Strengthening India-France Ties

PM Modi’s Paris visit is all about adding more strategic blocks to a deep relationship. Continuity of French Government in the form of re-election of Emmanuel Macron can be considered as good news for both EU and India-France ties. In last five years, Macron, who also became the first French president to clinch a re-election in 20 years, has emerged as a leader with a centrist vision for France and instances of keeping global perspective at centre for his decisions. Under Emmanuel Macron, who shares a personal rapport with PM Modi, the bond between both the regionally-important nations has deepened. Both sides have actively engaged and been respectful towards each other’s core interests across many sectors, including defence, maritime security, climate, economy, etc. With France, India is looking towards manufacturing and export of emerging and critical defence technologies without any license regime or any legal encumbrances. Under the ‘Make in India’ policy of PM Modi, India is looking towards France to make Safran aircraft engines and make air independent propulsion submarines to utilize the already existing manufacturing line at the Naval Dockyards in Mumbai.

Developments and situations in the Indo-Pacific region particularly is of much importance for France. France is considered an Indo-Pacific power as it has overseas territories in the region like Mayotte, La Réunion, New Caledonia, and French Polynesia. India’s concern and actions it takes to protect its territorial interests, especially countering the growing Chinese influence in the high waters, is what coincides with France’s vision and concerns too. India also needs France’s support and assistance to ensure the same and focus on better maritime patrolling. Election of Marie Le Pen as French President, would have led to complications, given the far-right politician’s inclination towards a protectionist economy as well as towards China and dismissal of the European Union. All these factors greatly concern India for innumerable factors including, International trade, security, cooperation, global support and territorial integrity.

India has also been trying to finalise its long-pending Free Trade Agreement with EU for quite some time. While both parties finally putting aggressive efforts to achieve the same, election of Marie Le Pen as President of France would have caused direct and indirect implications for India, given Pen’s earlier expressed interest in having a “Frexit”. This could not have been favorable news to India, which sees France as its “entry point” or a gateway to facilitate an intimate connection with Europe. “In security, France is already among India’s foremost partners,” EAM S.Jaishankar had said once adding further that, with the EU, India “now has an enhanced partnership and operational level of access.”

France has also been supporting India’s claim for permanent membership at UNSC and the reforms of the United Nations. France’s support was vital in India’s accession to the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), Wassenaar Arrangement (WA) and Australia Group (AG). France continues to support India’s bid for accession to the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG). India and France have consistently condemned terrorism and have resolved to work together for adoption of the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT) in the UN. The areas of defence and security cooperation, space cooperation and civil nuclear cooperation constitute the principal pillars of the strategic partnership of both countries. India and France also have a robust economic partnership and share a close degree of convergence on a range of regional and global issues also.

Indo-Nordic Developmental Exchanges

Denmark’s PM gave a tour of her residence to PM Modi and accompanied him to the Indian Diaspora event. The visit of PM Narendra Modi to Denmark puts the spotlight back on the Nordic countries, which are often ranked as the happiest countries topping the Human Development Indices (HDI). Nordic countries include Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway and Iceland. In the recent happiness race, Finland stood at the top for the fifth year in a row, closely followed by Denmark. This makes it interesting to know as to what pedestals them as the happiest countries globally and in what way both sides (India & Nordic) can expand their collaboration and mutually benefit from that.

PM Modi in his departure statement ahead of this Europe visit had said, “Nordic countries are important partners for India in sustainability, renewable energy, digitisation and innovation. The visit will help in expanding our multifaceted cooperation with the Nordic region.” The first India-Nordic Summit had taken place in 2018, which provided a perfect platform to come together and realise the full potential of the partnership. Now, the second India-Nordic Summit with Prime Ministers of Denmark, Iceland, Finland, Sweden and Norway acquires greater importance, where India discusses a whole host of cooperation. The agenda of the summit includes subjects like post-pandemic economic recovery, climate change, sustainability, digitization, technology, renewable energy, global security scenario and India-Nordic cooperation in the Arctic region.

In the broader picture, mutual economic interests have been the primary driver of the relations between India and Nordic countries where both have put ‘ease of doing business’ at the core of developmental strategy. In fact, in the last few years India has opened up more ground for investment within the nation and abroad. Of the five Nordic countries, four are among the top 20 trading partners of India in Europe – Sweden at 9th, Finland 10th, Denmark 12th and Norway at 14th rank.

