Daily News Capsules
1. India-NZ deal to boost exports, services sector
India and New Zealand announced the conclusion of an ambitious and mutually beneficial free trade agreement (FTA) on Monday, with New Delhi securing zero-duty access for all Indian goods in the island country, a $20 billion investment commitment by New Zealand over 15 years, and concessions in professional mobility while shielding its dairy sector. The FTA was concluded nine months after negotiations began during Luxon’s visit to India in March, and both leaders said this reflected the “shared ambition and political will to further deepen ties”. In return, India allowed calibrated market access in 70.03% of tariff lines, covering 95% of New Zealand’s exports to India. New Zealand would get immediate tariff elimination on 30% of tariff lines such as sheep meat, wool, leather-raw hides, wooden logs and metal scraps. A little more than 35.6% tariff lines, including petroleum oil, malt extract, vegetable oils, and selected electrical and mechanical machinery would see phased duty elimination in three to 10 years. About 4.37% tariff lines such as wine, pharmaceuticals, polymers, aluminium, and steel articles would see tariff reduction. And 0.06% tariff line covering items like honey, apples, kiwi fruit, and albumins would fall under tariff rate quotas (TRQs). TRQ is a trade mechanism that allows import of only a specific quantity of any specified product at a concessional tariff. The deal places 29.97% tariff lines in an exclusion category, covering items such as milk, cream, whey, yogurt, cheese, animal products (other than sheep meat), and vegetables such as onions, chickpea, peas, corn and almonds.
Possible Question
India has increasingly pursued bilateral free trade agreements with “complementary economies” rather than tariff-intensive trading partners. Examine the strategic, sectoral, and macroeconomic considerations behind this approach, with reference to the India– New Zealand FTA.
2. New Aravalli definition only for mining, not real estate: Centre
The Centre’s new definition of the Aravalli hills will be applied only to mining and not other sectors, including real estate or development projects, Union environment minister Bhupender Yadav said on Monday, as activists escalated their criticism of the move that they said would further endanger the fragile range. “This definition related to the Aravalli hills is applicable only for mining purposes. It will be used solely in the context of mining. Mining is permitted only in 277.89 sq km out of the 143,577 sq km of the Aravalli area,” Yadav said as he addressed a press briefing on the notification for a successive day, amid the swirling pushback. A central government panel in November defined landforms rising at least 100 metres above the local relief as Aravalli hills, a definition the Supreme Court accepted during a November 20 hearing. “Local relief” means the elevation difference between the hill and its surrounding base area. The definition also defines the Aravalli range as two or more hills within 500m of each other. Environmentalists and opposition parties have criticised the definition, alleging it will free up vast chunks of the mountain range for exploitation. The government has sought to rebuff this criticism by arguing the definitions apply only to 0.19% of the Aravallis and that the exemption for mining is also controlled by the apex court. India’s oldest fold-mountain range, cover a 700km stretch from the eastern edge of Gujarat to Delhi, passing through Haryana and Rajasthan. The mountains are critical to the region: they are a natural boundary to the Thar desert, essentially a wall that keeps Delhi from desertification, serve as a natural water recharge facility and provide green cover in an otherwise arid region.
Possible Question
Critically examine the implications of redefining ecologically sensitive landforms for sector-specific regulation. How can environmental governance balance legal clarity, judicial oversight, and ecological protection in the case of the Aravalli range?
3. We cannot allow unauthorised constructions to go on, says SC
The Supreme Court on Monday took a stern view against unauthorised constructions, cautioning courts against allowing violators to walk free merely because municipal rules permit compounding of illegal structures on payment of fees. A bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and justice Joymalya Bagchi said the correct course in such cases was demolition of illegal constructions, along with recovery of demolition costs, and imposition of exemplary penalties on offenders. “If we allow a petition like this, people will encroach upon even public roads and premises while citing some rule that it is compoundable and dragging the authorities in courts for decades,” observed the bench, refusing to entertain a plea challenging the demolition of unauthorised constructions in Secunderabad. The court underlined that permitting post-facto regularisation of illegal structures would defeat the rule of law and embolden rampant encroachments. The observations came while dismissing a petition filed against a Telangana high court judgment in November that directed removal of illegal constructions raised without permission from the Secunderabad Cantonment Board. During the hearing, senior advocate K Parameshwar, appearing for the petitioner, argued that the high court had ordered demolition despite the constructions being “compoundable” under applicable rules. Rejecting the submission, the bench said: “So, we should allow you to construct anything and then let you apply for compounding? That can’t be.”
