Important topics and their relevance in UPSC CSE exam for February 27, 2024. If you missed the February 26, 2024 UPSC CSE exam key from the Indian Express, read it here

FRONT PAGE

Govt depts red-flag high duties to curb China imports, seek nuance in strategy

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Economic and Social Development-Sustainable Development, Poverty, Inclusion, Demographics, Social Sector Initiatives, etc.

Mains Examination: General Studies III: Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization, of resources, growth, development and employment.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story- MULTIPLE WINGS IN the government have started to red-flag the Centre’s moves to progressively hike customs duties, especially the more recent offensive targeted at imports of Chinese components and inputs. A section within the government is in favour of a more nuanced approach in using tariffs as a diplomatic tool, failing which there is a possibility of the gains of India’s manufacturing-focused thrust that include schemes such as Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) being squandered away.

• Why Centre is progressively increasing customs duties?

• What is customs duty?

• Why India Inc wants lower duty?

• Do You Know-China still accounts for 14 per cent of India’s imports with not just inputs for the domestic industry in sectors ranging from electronics to pharmaceuticals and textiles to leather, but also capital goods, being sourced from China. This, coupled with the fact that average tariffs in India have jumped to 18.1 per cent in 2022 from 13 per cent eight years ago in 2014, has made India uncompetitive vis-a-vis countries such as Vietnam, Thailand and Mexico.

India accounts for negligible share in China’s total trade, but significantly depends on Chinese imports in key sectors including pharmaceuticals and electronics. Official data shows that India is home to barely 3 per cent of Chinese exports. But China is one of India’s biggest import sources, making up for 14 per cent of India’s total imports, especially with regard to intermediate goods and capital goods. This dependency has left India vulnerable to supply chain disruption.

• Why India imposed Quality Control Orders (QCOs) on imports from China?

• What are the government’s policy options to reduce trade deficit?

• How hikes in import duties will help Government to overcome trade deficit?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

????Need to control prices of certain commodities is historically contingent

RS polls today: UP, Karnataka, Himachal to see tight contests

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Indian Polity and Governance

Mains Examination: General Studies II: Parliament and State legislatures

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story- Mock voting, dinners and back-channel dialogue, a complaint to the Election Commission (EC), and legislators sequestered in a hotel. The stage is set for a high-octane Rajya Sabha election battle in Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, and Himachal Pradesh on Tuesday.

• Nominated and Elected Members of Rajya Sabha-Know the procedure of Nomination and Election in the Rajya Sabha

• Members of Rajya Sabha-Eligibility, Qualification (Article 84), Disqualification (Article 102)

• What is Article 80 of the Constitution of India?

• Know about Council of States or Rajya Sabha

• Why are Rajya Sabha elections important?

• How often are Rajya Sabha elections held?

• The Constitution has fixed the term of office of members of the Rajya Sabha and accordingly the term of office of a member of the Rajya Sabha shall be six years-True or False?

• What is a maximum strength of the Rajya Sabha?

• How many seats are being contested in the current elections?

• Montague-Chelmsford Report of 1918, The Government of India Act, 1919, The Government of India Act, 1935 and Rajya Sabha-Connect the Dots

• Constitutional Provisions relating to Rajya Sabha-Maximum strength, Allocation of Seats

• Type of Voting to Elect members in the Rajya Sabha-is it First-past-the-post-system or is it through proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote?

• Vice-President of India and Rajya Sabha-Connect the dots

• Special Powers of Rajya Sabha (Article 249 and Article 312)

• Significance of Rajya Sabha in Indian Parliamentary System-Brainstorm

• Rajya Sabha has special powers that are not at all shared with the Lok Sabha-What are they?

• The Constitutional position of the Rajya Sabha (as compared with the Lok Sabha) Where Rajya Sabha is equal to Lok Sabha-know in detail

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

????Out of My Mind: What is the Rajya Sabha for?

GOVT & POLITICS

Karnataka govt mulls second attempt to get temple Bill passed

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Indian Polity and Governance-Constitution, Political System, Panchayati Raj, Public Policy, Rights Issues, etc.