Many of the Nordic companies have invested in India in various sectors. Sweden & Finland have invested substantially in India. Similarly, 200 Danish companies and around 100 Norwegian companies are engaged in India either through joint ventures or through wholly owned subsidiaries. Over the last few decades, Indian investment in Nordic countries has also increased with over 70 big Indian companies having their presence in Nordic region. However, there is still tremendous scope for expanding economic ties. Both sides also share democratic values and support for the multilateral rules-based world order. India presents an ideal opportunity for these countries because of its large market and the fastest growing economy.

Rejuvenating India EU ties amidst turmoil

From political and economic tensions in Sri Lanka to the Ukraine-Russia conflict, the world’s political landscape seems grim and rickety right now. As PM Narendra Modi begins his three-day visit to Europe with a spirit high on multilateralism, renewed relations with the European Continent may allow India to explore plurilateral arrangements to generate more global opportunities and solutions in trade, connectivity and new technologies.

The visit of PM Modi to Europe also could not have been timed better from the view point of the old economies of Europe; and India, an emerging power in a multipolar world, spearheading global development. The EU has been able to stabilise and integrate Europe to a good extent. The continent, a group of old economies with same socioeconomic fabric, however has a large part of population that suffers with depressive disorders with higher prevalences in women, the middle-aged, less privileged groups, and those experiencing social adversity. Prevalence rates are much higher in more economically developed nations as there’s nothing much to build and innovate. India which has become severely vocal to promote Yoga, Ayurveda, and Spiritualism as key to rejuvenation of body and mind, promises unprecedented change to the world. With powerful initiatives like Make In India, endorsement of Indian Tourism and exploration of niche tourism, introduction of PLI scheme in various sectors, endorsement of UPI in foreign countries, efforts to increase FDI, new FTA & Trade strategies, etc. India has been trying to convey to the world its readiness for cultural exchange, better economic partnership, and its newfound openness to engage with communities across the globe for mutual development. As diversities change rapidly across the world, a new perspective is needed to manage religious and cultural differences with innovation and soft power diplomacy.

Similarly, India also seems to have realised that a traditional approach to Europe is not appropriate amid the changing World order. Approaching the European continent through its relations with individual countries instead of EU may not strengthen the relations as desired. India has recognised that it the European collective which is its largest trade, key technological and investment partner and can be increasingly important ally to count upon in times of crisis related to Indian Ocean and the wider Middle East. Hence, an FTA with EU, with aggressive efforts being put from both sides to reach to an agreement, would result in super strengthened ties.

Acknowledging and taking on to the needs of changing paradigm, both Europe and India have been engaging in rolling out new initiatives and holding discussions around subjects of economic & technological relevance. The EU is on the front foot in designing global rules in field like protection of personal data; setting up human-centric standards for the use of AI, actively acting on its take on taxation in a digital world. EU has given its nod to new standards on industrial subsidies, largely seeking a renewal within WTO and pinning China. Majority of the above mentioned factors naturally fall in line with the vision of New India, with security of high waters, protection of Indo-Pacific region, diplomatic support at International Forums and greater trade and defence engagement being areas of utmost priority and potentials.

Delivery and Language of Courtrooms

One can argue that judicial communication is an area needing urgent reforms, both in terms of timely delivery of justice as well as delivery in common person’s language. PM Modi echoes the mood when he says, “A large population finds it difficult to understand the judicial process and rulings of the court. There is a need to simplify this and make it accessible. We just encourage the use of local languages in courts. This will ensure that the common man has faith in the judiciary and can feel part of the system.” He expressed these at the inauguration of the 11th Joint Conference of Chief Ministers and Chief Justices of High Courts, highlighting yet another need of the hour to make judiciary more inclusive and explicit.

Various regions have demanded from time to time to allow the use of local language in the proceedings before the high courts as provided under Article 348 of the Constitution. The matter has long been a matter of debate too. Certain barriers have prevented local language from being adopted for the proceedings before the high courts. Some of the prominent ones, as highlighted by CJI Ramana, include the fact that sometimes some of the judges are not familiar with the local language & that the Chief Justice are always from outside. However, the government is trying to find solutions to many of such outstanding issues through technology. “I am sure with the innovation in science and technology, the advancement such as Artificial Intelligence, some of the issues associated with the introduction of languages in the high courts may be solved in the near future,” says CJI Ramana.

