ATMANIRBHAR IAS

Date: 07-10-2020

 NEWSPAPER
EDITORIAL
NOTES
 RSTV Summary

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS
SR. TOPIC GS PAPER SOURCE
NO.
1. India, QUAD and value GS 2- Bilateral, Indian Express
of coalitions regional and global
groupings and
agreements involving
India and/or affecting
India’s interests.
2. India-Myanmar Bilateral GS 2- India and its RSTV: The Big
Ties & Cooperation neighborhood- Picture
relations
3. Approaching the GS 3- Challenges to The Hindu
misinformation storm internal security
through
communication
networks, role of
media and social
networking sites in
internal security
challenges, basics of
cyber security;
moneylaundering and
its prevention.

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India, QUAD and value of coalitions

Context: Quad is being seen as India’s violation of its long followed policy of non-alignment. Although
Indian foreign minister refuted this claim. We can test this by four questions.

First, Nature of alliances

 Alliances have a negative connotation in Indian foreign policy.

 But it is true that alliances have been part of statecraft as old as war and peace. They are used to
strengthen themselves and weaken the foe.
 Alliances figure prominently in India’s ancient wisdom of Mahabharat, Panchatantra and
Arthashastra. Even internal politics of India stands on alliances among castes and communities.
But in foreign policy they are considered as taboo.
 India cemented its stand against alliances after independence considering contemporary
atmosphere and India did not want to tie down by alliances.

Second, Does India forge alliances?

 India has experimented with alliances in different times.

 For instance; nationalists aligned with imperial Germany during First World War to establish first
Indian government in exile in Kabul. During Second World War SC Bose joined forces with
Japan to establish government in Port Blair, Andman and Nicobar. Nehru signed security treaties
with three Himalayan Kingdom i.e. Nepal, Sikkim and Bhutan for providing protection to them
against China in 1949-50. Nehru turned for US help during Chinese aggression in 1962 although
he always opposed US alliances in Asia. Then Indira Gandhi signed security cooperation
agreement with Soviet Union in 1971.

Third, Is the US offering India an alliance against China?

 US is not offering an alliances to India neither India want an alliance. India has to fight its own
wars.
 But both countries want to have issue based coalitions for both countries’ shared interest.

Fourth, Instrumental nature of alliances

 Agreements for security are forged for specific situations and circumstances. When those
situations change the purpose of those agreements become worthless.
 We have examples of treaties signed with Nepal, Bangladesh and Russia.

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  Treaty with Nepal in 1950 was designed to protect Nepal against China. But now most of the
elites consider it as hegemony of India over Nepal.
 India’s security treaty with Bangladesh in 1972 did not survive the assassination of Mujibur
Rahman.
 India’s friendship treaty with Russia in 1971 waned in a decade as India sought to improve its
relations with US and China.
 No country is more instrumental about alliances as China. Chairman Mao aligned with the Soviet
Union after the establishment of the People’s Republic in 1949 and fought the Korean War
against the US during 1950-53. He broke from Russia in the early 1960s and moved closer to the
US in the 1970s.

Conclusion

Unlike Communist China, a democratic India can’t be brutally transactional about its external
partnerships. But Delhi could certainly learn from Beijing in not letting the theological debates about
alliances cloud its judgements about the extraordinary economic and security challenges India confronts
today. The infructuous obsession with non-alignment diverts Delhi’s policy attention away from the
urgent task of rapidly expanding India’s national capabilities in partnership with like-minded partners.

India-Myanmar Bilateral Ties & Cooperation

Context – Recently delegation of Chief of Army Staff general Naravane and Foreign Secretary Harsh V.
Shringhla paid a visit to Myanmar. This unique combination highlights the importance of Indo-Myanmar
ties.

Importance of Myanmar

a) Neighbourhood First – India has formally given focus to its neighbours through this policy and
Myanmar forms a key component of it. It forms an important component of BIMSTEC too. India
has done some 140+ projects in the Rakhine State of Myanmar.

b) Act East Policy – Another pillar of India’s Foreign Policy has been the Act East Policy and
Myanmar forms the bridge to ASEAN nations for India and hence is crucial. Hence connectivity
projects have seen a push. Projects like Kaladan Multimodel project, development of Sittwe Port,
IMT (India – Myanmar- Thailand) Highway are some of the flagship projects.

