Headlines

Modi, Xi call for speedy disengagement along LAC - Page No.1 , GS 2

Chandrayaan rover has begun mobility operations, says ISRO - Page
No.1 , GS 3
India’s G-20 opportunity for an African Renaissance- Page No.8 , GS 2
Driven to tears - Page No.8 , GS 3
Should the CJI be part of the committee selecting the CEC? - Page No.9,
GS 2
BRICS now a non-Western grouping with the induction of six more
member nations - Page No.12 , GS 2

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Pg no. 1 GS 2
• India and China have agreed to step up efforts for the
disengagement of troops and de-escalation of tensions along the
Line of Actual Control (LAC) after a conversation between Prime
Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the
sidelines of the BRICS summit in South Africa, Foreign Secretary
Vinay Kwatra said on Thursday.

• The meeting between Mr. Modi and Mr. Xi took place on Wednesday,
sources said, as the two leaders attended the summit in
Johannesburg along with leaders from Brazil, Russia and South
Africa. However, the announcement of the talks was kept under
wraps until the next day, just prior to the PM’s departure for Greece.
Pg no. 1 GS 3
• Hours after the Pragyan lunar rover rolled out from the Vikram
lander and took its first “walk on the moon” in the early hours of
Thursday, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said that
the historic Chandrayaan-3 mission was running on schedule, with
all systems working normally.

• Instruments aboard the lander and rover will now study the moon’s
mineral composition and the seismic activities in its atmosphere,
according to ISRO Chairman S. Somanath.

• The indigenous rover’s exploration of the lunar surface began a day

after India became the fourth country to successfully land on the
moon, spurring euphoric celebrations at ISRO and around the
country.
Pg no. 8 GS 2
• Africa is flagging its demands nowadays on multilateral fora such as
BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), the G-20 and the
United Nations General Assembly. For a continent with 54 countries, over
a quarter of the “Global South”, it is populated at BRICS and the G-20 by
South Africa, an atypical representative of the Black continent.

• hese interventions have costs: keeping dictatorships in power to protect

their economic interests, such as uranium in Niger, gold in the Central
African Republic and oil in Libya.

• China has been Africa’s largest trading partner and investor, but a
slowing economy and trade have reduced its appetite for Africa’s
commodities. Its Belt and Roads Initiative has raised the debts of some
African countries to unsustainable levels, in turn causing them to cede
control of some of their assets to China.
• Russia previously promoted the Wagner Group in Africa as a
shortcut for security, but after the militia’s mutiny against the
Kremlin and the death of its chief in an air crash on Wednesday,
the situation is unclear.

• France, the United Kingdom and other colonial powers as well as the
United States have continued to exploit mineral wealth in Africa, but
their economic downturn has limited their outreach. Moreover,
Europe’s main concern is limited to stopping illegal migration from
African shores.

• Against this worrying backdrop, the 15th BRICS summit took place
in South Africa on August 23-24 with the theme “BRICS and Africa”.
• India was the fifth largest investor in Africa and has extended over
$12.37 billion in concessional loans. India has completed 197
projects and has provided 42,000 scholarships since 2015.
Approximately three million people of Indian origin live in Africa,
many for centuries.

• We can offer force multipliers such as targeted investments and

transfer of relevant and appropriate Indian innovations, such as the
JAM trinity (Jan Dhan-Aadhaar-Mobile), DBT (Direct Benefit
Transfer), UPI (Unified Payments Interface), and Aspirational
Districts Programme.

• By offering a more participative and less exploitative alternative,

New Delhi can make the India-Africa ecosystem an exemplary win-
win paradigm for the 21st century.
Pg no. 8 GS 3
• With consumer food prices rising 11.5% in July, likely the third highest
since the current retail inflation data series began in 2014, the
government last Saturday made yet another gambit to arrest prices. A
40% export levy on onion exports was imposed with immediate effect till
at least December 31.

• This move follows curbs on non-basmati rice shipments outside India in

July, and stock limits on pulses and wheat imposed in June.

• Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh account for almost 60% of India’s

onion supplies, and the deficient rainfall this month in parts of these
States after excess rains in July had put a question mark on the moisture-
sensitive tuber’s prospects this kharif season.

• A Bank of Baroda report cautioned that steps such as export curbs also
have a tendency to reinforce the scarcity factor worrying markets and
push up prices further. How this attempt to balance the interests of
consumers and farmers plays out remains to be seen.
Pg no. 9 GS 2
• On August 10, the Union government introduced a Bill in the
Rajya Sabha that proposed that the selection panel for
appointing the Election Commission, comprising the Chief
Election Commissioner (CEC) and other Election Commissioners
(ECs), will consist of the Prime Minister as the chairperson, the
Leader of the Opposition as a member, and a Union Cabinet
Minister nominated by the Prime Minister as another member.

• In March, the Supreme Court had ruled that the selection panel
should comprise the Prime Minister, the Leader of the
Opposition, and the Chief Justice of India (CJI) until Parliament
enacts a law on the manner of appointment.
Pg no. 12 GS 2
• By doubling its number of members from five to 11 in one quick sweep, the
BRICS grouping has strengthened its position as a global grouping to be
reckoned with.

• In addition, the choice of countries, bringing in four major players from the
West Asian region — Egypt, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the UAE — apart from
Ethiopia and Argentina from Africa and South America is significant, as it
denotes a shift in the non-western economic grouping’s underpinnings, to
make it a more politically relevant bloc.

• BRICS founders chose from 22 countries that formally applied for BRICS
membership, and more than 40 in all that have evinced interest in the group.

• The message that the summit and the BRICS expansion took place despite the
U.S. and Europe’s moves to “isolate” Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, and
to push for an ICC international warrant that prevented Russian President
Vladimir Putin from travelling to Johannesburg would not be lost on the
Western bloc either.
• The induction of Iran in BRICS sends a further message against U.S. sanctions,
just as Iran’s induction in the SCO this year did, and it is significant that Prime
Minister Narendra Modi spoke to Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi before the
summit.

• However, many international observers have pointed out that all the new
members have very close economic ties to China, and the acceptance of Iran
and Saudi-UAE to the same grouping has only been made possible by the
peace deal brokered by Beijing earlier this year.

• This factor means that in the future, India may have to lobby harder to make
its vote in the BRICS grouping count.
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