1. Scientist team discovers new exoplanet with mass 13 times that of Jupiter
A new Jupiter-size exoplanet with the highest density known till this date and mass 13 times than that of Jupiter, has been discovered by an international team of scientists led by Prof. Abhijit Chakraborty at the Exoplanet Research Group of the Physical Research Laboratory (PRL), Ahmedabad.
An exoplanet is any planet beyond the solar system and the one discovered by scientists from India, Germany, Switzerland and the U.S. is with a density of ~14 g/cm3.
Massive giant exoplanets are those having mass greater than four times that of Jupiter.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said that the discovery of this massive exoplanet was made using the indigenously made PRL Advanced Radial-velocity Abu-sky Search spectrograph (PARAS) at the 1.2 m telescope of PRL at its Gurushikhar Observatory in Mt. Abu by measuring the mass of the planet precisely. The newly discovered exoplanet was found around the star called TOI4603 or HD 245134. NASA’s The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite initially declared TOI4603 as a possible candidate to host a secondary body of unknown nature.
“What sets this discovery apart is that the planet falls into the transition mass range of massive giant planets and low-mass brown dwarfs with masses ranging from 11 to 16 times the mass of Jupiter. Only fewer than five exoplanets are currently known in this mass range so far,” the ISRO said.
2. Population-based delimitation unfair to southern States: KTR
BRS leader asks all parties in South India to raise their voice against the ‘impending injustice’, highlights that they are likely to be punished for following Centre’s population control policies
Working president of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), K.T. Rama Rao, has asked people and politicians of the southern States cutting across party lines to raise their voice against the “impending injustice” staring at them with the proposed delimitation of constituencies to be taken up in 2026, based on population.
It is unfortunate that the southern States which followed the Centre’s policies to control the population growth are going to be punished for the same in the delimitation of constituencies. Believing the Centre’s words that controlling population growth would help the country overcome several problems, the southern States had followed the population control policies and succeeded in the goal, the Telangana IT Minister said.
However, the southern States are now facing the threat of injustice simply for following the Centre’s words and controlling the population. At the same time, the States which did not care about the Centre’s words for population control, particularly the northern States, are poised to benefit in the delimitation exercise on the grounds of higher population growth, he pointed out.
Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Telangana which followed the progressive policies to control the population growth and stayed ahead in all human development indices compared to the northern States were going to be punished in the delimitation, he noted.
“With only 18% population, the southern States have been contributing 35% to the country’s GDP and the proposed delimitation based on population is a gross injustice to them”, he said. He added that the proposed delimitation was not only “irrational” but “could also lead to disparities in the federal structure” and stressed the need to raise voice against the injustice awaiting the southern States.
3. Universal cover
IRDAI’s plans to expand risk protection levels need government backing
Last week, the chief of India’s insurance sector regulator unveiled a fresh blueprint to cover a larger portion of the population against risks of adverse shocks, with an eye on insuring everyone by 2047. The lynchpin of this “UPI-like moment”, being pursued by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) to bridge the country’s “huge protection gaps”, is envisaged to be a simple, all-in-one insurance policy. This bundled ‘Bima Vistaar’ scheme, being worked out with life and general insurers, would provide households with expeditious monetary support in case of medical emergencies, accidents, thefts or a death in the family. With awareness about the benefits of insurance still quite low, the regulator has proposed a women-led Gram Sabha-level initiative to educate every household’s female head about how such a scheme could come in handy at times of distress. A new ‘Bima Sugam’ platform would integrate insurance players and distributors to give customers a one-stop shop experience to begin with, and facilitate claims servicing going forward. Linking States’ digital death registries to the platform, the regulator believes, could enable life insurance claims to be settled within hours or a day at the most.
A legislative reboot is also on the anvil to ease capital requirement norms and allow a slew of new players to enter the market and serve the untapped needs of niche and specialised segments. Over two decades after the entry of private players into the once moribund public sector-led industry, India’s insurance penetration (the ratio of premium payments to GDP) has risen — from 2.7% in 2001-02 to 4.2% in 2021-22. In fact, there has been a slide in the metric over the past decade from 5.2% in 2009-10, with non-life policies yet to surpass the 1% mark. Given the sheer size of India’s population and poor financial literacy levels, the imperative to break from the status quo is unquestionable. The IRDAI’s move to rope in State governments and set up bodies similar to State-level banking committees would help formulate granular district-wise strategies for raising awareness and coverage levels. Industry players also need to look beyond the top cities and the ‘Bima Vistaar’ scheme could catalyse the volumes they need to get out of comfort zones. Most of all, the Centre needs to rethink the 18% GST levy on health and life insurance premia. The notion that those who can afford to buy health cover can afford to pay so much tax is untenable in a country where one health calamity can push a household below the poverty line. Ensuring continuity of leadership at IRDAI is equally critical — situations such as the nine-month vacuum at its helm before the current chairperson’s tenure are simply unacceptable.
