Volume 9

The Cursor
Volume IX
Page 02 - SAMVAAD ‘21
Page 04 - The Nation Gasps for Air
Page 08 - America’s Longest War
Page 10 - The Beginning of the End
of Football
Date of Issue:
07 / 05 / 2021

SAMVAAD ‘21- Suvrat Arora
In a world where deceitful fiction propagates faster than facts, the dissemination
of information becomes paramount; and for that to happen, establishing
a channel for thought exchange is imperative. In an endeavor to ignite
conversations and learning, Thapar MUN Society is back with yet another
edition of Samvaad.
While we are all entangled in deciphering the bliss and miseries the current
situation has to offer, having a sound consciousness of the dynamically changing
world and the international political design is crucial. And when it comes to
international politics, the relations between China and the US have always been
convoluted. However, the connections between these two influential nations
tend to reshape the political aspects of the rest of the world. To help dispel the
dubitation that encircles the US-China relations, this edition of Samvaad shall
converge to deliberating upon:
International Politics with Emphasis on the US-China
Geo-Technology Race and its Implications for India
In order to address this critical subject, Thapar MUN Society is utterly
delighted to have Amb. (Retd) Smita Purushottam as the keynote speaker at
Samvaad.
Amb. (Retd) Smita Purushottam
An embodiment of commitment and allegiance toward
the nation, she has served as India’s ambassador
in Venezuela (Jan 2012 – Jun 2015), Switzerland,
Liechtenstein, and the Holy See (Aug 2015-Oct 2017).
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Research Accelerator that endeavors
to build an advanced and prosperous
India with the employment of
Science & Technology. SITARA trust
stems from a passion for laying the
foundation of a progressive India that
‘believes in the power of Science &
Technology to deliver a better future
for its citizens’
Besides, she has also extended her
service as Deputy Chief of Mission
in the Embassy of India in the city
of Berlin, Minister (Political) at
the High Commission of India,
London, Counsellor for Economic
and Commercial Affairs at the Indian
Embassy in Beijing the Embassy in
Brussels, and Language-trainee and
Information Second Secretary at the
Embassy of India, Moscow.
Her spirit to infuse applied science
into the national fabric
incarnated as a non-profit
trust SITARA, India’s
first Science,
Indigenous
Technology
& Advanced
(To know more about the objectives
and accomplishments of SITARA
trust, please visit: sitara.org.in)
After having traversed the global
maps and serving India in multiple
positions at various parts of the globe
Amb. (Retd) Smita Purushottam is
a comprehensive amalgamation of
theoretical intelligence and practical
experience. Encompassing this
experience and expertise gathered
over the years, Amb. (Retd) Smita
Purushottam shall address at Thapar
MUN Society’s Samvaad on 9th May,
2021 (Sunday), 5 PM
If you have the desire to comprehend
the world around you better and
hear Amb. (Retd) Smita untwine the
labyrinth of international politics
concerning US-China relations and
its influence on India, make sure you
register at:
bit.ly/Samvaad_Registration
3

The Nation Gasps for Air
- Jayesh Purohit
In early March, India’s health minister
Harsh Vardhan declared the country
was “in the endgame” of the Covid-19
pandemic.
Mr. Vardhan conjointly lauded
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s
leadership as Associate in Nursing
“example to the globe in international
cooperation.” From January onward,
the Republic of India had shipped
doses to foreign countries as a
part of its much-vaunted “vaccine
diplomacy”.
A sharp drop supported Mr.
Vardhan’s unrestrained optimism.
Since a peak of over 93,000 cases
per day on the average in mid-
September, infections had steadily
declined. By mid-February, India
was reckoning a mean of
11,000 cases daily. The
seven-day rolling
average of daily
deaths from
the illness
had fallen
to below one hundred. At the tip of
February, India’s election authorities
declared key elections in 5 states
wherever 186 million folks were
eligible to vote for 824 seats. Starting
twenty-seven March, the polls would
stretch over a month, and in the
case of the state of West Bengal,
be controlled in eight phases. The
campaign had begun fully swing,
with no safety protocols and social
distancing. In but a month, things
unraveled.
India was within the grips of a
devastating second wave of the
virus, and cities faced contemporary
lockdowns. By mid-April, the country
was averaging over 100,000 cases
daily. If the runway infection wasn’t
checked, India might record over
2,300 deaths daily by the primary
week of June, in line with a report by
The Lancet Covid-19 Commission.
Even India’s mammoth vaccination
effort was currently troubled.
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In the starting, the rollout had been
involved in an argument over the
efficaciousness of a home-grown
candidate. Whilst the country ramped
up the drive and administered over
one hundred million doses by last
week; vaccine shortages were being
reported. Serum Institute of India, the
country’s - and the world’s - biggest
vaccine maker, said it couldn’t supply
provides before June because it did
not have enough cash to expand
capability.
Individuals letting their guard down
fueled India’s second wave, attending
weddings and social gatherings and
mixed messaging from the Govt,
permitting political rallies and
spiritual gatherings. With infections
declining, fewer individuals were
taking the jabs, speed down the
vaccination drive, which had aimed
to inoculate 250 million people by
the end of July. Some researchers
conjointly believed the new strain
of the Covid-19 virus to be a serious
reason.
What are the teachings of this
public health crisis?
People also conjointly learn to adapt
to short, native lockdowns in the
event of the inevitable future spikes
of infection. Most epidemiologists
predict additional waves, distant
India is still far away from reaching
herd immunity, and its vaccination
rate remains slow.
5

