Leveraging educational institutions for the entrepreneurial spirit

Greater collaboration between universities and industry has long been in discussion in India. In the recently concluded Akhil Bharatiya Shiksha Samagam in Varanasi, it was discussed at length, stressing that to move towards a knowledge-based superpower, making universities multidisciplinary and also a centre of excellence, it is essential to provide space to industries in campus to establish research and development centres, which invariably pave way for start-ups and greater collaborations. Under the NEP, universities would be encouraged to establish their ventures, making education imparted in universities being based majorly on application and practical experience. This process would for sure make the students more employable, as their skills and knowledge would be more relevant to the emerging job prospects and opportunities. Indian industry has long been complaining about the students being bereft of practical aspect of the things, hence rendered unemployable.

Several top companies like Google, Facebook, Bose, Qualcomm and many others have borne out of the university campuses. Moreover, the tech companies that begin in university campuses also leverage years of research and bright talents, who then spur a culture and series of innovations. However, a common complaint in Indian context is that here universities don’t promote such creativity, innovation and inventiveness, while they do excel when it comes to academic rigour. It’s really a pity that in absence of conducive ambience to follow a dream of having a venture of their home, many bright students coming out of IITs and IIMs like institutions end up working for MNCs for plush paying jobs. Otherwise, they could be helped sufficiently to become entrepreneurs and innovators and create jobs and wealth for themselves and the country. But now the scene appears to be changing, especially with the advent of the New Education Policy (NEP) in place, the pace of collaborations is expected to gain momentum.

In recent years, driven by the pragmatic approach of the government at the Centre, several universities have included innovation in the curriculum and entrepreneurship being taught in commerce, management and engineering courses. Now several colleges and universities have their entrepreneurship cells also. To power this nascent trend of entrepreneurship in the country, the Government of India launched the Atal Innovation Centres, which provide managed workspace for the startups to operate. A few top institutions like the Indian Institute of Science, a few IITs and Central Food Technological Research and Institute among others have their dedicated IP licensing centres to make their R&D available for the market.

Moreover, the government has sanctioned establishment of research parks in IITs in Madras, Bombay, Kharagpur, Kanpur, Delhi, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Gandhinagar and IISc Bangalore to augment the research ecosystem in the country to enable the students to pursue their R&D interests in India, through innovative research. Incubation centres (ICs) at educational institutions seek to nurture technology and knowledge based ventures through their start-up phase by providing the necessary support to help entrepreneurs survive in the competitive market and reach a stage where they can scale-up their ventures further. Various schemes such as Uchchatar Avishkar Yojana (UAY), Impacting Research Innovation and Technology (IMPRINT), Impactful Policy Research in Social Science (IMPRESS), Scheme for Trans-Disciplinary Research for India’s Developing Economy (STRIDE), Scheme for promotion of Research and Academic Collaboration (SPARC), National Initiative for Design Innovation (NIDI), Scheme for Transformational and Advanced Research in Sciences (STARS) etc. are also being implemented by the Ministry of Education for promotion of research ecosystem of country’s higher education institutes. The government also implements Global Initiative for Academic Network (GIAN) which seeks to tap the talent pool of scientists and entrepreneurs from abroad, including those of Indian origin to augment the country’s existing academic resources. In this way, leveraging educational institutions for the entrepreneurial efforts can prove to be a win-win situation for both Industry and universities.

Ideas to transform Educational Landscape through NEP

Ethos of education in India has always been of ‘Aparoksh Anubhuti’, i.e. that of direct experience. Each philosophy of this land comes along with set of prescribed practices to fetch an individual to the awareness level of unity of all. This was not just for spiritual aspects but even for material growth and achievements through education. “The era of forcing anything on youth without understanding them, has long gone and flexibility in education is the key to turn India into a vibrant knowledge society,” said PM Narendra Modi in inaugural address of a Samagam in Varanasi. With the aim to extract nectar for transforming education by focusing on the various facets of ‘New Eduation Policy 2020’, a three day educational maha kumbh was organized in Varanasi. The aim of the ‘Akhil Bhartiya Shiksha Samagam’ as it had been named, was to come out with a firm resolve to work collectively to transform the country into an equitable and vibrant knowledge society, which India significantly needs at this juncture. In this sense, this event proved to be a huge success, where freewheeling ideas were witnessed.