Main Examination: General Studies II: Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story- The Congress government in Karnataka is considering passage of its temple funds amendment Bill in the state Assembly for a second time after the Bill was defeated in the Legislative Council by the Opposition BJP-JDS combine Friday.

• Karnataka Hindu Religious Institutions and Charitable Endowments (Amendment) Bill, 2024-Know the highlights

• What is the rationale behind the Karnataka Hindu Religious Institutions and Charitable Endowments (Amendment) Bill, 2024?

• What’s the amendment in Karnataka Hindu Religious Institutions and Charitable Endowments (Amendment) Bill, 2024?

• Karnataka Hindu Religious Institutions and Charitable Endowments Act, 1997 and Karnataka Hindu Religious Institutions and Charitable Endowments (Amendment) Bill, 2024-Compare and contrast

• How has temple funding differed across govts?

• For Your Information-There are around 35,000 temples under the Muzrai Department, of which 205 whose income exceeds Rs 25 lakh per year are categorised as Group A, 193 with incomes between Rs 5 lakh and Rs 25 lakh are Group B and around 34,000 temples with incomes below 5 lakh are Group C. Till date, Group A temples contributed 10 per cent of the revenue generated from collection boxes to a Central Fund and Group B contributed five per cent. There were no contributions from Group C temples.

As per the amendment, temples with incomes above Rs 1 crore will have to contribute 10 per cent to the Common Pool Fund, and temples generating Rs 10 lakh to Rs 1 crore revenue should chip in five per cent to the fund. Temples with incomes below Rs 10 lakh will not have to contribute at all, according to the Muzrai minister.

The funds will be under Rajya Dharmika Parishat and will be used to grant aid primarily to Category C temples apart from providing welfare measures to families of archaks and other employees at these temples, he said. The state high-level committee and district high-level committees were also formed to review and submit proposals for amenities at Group A temples.

The amendment to the 1997 Act essentially intends to “enhance the amount of common pool funds” available to the government for the upkeep of nearly 35,000 temples in the state and for socio-religious work. The Bill intended to divert “10% of the gross income of institutions whose gross annual income exceeds Rs 1 crore,” to a common pool for the maintenance of temples instead of the existing “10% of the net income of institutions whose gross annual income exceeds Rs 10 lakh”.

In addition, the Bill dedicates 5% of the income of institutions earning between Rs 10 lakh and Rs 1 crore to the common pool, changing the previous income bracket from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh. Incidentally, the common pool of funds generated by the diversion of revenues of wealthy temples is the main source of funding for smaller temples in Karnataka, apart from grants from the state government.

Introducing the amendment, Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (also known as Muzrai) Minister Ramalinga Reddy said the common fund will be used to provide various amenities to temples, insurance cover and death relief to priests, and scholarships to children of around 40,000 priests’ families.

There are 34,563 temples falling under the purview of the Karnataka government at present, under three separate categories. According to government data from 2022, 205 temples under the Muzrai department earn up to Rs 25 lakh or more per annum, 139 earn up to Rs 10 lakh, and 34,219 temples earn less than Rs 5 lakh per annum.

A vast majority of the temples in Karnataka are thus heavily dependent on government grants for functioning. In fact, the previous BJP government had increased the tasdik allowance or land compensation paid per year to temples from Rs 48,000 to Rs 60,000 in 2022.

This was after ending it for non-Hindu religious institutions, like mosques, due to protests by Hindu groups. The move came despite the fact that tasdik was a state grant, and had nothing to do with temple revenues.

According to government data on grants to temples under the Muzrai department, between 2017 and 2022, the BJP when in power allocated the highest amount of funds for temples. While a BJP government allocated Rs 465 crore in 2020-21, the Congress grant was Rs 477 crore in 2017-18. In 2018-19, a Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) coalition government allocated Rs 248 crore, followed by the BJP government’s allocation of Rs 294 crore in 2019-20.

• What is the political significance of temple funding?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

????‘CM Siddaramaiah stealing from temple collection boxes’: BJP opposes Karnataka Bill to open Common Pool Fund

EXPRESS NETWORK

SC to Centre: Ensure women get permanent commission in Coast Guard or we will

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Indian Polity and Governance-Constitution, Political System, Panchayati Raj, Public Policy, Rights Issues, etc.

