India-Japan Logistics Agreement
Why in news
India and Japan signed a logistics agreement on September 10, 2020. The agreement on ‘Reciprocal Provision Supplies and Services’ will allow the Armed Forces of India and Japan to coordinate closely in services and supplies. The agreement was signed by Defence Secretary of India and Ambassador of Japan.
Key Points
The Agreement:
o It is aimed at greater maritime cooperation and can upgrade India-Japan naval exercises as both countries are expected to share maritime facilities for mutual benefit.
o It establishes the enabling framework for closer cooperation between the armed forces of both countries in reciprocal provision of supplies and services while engaged in bilateral training activities, United Nations Peacekeeping Operations, Humanitarian International Relief and other mutually agreed activities.
• The supplies and services include food, water, transportation, airlift, petroleum, clothing, communications and medical services etc.
o It will also enhance the interoperability, assist in maintaining regional security and further increase the bilateral defence engagements between the two countries.
o It will remain in force for 10 years and will be automatically extended for periods of 10 years unless one of the parties decides to end it.
o The agreement is being interpreted as a coming together of Japan and India when India is having a border standoff with China at Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh.
India-Japan Relation
India and Japan cooperate in areas including defence, science and trade. India and Japan had upgraded their relationship to ‘Special Strategic and Global Partnership’ in 2014. One of the key areas of cooperation between the two is Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Railway (MAHSR) in the Railway Sector. In October 2018, “India-Japan Digital Partnership” (I-JDP) was also launched during the visit of the Prime Minister of India to Japan. This furthered the scope of cooperation in S&T/ICT, focusing more on “Digital ICT Technologies”. Earlier, In August 2018, The India-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) came into force which covers trade in goods, services, movement of natural persons, investments, Intellectual Property Rights, custom procedures and other trade related issues. Further, India and Japan defence forces engages in several bilateral exercises namely, Japan India Maritime Exercise (JIMEX) , SHINYUU Maitri, and Dharma Guardian. They have also participated in Malabar exercise with USA.
Global Innovation Index 2020
Why in news
• Global Innovation Index (GII) 2020 was recently released.
• Released by: World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
Key takeaways
• India’s rank: 48th
• India has climbed 4 spots.
• With this, India ranked in the top 50 countries for the first time in the Global Innovation Index.
• World’s most-innovative economies: (1) Switzerland, (2) Sweden, (3) USA, (4) UK and (5) Netherlands.
• India ranks in the top 15 in indicators such as ICT services exports, government online services, graduates in science and engineering and R&D-intensive global companies.
• India is the lower middle-income economy with the highest innovation due to universities like IIT Delhi and Bombay, IIS Bengaluru and other top scientific publications.
How are countries analysed
A total of 131 countries were analysed under the GII before arriving at the rankings. The metrics include institutions, human capital and research, infrastructure, market sophistication and business sophistication, knowledge and technology outputs and creative outputs. Meanwhile, an official statement said WIPO had also accepted India as one of the leading innovation achievers of 2019 in the central and southern Asian region, as it has shown a consistent improvement in its innovation ranking for the last five years. "The consistent improvement in the global innovation index rankings is owing to the immense knowledge capital, the vibrant startup ecosystem, and the amazing work done by the public & private research organization," the GII statement said. It further said bodies like the Department of Science and Technology, Department of Biotechnology and Department of Space have played a pivotal role in enriching the national innovation ecosystem
Niti Aayog's contribution
The GII statement mentioned that Niti Aayog has been working tirelessly to ensure optimisation of national efforts in this direction by bringing policy-led innovation in different areas such as electric vehicles, biotechnology, nanotechnology, space and alternative energy sources.
India Innovation Index
The India Innovation Index, which was released last year by Niti Aayog, has been widely accepted as a major step in the direction of decentralisation of innovation across all states of the country, the GII statement said. "The call for Aatma Nirbhar Bharat by the Prime Minister could only be realized if India punches above its weight class and compete with global superpowers in developing scientific interventions. "It is time that India brings a paradigm shift and aims to be in the top 25 countries in the next global innovation index rankings," it added.
India’s Position Shift on Taliban
India has signaled a shift in its position on engaging with the Taliban by participating in the commencement ceremony of Intra-Afghan talks between the Afghanistan government and the Taliban in Doha, Qatar.
Key Points
- The Indian presence at the Intra-Afghan peace talks indicates that it has changed its position given the ground reality in Afghanistan and the changing power structure in Afghanistan.
- USA's withdrawal has given Pakistan a major role to play in Afghanistan directly or indirectly through its proxies.
- However, some experts were of the opinion that India chose to attend the ceremony because the Afghan government was also at the table.
- India still does not recognise the Taliban.
Background:
- The USA signed a deal with the Taliban that paved the way towards a full withdrawal of USA troops from Afghanistan and also represent a step towards ending the 18-year-war in Afghanistan.
- The peace deal was expected to kick-off two processes- a phased withdrawal of US troops and an ‘intra-Afghan’ dialogue.
- The deal is a fundamental step to deliver a comprehensive and permanent ceasefire and the future political roadmap for the Afghanistan peace process.
- India’s Interests in Afghanistan:
- India has a major stake in the stability of Afghanistan. India has invested considerable resources in Afghanistan's development. E.g. the Afghan Parliament, the Zaranj-Delaram Highway, Afghanistan-India Friendship Dam (Salma Dam) among others.
- Afghanistan is the gateway to Central Asia.
- Issues Involved:
- India is concerned about the Taliban’s links with Pakistan’s ISI and efforts by the latter to use the Haqqani network to target India’s interests in Afghanistan.
- India’s Afghanistan policy continues to be assessed vis-a-vis Pakistan, which opposes any security role for India in Afghanistan and sees India’s presence there as detrimental to its interests.
- Taliban also has link with Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) and Laskar-e-Toiba (LeT) who are behind various terrorist activities against India.
- India still does not recognise the Taliban. However, if it considers the option of entering into direct talks with the Taliban, it would constitute a major departure from its consistent policy of dealing only with recognised governments.
- India is concerned about the Taliban’s links with Pakistan’s ISI and efforts by the latter to use the Haqqani network to target India’s interests in Afghanistan.
Way Forward
- India needs to re-evaluate its decisions and be more omnidirectional in its approach to deal with all forces that are central to the future of Afghanistan.
- The changing political and security situation requires India to be more open to adapting its maximalist position and starting a dialogue with the Taliban.