Possible Question
Unauthorised constructions pose challenges to urban governance, environmental sustainability, and the rule of law. Analyse the Supreme Court’s approach towards post- facto regularisation and compounding in this context.
4. Core sector growth bounces back in November
Growth in eight key infrastructure sectors, as measured by the combined Index of Eight Core Industries, returned to positive territory in November after contracting in October, according to data released by the ministry of commerce and Industry on Monday. The core sector grew 1.8% year on year in November, compared with a contraction of 0.1% in October. The rebound was supported by strong growth in cement and steel, even as energy-related segments remained weak. On a cumulative basis, growth during April to November in the current financial year stood at 2.4%. This number was 4.4% in 2024- 25. The eight sectors covered by the index are coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilisers, steel, cement and electricity. Together, they account for 40.27% of the weight of items included in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP). The rebound in November was tempered by continued weakness in energy-related segments. Output of crude oil, natural gas, refinery products and electricity contracted during the month, limiting the overall expansion in the index. Crude oil production fell 3.2% year on year, while natural gas output declined 2.5%. Refinery products, which carry the highest weight of just over 28% in the index , contracted by 0.9%. Electricity generation declined 2.2%. Coal production, meanwhile, rose 2.1% in November, although its cumulative output during April to November remained lower than in the corresponding period last year. In contrast, cement output rose sharply by 14.5%, while steel production increased by 6.1% and fertiliser output grew 5.6%. These gains helped cushion the impact of weakness in energy-related segments. To be sure, the November data is provisional and subject to revision in subsequent releases, and should therefore be read with caution.
Possible question
Analyse the significance of the November rebound in core sector growth, highlighting the divergent trends between infrastructure materials and energy segments. What does this divergence indicate about the current stage and quality of India’s economic recovery?
5. Major pay hike for India’s domestic women cricketers
In more good news for India’s women’s cricketers, a revision in payments for cricketers in domestic cricket was agreed to during the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Apex Council meeting held on Monday, a senior BCCI official said. The BCCI has decided to go for a uniform enhanced structure in senior women’s domestic tournaments, increasing the payment to ₹50,000 per day for the playing XI and ₹25,000 per day for the reserves, respectively. Currently, it is ₹20,000 per day for playing XI members and ₹10,000 per day for those in the reserves. For junior women’s tournaments, a playing XI member will be paid ₹25,000 per day while a reserve member will be paid ₹12,500 per day. For T20 matches, the fees will be ₹12,500 and ₹6,250. In 2022, the BCCI had announced that the women cricketers would get the same match fees as the men’s team. So, for a Test match, it is ₹15 lakh per match, while for ODIs and T20Is, a player would take home ₹6 and ₹3 lakh respectively. This current revision comes at a time of unprecedented popularity and success of women’s cricket in the country. India’s women cricketers became the toast of the nation after they defied the odds to triumph in the ODI World Cup in front of the home fans earlier this year. The BCCI had also announced a cash reward of ₹51 crore for the entire squad and support staff after the tournament.
Possible question
Evaluate the role of sports governance institutions in promoting gender equity and professional sustainability in Indian sports. How do financial reforms in domestic structures contribute to long-term talent development?
