Daily Briefing: Should India join the Board of Peace?

On that note, let’s get into the rest of today’s edition👇

🚨 Big Story

US President Donald Trump on Thursday unveiled the Board of Peace to lead efforts to maintain the Israel-Hamas ceasefire and redevelop Gaza. In his speech at Davos, Trump said that the body could eventually rival the United Nations and spread out to “other things as we succeed in Gaza”. He declared that “everyone wants to be part” of the Board, though many of the US allies have opted out.

Delhi waits: India, so far, is walking the diplomatic tightrope, neither accepting nor refusing to join the Board. India would have to balance its long-standing foreign principles and a potential diplomatic fallout with Trump if it does not join. The questions before India are not easy. It has to weigh the Board’s heft and legitimacy, as most of the major European powers have stayed away. It also has to consider if the Board challenges the UN and multilateralism, and its own stance of a two-state solution for Palestine. Shubhajit Roy has more details.

Accept or decline? In today’s Dis/Agree column, we asked two experts to weigh in. Should India join the Board of Peace?

👉 Sujan Chinoy, director general of Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies, advocates for joining the Board as it would give more say in determining Gaza’s future. Besides, this could mean potential contracts for Indian companies in reconstruction and also underscore India’s commitment to regional stability. Read.

👉 Manav Sachdeva, the ambassador for President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office, contends that India “must not lend its name, history, or constitutional ethos to a process that confuses management with justice”. He gives four reasons why India should not join the Board.

⚡Only in Express

Besides inaugurating the Board of Peace, Trump used the Davos platform to sharpen his pitch for American control of Greenland. On Thursday, he announced that he had reached a framework for a future deal with NATO. The entire episode offers insight into Trump’s playbook for getting what he wants. In most cases, the trajectory follows a similar arc, from Trump making a public spectacle to an eventual dialogue with the opposing party. Read our takeaways.

📰 From the Front Page

Relief: The Enforcement Directorate had filed two criminal cases against former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for disobeying summons in connection with the liquor policy case. On Thursday, a Delhi court acquitted Kejriwal of the charge, noting that the agency had failed to prove the emails through which the summons were sent, and whether that mode of communication was appropriate under the CrPC.

Tragic: In an incident that has disrupted the months of relative peace in Manipur, a man from the Meitei community was shot dead on Wednesday evening. He had been living in Churchandpur with his wife, who is from the Kuki-Zo community, for the past month. The killing was captured on video and circulated with a chilling message: “no peace, no popular government”.

Authorities have called it a “political killing”, with sources in the security establishment suspecting that this was the work of a Kuki militant organisation, the United Kuki National Army (UKNA). Unlike other Kuki groups, UKNA has not signed onto the Suspension of Operations (SoO) agreements.

📌 Must Read

The last queen: An elaborate feast, with rice, dal, five types of vegetable dishes and five types of desserts awaited the 25,000 visitors, some of whom travelled from afar, at the Kalyani Niwas complex in Bihar’s Darbhanga on Thursday. The feast was organised to pay respect to the last queen of Darbhanga, Maharani Kamsundari Devi, who passed away on January 12. Her death marked the end of an era. Know more about the queen and the dynasty.

On data protection: The Indian government may be mulling separate compliance regimes for large companies and startups under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023. To that end, the Ministry of Electronics and IT may shorten the timeline for Big Tech companies such as Meta, Google and Amazon to comply with the Act to 12 months from the current 18 months. Here’s why this matters.

⏳ And Finally…

Australia recently banned social media access for minors. Now, Andhra Pradesh is contemplating a similar prohibition for children under the age of 16. The TDP-led state government will not only have to get approval from its ally, the BJP-run Centre, but also ensure that the ban does not hinder digital literacy.

🎧 Before you go, do tune in to today’s ‘3 Things’ podcast episode. The lineup: a cheaper cancer drug, shifting the border fence, and an affair gone wrong.

That’s all for today, folks! Happy weekend!
Sonal Gupta

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