The Collapse of India’s $400Bn Shadow
Banking Sector
- Kannak Sharma
Every colossal crisis humankind has
witnessed started as mere neglect and
snowballed into an irreversible wreck,
dismantling several lives. India saw one
such instance in 2018 with the Non-
Banking Financial Companies crisis when
many feared that it was the next Lehman
brothers dodged out of sheer luck.
these unpalatable results are directly or
indirectly due to the impending crisis
faced by the Non-Banking finance sector.
Non-Banking Financial Companies
(NBFCs) were constantly facing the
problems of the credit squeeze, excessive
concentration, over-leveraging, massive
mismatch between assets and liabilities,
and the reluctance of lenders. With a size
of around $0.4 trillion and considering
that one-fourth of the credit flow is
coming from non-banks, the sector’s
potential can’t be ignored.
It began in Sept 2018, when financing
behemoth Infrastructure Leasing &
Financial Services (IL&FS) collapsed.
Unemployment in the following
October rose to 8.5%, and to
make it worse, India’s
infrastructure
o u t p u t
contracted
by 5.6%. All
One of the primary reasons for this
catastrophe was ‘Impingement on the
banking system,’ i.e., NBFCs continued
dependence on bank funding and mutual
funds, meaning more enormous risks to
the banking system last decade. NBFCs
also carry out credit intermediation
through maturity transformation by
lending their resources like loans and
assurances, thereby creating liquidity
risk. Thus, when non-bank financial
entities undertake bank-like functions,
significant risks can destabilize the entire
system. As a result, banks and reputed
mutual funds would hesitate in renewing
their contracts with the non-banks and
shoot up their interest rates. This absence
of funds could worsen the scenario.
The Fundamental flaw, which was the
leading cause of the crisis, was that
NBFCs borrow short term and lend a long
time, but smaller NBFCs need to access
the long-term resources. This is a risky
strategy that works till the interest rate
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scenario is benign but hurts when rates
start to climb, which can pose severe risks
to investors and depositors. Adding fuel to
the fire, the Government did not receive
defaulter lists from Banks. The nonavailability
of defaulter databases leaves
NBFCs vulnerable to credit risk because
of the absence of critical information.
How could this have been avoided?
If we were to think of one word that
caused all this, that would be ‘Ignorance.’
This crisis mushroomed as a result
of loose supervision, but the central
Government did not adequately address
such a severe mishap. It significantly
affected Foreign direct investment due
to lost global confidence, and many
suffered unemployment and heavy
debts. Disclosures and consequent
market scrutiny would have forced a
specific discipline in the maintenance of
prudential limits.
NBFCs should have been allowed to avail
of refinance facility under a modified
version of the Mudra scheme because
banks have access to refinancing
through various means like RBI,
EXIM Bank, NABARD, and
SIDBI. Still, NBFCs, on
the flip side, have
to depend on
competitors,
banks for
raising resources. This sharp rise in
overall credit share should have been
sufficient for Government to realize the
role of NBFCs and their increasing interconnectedness
with banks.
There was and still is a need to streamlining
the System and Current Laws and reevaluate
regulation and supervision to
maintain financial stability in the short,
medium, and long term. Though we had
laws to regulate them, many were just
bound to paper and not implemented
accordingly.
Present government measures have failed
to stem the slide in NBFC credit, and there
is a dire need for reformation if we don’t
want the ‘NBFCs Crisis’ to be on the list of
the worst economic crisis faced by India.
However, on the bright side, India has
had a history of meeting such challenges
and effectively overcome them.
7

America’s Longest War
- Ridhi Saini
The tension in Afghanistan has
spanned the administrations of
presidents George W. Bush, Barack
Obama, and Donald Trump.
A short period after Al Qaeda attacked
America on September 11; President
George W. Bush announced that
American forces had released assaults
towards the terrorist organization and
Taliban objectives in Afghanistan.
The President’s main aim was to
stop Taliban rule in Afghanistan and
forewarned that Operation Enduring
Freedom is going to be a prolonged
campaign.
Afghanistan were able to collapse the
Talibani rule, which was a significant
achievement.
The United States of America and
NATO were set to invest billions of
dollars to help a weak nation construct
the needed democratic rule and set
the pace with the western culture,
involving the start of education for all
genders and ages and further needed
development. Due to corruption and
America’s shifting focus towards Iraq
issues, these developments remained
restricted to the capital.
Due to this, many Taliban
troops evolved their
bases in Pakistan.
During this
transition,
American
troops in
8

