General Studies – 2 (International Relations)

1.India and UAE set to use rupee, dirham for trade

President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed al-Nahyan welcomes Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a reception in Abu Dhabi. AFP

The agreement brings the country a step closer to increasing circulation of the rupee in the Gulf countries; the two nations also agree to interlink their payment and messaging systems

India on Saturday moved a step closer to increasing circulation of the rupee in the Gulf region with the signing of two memoranda of understanding (MoU) between the Reserve Bank of India and the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates.

The signing of these agreements was witnessed by UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was on a day-long visit to the Gulf country on his way back from France.

The first agreement between the RBI and the UAE Central Bank will establish a framework to “promote the use of local currencies (rupee and dirham) for cross-border transactions”, the External Affairs Ministry said in a statement.

The other MoU between the two central banks is aimed at interlinking their “payment and messaging systems”, the Ministry said.

“The leaders expressed their interest in strengthening cooperation in the payment systems area by enabling integration between cross-border transactions between the UAE and India more efficiently. Such cooperation will also include the mutual acceptance of domestic card schemes by interlinking national card switches. Integration between these systems will enhance access to payment services for the benefit of the citizens and residents of the two countries,” a Joint Statement issued after the visit read.

The two agreements between the central banks came against the backdrop of Indian entities commencing payment in yuan to Russian energy majors; it is likely to enhance the trend of doing business in local currencies that gained greater acceptance since the start of the Ukraine crisis in February 2022.

Mr. Modi met Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, President-designate of CoP28 and Group CEO of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company. “Dr.Jaber briefed Prime Minister on UAE’s approach to this important meeting. Prime Minister conveyed India’s full support to UAE for its COP-28 Presidency,” the Ministry said.

This was the fifth visit by Mr. Modi to the UAE.

General studies –2 (Governance)

2.Modi and Maharashtra govt. ‘gifted’ Dharavi project to Adani Group firm, says Cong.

Adani Properties has been made the ‘Lead Partner’ for the Dharavi redevelopment project.

BJP State governments have been turned into ‘ATM machines for Mr. Modi’s cronies’, alleges party general secretary Jairam Ramesh; criticises Deputy CM Fadnavis for approving the ‘shady deal’

The Congress on Saturday launched an attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, accusing the Maharashtra government of formally awarding the Dharavi redevelopment project to an Adani Group firm as a ‘gift’. It also alleged that the BJP State governments had been turned into ‘ATM machines for Mr. Modi’s cronies’.

According to a resolution released by the Housing Development department of Maharashtra, the State Cabinet approved the outcome of the bidding process on December 22 last, leading to the rights being awarded to Adani Properties.

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh criticised Deputy Chief Minister and BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis, stating that his final action before leaving the Housing department was to formally approve the “shady takeover” of the ₹5,069-crore Dharavi redevelopment project by the Adani Group, which encompasses 600 acres of prime land in the country’s financial capital.

Mr. Ramesh claimed that the project was originally awarded to another bidder, but after the tender was cancelled due to a dispute, the Shinde-Fadnavis government modified the tender conditions to ensure Adani Group’s victory.

“This included raising the minimum net worth needed to win the bid from ₹10,000 cr. to ₹20,000 cr to exclude the previous winner and to allow payment in instalments that eased the path for the cash-strapped Adani Group,” he alleged.

He also raised concerns about objections from the officers of the Urban Development department and highlighted that the government resolution allows the sale of Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) with no indexation on the pricing, along with a mandatory 50% purchase of TDR from the Dharavi Special Purpose Vehicle.

‘Modani Mega Scam’

The Congress leader accused Mr. Modi of ‘misusing’ State governments to favour his cronies and described the situation as the “Modani Mega Scam.”

Mumbai Congress chief and Dharavi MLA Varsha Gaikwad said, “On July 13, the Housing department issued orders appointing Adani Properties Pvt. Ltd as the ‘Lead Partner’ for the Dharavi redevelopment project.”

