Moneycontrol | Three factors that prevent India and China from getting close

Both India and China lie at the heart of the geopolitical churn in the Indo-Pacific, with their bilateral relationship holding significant implications for the future of the world order. While India is pursuing a policy of multi-alignment, it increasingly seems to be caught between two emerging power centres. On one side is a rising China, which is seeking to actively reshape the international order to facilitate its rise to the centre-stage of world affairs; on the other is the US, which is working to boost domestic strength, revitalise old alliances and fashion new partnerships in order to sustain its preeminence. Read the full article here.

The Hindu | Learning from the CHIPS Act of the U.S.

The United States’ Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors and Science Act of 2022 (CHIPS Act) completes one year as a law today (August 9). The Act authorises $52.7 billion over five years to boost American competitiveness, innovation and national security in semiconductors. While the jury is still out on the long-term effectiveness of the Act, what is important from an Indian perspective is to observe and learn from its implementation. As industrial policy has become a default policy of choice for nation-states, the Act provides a clear window into the capabilities and structures needed to execute such policies. Read the full article here.

Hindustan Times | An echo of licence raj in laptop import curbs

India’s abrupt decision to restrict the import of laptops and personal computers, though with a three-month lag, is a throwback to the 1970s, when such policies were commonplace. Presumably, the aim is to give a fillip to domestic manufacturing and is probably targeted at China, which accounts for 75% of the total $5.33 billion worth of laptops and personal computers imported by India in 2022-23. However, the government maintains that it carried out the move for the digital security of its citizens. The reason is obvious — national security is the one accepted condition in multilateral trade treaties for imposing import restrictions, whereas protectionism is frowned upon. Read the full article here.

The Hindu | Do we need a radical alternative to scientific publishing?

Scientific publishing is a necessary component of scientists’ efforts to establish a career in science for themselves. The process allows for scientists’ peers to enrich new findings by reviewing papers, curates research from scientists across the world, and signals the credibility of some scientific work. Read the full article here.

StratNewsGlobal | Limelight On Nobody: Qin Gang’s Removal

On July 25, at the fourth session of the 14th Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (China’s top legislature), a major portfolio shuffle was announced in the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA)—Qin Gang, who was promoted to the post of Foreign Affairs Minister as recently as December 2022 was ‘removed’ from the post. In his place, Wang Yi, the Director of the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Foreign Affairs Commission and former Foreign Affairs minister, was re-appointed. Read the full article here.

The Diplomat | China’s Draft Criminal Law Amendment Eyes Corruption in Private Firms

Amid the controversy surrounding former Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang’s disappearance and subsequent dismissal from office, discussions by the Standing Committee of China’s top legislature, the National People’s Congress, on draft amendments to China’s Criminal Law seem to have escaped the public eye. These draft amendments, which are open for public comments until August 24, propose the inclusion of private sector enterprises operating in China under the ambit of the Criminal Law’s anti-bribery and anti-corruption provisions. Previously, said provisions were applicable only to state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and public institutions. Read the full article here.

ThePrint | CDS to DMA, Modi govt raised Indian military’s hope for a theatre command. It’s been 4 yrs

It was on 15 August 2019 that Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that India would have a Chief of Defence Staff. On 30 December, General Bipin Rawat was appointed the first CDS and the Department of Military Affairs was created in the Ministry of Defence. Among other issues, the DMA was mandated to facilitate restructuring of military commands for optimal utilisation of resources by bringing about jointness in operations, including through establishment of joint/theatre commands. The CDS was mandated to bring about jointness in operations, logistics, transport, training, support services, communications, repairs and maintenance, etc of the three Services, within three years of assuming office. Read the full article here.

Hindustan Times | In the chip war, US has the edge over China

As a countermeasure to a series of US-led tech restrictions, China’s ministry of commerce and general administration of customs recently announced export controls on industrial products and materials containing two critical elements — Gallium (Ga) and Germanium (Ge). The export of these elements will now be subject to governmental clearance. The ministry justified the restriction on national security grounds, owing to the elements’ dual-use nature. Read the full article here.

Moneycontrol | Don’t rush to mimic Rajasthan gig workers law

The devil, as they often say, is in the details. And so it is with the The Rajasthan Platform Based Gig Workers (Registration and Welfare) Act 2023, passed in the Rajasthan Assembly on July 24 to nearly universal fanfare. The need for some form of social security measures for gig workers was so acutely felt that this Act is currently lauded with messianic zeal just for the good intentions behind the law. There is a good chance that other states will follow suit and therefore, a closer scrutiny can instruct areas for improvement. Read the full article here.

Mint | Indian gig workers ought to get a well-crafted social security net

Rajasthan’s new law governing the welfare of gig workers has much to commend it. Not only is it necessary to support India’s growing 21st century workforce, it also offers us a way to reform our 18th century labour law regime. As Takshashila Institution’s Anupam Manur puts it, the term ‘gig work’ is a misnomer in our country—for most of the people driving taxis, delivering food or household services via online aggregator platforms, that is their main occupation. Employment in this segment is growing. The Niti Aayog expects 200% growth in gig employment by 2030. Based on possibilities I see emerging from what is happening in Bengaluru, I think that is a conservative estimate. While the fates of individual aggregator platforms may rise and fall, the gig model is an important part of how India creates mass employment. Read the full article here.