The concept of learning and educational impartations form an integral part of the rich history of the Indian subcontinent. From the ancient most type of schools in the form of ‘Gurukuls’, to ‘Ashram Vidya’, to Buddhist education centres, madrassas, Universities like Nalanda, Takshashila Vikramshila and to introduction of modern education during the colonial rule, Indian land has witnessed a rich mix of learning starting from spirituality, followed by knowledge, astronomy, science, logical discoveries, skills, various Arts, theology, and finally modern education. The whole historic spectrum showcases how more than the ‘Theory’ aspects, the Indian civilisation has dominantly exhausted their beliefs into the importance of practical and creative learning. NEP 2020 brings back that same culture in the most modern and tech-era essence.

It is rather good fortune for India that ‘Entrepreneurship’ which fuels innovation, multi-level employment opportunities and growth (economic, social, personal), is booming in its landscapes. NEP 2020 is entirely based on the new factors have brought in a sense of trust among those forming the education vertical. These include collaborations of various Indian educational institutions with entities within and outside India, industry interface for research and consultancy, increased Public – Private partnership and investment in the education field, entrepreneurship and skill formation, shifting to digital means and smart learning, greater practical exposure being made available, multi-dimensional pedagogy as a creative art, greater acceptance for foundation and vocational courses, and skill development. Rise of Ed-Tech and Experiential Learning provide good exposure for scholars to expand more on their intellectual finesse.

It’s good to see that a number of seminars are being organized by the concerned educational authorities in universities and other places across the country to give a realistic and relevant shape to NEP by inviting brainstorming ideas. PM Modi himself has attended more than 25 seminars to talk about the implementation of the NEP. Now we can expect to emerge as a big destination for global education and be able to take advantage of the demographic dividend. We must bring in an education system that is well rooted in Indian values, thoughts and sense of service, which we have always cherished and nourished. In this case NEP2020 gives us the direction and path for also decolonizing our education and creating pride in our languages, culture, knowledge and traditions.

Agniveers to serve twin engines of Government and Corporates.

Agnipath – the scheme in news since some time is now proving to be very effective in turning into ground reality. It is being welcomed warmly by all and sundry. All the three branches of Indian Armed Forces seem to be fully geared up, carrying out the concerned processes and conducting recruitment rallies at different locations of the country. The enthusiasm among the youth for the Agnipath scheme is worth seeing first hand and it has completely cleared up the concocted air around the plan by some vested interests. It also amply exhibits how nefarious and politically motivated the ideas may be behind the ugly uproar against a great reformative initiative.

Under the Agnipath recruitment scheme, the Indian Army has issued a recruiting notice to fill 40,000 vacancies of Agniveers. Similarly, Indian Navy has released the recruitment notification for the Indian Navy Agniveers for 2800 posts. And as per the information given by the Indian Air Force, the just ended form filing process of the Air Force, has attracted 7,49,899 applications, compared to 6,31,528 applications in the past, which was the highest in any recruitment cycle.

The most fulfilling aspect of this process is the deluge of offers for the youth to be coming out of Armed Forces after four years of service to the nation. As per government directives, they would be offered employment in the Ministry of Defence, Indian Coast Guard and high profile public sector undertakings like HAL, BEL and BEML among others. The central home ministry announced in the very beginning that a 10% reservation would be given to the Agniveers in CAPF and Assam Rifles too. A number of state governments like Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana and others expressed preferences for recruitment of Agniveers in state police forces also.

Similarly, scores of companies are planning to roll out special opportunities for the Agniveers. Anand Mahindra, Chairman of the Mahindra and Mahindra Group, Sanjeev Bikchandani, the co-founder of Info Edge, which is the parent company of Naukri.com, Harsh Goenka, the Chairman of RPG Group, Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran, Biocon head Honcho Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, the Joint Managing Director of Apollo Hospitals, Sangita Reddy, TVS Motor company managing director Sudarshan Venu are most prominent faces among them. Several leading companies including Infosys, Mahindra, IBM and others already have special provisions for hiring military veterans.

Moreover, the Directorate of Indian Army Veterans (DIAV) helps the retired personnel to smoothly transition to civilian jobs and life. The Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojna (PMKVY) through the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) has training programme in place for Agniveers in sectors like automotive, agriculture, construction, healthcare, tourism, telecom, electronics, retail and logistics. The central government has had a number of meetings with several entities like telecom and other companies and organisations so as to train the Agniveers during the service years, besides having a well settled academic plan and professional curriculums.

