MAINS DAILY QUESTIONS & MODEL ANSWERS
Q1. People with similar ethnic and cultural backgrounds are divided by borders and are not affected by national rivalry. Critically Analyze.
GS III – Internal Security related issues
Introduction:
- India’s foreign borders are among the longest and most diverse. India now has an artificial, unnatural border due to historical and political factors. Border management is a comprehensive approach to borders that include infrastructural and people development in addition to increased security. The problem of contending with long-standing territorial and boundary disputes with China and Pakistan, along with porous borders along some of the most challenging terrain in the world, has made comprehensive and efficient border management a national priority.
India has had several difficulties in managing its borders, including:
- Porous boundaries: The international borders with Bangladesh and Pakistan pass over plains, mountains, marshes, and deserts. Border porosity makes it easier for a variety of illicit operations to take place, including infiltration, drug and weapon trafficking, people smuggling, and trafficking.
- Contested International borders: History of mistrustand continuous border conflicts with Pakistan along line of control (LOC) makes India especially susceptible to cross-border terrorism. Similarly, India’s border with Myanmar is threatened by many insurgent groups that have established refuge in forests along the border. Political boundary difficulties of “enclaves and adverse possessions” in Bangladesh have resulted in political sensitivity throughout the whole eastern border.
- Inefficiency in Border management: Indian borders continue to be controlled by military and police units that report to different ministries in the Centre and states, making the border management work arduous and resulting to duplication of efforts by the security forces.
- Lack of essential infrastructure: essential infrastructure such as observation towers, bunkers, Border Flood Lights etc. are inadequate in many border locations which also restrict deployment of hi-tech equipment.
- inadequate intelligence and resource efficiency: Security personnel are ill-equipped to undertake border control given inadequate intelligence capabilities and severe resource shortfall.
- Ethnic conflicts and separatist movements: The situation has exacerbated due to the changed demographic profile of numerous Border States and shift in ethnic balance of localities as a result of illegal migration.
- Over-population in the border areas: Density of population in the border areas in some spots is roughly 700-800 persons per square km on the Indian side and about 1,000 persons on the Bangladesh side.
- Political instability and disorder on its periphery harms India’s security directly or indirectly. Proxy war between India and Pakistan adds to this security danger.
The ramifications on the internal security due to the above issues of border control is underlined by:
- rising cross-border terrorism
- infiltration and ex-filtration of armed militants
- development of non-state actors
- connection between drug traffickers and guns smugglers
- left-wing extremism
- bogus Indian Currency network
- separatist movements sponsored and assisted by external forces
- unlawful cattle trade
Diverse influences on borderlands and issues:
- Economic support for insurgency: The Golden Triangle (comprising Myanmar, Laos and Thailand) has offered an economic boom for the rebel organisations to sustain themselves.
- Availability of weapons: Easy availability of small arms in neighboring countries like Bangladesh and Myanmar has been another element behind the maintenance of insurgency in the region.
- topography of Border: Difficult topography along border with other nations in north east make means of transportation and communication difficult and as a result, the border area remains sparsely populated with depressed economic development.
- Boundary issue: Even though the international boundary between countries like India and Myanmar had been technically delimited and established following the boundary agreement in 1967, the boundary has not crystallised on the ground as lines separating two sovereign countries.
- Border with China is contested, and Kashmir has been a continuing conflict with Pakistan since Independence without solution.
- Lack of essential infrastructure: essential infrastructure such as observation towers, bunkers, Border Flood Lights etc. are inadequate in many border locations which also restrict deployment of hi-tech equipment.
- inadequate intelligence and resource efficiency: Security personnel are ill-equipped to undertake border control given inadequate intelligence capabilities and severe resource shortfall.
- Ethnic conflicts and separatist movements: The situation has exacerbated due to the changed demographic profile of numerous Border States and shift in ethnic balance of localities as a result of illegal migration.
- Over-population in the border areas: Density of population in the border areas in some spots is roughly 700-800 persons per square km on the Indian side and about 1,000 persons on the Bangladesh side.
- Political instability and disorder on its periphery harms India’s security directly or indirectly. Proxy war between India and Pakistan adds to this security danger.
Strategies for successful border control have been continuously changing. Some of them are:
- 24x7x365 day surveillance along Indo-Pak border with 5-layer smart fence.
- Agreement on key guiding concepts and standard operational processes
- Increasing confidence building techniques and communication links to avoid unwanted confrontation and escalation
- Integrated border management involves involving and improving collaboration with counterparts of surrounding nations especially along open frontiers.
- Effective execution of the suggestions of One Border One Force by the Task Force on Border Management to weeds out inter agency frictions.
