GS PAPER-2 (FULL LENGTH)

FOR OAS MAINS 2018

MODEL ANSWER (TEST-11)

1.aThe year 2014 saw Modi coming to power as the prime minister of India .His very first foreign
policy initiative won the hearts of many globally .Modi invited the heads of south Asia (SAARC
leaders) during his oath taking ceremony in new Delhi 2014 .

The of personal diplomacy is now recognised as the hallmark of Modi ‘s way of engaging with the
world.Modi’s diplomatic skill were further strengthened when Bajpayee as the PM deputed Modi to
travel aboard for party work where he always displayed avid interest in learning how foreign states
solved problems related to infrastructure ,roads and river etc. and applying that learning to Indian
institution .

• The Modi Doctrine is defined by his emphasizes in on 4D.Modi has adopted Democracy
,Demography and demand as key drives to highlight India’s economic powers abroad
.However, Diaspora is the oxygen to his foreign policy .
• This diaspora diplomacy is a classic example of how the diaspora can be a catalyst for
transformative diplomacy in the era of globalisation .The doctrine of the diaspora in the
USA,Australia and the UK, reflect the the intermixing of past present and future . The
Doctrine of the diaspora here aims to attract FDI to India and use it for domestic
development.
• Another very crucial dimension of the Modi doctrines his thrust on economic diplomacy .All
diplomatic engagements undertaken by Modi till date are driven by the economic thrust of
making India a commercial power. The economic diplomacy strategy of Modi is based on a
model where domestic growth is to be propelled by FDI in the manufacturing sector. To
make FDI absorption easy, the Make in India’ initiatives and ‘skill India initiatives have been
launched and steps have been taken to improve India’s performance in the ease of doing
business.

• Under the new neighbourhood first policy ,Modi’s key focus vis –a vis India ‘s relation with
its neighbours is economic trade .Modi believes that aggressive economic trade with
neighbour will benefit all and the benefits will
• Percolate deep down in society .This will bring about a radical shift in the way its neighbour
perceive India .The erstwhile image of India ,projected to its neighbour as a ‘big brother’ will
transform into one of the collaborative ally and shall prove positive spill over for entire
region .At the eighbourhood level connectivity has emerged as an in built dimension of
economic diplomacy .

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 • Apart from that usage India’s soft power capability has taken primacy in the Modi doctrine
.For instance, the intense diplomacy to get 21st june declared as international day of Yoga at
the UN General Assembly is an example of soft power diplomacy. Thus, one may conclude
that the Modi Doctrine is all about putting India into a higher international orbit and for
achieving the same ,tasks have been clearly cut out for the future .
• Our outstanding of the foreign policy of the Modi helps us to analyse few goals the IFP
intends to achieve in the future .Modi has clarified that India is not going to be a balancing
power but intends to aspire to be a leading power ,India is to have a three steps foreign
policy

(A) Obeserve and react to international events

(B) If needed ,infuse energy to shape international events

(C) Occasionally ,play a role to drive the events

Modi has realised that even if diplomacy may not fetch political votes domestically, It does enhance
India’s standing in the world and helps garner resources for developing India.At times ,Domestic
political standing can be improved if a country leverage external partners well In 1969 embrace of
USSR won the congress support of the left parties in India .This helped the congress party counter
the rivals on the Right side of the political spectrum .Though India’s great power diplomacy only
boosts some excitement at the domestic political resonance .,it is in reality, the neighbourhood
diplomacy where there is greater domestic political resonance, for example-Nepal on Bihar ,Sri lanka
on Tamil Nadu and Bangladesh on West Bengal explain the same.

b. Context: At a Non-Aligned Ministerial in September, calling India’s support to the Palestinian

cause a “reference point” in its foreign policy, Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj affirmed that India’s
“expanding relations” in the region will “only strengthen the Palestinian cause”, not weaken it. And
in a letter ahead of the UN International Solidarity Day with the Palestinian People in November, Mr.
Modi wrote that India’s vision for the creation of a separate Palestinian state remains, and called for
an “early resumption of dialogue”.

Israel-Palestine peace process:

• The biggest shift from what seemed to be a set trajectory for the Modi government,
however, came on the floor of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) on December 21, when
India chose to vote for a resolution criticising the U.S. for recognising Jerusalem as the Israeli
capital, and also called on Israel to end its “occupation that began in 1967”. The Foreign
Ministry defended its decision as consistent with past policy, but in fact the reverse is
evident. In the past three years, barring a vote at the UNGA in 2014, India has turned from
its traditional pro-Palestinian stance, to one of abstention.
• In 2015, India abstained on a UN Human Rights Council resolution criticising Israel for an
aerial bombing of Gaza that had left 2,200 people dead. It repeated its abstention in 2016.
Also in 2016, at UNESCO in Paris, India changed its vote from voting ‘for’ to an abstention on
a resolution criticising Israel for encroachments at the Western Wall and near the Al-Aqsa
mosque in Jerusalem.

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 • As a result, India’s position can only be explained by a desire to reassert its leadership role
on the multilateral stage, and to regain its leverage on the Israel-Palestine issue, a re-
hyphenation of sorts. This is in keeping with the special place and moral position India has
always assumed on the peace process, and its support to a just solution. It is also a rejection
of the false equivalence often built between Palestine and Kashmir, or comparisons between
de-hyphenating the India-Pakistan relationship and the Israel-Palestine issue.
• De-hyphenating relations with Israel and Palestine can only follow a peaceful resolution of
the issue, which even Israel’s founding fathers believed was the two-state solution. “The
future of the Zionist project depends on embrace of the two-state solution,” former
President Shimon Peres wrote in his memoirs. “The danger, if Israel abandons this goal, is
that the Palestinians will eventually accept a one-state solution. Because of demographics,
this would leave Israel with a choice: stay Jewish or stay democratic.” It is this solution that
Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated for espousing, and Mr. Peres died hoping for
— but Israel’s current dispensation is moving away from this long-standing consensus.

Influence in West Asia:

Weeks after winning on principle at the UNGA to have its candidate overwhelmingly elected to the
International Court for Justice, India could not have been seeing bowing to pressure or to the diktats
of ‘real politick’ on the Jerusalem vote at the same forum. More to the point, the government
appears to have affirmed that in calculating the national interest, it is necessary to value the role of
India’s leadership on the international stage as well. If there is a real politick calculation to be made,
it is that India’s influence in West Asia cannot be squandered away so casually, and advocating the
peace process with Mr. Netanyahu will be an important step. The road to India’s prosperity may well
run through Jerusalem, but the road to its leadership aspirations on the world stage cannot bypass
Ramallah either.

c.Refer to GS BOOK

d.Refer to GS-Apti-Book

2.a

SEZ: A Special Economic Zone (SEZ) is a geographical region that has economic laws more liberal
than a country's typical economic laws. It is a trade capacity development tool, with a goal to
promote rapid economic growth by using tax and business incentives to attract foreign investment
and technology. By offering privileged terms, Special Economic Zones attract investment and foreign
exchange, spur employment and boost the development of improved technologies and
infrastructure.

