Exercise Garuda concluded, Annual summit of ASEAN, NASA’s CAPSTONE, “No money for Terror’ conference
Exercise Garuda concluded
The seventh edition of Exercise Garuda, the bilateral air exercise between Indian Air Force (IAF) and French Air and Space Force (FASF), concluded at Air Force Station in Rajasthan’s Jodhpur.
What
- The FASF participated in the exercise with Rafale fighter aircraft and A-330 multi-role tanker transport (MRTT) aircraft, while the IAF contingent comprised Su-30 MKI, Rafale, light combat aircraft (LCA) Tejas and Jaguar fighter aircraft.
- This fighter element was complemented by the IAF’s flight refuelling aircraft, airborne early warning and control systems, as well as Mi-17 helicopters, and the newly inducted light combat helicopter (LCH) Prachand.
- Exercise Garuda VII was the first occasion for the LCA Tejas and the LCH Prachand to participate in any international exercise.
- Exercise Garuda-VII provided the two Air Forces with the opportunity for professional interaction and sharing of operational knowledge and experience.
- With meticulous planning and execution of various phases of the exercise, personnel of the IAF and the FASF were exposed to realistic air combat simulations and the associated Combat Support Operations.
- The exercise also provided a platform for cultural exchange between the Air Force personnel of both countries.
Flashback
- The first, third and fifth editions were conducted in India in 2003, 2006 and 2014 at Air Force stations Gwalior, Kalaikunda and Jodhpur, respectively.
- The second, fourth and sixth editions were conducted in France in 2005, 2010 and 2019.
Annual summit of the ASEAN
The annual summit of the Association of SouthEast Asian Nations (ASEAN) under the chairmanship of Cambodia was held amid the war in Ukraine and contestation between US and China, The 10-member regional grouping stressed its common interest and concern, such as strengthening energy cooperation and people-to-people connectivity.
What is India’s link with ASEAN?
- Apart from the individual ties that India has had with these countries, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said ASEAN is central to India’s Act East policy, which focuses on the extended neighbourhood in the Asia-Pacific region.
- The policy was originally conceived as an economic initiative but has gained political, strategic and cultural dimensions including the establishment of institutional mechanisms for dialogue and cooperation. In 2018, ASEAN leaders were the chief guests at India’s republic day parade.
- India is part of the ASEAN Plus Six grouping, which includes China, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand and Australia as well.
- In 2010 a Free Trade Agreement was also signed and entered into force between India and ASEAN.
- While India was part of negotiations to join the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) in 2020, it ultimately decided not to do so.
- However, in the largest seven years trade has grown in terms of value, barring the pandemic years of 2020 and 2021.
- ASEAN itself has recently faced issues that complicate coordination, such as the rise of China and its claims over the South China Sea (many of which compete with claims of ASEAN members like the Philippines) and the issue of military conflict in Myanmar.
ASEAN History
ASEAN was established on 8th August 1967 in Bangkok, Thailand with the signing of the Bangkok Declaration (a.k.a ASEAN Declaration) by the founding fathers of the countries of Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, and the Philippines. The preceding organisation was the Association of Southeast Asia (ASA) comprising of Thailand, the Philippines, and Malaysia.
Five other nations joined the ASEAN in subsequent years making the current membership to ten countries.
ASEAN Members
- Thailand (founding member)
- The Philippines (founding member)
- Malaysia (founding member)
- Singapore (founding member)
- Indonesia (founding member)
- Brunei (joined in 1984)
- Vietnam (joined in 1995)
- Lao PDR (joined in 1997)
- Myanmar (joined in 1997)
- Cambodia (joined in 1999)
There are two observer States namely, Papua New Guinea and Timor Leste (East Timor).
ASEAN Members by Human Development Index 2020-21
Country | HDI | Comments |
Brunei | 0.838 | Very High |
Cambodia | 0.594 | Medium (Lowest among ASEAN members) |
Indonesia | 0.718 | High |
Laos | 0.613 | Medium |
Malaysia | 0.810 | Very High |
Myanmar | 0.583 | Medium |
Philippines | 0.718 | High |
Singapore | 0.938 | Very High (Highest HDI among ASEAN members |
Thailand | 0.777 | High |
ASEAN Purpose
- Accelerating economic growth, cultural development, and social progress in the region by joint initiatives in the spirit of partnership and equality to cement the foundation for a peaceful and strong community of SE Asian countries.
- Promoting peace and stability in the region by incorporating respect for justice and the rule of law in the relationships between nations and adherence to the United Nations principles.
- Promoting active collaboration and mutual assistance in subjects of common interest in social, economic, cultural, administrative, scientific, and technical domains.
- Assisting member countries via training and research facilities in the educational, administrative, technical, and professional domains.
- Cooperating for better usage of agriculture and industries, trade expansion (including studying the problem of international commodity trade), improving communication and transportation facilities, and improving living standards among the people.