WION | The ASEAN's tryst with US-China contestation

On July 13 and 14, Wang Yi, the newly re-appointed Chinese Foreign Minister visited Jakarta to attend the 56th ASEAN Regional Forum and the 13th East Asia Summit Foreign Ministers' Meetings. During these meetings, Wang held several bilateral exchanges, including with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. He also participated in an ‘ASEAN+3’ meeting, with representatives from the ten countries of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), as well as Japan and South Korea. His engagements aimed at assuaging regional anxieties surrounding China’s belligerent rise and its intensifying rivalry with the US. However, his meeting with Blinken said otherwise. Read the full article here.

Centre on Asia and Globalisation | Confronting Trade-offs for India’s Electronics Manufacturing Success

The improving performance of India’s electronics manufacturing sector has been a topic of intense policy interest in the country. Electronics exports saw a spectacular growth of almost 50 percent in FY23, reaching $25.3 billion. Electronics is now India’s sixth largest merchandise export, overtaking readymade garments. Encouraged by these successes, the Indian government is confident of achieving its target of $140 billion in electronics exports and 1 million new jobs by FY26. This sector’s success is now portrayed as a vindication of the Indian government’s flagship industrial policy instrument: the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme. Policy debates surrounding the PLI have primarily focused on its design, effectiveness, and potential pitfalls. But the elephant in the room is the crucial role of Chinese companies in India’s electronics manufacturing story. Read the full article here.

Hindustan Times | Qin’s removal reveals a messy portrait of China

The standing committee of the National People’s Congress (NPCSC), China’s top legislature, on Tuesday, announced the removal of Qin Gang as the country’s foreign minister. The decision came during a previously unplanned and abruptly announced daylong meeting of the body. Conventionally, NPCSC meets on a bimonthly basis. Meeting dates and agenda are usually announced far in advance. This departure from set norms in a country where tradition and discipline are valued above all, and where small deviations and changes are all the signs one gets of upheavals within, has set off speculation. Read the full article here.

Indian Express | Internal Security in India: Violence, Order and The State reveals how most forms of violence are on a downward slide in India

Most of us rely on social media, television, newspapers and conversations with our friends to get a sense of what is happening in the world around us. News, however, suffers from a systematic negativity bias — the bad and the abnormal get more coverage than the good and the normal. In addition, our minds tend to confuse the frequency of news items with its actual prevalence. Then there are regular moral panics and outrage cycles, all of which end up giving us a distorted perception of the state of the world, often making us anxious, depressed and despondent. Read the full book review.

Firstpost | Franco-Indian collaboration in Indian Ocean Region: How India-France partnership has taken centre stage in the IOR

During Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent visit to France, France and India spelt out their commitments to the Indo-Pacific region. In a first, the two democracies published a roadmap for their bilateral and regional cooperation. The roadmap outlines the alignment between the two countries’ vision for the region, with cooperation extending across the domains of defence, security, economics, connectivity, infrastructure, sustainability, and human-centric development. Read the full article here.

Takshashila Blog | China Challenge: Transatlantic Divergence

It is a truism that the rise of China poses a serious challenge to the US and Europe. However, there are differences in terms of their understanding of the nature of the challenge. For instance, there has long been a debate among them – the US and Europe, that is – whether China poses a strategic challenge, or is an indispensable partner in dealing with global challenges, or whether it is an economic threat or opportunity. Read the full blog here.

The Hindu | The risk of small States’ heavy reliance on the Union government

The fiscal situation of India’s States has garnered significant attention in recent times. Despite ample data on State finances, most of the analysis is centred around larger States. There needs to be more discussion on the fiscal position of small States (i.e. States with a population of less than 1 crore). Most of these small States have distinctive characteristics that limit revenue mobilisation. Recognising these disabilities, the Constitution has provided mechanisms to address them. But these States continue to rely heavily on the Union government for revenue. This dependence creates vulnerabilities for the States as well as the Union. Read the full article here.

ThePrint | Why is Indian Army keeping the martial race theory alive? The British left 76 years ago

Even after 75 years of Independence, India still subscribes to the martial race theory in the manning of some of its combat and combat support segments of the Army. Nepal’s repeated blocking of recruitment of Gorkhas under the Agnipath scheme could have been used by India to dissociate itself from this British belief of separating races based on their physical and behavioural characteristics as well as climatic conditions. But India continues to see substance in the theory birthed by the First War of Independence in 1857. Read the full article here.

The Wire | Compensation for Accident Victims Isn’t a ‘Favour’ – and the State Must Be More Accountable

The death of our fellow citizens by accident is a matter of routine. Turning the daily newspaper to the city pages inevitably brings news of deaths from accidents of various kinds – a stray bike rider here, a lone bicyclist there, two people sleeping on the pavement, and so on. Every so often, reports of accidents that have a higher count of casualties make it to the front pages, sometimes as the lead story. These describe a bus falling into a gorge or catching fire, a train smashing into another, and on occasion, a boat overturning. Other forms of accidents – bridge or building collapses, stampedes, fires and such – are rarer, but still feature multiple times a year. In India, there is no end to the news of accidental death. Read the full article here.

Hindustan Times | NRF is a game changer. But it needs more clarity

The National Research Foundation (NRF) is India’s largest government programme to fund research till date. India’s gross expenditure on research and development (GERD) is currently 0.6-0.8% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), quite low when compared with that of the United States (US) (3.36%), China (2.14%), and Israel (4.9%). A significant infusion of funding, steered by a clear implementation strategy, is required for India to become a science leader. The NRF bill is an excellent start to driving India’s research agenda but it needs to clarify its objectives and create capacity for their achievement. Read the full article here.