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 c) Development of North East – Due to historical, cultural and geographic ties that Myanmar has
with the North East, the country holds a crucial place in development plans for North East. India's
4 states Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram share a geographical border with
Myanmar.

d) Defence Ties – Militant groups operating at both sides of the border pose a threat to the peace in
both countries (NSCN – Khaplang of India and Arakan Insurgency Group of Myanmar both have
cross border operations). Hence Joint Anti Insurgency Operation like Operation Sunrise. The
Bilateral Military exercise IMBAX has been happening regularly. Myanmar also a huge market
for India’s defence exports.

e) Marine Security and Coastal Connectivity – Myanmar is an important partner for peace in the
Indian Ocean. India recently transferred kilo-class attack submarine to Myanmar Navy. Coastal
Shipping agreement has the potential to boost trade.

Challenges in the relationship

a) China exerts heavy influence in Myanmar. Till the 1980s when India did not maintain
relationships with authoritarian military regime of Myanmar, China extended all support to the
nation and since has grown as a key partner of Myanmar. China’s deep pocket too makes it
difficult for India.

b) India-Myanmar border is exploited by drugs and arms trafficking, terrorist outfits and
insurgent groups. Being part of the Golden Triangle of Drug Trade. Even the Rohingya issue
remains a point of contention.

c) Bilateral trade is not upto expectations. With trade numbers at just 2$ billion dollar the scope is
huge. But challenges remain.

d) Wildlife Trade – The border is one of the hotbeds for illegal wildlife trade.

e) Military Control still exists in Myanmar Though democratic government exists but military
continues huge role in decision making of Myanmar.

f) Poor Implementation by India Infrastructure promises by India have been mostly delayed.

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Conclusion

India-Myanmar has seen ‘Hyper Activity’ in diplomatic terms since past few years. The need is to expand
the economic relations between the two nations. Strategic and Military relationship is next. The two
countries have the potential to carry forward peace and growth in South Asia.

Approaching the misinformation storm

Context: There is a rapid spread of misinformation through social networks such as facebook, Whats-app
& Twitter.

Issues:

 Social media outlets have no journalistic norms. Anyone can say anything at any time about any
topic without any scant respect for truth. As a result most of the news available on these platforms
are biased.
 Spread of misinformation influences outcomes of elections which is dangerous for a democracy.
 Spread of false and malicious news can stoke violence at a short notice e.g. A Video to spread
information about child abduction in Pakistan was edited and spread through whatsapp in India
which triggered resulting in frenzied mob attacks across India, which have so far claimed several
lives.
 Hardening political stances due to spread of misinformation is triggering acute polarisation
among masses.
 Use of echo chamber algorithms by these social media websites keeps on bombarding the user
with related such news which shapes his/her views. E.g If you search a right wing leaning posts,
the algorithm will keep providing with more such ideological posts.
 Cheap internet led to around 500-700 million people online. New users are most likely to fall in
prey of these targeted advertising.

Way Forward:

 India might need to chart its own path by keeping these social media firms under check before
they proliferate. New Indian legislation needs to preserve free speech while still applying pressure
to make sure that Internet content is filtered for accuracy, and sometimes, plain decency.
 Corporate Responsibility of these social media firms. Facebook, for instance, has started to
address this matter by publishing ‘transparency reports’ and setting up an ‘oversight board’ to act
as a sort of Supreme Court for Facebook’s internal matters.

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  Regulatory attempts to control the spread of misinformation should be transparent and kept
before public view instead of being converted into secret corporate processes.

Some Initiatives in India to check Fake News in India

 PIB initiated #PIBFactCheck to check menace of fake news.

 Indian govt. the government said the messaging platform whatsapp will need to set up
a local entity and find a tech solution to trace the origin of fake messages on its
platform.
 Indian govt. had also asked twitter to remove accounts spreading rumors on issues like
Kashmir issues.
 In 2018, new draft rules were proposed by the government that seek to curtail the misuse of
social networks and increase accountability.
 Although there is no specific provision in Indian law that specifically deals with fake news
but, there are several offenses in India’s Penal Code that criminalize certain forms of
speech that may be relevant to fake news and may apply to online or social media content,
including the crimes of sedition and promoting enmity between different groups.

ATMANIRBHAR IAS

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