It is no surprise that would be Agniveers are ecpected to be well-trained, disciplined, motivated, capable with high physical and mental prowess, having a flair for problem solving, young and spirited with a lot of potential to serve the nation in both the engines of growth and development, namely the Governemnt sector and the corporate world. By the time, these thousands of Agniveers would come out of the armed forces, many more corporate and government entities are expected to come up with a lot more special offers for them.

State of Sustainable Development Goals amidst Pandemic

The latest SDGs related United Nations’ report has painted a grim picture of how things are taking shape globally, forcing crores of people into extreme poverty caused by Covid-19 pandemic. Assessing the progress of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the UN has said that the pandemic has pushed 9.3 crore more people worldwide into extreme poverty in just 2020. A good number of more people might have been pressed into the same situation in 2021 and during the first half of 2022 also, however their figures are not available. The problems have been compounded because of the climate crisis and increased number of geo-political conflicts including the one between Russia and Ukraine, creating serious supply chain crisis and putting all the 17 sustainable development goals of 2030 set by the UN into jeopardy.

According to the UN report, geo-political conflicts have forcibly displaced over 10 crore people as of May 2022. The skyrocketing prices of food, fuel, fertilizers and several other essential items, caused by the international conflicts, have further aggravated the situations, cutting the projected global economic growth for 2022 by 0.9%. It becomes a priority for developing states across the globe to begin thinking of strategic welfare programs to support their bottom lot, find innovative solutions to strengthen the existing logistics structure within their economies and become more vigilant on financial matters and spending.

Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) is one such welfare programme launched to alleviate the pain and sufferings caused by Covid-19 pandemic and to feed the country’s poorest citizens by providing grains through the PDS system. The government has spent Rs. 2.60 lakh crore so far and another Rs. 80,000 crore will be spent over the coming months till September 2022. According to a report by the dept. of Food and Public Distribution, the initiative stands out as the largest food assistance program anywhere in the world during the pandemic in terms of the number of people covered, which is more than 10% of the world population. Along with food assurance, financial benefits and healthcare expenditure are also being taken care of by the government, and continuous efforts are leading to positive results as far as poverty-reduction is concerned. Due to many inter-connected new steps & initiatives, India has seen a sharp decline in extreme poverty in recent years, prompting even the top multilateral organizations like World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) appreciating India’s efforts towards reducing extreme poverty. A World Bank working paper says that extreme poverty fell by 12.3% points to 10.2% in 2019, from 22.5% in 2011.

Health, hygiene and mental health, especially in the post-COVID world, have become imperative to take care of for the entire globe. Deaths from Tuberculosis and malaria have increased. The global prevalence of depression and anxiety has increased by around 25% in 2020 with women and young people being the most affected ones. The burgeoning crisis has also caused an increase in dropouts and it is expected that around 2.4 crore students from pre-primary standard to university level, may not be able to return to their educational institutions because of these crisis and conflicts.

Hence, setting the world on a new trajectory appears much more essential than ever before. Governments across the globe must take the necessary measure to mitigate the situation by taking the UN report seriously and take the required measures to achieve 2030 SDGs targets because the worsening situations are threatening human survival. The report is also a reality check on the devastating impacts of the multiple crisis on the lives and livelihood of crores of people with equally focusing on the solution part.

Caution! China – US Space competition not to be ignored

Few years back, the entire world experienced the tremors of the bad impacts of the US-China trade tussle. This was followed by COVID-19 Pandemic and then the Ukraine-Russia Crisis. These instances are clear indication that any deviation from the Path of ‘Sustainability, growth and Peace’ is going to lead the world towards damage and disruption. The 21st century World order thus has some very serious lessons to impart to the mankind and that is understanding the reality, potential and practicality of the changing times and keeping focus on maintaining a multi-polar world order.

This makes keeping a watch on China highly imperative. When China says it will beat America in ‘space race’ also with its scientific adventures, many may disbelieve terming it a bombastic statement of sort, however Dragon has often taken the world aback by doing something which no one had earlier anticipated. Getting the facts straight, China- presently the second biggest economy of the world, plans to fly to the Mars in late 2028 to collect rock samples and then delivering them back to the earth by 2031, which is two years ahead of NASA and the European Space Agency, which jointly have planned on a multi-year mission for the red planet. It sufficiently reflects how US-China rivalry appears to be cranking up in space missions also, where Dragon now appears to be romping ahead.