Contribution to Indian exports promotion and economic development:

• In India, Special Economic Zones are being established in an attempt to deal with
infrastructural deficiencies, procedural complexities, bureaucratic hassles and barriers raised
by monetary, trade, fiscal, taxation, tariff and labour policies. Since country-wide
development of the infrastructure is expensive and implementation of structural reforms
would require time, ( Special Economic Zones/Export Processing Zones) are being
established as industrial enclaves for expediting the process of industrialization.

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 • In 1991, the reformed trade and industrial policy eliminated licensing requirements for
private domestic and foreign investment in certain industries and relaxed the restrictions
under the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Act on expansion, diversification,
mergers and acquisitions by large firms and industrial houses. Special Economic Zones came
in pursuance of this export led growth strategy.
• Special Economic Zones were announced by the Government of India in April 2000 as a part
of the Export-Import policy of India. The government realized the need to enhance foreign
investment, promote exports from the country and at the same time provide a level playing
to the domestic enterprises, while ensuring manufacturers to be competitive globally.
• These zones were to provide an internationally competitive and hassle free environment for
exports. Units were allowed be set up in Special Economic Zone for manufacture of goods
and rendering of services.
• All import/export operations of the Special Economic Zone units were on self-certification
basis. Anything could be imported duty free but sales in the Domestic Tariff Area by Special
Economic Zone units were subject to payment of full Custom Duty and as per import policy
in force.
• Further Offshore banking units were being allowed to be set up in the Special Economic
Zones. The policy provided for setting up of Special Economic Zones in the public, private,
joint sector or by State Governments.
• On 31st August 2004 the Department of Commerce announced the Foreign Trade Policy
2004-2009 to create an appropriate institutional framework and policy environment for
facilitation and growth of external trade. The basic objective of this policy was to double
India's share of global merchandise trade by 2009 and make exports an effective instrument
of economic growth and employment generation. The Special Economic Zone Act, 2005 and
the Special Economic Zone Rules, 2006 were introduced under this policy, to regulate and
promote the development of these industrial enclaves.
• The Act designated the Special Economic Zones a duty free enclave to be treated as foreign
territory only for trade operations and duties and tariffs. Under the Act, no license is
required for import and no routine examination is to be conducted by the custom
authorities of the export/import cargo.
• To aid backward and forward integration of the economy, the Act provides exemptions to
Special Economic Zone units and Special Economic Zone developers from all indirect taxes,
including basic customs duty, countervailing duty, education cess, and direct taxes while at
the same time domestic sales are subject to full customs duty and import policy in force.
• The Act provided the freedom to subcontract. It also permitted manufacturing, trading and
service activities in the Special Economic Zones.

b. The act east policy of the Indian govt presents the country with a unique opportunity to emerge
as a true regional superpower with global aspirations, besides helping the region of South Asia to
live up to its true economic potential.

Economy:

• A united Southern Asia would represent an economic powerhouse. The proposed group’s
member states had a combined GDP of almost $16 trillion USD (measured in PPP) in 2014,
accounting for 14 percent of the global economy.

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 • As a region Southern Asia is one of the world’s fastest growing. Southern Asia’s GDP more
than doubled between 2001 and 2014, while world GDP grew by just around 40 percent in
the same period. If current trends continue Southern Asia will account for about 20 percent
of global GDP by 2020.
• Household consumption in Southern Asia has grown by about 215 percent between 2001
and 2013, much faster than the overall global figure of 85 percent. A rising middle class and
rapid urbanization is fast changing the region into a major engine of consumption. In 2001,
the region as a whole had 180 million urban citizens; today it has over 250 million. In just a
decade the region has added more than the entire population of France as new urban
citizens, highlighting the rapid pace of growth.
• With a population of over 2 trillion, it is home to almost 30 percent of humanity, and would
account for almost 40 percent of the world’s working population in 2020. With the right
investments in skills and integrated markets that allow it to leverage its economies of scale,
Southern Asia would be a global economic leader, and one of most important engines of
global growth.

Energy: –

• As India looks for alternative oil, gas, and other energy resources, Southern Asia offers a
great opportunity. Myanmar is emerging as major natural gas producer. Bangladesh has
significant resources, and new resources have come to light in recent times.
• Indonesia’s Natuna fields can emerge as one of the richest sources of gas globally in the
coming years. Malaysia, Vietnam, and the Philippines all have ambitious on-shore and off-
shore oil and gas field development plans. Indonesia is today the world’s largest exporter of
coal, and Indian firms have already a significant presence in the Indonesian coal sector.
• The Trans-ASEAN energy pipeline being developed in partnership by ASEAN member states
envisages a grid of pipelines connecting the region.

Strategic Interests: –

• A united Southern Asia, leveraging the combined strategic and military might of India, and
the larger ASEAN states like Indonesia, Thailand, Myanmar and Vietnam, would be able to
resist any outside manipulation of this region. Unlike China, India is not perceived to have
any hegemonic designs by ASEAN member states
• India needs an ambitious geostrategic and economic goal, and the desire to develop an
institutional framework around it. Potentially, the goal should be to create a framework for
the economic integration of the wider Southern Asia region, linking India (and Bangladesh,
Bhutan, and Nepal) with the ASEAN economies. Such economic integration would go far
beyond traditional trade agreements and encompass time-bound connectivity infrastructure
projects (like China’s OBOR), production network linkages facilitated by FDI, and the
integration of energy and electricity infrastructures.
• Both Japan and the United States have been quietly lobbying for a more proactive Indian
role in the region, and would be strategically aligned to such an objective.

Connectivity: -

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 • India should create a proactive mechanism to integrate the mandates of the various trade
agreements already in place between India and ASEAN. These include India’s bilateral with
Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, and the regional agreement with ASEAN. It also
includes multi-sector initiatives like BIMSTEC, that need to be reinvigorated with a sense of
purpose, specific projects, and firm deadlines in areas like energy grid integration, transport
and trade facilitation, and education (people to people linkages)
• On the security front, India could offer military training to all ASEAN member states, and
launch a joint Southern Asian military exercise that brings together the militaries of India,
Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal and all of the ASEAN member states.
• India will also need to encourage Southern Asian states to resolve all outstanding irritants in
bilateral relations, starting with its own issues. A priority would be to address issues like the
Teesta water sharing agreement with Bangladesh, and working to heal the rift in India-Nepal
relations. India could also offer to proactively mediate between Myanmar and Bangladesh
on the Rohingya refugee issue

Challenges in creating United Southern Asia

• Bilateral relations between Myanmar and Bangladesh suffer from acrimony due to the
Rohingya issue in Rakhine state.
• India would itself need to be proactive and resolve the Teesta river water sharing issue with
Bangladesh.
• Difficulties remain in the Thai-Myanmar and Thai-Malaysia relations due regional conflicts at
the border areas
• Slow paced development from Indian side i.e. Thailand- Myanmar- India Highway China’s
presence

In recent times:

ASEAN-India Commemorative Summit was held in Jan 2018 New Delhi to celebrate the 25th
anniversary of the establishment of sectoral dialogue between two sides under the theme of
“Shared Values, Common Destiny”. It issued joint statement titled Delhi Declaration after the
plenary session. The session also assumes importance as for the first time there was explicit mention
of close cooperation to handle “cross-border movement of terrorists”.

