May 09 2023

Context: 

Recently, India hosted a two day global Buddhist summit in New Delhi which was organised by the Ministry of Culture in collaboration with the International Buddhist Confederation. 

  • The summit was a significant opportunity for India to project and connect with the Buddhist population around the world, thereby strengthening the country’s soft power.
Probable Question

Q. Explain how India can employ Buddhism as a soft power tool to strengthen its role in the present world order.

9 may

Image Source: The Hindu

What is Soft Power?

  • Soft Power is a country’s ability to influence the various players while conducting international relations through attraction or persuasion in a non-coercive manner. 
  • It involves the use of a nation’s cultural, historical and diplomatic influence.

India’s efforts in projecting Buddhism as a soft power tool:

  • Tourism Promotion: The Indian government has been actively investing in its Buddhist diplomacy efforts, with a focus on promoting tourism through the development of the “Buddhist tourist circuit”. 
  • Foreign visits of PM: The Indian PM has made it a point to visit Buddhist sites during his Southeast and East Asian visits.
  • Peace Promotion: Against the backdrop of the Russia-­Ukraine crisis, the PM has said, “India has not given ‘Yuddha’ to the world but ‘Buddha’.
  • Organising Buddhist Summit: Through this, the government hopes to demonstrate its commitment to preserving and promoting Buddhist culture and heritage, as well as strengthening ties with the global Buddhist community.

Link between Buddhism and India’s role in the world:

  • Through such efforts, India hopes to reinforce its image as a responsible global power committed to peaceful cooperation and regional stability.
  • By laying an emphasis on cultural and civilisational ties, India seeks to promote greater understanding and cooperation between nations and to demonstrate the unique role it can play in shaping the region’s future.

Lacunae in India’s efforts:

  • India is facing an intense competition from China to dominate the Buddhist heritage as a tool for soft power. 
    • China’s attempt to exert control over the appointment of the next Dalai Lama would be a blow to India’s efforts to project its soft power through Buddhism.
  • China, with its influence over Hollywood, has completely dominated the narrative around Buddhism through cinema. 
    • In contrast, India is behind in this domain; there have not been any efforts made through cinema.
  • Despite being home to a number of key Buddhist sites, such as Bodhgaya, Sarnath, and Kushinagar, India has struggled to attract Buddhist tourists, who tend to favour sites in Thailand and Cambodia.

Way Forward 

  • Promoting Buddhism to strengthen Buddhist diplomacy: To further strengthen its Buddhist diplomacy, India should continue promoting Buddhism at the highest levels of government, while also organising cultural events to showcase the country’s rich Buddhist history. 
  • Role of ICAR: The Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) could play a significant role in promoting such events within and outside India. 
  • Strengthen ties with key Buddhist institutions: India should work to strengthen its ties with key Buddhist institutions and leaders around the world.
  • Utillizing bollywood to Promote Buddhist heritage: India also needs to utilise the reach of Bollywood in promoting its Buddhist heritage.
  • Promoting Buddhist diplomacy through India’s G-20 presidency: India’s G­20 presidency this year could be used to promote Buddhist diplomacy on a bigger scale through various cultural meetings, especially as Buddhist teachings align with the motto of India’s G­20 presidency, ‘One Earth, One Family, One Future.

News Source: The Hindu

Context: 

Recently, a multinational pharmaceutical company, published a public notice in newspapers alerting people about a mislabelled batch of medicine that it had inadvertently shipped to the market. 

  • While such recalls take place regularly in the U.S., we have never witnessed domestic or foreign pharmaceutical companies recall substandard or mislabelled drugs in India.

Drug Recall Law:

  • The law in the USA requires pharmaceutical companies to recall from the market those batches of drugs that have failed to meet quality parameters.
  • No such law exists in India that mandates such medicine be removed from the market to this day.
  • In 2012, certain recall guidelines were published by the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO), but they lacked the force of law.