Besides, it is also important to take in note China’s continuous thrust on tech-based undertakings which it may very likely be using in its economic, strategic, and even geopolitical expansion. China launched the world’s first AI-operated crewless ‘mother ship’. This unmanned carrier is capable of launching dozens of drones. The ship named ‘Zhu Hai Yun,’ has been described as epoch making as the world’s first artificial intelligence driven vessel navigates autonomously. Though, China has claimed that the ship would collect relevant data and contribute to disaster mitigation and environmental monitoring only, apprehensions are that the drone mothership could also be used to gather intelligence inputs in the contested zones for military purpose. This must not go unnoticed in a world that often irks on the growing military assertiveness of China around and beyond its territory. The disputes regarding its growing influence in the South China Sea, Tibetan territory, Doklam, Indian Ocean, Siachen, Senkaku Islands etc.

As suggested by the top strategic masters, China’s scientific ventures could be a precursor to a greater and stealthier military plan as information collection systems often have multiple use applications, helping in various ways including enhancing China’s military capabilities through surveillance and data collections. Being the world’s biggest shipbuilder, China already has ambitions to be a maritime super power, which it has reflected not vaguely on many occasions. China’s economic prowess does help it to invest considerable resources into various unmanned platforms like drones and autonomous vehicles with an objective to strengthen its navy. This puts other world powers like US, some within the EU, Japan, etc. to ramp up intelligence, defence capabilities, technology, strategic cooperation, and strong economic cover.

Besides, Pentagon is lagging behind in a new technology called ‘hypersonic weapon’ that China has demonstrated in a space launch and Russia has already used it during its ongoing conflict with Ukraine. The Pentagon has accepted that nation’s first operational hypersonic weapon is late by a year under the new schedule. This weapon is very important as it is very hard to track and destroy it, as it flies five times the speed of sound and can also be maneuvered as per the need of the moment. America’s Lockheed missile has been reported to have failed three consecutive booster motor tests last year, forcing the first test of the entire missile shifting to the end of this year.

Moreover, US and China have perennially been fighting geopolitically, ideologically and economically for decades, however, this new dimension, which is space, is something that the United States has always dominated, but the way things appear to be going on with both countries, China may march ahead its top rival as is also the case in economic competence. This needs to be taken very seriously for nations at individual level as well as on multilateral platforms when consider economic and diplomatic ties.

Crusader of Revolutionary Changes in Post Independence India

The death anniversary of Babu Jagjivan Ram demands a deep dive into life and times of the ‘Messiah of Dalits’, who truly symbolizes the dawn of an era of assertion, equality, empowerment and positive changes for the poor and downtrodden section of the society. Popularly known as Babuji, he was a crusader of social justice, a champion of the core issues confronting the depressed classes, an outstanding parliamentarian and a true democrat, who fought for social justice all through his life without bombastically claiming for all this.

On the event of him leaving Congress in Feb 1977 because of his failure to pursue Prime Minister to remove Emergency Measures, Outlook India wrote, “This dramatic gesture demoralised Mrs. Gandhi and boosted Opposition leaders, still recovering from 19 months in prison. It electrified the country into ousting the Congress from the throne of New Delhi for the first time since Independence.”

Right from the onset of his political career in 1936, Jagjivan Babu’s unflinching commitment to the developments of the country endeared him to all, paving way for a very long parliamentary and ministerial inning in successive governments spanning over half a century. He contributed immensely to the nation building process holding different portfolios at the Centre.

As India’s first Labour Minister, he brought in landmark changes in the labour laws like the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, the Minimum Wages Act, 1948, the Indian Trade Union (Amendment) Act, 1960, the Payment of Bonus Act, 1965, the Employees State Insurance Act, 1948 and the Provident Fund Act, 1952.

As an agriculture minister he was one of the pioneers of the Green Revolution, which resulted in a great increase in production of food grains, taking the country on the path of self-sufficiency and tide over the serious food crisis prevailing during that period. He also organized the much talked about public distribution system (PDS) to ensure that the food is made available to the masses at a reasonable price.

Whereas it was under his bold and inspiring leadership as defence minister, that India trounced Pakistan in 1971 war, galvanizing the entire nation and the Armed Forces to deal with this mammoth crisis.

