24 September 2023

• International: India and the United Nations launched the India-UN Capacity Building Initiative for the Global South, sharing India's development experience with partner countries.
• Economy: JP Morgan announced that Indian government bonds will be included in its Emerging Market Bond Index effective June 2024.
• Environment: Five Eyes Alliance countries issued a joint statement backing Canada's allegations against India in the Nijjar case, adding diplomatic pressure on New Delhi.
• Science: The Aditya-L1 spacecraft completed its third orbit-raising manoeuvre and was on track for the trans-Lagrangian injection.

GS area: International Relations (development cooperation, UN)

India and the United Nations launched the India-UN Capacity Building Initiative, offering India's development expertise to partner countries across the Global South.

• What it covers: India will share expertise in digital public infrastructure (DPI), disaster risk reduction, small farmer support, renewable energy transition, health systems, and traditional medicine.
• South-South cooperation: this is a form of South-South cooperation where a developing nation assists other developing nations rather than relying on North-South aid flows.
• India's credentials offered: the UPI payment system, CoWIN vaccine delivery platform, DPI-enabled DBT, Aarogya Setu, and DIKSHA education platform are among the models being offered.
• UN co-implementation: the initiative will be channelled through UN agencies, making it multilateral rather than bilateral and less susceptible to "neo-colonialism" accusations.
• Geopolitical dimension: by offering alternatives to Chinese infrastructure lending and Western conditionality, India positions itself as a distinctive development partner.

Static linkage: international relations (South-South cooperation, Global South), governance (DPI).

GS area: Economy (government securities, capital markets)

JP Morgan announced that Indian government bonds would be included in its Emerging Market Government Bond Index (GBI-EM) from June 2024. This is a major milestone for India's debt market.

• What the GBI-EM is: JP Morgan's GBI-EM Global Diversified Index is the benchmark that most global bond investors track. Inclusion means global fund managers who track this index must buy Indian government bonds.
• Scale of potential flows: India is expected to have a maximum weight of 10 per cent in the index, potentially attracting $20-25 billion in foreign investment in Indian government securities.
• Fully Accessible Route (FAR): only Indian government bonds in the FAR category (unrestricted foreign investment) are eligible. FAR bonds are those where foreign investment has no limit beyond standard prudential requirements.
• Capital account liberalisation dimension: this is a step toward deeper capital account convertibility without a formal policy change. The inflow puts downward pressure on government borrowing costs.
• Risks: large foreign bond holdings create vulnerability to sudden capital outflows if global risk sentiment sours. The RBI must manage this.

Static linkage: economy (government securities, capital flows, capital markets).

GS area: International Relations (India-Canada, intelligence alliances)

Five Eyes intelligence alliance members (USA, UK, Australia, Canada, New Zealand) issued statements supporting Canada's position on the Nijjar case, creating a broader diplomatic front against India.

• Five Eyes: a signals intelligence-sharing alliance formed during World War II between the US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. It remains one of the most comprehensive intelligence-sharing arrangements in the world.
• US position: the US State Department called for India's cooperation with the Canadian investigation while not going as far as Canada's expulsion move.
• Australia and UK: both expressed concerns and called for accountability.
• India's response: India maintained that Canada had not provided any evidence and characterised the matter as politically motivated. The Indian government saw the Five Eyes statement as coordinated Western pressure.
• Bilateral fallout: Canada paused a free trade agreement negotiation with India. India restricted Canadian diplomatic presence in India to parity with India's in Ottawa.

Static linkage: international relations (India-Canada, Five Eyes, diplomatic crisis).

GS area: Economy (tourism, heritage)

India launched its first Lighthouse Festival, aiming to transform 75 lighthouses into tourist destinations under a Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways initiative.

• Lighthouses of India: managed by the Directorate General of Lighthouses and Lightships under the Ministry of Ports. India has over 190 lighthouses on its 7,517 km coastline.
• Heritage value: many lighthouses were built during the British colonial period. They are examples of maritime engineering and heritage not well integrated into tourism circuits.
• Goa hub: the Goa Lighthouse Festival was the inaugural event, featuring cultural programmes, maritime exhibitions and guided light-tower climbs.
• Coastal tourism development: the initiative aligns with the Sagarmala project's port-led development and the government's push for coastal tourism as an alternative to mass-tourism hill stations.

Static linkage: economy (tourism, coastal), heritage (lighthouses, maritime).

GS area: Science and Technology (renewable energy)

Research published in September 2023 demonstrated that perovskite solar cells could achieve comparable efficiency to silicon cells at a fraction of the cost, with a nano-coating technique improving stability.

• Silicon vs. perovskite: silicon cells dominate the solar market but require energy-intensive fabrication. Perovskite cells are cheaper to produce (low-temperature deposition on flexible substrates) but have historically degraded faster.
• Stability improvement: the nano-coating research showed stability up to 1,000 hours under continuous illumination, a key benchmark for commercial viability.
• India's solar target: India aims to install 500 GW of renewable capacity by 2030. Cheaper solar technology would accelerate this.
• Clean energy transition: perovskite-silicon tandem cells could achieve efficiencies above 30 per cent, significantly above silicon's 22-24 per cent practical limit.

Static linkage: science and technology (renewable energy, solar cells).

GS area: Health, Environment

Studies showed that Vibrio vulnificus, a bacterium found in coastal waters, is expanding its range northward as ocean temperatures rise due to climate change.

• Vibrio vulnificus: a gram-negative bacterium found in warm coastal waters. It causes wound infections (from seawater exposure) and gastroenteritis (from eating raw shellfish). The wound infection form has a 25-50 per cent case fatality rate.
• Climate linkage: the bacterium thrives above 13 degrees Celsius. Rising sea surface temperatures are expanding its geographic range into waters that were previously too cold.
• India's coastal risk: India's 7,517 km coastline is home to significant shellfish consumption communities. Rising sea temperatures could increase Vibrio risk in India's coastal states.

Static linkage: health (emerging diseases, zoonotic threats), environment (climate change).

• Argentina's lithium blocks: India's KABIL (Khanij Bidesh India Limited) joint venture was in final stages of acquiring five lithium blocks in Argentina's lithium-rich Andes region (the "Lithium Triangle"). Argentina, Chile and Bolivia hold approximately 60 per cent of world lithium reserves.
• India at the UN General Assembly: India's External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar addressed the 78th session of the UN General Assembly in New York, covering global south priorities, UN reform, multipolarity and connectivity.
• Keeladi archaeological findings: carnelian beads found at the Keeladi excavation in Tamil Nadu confirmed trade links between Tamil Nadu and the western regions of India during the Sangam period (circa 6th century BCE to 3rd century CE).