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1. 9 September 2020: The Hindu Editorial
Analysis
1) Safe session: On monsoon session of Parliament-
GS 2 Parliament and State Legislatures – structure,
functioning, conduct of business, powers &
privileges and issues arising out of these
CONTEXT:
The Parliament session, from September 14, will see many firsts.

2. A NEW NORMAL?
. The Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha will alternate their
sittings so that members can spread over both chambers to ensure
physical distancing necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Even
the visitor galleries will be occupied by the MPs.
. There will be 18 sittings without any weekend break or
holiday. The break, between 1 p.m. and 3 p.m., would be used to
disinfect the chambers.

3. . The presiding officers of both Houses have had trial runs, but
it will be a tough act for them and the MPs — who are used to
huddling together and speaking aloud — to deliberate across two
chambers and keeping a safe distance from one another.
. There will be no Question Hour, though members can get
written answers to written questions.
. The Zero Hour, where any member can raise issues of urgent
national importance, will not be an hour, but only 30 minutes.
. The Opposition has gone quiet on these changes in
parliamentary modalities after some initial objections.
. Recently, the Assemblies of Opposition-ruled States, Kerala,
Rajasthan, Punjab and West Bengal, met and none of them had a
Question Hour.
ACCOUNTABILITY:
. The executive branch has expanded its power globally, in the
wake of the pandemic, and not rarely, using it as a facade
for aggrandisement(increasing power).
. The attenuation(reduction of effect) of
Parliament, overshadowed by a strong executive, has been a
concern in India even before the pandemic.
. In ensuring executive accountability and voicing people’s
concerns, Parliament’s role was found wanting.
. In lawmaking, it was increasingly being railroaded by the
executive. These unhealthy trends appear to have been accelerated
by the pandemic.
. The government must be held accountable by Parliament on
the management of the pandemic, but that is not all.
. There is a long list of issues that requires detailed attention
and deliberation by people’s representatives.
. China’s aggression on the LAC, the challenges on
the economic front, the Centre’s refusal to meet its commitment to
States under the GST regime, the coming election in Bihar in the
midst of the pandemic, the situation in Jammu and Kashmir, and
worsening ties with India’s neighbours.
. The Congress has been combative on these issues while the
government has not been very responsive.
. Regional parties in power appear too overwhelmed by the
pandemic to pay attention to other issues.
. The government has 11 Bills to replace ordinances.

4. . The Bill to replace Taxation and Other Laws (Relaxation of
Certain Provisions) Ordinance, 2020, which will seek to amend the
Income Tax Act to enable 100% deduction to donations made to
the PM CARES Fund, is a controversial one among them.
. The Opposition and the government must work together to
turn the session into an opportunity to share views on all these
questions, and present a united, reassuring front before the
country.
CONCLUSION:
Parliament not only needs more space during a pandemic, but also
more time.
2) Vaccine for all: On COVID-19 vaccine policy-
GS 2 Issues relating to development and management
of Social Sector/Services relating to Health
CONTEXT:
. The race to a vaccine is a relay — at every stage, there are
people passing on the baton, and it’s the government’s
responsibility to grasp it at the last mile.
. Whether or not a vaccine for COVID-19 is around the
corner(near), it is imperative(need) that a vaccine policy is
formulated for India, ensuring parity of access for all.

6. PRIORITISE VACCINATION:
. As several vaccine efforts are progressing at varying paces,
globally, concerns about access to a vaccine in the
future have crept(got) into the narrative.
. WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus
recently spoke of the need to use a vaccine, when it becomes
available, effectively.
. He also indicated the need to prioritise vaccination for some
in the initial stages, while in time, as production increases, people
everywhere should get it.
. In the initial stages, global health leaders have been
advancing the vaccine for essential workers and those at risk
including senior citizens and those with co-morbidities.
. As Dr. Tedros said, “some people in all countries, rather than
all people in some countries”, should have access to the vaccine in
the early phase.
. Even in this initial stage, the government should make the
vaccine available free of cost to those who cannot pay, or at
affordable rates.
. As production kicks off, initial production costs are likely to
be high, even astronomical, and it is the duty of governments to
cushion the cost.
. Once the economies of scale begin to kick in, it is likely that
the prices are driven down and become more affordable.
. Besides being a moral and ethical imperative, it will also
make economic sense to make sure the vaccine is eventually
available to all.
. Leaving gaps in the delivery of the vaccine will only serve to
allow the virus to survive, and continue to wreak(harm) further
damage.
MAMMOTH TASK:
. India has a fairly reliable vaccine delivery system for children,
as part of the universal immunisation programme.
. It may be assumed that the knowledge and wherewithal to
run a full-scale vaccination programme rests with the health
administration — both at the central and the State level.

7. . However, in terms of scope, this is far wider; in fact,
a mammoth(huge) task. All people in the country must
have access to the vaccine, and, if necessary, periodic doses of it.
. Indeed, the mobilisation for this task in India should be
nothing short of heroic, as and when the vaccine is available here.
. Meanwhile, the government must get its act together on
developing a policy specific to the COVID-19 vaccine; from
preparing resources — both material and human — for the
manufacture, storage, distribution and delivery.
. This includes taking sensitive, but firm, decisions guided by
evidence, on who will receive the vaccine, how, when and where.
. Putting down a standard operating protocol for every stage of
the vaccine will serve the government well when
the baton(charge) is finally passed on to it.
CONCLUSION:
India needs a COVID-19 vaccine policy that ensures total coverage
in logical phases.
3) What is in a NAM and India’s alignment-
GS 2 Important International institutions, agencies
and fora, their structure, mandate
CONTEXT:
. India’s External Affairs Minister, said recently
that non-alignment was a concept of relevance in a specific era and
a particular context, though the independence of action enshrined
in it remains a factor of continuity in India’s foreign policy.
. This is about as explicit an assertion as one is likely to get
from our political leadership of an obvious post-Cold War fact: that
non-alignment, as a foreign policy concept, is dead.