“Ignoring large-scale opposition and concerns regarding the financial integrity and stability of the Adani group and sidestepping serious questions over the transparency, fairness, and the competitiveness of the tendering process, this ‘Mitr’-centric government is hell-bent on letting the crisis-hit conglomerate redevelop Dharavi, which happens to be the world’s largest project of its kind. Dharavi is being made a scapegoat to benefit a ‘struggling’ friend of the BJP,” she said.

General Studies – 2 (International Relations)

3.Specific issues should not define ties: China

External Affairs Minister Jaishankar had, in talks with visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang in March and May, underlined the importance of peace on LAC as a prerequisite for normalcy; on border issue, Wang says Indian side will meet China halfway and find a solution acceptable to all

In a reflection of continuing differences in how India and China view taking ties forward, Beijing’s top diplomat Wang Yi told External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar in Jakarta that “specific issues” should not “define the overall relationship”.

In Friday’s talks, which the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Saturday had been held at India’s request, Mr. Jaishankar said both sides had “discussed outstanding issues related to peace & tranquillity in border areas”.

“Our conversation also covered EAS/ARF [ASEAN Regional Forum] agenda, BRICS and the Indo-Pacific,” the Minister said in a message on Twitter. Mr. Jaishankar had also, during bilateral talks with visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang in March and May, underlined the importance of peace on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) as a prerequisite for normalcy in the broader relationship, and called for China to take forward disengagement in two remaining friction areas.

‘Stabilising relations’

The Chinese readout of the talks, released on Saturday, said Mr. Wang, who heads the Central Commission on Foreign Affairs, “expressed that China’s President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have reached an important consensus on stabilising China-India relations” and “the two sides should take actions to this end, adhere to the correct direction of bilateral relations, grasp the general trend of world development, and promote the stabilisation and improvement of China-India relations.”

“The two sides should support each other, rather than consume and distrust each other,” he added. “We should focus our energy and resources on each other’s development, improving people’s livelihood and accelerating revitalisation without letting specific issues define the overall relationship.”

On the border issue, he said “it is hoped that the Indian side will meet China halfway and find a solution to the border issue that is acceptable to both sides.”

India’s view on the relationship is starkly different. New Delhi has seen a sharp divergence between China’s public statements on “meeting halfway” and “stabilising” ties on the one hand, and on the other, the Chinese military’s hardline stance in slow moving negotiations and refusal to restore the status quo even while beefing up forward infrastructure.

‘Unreasonable demand’

Both sides have disengaged in five friction areas, but so far, in India’s view, the Chinese side had made “unreasonable” demands in the last two areas in Demchok and Depsang. In April and May 2020, the Chinese military mobilised along the LAC and carried out multiple transgressions to unilaterally enforce China’s claims in several areas. Relations have since been in a state of deep freeze.

Another emerging sticking point in ties involves regulatory moves taken by India aimed at Chinese companies, including raids on several Chinese smartphone firms, a topic that has recently been given wide coverage in the State media in China.

Mr. Wang raised the issue in Thursday’s talks, and said China was “highly concerned about the recent restrictive measures India has taken against Chinese companies.”

“We hope the Indian side will provide a fair, transparent and non-discriminatory business environment for Chinese companies,” he was quoted as saying in the Foreign Ministry’s statement.

General studies -3 ( Science & Technology )

4.Unethical to continue using polio-causing oral vaccines

Switching from trivalent to bivalent oral poliovirus vaccine (OPV) and introducing one dose of inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) was supposed to eliminate all type 2 vaccine-derived poliovirus cases, but such cases only increased sharply

In 1988, the World Health Assembly declared WHO’s commitment to global eradication of polio by 2000. But in 1993, the goalpost was shifted — the goal was to eradicate only wild poliovirus globally by 2000. That meant eradicating vaccine-derived poliovirus (VDPV) and vaccine-associated paralytic poliomyelitis (VAPP) was no longer the objective.

