Indian stake in global order; Checking forced conversions: Exports lose steam
Opinion Watch
Indian stake in global order
The fact that the multilateral agencies are retreats for talking heads with no tangible outcome was evident at G20 Summit in Bali, Indonesia. While G20 leaders sought to crystallize their talking points, G7 went into huddle with warmongering writ large on the faces of their leaders following a missile landing in Poland after Russia rained 100 such missiles over Ukraine.
Leading dailies in India sought to make a sense out of the G20 Summit in the context of India taking the Presidentship from December 1 for one year. The dailies have ascribed monumental wishes on India play a role in finding peace in the world, while also helping bring concrete gains on climate actions, besides addressing the economic woes of the least developed economies.
Newspapers such as The Hindu and The Economic Times have turned their spotlight on the three hours long bilateral between Chinese President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Joe Biden, stressing the outcomes such as opening of the line of communication, the visit of the Secretary of State Antony Blinken to Beijing. But Taiwan remains the major flashpoint between world’s two largest economies. Speaker of the US House Congress Nancy Pelosi had stormed into Taiwan despite blatant threats of Beijing, and The Hindu has underlined that her successor Kevin McCarthy is also slated to visit to Taipei.
This is evident that the globalization is now facing severe test of one upmanship by some of the countries, who have least regards to UN Charter or other bodies. India, thus, should not entertain any foolish ambition to influence the global warheads, for they have been in the business of war for centuries.
Checking forced conversions
The issue of forced conversions has outlived change of governments at the Centre and several states. Some of the state governments are still framing stringent laws to stop forced conversions by broadening the scope of punishable offences.
The Supreme Court has issued notice to the Centre on the plea of the lawyer Ashwini Mahajan who has claimed substantive case of forced conversions in the country. The Pioneer has reminded that the Delhi High Court had not taken cognizance after Mahajan had failed to substantiate his claims. Mahajan in fact had told the Delhi High Court that his assumptions were based on the data of the social media. The Noida-based daily had quoted the Delhi High Court to state that social media data and posts, besides the newspaper reports don’t make for facts on the basis of which the judiciary takes action.
Yet, the daily said that the Supreme Court has been sympathetic to Mahajan to entertain his plae. The daily has hoped that Mahajan, who is a serial PIL petitioner, affiliated to the Bharatiya Janata Party, would bring some reliable data in the apex court. The social media is a space where the graphic designers are the intellectuals who can trend #MeraAbdulAisaNahi for days after the gruesome killing of Shraddha walker by Aftab Amin Poonawala.
Exports lose steam
India is already facing the balance of payment issue following spike in imports, while exports have lost the steam. The Economic Times has stated in its Editorial that India’s exports came down by 16.65 per cent in October. The daily noted that India’s major export destinations – the US and the EU – are facing economic downturns. The merchandise trade deficit in October of $26.91 billion has brought the cumulative this fiscal to $173.46 billion (April-October). Import substitution with Make in India, Make for World plan evidently looks not taking off.
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