And as a Transport Minister, he nationalized the private airlines and laid down the foundation of civil aviation revolution in the country, which later resulted in the genesis of Air India and Indian Airlines.

Similarly, as a railway minister, he modernized the lifeline of the country and took innumerable welfare measures for its employees also.

When in communication ministry, he spread postal facilities to the remote villages of the country.

Jagjivan Ram was a towering political personality, a crusader of social justice, an exceptionally gifted orator and a true democrate, who holds a world record of being a parliamentarian uninterrupted for a record 50 years between 1936 and 1986, besides being a member of the Constituent Assembly, which framed the constitution.

Widely called as the ‘Messiah of Dalits’, Babu Jagjivan Ram was in fact a ‘Crusader of revolutionary changes’, who helped transform the country. He might have missed the race for the Prime Ministership on several occasions owing to several political and social reasons, however, with his vast understanding of Indian social and political dynamics and issues, he remained very relevant in Indian politics till his last. His social-political views still hold relevance, especially for the nagging issues which need to be addressed with utmost precision.

Menace of Plastic Waste

The whole world, including plant and animal species, is trying to survive the health extremities in one form or the other, mostly being caused due to bad and unfit environment. Plastic menace is certainly one of the greatest environmental challenges of the 21st century. Tiny plastic particles are swirling around the oceans, ending up in landfills, and are responsible for harmful imprints on the environment, and perhaps human, animals and plants health. If facts are to be presented, there are about 8.3 billion tons of plastic in the world – some 6.3 billion tonnes of that in the trash! This horrifying knowledge should naturally lead the world to think of solutions and begin implementation right away.

With the Plastic Waste Management Amendment Rules, 2021 coming into existence, the scourge of plastic particles spread from plains to the mountains to the ocean trenches, can be expected to be controlled in the days to come. If researches are to be believed the average person in modern society breathes in and drinks hundreds of very tiny particles of plastic every day, which causes a number of deadly diseases like cancer, birth defects, brain damage and others. Plastics have even blighted animals and bio-diversity. We may easily see scores of cows and other animals eating plastic items out of the open garbage. Similar is the case with the water bodies, where fish, turtles and other marine animals mistake plastic for food, which threatens our lives also as we eat many of these things. Moreover, when plastic items remain in the environment for long, they turn into microplastics, first entering our food sources and then our body. Besides, submicroscopic particles of broken-down plastic float in the air and can easily be inhaled. These micro-particles can pass from the digestive system of our body into the bloodstream and spread throughout our body, including the blood-brain barrier.

Over the past decades, plastic items have replaced the natural materials earlier used in manufacturing paper, glass, cotton and other things. The almost ubiquitous use of plastic led to extreme plastic pollution, which is not just an environmental issue but has a lot of grave repercussions for humanity.

Single-use plastic is intended to be used only once before being disposed of or recycled, accounting for almost one-third of all plastic produced globally with 98% manufactured from fossil fuels. Now single-use plastic has been banned completely in India and any kind of flouting it like – manufacturing, import, stocking, sale, distribution and use of the items invites punishment under the Environment Protection Act 1986, which permits jail of up to five years or a penalty of up to Rs 1 lakh, or both.

Worried by the declining environment and its grave results being reflected in rising temperature, governments across the globe have taken remedial measures in recent years. 124 countries including India, signed a resolution brought in by the United Nations Environment Assembly to draw up an agreement, which will make it legally binding for the signatories to address the full life of plastics from production to disposal to end its pollution. Bangladesh became the first country to ban thin plastic bags. Now more than 68 countries have plastic bag bans in place.

Though, it’s a fact that today preparing modern electronic, medical and other devices are impossible without plastic, as it reduces weight, transportation and other logistical costs, for sustainable development and continuity of life and nature, phasing out plastic uses is essential.

RRR-RRR for Circular Economy

Ever since, the United Nations General Assembly set the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015 and intended to achieve them by 2030, the efforts toward a circular economy both in totality and in individual sector and country, has caught momentum. The Sustainable Development Goals are a collection of 17 interlinked global goals designed to be a blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all by 2030.

In circular economy, 6Rs – reduce, reuse, recycle, recover, redesign and remanufacture are followed. In this way this concept strives to minimize the consumption of natural resources by reusing waste back into the production cycle to produce new products and uses, instead of wasting such materials. In such an economy, all forms of waste return to the economy and are used more efficiently and repeatedly.

