Notes · 2019-10-17 · Daily News Simplified - DNS 12 10 19 Notes SL. NO. TOPICS THE HINDU PAGE NO. 1 Making a friend of the neighbour 10 2 Pm chose Mamallapuram as venue for Xi

Daily News Simplified - DNS

12 10 19

Notes

SL.

NO. TOPICS

THE HINDU

PAGE NO.

1 Making a friend of the neighbour 10

2 Pm chose Mamallapuram as venue for Xi meet 13

3 India rejects RCEP e-commerce chapter 15

4 Industrial output shrinks by 1.1% in Aug. 01

5 Ethiopia PM Abiy Ahmed wins Nobel Peace Prize 01

6 ‘Graves’ of Chalukyan kings found in Karnataka 08

Dated: 12. Oct.2019 DNS Notes

Title 1. Making a friend of the neighbour (The Hindu, Page 10)

Syllabus Mains GS paper II – International Relations

Theme India – China

Highlight

s

The article highlights two important aspects:

1. Every government must factor in three geopolitical constituents while setting their

broader foreign policy trajectory and framework namely immediate neighbourhood,

extended neighbourhood and great powers.

2. Realistically, an emerging power should stay focussed on building capacities while

maintaining good ties with the neighbours, deep engagement with the extended

neighbours and balancing between great powers.

Rajiv Gandhi Momentum

• India and China sought to normalise relations more than three decades ago when

Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi traveled to Beijing in 1988. The two sides have

experimented with different mechanisms to address the basic differences.

• They started with a dialogue at the level of foreign secretaries in 1988, elevated it to

empowered special representatives in 2003, and most recently, the informal summits.

• None of these have been able to resolve the boundary dispute, trade deficit and

China’s growing support to Pakistan in Islamabad’s contestation with Delhi.

Frequency of talks did not improve relations

• In the 20th century it was but rare when leaders of India or China traveled to the

other country.

• In the 21st century, the Indian Prime Minister runs often into the PM or President of

China and has talks on the margins of such regional and international settings such as

the East Asia Summit (EAS), the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO),

Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA), the

Russia-India-China Forum, BRICS and the G-20.

• We can say that frequency of talks has not improved the ability to resolve the

problems facing the relationship.

Present Power Imbalance

• The current difficulties between India and China are not due to lack of mutual

understanding. The problem is the widening gap in the comprehensive national power

of the two Asian giants.

• China’s aggregate GDP, now at about $14 trillion, is nearly five times larger than that

of India, hovering at $2.8 trillion.

• China’s annual defence spending at $250 billion is four times larger than that of India.

More than the size of the spending, China has outpaced India in the much needed

modernisation of its armed forces and higher defence organisation.

• The power imbalance also impacts diplomatic negotiation in international affairs. So,

China can afford to displease India on certain issues vital to India’s near and long term

strategy such as blocking India’s membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group or

opposing India’s Kashmir move and taking it to the UNSC.

• U.S.-China ties have turned hostile at a time when India is steadily enhancing its

strategic partnership with Washington. China under Mr. Xi is also a more assertive and

confident power.

• Both the U.S. and China see India as “a swing power”. Washington wants India to

swing to its side and join its Indo-Pacific strategy, the undeclared aim of which is to

contain China’s rise. Beijing, obviously, doesn’t want India to swing to the other side.


• India has its own set of problems with China on support of Pakistan and unresolved

boundary issues.

Avenues of future

There are four constituents in the multidimensional India-China partnership that can take ties

to the next level.

1. Both India and China are seeking each other market. China wants to invest in India in

building infrastructure and fifth generation technology architecture. Whereas India

wants greater market access in China, and action by Beijing to address the trade

imbalance.

2. Both countries are pillars of emerging new world order and thereby champions

multilateralism. Both must come together on common areas affecting their region such

as security and stability in Asia addressing climate change and increasing maritime

trade.

3. Despite the international world on India’s side on Pakistan and terrorism, it is patiently

bargaining with China for action against Pakistan as China agreed to allow Pakistan to

be put on FATF Grey List and India offered support for China’s vice-chair push at the

FATF. Earlier this year, amid mounting international pressure, China removed its

technical hold on the declaration of Masood Azhar as an international terrorist.

