27 February 2025

• International: Japan-India-Africa Forum gaining traction as a development financing alternative to China's BRI.
• Trade: India-UK Free Trade Agreement: 14 rounds completed. India stands to gain duty cuts on 6.1 billion dollars of goods.
• Digital rights: DPDP Act 2023 and its treatment of persons with disabilities (PwDs) under Section 9(1) criticised.
• Delimitation: Constitutional framework for delimitation and the history of four exercises reviewed.

GS area: International Relations

The Japan-India-Africa Forum is a trilateral economic platform promoting investment, trade and development across Africa:

• Origins: Evolved from India's India-Africa Forum Summit (IAFS) and Japan's Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD).
• Focus areas: Infrastructure development, digital transformation, skills building and sustainable development.
• Strategic significance: Positioned as a transparent, non-debt-trap alternative to China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Unlike BRI lending, the forum channels grants, concessional loans and technical assistance through multilateral institutions.
• BRI contrast: China's BRI has been criticised for creating debt dependency in African nations (the "debt trap" argument). Japan and India offer official development assistance with different conditionality structures.

India's engagement with Africa is also driven by the IAFS (held every three years) and the India-Africa trade target under bilateral frameworks.

Static linkage: International relations (multilateral, Africa, India-Japan).

GS area: International Relations (trade)

FTA negotiations between India and the UK:

• Rounds completed: 14 rounds since January 2022.
• India's exports to UK: 12.9 billion US dollars (FY 2023-24).
• UK's exports to India: 8.4 billion US dollars.
• Indian gain from FTA: Duty cuts on approximately 6.1 billion US dollars of goods (primarily textiles, pharmaceuticals, jewellery, processed foods).
• Key challenges: Tariff negotiations on Scotch whisky and UK cars (India imposes high tariffs on these); visa mobility for Indian professionals; bilateral investment treaty disputes.
• Context: India has signed 13 FTAs and 6 Preferential Trade Agreements as of early 2025.

A completed India-UK FTA would be India's most significant trade agreement with a major developed economy since the India-UAE CEPA (2022).

Static linkage: International relations (trade, India-UK).

GS area: Polity (governance, social justice)

Section 9(1) of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023 requires legal guardian consent for data processing involving persons with disabilities:

• The concern: The section fails to distinguish between the two guardianship frameworks in Indian law:
  • Rights of Persons with Disabilities (RPWD) Act 2016: Provides for limited guardianship, recognising that most PwDs retain autonomy and decision-making capacity.
  • National Trust Act 1999: Provides full guardianship for persons with severe intellectual or developmental disabilities.
• Impact: By requiring guardian consent without this distinction, Section 9(1) effectively treats all PwDs as lacking digital autonomy. This reinforces stereotypes and restricts their access to digital services.

The DPDP Act 2023 was enacted to regulate personal data processing. It creates data principals (individuals), data fiduciaries (processors) and sets rules for consent, grievance redressal and penalties.

Static linkage: Polity (governance, social justice, fundamental rights).

GS area: Polity (elections)

Delimitation refers to the process of fixing the number of parliamentary and assembly constituencies and redrawing their boundaries:

• Constitutional provisions: Articles 82 and 170.
  • Article 82: After each census, Lok Sabha seats and state assembly seats are reapportioned as Parliament determines.
  • Article 170: Prescribes composition of state legislative assemblies.
• History of delimitation exercises: Conducted four times: 1952, 1963, 1973 and 2002.
• 42nd Amendment 1976: Froze the total number of Lok Sabha seats at 543 and state assembly seats at 1971 Census levels. This freeze was intended to disincentivise states from reducing population growth.
• 84th Amendment 2001: Allowed territorial readjustment of constituencies within the 1991 Census framework.
• 87th Amendment 2003: Mandated that the next delimitation use the 2001 Census data.
• Current freeze: Seat allocations remain frozen until 2026. After 2026 the freeze lifts and reapportionment based on the next census will be required.

The upcoming delimitation exercise (post-2026) is politically contentious because southern states with lower population growth fear losing Lok Sabha seats to northern states.

Static linkage: Polity (elections, constitution).

GS area: Governance (environment)

The Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) was in the news:

• Established: 1962 under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1960.
• Headquarters: Ballabhgarh, Haryana.
• Founder: Established under the guidance of Rukmini Devi Arundale, a classical dancer and animal welfare activist.
• Ministry: Administered by the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying.
• Functions: Advisory role on animal welfare, promoting animal welfare organisations, regulatory compliance and legal enforcement of the PCA Act.

The AWBI is a statutory body. It has advisory powers and can recommend recognition or de-recognition of animal circuses and advise on transport of animals.

Static linkage: Governance (environment, animal welfare).

GS area: International Relations (governance)

The US relaunched its investment visa as the "Gold Card" visa:

• Requirement: 5 million US dollar investment.
• Previous version: EB-5 visa (typically 1 to 5 million dollars depending on project type).
• Comparisons:
  • UAE: AED 2 million (approximately 540,000 US dollars).
  • Portugal: 500,000 euros under the Golden Visa scheme.
  • New Zealand: Relaxed requirements for active investor-plus category.
• Benefit: 10-year residency with a pathway to citizenship after 5 to 10 years.

Investment visas are a form of economic migration policy that exchanges residency rights for capital flows. They have been criticised for facilitating capital flight and enabling money laundering.

Static linkage: International relations, governance.

GS area: Science and Technology (zoology)

The Oarfish (Regalecus glesne) made news following a sighting:

• Scientific distinction: Longest bony fish globally, reaching 11 metres.
• Habitat: Deep ocean at 200 to 1,000 metres depth in the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans.
• Japanese mythology: Called Ryugu no tsukai ("Messenger from the Sea God's Palace"). Folklore associates its appearance with earthquakes.
• Scientific reality: A 2019 study found no statistical correlation between oarfish sightings and earthquakes. Rare sightings are noticed more in earthquake-prone areas, producing a coincidence bias.

Static linkage: Science and Technology (biodiversity, zoology).

• Pig Butchering Scam: Originated in China in 2016. A cryptocurrency fraud in which victims are cultivated through social media relationships before being lured into fake investment platforms. It involves money laundering and forced cyber labour. I4C (Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre) and Google are collaborating on detection and mitigation.
• Panchayati Raj advisory: An advisory committee recommended exemplary penalties for male relatives who usurp elected women panchayat representatives' seats (a proxy leadership problem). Kerala-style gender-exclusive quotas in panchayat committees were proposed.