Unlike the Chinese, India’s leadership in this region has historically been through economic and
cultural roles and not through political and military might. It is time to revive that historical role, and
take the lead in turning Southern Asia into the world’s most dynamic economic region.

c. Context:

The 18th mid-term ministerial meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) was held in Azerbaijan
in the month of April.

What is NAM?:

• Non-Aligned Movement(NAM) was formed in the backdrop of the end of Second World War
when the world was bipolar with countries allying either with the USA or the USSR.

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 • The newly Independent countries including India felt that alliance with either of the two
blocs would impede the individual growth and development of the nation.
• With the disintegration of USSR and the end of bipolarity the very reason for the existence
of NAM came to be questioned.
• With the rise of many regional and multilateral groupings, a section of the academia believe
that NAM has been sidelined.

India and NAM:

Being the largest member-state of NAM, India has been one of the leaders of the movement since
the time of Jawaharlal Nehru, one of the founding fathers of this movement.(Sukarno, Josip Broz
Tito, Gamal Abdel Nasser and Kwame Nkrumah were the other founding fathers).

NAM in the cold war era:

Positive Role:

NAM played an important role during the Cold War years in furthering many of the causes that India
advocated like:

• Decolonisation
• End to apartheid
• Global nuclear disarmament
• Ushering in of new international economic and information orders

Negative Role:

• Could not prevent India-Pakistan and Indo-China wars.

• During the wars, NAM members invariably adopted diplomatic positions that were not
favourable towards or supportive of India.

Taking a broader perspective:

Non-alignment stood for policy autonomy for the erstwhile newly independent countries. 2)These
countries banded together because of their shared traditions and histories, which included anti-
colonialism, anti-imperialism and anti-racism.

The idea behind non-alignment thus conceived was to promote peace and security in a global arena
where superpowers were constantly posturing to achieve their hegemonic ambitions.

Relevance of NAM:

• Can be used as a platform to bring about disarmament.

• Voice of the South Bloc (Third World Countries)
• Stability in the rising multipolar world order
• Can help to contain the rise of China by raising a collective voice.
• A platform where India’s Leadership is recognized
• A unique platform of countries with dissimilar backgrounds and interests

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 • Can be used to gather support for India’s quest to become a permanent member of the
UNSC.

Why India’s Non Aligned Credentials are being questioned?

• India joined the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, a coalition seen by many as a counterforce
to China’s rise in the Indo-Pacific.
• Perception in some quarters that India is well-inclined towards the U.S. and its allies, while it
has simultaneously allowed a drift away from its old allies such as Russia.
• Russia’s drift from India and the emergence of a Russia-China-Pakistan trilateral.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s skipped the 17th Non Aligned Movement (NAM) summit.
• Rising influence of BRICS.

Way Ahead:

Non alignment as well as Non Aligned movement will always be relevant.India has a responsibility as
the leader of the South Bloc hence should make use of NAM to protect the interest of smaller
nations.

d. China’s economic growth cooled to its slowest in 28 years in 2018. China’s Dec exports
unexpectedly fell 4.4% from a year earlier, with demand in most of its major markets weakening.
Imports also saw a shock drop, falling 7.6% — the biggest decline since July 2016.

Positive Impact

✓ Low Commodity Prices- The lower commodity prices could work to India’s advantage as it
seeks to revive its own manufacturing sector and attract foreign companies to ‘make in
India’.
✓ Deficit and inflation management-: Oil prices were already taking a beating, with global
slowdown and a possible US-Iran deal, China only nudged the prices lower. For India, low oil
prices helps in controlling its deficit and keeps inflation under check.
✓ Investment-: India's big push for infrastructure development perhaps could get a boost from
cheaper Chinese funds and resources. The development of India's high-speed rail network,
renewable energy sector, smart cities and more importantly, the manufacturing sector,
could become more feasible in the wake of reduced possibilities and opportunities for
companies in China. Indian stocks, as a result, are reasonably valued despite their strong
run, and could find it easier to attract foreign institutional investor (FII) money.

Way Forward

The impact of China's economic slowdown on India will be largely dependent on how the country
proceeds on policy reforms. NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Arvind Panagariya has said that Indian
economy can gain from the deceleration of the Chinese economy.The urbanization of India and its
swelling middle class will step in to fill the breach as China’s economic growth slows. India needs to
tread carefully to benefit from the current turmoil.

India should cushion itself to reduce the negative impact of a Chinese slowdown. At the same time,
it should also explore the positive side of a Chinese slowdown.

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3.a

With the Indian forces carrying out “surgical strikes” across the Line of Control, India seems to have
abandoned the self-proclaimed policy of “strategic restraint” adopted in the face of earlier
provocations by terrorists believed to be backed by Pakistan. This may not be the first time India has
undertaken quick cross-LoC operations, but it has never before chosen to share information so
publicly.

Strategic impact of this action can be following.

▪ This surgical strike indicates that India’s technical capabilities (Command, Control,
Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance — C4ISR) have
improved a great deal.

▪ The terms “surgical strike” and “pre-emptive strike” used by India were intended to make it
clear to the enemy that there will be repercussions and crossing the border does not
guarantee immunity

▪ The strikes proved to be an important element for maintaining the morale of the people of
India and the armed forces.

▪ The strike reinforced the credibility of the government and displayed its resolve, even as
justified restraint and maturity was on display. This act would also counter India’s image of
being a soft state.

▪ Russia has also backed India, saying Pakistan should take effective steps in order to stop
activities of terrorist groups in its territory. India seems to have played its cards well by
seeking international and regional isolation of Pakistan before striking infiltrator targets
across the LOC.

There are also several negative impacts of these types of acts as it may escalate the conflict
especially in case of Pakistan, Security forces can be trapped in enemy territory. It could be a cause
of international censure for violating other country’s border.

c. UN security council consists of two types of members: Permanent and temporary. The five
permanent members: US,UK,Russia,China and France enjoy veto power. This provision has been
widely criticized by different nations. Also there is voice for increasing African, South American and
Asian representation in UNSC.

India has been a temporary member many times. It wants to secure permanent membership in
UNSC for its growing importance in world affairs.

But the Indian journey to UNSC Permanent membership seems very difficult. Following are the
major roadblocks:

P5 Resistance: Permanent members never get to a consensus to allow expansion of council and
offer permanent seat to another country. China being India’s rival will always veto down any such
agreement for India. Thus this remains the biggest roadblock.