While lower courts function in local languages and English, the High Courts and Supreme Court use English in their proceedings. The move of adoption of local languages in court would help the common man relate to the judiciary like never before. The Prime Minister also parallelly underlined yet another pressing issue i.e. the need of endorsing medical and technical education in mother-tongue that can help the country have more and more engineers and doctors. “I am glad the Chief Justice of India mentioned having High Courts using local languages. It will take a long time for that, but it will improve access to justice. Why can’t medical and technical education be done in the mother tongue? Some states are already doing it,” PM Modi said while also conveying to and assuring people that the government is even working towards simplifying laws passed in Parliament for the common man to understand them. “Along with the actual legislation, if a simplified version is also passed in Parliament for the common man to understand, then he will not have to go to the court for interpretation of the law. The government is studying this issue,” he said.

The government seems to have been looking towards solution that can improve the judicial system and upgrade the judicial infrastructures. Efforts are being seen to fill up vacancies in courts. Further, use of technology in the judicial system is now an essential part of the Digital India mission. AI, machine learning, natural language processing, digital sharing and record-keeping, etc. are some of the solutions that are already being explored and examined. “To explore the use of AI in judicial domain, the Supreme Court of India has constituted Artificial Intelligence Committee which has mainly identified application of AI technology in Translation of judicial documents; Legal research assistance and Process automation,” Law Minister Kiren Rijiju stated recently in Parliament conveying about implementation of phase two of the eCourts projects of the government. Another stepping stone towards this new-age judicial ecosystem was set with the launch of the AI-driven research portal SUPACE (Supreme Court Portal for Assistance in Courts Efficiency) last year. The portal deals with large chunks of case data through machine-learning

“How do we make our judicial system so capable that it can fulfill the aspirations of India of 2047, … these questions should be our priority today,” said PM Modi invoking a vision for the future of the judiciary and urging the Judges and Chief Ministers to set the vision for the nation in 2047, when India would celebrate 100 years of independence. As the New India begins to dawn and shape up, it is bringing a wave of change in every domain that helps run the country, including the Indian Judiciary. The judiciary system is being made more relevant, tech-ready, transparent and accessible for all. From working on deciding upon as to what all court-related proceedings and matters can be made public to implementation of e-courts project in mission mode, efforts are seen to make Indian Judiciary trusting and impactful for New India.

Beginning of End of Co-operation at ISS

To build something delicate takes ages, and destruction can be done in a smack. Something very special to the world is about to perish. International Space Station(ISS), setup as one unit by all space powers in the world for orbital research has remained a rare domain of cooperation amidst hostile relationship between USA and Russia. Russian state media reported Roscosmos General Director Dmitry Rogozin as saying in an interview. “I can say this only, in accordance with our obligations, we’ll inform our partners about the end of our work on the ISS with a year’s notice….The decision has been taken already, we’re not obliged to talk about it publicly.” He had threatened earlier this month to end Russia’s mission unless the U.S., European Union and Canada lifted sanctions against enterprises involved in the Russian space industry.
ISS is largest man-made structure in space and is one of the most complex scientific and engineering projects. Russia had been a crucial player since the inception and making the ISS a success, with other space agencies relying on advanced Russian modular space station construction technology to build ISS. A total of 11 astronauts are presently inhibiting ISS – 6 Americans, 3 Russians, an Italian and a German – the diversity symbolising joint space exploration. Sanctions causing Russia’s international isolation since Ukraine crisis in February has marked the demise of this symbol.

Russia says that withdrawal from ISS will be complete 2025 and it will build and manage its own floating laboratory by 2030. NASA on the other hand, plans to operate ISS through 2030. Instead of Russian Soyuz spacecraft to transport astronauts, the U.S. space agency is now relying more on private space flights. For example, Elon Musk’s SpaceX launched the four astronauts for NASA and the European Space Agency last Wednesday.

The safety of the ISS remains a real concern amidst these promises of independent setups. Russia controls critical aspects of the space station’s propulsion control systems which provided boosts to the ISS at regular intervals. Without these regular boosts the ISS would very slowly fall toward the atmosphere, where it would mostly burn up. Yet, there is a high chance that some components may survive and fall on earth surface and even cause damage to lives, mostly in the equator area.

Ongoing Russia-Ukrain conflict continues to spiral into chaos causing unprecedented damage to sense of global village, something which entire globe had started envisioning. While technology keeps bringing humans together in space and time, the attitudinal shift and lack of communication abilities to resolve conflict have escalated. Digital natives surely need to embrace each other to resolve problems which may have resulted due to kicking the can down the road attitude. Rise of nationalisms, terrorism, lack of International co-operation, global warming are few such issues which require immediate attention.