- Community initiatives and awareness can be applied near open borders to prevent unlawful activities.
- Implementation of Border Area Development Programme and other developmental activities so that there is no feeling of being left out.
Way forward:
- Infrastructure along with border has to be improved – rail link along with road connectivity has to be given for speedy mobilization.
- Building of extra checkpoints and Border posts along main and minor trade routes connected with borders
- Building of floating bridges, barriers & electrical fences where there is considerable potential of infiltration.
- Taking up of collaborative Border management with Countries like Myanmar, Bhutan and Nepal.
- Improving healthcare, physical infrastructure and digital connectivity in areas bordering borders thereby making them stakeholder in Border Management.
- Madhav Godbole task force suggestions on border management need to be adopted.
- It had advised that the CRPF should be designated as the major national level counter-insurgency force. This would enable the other central paramilitary forces like the BSF and Indo-Tibetan Border Police to return to their primary job of improved border management.
- It had also advised that all paramilitary forces managing unsettled borders should operate directly under the direction of the army and that there should be lateral induction from the army to the paramilitary forces so as to boost their operational effectiveness.
- The notion of ‘single point control’ must be observed if the borders are to be effectively managed.
- The developments in surveillance technology, notably satellite and aerial imaging, can enable to keep a constant vigil along the LAC and make it possible to reduce physical deployment.
- Keeping a strong surveillance on its border is very crucial for any nation to check any form of criminal activity or entry through them. For India, the endeavour becomes harder because topography and climate is particularly complex throughout parts of its border territories. Focussing on improved technology will aid in making the mission easier for the security personnel and make its borders more safe.
Q2. Emotional intelligence is a human quality that is particularly effective in easing conflict. People with a high emotional intelligence are empathic and sensitive to the feelings of others. Discuss.
GS IV – Ethics related issues
Introduction:
- Conflict resolution can be defined as the informal or formal procedure that two or more parties use to find a peaceful solution to their issue. Emotional intelligence or EI is the capacity to comprehend and control your own emotions, and those of the people around you. EI aids in understanding the emotions, analysing it and managing it which prepares the road for conflict resolution.
Emotional intelligence components include:
- Understanding your own behaviours and reactions is known as self-awareness.
- Self-management is being aware of and controlling your emotions.
- Being socially aware is being able to discern other people’s thoughts and feelings as well as their emotions.
- Relationship management is the process of controlling interactions by being aware of your own and other people’s emotions. It involves addressing conflict and speaking effectively.
- Stress tolerance: Stress needs to be controlled, either by one’s own responses to it or by the responses of others, in order to maintain attention. Workers with high EQs are more inclined to pay attention, think things through, and react positively to criticism.
- Impulse control: Self-reliant individuals assess their options, decide on the best course of action, and start the task. Impulse control prevents people from becoming sidetracked and losing command of their circumstances. Employees with emotional intelligence are more likely to remain composed under pressure.
- Optimism: Those that are optimistic are aiming towards a goal. These people seek for effective answers to difficulties because they have faith in their abilities to complete the necessary tasks and reach the goal.
- In negotiations, the ability to sympathise and use creativity to identify win-win solutions will always benefit both parties.
How EQ Aids in Resolving Conflicts:
- Self-serving interpretations of fairness: Instead of judging what is fair from a neutral standpoint, we judge what seems most fair to us and then use fairness to support our viewpoint.
- Department heads, for instance, are probably going to believe that they should receive the majority of the yearly budget. Conflicts arise from disagreements on what’s fair.
- Overconfidence: We have a propensity to judge things too quickly, which causes us to set unreasonable standards for ourselves. It is common for disputants to overestimate their chances of success in court.
- An error could, for instance, cause them to reject a negotiated settlement that would have saved them money and effort.
- Escalation of commitment: Negotiators are prone to irrationally intensify their commitment to their selected course of action, even after it has shown to be beneficial, whether they are handling a labour strike, a merger, or a disagreement with a coworker.
- We make a valiant effort to recover our prior legal fees and other investments in a dispute, but we neglect to acknowledge that these “sunk costs” shouldn’t influence our future choices.
- Conflict avoidance: When we experience uncomfortable or upsetting emotions, we may attempt to suppress them in the hopes that they will pass.
- Actually, when people avoid facing their intense emotions, conflict tends to fester and parties need conflict resolution more than ever.
- In the modern era, affective aspects of behaviour play a significant role in the increasing complexity of governance. The majority of issues that administrators encounter cannot be resolved by intelligence quotient alone; emotional intelligence must be used in order to improve public service delivery and redress.