Inspired by the UN’s commitment, various national and international agencies are making good headway towards achieving the goals of the circular economy. For example, UNCTAD’s work on the circular economy started in 2015 itself like activities on tackling fossil fuel. Multilateral organizations encourage discussions and activities around this concept by seeking to bring value out of the waste. They also promote collaborative economic activities, innovative business models, consumer awareness and intended behavioural shifts.

A circular economy also entails a market that gives incentives to reusing products, rather than scrapping them, which provides a way to not only protect the environment, but also use natural resources more judiciously, develop new sectors & new capabilities with newer technologies and create jobs. With 45% of global greenhouse gas emitting from manufacturing cars, clothes, food and other products being used daily, the circular economy has huge potential to reduce greenhouse emissions and mitigate the climate crisis, which is fast engulfing the globe and causing severe food crisis in over 20 countries.

India is also working vigorously on this concept with an estimation that its policy could bring in annual benefits of 40 lakh crores in 2050, besides reducing the greenhouse emission by 44% along with significant reduction in congestion and pollution, which would significantly contribute to health and economic benefits also. The Centre is actively formulating policies and promoting projects that are leveraging advanced IT and OT solutions to drive the country towards a circular economy system in critical areas like electricity from recyclable resources, waste management and others. Majority of the countries across the globe are also working on this model of economic development. For example, UAE has very recently approved 22 policies aimed to accelerate the country’s transition towards a circular economy.

Owing to devastating consequences of climate change, the concept of sustainable development has gained much traction among governments, policymakers, economists, environmentalists and business people in recent years. The circular economy has borne out of this concept only, which refers to a model of production and consumption and involves sharing, leasing, reusing, repairing, refurbishing and recycling existing materials and products as long as they are possible. By raising the life cycle of products, this economic concept implies reducing waste to a minimum, thereby protecting the fast degrading environment. This concept does have rich prospects of creating wealth worth trillions of dollars besides generating jobs for millions. According to the Global Commission on Economy and Climate, adopting circular economy principles could deliver 26 trillion dollar in economic benefits by 2030.

India, Indian Ocean and Blue Revolution

India’s role in the Indian Ocean Region is now increasingly been seen as that of a protector internationally. As India looks to counter growing Chinese influence, the urgency of completing construction of new aircraft carriers and attack submarines, modernizing India’s naval assets, and improving its maritime domain awareness capabilities occupy center stage. India recently launched its ambitious First manned ocean Mission ‘Samudrayan’, for which, a deep-submergence vehicle called Matsya 6000 is being indigenously developed in the country. With the launch of this Unique Ocean Mission, India joins the elite club of nations such as the USA, Russia, Japan, France, and China to have such underwater vehicles for carrying out subsea activities. Not only has this opened a new chapter for India to explore ocean resources for drinking water, clean energy, but it has also marked India as one of the leading crusaders of Blue economy.

In 2015, India had initiated the very ambitious Sagarmala project, which the Cabinet approved to promote port-led development in India. The project, which aims to harness economic potentiial out of the country’s 7500 km long coastline, had been rolled out for boosting infrastructure for transporting goods to and from ports quickly, efficiently, and cost-effectively. Establishing a robust maritime infrastructure and strong maritime strategy requires massive integration of national inland waterways, road and railway corridors, creation of special economic zones, well-planned industrial and logistics park, dedicated freight corridors project, etc. all of which are either at prep stage or already functioning in the country. Announcement of Gati Shakti also forms a major part of this full scale integration. Various other efforts in this direction in last 7-8 years include the agreement on maritime shipping and passenger & cruise shipping with neighbouring Bangladesh, pact with Sri Lanka on a maritime rescue centre, MoU with Spain on Cooperation in Port matters, with UAE on Institutional Cooperation on Maritime Transport, and various other maritime-related agreements with Netherlands, South Korea, Austria, etc. Re-Drawal of the High Risk Area in the Indian Ocean was a major gain for India on Global Maritime Stage in 2015, when the International bodies had agreed to India’s efforts to push back the High Risk Area (HRA) from 78 degrees East longitude to the 65 degrees East longitude.

