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Religious freedom, Japan-India relations, Global attention to India's Covid
Read more on - Polity | Economy | Schemes | S&T | Environment
- India a country of particular concern for religious freedoms: The US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), an independent bipartisan commission, has recommended for the second year in a row that the State Department put India on a list of ‘Countries of Particular Concern’ for the worst violations of religious freedoms in 2020. It recommended that the administration impose targeted sanctions on Indian individuals and entities for ‘severe violations of religious freedom’. A second recommendation was for the administration to promote interfaith dialogue and the rights of all communities at bilateral and multilateral forums “such as the ministerial of the Quadrilateral [the Quad]”. Another recommendation, this one to the US Congress, was to raise issues in the US-India bilateral space, such as by hosting hearings, writing letters and constituting Congressional delegations. Last year India had denied visas to members of USCIRF who wanted to visit India for their assessment.
- The key concerns of the 2021 report include the Citizenship (Amendment) Act which went into effect in early 2020 and which fast-tracks citizenship for non-Muslim refugees from South Asian countries. The report says, “Mobs sympathetic to Hindu nationalism operated with impunity,” and used “brutal force” on Muslims in Delhi’s riots in February 2020. On the National Register of Citizens (NRC), the report says, “The consequences of exclusion – as exemplified by a large detention camp being built in Assam – are potentially devastating…”
- Efforts to prohibit interfaith marriage – such as those in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh - are also highlighted as a concern. “These efforts targeting and delegitimizing interfaith relationships have led to attacks and arrests of non-Hindus and to innuendo, suspicion, and violence toward any interfaith interaction,” the report notes. In an apparent reference to the Tablighi Jamaat Markaz in March 2020, the USCIRF says, “At the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, disinformation and hateful rhetoric - including from government officials - often targeted religious minorities, continuing familiar patterns.”
- FDI from Japan - India-Japan Ties: The Japanese PM Suga Yoshihide is set to visit India for a physical summit with PM Modi, to strengthen ties. India must leverage its special partnership with Japan to secure more investments, modern tech, and expand market access. The focus will be on strategic aspects, but on the economic side, higher investment, digital economy collaboration, and promoting Indian exports to third countries are anticipated.
- Japan provides about $4 billion as annual ODA (Official Development Assistance), and it supports projects for critical infrastructure and green economy. This includes the ongoing high speed railway project, and India remains interested in leveraging its special strategic partnership with Japan. This helps secure FDI, modern technology, and expand access into markets which it may have lost by keeping away from RCEP and TPP.
- The recently resurrected Quad security grouping has played an important role in increased Japanese strategic interest in India. For Japan, the level of ODA and FDI are the strategic indicators. Japan seems determined to use these to enhance the partnership with India. "Strategic Resilient Value Chains" are assuming importance, too. These either support China+1 endeavour or enhance existing FDI to give the +1 impact without relocation. China +1, also known simply as Plus One, is the business strategy to avoid investing only in China and diversify business into other countries. The Quad vaccine initiative, where India will be the manufacturing hub, the US will provide the technological support and Japan the finance, is the kind of model India pursues. During Suga’s visit, the India-Japan-Australia Supply Chains Resilience Initiative (SCRI) may be firmed up.
- ASEAN’s - Japan is keen to bring in ASEAN as a partner to the SCRI. Of the 1440 Japanese companies which are exporting from India, 26% do so to the ASEAN, utilising the India-ASEAN FTA. They would like to leverage these existing regional value chains for the SCRI. India’s stance - India is not keen on this plan for now, because the inclusion of ASEAN could divert FDI from coming to India. India wants to use the SCRI to bolster its own economic initiatives and keep leverage when negotiating the revision of the India-ASEAN FTA.
- Global reaction to India's Covid collapse: ‘The system has collapsed: India’s descent into Covid hell’. That’s the headline in the Guardian, on a day nearly 3.15 lakh tested positive and more than 2,100 died of Covid-19. This is the largest number ever on a single day in any country, since the pandemic began. The New York Times says ‘India’s Health System Cracks Under the Strain as Coronavirus Cases Surge’. Reuters noted that “many Indians are pillorying Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his response to a scary surge in coronavirus cases, sickened by him addressing tens of thousands of people at state election rallies and letting Hindu devotees congregate for a festival.Tags like #ResignModi and #SuperSpreaderModi have trended on Twitter in the past two days, as bodies piled up in mortuaries and crematoriums, and desperate cries for hospital beds, medical oxygen and coronavirus tests flooded social media.”
- A day after it published a viral report on India exporting nearly 9,300 metric tonnes of oxygen in the first three quarters of 2020-21, Moneycontrol pulled down its story. It said the report “was causing unnecessary panic” and portrayed a “misleading picture”. Amidst reports of oxygen provincialism, especially by BJP ruled states, the Union home ministry afternoon declared that “no restrictions shall be imposed” on oxygen manufacturers to restrict supplies to the state they are located in and that there shall be free inter-state movement of oxygen.
- France will impose a 10-day quarantine for travellers from India to prevent the spread of a worrying Covid-19 variant. London’s Heathrow Airport has refused to allow extra flights from India before the country is added to the UK travel red list on Friday. Canada is also considering curbs on India flights.
- India’s Covid-19 situation has been a trending topic in China. Tian Guangqiang of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences reflects the broad sentiment, in the context of recent relations with China - essentially, it’s a warning: “India is currently at a critical juncture. If the country wants to get out of the predicament, it needs to actively promote cooperation with other emerging economies, including China, in fighting against the virus and boosting economic recovery, rather than continuously playing geopolitical games.”
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