Lithuania quitting the China-led 17+1 grouping with central and eastern European states and asked other countries to walk out of the forum set up by China in 2012 to forge ties and expand its influence.

Key Facts

• Lithuania also took several steps including the blocking of Chinese investment and announcing it would open a trade office in Taiwan.
• Lithuania, like some other countries in the region, has been increasingly suspicious of China for some time.
• It was in 2019 that the Baltic state first identified Chinese espionage as a threat to its national security.
• What is the Reason ?
  • Chinese economic and political ambitions grow in Lithuania
  • Activities of the Chinese intelligence and security services become increasingly aggressive.
  • Based on National Threat Assessment 2019 report.
    • Accusing China of trying to exploit the Covid pandemic to discredit perceived adversaries and improve its image.
  • China announced that it would open up a trade office in Taiwan a territory that China considers its own and vehemently opposes on international platforms.
  • China was conducting a genocide of the Muslim Uyghurs in the Xinjiang region.
• Relation with other Countries
  • Five other countries, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Romania, and Slovenia, also indicated their diminished interest in the grouping.
  • EU-China investment pact, sealed in December 2020, halted ratification of the agreement.
    • European Parliament refused to consider the investment deal as long as its baseless and arbitrary penalties were in place.
    • Members of the European Parliament (MEP) did not ratify the deal described China’s actions in Xinjiang region as crimes against humanity.
• China is the European Union’s largest trading partner and the United States largest trading partner.

China’s 17+1

• Cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European Countries.
• The format was founded in 2012 in Warsaw to push for cooperation of the “17+1” (the 17 CEE countries and China).
• Countries of CEE (CEEC) – Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Slovenia.
  • A term usually used for the countries in Central Europe, the Baltics, Eastern Europe, and Southeast Europe or Balkan Countries.
• The China-CEE secretariat is in Beijing, with 17 national coordinators in each of the partner CEE countries.
• To promote the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative and enhance cooperation in the fields of infrastructure, transportation and logistics, trade and investment
• Major projects Serbia’s E763 Highway project, the Budapest-Belgrade railway and the China-Europe land-sea express line.

Balkan Countries : Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, and Slovenia.
Baltic States : Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, on the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea.

Belt and Road Initiative

• The BRI seeks to build rail, maritime and road links from Asia to Europe and Africa in a revival of ancient Silk Road trading routes.
  • BRI, earlier known as One Belt One Road (OBOR).
  • South-east Asia to Eastern Europe and Africa, Belt and Road includes 71 countries that account for half the world’s population and a quarter of global GDP.
• Improving regional integration, increasing trade and stimulating economic growth are the major aim.
• Belt and Road Initiative is expected to cost more than $1tn.

Lakshadweep Changes and Issues

Source : The Hindu
GS II : Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation

Why in News ?

Discontent is simmering over Lakshadweep group of islands for new regulations introduced by the new administrator, Praful Khoda Patel in the last five months.

Key Facts

• What are the concerns ?
  • Implementing the Goonda Act in a region where law and order and crime are non-existent, opening up alcohol trade among a people who do not consume it are seen as matter of concerns.
  • Unplanned and unscientific altering of the standard operating procedure has led to the current surge in Covid cases in Lakshadweep.
  • Regulation called Animal Prevention which intends to ban slaughter, transportation, selling or buying of beef products is one among such orders.
  • Makes any person with more than two children ineligible to contest Panchayat Elections. 
    • Only effective for those who violates after the notification is published.
    • Lakshadweep has a fertility rate of 1.4, one of the lowest among all states and Union Territories of the country, according to the National Family Health Survey 2019-2020.
  • Eliminate non-vegetarian food from the menu of anganwadi children was harsh and unwanted.

