TOPIC : GS 2 Bilateral, Regional and Global Groupings and Agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests.
What is the news?
- Recently Italy has shown interest in aligning with India and Japan in a trilateral Cooperation in order to counter China.
- Indo Pacific has already become the epicenter of geopolitics because of US’s focus on the Indo-Pacific to counter China.
- In this context the article analyses the need for India and Italy to get along in the Indo-Pacific region.
- And how the trilateral alignment between India-Japan-Italy can play a key role in countering China.
Why Western powers looking towards Indo-Pacific?
- China has been asserting itself in the Indo-Pacific region.
- To counter the Chinese rise traditional alliances like – NATO are not very effective.
- To counter China there is a need for multilateral alignments in the region.
- This is clearly visible in the new alignments – QUAD, Supply chain resilience Initiative, Malabar naval Exercise.
- In all these alignments participating nations are able to address specific common challenges, from maritime security to a coordinated pandemic response.
- It includes consolidating and further developing strong reciprocal trade relationships, without compromising the political autonomy of each participant.
Italy and India
- Italy off late has become more vocal on the risks emanating from China’s strategic competitive initiatives.
- Recently, Italian PM described Chinese competitive practices as “unfair” and invited the European Union (EU) to be franker and more courageous in confronting Beijing on its violations of human rights, reiterating that with respect to China “the reciprocal visions of the world are very different”.
- Italy is seeking to take interest in the Indo- pacific by showing interest in aligning with India and Japan in a trilateral relationship.
- Further India is already forging relationship with like-minded countries interested in preserving peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific.
How things should proceed from here?
- Italy will first have to clearly outline its Indo-Pacific strategy.
- Italy will have to play a crucial role in forging EU – India strategic partnership.
- The India, Italy and Japan trilateral initiative should, be a forum to foster and consolidate a strategic relationship.
- Such cooperation can be the right forum for India and Italy to learn more from each other’s practices and interests and consolidate a strategic dialogue that should include the economic, the security and the political dimensions.
- The next G20 leaders summit will be held in Rome. After that the presidency will be handed over to India. This will be a great opportunity both nations to set a clear agenda.
- Further such alignment can create a virtuous and mutually beneficial contribution to the reorganisation of the global supply chains that is now being reviewed by many players as a natural result of the Chinese mismanagement.
Mains Question
Explain how shaping a trilateral as Rome looks to the Indo-Pacific ?
PRELIMS PUNCHERS
- Fiji
It lies approximately southwest of Hawaii and roughly from Sydney, Australia. Fiji is the hub of the Southwest Pacific, midway between Vanuatu and Tonga The 180° meridian runs through Taveuni, but the International Date Line is bent to give uniform time to all of the Fiji group.
The climate in Fiji is tropical marine and warm year round with minimal extremes. The warm season is from November to April, and the cooler season lasts from May to October. Temperatures in the cool season average 22 °C. Rainfall is variable, with the warm season experiencing heavier rainfall, especially inland. For the larger islands, rainfall is heavier on the southeast portions of the islands than on the northwest portions, with consequences for agriculture in those areas. Winds are moderate, though cyclones occur about once annually. Some geothermal activity still occurs today on the islands of Vanua Levu and Taveuni.
Sources: https://www.thehindu.com/children/brick-by-brick-back-to-work/article34130839.ece
- Wildlife Crime Control Bureau
It is designated nodal agency for CITES related enforcement. WCCB is a statutory multi-disciplinary body under the MoEFCC. The Bureau has its five regional offices at Delhi (headquarters), Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai and Jabalpur; and five border units at Ramanathapuram, Gorakhpur, Motihari, Nathula and Moreh.
Under the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972, WCCB is mandated to collect and collate intelligence related to organized wildlife crime. It disseminate the same to State and other enforcement agencies so as to apprehend the criminals to establish a centralized wildlife crime data bank and to co-ordinate actions by various agencies in connection with the enforcement of the provisions of the Act . It assist international organizations & foreign authorities to facilitate wildlife crime control and capacity building of the wildlife crime enforcement agencies. It assist . It advise the Government of India on issues relating to wildlife crimes. It also assists and advises the Customs authorities in inspection of the consignments of flora & fauna as per the provisions of Wild Life Protection Act, CITES and EXIM Policy governing such an item.