Reasons behind absence of such law:

  • Union Health Ministry’s Drug Regulation Section criticized for lack of expertise and prioritizing industry growth over public health.
  • India’s drug regulatory structure is highly fragmented, with each state having its own regulator.
  • Both the pharmaceutical industry and state drug regulators oppose centralization of regulatory powers.
  • Drug regulators believe that mandatory drug recall system will shed light on issues in India’s pharmaceutical industry.

Need of the hour

To create an effective recall mechanism, the responsibility of recalling drugs has to be centralised, with one authority wielding the legal power to hold companies liable for failures to recall drugs from across the country.

News Source: The Hindu

Context: 

The Advertisement Monitoring Committee at the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) flagged 32 fresh cases of food business operators (FBOs) making misleading claims and advertisements. 

What are the regulations? 

  • There are varied regulations to combat misleading advertisements and claims, some are broad, while others are product specific. 
  • FSSAI Regulations
    1. It uses the Food Safety and Standards (Advertising & Claims) Regulations, 2018 which specifically deals with food (and related products).
    2. The claims must be scientifically substantiated by validated methods of characterising or quantifying the ingredient or substance that is the basis for the claim.
    3. Product claims suggesting a prevention, alleviation, treatment or cure of a disease, disorder or particular psychological condition is prohibited unless specifically permitted under the regulations of the FSS Act, 2006.
  • The Programme and Advertising Codes: It prescribed under the Cable Television Network Rules, 1994 stipulate that advertisements must not imply that the products have some special or miraculous or supernatural property or quality, which is difficult to prove.

Categorization of food products 

  • Natural food product: 
    • A food product can be referred to as ‘natural’ if it is a single food derived from a recognised natural source and has nothing added to it. 
    • It should only have been processed to render it suitable for human consumption. 
    • The packaging too must be done without chemicals and preservatives. 
  • Made from natural ingredients: Composite foods, which are essentially a mixture of plant and processed constituents, cannot call themselves ‘natural’, instead, they can say ‘made from natural ingredients’.
  • Fresh food product: 
    • Products which are not processed in any manner other than washing, peeling, chilling, trimming, cutting or irradiation by ionising radiation not exceeding 1 kG or any other processing such that it remains safe for consumption with the basic characteristics unaltered. 
    • Those with additives (to increase shelf life) may instead use ‘freshly frozen’, ‘fresh frozen’, or ‘frozen from fresh’ to contextualise that it was quickly frozen while fresh.
  • Pure: It is to be used for single ingredient foods to which nothing has been added and which are devoid of all avoidable contamination, while unavoidable contaminants are within prescribed controls. 
  • Original: It is used to describe food products made to a formulation, with a traceable origin that has remained unchanged over time. They do not contain replacements for any major ingredients.

News Source: The Hindu

Context: 

Recently, Saudi Arabia hosted a special meeting of the National Security Advisers (NSAs) of India, the U.S. and the UAE. 

  • The grouping of these 4 countries is informally called the Quad in West Asia or the New Quad.

Brief about the meeting:

  • The countries discussed means to strengthen relations and ties between their countries in a way that enhances growth and stability in the region.
  • It sought to advance the shared vision of a more secure and prosperous Middle East region interconnected with India and the world.

About West Asian Quad or I2U2:

  • Background: I2U2 came together on the back of the momentum created by the Abraham Accords — brokered by the Trump administration to normalise ties between Israel and Arab countries including Bahrain, the UAE and Morocco.
  • I2U2 stands for India, Israel, the UAE, and the US, and was also referred to as the ‘West Asian Quad’ by Ahmed Albanna, Ambassador of the UAE to India. 
  • In 2021, a meeting of the foreign ministers of the four countries had taken place. At that time, the grouping was called the ‘International Forum for Economic Cooperation’.
  • AIM: 
    1. To discuss common areas of mutual interest, to strengthen the economic partnership in trade and investment in our respective regions and beyond.
    2. To encourage joint investments in six mutually identified areas such as water, energy, transportation, space, health, and food security.
    3. To mobilise private-sector capital and expertise to help modernise the infrastructure, develop clean energy for industries, improve public health, and promote the development of critical emerging and green technologies.