Administrator of Lakhsdweep

• The position of administration, appointed by the President of India
• The person becomes in charge of all functions in the area and acts on behalf of the President.
• Praful K Patel was made administrator of Lakshadweep in December 2020

Havana Syndrome UPSC Perspective

Source : Indian Express
GS III : Science and Technology- developments and their applications and effects in everyday life

Background

In late 2016, US diplomats and other employees stationed in Havana reported feeling ill after hearing strange sounds and experiencing odd physical sensations.

Why in News ?

Recently, two US officials have shown symptoms of a mystery illness that is linked to Havana Syndrome. The number of reported cases of possible attack is sharply growing.

• The National Security Council is leading the investigation.
• U.S. government of long failing to take the problem seriously or provide the necessary medical care and benefits.

Key Facts

• The problem has been labelled the Havana Syndrome because the first cases affected personnel in 2016 at the U.S. Embassy in Cuba.
• Havana syndrome”, started to afflict American diplomats and intelligence operatives in Cuba, China, and other countries based on a report in 2020.
• The National Academies of Sciences (NAS) has found directed microwave radiation from an Microwave Weapon to be its possible cause.

What is Havana Syndrome ?

• Affected have reported headaches, dizziness and symptoms consistent with concussions, with some requiring months of medical treatment.
• Some have reported hearing a loud noise before the sudden onset of symptoms.
• In general the symptoms include nausea, dizziness, fatigue, and cognitive difficulties.
• chronic problems suffered by Havana personnel included mainly vestibular processing and cognitive problems as well as insomnia and headache.
• The effects have lingered and posed a significant obstacle to their work and affected normal functioning of lives.
• Among all the victims, not everyone reported the same symptoms.
• Psychogenic origin Possibility
  • Propose that the syndrome is an example of a mass psychogenic illness.
  • Originating from a nervous system disturbance involving excitation, loss, or alteration of function, whereby physical complaints that are exhibited unconsciously.
  • The common symptoms are the same experience by the affected persons in Havana Syndrome.

About the Report

• An assessment of illness in US government employees and their families at overseas embassies.
• Done by a committee of 19 experts in medicine and other fields examined.
• The experts examined the symptoms of about 40 government employees.
• Four possibilities to explain the symptoms
  • Infection, chemicals, psychological factors and microwave energy
• Directed pulsed RF energy appears to be the most plausible mechanism in explaining these cases.
• The source of energy transmission has however not yet been mentioned in the report.
• Report also warns about the possibility of future episodes and recommends that the State Department establish a response mechanism for similar incidents.
• A 2019 US academic study found “brain abnormalities” in the diplomats who had fallen ill.

National Academies of Sciences
* It is a non-profit, Government Organisation in the United States of America.
* NAS was founded in 1863 as a result of an Act of Congress, which was approved by Abraham Lincoln.
* The organisation offers its reports to the Government with regard to the Science and Technology projects.
* National Academies also encourage education and research.
* The Academy receives no compensation from the government for its services.

What is a Microwave ?

• Microwave is a form of electromagnetic radiation.
• It has a wavelengths ranging from about one meter to one millimeter.
• Microwaves are widely used in modern technology like wireless networks, radar, satellite and spacecraft communication, remote sensing, radio astronomy, industrial heating, for cooking food in microwave ovens.

What is a Microwave Weapon ?

• Microwave weapons are supposed to be a type of direct energy weapons, which aim highly focused energy in the form of sonic, laser, or microwaves, at a target.
  • Applications of this technology include weapons that target personnel, missiles, vehicles, and optical devices
• People exposed to high intensity microwave pulses have reported a clicking or buzzing sound, as if seeming to be coming from within your head.
• It can have both acute and long term effects without leaving signs of physical damage.
• These weapons are a cause of concern as they can affect both machines and human beings.
• Radio-frequency weapons are largely unknown and untested those who undergone attack may not even know they are under attack.

Countries possessing Microwave Weapon

• U.S. has developed microwave weapons to shoot down drones, or as non-lethal crowd control devices.
• China had first displayed its microwave weapon called Poly WB-1, at an air show in 2014.
  • There are also reports that China might have used microwaves against Indian troops in 2020.
• Iran and Turkey claim to have directed energy weapons in active service.
• India is also developing Direct Energy Weapons.
• directed-energy weapons are still at the experimental stage.