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India’s economic contribution: Compared to P5 Countries India’s contribution to Security council
budget is very minimal, which again discredits its claim to join council as a permanent group.

International diplomacy: India is seen as a soft country, especially on matters related to middle east
and gulf countries. It maintains neutrality and puts its own interest before taking a hard stance. This
is misinterpreted by P5 countries as India’s inability to offer and sanction extreme measures.
Especially US is not comfortable with this behavior.

c.

• South East Asia has grown to be of tremendous importance to India in light of trade,
commerce, soft power and increased hostilities of our neighbors , northern one in particular.
And the Indian diaspora in these countries could be pivotal in cementing our diplomatic ties
with them.
• Many of the South East Asian countries have been influenced by Indian culture as our
eastern and south indian kingdoms led expeditions in Indonesia, Malay , Cambodia etc.
• There were substantial trade and people to people contact with these countries in ancient
times which is evident by the myriad temples like Angkor Vat in Cambodia, celebration of
Ram Lila in Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore and adoption of Hindu mythological names by
their people.
• There is an overall favourable image of India in these countries. For example, due to its merit
based democracy, Singapore has seen many Indian origin people rise to positions of
authority including former President S.R. Nathan. Similarly, in Malaysia many established
business houses are run by Indians. Even in Myanmar, Indian people were in all the
important social positions before their independence , after which a mass exodus occurred
due to military rule.
• Even though very few of these countries are genuine democracies which thwarts lobbying
efforts, but with its religious and traditional influence, benign help in developmental works
and engaging the diaspora in initiatives like RCEP and ASEAN dialogues , India stands to gain
immensely from this proposition. Recent initiatives like Prawasi Bharatiya Diwas should be
further pursued.

4.a

The green gross domestic product is an index of economic growth with the environmental
consequences of that growth factored into a country's conventional GDP. Green GDP monetizes the
loss of biodiversity, and accounts for costs caused by climate change.

4.b

Rolling Plan – here every year three new plans are framed and the existing one shall roll into the new
plan. The planners can integrate the targets and objectives of a perspective plan (15 – 20 years)
medium term plan (4 – 5 years) into an annual plan and this helps the planners to revise plan
targets. In India rolling plan were introduced during 1978-80.

4.c

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A value-added tax (VAT) is a consumption tax placed on a product whenever value is added at each
stage of the supply chain, from production to the point of sale. The amount of VAT that the user
pays is on the cost of the product, less any of the costs of materials used in the product that have
already been taxed.

4.d

Maharatna is the status given to top public sector enterprises where the companies have the
authority to make foreign investments of upto Rs 5,000 crores without taking any government
approval. To be qualified as Maharatna, the company should gain an annual net profit of over Rs.
5,000 crores, net worth of Rs. 15,000 crores and turnover of Rs. 25,000 crores over past three
consecutive years. At present the companies which have Maharatna status are: SAIL, ONGC, NTPC,
CIL, IOCL, BHEL and GAIL.

4.e

CRISIL is a global analytical company providing ratings, research, and risk and policy advisory
services. CRISIL’s majority shareholder is Standard & Poor's, a division of McGraw Hill Financial and
provider of financial market intelligence.

4.f

An Agri Export Zone or AEZ is a specific geographic region in a country demarcated for setting up
agriculture based processing industries, mainly for export. The term is widely used mainly in India.

4.g

Focus Market Scheme (FMS) FMS is an export promotion scheme of the government. ... The scheme
compensates or offset high freight cost and other disadvantages to select international markets with
a view to enhance the country's export competitiveness in these countries.

4.h

Repo rate is the rate at which the central bank of a country (Reserve Bank of India in case of India)
lends money to commercial banks in the event of any shortfall of funds. Repo rate is used by
monetary authorities to control inflation.

4.i

Green box policies refer to domestic or trade policies that are deemed to be minimally trade-
distorting and that are excluded from reduction commitments in the Uruguay Round Agreement on
Agriculture.

4.j

To ensure that banks don't go out of order, RBI has put in place some trigger points to assess,
monitor, control and take corrective actions on banks which are weak and troubled. The process or
mechanism under which such actions are taken is known as Prompt Corrective Action, or PCA.

5.Refer to Apti –GS-book-Odisha Current Affairs.

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6.a

India seems to be at the crossroads of choosing between joining a mega trading bloc like Regional
Comprehensive Economic Partnership ( RCEP), going for more bilateral FTAs or sticking to
multilateral trade negotiations regime under the WTO.

India has gained from the dispute settlement mechanism of the WTO in the past and has been a
protagonist of multilateralism even though the Modi government objected to WTO’s Trade
Facilitation Agreement (proposed in Bali, 2013) when questioned about India’s public stockholding
of food for PDS.

It flagged the important issue of food security, arguing that sovereign states must have the right to
decide the manner in which their poor should be provided subsidised food. In 2016, India signed the
TFA along with 112 nations.

There are chances that WTO negotiations will be concluded now that TTP is off in which case India
can go ahead and remain within the multilateral framework of the WTO and negotiate Trade
Facilitation Agreement on services. The gains to be had in increasing trade in service exports should
be the main criterion for India going ahead with RCEP.

6.b

Ordinary Vietnamese are looking at India as a country with great potential. Currently Vietnam looks
at India through a different lens than how it did look at India about a decade back. The important
question now to ask is whether India is doing enough to tap into this potential, and whether she is
doing enough on the ground in fulfilling some of the commitments made in the areas of trade,
infrastructure or energy? Energy is a crucial area where much can be done. China had objected in
the past to Vietnam’s invitation to India to invest in oil and natural gas sector in the disputed South
China Sea (SCS), and that India had taken up a convincing and direct stand whereby she stood by
Vietnam on that issue.India and Vietnam have been looking at partners for Oil and Gas exploration
which may possibly include Japan, Russia, etc. However, the geopolitics in the region involved may
preclude it.

6.c

It primarily includes four littoral states of Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique and South Africa and four
island states of Mauritius, Seychelles, Comoros and Madagascar. Ideally, landlocked states/countries
that depend on Indian Ocean ports like Uganda, Rwanda and Zimbabwe should also be considered
for the analysis. But given the paucity of time and space, we will restrict our focus.

India’s engagement with these eight states could be analysed by using three frameworks.

✓ First is the Indian Ocean regional affairs framework in which security issues dominate the
agenda. Regular Indian naval presence near the Somali coast and the Mozambique Channel
is a marked feature of the security scenario of the western Indian Ocean. Ensuring maritime
security in this part of the world will facilitate trade and energy relationship and hence is a
necessary endeavour.

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 ✓ The second framework is that of India-Africa Forum Summit (IAFS) framework in which India
is engaging with all states of the continent. Recent IAFS (in 2015) saw all 54 African
states/nations participating, many of whom at the level of heads of states/governments.
✓ The third framework is the bilateral framework where India emerges as a major economic,
developmental and investment partner for the African continent.