4. Unboxing the ‘export turnaround’ in India’s toy story
Abhishek Anand is a consultant with Pricewaterhouse Coopers, Dubai R. Nagaraj is a former professor of economics Naveen Thomas teaches at the Jindal School of Government and Public Policy, O.P. Jindal Global University.
India has recently turned a net exporter of toys, during 2020-21 and 2021-22, ending decades of import dominance. Between 2018-19 and 2021-22, toy exports increased from $109 million (₹812 crore) to $177 million (₹1,237 crore); imports declined from $371 million (₹2,593 crore) to $110 million (₹819 crore), official data show. These facts are indisputable. They can be cross-verified by mirror images of trade figures from corresponding importing or exporting countries.
The achievement is widely credited to the ‘Make in India’ initiative launched in 2014, and related policies, official press releases claim. Moreover, in 2020, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi reportedly spoke of promoting toy manufacturing, in his talk show, ‘Mann ki Baat’. What can explain such a sharp turnaround in the toy trade? Does it represent a sustained rise in investment, output and efficiency gains nurtured by policy reforms? Or is it a short-term outcome of protectionism and COVID-19 pandemic-related global disruptions?
More imports than exports
India’s toy industry is minuscule. In 2015-16 (the latest available figures combined for the organised and unorganised sectors), the industry had about 15,000 enterprises or establishments, producing toys valued at ₹1,688 crore using fixed capital of ₹626 crore at current prices and employing 35,000 workers. Registered factories — those employing 10 or more workers on a regular basis — accounted for 1% of the number of factories and enterprises, employed 20% of workers, used 63% of fixed capital, and produced 77% of the value of output. However, during the one and half decades between 2000 and 2016, industry output was halved in real terms (net of inflation) with job losses. Imports accounted for up to 80% of domestic sales until recently. Between 2000 and 2018-19, imports rose by nearly three times as much as exports.
India hardly figures in the global toy trade, with its exports at a mere half-a-percentage point. Between 2014-19, the Indian toy industry witnessed negative productivity growth. So, what explains the sharp turnaround in toy trade in just three years? Imports contracted as the basic custom duty on toys (HS Code-9503) tripled from 20% to 60% in February, 2020. Numerous non-tariff barriers were imposed as well such as production registration orders and safety regulation codes, which contributed to import contraction (Press Information Bureau release July 5, 2022).
The question, therefore, to ask is: do net exports represent sustainable improvements in industrial capability and performance contributing to import contraction, or are these the mere short-term effects of protectionist measures? The question merits attention as toy making, a labour-intensive industry, has all along played a vital (and perhaps outsized) role in policy discourse.
The Asian scene versus India
Historically, Asia’s successful industrialising nations promoted toy exports for job creation, starting with Japan about a century ago, China since the 1980s, and currently Vietnam following in their footsteps. However, India, followed an inward-oriented industrial policy in the Planning-era, which sheltered domestic production by providing a “double protection” — by imports tariffs and reservation of the product for exclusive production in the small-scale sector — known as the “reservation policy”. The outcome? Toy manufacturing remained stagnant, archaic and fragmented, even as imports of modern, safe, and branded toys boomed. The industry is emblematic of all that was wrong with misguided industrial policy, as many critics of India’s industrial policy have contended.
In 1997, in the wake of liberal reforms, the reservation policy was abolished. Expectedly, new firms entered the organised sector, but only for a while, and productivity growth improved. But the unorganised sector languished with job losses, even as a majority of workers remained there.
In a recent study (‘India’s Toy Industry: Production and Trade since 2000’, Economic and Political Weekly, May 6, 2023) we re-examined the industry output and export performance, since about 2000, with a new firm-level dataset from the formal and informal sectors synchronised with a four-digit product-level trade data. In particular, we looked into how more recent policy initiatives, such as ‘Make in India’, have a bearing on the toy industry.
We found that the annual value of output and fixed investment at constant prices (net of inflation) after peaking in 2007-08, have trended downwards with considerable fluctuations (except for 2019-20). Apparently, there is no evidence of ‘Make in India’ positively affecting these indicators on a sustained basis. The output of the informal or unorganised sector shrank, though it continues to account for the majority of establishments and employment.