Footnote
Havana Syndrome UPSC Prelism : Microwave and application
Havana Syndrome UPSC Prelism : Focus on the impact

Iran Ceased IAEA’s Access To Nuclear Sites

Source : The Hindu
GS II : Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India’s interests, Indian diaspora

Why in News ?

Iran’s Parliament speaker said international inspectors may no longer access surveillance images of the Islamic Republic’s nuclear sites that means Iran Ceased IAEA’s Access To Nuclear Sites

• Thus escalating tensions amid diplomatic efforts in Vienna to save Tehran’s atomic accord with world powers.

Key Facts

• Iran Ceased IAEA’s Access To Nuclear Sites based on the expiration of the three-month deadline, definitely the International Atomic Energy Agency will not have the right to access images
• Underscored the narrowing window for the U.S. and others to reach terms with Iran.
• Iran already enriching and stockpiling uranium at levels far beyond those allowed by its 2015 nuclear deal.
• Under Additional Protocol with Iran the International Atomic Energy Agency(IAEA) collects and analyzes hundreds of thousands of images captured daily by its sophisticated surveillance cameras
  • It had placed “2,000 tamper-proof seals on nuclear material and equipment.

Background of Iran Nuclear Deal

• Iranian development of nuclear technology began in the 1970s when the U.S. Atoms for Peace program began.
• Iran signed the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) in 1968 as a non-nuclear weapons state and ratified the NPT in 1970.
• As a result of revolution on Iran they stopped nuclear program.
• Later Iran reinstated its nuclear program with assistance from Pakistan, China and Russia.
• Iran began pursuing an indigenous nuclear fuel cycle capability by developing a uranium mining infrastructure and experimenting with uranium conversion and enrichment.
• IAEA report concluded that Iran had failed to meet its obligations under the safeguards agreement in 2003.
• In 2003 the Tehran Declaration was reached between Iran and the EU 3
  • Under this declaration Iran agreed to cooperate fully with the IAEA.
  • Sign the Additional Protocol and temporarily suspend all uranium enrichment.
  • 2006 Iran ended its voluntary implementation of the Additional Protocol.
• There was a umber of sanction imposed over Iran.
• Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) is part of UN resolution 2231 agreed by Iran and the P5 +1.
• Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)
  • Iran’s stockpile of low-enriched uranium was reduced by 97%, from 10,000 kg to 300 kg.
  • For ten years Iran will place over two thirds of its centrifuges in storage, from its current stockpile of 19,000 centrifuges.
  • Iran may continue research and development work on enrichment, but that work will take place only at the Natanz facility.
  • With cooperation from the “Working Group” Iran is to modernise and rebuild the Arak heavy water research reactor based on an agreed design to support its peaceful nuclear research and production.
  • After the 15 years, many provisions of the JCPOA will expire, including most restrictions on Iran’s enrichment program.

Recent issues

• The deal nearly collapsed when President Trump withdrew from the JCPOA.
  • US imposed devastating banking and oil sanctions.
• Iran’s Reaction
  • Iran exceeded its limits to stockpile low enriched Uranium in 2019.
  • It even began developing enriched uranium at its facilities.
  • Iran’s parliament passed a law that led to a substantial boost in uranium enrichment in 2020.
  • February 2021, Iran announced it will place new restrictions on the IAEA’s ability to conduct inspections of its facilities.
    • But Iran allowed monitoring of some activities that would continue.
• Finaly Iran Ceased IAEA’s Access To Nuclear Sites.

How this may affect India ?

• India had ambitious project like Chabahar port, Bandar Abbas port, and other plans for regional connectivity that may thwart if tension increased.
• The chance for imposing sanction over Iran may affect India-Iran Oil procurement.