- Promoting SE Asian studies.
- Exploring more avenues for further cooperation among themselves, and maintaining close and advantageous cooperation with other international groupings of similar objectives.
ASEAN Fundamental Principles
- Mutual respect for the independence, sovereignty, equality, territorial integrity, and national identity of all nations;
- The right of every State to lead its national existence free from external interference, subversion or coercion;
- Non-interference in the internal affairs of one another;
- Settlement of differences or disputes by peaceful manner;
- Renunciation of the threat or use of force; and
- Effective cooperation among themselves.
ASEAN Headquarters
- The body is headquartered in Jakarta, Indonesia.
- Secretary-General: Dato Lim Jock Hoi
- Official Languages: Burmese, Filipino, Indonesian, Khmer, Lao, Malay, Mandarin, Tamil, Thai and Vietnamese
- Working Language: English
ASEAN-led Forums:
- ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF): It was launched in 1993. It is a twenty-seven-member multilateral grouping that was developed to facilitate cooperation on political and security issues to contribute to regional confidence-building and preventive diplomacy.
- ASEAN Plus Three: The consultative group initiated in 1997 brings together ASEAN’s ten members, China, Japan, and South Korea.
- East Asia Summit (EAS): First held in 2005, the summit seeks to promote security and prosperity in the region and is usually attended by the heads of state from ASEAN, Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, Russia, South Korea, and the United States. ASEAN plays a central role as the agenda-setter.
NASA’s CAPSTONE mission reached the Moon
NASA’s CAPSTONE mission reached the Moon, becoming the first spacecraft to enter into a special elongate orbit that could support future space missions. The microwave oven-sized satellite weighs just around 25 kilograms and also become the first CubeSat to fly and operate on the Moon.
What is the CAPSTONE mission?
- CAPSTONE stands for Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment.
- The mission’s CubeSat was sent into space to test a unique lunar orbit called a near rectilinear halo orbit, (NRHO) which is very elongated and is located at a precise balance point between the gravities of the Earth and the Moon.
- Over the course of the past four months, the CAPSTONE spacecraft has been navigating an offbeat but efficient deep space path to the moon.
- This route is called a ballistic lunar transfer and it follows the gravitational contours in space to help the spacecraft reach its destination while spending very little energy.
- The CAPSTONE spacecraft will soon reach the end of its gravity-driven track and will arrive at the Moon, where its approach will have to be perfectly aligned for NRHO insertion, which is the critical point of the mission.
NRHO and CAPS
- Since the NRHO orbit exists at a precise balance point between the gravities of the Earth and the Moon, it requires minimal energy to maintain, meaning that it can be an ideal staging area for missions to the Moon and beyond.
- By verifying this orbit, CAPSTONE will help reduce risks for future spaceflight, and could also help establish long-term missions like the Gateway space station.
- Apart from NRHO, CAPSTONE will also demonstrate a key software technology— the Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System (CAPS).
- CAPSTONE can directly communicate with NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter to determine its own position in space. This software solution will support NASA’s Artemis missions.
India to host ‘No Money for Terror’ Conference
The Ministry of Home Affairs will be organising the Third Ministerial ‘No Money for Terror’ Conference next week where participants from around 75 countries are expected to attend.
‘No Money for Terror’ Conference
- The conference that was first held In Paris in 2018, followed by Melbourne in 2019.
- It will be held in Delhi after gap of two years due to the travel restrictions imposed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
- India’s efforts: The event conveys India’s determination in its fight against terrorism as well as its support systems for achieving success against it.
- Global cooperation: It also intends to include discussions on technical, legal, regulatory and cooperation aspects of all facets of terrorism financing.
- Compliance mechanism: The involvement of a compliant State often exacerbates terrorism, especially its financing.
- Terrorist financing encompasses the means and methods used by terrorist organizations to finance their activities.
- This money can come from legitimate sources, for example from profits from businesses and charitable organizations.
- But terrorist groups can also get their financing from illegal activities such as trafficking in weapons, drugs or people, or kidnapping for ransom.
- Nations like Pakistan has stated policy of supporting cross-border terrorism in India through global fundings.
Why need consensus over terror-finance prevention?
- Globally, countries have been affected by terrorism and militancy for several years and the pattern of violence differs in most theatres.
- It is largely impacted by tumultuous geo-political environment, coupled with prolonged armed sectarian conflicts.
- Such conflicts often lead to poor governance, political instability, economic deprivation and large ungoverned spaces.
Other mechanisms to curb terror financing: FATF
- FATF is an intergovernmental organization founded in 1989 on the initiative of the G7 to develop policies to combat money laundering.
- It makes recommendations for combating financial crime, reviews members’ policies and procedures, and seeks to increase acceptance of anti-money laundering regulations across the globe.
What hinders the global consensus?
- No definition of terrorism: There is no universal agreement over what constitutes terrorism. This weakens efforts to formulate a concerted global response.
