( 09th july 2019) The Hindu Editorials Notes for UPSC CSE IAS Exam

The Hindu editorials Mains Sure shot (9th July 2019)

 GS-2 or GS-3

Question – Analyse the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) from an Indian angle. (250 words)

 

Context- The signing of AfCFTA in Niamey by members of the African Union.

 

• At the 12th summit of the Africa Union (AU), 54 out of 55 member states signed AfCFTA for goods and services.
• It is a cross border FTA with elimination of customs duties on 90% of the tariff lines.
• It will eventually create an African Common Market of 1.2 billion people and GDP of $ 3.4 billion- the Metrix are comparable to India.
• The AfCFTA will be the world’s largest FTA an in a world dependent on African markets and commodities, it would have a global impact.

 

But there are certain concerns about its success-

 

1. It has been founded by the African Union which has till now been ineffective in solving many of Africa’s myrid problems.
2. Only 1/6th of Africa’s current total trade is within the continent.
3. Also there is a general global trend towards protectionism. So it will be difficult for the AfCFTA to defy the contrarian global tendencies.

 

Still, what does FTA indicate?

 

• It indicates a positive collective self-reliance through African economic integration by steps such as incremental tariff reduction,

 elimination of non-tariff barriers, supply chains and dispute settlement.

• In 2018 they has also organised the first Intra-African Trade Fair in Cairo.
• This also indicates a strong political will.
• By adopting AfCFTA they are looking into the future because a recent UN projection showed that nearly half of world’s population growth between now and 2050 will come from sub-Saharan Africa. The population will double to nearly 2 billion.
• This means there will be an increase in consumer base and it will make AfCFTA even more relevant.

 

How will it help India?

 

• India is Africa’s third largest trading partner.
• Our annual merchandise trade with African is estimated at $ 70 billion.
• While our global exports are stagnant, our exports to Nigeria to over 33%.
• Africa still has unfulfilled demand for Indian commodities especially food stuffs, finished products (automobiles, pharmaceuticals consumer goods) and services such as IT/ IT enabled services, healthcare and education, skilling, expertise etc.

 

Need-

 

1. India firstly needs to anticipate the AfCFTA’s likely impact on its interests and try to influence and leverage it to enhance India-Africa economic ties.
2. African economies becoming more formalised and transparent are in India’s interest because even though there is a probability of local manufactured items and services competing with Indian exports, Indian firms can co-produce them in Africa.
3. So if handled in a positive manner the AfCFTA can open new opportunities for Indian stakeholders in fast moving consumer goods manufacturing, connectivity projects and creation of financial backbone.
4. Probably anticipating these benefits India had donated $ 5 million to Niger to fund this Niamey AU summit where the AfCFTA has been signed. The next step India can take is to help AU to prepare the requisite architecture for AfCFTA.

 

Arora IAS, [09.07.19 19:32]

The Hindu editorials Mains Sure shot (9th July 2019)

GS-3

Question- Analyse India-US trade turmoil and suggest the way ahead. (250 words)

 

Context- The increased trade tension between the two countries.

 

• The US is India’s most important trade market.
• Also, India is a huge growing market for US investment and export.
• But India-US strategic partnership is being risked by trade turmoil between the two countries.
• US has withdrawn from India preferential tariff benefits under Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) programme and also increased tariff on steel and aluminium. India has imposed retaliatory tariff in response.
• Trade conflicts and disputes are not new in India-US relations. They have been there right from the time of GATT to WTO. But this moment is different because the conflicts may run deep with serious implications.
• A tit-for-tat trade war mimicking like between US and China may follow.

 

How to resolve the differences?

 

1. There has to be an effort from both the sides not only for effective management of current tensions but rather thinking big for the future.
2. For e.g. if the two parties can come together to resolve the outstanding issues such as GSP, US tariff on steel and aluminium and India’s retaliatory tariffs and differences on e-commerce, they can set the stage for building a trade relationship that better complements the strategic ones.
3. Also both sides can use the existing trade policy forums to resolve their issues such as digital trade, regulatory coherence, intellectual property right and so on like they did successfully on WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement.
4. Also India should learn from US and create a new trade staff office that will report directly to the PM’s office. US has this system and with experience the trade staff become experts in negotiating diplomatic trade deals.
5. Both the countries can also consider signing a bilateral FTA and eliminate trade and investment barriers and protectionist regulatory measures. Afterall FTA is the ultimate example of economic integration in a trade relationship.

 

Conclusion- But a bilateral FTA between India and US seems to be a far cry as neither of the countries have been very successful in negotiating FTAs with other countries around the world

 

Arora IAS, [09.07.19 19:37]

The Hindu editorials Mains Sure shot (9th July 2019)

 

GS-2

Question- At a time when some people are criticising the idea of democracy, can democratic education show the way?

 

Context-The debate about democracy.

 

What is the need of democratic education?

 

• Democracy as we popularly known is a government for the people, of the people and by the people, exercised through votes.
• But at present democracy has been limited to casting votes to get rid of a government that we dislike.
• But democracy is not limited to just that.
• We need to question ourselves that why do we elect leaders who are corrupt, have criminal charges against them? who care more about self than about others or who have neither vision nor wisdom or who shun contact with the people and lack ability or talent.

This can to some extent be attributed to the lack of democratic education.

 

So, what is democratic education?

 

• Before we progress one thing needs to be made clear that some argue that voting right must be given only to the educated as they can make best decisions but this is not all true as there are many who lack formal education but are politically astute and even possess qualities of good citizenship. While there are also formally educated people, who are prone to being self-obsessed, undemocratic or even authoritarian.
• Thus, education by itself does not guarantee good citizenship.
• So, the solution then is not just education but universal education of a certain kind, one that is focused on improving the quality of our democracy.
• Our current education system does not focus on education in democracy or what we might call democratic education. Nor does it build on elements of democratic culture embedded in our tradition.

 

What are the core elements of democratic education?

 

1. It requires cultivation of democratic virtues.
2. this requires that we learn to distinguish between what is good for me and what is hood for all.
3. this idea may differ from individual to individual.
4. But they must know to find an overlapping common good. How? – by an ability to handle this difference and disagreement and to retain, despite these differences, the motivation to arrive at a common good through conversation, debate, dialogue and deliberation.
5. this basically is the opposite of what the Greeks call ‘pleonexia’.

• Pleonexia means one who is self-centred and is obsessed about only one’s own good.
• Democratic education requires training in not succumbing to pleonexia.
• Also inculcating the ability to listening to others and continuing a conversation despite disagreements.

 

Way forward-

 

• this can be done by good liberal arts education.
• the National Education Policy 2019 too acknowledges this but insufficiently.
• Proper democratic education is required else we may give in to cynics and allow unhealthy criticism about democracy and eventually imperil it.
• If it is so it will be a failure of the values our ancestors fought for.