4. India needs to be clear in its foreign policy as to whether it wants to compete with

China for dominance in Asia or shall it stay focus on its own rise.

Way forward

• India must play the China card wisely and play along the areas of mutual interest

rather and not on conflicts and rivalries.

• India should help focus on small and pragmatic steps to narrow differences with China

on bilateral issues especially the boundary dispute, trade deficit and the development

of regional infrastructure.

• India must acknowledge the power imbalance with Beijing and must not harbour false

hopes about building a new global order.

• India and China are still in a tactical engagement, not in a strategic partnership. But

it’s a tactical engagement with depth, not a short-term foreign policy adjustment.

India must have a broader but a realist vision to expand the avenues of deep tactical engagement

with a powerful China.


Personal

Notes

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Title 2. PM chose Mamallapuram as venue for Xi meet (The Hindu, Page 13)

Syllabus Mains: GS Paper II: International Relations

Theme India - China

Highligh

ts

The Start

• The second “informal summit” between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and China’s

President Xi Jinping began on Friday at Mamallapuram, a town famously associated with

Pallava rulers.

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi personally chose as the venue for his informal summit with

Chinese President Xi Jinping considering China’s historical association with Pallava Kings on

the issue of Tibet.

• In April 2018, the first summit took place in Wuhan in the wake of the Doklam crisis. The

present meeting is being held following China’s strong reaction to the Indian government’s

decision on Article 370 and the bifurcation of Jammu & Kashmir.

Cultural Significance

• Prime Minister took President Xi on a cultural tour of monuments Arjuna’s Penance along

with Varaha Cave located behind the cave, Panch (Five) Rathas and the Shore Temple.

• The meeting was accompanied by cultural event where traditional dance like

Bharatanatyam and Kathakali were performed.

• In the end, an old Tamil classical song ‘Shanti nilava vendum (Let peace prevail)’ was sung

to the accompaniment of dance. The song refers to peace everywhere and building

spiritual strength depicting Mahatma Gandhi’s message for peace, compassion and unity.

• The song at the cultural event was seen as a hint to the government’s stand that it is for

peace.

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi will gift Nachiarkoil, a six-feet Annam lamp made of bronze

and richly coated with gold, and a three-feet high Thanjavur painting of dancing

Saraswathi to Chinese President Xi Jinping.


Areas of Co-operation

• The two leaders deliberated to encourage areas of investment and also touched upon

issues concerning trade, especially “trade deficit and unbalanced trade.”

• They agreed to work together to ensure that “radicalisation and terrorism” did not affect

the fabric of the “multi cultural, multi-ethnic and multi-religious societies” of their

countries.

• The discussions also covered historical and trade links between Tamil Nadu under Pallava

and Chola dynasties, and the eastern coast city of Quanzhou in Fujiyan Province, where

Tamil inscriptions and fragments of architecture, reflecting a possible temple built by Tamil

traders in the 12th Century CE, were recently discovered.

Personal Notes


Title 3. India rejects RCEP e-commerce chapter (The Hindu, Page 15)

Syllabus Mains: GS Paper III: Economy

Theme Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement

Highlights 9th Intersessional Ministerial Meeting is to be held at Bangkok in Thailand on 11-12 October

2019. This will be the last Ministerial before the 3rd Leaders Summit to be held on November 4th

2019. RCEP is scheduled to be announced as concluded in November 2019.

The RCEP negotiations were launched by leaders from 10 ASEAN member states (Brunei

Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore,

Thailand and Vietnam) and 6 ASEAN FTA partners (Australia, People’s Republic of China, India,

Japan, Republic of Korea and New Zealand).

The objective of launching RCEP negotiation is to achieve a modern, comprehensive, high

quality and mutually beneficial economic partnership agreement among the ASEAN member

states and ASEAN’s FTA partners. The RCEP negotiations commenced in early 2013.

RCEP Agreement has 25 chapters of which negotiations have been concluded on 21 chapters.

Crucial chapters of Investment, Electronic Commerce, Rules of Origin and Trade Remedies are

yet to be settled.

India plans to put in appropriate safeguards including auto-trigger mechanism against sudden

surge in imports from RCEP countries.

Electronic Commerce:

- India wants to retain the right to implement data localisation laws. This has led Indian

negotiators to block the e-commerce chapter of RCEP.