Indian Ocean littoral African states have participated in the IAFS. Indian Prime Minister has visited six
out of eight states in the last three years and has taken the relationship forward.

Over the years, India’s relationship with these states is also getting strengthened. In the last fifteen
years, India has emerged as a top economic partner for all of these countries. India’s trade with
these eight states stands at $ 23 billion, and its one-third of India’s overall trade with Africa. But the
trade figures range from $ 11 billion trade with South Africa to $ 40 million with Seychelles. There is
a scope for improvement in the trading relationship.

6.d

• Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) is a secure financial

message carrier.

• The SWIFT is a global member-owned cooperative that is headquartered in Brussels,

Belgium.

• It was founded in 1973 by a group of 239 banks from 15 countries which formed a co-
operative utility to develop a secure electronic messaging service and common standards to
facilitate cross-border payments.

• It transports messages from one bank to its intended bank recipient, it carries an average of
approximately 26 million financial messages each day.

How does SWIFT work?

• In order to use its messaging services, customers need to connect to the SWIFT
environment.

• There are several ways of connecting to it

1. Directly through permanent leased lines, the Internet, or SWIFT’s cloud service (Lite2)

2. Indirectly through appointed partners

• Messages sent by SWIFT’s customers are authenticated using its specialised security and
identification technology.

• Its core role is to provide a secure transmission channel so that Bank A knows that its
message to Bank B goes to Bank B and no one else.

• Bank B, in turn, knows that Bank A, and no one other than Bank A, sent, read or altered the
message en route.

13
 • Banks need to have checks in place before actually sending messages.

What happened in PNB case?

• In the PNB case, one of its biggest failures was the missing link between SWIFT and the
bank’s backend software.

• This allowed fraudulent use of a key credit instrument letters of understanding or a loan
request to another bank through the SWIFT network to transfer funds.

• The loophole in the software framework of the bank was the patchy implementation of its
Core Banking Solution (CBS) and its non-linkage with SWIFT.

What are the regulations made in SWIFT?

• SWIFT established the customer security programme (CSP) in early 2016 to support
customers in the fight against a growing cyber threat.

• SWIFT published a detailed description of the mandatory and advisory customer security
controls and made it critical customers prioritise the security network.

• This framework describes a set of controls for its customers to implement on their local
infrastructure.

6.e

• AIIB is a multilateral development bank with a mission to improve social and economic
outcomes in Asia
• AIIB currently has 93 members countries and Beijing acts as AIIB headquarter
• India has most benefitted from AIIB as about 25% of approved projects belongs to India
• India along with China has permanent seats on the AIIB board of directors
• Need to widen portfolio of projects in areas such as smart cities, renewable energy, urban
transport, clean coal technology, solid waste management and urban water supply
• Faster loan appraisal procedure and lean organizational structure to lower cost of loans
• Diversifying financing instruments including local currency financing
• Flexible procedures for responding to project clients needs
• To leverage its “special fund mechanism” to crowd in infrastructure financing from external
sources

6.f

Indians are the largest migrant group from outside the European Union (EU) to settle in the UK but
the overall migration in the country has fallen over the last one year, according to latest data
released today.The UK's Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported that 305,000 people born in
India are estimated to have moved to the UK between July 2016 and June 2017, making India the
most common migrant nationality in the country after EU countries of Poland, Romania and the
Republic.

14
7.a. Parker Solar Probe is a NASA robotic spacecraft launched in 2018 and currently en route to
probe the outer corona of the Sun. It will approach to within 9.86 solar radii from the center of the
Sun and by 2025 will travel, at closest approach, as fast as 690,000 km/h, or 0.064% the speed of
light.

7.b. LIGO-India is a planned advanced gravitational-wave observatory to be located in India as part

of the worldwide network. The project recently received the in-principle approval from the Indian
government. LIGO-India is planned as a collaborative project between a consortium of Indian
research institutions and the LIGO Laboratory in the USA, along with its international partners
Australia, Germany and the UK.

7.c

Hemochromatosis is a disease in which too much iron builds up in your body (iron overload). Iron is a
mineral found in many foods. Too much iron in the heart can cause irregular heartbeats called
arrhythmias (ah-RITH-me-ahs) and heart failure.

7.d

Hemochromatosis is a disorder in which iron overload occurs in the body, causing iron toxicity. This
leads to storage of iron within the heart, the liver, and the pancreas, among other tissues, damaging
them and causing organ failure if it remains untreated.

7.d

A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of
colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate.Coral belongs to the class Anthozoa in
the animal phylum Cnidaria, which includes sea anemones and jellyfish.

Climate change is the greatest global threat to coral reef ecosystems. Scientific evidence now clearly
indicates that the Earth's atmosphere and ocean are warming, and that these changes are primarily
due to greenhouse gases derived from human activities.

7.e

India's heaviest communication satellite GSAT-11 launched successfully from French Guiana. Indian
Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) heaviest and most-advanced high throughput communication
satellite GSAT-11 was successfully launched from the Spaceport in French Guiana during the early
hours today.

8.a

Dark matter:

• Dark matter is a hypothetical form of matter that is thought to account for approximately
85% of the matter in the universe and about a quarter of its total energy density. The
majority of dark matter is thought to be non-baryonic in nature, possibly being composed of
some as-yet undiscovered subatomic particles.

15
 • Its presence is implied in a variety of astrophysical observations, including gravitational
effects that cannot be explained by accepted theories of gravity unless more matter is
present than can be seen. For this reason, most experts think dark matter to be ubiquitous
in the universe and to have had a strong influence on its structure and evolution.
• Dark matter is called dark because it does not appear to interact with observable
electromagnetic radiation, such as light, and is thus invisible to the entire electromagnetic
spectrum, making it extremely difficult to detect using usual astronomical equipment.

Relation with dark energy:

• The term ‘dark’ is used to denote the unknown. So dark energy corresponds to an unknown
energy. And dark matter corresponds to unknown matter whose properties are not clear to
scientists.
• Supernovae observations showed that the expansion of the Universe, rather than slowing, is
accelerating. Something, not like matter and not like ordinary energy, is pushing the galaxies
apart. This “stuff” has been dubbed dark energy, but to give it a name is not to understand
it. Whether dark energy is a type of dynamical fluid, heretofore unknown to physics, or
whether it is a property of the vacuum of empty space, or whether it is some modification to
general relativity is not yet known.

*Note: WHY SCIENTISTS THINK THERE IS DARK MATTER OR ENERGY?

• Because scientists see its gravitational influence on the rest of the Universe. As one simple
example of the evidence for dark matter, the velocity of rotation for spiral galaxies depends
on the amount of mass contained in them.
• The outer parts of our own spiral galaxy, the Milky Way, are rotating much too fast to be
consistent with the amount of matter that we can detect; in fact the data indicates that
there must be about 10 times as much matter as we can see distributed in some diffuse halo
of our galaxy to account for its rotation.