News Source: The Hindu

Context: 

Recently, Chief Justice of India orally said that a High Court does not have the power to direct changes in the Scheduled Tribes List. It is a Presidential power to designate a Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe.

More on News:

  • The Constitution Bench in State of Maharashtra versus Milind had held that it is not open to State governments or courts or tribunals or any other authority to modify, amend or alter the list of Scheduled Tribes specified in the notification issued under clause (1) of Article 342.

Background:

  • A single Judge Bench of the Manipur High Court, in March, directed that the State government shall consider the case of the petitioners for inclusion of the Meetei/Meitei community in the Scheduled Tribe list, ideally within four weeks.

How does the Constitution define Scheduled Tribes?

  • The Constitution of India identifies Scheduled Tribes as simply ones that are “deemed under Article 342 (1) to be Scheduled Tribes” as per the provisions of Article 366. 
  • Article 342 combined with Article 366 only lays out the process to define Scheduled Tribes, wherein the “President may with respect to any State or Union Territory, and where it is a State, after consultation with the Governor, by a public notification, specify the tribes or tribal communities or part of or groups within tribes or tribal communities as Scheduled Tribe in relation to that State or Union Territory.” 
  • So essentially, the President is the sole authority to notify tribal communities as Scheduled Tribes as per the Constitution of India, with the Governor playing a recommendatory role. 
  • However, the Constitution has remained silent on the criterion for the identification of ST communities. 
  • Thus as a general convention, the recommendations of the 1965 Lokur Committee are followed to identify ST communities based on indicative criterion such as 
    1. Primitive traits
    2. Distinctive culture
    3. Geographical isolation
    4. Shyness of contact with the community at large
    5. Backwardness.  

Constitutional provisions for modifying ST lists:

  • Article 342 clause (2) provides that the “Parliament may by law include in or exclude from the list of Scheduled tribes specified in a notification issued under clause(1) any tribe or tribal community or part of or group within any tribe or tribal community.” 
  • So essentially, the Parliament is the sole authority to pass amendments to the Constitution to modify the lists. 
  • Additionally, the state governments play an advisory role, wherein the process to include tribes in the ST list starts with the recommendation of the respective State governments, which are then sent to the Tribal Affairs Ministry(MoTA).
  • MoTA reviews and sends them to the Registrar General of India for approval. 
  • The National Commission for Scheduled Tribes also monitors and approves the lists before it is sent to the Cabinet for a final go ahead.

Benefits accruing from being recognised as STs:

  • Tribal Autonomy Provision: The fifth and sixth schedules of the Constitution provide for greater autonomy to tribal communities in the administration of Scheduled areas and Tribal areas. 
  • Tribes Advisory Council: The fifth schedule provides for the Tribes Advisory Council, which comprises 3/4th of its members from the STs, while the sixth schedule enlists provisions for autonomous district and regional councils. 
    • This is done to ensure that the tribal communities can preserve their unique culture. 
  • Welfare Schemes for ST Communities: Additionally, the government has formulated multiple welfare schemes for the benefit and upliftment of ST communities, ranging from post-matric scholarship, overseas scholarship and the national fellowship, besides education, to concessional loans from the National Scheduled Tribes Finance and Development Corporation, and hostels for students. 
  • Benefits of Reservation: Furthermore, inclusion in ST lists also entitles tribal communities for the benefits of reservations in jobs and educational institutions as per government policies.

News Source: The Hindu

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UDAAN PRELIMS WALLAH
Comprehensive coverage with a concise format
Integration of PYQ within the booklet
Designed as per recent trends of Prelims questions
हिंदी में भी उपलब्ध

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