Content:

1. Canadian frostbite 
2. Abject failure

Canadian Frostbite 

Context: Over the past year, the diplomatic crisis between Canada and India has reached new lows, with the war of words, issuing travel adversaries, and the expulsion of diplomats. Recent developments have caused bilateral relations to hit rock bottom with threats of trade sanctions and talks of visa suspensions. 

Relevance: GS2 (International Relations)

Practice question: discuss the ongoing diplomatic crisis between India and Canada and mention its impacts on the Indian diaspora residing in Canada. Suggest some sustainable measures to de-escalate and normalise relations. (250 words)

Canada’s accusations:

• Persons of interest:Canada has named five Indian diplomats, along with an Indian high commissioner, as persons of interest in the killing of Khalistani activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

• RCMP (Canada police report): The RCMP expressed a high level of suspicion towards these diplomats in the killing, along with a criminal network, i.e., the Bishnoi gang.

• Foreign influence: The Canadian government accuses India and its diplomats of intervening in Canada’s internal political affairs.

India’s response:

• Preposterous charges: India has called the murder charges baseless and accused the Canadian government of orchestrating the investigation for political gains for the vote bank of Khalistani separatists.

• Intimidation in the name of free speech: Canada provides a safe space for violent extremists and terrorists to intimidate Indian diplomats and community leaders in the name of free speech.

• Former Indian diplomats opinions: It’s just a Trudeau problem. They accused Trudeau of dragging the Indian High Commissioner into Canada’s vote bank politics for his political gains.

Five eyes view:

• Five Eyes, an intelligence alliance comprising the US, UK, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand, has extended its support to Canada in this diplomatic crisis.

• The US has suggested India and Canada ease the tensions through the method of dialogue while suggesting India take Canada’s charges seriously and cooperate for an investigation.

• The UK has expressed full confidence in the Canadian judicial process.

Path forward for India:

• India should carefully balance defending its diplomats along with maintaining its image in the international forums.

• India must organise an international campaign to ensure accountability from Canada, demanding either concrete proof and evidence or cessation of suspicions towards India and its diplomats. 

Conclusion :

India should deal with a nuanced approach, considering long-term impacts both on its image and its diaspora residing in Canada. Any further “tit for tat” approaches between the two countries will result in serious consequences for people-to-people connections, hence the issue must be handled with great sensitivity.

Abject Failure

Context: The Global Hunger Index 2024 ranks India 105th among 127 countries, categorising India’s hunger level as serious, sparking widespread debates.

 Relevance: GS 2 (Social Justice)

 Practice question: Discuss the state of hunger and malnutrition in India with a focus on the Global Hunger Index Report 2024. Suggest suitable measures to effectively counter it. (250 words)

 Key Themes :

•  Staggering numbers: India’s 200 million undernourished people represent the population of Brazil, the world’s seventh-largest country in terms of population. 14% of the population of India is undernourished, according to numbers by GHI 2024.
•  Data considered: The GHI 2024 takes into account data from the Ministry of Statistics’ sample registration system, which consists of births, deaths, and infant and maternal mortality rates as published by the Ministry of Women and Children.
•  Serious category: India is placed in the serious category but could move to “extremely alarming” if other relevant factors are considered.
•  Systematic failures: The GHI report highlights a systematic failure by the Indian state to address fundamental needs such as adequate food and nutrition, which are essential for harnessing the benefits of demographic dividends.
•  Income inequality: Despite India being considered one of the fastest-growing economies with a growth rate of 6.8% in FY24, its per capita income remains less than a quarter of the global average. This indicates wide income inequality. i.e., India’s per capita income is $2,485 in FY24 compared to the global average of $13,920 in FY22.
•  Doubled food inflation: Between FY22 and FY24, food inflation doubled from 3.8% to 7.5%, disproportionately affecting the poor. The Economic Survey 2023-34 attributes this to extreme weather events and low reservoir levels.
•  Hunger levels and bumper crops: Despite recording one of the highest levels of food production of 332 million metric tonnes undernourished, remains a pressing issue.
•  Failure of safety nets and health care system: This is evident from high rates of child stunting of 35.5% and child wasting rates of 18.7%.

 Way forward:

• Strengthen the public distribution system (PDS) through schemes like “one nation, one ration card.”
• Reduce income inequalities with initiatives like universal basic income.
• Tackling food inflation through resilient agricultural practices.
• Scale up programs like Poshan Abhiyan 2.0 and midday meals to combat child malnutrition.
• Collaboration with international organisations like the World Bank for technical support.
• Promotion of climate-resilient agriculture, involving crop diversification, water conservation, etc. Etc
• Addressing nutrition deficiency through movements like EAT-RIGHT and promotion of millets.

Conclusion :

India should adopt a multifaceted approach to address the root causes of hunger, such as poverty, income inequality and food inflation to achieve sustainable development goal 2, which focuses on food security and nutrition. At the same time, India must also tackle the rising issue of obesity, which is often referred to as a silent pandemic, to prevent future complications.