Editorial Snapshots
A. Dhaka’s dance with anarchy
The most obvious takeaway from the current spate of violence in Bangladesh, following the killing of student leader Sharif Osman Hadi, is that the caretaker administration of Muhammad Yunus has little control over law and order. Yunus was foisted on Bangladesh after violent mass mobilisations forced the ouster of the Awami League government with the unwritten mandate to preside over the transition phase, during which electoral infirmities were to be removed, and hold elections. Instead, Yunus allowed the situation to drift, held off on the elections, and allowed virulent, anti-India sections within the polity to grow stronger. There is now a question mark over the polls, slated for February, with mobs targeting not just Awami League supporters, but also members of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and independent media organisations. A narrative that Sheikh Hasina, the leader of Awami League, held office only because of backing from India has been allowed to gain ground in Dhaka, with student leaders such as Hadi holding New Delhi responsible for the political crisis in that country. This anti India narrative, fanned by Islamists such as the Jamaat-e-Islami, threatens to undermine the secular origins of Bangladesh and deny India’s historic enabling role in its birth in the face of massive violence unleashed by the Pakistani army and its collaborators in East Pakistan in 1971. So far, New Delhi has preferred to privilege the emotional spirit of 1971 and the long historic and cultural ties with the people over a purely transactional approach to bilateral ties with Dhaka. This approach may have to make way for pragmatism in the wake of the rising tide of anti-Indian sentiment in that country and a convergence of Pakistani and Chinese interests in Bangladesh. The rhetoric emanating from Dhaka signals a security challenge, with political leaders — from Yunus to heads of student groups — hinting at India’s geographical vulnerabilities in the Northeast: India shares a long and porous 4,000-km-plus border with Bangladesh, which is a site of smuggling, including of people, cattle and drugs. New Delhi has rightly been cautious in its response to the provocative signals from Dhaka. It should be prepared to play the long game — wait out the current phase of political churn and engage with all the actors in Bangladesh politics.
Possible Question
Political instability in India’s neighbourhood has direct implications for internal security and foreign policy. Analyse the challenges posed by the evolving political situation in Bangladesh for India’s neighbourhood diplomacy and border management.
B. The soft power of Radio Ceylon
The earliest radio station in Asia, Radio Ceylon, turned 100 last week. Nearly a decade older than All India Radio (AIR), the Sri Lankan radio service was once the Indian Subcontinent’s ears to the world of entertainment as it broadcast in Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu besides Sinhala, and found listeners in faraway places. It came to symbolise the soft power of Ceylon/Sri Lanka, but also the commercial genius that recognised the radio’s potential as a transnational popular communications platform. In the process, Radio Ceylon mostly managed to sidestep the treacherous political fault lines in the subcontinent and win listeners across languages and nationalities. For Indians, Radio Ceylon is identified mostly with Binaca Geetmala and its legendary host, Ameen Sayani. This popular weekly programme of Bollywood music contributed more to the popularisation of Hindi in the voice Mohammad Rafi and Lata Mangeshkar than all the government-funded promotional propaganda. Colombo carried its colonial cultural inheritance lightly and was least coy about celebrating Western popular music (Binaca Hit Parade) as much as Bollywood, whose popularity it understood very early. For sure, its task was made easy by BV Keskar, the Sorbonne-educated I&B minister in the Nehru cabinet, who considered popular music a crass form of entertainment and banned it on AIR stations. That’s how Jhumri Telaiya, a town in Jharkhand, discovered Radio Ceylon and Sayani. Later, AIR made amends by inventing Vividh Bharati, hurting Radio Ceylon’s popularity. The arrival of satellite television and the internet ended the reign of Radio Ceylon (Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation after Ceylon was renamed as Sri Lanka in 1972) and turned radio itself into an object of nostalgia. But not before it had taught us the lesson that music transcends national borders.
Possible Question
Soft power often operates outside formal state policy and diplomacy. Using the example of Radio Ceylon, examine how cultural platforms can shape transnational influence and public perception in South Asia.
Fact of the day
India’s rice stocks surge to record high: India’s rice inventories in government warehouses climbed nearly 12% from a year earlier to a record high for early December after state-run agencies stepped up procurement of the new-season paddy crop, government data showed. The swelling stockpiles could allow the world’s biggest rice exporter to boost shipments, putting pressure on supplies from rivals such as Thailand, Vietnam and Pakistan. State reserves of rice, including unmilled paddy, totalled a record 57.57 million metric tonnes as of December 1, far exceeding the government’s target of 7.61 million tons for January 1. Wheat stocks stood at 29.14 million tons on December 1, up from last year’s 20.6 million tonnes, the data showed. State-run agencies are being forced to buy large quantities from farmers as open-market prices remain below the government-set minimum support price, said a New Delhi-based dealer with a global trade house. “Despite the government buying heavily, traders still have plenty of stock for exports,” he said. Since the start of the marketing year on October 1, the government has procured 42.2 million tonnes of paddy from farmers. “Export demand isn’t very strong right now, but the weakening rupee is helping traders land deals at competitive prices,” said one Mumbai-based trader. India, which accounts for about 40% of global rice exports, removed the last of its export curbs on the grain last March.
