Context:

• Defence Minister attended the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) at Dushanbe, Tajikistan.
• The geo-strategic location of India makes it both a Eurasian land power as well as a stakeholder in the Indo-Pacific.
• Terrorism is the most serious threat to international peace and security.
• The pandemic had affected nations, civil societies and citizens in multiple ways, it is a warning sign of how non-traditional security challenges like pandemics, climate change, food security, water security and associated societal disruptions could impact national and international landscape.
• Non-traditional threats and a new technology have combined to form a whole new spectrum of sub-conventional security issues.
• India’s initiative on coalition for disaster resilient infrastructure (CDRI) is an example of how countries were coming together to create and share capabilities to deal with humanitarian assistance and disaster relief issues.
• India supported and participated in the SCO activities, including in defence cooperation programme, reflecting its commitment to work closely within the SCO framework.

What is SCO? 

• It is a Eurasian political, economic, and security alliance.
• The original five nations, with the exclusion of Uzbekistan, were previously members of the Shanghai Five group.
• Since then, the organisation has expanded its membership to eight countries when India and Pakistan joined SCO as full members on 9 June 2017 at a summit in Astana, Kazakhstan.
• The Heads of State Council (HSC) is the supreme decision-making body in the SCO.
• It is the largest regional organisation in the world in terms of geographical coverage and population, covering three-fifths of the Eurasian continent and nearly half of the human population.
• The SCO is widely regarded as the "alliance of the East", due to its growing centrality in Asia-Pacific, and has been the primary security pillar of the region.
• The Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS), headquartered in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, is a permanent organ of the SCO, which serves to promote cooperation of member states against the three evils of terrorism, separatism and extremism.

Criticisms of the SCO

• It is used by member states to shield each other from international criticism regarding human rights violations.
• SCO is struggling to emerge as a cohesive organisation because it lacks coherence on account of China’s pre-pondering influence.

India-SCO:

• It is the only regional grouping in the vast Eurasian space.
• SCO provides a robust platform for connecting with countries of Central Asia with whom India shares millennia of vibrant, multifaceted linkages.
• Central Asia and Afghanistan are vital for India’s security, meeting its energy requirements, connectivity, trade and economic progress and growth.
• India through its active participation has strengthened greater trade, economic and cultural cooperation within SCO by putting human beings at the center of SCO activities.
• India’s initiatives have emphasised its commitment to expanding its partnership with SCO by playing a proactive, positive and constructive role in the organisation.

https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/terrorism-is-the-most-serious-threat-to-international-peace-rajnath-singh/article35593806.ece?homepage=true

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