Read Analysis

Headlines

1. 'China is the biggest security anxiety for India and Australia' - Page No.1 , GS 2
2. Making sense of the employment challenge - Page No.6 , GS 3
3. A fact check unit that is unconstitutional - Page No.6, GS 2
4. Lachit Borphukan - Prelims
5. Increasing Vegetable Oil Imports - Value Addition

---

'China is the biggest security anxiety for India and Australia' - Page No.1 , GS 2

---

Making sense of the employment challenge - Page No.6 , GS 3

• In particular, he proposed a 70-hour work week. To strengthen his case he has pointed to the experience of Japan and Germany after the Second World War, when citizens worked longer hours than we do on average in India today.
• The demand for labour is entirely dependent upon this demand. There is no demand for labour independent of the demand for goods.
• So, an offer by workers to work longer hours will not ensure that they will find employment so long as firms are unwilling to hire them.
• Their economies were pulverised by the relentless bombing during the Second World War. They had also experienced a decline in their workforces due to greater mortality, both from combat and the bombing. So, when it came to rebuilding these economies, the demand for labour was abnormally high.
• Though it was not mentioned by Mr. Narayana Murthy, another economy that saw long working hours in this period was South Korea. Some of its features are similar to those that had prevailed in Germany and Japan then. It too was recovering from a war, though a different one, and its resurgence was supported by considerable foreign aid received from the U.S., of which it was an ally.
• There are two strategies economic policy here can attempt. The first is to use the global market or world demand to grow the domestic economy, but India's goods would have to be globally competitive.
• A second route to greater output and employment is to expand the domestic market — and thus aggregate demand.

---

A fact check unit that is unconstitutional - Page No.6, GS 2

• The government order (GO) is violative of several fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution of India, and is unconstitutionally vague and arbitrary.
• Earlier this year, the Government of India had amended the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, to set up a fact check unit in order to identify "fake, false or misleading" information in respect of "any business of the Central Government".
• There is no doubt that it creates a chilling effect on the freedomnof speech and expression, a fundamental right guaranteed under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution.
• This can only be reasonably restricted under Article 19(2) in the interest of the sovereignty and integrity of India, security of the state, friendly relations with foreign states, public order, decency or morality, or in relation to contempt of court, defamation or incitement to an offence.
• More importantly, such restriction under Article 19(2) can only be by way of a "law", which, as held by the Supreme Court of India, must be legislation passed by the State.

---

Lachit Borphukan - Prelims

Lachit Borphukan
Context:-
• A 19-minute-long animation film on an iconic Ahom General written and directed by an Indian Police Service officer in Assam has been selected for the Indian Panorama section of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) 2023 to be held in Goa.
• Lachit: The Warrior, the film showcasing the heroics of Lachit Borphukan revered in Assam for preventing the Mughals from capturing Assam in the 1600s, would be screened on Tuesday for a global audience.
• Borphukan has always been revered in Assam as the warrior who defeated Mughal armies in the Battle of Saraighat in 1671.
• He was chosen as one of the five Borphukans of the Ahom kingdom by king Charadhwaj Singha, and given administrative, judicial, and military responsibilities.
• Unlike the Mughals who preferred battles in the open with their massive armies, Borphukan preferred guerrilla tactics which provided an edge to his smaller, but fast moving and capable forces.
• Lachit Borphukan died a year after the Battle of Saraighat from a long festering illness.
• The Mughal-Ahom wars had been going on since 1615-16, with the first Mughal attack on Assam with a view to capturing the region. The Ahoms had ruled major parts of Assam for nearly 600 years, between 1228 and 1826.
• The Battle of Saraighat was a naval battle fought in 1671 between the Mughal Empire and the Ahom Kingdom on the Brahmaputra river at Saraighat, now in Guwahati, Assam, India.
• Borphukan was commander of the Ahom armies during the battle of Saraighat -. The battle, which took place during the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb's reign, was seen as a decisive Ahom victory.
• The Lachit Borphukan gold medal is awarded to the best cadet from the National Defence Academy.
• The medal was instituted in 1999 to inspire defence personnel to emulate Borphukan's heroism and sacrifices.
• He died on 25th April, 1672.

---

Increasing Vegetable Oil Imports - Value Addition

Increasing Vegetable Oil Imports Context:-
• With over 60% of India's consumption requirements being met through imports, which could rise further, there are concerns of vegetable oils going the petroleum products way.
• India's edible oil imports have risen almost 1.5 times and more than doubled in rupee value terms during the last 10 years.
• Imports of vegetable oils — used in cooking and frying of foods, as opposed to petroleum fuels - touched a record 16.5 million tonnes (mt) in the year ended October 2023, according to data from the Solvent Extractors' Association of India (SEA).
• From a 10-year perspective, India's edible oil imports have increased from 11.6 mt (valued at Rs 60,750 crore) in 2013-14 to 16.5 mt (Rs 138,424 crore) in 2022-23, with the jump pronounced in the last three years.
• In 2022-23, India's edible oil production from domestically grown oilseeds and alternative sources such as cottonseed, rice bran and maize/corn amounted to around 10.3 mt.
• Adding imports of 16.5 mt took the total availability to 26.8 mt, with the share of domestic production in this at only 38.6%.
• The 16.5 mt of edible oil imports in 2022-23 included palm (9.8 mt; from Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand), soyabean (3.7 mt; from Argentina and Brazil) and sunflower (3 mt; from Russia, Ukraine and Argentina).
• The bulk of imports comprise crude oils. Like crude petroleum, these are shipped in tankers and processed in giant refineries.
• Refining involves de-gumming (removing gums, waxes and other impurities), neutralisation (removing free fatty acids), bleaching (removing colour) and de-odourisation (removing volatile compounds).
• A major side effect of high import dependence is the vulnerability of both producers and consumers to international price fluctuations. Edible oil inflation is India has broadly moved in tandem with global inflation. However, the extent of volatility - be it increases or decreases — is more in the latter's case.
• The UN Food and Agriculture Organization's vegetable oils price index (base period value: 2014-2016=100) soared from 98.7 points
• in August 2020 to an all-time-high of 251.8 points in March 2022, the month that followed Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
• Stepping up edible oil output from domestic sources will go some way in insulating Indian farmers and households from excess global price volatility.

---