- Non-enforcement: Multilateral action suffers from inadequate compliance and enforcement of existing instruments.
- No global watchdog: Counter-terrorism regime lacks a central global body dedicated to terrorist prevention and response.
- No country if safe if terrorism persists anywhere across the world.
- The world must resolve to make the international financial system entirely hostile to terrorist financing.
- Concerted efforts and a comprehensive approach should be adopted to counter terrorism under the UN auspices on a firm international legal basis.
Importance of Agri exports for India
India’s agriculture exports have grown 16.5% year-on-year in April-September, and look set to surpass the record $50.2 billion achieved in 2021-22 (April-March).
- Interestingly, even commodities whose exports have been subjected to curbs — wheat, rice and sugar have shown significant rise in export.
Key Facts about India’s Exports:
- The government had, on May 13, banned the export of wheat. Yet, according to Commerce Ministry data, wheat exports, at 45.90 lakh tonnes during the April-September period, were nearly twice the 23.76 lakh tonnes for the same period last year.
- On May 24, sugar exports were moved from the “free” to “restricted” list. Also, total exports for the 2021-22 sugar year (October-September) were capped at 100 lt. On September 8, exports of broken rice were prohibited, and a 20% duty slapped on all other non-parboiled non-basmati shipments.
- Despite these measures, non-basmati exports have risen alongside that of basmati rice (from 19.46 to 21.57 lakh tonnes). Sugar exports, likewise, grew 45.5% in value terms to $2.65 billion during April-September.
However, imports surging even more:

- The impressive growth in exports is, however, offset somewhat by imports that have surged even more.
- The surplus in agricultural trade matters because this is one sector, apart from software services, where India has some comparative advantage.
- To put things in perspective, India’s deficit in its overall merchandise trade account (exports minus imports of goods) widened from $76.25 billion in April-September 2021 to $146.55 billion in April-September this year.
- During the same period, the surplus in agriculture trade reduced only a tad, from $7.86 billion to $7.46 billion.
- The above table shows that almost 60% of India’s total Agri imports is accounted for by a single commodity: vegetable oils.
- Their imports were valued at a massive $19 billion in 2021-22, and imports have increased by more than 25% in the first half of this fiscal. Vegetable oils are today the country’s fifth biggest import item after petroleum, electronics, gold, and coal.
- In order to counter it, two major decisions taken by the government last month.
- The first is the raising of the minimum support price of mustard from Rs 5,050 to Rs 5,450 per quintal for the 2022-23 crop season.
- The second decision has been to grant clearance (“environmental release”) for commercial cultivation of genetically modified (GM) hybrid mustard.
- Seed yields from the transgenic mustard DMH-11, bred by Delhi University scientists, are claimed to be 25-30% more than from currently-grown popular varieties.
- Besides, the “barnase-barstar” GM technology is seen as a robust platform, which can be used to develop new mustard hybrids giving higher yields than DMH-11 and with better disease-resistance or oil quality traits.
- A similar approach, aimed at boosting domestic output and yields, may be required in cotton.
- Insect pest-resistant GM Bt technology helped nearly treble India’s cotton production from 140 lakh bales in 2000-01 to 398 lakh bales in 2013-14, and exports to peak at $4.33 billion in 2011-12.
Recent trends in composition of trade:

- The above table shows India’s top agriculture export items. As many as 15 of them individually grossed more than $1 billion in revenue during 2021-22.
- All barring two (cotton and spices) have posted positive growth in the first half of the current fiscal too.
- In cotton, not only have exports collapsed from over $1.1 billion in April-September 2021 to $436 million in April-September 2022, imports have soared from below $300 million to $1.1 billion.
- This has primarily been due to lower domestic production — the 2021-22 crop was estimated at just 307.05 lakh bales (of 170 kg each), as against 353 lakh bales and 365 lakh bales in the preceding two years — forcing mills to import. In the process, India has turned a net cotton importer.
- Equally interesting is spices, where India’s exports in recent times have been powered mainly by chilli, mint products, oils & oleoresins, cumin, turmeric, and ginger.
- On the other hand, in traditional plantation spices such as pepper and cardamom, the country has become as much an importer as an exporter.
- India has been out-priced by Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, and Brazil in pepper, while it has lost market share to Guatemala in cardamom.
- Another traditional export item where India has largely turned an importer is cashew. In 2021-22, the country’s cashew exports were valued at $453.08 million, compared to imports of $1.26 billion.
- Imports have further shot up to $1.4 billion-plus during the first six months of this fiscal alone.
Way Forward:
- Therefore, diversification of export basket of agricultural commodities will lead to rise in export of agricultural commodities which will help in Balance of Payments along with rising the income of farmers.
- Along with it, use of state of art technology such as GM based crops should also be promoted in order to increase the production certain production deficit crops. So that in place of net importer, Indian become net export of those crops.
2 Comments
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