Mains Examination: General Studies I: Role of women and Social empowerment

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story-“Women cannot be left out,” Chief Justice of India (CJI) D Y Chandrachud said Monday while asking the Central government to ensure that eligible women officers get permanent commission in the Indian Coast Guard. He further said that if the government does not do so, the Supreme Court will take the necessary steps.

• What is the promotion procedure in Indian Coast Guard, Army, Airforce and Navy?

• Do You Know-While women are still not eligible for pure combat arms such as Infantry, Mechanised Infantry and Armoured Corps, the Army recently decided to induct women into the Corps of Artillery, a combat support arm. The proposal is currently awaiting government approval. Women officers are already part of various aviation units. The Army earlier opened its soldier ranks to women in the Corps of Military Police.

• What is the role of women in Indian Armed Forces?

• What role do males play in the Indian Armed Forces?-This question may appear strange, but if ‘What is the role of women in Indian Armed Forces’ appears normal, then this question should appear normal to all of us.

• What percentage of Indian Armed Forces are women?

• Women in armed forces and their right to equality of opportunities-connect the dots

• How Principle of non-discrimination on the ground of sex under Article 15 and Right to equality of opportunity for all citizens in matters of public employment under Article 16 is applicable in the armed forces?

• What is the present scenario for the women entry in the Indian armed forces?

• first of all, what is permanent commission?

• Permanent Commission and Short Service Commission-Compare and contrast

• What is the procedure for granting permanent commission?

• After Supreme Court’s directive, how exactly women will be benefitted?

• What is number and percentage of women officers in Indian Army, Airforce and in the Indian Navy?

• Know the timeline of induction of women in the Indian Defence forces

• Why Women in the Indian defence forces should be given Permanent Commission?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

????SC issues contempt warning; Army agrees to give women permanent commission

THE EDITORIAL PAGE

Fast food education

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Main Examination: General Studies II: Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story-Sanjay Srivastava writes: The salve for anxieties regarding uncertain futures cannot be found in decrepit, quick-fix and technocratic attitudes towards education

• In what ways does the 2004 novel ‘Kashi Ka Assi’ resemble the case of BYJU?

• What exactly is the ongoing controversy over the edtech firm, Byju’s?

• What’s the latest on Byju’s?

• “The Byju’s case is mainly discussed as an instance of poor corporate strategy”-Comment

• The significance of Byju’s in India’s startup ecosystem-Know in brief

• Why is BYJU’s face declining?

• What exactly is ‘edtech’?

• Which are these startups, valued at a billion dollars or more?

• What was the need for the edtech companies to roll out self-regulation?

• What kind of complaints did edtech companies face?

• So how does the collective plan to set things right?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

????Mounting troubles at Byju’s: Is the bubble going to burst?

EXPLAINED

New railway stretch in Jammu & Kashmir

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Main Examination: General Studies III: Infrastructure: Energy, Ports, Roads, Airports, Railways etc.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story-Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently inaugurated the Banihal-Sangaldan section of the railway line which aims to connect Baramulla in North Kashmir to Udhampur in Jammu. He also flagged off Jammu and Kashmir’s first electric train from Sangaldan to Srinagar and Baramulla.

• Map Work-Banihal-Sangaldan railway line

• Banihal-Sangaldan railway line-Know key highlights

• Do You Know-More than 90 per cent of the 48-km railway line between Banihal to Sangaldan passes through tunnels in the mountainous Ramban district, including the country’s longest 12.77-km tunnel (T-50). It also has 16 bridges. For the safety and rescue of passengers in emergencies, it has three escape tunnels with a combined length of 30.1 km. It has been built at a cost of Rs 15,863 crore.

• Why it is important?

• History of railways in Jammu and Kashmir-Know in detail

• Railways in Jammu and Kashmir-why important?