India has abundant natural resources in the form it 7516 km long and rich coastline, a strategic location just above the Indian Ocean, Lakshwadweep and Andaman & Nicobar Islands as Union Territories further into the high waters, all providing it with unprecedented opportunities to use all these resources to take its economic growth to new highs and simultaneously become an influential stakeholder in the Indian Ocean region (IOR). When the NDA government assumed power in 2014, enhancing maritime power and infrastructure was one of the most urgent projects to take up. Changing its policy from ‘Look East’ to a stronger stance of ‘Act East’ formed a part of India’s commitment to strengthen and focus more on its Asia-Pacific connects, especially keeping the ASEAN countries at the centre of all the strategic and diplomatic decisions. A lot of it is rooted in the fact that these South Asian countries form a good block for India in terms of total trade, increasing export, attracting investments. These countries become even more important due to their proximity to the South China Sea, the Indian Ocean, and important straits that are used as trade routes like the Strait of Malacca. Some of these nations also possess small island territories and ports at strategic locations, which become significant in terms of maritime security and partnerships. Similarly, in the West, with active operationalisation and usage of the Chabahar in the West, a model is now in place as India has been able to look after both business and strategic ties.

India has also been actively able to augment its sea stakes and showcase its maritime interests through active naval diplomacy, vocal advocacy of sea affairs and the need of strengthening maritime positioning by Prime Minister Modi at various International forums, strong naval decision and joint exercises, humanitarian and anti-piracy cooperation, etc. He has spelt out his vision, “To me the Blue Wheel or Chakra in our national flag represents the potential of the Blue Revolution or the Ocean Economy. That is how central the ocean economy is to us.” Indian Naval Ships and aircraft are regularly deployed on Mission-Based Deployments in Indian Ocean Region to enhance maritime security. It also undertakes surveillance to enhance Maritime Domain Awareness and address contingencies that may arise. The 2021 launch of ‘The Maritime India Vision (MIV) 2030 will also play a major role in massively increasing India’s visibility in the international maritime sector, and strengthening maritime relations with different countries.

Alarming situation of Global Food Availability

The ongoing Ukraine-Russia conflict, restricting the food exports from these countries besides giving a sharp rise to inflation, has worsened the already nagging food crisis in dozens of developing countries of the world. The situation has pushed the Food and Agriculture Organization’s ‘Food Price Index’ to an all-time high since the index began in 1990. According to the recent ‘2022 Global Report on Food Crises’, hunger levels had surpassed all previous records in 2021 itself, throwing around 19.3 crore people in acute food insecurity with Ukraine conflict, disrupted supply chains, Covid-19 pandemic, climate change, social and political unrests and instability and pests being the main drivers. The World Food Programme (WFP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) have further warned that this acute food crisis could worsen during June, 2022 to September, 2022 in 20 countries or so.

Recent surveys by the World Bank in 83 countries are equally alarming, which suggest a significant number of people are running out of food. These surveys also show that a good number of people are forced to reduce their food consumption and reduced calorie intake in the first two years of the Covid-19 pandemic, which also indicates to the worsening health crisis that could have lasting impacts on the cognitive development of lakhs of children globally.

Inflation continues to rise across the globe with majority of the countries experiencing high food prices. According to the World Banks’s April 2022 Commodity Markets Outlook, as on June 16, 2022, the global agricultural price index is 14% higher compared to January 2022 and maize and wheat prices are 27% and 37% higher respectively compared to January 2022. The Ukraine conflict has further altered global patterns of trade, production and consumptions of commodities that may keep prices at historically high levels through the year of 2024, exacerbating the food inflation and food crisis.

Rising food prices have a serious impact on especially the people belonging to low and middle income countries as they spend a significant part of their income on food than high rich countries. Higher prices of energy and fertilizers along with trade and supply disruptions owing to the shutting down of major ports, may further worsen the situations.

However, India appears to be in a comfortable position. In recent years, the present government at the Centre has brought into action several ground breaking measures and methods for faster and more inclusive growth of farmers. The measures including land reforms, soil testing, augmenting water availability, agriculture productivity, credit and insurance, food security, crop insurance and farmers competitiveness, which have resulted in augmented food production. India- the world’s second largest producer of the grain has had five consecutive years of record harvests of wheat till 2021. As per the second advance estimates for 2021-22, total Food-grains production in the country is estimated at record 316.06 million tones, which is higher by 5.32 million tonnes than the production of food-grain during 2020-21.