Splinternet: The splinternet (also referred to as cyber-balkanization or internet balkanization) is a characterization of the Internet as splintering and dividing due to various factors, such as technology, commerce, politics, nationalism, religion, and divergent national interests. In this internet is controlled by autonomous political blocs or any other controlling power—such as tech or e-commerce companies, or countries with diverging national interests tied to nationalism or religion. Example is China’s Great Firewall. Russian Sovereign Internet law passed in 2019 also cut off Russia from global internet.
Confederation of Indian Industries: CII is a non-government, not-for-profit, industry-led and industry-managed organization. It works to create and sustain an environment conducive to the development of India, partnering industry, Government and civil society, through advisory and consultative processes. Recently CII chief has highlighted Lack of Centre-State alignment, Policy instability & Poor Ease of Doing Business at state level are hampering the development of industries in India
LFPR: Labour Force Participation Rate is defined as the percentage of persons in the labour force (i.e. working or seeking or available for work) in the population. Key findings of Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), an independent think tank:
- Between 2017 and 2022, overall labour participation rate dropped from 46% to 40%.
- India’s labour force has shrunk from about 445 million to 435 million in the six years.
- Women labour force participation has declined from 15% (2015-16) to 9.2% (2021-22)
- Among men, the participation rate declined to 67%, from more than 74%.
- Reduction in participation rate was higher in urban areas than in rural.
DAP 2020: The new Defence Acquisition Policy superseded the Defence Procurement Procedure of 2016 from October 1. The DAP contains policies and procedures for procurement and acquisition from the capital budget of the MoD in order to modernise the Armed Forces including the Coast Guard. Highlights of the new policy:
- The policy reserves several procurement categories for indigenous firms. DAP 2020 defines an “Indian vendor” as a company that is owned and controlled by resident Indian citizens, with FDI not more than 49 per cent.
- Policy stipulates indigenisation of at least 50 per cent of the overall contract value of a foreign purchase bought with the intention of subsequently building it in India with technology transfer.
- DAP-2020 stipulates 10 per cent higher indigenisation than DPP 2016.
- The “import embargo list” of 101 items that the government promulgated last month has been specifically incorporated into DAP 2020.
- The government has decided not to have an offset clause in procurement of defence equipment if the deal is done through inter-government agreement (IGA), government-to-government or an ab initio single vendor.
- The offset clause requires a foreign vendor to invest a part of the contract value in India.
SIPRI: Stockholm International Peace Research Institute is an independent international institute dedicated to research into conflict, armaments, arms control and disarmament. Latest finding of SIPRI:
- India third highest military spender in 2021
- World military spending continued to grow in 2021, reaching an all-time high of $2.1 trillion despite economic fallout of the pandemic.
- Five largest spenders were U.S., China, India, U.K. and Russia. U.S. and China alone accounted for 52% spending.
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