Spanners in India's Energy Ambitions: Negative Perception & Non-Committal Government
There is no denying the fact that developing countries, like India, would need energy to feed its development, while at the same time trying to keep in check its carbon emissions. If India intends to increase the living standard of its people, attain increased level of industrialisation and pursue the projects of national importance nuclear energy is an extremely reliable de-carbonised source of energy. The Indian Nuclear energy capacity, however, has not augmented even after the Indo-US nuclear deal. Also, the sluggish growth of the nuclear energy prior to the inking of the landmark Indo-US nuclear deal was attributed to the lack of adequate of financing, technological denial regimes, continued non-availability of uranium at low cost, the limitations of the Indian manufacturing industry and negative public perceptions about nuclear energy. This paper attempts to look into the two main challenges faced by Indian civil nuclear power programme. It attempts to compile various reasons as to why despite the nuclear energy being projected as one of the main energy sources since the inception of the Indian nuclear programme, the rise of nuclear energy has lacked progress. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.4318564
Liberal Studies; Vol. 5 No. 1 (2020): January–June 2020; 73-85
Copyright (c) 2020 Pandit Deendayal Petroleum University, India
India-Japan Relations and the Chinese Aggression in the Post COVID-19 Era
The world at present is facing the worst global pandemic COVID-19. China's Wuhan emerged as the epicenter and as the virus spread across the world, it shattered world economies, imbalanced the fiscal markets, and led to a severe shortage of healthcare facilities. Countries have been scrambling for medical supplies and trying their level best to support supply chains as China being the hub of manufacturing, shut down the factories inevitably halting the global supply chain, which has made countries rethink their dependence on China. Chinese aggression in the South China Sea and the East China Sea and its build-up of artificial Islands used as military bases has at present started an anti-China sentiment. India and Japan have also been victims of Chinese aggression in the past and now again, due to the above-mentioned reasons; India and Japan have yet again come closer in this disastrous COVID-19 time. In this context, the article traces down the evolution of the relations between India and Japan and points out Chinese aggressiveness with respect to India and Japan and further, identifies the sectors of convergences in the post-COVID-19 period between the two nations. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.4318561
Liberal Studies; Vol. 5 No. 1 (2020): January–June 2020; 63-71
There is a popular mythological saying in India – Hey Raam tere liye sab samaan (Oh God Ram, for you all are equal). That is true for most of the disease when Tartaglia spoke that “disease does not discriminate”. This comes true in the case of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) – a health hazard that, at the aggregate level, did not discriminate anyone – rich, poor, women, men, educated, uneducated, young, and old, urban and rural people. Even age is not the real factor, although in the beginning it was told that children below 10 years and elderly people above 65 years of age are comparatively more vulnerable. Anyone can get afflicted with the disease regardless of her/his nationality, profession, economic status, or family cohesion. I thought of researching it from the perception of social change. Nicholas (2020) correlates human civilisation with larger cities,exotic trade routes, and increased contact with different populations of people, animals, and ecosystems and says that the more likely pandemics would occur. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.4318282
Liberal Studies; Vol. 5 No. 1 (2020): January–June 2020; 29-43
Undoubtedly, the type of world we lived in during the pre-COVID-19 era would not hang on for long. During the last six months, indications of structural changes in the global power hierarchy can be perceived. The world may gradually inch towards a new world order with a new set of power equations and structural adjustments. Though there is no unanimity on the ushering of new world order post-pandemic, the upshot of the COVID-19 would certainly be consequential for the current world order which at first has started to reshape and will fully transform to its new avatar at once. When will it fully usher, and what would be the exact contours of the post-COVID-19 world order, is too early to conclude. But one must ponder if such a systemic alteration is to occur, some fracture in the global governance structure would too emerge. Has any irreparable fracture among the current global ruling elites emerged? Will the wrangling centered around the pandemic will prompt any fresh alignments and counter-alignments culminating in a new polarity at the global level? DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.4318535
Liberal Studies; Vol. 5 No. 1 (2020): January–June 2020; 45-61
COVID-19 Crisis: India's Macroeconomic Policy Response and Future Challenges
The Indian economy was ranked as the 5th largest economy in 2019 (Myers, 2020). The country overtook France and Germany to secure the ranks of the top five largest economies of the world. On an optimistic note, it has been growing steadily at a growth rate above 5 percent in the 2009-2019 time period. However, the world ranking is expected to change owing to the external shocks imposed by the Novel Coronavirus to all economies of the world. Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that are known to cause illnesses ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). A novel coronavirus (CoV) is a new strain of coronavirus that has not been previously identified in humans (WHO, 2020). The real impact of this disease has been studied by various scientists after it was declared as a pandemic in January 2020 by World Health Organization. Being a Fast-spreading infectious disease, COVID-19 has taken a serious toll on human health with countries reporting an alarming number of positive cases and consequent deaths within a short period of time. Ruling Governments of all the affected countries face a serious challenge of saving lives and the economy side by side. As the majority of the affected countries imposed lockdown and work-from-home options (except the essential services and industries), the economic activities. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.4318258
Liberal Studies; Vol. 5 No. 1 (2020): January–June 2020; 15-27
Cascading Effects of COVID-19 Pandemic Across Economic and Social Sectors of India
Edward Lorenz, a meteorology professor at MIT, had posed a question during the 139th meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (1972): “Does the flap of a butterfly's wings in Brazil set off a tornado in Texas?” He intended to mean that some complex dynamical systems exhibit unpredictable behaviors. These small variances in the initial conditions could have profound and widely divergent effects on the system's outcomes (Americanscientist.org). Subsequently, this came into popular culture as Chaos Theory or Butterfly effect which meant that ‘the cause and effect relationship of any occurrence cannot be precise and can have a far-reaching variable impact.' Here an attempt is made to understand the socio-economic repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic keeping in mind the framework of Chaos Theory. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.4318209
Liberal Studies; Vol. 5 No. 1 (2020): January–June 2020; 7-14
Analysing the Impacts of COVID-19 Pandemic: Concept Note
COVID-19 (Coronavirus Disease 2019) did not discriminate against anyone based on their economy, political affiliation, power equation, or social strata. The virus has touched every continent and almost all countries and impacted entire humanity. Starting from the Wuhan city of central China from the middle of November 2019, it spread so Fast that by the time people realised its vulnerability it had already engulfed all. On 30 January 2020 it was termed as ‘Public Health Emergency of International Concern' and on 11 March 2020, it was recognized as a ‘Pandemic'. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.4318193
Liberal Studies; Vol. 5 No. 1 (2020): January–June 2020; 5-6