Daily UPSC Mains Question – July 15/2020

GS – 2

Information overload about the corona virus pandemic can add to the dangers posed by the pathogen. Explain. 150 Words

In the News:

• In the late 1970s, media invented the term ‘compassion fatigue’.
• There were so many public demands being made for charitable donations for victims the world over of man-made crises, like wars, and natural calamities, like floods or famines, that people began to feel an exhaustion of empathy: They just shut their minds and hearts to the sufferings of others. All the media, both mainstream and social, are full of facts and figures regarding Covid-19, to the almost total exclusion of anything else.

Information overload:

• The advertising industry often uses the term ‘information overload’. Any ad, in the press or other media, has an optimum retention value. People will remember, and relate to, the product being advertised given a certain, variable number of exposures.
•  Over-exposure of any product through excessive publicity can cause people to mentally block out the message sought to be delivered. Like compassion fatigue, information overload follows the law of diminishing returns.
• While the clear and present danger of the corona virus and the threat it poses to all of us is only too real and needs to be stressed, at the same time there is the possibility that, bombarded by a set of dos and don’ts about the pathogen, our numbed senses become inured to the warnings.

Way forward:

• The more we are urged to exercise caution against the corona virus, the less heed many of us will pay to such vital advice, what with the pent-up restlessness generated by the restrictions of protracted lockdowns.
• The mantra to help us to remember not to cut corners in precautions like hand hygiene and mask-wearing might be to mentally substitute Covid with Co-avoid.

India’s loss in failing to develop the Chabahar port project in Iran might be China’s again. Explain 250 Words

In the News:

• Right from the beginning of its tenure, the government has underlined the geostrategic importance it attaches to the Chabahar port project. The project, signed in 2003, has been a symbol of traditionally important India-Iran ties.

Fulcrum of India’s outreach:

• Connected by sea lanes to ports on India’s west coast, Chabahar would form the fulcrum of India’s outreach to Russia and Central Asia, enhancing connectivity, energy supplies and trade. Given that Pakistan had blocked Indian aid to Afghanistan and all trade over land, Chabahar provided India an alternative to permanently bypass its troublesome neighbour.
• As a result, the government fast-tracked plans for the project, and in 2016,  a trilateral trade and transit agreement was signed.
• According to the MoUs, India would be granted a 10-year lease to develop and operate two terminals and five berths, access to the Chabahar free trade zone, and the opportunity to build the 628 km rail line from Chabahar to Zahedan, just across the border from Afghanistan.
• The government acted quickly to develop Chabahar port facilities, sent exports to Afghanistan in 2018, and has moved over half-a-million tonnes of cargo, including grains and food supplies, for Afghanistan again, through the port.
• However, the rail line has never taken off for a number of reasons despite a commitment from state-owned IRCON, to undertake its construction at an estimated $1.6 billion.
• While contract changes by the Iranian side and delayed responses from the Indian side were part of the problem, the main hurdle has been the fear of American penalties. 

Strategic autonomy:

• Regardless of the reasons for India’s inability to join the railway project, the decision can only be seen as an opportunity lost. The impression that India wavered due to U.S. pressure, especially after India cancelled oil imports from Iran, also questions New Delhi’s commitment to strategic autonomy.
• While Iran claims it will fund the railway using its own resources, it seems to have embarked on the Chabahar-Zahedan project with a confidence borne from an imminent deal with China for a 25-year, $400 billion strategic partnership on infrastructure, connectivity and energy projects. In a world where connectivity is seen as the new currency, India’s loss could well become China’s gain.