- The present e-commerce chapter contains clauses that if India had agreed to them,

would have prevented it from implementing data localisation rules on companies doing

business in india.

- Also, the annexe on financial services chapter already agreed by all RCEP countries says

that the domestic laws of a country regarding keeping financial data within a country

supersede the RCEP agreement. Meaning that India cannot be prevented from asking

financial companies to maintain a copy of their data within India, but it is unclear still

whether India can mandate that such data must only reside within the country.

Discussions on these issues need to be finalised before the final launch of RCEP in November

2019.

Personal

Notes


Title 4. Industrial output shrinks by 1.1% in Aug. (The Hindu, Page 01)

Syllabus Prelims: Economy

Theme Index of Industrial Production

Highlights About IIP

It is published by National Statistical Office, under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme

Implementation.

Base Year for the Index is 2011-12.

It captures changes in output of Mining Sector (14.37% weight), Manufacturing Sector

(77.63% weight), Electricity (7.99% weight). It measures these changes by Gross Value

Added and Gross Value of Output method.

It is released on a monthly basis.

IIP also gives Use based Categories:

1. Primary goods: Only such goods which are directly obtained from natural sources

and used for further processing and consumption in manufacturing and power-

generating activities.

2. Capital Goods: Plants, machinery and goods used for further investments.

3. Infrastructure/construction goods: Finished goods which are primarily used in

infrastructure industry or construction industry as an input.

4. Intermediate Goods: Any good/ product produced as incomplete product or which

goes as input in production for further finishing or forming a part of a product.

5. Consumer durables: Products directly used by consumers and having a longer

durability (more than 2/3 years).

6. Consumer non-durables: Products that are directly used by consumers and can’t

be preserved for long periods.

Indices of Industrial Production for mining, manufacturing and electricity for the month of

August 2019 have growth rates of 0.1 percent, -1.2 percent and -0.9 percent as compared to

August 2018. The cumulative growth in these sectors during April-August 2019 over the

corresponding period of 2018 has been 2.8 percent, 2.1 percent and 5.0 percent.

15 out of the 23 industry groups in the manufacturing sector have shown negative growth

during the month of August 2019 as compared to the August 2018.

The industry group ‘Manufacture of motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers’ has shown the

highest negative growth of (-) 23.1 percent followed by (-) 21.7 percent in ‘Manufacture of

machinery and equipment n.e.c.’ and (-) 18.0 percent in ‘Other manufacturing’. On the other

hand, the industry group ‘Manufacture of basic metals’ has shown the highest positive growth

of 11.8 percent followed by 11.3 percent in ‘Manufacture of wood and products of wood and

cork, except furniture; manufacture of articles of straw and plaiting materials’ and 10.3 percent

in ‘Manufacture of wearing apparel’.

As per Use-based classification, the growth rates in August 2019 over August 2018 are 1.1

percent in Primary goods, (-) 21.0 percent in Capital goods, 7.0 percent in Intermediate goods

and (-) 4.5 percent in Infrastructure/ Construction Goods (Statement III). The Consumer

durables and Consumer non-durables have recorded growth of (-) 9.1 percent and 4.1 percent

respectively.


Personal Notes


Title 5. Ethiopia PM Abiy Ahmed wins Nobel Peace Prize (The Hindu, Page

01)

Syllabus Prelims: Awards

Theme Nobel Peace Prize

Highlights The 2019 Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed who made peace with Eretria in the year 2018.

• He was awarded the prize for his efforts to "ACHIEVE PEACE AND INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION".

• Mr Abiy's peace deal with Eritrea ended a 20-year military stalemate following their 1998-2000 border war.

• He was named as the winner of the 100th Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, where he will receive the award in December.

• It is worth some nine million Swedish crowns (about £730,000; $900,000).

• In this context of the peace prise let us briefly understand major issue between Ethiopia and Eretria.

• Eretria became independent from Ethiopia in 1993 and since then has been fighting Ethiopia on border issues. The cold war between the two nations seemed irresolvable. An uneasy stalemate had endured since 2000, when a UN-brokered peace agreement ended two years of trench warfare that claimed about 80,000 lives and displaced more than half a million.

• The deal was swiftly ignored by Ethiopia, which refused to cede the border town of Badme and other disputed territories.