After this, the Taliban were able to set
up more serious threats despite the
increased number of American troops
present.
Afghan government accused the
Taliban of assassinating government
officials, journalists and holding an
open fire in broad daylight for killing
women. The Taliban did not follow the
agreements made and continued on
their path of violence and terrorism.
Under President Joe Biden’s
administration, peace talks remain
the priority. The President declared
the withdrawal of American troops
from Afghanistan by September 11,
2021, bringing the combat to an end.
After the capture and assassination of
Osama Bin laden in 2011, President
Barack Obama announced to hand
over the responsibilities to the
government of Afghanistan slowly
and withdraw all the troops by 2014
and altered to training the Afghan
security forces.
After Donald Trump came into
power, he decided not to withdraw
the troops and held negotiation
talks with the Taliban, excluding the
Afghanistan government, which led
to strained relations and alienation.
The talks held in 2018 finally turned
into a peace agreement in 2020, which
stated that American troops would
vacate Afghanistan if the Taliban cut
off their ties with terrorist groups like
Al Qaeda and negotiate with the
American-backed Afghan
government to reduce
violence.
After a short
period of
silence, the
Even after nearly 20 years of
intervention, The United States
failed to form a stable democracy
in the foreign land. However, the
major questions will arise only after
the vacation of the troops directing
towards the efficiency and plans of the
government for a developed nation.
9

The Beginning of the End of
Football
- Tanishka Garg
The world of football has been thrown
into turmoil by 12 of the wealthiest
clubs attempting to form a breakaway
league that has drawn criticism from
fans, pundits, authorities, and even
players and managers. Lets break down
what is actually happening.
Football, for some of our international
readers, is risky and very expensive.
To do well, you need the best players,
and there is no cap on how much the
best players cost. Every single club
cannot afford the players they have
or the players they want. The most
influential clubs in the world are not
owned by their fans, they are owned by
investors who live thousands of miles
away and see their clubs as an asset or
family heirloom: Manchester United
are majority-owned by the American
billionaire Glazer family; Arsenal
are owned by the American
billionaire Stan Kroenke;
Chelsea’s owner is
the Russian
billionaire
R o m a n
Abramovich;
Liverpool are
controlled by American billionaire John
Henry and his Fenway Sports Group;
and on and on.
These investors are not getting the
returns they would like. Still, every
summer, they are expected to buy more
expensive players the clubs can’t afford.
They’ve tried everything to try to get the
fans to cover all the costs: they hiked up
ticket prices until the average supporter
could barely afford to go anymore, they
released expensive new replica shirts
every season, they did sponsorship
deals with dodgy companies, they
sold the names of their stadiums, and
they did deals with TV companies
that meant if you couldn’t afford those
expensive match tickets for your family
and instead you wanted to watch your
team from the comfort of your home,
you had to purchase an expensive TV
package.
This wasn’t enough for the investors.
Not only did they feel angry that they
had to contend with their clubs not
making enough money, but they also
have to deal with the fact that their
teams might lose matches and make
them even less money.
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So on Sunday, the owners of the 12
biggest teams in Europe announced
that they would no longer be taking
the financial risk that comes with
competition. They’ve decided to create
a tournament where it doesn’t matter if
their team wins or loses; their team will
still get paid at least £300 million every
season. One of these clubs could lose
every single game of the Super League
season, and they would still receive
£300 million, no questions asked.
Traditionally, leagues work by kicking
out the worst teams every year and
replacing them with teams that have
proven themselves worthy, thus
creating an incentive to cheer on your
team less. They lose their status in
whatever league or competition they
want to stay in. The Super League is
doing away with all that – the places of
the founding members are guaranteed
in a closed-off tournament. Fans don’t
want to watch their teams play in
meaningless matches where there are
no real consequences for losing.
Where does that leave the hundreds of
other football clubs not invited to this
private members club? Well, nobody
knows. They won’t receive any of this
new money, and the gap between them
will only grow more prominent the
more the most influential clubs focus
on where they are really getting their
money: this new Loser-Still-Takes-All
tournament. Millions of fans will have
nothing to cheer as stakes are stripped
from the sport.
What comes next is still unknown.
But, as you’ve worked out, surely the
solution will be to stop the league from
going ahead and then removing these
investors and then giving fans control
of their own clubs and not hinging the
entire sport on money.
You would hope so. But the Super
League has taken hope, too.
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To the Reader,
To say that the mettle of the country is getting
tested is an understatement. A consistently
alarming number of positive cases coupled
with a exceedingly high lack of resources
has left a lot of us dumbstruck. This is a battle
for our lives and we need to emerge on
top. To achieve the same, we need to be
each others’ support system and remember
the essentials at all times: get the mask on
before stepping out the gate, maintaing
distance from others, washing our hands at
regular intervals, isolating at the sign of
symptoms and perhaps the most important
of all, get yourself and those around you
vaccinated! We have persevered together
against the virus before and we sure can
do so again. Stay strong and stay safe!
Regards,
The Secretariat
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@thaparMUN
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