Despite early positive trends, industry de-reservation (though it helped formalise the industry), failed to sustain output, investment, and productivity growth after 2007-08. Contrary to popular perception and official claims, ‘Make in India’ had a negligible effect in strengthening toy production and exports on a sustained basis.
Too premature to claim success
As the reported turnaround in toy exports is based on data from just two recent years, and during the COVID-19 pandemic, it is perhaps too premature to claim policy success. The potential for sustaining net exports appears slim as the industry has hardly made sustained investment to boost output and exports.
To sum up, India’s export surplus in toys during 2020-21 and 2021-22, is a welcome change. However, it seems to be driven by a rise in protectionism, and the exceptional circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic. The turnaround does not seem to be the outcome of strengthening domestic investment and production on a sustained basis. Since around 2000, the industry has shrunk with rising imports, until two years ago. Though minuscule, as the industry has an outsized role in policy discourse, the study seems to offer valuable lessons. Neither the reservation policy as during the Planning era, nor its abolition after the liberal reforms boosted the industry’s performance. One should perhaps look beyond simplistic binaries — planning versus reforms — and examine the ground reality of industrial locations and clusters to tailor policies and institutions to nurture such industries.
India turning a net exporter of toys is mainly due to rising protectionism and less, perhaps, on account of expanding domestic capabilities
5. Using Buddhism as a tool of soft power
Sujeev Shakya is author of ‘Unleashing Nepal’ and ‘Unleashing the Vajra’
I am a Shakya from Nepal, a supposed descendant of Siddhartha Shakya, who went on to be known as the Buddha. Every Shakya is engaged in a different path today, yet is bound by one phenomenon. But it is rare for individuals, or the tribe, or even Nepal to feature in a congregation of Buddhists such as the Global Buddhist Summit, which took place in New Delhi in April. Realisations like these prompt a closer look at why growing superpowers, India and China, are defining their own versions of the future of Buddhism and using it as a tool of soft power.
The Shakyas who ruled Kapilavastu after Buddha’s Parinirvana did not have an army, and many were massacred in Sagarahawa. Eventually, the remaining Shakyas fled to different parts of Greater Magadha and to far-flung places like Gandhara (modern-day Afghanistan) and Burma (Myanmar). Many also went to the Kathmandu valley and were granted a status comparable to that of the Vajracharya priests, but they were not permitted to practise priesthood outside of their families. Therefore, in Hiranyavarna Mahavihara (Golden Temple) Shakyas alternate as temple caretakers and conduct all the rituals. Aside from the Kumari temples, this is one of the few temples in the Kathmandu valley where a 1,000-year-old tradition continues. When Nepal accepted a grant from the Government of India to renovate portions of the Golden Temple complex, it created a controversy. Many locals believe that India was only interested in this project because, after Lumbini, the birthplace of Buddha, this is the temple complex most frequently visited by Chinese tourists, indicating vested interests and strategies.
India’s Buddhism
For India, Buddhism provided an identity of peace and tranquillity during the formation of the Republic, which was a time of intense violence and division between the country’s two key religions, Hinduism and Islam. Professor Naman Ahuja, curator of the Lumbini Museum, discusses the usage of Buddhist symbolism as a means of escaping difficult times, whether it be the Ashoka Pillar or the wheel in the flag. In addition, the inscriptions on the edifice erected by King Ashoka provided evidence of the life and teachings of the Buddha.
Due to such usage and evidence, India likes to claim Buddhism as its own. It convened the Global Buddhist Summit in April primarily to provoke China by promoting Tibetan Buddhism and the Dalai Lama. There were no Nepal representatives present. The summit was hosted by the International Buddhist Confederation, a Buddhist organisation based in India, which has neither a patron nor a member of the Supreme Dhamma Council from Nepal. Nobody from Bhutan, a Buddhist nation, was present either. Therefore, the geopolitical tool for India seems to be the promotion of Tibetan Buddhism, which has greater Western appeal.
The India International Centre for Buddhist Culture and Heritage is coming up in Lumbini, Nepal. Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone in May 2022. A year later, little progress has been made on the construction of this centre. This could be seen as an attempt to counter the opening of the Gautam Buddha International Airport in Bhairahawa, Nepal, which, in India’s eyes, is a Chinese project. It was constructed as part of a project financed by the Asian Development Bank and carried out by a Chinese contractor.