- An initial public offering (IPO)
It stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment banks, who also arrange for the shares to be listed on one or more stock exchanges. Through this process, colloquially known as floating, or going public, a privately held company is transformed into a public company. Initial public offerings can be used to raise new equity capital for companies, to monetize the investments of private shareholders such as company founders or private equity investors, and to enable easy trading of existing holdings or future capital raising by becoming publicly traded.
After the IPO, shares are traded freely in the open market at what is known as the free float. Stock exchanges stipulate a minimum free float both in absolute terms the total value as determined by the share price multiplied by the number of shares sold to the public and as a proportion of the total share capital i.e., the number of shares sold to the public divided by the total shares outstanding. Although IPO offers many benefits, there are also significant costs involved, chiefly those associated with the process such as banking and legal fees, and the ongoing requirement to disclose important and sometimes sensitive information.
- Lemru Elephant Reserve:
Lemru Elephant Reserve was approved by Chhattisgarh Government in 2005 and got central approval in 2007. It is one of the two elephant reserves being planned to prevent human-elephant conflict and to provide a permanent habitat for the elephants.
The other is the Badalkhol Tamorpingla Elephant Reserve, which was approved by the Chhattisgarh Government in 2011. Tamorpingla wildlife sanctuary already exists in the state, but no work on this elephant reserve has begun yet. Chhattisgarh Government is planning to decrease the area of the proposed reserve. This is because the reserve is part of the Hasdeo Aranya forests, a very diverse biozone that is also rich in coal deposits. Of 22 coal blocks in the area, seven have already been allotted with mines. Hence, increasing the reserve area would have made several coal mines become unusable.
PRELIMS QUESTIONS
- Lemru Elephant Reserve is in which of the following state ?
- Madhya Pradesh
- Chhattisgarh
- Odisha
- Jharkhand
Answer: B
Lemru Elephant Reserve was approved by Chhattisgarh Government in 2005 and got central approval in 2007. It is one of the two elephant reserves being planned to prevent human-elephant conflict and to provide a permanent habitat for the elephants.
The other is the Badalkhol Tamorpingla Elephant Reserve, which was approved by the Chhattisgarh Government in 2011. Tamorpingla wildlife sanctuary already exists in the state, but no work on this elephant reserve has begun yet. Chhattisgarh Government is planning to decrease the area of the proposed reserve. This is because the reserve is part of the Hasdeo Aranya forests, a very diverse biozone that is also rich in coal deposits. Of 22 coal blocks in the area, seven have already been allotted with mines. Hence, increasing the reserve area would have made several coal mines become unusable.
- Consider the following statement with regard to Wildlife Crime Control Bureau
- It is designated nodal agency for IUCN related enforcement
- WCCB is mandated to collect and collate intelligence related to organized wildlife crime
Select the correct answer from the following
- A only
- B only
- Both of the above
- None of the above
Answer : B
It is designated nodal agency for CITES related enforcement. WCCB is a statutory multi-disciplinary body under the MoEFCC. The Bureau has its five regional offices at Delhi (headquarters), Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai and Jabalpur; and five border units at Ramanathapuram, Gorakhpur, Motihari, Nathula and Moreh.
Under the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972, WCCB is mandated to collect and collate intelligence related to organized wildlife crime. It disseminate the same to State and other enforcement agencies so as to apprehend the criminals to establish a centralized wildlife crime data bank and to co-ordinate actions by various agencies in connection with the enforcement of the provisions of the Act . It assist international organizations & foreign authorities to facilitate wildlife crime control and capacity building of the wildlife crime enforcement agencies. It assist . It advise the Government of India on issues relating to wildlife crimes. It also assists and advises the Customs authorities in inspection of the consignments of flora & fauna as per the provisions of Wild Life Protection Act, CITES and EXIM Policy governing such an item.