• Do You Know-The first railway line in the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir was built by the British in 1897 over a distance of 40-45 km between Jammu and Sialkot in the plains. In 1902 and 1905, a railway line was proposed between Rawalpindi and Srinagar along the course of the Jhelum, which would have connected the Kashmir Valley with the railway network of undivided India. But Maharaja Pratap Singh of Jammu and Kashmir was in favour of a Jammu-Srinagar line via Reasi, and neither project progressed.

After Partition, Sialkot went to Pakistan, and Jammu was disconnected from the rail network of India. Until the inauguration of the Pathankot-Jammu line in 1975, the railway station nearest to Jammu and Kashmir was Pathankot in Punjab. In 1983, work began on a railway line between Jammu and Udhampur. The 53-km line, estimated to cost Rs 50 crore, was supposed to be completed in five years, but ultimately took 21 years and Rs 515 crore. The project, which was completed in 2004, has 20 major tunnels, the longest of which is 2.5 km long, and 158 bridges, the highest of which is 77 m high.

With work underway on the Jammu-Udhampur line, the Centre in 1994 announced the extension of the line from Udhampur to Srinagar, and then Baramulla. This was the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Railwayline (USBRL) project, which was approved in March 1995 at an estimated cost of Rs 2,500 crore.

The project got momentum after 2002, when Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee declared it a national project on account of its being among the most challenging works undertaken by the Indian Railways after Independence. The project cost has now ballooned to more than Rs 35,000 crore.

The line will connect Srinagar and Baramulla in the Valley with the rest of the country by train, and will provide a reliable and cost-effective all-weather alternative to the Jammu-Srinagar national highway that is frequently shut down due to landslides

• Railways in Jammu and Kashmir-what are the challenges and innovations?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

????J&K rail projects launched by PM to bring all-weather connectivity to more villages, draws praise from Farooq

WHY MAHARASHTRA IS EXEMPTING SOME PVT SCHOOLS FROM RTE QUOTA

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Main Examination: General Studies II: Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story- A key aspect of The Right Of Children To Free And Compulsory Education Act, 2009 (RTE Act) is the obligation placed on private schools to ensure that 25 per cent of Class 1 students admitted must belong to “weaker section and disadvantaged group in the neighbourhood”. Students admitted under this quota are given fee concessions, with the state government meant to reimburse private schools for the same.

• What exactly does the new rule state?

• Why have states introduced such exemptions?

• For Your Information- The new rule states that the “local authority shall not identify the private unaided school, for the purposes of 25 per cent admission of disadvantaged group and weaker section under the Maharashtra Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Rules, 2013, where government schools and aided schools are situated within one-kilometre radius of that school.”

This means that private schools within a 1 km radius of a government or government-aided school (which receives money from the government) will no longer have to observe the 25% requirement. Instead, students in these neighbourhoods will be considered for admission into said government or aided schools first.

This exemption would also apply to private schools established in the future, as long as they are built within a 1 km radius of a government or aided school. In case there are no government or aided schools in the vicinity, the notification states that private schools will be identified for RTE admissions.

With this new rule, Maharashtra has joined Karnataka and Kerala as states that have imposed this new regime to exempt private schools from providing RTE admissions. Karnataka introduced the rule in December 2018, and specifically referenced the Kerala rules which were introduced in 2011. In Kerala, the fee concession for students is only made available to RTE quota students if there are no government or aided schools “within walking distance”, which is 1 km for students joining in Class 1.

In Karnataka, when the rule was introduced in 2018, the state law minister Krishna Byregowda said: “The primary intention of RTE is to provide education to all classes of students… Till date, Karnataka had allowed parents to admit children in private schools despite having government schools in the same neighbourhood. This has resulted in the enrollment ratio [in government schools] dropping drastically.”

Private schools and teachers’ organisations have also highlighted that state governments have also often failed to reimburse the fees for students admitted through this quota. According to Section 12(2) of the RTE Act, state governments are bound to reimburse expenses incurred by the school per-child, or the fee amount, whichever is less.

In Maharashtra, the Maharashtra English School Trustees Association (MESTA) threatened to boycott RTE admissions last December citing pending payments of Rs. 1800 crore in reimbursements.

