent collision or explosive event that created the debris stream. The Geminids peak in December each year.
• International Yoga Day: 21 June is International Yoga Day, declared by the UN General Assembly in December 2014 on India's proposal. The 9th International Yoga Day in 2023 was marked with an event at the United Nations in New York that PM Modi attended during his US visit.