8. UNITED BY A CAMPAIGN:
. Non-alignment was a policy fashioned during the Cold
War, to retain an autonomy of policy (not equidistance) between
two politico-military blocs(US and USSR).
. The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) provided a platform for
newly independent developing nations to join together to protect
this autonomy.
. It was a disparate group broadly united around NAM’s
flagship campaigns for de-colonisation, universal nuclear
disarmament and against apartheid(hatred towards black).
. One of the blocs(USSR) was disbanded at the end of the Cold
War.
. De-colonisation was largely complete by then, the apartheid
regime in South Africa was being dismantled(ended) and the
campaign for universal nuclear disarmament was going nowhere.
. Freed from the shackles of the Cold War, the NAM countries
were able to diversify their network of relationships across the
erstwhile east-west divide. Non-alignment lost its relevance, and
NAM its original raison d’être(reason for existence).
. For a few years now, non-alignment has not been projected
by our policymakers as a tenet(principle) of India’s foreign
policy.
. However, we have not yet found a universally accepted
successor as a signature tune for our foreign policy.

9. . Successive formulations have been coined and rejected.
Strategic autonomy was one, which soon acquired a connotation
similar to non-alignment, with an anti-U.S. tint.
. Multi-alignment has not found universal favour, since (as the
External Affairs Minister said elsewhere) it may convey the
impression of opportunism, whereas we seek strategic
convergences.
. Seeking issue-based partnerships or coalitions is a
description that has not stuck.
. “Advancing prosperity and influence” was a description Dr.
Jaishankar settled for, to describe the aspirations that our network
of international partnerships seeks to further.
CHINA FACTOR:
. In the wake of the current stand-off with China, there have
been calls for India’s foreign policy to shed its inhibitions and
make a decisive shift towards the United States, as the only viable
option to counter China.
. The government has been more nuanced in its approach. The
External Affairs Minister clarified that a rejection of
non-alignment does not mean a rush to alignment: India will not
join an alliance system.
. The fact is that ‘alliance’ is as much a Cold War concept as
non-alignment.
. During the Cold War, the glue that held countries of an
alliance together was composed (in varying proportions)
of ideological convergence and an existential military threat.
. With the disintegration of the Union of Soviet Socialist
Republics (USSR) and the Warsaw Pact, this glue dissolved and
the international options of alliance partners widened, just like
those of NAM countries.
. The strategic interests of alliance partners are no longer
congruent.
. This is evident in the Euro-Atlantic alliance.
. U.S. President’s words and deeds have highlighted
divergences within the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and
even widened them, but strains have periodically surfaced even
earlier — over the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, for example, or on
policy towards Russia or West Asia.
. Turkey is constantly exploring the limits of NATO discipline.

10. . Alliances in the Asia-Pacific face a bigger definitional
dilemma. They were originally forged to deter the USSR.
. The threat to the alliance partners today is from an assertive
China, which they are reluctant to define as a
strategic adversary(enemy), because of their economic
engagement with it and the huge military asymmetry.
GEOGRAPHY LINK:
. It is often overlooked that geostrategy derives from both
geography and politics. While politics is dynamic, geography
is immutable(fixed).
. Two major imperatives(requirements) flow from India’s
geography: economic and security interests in the Indo-Pacific
space and the strategic importance of the continental landmass to
its north and west.
. The former has inspired the Act East policy of bilateral and
multilateral engagements in Southeast Asia and East Asia and the
Pacific.
. Shared India-U.S. interests in dealing with the challenge
from China in the maritime domain have been a strategic
underpinning of the bilateral partnership since the early 2000s.
. In the immediate-term, Indian and U.S. perspectives are less
convergent in India’s continental neighbourhood.
. Connectivity and cooperation with Afghanistan and Central
Asia need engagement with Iran and Russia, as well as with the
Russia-China dynamics in the region.
. Russia bestrides(dominates) the Eurasian landmass
bordering India’s near and extended neighbourhood.
. Seemingly paradoxically, a close Russia-China partnership
should move India to broad-base relations with Russia (beyond the
traditional defence and energy pillars).
. A strong stake in relations with India could reinforce Russia’s
reluctance (which still persists) to be a junior partner of China.
. As the U.S. confronts the challenge to its dominance from
China, classical balance of power considerations would dictate a
modicum of accommodation with Russia.
. The political lessons from the current pandemic could
help reawaken that historical memory.
. Equally, the U.S. could acknowledge that India’s
development of trade routes through Iran would also serve

11. its strategic interest of finding routes to Afghanistan and Central
Asia, bypassing Pakistan and Russia, respectively.
CONCLUSION:
. Five years ago, a group of U.S. strategic analysts had
suggested that the U.S. should see ties with India as a joint
venture (not an alliance), in which they could pursue shared
objectives to mutual benefit and accept that differences of
perspectives will have to be addressed.
. This template could have wider applicability for bilateral
relations in today’s world order, which former National Security
Adviser Shivshankar Menon has described as militarily unipolar,
economically multipolar and politically confused.
. COVID-19 may scramble(hurt) the economics and deepen
the confusion further.
. India will acquire a larger global profile next year, when
it commences(starts) a two-year term on the UN Security
Council.
. The strategic choices that it makes in its bilateral
partnerships will be closely watched.
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