• However, Mr Abiy came to power in April last year was the peace deal signed three months later, which ended a nearly 20-year military stalemate with Eritrea following their 1998-2000 border war.

Personal Notes


Title 6. ‘Graves’ of Chalukyan kings found in Karnataka (The Hindu, Page 08)

Syllabus Prelims: Ancient history

Theme Chalukyas

Highlight

s

Context:

• Chalukyan kings were famous for building gigantic temples with intricate architecture in

places such as Aihole, Badami and Pattadakal in Bagalkot district. Though the

Chalukyan kings built marvellous monuments and temples, there are no clear details

available of the places where they lived. Neither they have left behind documents nor

evidence of their graves

• Recently graves of Chalukyan rulers have been found in a village near

Huligemmanakolla in Pattadakal of Bagalkot district.

Hereby discussing the Pallavas and Chalukyans Architecture.

Pallavas & their Architecture

• The Pallavas were one of the ancient South Indian dynasties that were active in the

Andhra region from the second century CE onwards and moved south to settle in Tamil Nadu. Their history is better documented from the sixth to the eighth century, when they

left many inscriptions in stone and several monuments.

• Their powerful kings spread their empire to various parts of the subcontinent, at times reaching the borders of Odisha, and their links with South–East Asia were also strong.

Although they were mostly Shaivite, several Vaishnava shrines also survived from their

reign, and there is no doubt that they were influenced by the long Buddhist history of the Deccan.

• Their early buildings, it is generally assumed, were rockcut, while the later ones were

structural. However, there is reason to believe that structural buildings were well known even when rock-cut ones were being excavated.

• The early buildings are generally attributed to the reign of Mahendravarman I, a

contemporary of the Chalukyan king, Pulakesin II of Karnataka. Narasimhavarman I, also

known as Mamalla, who acceded the Pallava throne around 640 CE, is celebrated for the expansion of the empire, avenging the defeat his father had suffered at the hands of

Pulakesin II, and inaugurating most of the building works at Mahabalipuram which is known after him as Mamallapuram.


• The shore temple at Mahabalipuram was built later, probably in the reign of

Narasimhavarman II, also known as Rajasimha who reigned from 700 to 728 CE. Now it is oriented to the east facing the ocean, but if you study it closely, you will find that it

actually houses three shrines, two to Shiva, one facing east and the other west, and a

middle one to Vishnu who is shown as Anantashayana.

• This is unusual, because temples generally have a single main shrine and not three areas of worship. This shows that it was probably not originally conceived like this and different

shrines may have been added at different times, modified perhaps with the change of patrons.

Chalukyas & their Architecture

• Pulakesin I established the early western Chalukya kingdom when he secured the land

around Badami in 543. The early western Chalukyas ruled most of the Deccan till the mid-eighth century when they were superseded by the Rashtrakutas.

• Early Chalukyan activity also takes the form of rock-cut caves while later activity is of

structural temples. The earliest is probably the Ravana Phadi cave at Aihole which is known for its distinctive sculptural style.

• One of the most important sculptures at the site is of Nataraja, surrounded by larger-

than-life-size depictions of the saptamatrikas: three to Shiva’s left and four to his right.

The figures are characterised by graceful, slim bodies, long, oval faces topped with extremely tall cylindrical crowns and shown to wear short dhotis marked by fine incised

striations indicating pleating.

• They are distinctly different from contemporary western Deccan or Vakataka styles seen at places such as Paunar and Ramtek. The hybridisation and incorporation of several

styles was the hallmark of Chalukyan buildings.

• The most elaborate of all Chalukyan temples at Pattadakal made in the reign of Vikramaditya II (733-44) by his chief queen Loka Mahadevi, for instance, shows complete

knowledge of Pallava buildings at Kanchipuram and as a corollary, Mahabalipuram.

• The temple is one of the best early examples of the dravida tradition. By contrast other

eastern Chalukyan temples, like the Mahakuta, five kilometres from Badami, and the Swarga Brahma temple at Alampur show a greater assimilation of northern styles from

Odisha and Rajasthan.


Personal Notes


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Notes · 2019-10-17 · Daily News Simplified - DNS 12 10 19 Notes SL. NO. TOPICS THE HINDU PAGE NO. 1 Making a friend of the neighbour 10 2 Pm chose Mamallapuram as venue for Xi