India’s overtures of Buddhism in Nepal began only after ‘Buddha is Born in Nepal’ became a populist slogan of sovereignty in Nepal, which Mr. Modi had to accept in a speech he delivered to the Constituent Assembly in Nepal in 2014. India’s claim over Buddhism by excluding discussions with the pallbearers of tradition and the larger Buddhist community will only serve the purpose of irritating China.
China’s Buddhism
China is home to around 245 million Buddhists, 28,000 Buddhist monasteries, 16,000 temples, and 2,40,000 Buddhist monks and nuns. This makes Buddhism an important soft power for China. By adding religious overtones to China’s existing portfolio of cultural and linguistic diplomacy, the state religious system has become increasingly involved in Xi Jinping’s efforts to support the growing political and economic power of China abroad. Beijing pursues a multifaceted and flexible approach to promote Chinese Buddhism abroad, with its specific modalities varying depending on whether the target country is Buddhist-majority, Western, or one of China’s Asian competitors. As a source of Buddhism, the Chinese look to Nepal rather than India, as the popular temples in Beijing have a connection with Nepal, whether through the use of Newa Ranjana scripts on the pillars or the association of these temples with Nepali artist Arniko, who is revered in China. China utilised Buddhist narratives alongside infrastructure investments in Sri Lanka, just as Cambodia, Laos, and other Buddhist countries in Southeast Asia do. With large crowds thronging to Buddhist temples, China cannot ignore the undercurrents and, therefore, would prefer to use its own version of Buddhism not only for national integration but also as a tool of soft power.
In Nepal, a popular rumour is that China will send five million Buddhist pilgrims and establish hotels and other businesses through its investment arms as a big soft power push. It is also rumoured that India will invest more money in Lumbini. My hope is that the geopolitical wrangling over my ancestors will not turn Nepal into a Buddhist Disneyland.
The geopolitical wrangling over the future of Buddhism between India and China is making the Nepal Buddhists uneasy
6. Fresh excavation reveals pre-Mauryan era signs in Delhi’s Purana Qila site
A fresh round of excavations at the site of Delhi’s Purana Qila (Old Fort) have uncovered evidence of the continuous history of the city since the pre-Mauryan era. The findings include shards of Painted Gray Ware pottery which are usually dated to around 1200 BC to 600 BC.
Sources said that the site could host one of the accompanying events during the G-20 leadership summit in September. The Purana Qila, built by Sher Shah Suri and Mughal emperor Humayun, is believed by many to be the site of Indraprastha, as mentioned in the Mahabharat.
The new excavations have also found remains of a 900-year-old Vaikuntha Vishnu from the Rajput period, a terracotta plaque of Goddess Gaja Lakshmi from the Gupta period, the structural remains of a 2,500-year-old terracotta ring well from the Mauryan period, and a well-defined four-room complex from the Sunga-Kushan period dating back to 2,300 years ago, besides beads, seals, copper coins and a bone needle.
Trade centre
“More than 136 coins and 35 seals have been discovered from a small excavated area, indicating the site’s pivotal role as a centre for trade activities,” Culture Minister G. Kishan Reddy, who visited the excavation site on Tuesday, said. This was the third round of excavations at the site, beginning from January. Earlier excavations had been carried out in 2013-14 and 2017-18.
These efforts have revealed nine cultural levels, representing different historical periods, including pre-Mauryan, Mauryan, Sunga, Kushana, Gupta, post-Gupta, Rajput, Sultanate, and Mughal.
The Culture Minister said that the Purana Qila would soon be reopened.
7. India’s growth momentum likely to sustain in FY24: RBI
The central bank however reiterated the need for structural reforms amid slowing global growth and geopolitical tensions; India is expected to have recorded 7% growth in real GDP in 2022-23
India’s growth momentum is likely to sustain in 2023-24 in an atmosphere of easing inflationary pressures, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in its Annual Report 2022-23.
The central bank noted that the economy will be supported by sound macroeconomic policies, softer commodity prices, a robust financial sector, and new growth opportunities stemming from global realignment of supply chains.
However, it said that slowing global growth, protracted geopolitical tensions and a possible upsurge in financial market volatility following new stress events in the global financial system could pose downside risks to growth.
“It is important, therefore, to sustain structural reforms to improve India’s medium-term growth potential,” the central bank said in the report.
Amid strong global headwinds, the Indian economy is expected to have grown by 7% in real GDP in 2022-23, the RBI said. Agriculture and allied activities were resilient in FY23, with sectoral gross value added (GVA) seen posting growth of 3.3%, it said.