The reason — developing countries using oral polio vaccine reported many vaccine-derived or vaccine-associated polio cases annually. Meanwhile, the developed countries switched to inactivated polio vaccine thus eradicating polio decades ago.

Vaccine dilemma

Though the last case of type 2 wild poliovirus was reported in October 1999 from India (and declared eradicated globally in 2015), more than 90% of vaccine-derived poliovirus outbreaks are due to type 2 virus present in oral polio vaccines. Also, 40% of VAPP are caused by type 2 oral polio vaccine. Similarly, the last case of type 3 wild poliovirus was reported in November 2012 (and declared eradicated in 2019). But many cases of VAPP from type 3 virus occur in countries using the vaccine.

Surprisingly, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) has never reported VAPP cases throughout the 34 years of polio eradication efforts. And the Indian government does not count VAPP as polio as such cases are sporadic and pose little or no threat to others.

This is concerning as the number of VAPP-compatible cases showed an increasing trend in India from 1998 to 2013, so much so that they outnumbered the polio cases caused by wild poliovirus since 2004, as per a 2014 report in the International Journal of Infectious Diseases.

According to a 2015 Perspective piece in Indian Pediatrics, VAPP cases occur at a frequency of two-four cases per million birth cohort per year in countries that use oral polio vaccine. Based on this incidence rate, an estimated 50-100 children might suffer from VAPP every year in India.

Despite India not maintaining any record of VAPP cases, the incidence of such cases for three years — 181, 129 and 109 in 1999, 2000 and 2001, respectively — have been reported.

With type 2 wild poliovirus being eradicated and all type 2 polio cases being vaccine-derived, there was a global switch from trivalent (containing all three variants) to bivalent (type 1 and type 3) oral polio vaccine in 2016 to prevent any more type 2 vaccine-derived poliovirus.

WHO’s SAGE said in 2015 that switching from trivalent to bivalent OPV vaccine and introducing one dose of IPV will reduce the occurrence and ultimately eliminate all vaccine-derived type 2 poliovirus cases.

Yet, the number of vaccine-derived type 2 poliovirus outbreaks have only increased sharply after the global switch to bivalent oral polio vaccine.

From only two countries reporting outbreaks that caused 96 VDPV type 2 cases in 2017, the number of outbreaks increased to five in 2018.

The number of VDPV type 2 cases increased further to 251 from 15 countries in 2019. In 2020, the VDPV type 2 cases peaked at 1,081 from 26 countries, many of which were previously polio-free. In 2021, 682 such cases were reported and 675 cases in 2022.

Type 2 novel OPV

A type 2 novel oral polio vaccine that is genetically modified such that is to less likely to revert to neurovirulence unlike the Sabin vaccine and therefore cause less type 2 vaccine-derived poliovirus cases was authorised by WHO under Emergency Use Listing in November 2020 and first used in the field in March 2021.

But as of May 2023, the novel vaccine, which is to be used only in type 2 VDPV outbreak situations, has already caused three type 2 VDPV cases.

“All available clinical and field evidence continues to demonstrate that type 2 novel oral polio vaccine is safe and effective and has a significantly lower risk of reverting to a form that causes paralysis in low immunity settings when compared to monovalent oral polio vaccine type 2 (mOPV2),” says an April 20, 2023 WHO report.

However, this vaccine does not address VAPP cases arising from continued use of oral polio vaccine.

Expert appeals

“For achieving zero incidence of polio by 2000, the GPEI should have transitioned to the IPV in low- and middle-income countries and phased out the oral polio vaccine, since it causes vaccine-associated paralytic polio,” virologist Dr. Jacob John and three others write in The Lancet. “Since the future polio-eradicated world can use only the IPV, transition to IPV is the sensible way forward.”

“We appeal to the GPEI, donors, and global opinion leaders, to ensure that no more polio is caused in the name of its eradication,” they added.