8.b

DNA fingerprinting is a method used to identify an individual from a sample of DNA. It

simultaneously detects lots of minisatellites in the genome to produce a pattern unique to an
individual. The probability of having two people with the same DNA fingerprint that are not identical
twins is very small.

8.c

Refer to earlier questions and answers

8.d

Net Neutrality (Network Neutrality) is the principle that Internet Service Providers (ISPs) should treat
all data on the Internet equally. Net Neutrality is the principle that Internet Service Providers should
enable access to all content and applications without favouring or blocking particular
websites.Companies like Airtel, BSNL, Reliance (Jio), Vodaphone, Idea etc who provide Internet

16
Service.Ideally, ISPs should charge users based on the data consumed or on a subscription basis
(monthly) plans.

For example, if an ISP Company XYZ, provides Services like Skype, Bing, and Facebook for FREE, and
charges you for using Google, this is a clear violation of Net-Neutrality. Here Skype, Bing, and
Facebook get a competitive advantage, while Google will lose a lot of traffic and revenue. Also, it is
also a case where ISPs interfere with the choice of consumers.

Why in news?

Telecom commission of India has approved the net neutrality rules under new telecom policy.

What is move on Net neutrality?

• The Telecom Commission is the highest decision-making body in the Department of

Telecommunications.

• Recently the commission has approved the net neutrality rules implying internet will remain
open to everybody in the country.

• Apart from net neutrality rules, the commission has also approved the new telecom policy,
National Digital Communications Policy (NDCP) 2018.

• It is aimed at promoting investments, ease of doing business, and emerging technologies like
5G.

• This decision, which comes within a month of the US nullifying its own net neutrality rules,
reiterates India's firm commitment to a non-discriminatory net regime.

What is the significance of the recent move?

• The move on net neutrality is in sync with the recommendations of the Telecom Regulatory
Authority of India (Trai).

• It is meant to ensure no service provider can restrict or discriminate in the treatment of

content by blocking, slowing down or granting preferential speeds while providing internet
access.

• A net-neutral regime allows smaller businesses and individuals to create and disseminate
content without fear that their offerings will be swamped by larger competitors, or throttled
by ISPs.

• It will remain an open platform and internet service providers (ISPs) will be prohibited from
practices such as blocking content, degrading speeds, slowing specific content, or granting
differential speeds or treatment.

• In that sense, net neutrality helps to promote innovation across the entire digital ecosystem.

What are the concerns with the move?

17
 • Given India's hyper-competitive market, where telecom service providers have been
struggling to generate enough revenues to service debts, tight net neutrality could be
considered a restrictive approach.

• For example, under net neutrality, telecom service providers cannot offer “zero-rating”
services where they charge surfers less to access specific websites or content run by
partners.

• It does certainly restrict the freedom of telecom service providers to offer favourable terms
to specific content providers, and does cut down the potential for creating new revenue
streams.

• In technical terms new rules require both monitoring of compliance as well as a willingness
to accept consumer complaints and penalise operators who violate the rules.

What measures needs to be taken?

• Key element about the net neutrality regime is that certain critical services may be exempt
from it.

• It is up to the government now to decide on services that deserve exceptional treatment by

regulators.

• For example, emergency remote diagnostic and telemedical services may need to be fast-
tracked.

• The same may also be necessary for disaster management or during crowd management
situations such as pilgrimages.

• Critical high-tech services like the management of smart power grids could also require
priority, and there may be new applications such as autonomous car communications or
drone operations, which might merit priority.

• On the whole, this policy should boost innovation by helping to maintain a level-playing field
across the digital landscape.

• That will enable everyone from small businesses to artists to create and offer content
without fear of being stifled.

8.f

MS-DOS is a computer operating system by Microsoft Corporation. It stands for "Microsoft Disk
Operating System", and came from an operating system Microsoft bought called QDOS, or the
"Quick and Dirty Operating System." MS-DOS is a computer operating system by Microsoft
Corporation. It stands for "Microsoft Disk Operating System", and came from an operating system
Microsoft bought called QDOS, or the "Quick and Dirty Operating System." The operating system
used a command-line interface for the user to input commands. It was popularly used in PCs before
a GUI operating system called Microsoft Windows came out, and still is used in some places today.

9.a Context:

18
 • Chinese scientists are planning to launch an artificial moon into orbit by 2020 to illuminate
city streets after dark.

• Scientists are hoping to hang the man-made moon above the city of Chengdu, the capital of
China’s south-western Sichuan province.

About

• The imitation celestial body — essentially an illuminated satellite — will bear a reflective
coating (similar to how the moon shines) to cast sunlight back to Earth, where it will
supplement streetlights at night.

• Scientists estimated that the "illumination satellites" could be eight times more luminous
than the actual, original moon and will shine in tandem with the real moon.

The illuminated satellite is designed to complement the moon at night. Its expected
brightness, in the eyes of humans, will be around one-fifth of normal streetlights.

• It will orbit much closer to Earth; about 500 km (310 miles) away, compared to the moon’s
380,000 km (236,000 miles) and light up an area with a diameter of 10 to 80 kilometres.

• The satellites’ brightness and service time are both adjustable, and the accuracy of the
lighting can be controlled within tens of metres.

• If the project proves successful, it could be joined by three more additions to the night sky in
2022.

• The three artificial moons would operate alternately in order to significantly reduce
infrastructural electricity consumption, especially during winter.

• China’s space experiment is not a first of its kind project. In the 1990s, Russia experimented
with using an orbital mirror to reflect sunlight on some of its sun-deprived northern cities.
However, the project was abandoned in 1999 after the mirror failed to unfold and was
incinerated in the atmosphere.

• In January, American firm Rocket Lab launched an artificial star into space. But scientists
criticized the “Humanity Star,” as the reflective mini-satellite was dubbed, for contributing to
artificial light pollution and cluttering in Earth’s orbit.

Significance

• It is estimated that new moons could save the city of Chengdu around 1.2 billion Yuan ($173
million) in electricity costs annually, and could even assist first responders during blackouts
and natural disasters such as earthquakes and floods.

• According to the experts, much more testing needs to be done to ensure the plan is viable
and will not have a detrimental effect on the natural environment.

19
9.b

Allelopathy is a biological phenomenon by which a plant produces one or more biochemicals that
influence the germination, growth, survival and reproduction of other plant.This influence can be
positive or negative. Various parts of plants can have these allelopathic properties including foliage,
flowers, bark or even mulch. However, most of allelopathic plants store their protective chemicals
within their leaves. Some plants directly release toxins through their roots, which are then absorbed
by other plants and trees.