• How has the new rule been received?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

????Failing Its Purpose

Gyanvapi case: Why HC called govt order restraining puja in cellar ‘illegal’

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance and History of India

Mains Examination: General Studies II: Structure, organization and functioning of the Executive and the Judiciary

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story-The Allahabad High Court on Monday (February 26) allowed Hindus to continue offering worship in the southern cellar of the Gyanvapi mosque, dismissing an appeal by the Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee against the Varanasi district court order that first allowed this. The cellar is called ‘Vyasji ka tehkhana’, after the Vyas family who claim to own the property. In 1993, the Uttar Pradesh government under Mulayam Singh Yadav had orally ordered the Vyas family to stop conducting pujas in the cellar.

• How the case ended up in Allahabad HC?

• What the mosque committee argued?

• What respondents relied on?

• Implications of order-Know in detail

• Vishwanath temple-Gyanvapi mosque controversy- What is the issue thus far?

• What are the historical claims with respect to Gyanvapi mosque?

• What exactly Allahabad High Court (HC) said?

• Gyanvapi Mosque-Know the Style and Architecture

• Kashi Vishwanath Temple Architecture-Know in detail

• How did the Supreme Court enter the picture?

• What Supreme Court said in this matter?

• What are the issues involved in this case?

• Quick Recall-The Gyanvapi Mosque was built in 1669 during the reign of the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, who ordered the demolition of the existing Vishweshwar temple at the site, and its replacement by a mosque. This is mentioned in the 1937 book, ‘History of Benares: From the Earliest Times Down to 1937’, by A S Altekar, who was head of the Department of Ancient Indian History and Culture at Banaras Hindu University.

The plinth of the temple was left untouched, and served as the courtyard of the mosque. One of the walls too was spared, and it became the qibla wall, the most important wall in a mosque that faces Mecca. Material from the destroyed temple was used to build the mosque, evidence of which can be seen today.

The name of the mosque is said to have derived from an adjoining well, the Gyanvapi, or Well of Knowledge. An old sculpture of the Nandi bull inside the compound of the present Kashi Vishwanath Temple faces the wall of the mosque instead of the sanctum sanctorum of the temple. It is believed that Nandi is in fact, facing the sanctum sanctorum of the original Vishweshwar temple. For more than 100 years after the mosque was built, there was no temple at the site. The present Kashi Vishwanath Temple was built in the 18th century by Rani Ahilyabai Holkar of Indore, immediately to the south of the mosque. Over the decades it emerged as one of the most prominent and revered centres of the Hindu religion.

Many Hindus have long believed that the original lingam of the erstwhile Vishweshwar temple was hidden by the priests inside the Gyanvapi well during Aurangzeb’s raid — which has fired the desire to conduct puja and rituals at the sacred place where the mosque now stands. From time to time, petitioners have laid claim to the mosque, saying it remains the original sacred place of Hindu worship. The VHP’s Ram Temple movement aimed to “liberate”, apart from the Ramjanmabhoomi Temple-Babri Masjid site in Ayodhya, the Kashi-Vishwanath Temple-Gyanvapi mosque site and the Shri Krishna Janmabhoomi in Mathura as well. The Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991 — which mandates that the nature of all places of worship, except the one in Ayodhya that was then under litigation, shall be maintained as it was on August 15, 1947, and that no encroachment of any such place prior to the date can be challenged in courts — applies to the disputed complex in Varanasi.

In April 2021, Fast Track Court Civil Judge (Senior Division) Ashutosh Tiwari ordered the Director General of the Archaeological Survey of India to “get a comprehensive archaeological physical survey” done of the Kashi Vishwanath Temple-Gyanvapi Mosque complex to “find out as to whether the religious structure standing at present at the disputed site is a superimposition, alteration or addition or there is a structural overlapping of any kind, with or over, any religious structure”. The mosque is not an ASI-protected site, and the ASI has no role in its maintenance or upkeep. The site is currently opened for Hindu prayers once a year — on the fourth day of the chaitra navratri in April. The petitioners have also sought permission to pray to other “visible and invisible deities within the old temple complex”.

• What is the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act 1991?

• Under what circumstances was the Places of Worship Act, 1991 law enacted, and how did the government justify it?

