11 Jan 2024 : The Hindu Editorial

Topic 1 : A change for the worse: On the rapid decline in India-Maldives ties

Context: India and the Maldives should see the benefits of closer ties

Introduction

• The rapid decline in ties between India and the Maldives, just a month after Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with the newly elected Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu, should set alarm bells ringing.

What was the trigger?

• The trigger came from tweets by three Maldivian Ministers, attacking Mr. Modi for promoting the Lakshadweep islands during his recent sojourn there at a perceived cost to the Maldives and for his close ties with Israel; the Ministers also made derogatory remarks about Indians.
• The tweets have been deleted, the Ministers suspended, and the Maldivian government has distanced itself from them, but the damage has been done. The respective Ambassadors were summoned.
• Hurt Indians have crowded social media sites calling for an economic “boycott” of the Maldives — Indian tourists make up the most arrivals post-COVID-19.

Broader impact

• However, the underlying reasons run deeper, and could have a broader impact on India-Maldives relations and the neighbourhood, accruing to the change in government in Male.
• Mr. Muizzu rode to power on the back of the PPM’s “India Out” campaign. Despite its disappointment with the win of ‘anti-Indian forces’, given the warm relationship it shared with his predecessor Ibrahim Solih, the Modi government sent a Minister to his swearing in, and there was a Modi-Muizzu meet at the COP28.
• However, Mr. Muizzu chose Turkey as his first bilateral destination, and is now visiting China — becoming the first President not to make India his first priority.
• Even President Yameen, who began the “India Out” movement and cozied up to Beijing, visited Delhi first in 2014. Mr. Muizzu has continued to press India on the withdrawal of its military personnel, even though India has clarified their role.

Reassessing the situation

• With the calls for boycotts and rising hyper nationalistic rhetoric, Delhi and Male need to take a step back and reassess their responses.
• Mr. Muizzu can ill-afford to antagonise India, given its proximity, economic might and historical position as a net security provider in the Indian Ocean, something Maldives has relied on.
• India too must see the futility of muscling in a much smaller neighbour, however egregious the provocation.
• The last few years of ties between the Solih government and Delhi show the benefits of a stronger relationship: India’s infrastructure forays and development projects in the islands, an intense strategic partnership, support during the COVID-19 pandemic, and cooperation on the international stage.

Conclusion

For India, in a region that sees several elections this year, it is paramount to ensure that domestic political changes in the neighbourhood do not change the basic structure of bilateral ties, or affect regional stability.

Topic 2 : A manifesto for justice that has sprung from crises.

Context: The ‘People’s Manifesto for a Just, Equitable and Sustainable India’ attempts to resist the forces of destruction and give life to human needs and aspirations.

Introduction

• As India staggers through multiple crises, there is a desperate search for solutions to the problems of unemployment, social and cultural strife, ecological collapse, and erosion of democratic rights. The last few years have seen a worsening situation.
• Unemployed people's attempts to highlight their struggles, such as gatecrashing Parliament, sinking Joshimath, dam bursts, and conflicts in Manipur, highlight the growing global crisis. Hope lies in initiatives to resist destruction and construct alternative pathways, involving governments, businesses, communities, and people's collectives.

A gathering of initiatives!

• On December 18, 85 people's movements and civil society organizations released a 'People's Manifesto for a Just, Equitable and Sustainable India'.
• The manifesto, gathered under the national platform Vikalp Sangam (Alternatives Confluence), represents hundreds of initiatives working on ecological food production, decentralized water harvesting and management, community-based energy production, dignified housing and settlements, meaningful education and health security, locally empowered decision-making, and resistance against destructive projects.
• The manifesto is aimed at the general election 2024 and various local to national institutions and processes.
• On the economy, it addresses the crisis of unemployment, especially among the youth, urging priority attention to small manufacturing, crafts, value-added produce from agriculture, forestry, fisheries, and pastoralism.
• It also calls for the extension of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act to urban areas and the reservation of all goods and services produced through handmade and small manufacturing.
• The Vikalp Sangam process has compiled hundreds of practical examples of these approaches, including rural revival, reduced outmigration, and new livelihoods based on agriculture or other land-based occupations.
  • However, these examples will remain limited in their reach as macro-economic policies and budgets focus on large industry controlled by big corporations and government agencies, with extreme inequalities of economic and political power.
• The manifesto also calls for real devolution of financial and legal powers to village and urban assemblies, fuller implementation of panchayat laws, comprehensive law on accountability of state agencies, and reviving the independence of institutions such as the Election Commission and the media.
• It also expresses concern about inter-faith and inter-ethnic conflicts, hate speech, and vulnerabilities of minorities, and seeks to reserve 6% of GDP for education based on mother tongue, activity-based, culturally and ecologically rooted learning.

A specific focus on environment issues!

• The Vikalp Sangam manifesto focuses on environmental issues, urging a national land and water policy to protect ecological functions, community-led conservation of wildlife and biodiversity, and collective rights to natural resources.
• It suggests a complete conversion of India's farming to organic, biologically diverse methods by 2040, drastic cuts in toxics products, plastics, and non-biodegradable materials, decentralised water harvesting managed by communities, decentralised renewable energy, and phasing out fossil fuels and nuclear power by 2030.
• The manifesto also calls for a rollback of weakening environmental impact assessment and forest clearance processes, and the introduction of impact assessment of sectors like energy. A National Environment Commissioner with independent constitutional status is recommended.
• The climate crisis, already affecting tens of millions of Indians, requires greater priority, including greater allocation for helping communities adapt to these impacts.
• The manifesto is a 21-point charter, with documented examples available on Vikalp Sangam's website. However, political parties and governments may not implement these recommendations.
• Citizens of India need to be more alert and pro-active, demanding elected representatives do their job and asserting their own voice in decisions affecting their lives. The manifesto also urges enabling the voices of the country's large youth population.

Conclusion

• The Vikalp Sangam Manifesto is infused with these notions of direct and accountable democracy, economic self-reliance, ecological responsibility and socio-cultural equality. Member-organisations of the Vikalp Sangam will continue promoting these through advocacy and ground action.