Role of Allelopathy in agriculture:

• In order to ensure country's food security there is significant dependence on synthetic

herbicides and pesticides which are found to be detrimental to local and global
environment.
• Various researches have found that allelopathic interaction between plants and other
organisms may become sustainable alternative to herbicides, and pesticides for weed,
disease and insect control. Role of allelopathy in major cropping system are as follows
• Wheat has allelopathic potential for management of weeds, pests and diseases. It releases
allelochemicals, including phenolic acids, hydroxamic acids and short-chain fatty acids.
• Allelochemical can stimulate or inhibit plant germination and growth and permit
development of crops with low phytotoxic residue amount in water and soil. This facilitate
wastewater treatment and recycling.
• Intercropping of sorghum, sesame and soybean in a cotton field provides greater net
benefits and a significant inhibition against purple nutsedge in comparison to a cotton alone
field.
• Social forestry researchs have shown that planting trees with agricultural crop show
allelopathic effect, compounds released from trees could act as weed suppressant.
• Study of effect of allelopathic chemicals is still in developing stage, still more and more
research and education of farmers is needed to ensure successful extension from lab to
field.
• This emerging field has wide application in weed management and has potential to replace
hazardous chemicals used in different cropping system

9.c

Voyager-2 was a space mission launched by NASA in 1977 to study the giant plants like Jupiter and
Saturn.

Significance:

• Helped us to know about the Great Red Spot of Jupiter which is a great storm.
• Revealed truth about active volcanism of Jupiter(Pele)
• Gave us fair idea about Neptune and Uranus
• It was also substantiated data about Heliosphere (the outer layer of sun) and termination
shock.

9.d

20
A computer virus is a type of malicious software that, when executed, replicates itself by modifying
other computer programs and inserting its own code. When this replication succeeds, the affected
areas are then said to be "infected" with a computer virus.

Encryption:

According to the modern definition, encryption refers to algorithmic schemes that encode plain text
to non-readable form. The receiver of encrypted data receives a key, which helps to decrypt the
concerned message. The key helps to return the encrypted message back to its original form. One
must realize the fact that until the advent of internet, concept of encryption was mainly popular
among military personnel. Nowadays, with the gradual of internet, the concept of encryption has
gained popularity in healthcare, online marketing and banking sectors too.

9.e

The Nobel Assembly has awarded the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physics to Arthur Ashkin of the United
States for "the optical tweezers and their application to biological systems" and Gérard Mourou of
France and Donna Strickland of Canada for their "method of generating high-intensity, ultra-short
optical pulses.

10.a

Context

10thBRICS summit was held at Johannesburg, South Africa between 25 and 27th July, 2018

10th BRICS Summit

• Theme of 10th BRICS Summit:“BRICS in Africa: Collaboration for Inclusive Growth and
Shared Prosperity in the 4th Industrial Revolution”.

• 10th summit meeting was on the occasion of the centenary of the birth of Nelson Mandela
and every leader at summit recognizes his values, principles and dedication to the service of
humanity

• During 10th summit, BRICS-AFRICA Outreach also held

Key outcomes of 10th Summit

1. On Global Order

• Reaffirm their commitment to the principles of mutual respect, sovereign equality,

democracy, inclusiveness and strengthened collaboration.

• Recognize the regional initiatives in support of multilateral system and commitment towards
representative multipolar international order

2. On UN reform

• Support the central role of the United Nations and respect for international law, promoting
democracy and the rule of law.

21
• They reaffirm the need for a comprehensive reform of the UN, including Security Council.
China and Russia reiterate the role of Brazil, India and South Africa in international affairs
and support their aspiration to play a greater role in the UN

3. On Sustainable Development and climate change

• Support for the High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF), in
coordinating and reviewing global implementation of the 2030 Agenda

• On climate change they showed their willingness to continue working constructively with
other Parties to conclude Paris agreement its related negotiations at UNFCCC towards the
24th Conference of the Parties (UNFCCC COP24) to be held in Katowice, Poland in December
2018

4. On Energy

• Reaffirm the diversification of energy supply sources, including renewable and low carbon
energy sources and market development

• Agreed to establish the BRICS Energy Research Cooperation Platform

5. On Agriculture

• Reaffirm and support the establishment of the BRICS Agricultural Research Platform (ARP)
initiated by India in 2016

6. Cooperation in biodiversity conservation

7. On Blue Economy

• Cooperation in strategic areas of maritime transport, shipbuilding, offshore oil and

exploration, aquaculture, port development, research and technology, conservation and
sustainable use of marine resources, marine and coastal tourismas well as coastal industrial
zone development

8. On Terrorism

• Support adoption of the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT) by the

United Nations General Assembly

• Emphasize the need for launching multilateral negotiations on an international convention

for the suppression of acts of chemical and biological terrorism

• It raise concern over conflicts in Israel/Palestine, Afghanistan, Syria and North Africa

9. On Arms race in Outer Space

• Reaffirmed that the prevention of arms race, including the placement of weapons in outer
space would avert a great danger for international peace and security

10. On Africa

22
 • Supports African Union’s commitment to the “Silencing of the Guns by 2020” and their
efforts to strengthen the African Peace and Security

• Support African Union’s Agenda 2063 for development and efforts to promote continental
integration and development

11. On Economy

• Focus on the 4th Industrial Revolution and the establishment of the BRICS Partnership on
New Industrial Revolution (PartNIR)

• The PartNIR aims at deepening BRICS cooperation in digitalisation, industrialisation,

innovation, inclusiveness and investment, to maximise the opportunities and address the
challenges arising from the 4th Industrial Revolution.

• Reaffirm the centrality of the rules-based, transparent, non-discriminatory, open and

inclusive multilateral trading system, as embodied in the World Trade Organisation (WTO)

• Strengthen cooperation on convergence of accounting standards and auditing oversight of

BRICS countries in the area of bond issuance and establishment of BRICS Local Currency
Bond Fund

• Signed Memorandum of Understanding on Collaborative Research on Distributed Ledger and

Blockchain Technology in the Context of the Development of the Digital Economy

12. Cooperation on IPR

13. People to People Cooperation

• People-centred approach to development

• Cooperation in the field of sports, youth, films, culture, education and tourism

14. A large number of bilateral meetings took place on the sidelines of summit.

9.b

The grouping brings together various nations of the Rivers Ganga and Mekong region for economic
cooperation. The proposal for the formation of the Mekong-Ganga Cooperation (MGC) was finalized
by the foreign ministers of the six members at the sidelines of the ASEAN Ministerial Meeting (AMM)
in Bangkok, Thailand, in July 2000. The grouping was formally launched on November 10, 2000, in
Vientiane, Laos, after the Vientiane Declaration, outlining the basic theme of the Cooperation, was
signed by ministers representing the six member-countries.

Mekong Ganga Cooperation Objectives

The MGC aims at developing closer relations and better understanding among the member-
countries to enhance friendship, solidarity and cooperation; facilitating inter-state movement and
transit transport of goods and people in the region; creating necessary infrastructural facilities in the
Ganga-Mekong basin areas, and encouraging active participation in poverty eradication.

23
Mekong Ganga Cooperation Structure

The institutional structure of the MGC is yet to evolve properly. According to a preliminary concept
paper approved by the MGC, Ministerial Meetings would be held annually back-to-back with the
AMMs. The chairmanship will be rotated in alphabetical order. The country which serves as chair
shall act as the Secretariat to carry out coordination and implementation of the Cooperation plan.