• How Judiciary has interpreted the Places of Worship Act, 1991?

• The Places of Worship Act, 1991-Know the Key Provisions

• What Section 3 of the Places of Worship Act, 1991 is all about?

• Section 4(1) and Section 4(2) of the Places of worship act, 1991-Know the provisions

• What is Kashi Vishwanath Temple Act, 1983?

• The court cited Section 4 (9) of the Kashi Vishwanath Temple Act, 1983, defines “Temple”-What is Temple?

• Is right to worship a fundamental right?

• What is the meaning of freedom of worship?

• Right to Freedom of Religion from Articles 25 to 28-Know in detail

• Is litigation the best method to resolve disputes between faith-based communities?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

????The Places of Worship Act

????Court order on Kashi Vishwanath Temple-Gyanvapi Mosque site in Varanasi: history and context

THE WORLD

Sweden clears final hurdle to join NATO as Hungary approves bid

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Mains Examination: General Studies II: Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story- Hungary’s parliament approved Sweden’s NATO accession on Monday, clearing the last hurdle before the historic step by the Nordic country whose neutrality lasted through two world wars and the simmering conflict of the Cold War.

• Why does Sweden want to join NATO?

• What will Sweden bring to NATO?

• North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)-Know the historical background and current Status

• What is Article 5 of NATO’s founding treaty (Collective Security)?

• What is Article 4 of NATO’s Founding Treaty?

• North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)-Know the historical background and current Status

• What are the origins of NATO?

• How is NATO funded?

• How many NATO members meet the defence spending target?

• What is important about NATO’s collective defence?

• Do You Know-Founded in 1949 to counter the Soviet Union with Cold War tensions rising, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization is a political and military alliance of countries from North America and Europe. Enshrined in Article 5 of its founding treaty is the principle of collective defence – the idea that an attack on one member is considered an attack on all of them.

NATO takes decisions by consensus but the political and military strength of the United States means that it is by far the most powerful country in the alliance, with its nuclear arsenal seen as the ultimate security guarantee. NATO currently has 31 members – most of them European nations, plus the United States and Canada.

The newest member is Finland, which joined last April in reaction to Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Sweden applied to join along with Finland but is waiting for Hungary to ratify its application as the final major step before membership. During the Cold War, NATO’s main focus was protecting Western Europe from the Soviet Union. After the 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall, NATO expanded to take in former communist bloc countries from Central and Eastern Europe. NATO’s members range from large countries such as Britain, France, Germany and Turkey to small nations such as Iceland and Montenegro.

According to NATO estimates from July last year, 11 members were expected to meet the 2% target in 2023. Those members were Poland, the United States, Greece, Estonia, Lithuania, Finland, Romania, Hungary, Latvia, Britain and Slovakia. Germany, Europe’s economic heavyweight, was estimated at 1.57%. But German officials have said they expect to meet the 2% target this year, partly thanks to a special 100-billion-euro fund established in response to Russia’s war in Ukraine.

The lowest spenders as a share of national GDP were Spain, Belgium and Luxembourg, according to the NATO figures. NATO is expected to release updated figures in the coming days that will show more allies meeting the 2% target, according to people familiar with the data. In Article 5 of the founding treaty, NATO members declared that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America “shall be considered an attack against them all”. They agreed they would “assist the Party or Parties so attacked by taking forthwith, individually and in concert with the other Parties, such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force”.

However, Article 5 stops short of a commitment to an automatic military response to help an ally under attack. That means the strength of Article 5 depends on clear statements from political leaders that it will be backed up by action. This is one reason Trump’s comments caused such a furore, particularly as they came at a time of heightened alarm in NATO about Russia’s intentions, following its invasion of Ukraine. By suggesting he would not take military action to defend an ally, Trump undermined the assumptions that give Article 5 its power. “Any suggestion that allies will not defend each other undermines all of our security, including that of the U.S., and puts American and European soldiers at increased risk,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Sunday.

• Why India never joined North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

????Everyday Global: What is NATO, and why is Russia so insecure about Ukraine joining the US-led alliance?

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