10.c

Context:

• India has recently become a party to a group called “Quad or Quadrilateral”,

composing Australia, India, Japan and U.S.A.

Introduction:

• The recent meeting between Quad countries held in Philippine on the Sidelines of the
ASEAN Summit.

• The purpose of the meeting was to achieve prosperity, peace keeping and promotion of
stability in South Asia.

What is Quadrilateral?

• Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QSD) is the strategic dialogue between four countries viz.
India, United States, Japan and Australia.

• It was originally initiated in 2007 but later disbanded with withdrawal of Australia.

• It has been recently revived and is being viewed as response to increased Chinese economic
and military power.

Need for setting up of the Quad:

• The quadrilateral comes in the backdrop of growing Chinese assertiveness in the South
China Sea.

• It has also raised concerns regarding freedom of trade and navigation through the waters of
the south and East China seas.

• To counter hegemony of China in the region.

• Single Navy of any country can’t provide security in vast oceans.

• It will increase connectivity in the Indonesian Pacific region and provide economic
opportunity.

• It will provide safety to international maritime trade routes like Mallaca strait.

Significance for India:

• India has taken a significant turn in its policy for the subcontinent by joining quad grouping.

24
 • It provides New Delhi a powerful platform to advance its interests in East Asia.

• It will deepen India’s ties with US, Australia and Japan with benefits in diplomatic leverage
and sharing of burden in defense.

• It will also provide India significant chance in shaping US policies in Afghanistan-Pakistan to

the benefit of India.

• It will provide a powerful platform to advance Indian interest in region and strengthen Act
East policy.

• Foster economic growth with better market adaptation, so it will lead to more employment
opportunity in India.

• It helps India and other three Nations to counter China’s OBOR. As India is refused to join
OBOR it helps India to connect with other markets like Central Asian and South East Asian
markets.

What are its objectives?

• To tackle challenges of terrorism and proliferation.

• It is a development and collaborative initiative with the objective of promoting stability and
maritime alliance in IOR, trade and commerce.

• Grouping will get support to manage Pakistan and threats emanating from it by controlling
China.

• Ensure freedom of navigation in Indo-Pacific region and maintain its hegemony in India
Ocean where China is forming string of pearls.

• The other objective behind forming this group is to give a collective voice to Asian
democracies to counter China’s assertiveness.

• In recent times, China has been following aggressive policy in South China Sea, border areas
(Dokhlam), OBOR project, support to North Korea, and has been successful in creating a rift
among ASEAN nations too because of its superior economic and strategic power.

Negative impact of quad for India:

The initiative has some negative implications like:

• It further hampers the bilateral relations between India and China.

• It went against Non-Alignment movement which is India’s initiative

• Quad may affect India-Russia relations and gave further impetus to improve China-Russia
relations, which will impact India.

• While the quadrilateral grouping will bring developmental projects, it will considerably erode
India’s primacy in the neighbourhood region.

25
 • While India has impeded Chinese desires to have a diplomatic mission in Bhutan, it would be
a challenge if US pursues the same.

• Similarly, India also runs the risk of seeding ground to Japanese & US Navies in Sri Lanka.

Why Quad grouping is bad for India and its neighbours?

• It will not be able to realize trade potential for long term economic development especially
for North East region.

• Domestic strategic requirements will be sidelined.

• The grouping will surely strengthen India’s global image but negligence of neighbours in its
wake can be hazardous.

• It will develop clash of interest with developing neighbours.

Why India should not neglect its neighbours?

• To become a powerful nation in South Asia support of neighbouring counties is must for
India.

• India share vast maritime and land borders with its neighbours, which in case of conflict will
lead to serious threats.

• Apart from expanding globally internal tranquility is also very important which can be
brought with peaceful engagement with neighbouring counties.

• Achieving internal security, counter terrorism, and trafficking are priority for rise in global
platform and this can be possible only through the support of neighbouring countries.

Hurdles on the way of Quad:

• The quad is not a military alliance like the NATO.

• India doesn’t have security agreement with Quad members.

• India objected to Chinese naval presence in Sri Lanka. Now India will not be able to object to
U.S. naval warships and Japanese presence there.

• China is at advantageous position when comes to economic aspects, given its trade ties with
Quad and other south Asian neighbors

• The very challenge before the quad is to handle the member nation’s different ideologies on
how to handle China’s aggressiveness.

• The upcoming aim of the quad is to ensure that the Asia Pacific and Indian Ocean regions
remain free and open for multilateral trade and commerce.

• Strategic analysts argue that India is dragging itself into the US-China rivalry.

Way ahead

26
 • The challenge before the quad grouping lies in finding areas of mutual interest.

• All the member nations should work with cooperation.

• Financial institutions like World Bank and Asian Development Bank must focus on
infrastructure funding in the region. It will help in counter China’s large scale infrastructure
building in countries of Southeast Asia to Africa under the Belt and Road Initiatives to
economic growth.

• India and Japan are already in discussions for the Asia-Africa Growth Corridor which is the
step in right direction.

• Owing to India’s presence and impact in South Asia the neighbourhood first policy should
not take backseat.

11. (a) A bag contains 10 red and 20 green balls are drawn successively from the bag without
replacement . Find out the probability that all are red balls.05

ns: Out of 10 red and 20 green balls (total 30 balls), probability of drawing the first ball (red) is given
by 10/30.

After drawing the first ball, there are a total of 29 balls out of which the probability of drawing the
second ball (red) is given by 9/29 and so on.

Therefore the probability that all are red is given 10!/(30*29*28*-----*21)

(b) what is the probability of picking up either a king or a heart card from a well suffled deck of
playing cards? 05

Ans: Probability of picking a heart out of 4 suits is 13/52.

Probability of picking a king is 4/52.

Therefore probability of picking up either a king or a heart shall be (4/52) + (13/52) =17/52

11. Draw a frequency polygon from the following information.

X; 0-10 10-20 20-30 30-40 40-50

f;2 5 15 10 7

27
 Frequency Polygon
15
16
14
12 10
10
Frequency

7
8
5
6
4 2
2 0 0
0
5 15 25 35 45

Refer to excel file attached.

12. Draw an appropriate diagram from the following information.

Stream Admission during last three years

2011 2012 2013

Arts 80 90 100

Science 100 120 130

Commerce 70 80 100

Yearwise Breakup of Admission into

different streams
140
120
100
80 Arts
60 Science
40 Commerce
20
0
2011 2012 2013

13.Find median graphically from the following information.

X; 0-10 10-20 20-30 30-40 40-50

f: 5 10 18 20 25

28
 More than & Less than Cumulative
frequency
90
80 78 78
70 73
60 63 Less than
Frequency

53 Cumulative
50
45 frequency
40
33 More than
30
25 cumulative
20 frequency
15
10
5
0
0-10 10-20 20-30 30-40 40-50

Then by applying the formula of median we get the answer.

29