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By:

Rajiv Shah

22 September 2025 at 8:32:23 pm

New Alliances, New Pressures, New Fault Lines

To its west, old relationships in the Gulf are acquiring new strategic and military dimensions. Across the Atlantic, Washington is increasingly using tariffs as an instrument of foreign policy. At the same time, India holds the BRICS presidency in 2026 and prepares to host its summit when the grouping is being watched in the West as a potential challenge to the American-dominated global financial order. Individually, these developments may appear unrelated. Put together, they reveal a larger...

New Alliances, New Pressures, New Fault Lines

To its west, old relationships in the Gulf are acquiring new strategic and military dimensions. Across the Atlantic, Washington is increasingly using tariffs as an instrument of foreign policy. At the same time, India holds the BRICS presidency in 2026 and prepares to host its summit when the grouping is being watched in the West as a potential challenge to the American-dominated global financial order. Individually, these developments may appear unrelated. Put together, they reveal a larger geopolitical churn in which alliances, energy, trade, currencies and economic coercion are becoming interconnected. India finds itself almost at its centre. The emerging Saudi Arabia–Türkiye–Pakistan security equation deserves particular attention. Saudi Arabia brings enormous financial and energy influence; Türkiye possesses considerable military strength, NATO experience and an expanding defence industry; Pakistan brings a large military establishment and nuclear capability with the open support of Washington. Any arrangement containing a collective-defence commitment naturally acquires significance beyond ordinary diplomatic cooperation. Alongside it, another strategic convergence has gradually developed among India, Israel and the UAE. It would be incorrect to describe this as a formal military alliance. Yet geopolitics does not operate through defence treaties alone. India's extensive defence and technology relationship with Israel, its rapidly expanding economic and strategic partnership with the UAE, and the UAE-Israel relationship following the Abraham Accords have created considerable common ground. I2U2—bringing together India, Israel, the UAE and the United States—added another institutional dimension. Thus, without necessarily becoming opposing military camps, two interesting strategic formations are visible across West Asia: Saudi Arabia–Türkiye–Pakistan and the looser India–UAE–Israel convergence. Balancing Challenge India faces a similar balancing challenge. The Gulf is not a distant geopolitical theatre for New Delhi. Nearly nine million Indians live and work there. India's energy security, investments, trade and remittance flows are closely connected with the region. The proposed India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor also requires relative stability across this geography. Polarisation in West Asia can therefore rapidly become an Indian economic and strategic problem. There is another question Indian planners cannot ignore. If a future India-Pakistan confrontation escalates, how would any collective-defence commitment involving Pakistan be interpreted by Saudi Arabia and Türkiye? It would be alarmist to assume that either country would automatically enter a conflict against India. Saudi Arabia, in particular, has substantial economic and strategic interests in maintaining good relations with New Delhi. Nevertheless, defence planners are paid to examine possibilities before they become crises. While these equations develop in India's neighbourhood, economic pressure is emerging from Washington. The US Senate has voted 86–11 for legislation intended to increase pressure on Russia by targeting major purchasers of Russian energy. The measure could authorise tariffs reaching 100 per cent against goods from countries continuing large-scale purchases of Russian oil and gas, with India among those potentially exposed. China is powerful enough to shrug off similar challenges from the West." However this does not mean that America has already imposed a 100 per cent tariff on India. Further legislative steps remain necessary, and presidential waiver provisions are important. But the overwhelming Senate vote carries a political message that New Delhi cannot dismiss. Tariffs are no longer merely tools of trade protection; they have become instruments of geopolitical coercion. Washington's argument is understandable: revenues from Russian petroleum help sustain Moscow's economy during the Ukraine war, and reducing those revenues increases pressure on Russia. But in that case what about European countries who too were/are customers of Russian oil? India's question is equally legitimate: who should determine where India purchases the energy required by more than 1.4 billion people? If Russian crude remains commercially advantageous and helps contain domestic energy costs, New Delhi cannot reasonably be expected to make every energy decision according to another country's geopolitical priorities. Strategic partnership cannot become strategic obedience. This is where BRICS enters the larger picture. India holds the BRICS presidency in 2026 and will host its leaders at an unusually sensitive moment. BRICS is no longer merely the original grouping of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Its expansion has considerably increased its demographic, energy and geopolitical weight. More importantly, discussions around BRICS increasingly touch a sensitive nerve in Washington: alternative payment mechanisms, local-currency trade, development finance and the possibility of gradually reducing dependence upon the dollar-dominated international financial system. The BRICS Summit this time is poised to take some decisive steps which may affect western interests especially US. (The writer is an advocate, legal, geopolitical and public policy analyst. Views personal.)

Daily Record, Monthly Report: Bio-Waste Rules Enforced

Proper handling, segregation, and disposal of biomedical waste is now a strict facility-level responsibility.

The Bio-Medical Waste Management Rules, 2016, marked a significant shift in India’s approach to handling medical waste—simplifying classifications, expanding coverage, and aiming for greater compliance across the board. In my previous article, I outlined the evolution of these rules and the rationale behind the 2016 overhaul. Today, I will delve into their actual scope and applicability. From hospitals and clinics to health camps and school infirmaries, the rules apply to a wide array of institutions involved in the generation or handling of biomedical waste. Let’s take a closer look at who these rules apply to, what types of waste are excluded, and the detailed responsibilities of key players, especially the “occupier,” who plays a central role in ensuring that biomedical waste is managed safely and responsibly.


According to the notification, the Bio-Medical Waste Management Rules, 2016, apply to all individuals and entities involved in any aspect of handling biomedical waste. This includes those who generate, collect, receive, store, transport, treat, dispose of, or manage such waste in any form. The rules cover a wide range of establishments, such as:

· Hospitals, nursing homes, clinics, and dispensaries

· Veterinary institutions and animal houses

· Pathological laboratories and blood banks

· AYUSH hospitals and other clinical establishments

· Research and educational institutions

· Health camps, medical or surgical camps, and vaccination camps

· Blood donation camps and first aid rooms in schools

· Forensic laboratories and research labs


However, these rules shall not apply to radioactive wastes, hazardous chemicals, municipal solid wastes, lead-acid battery waste, hazardous wastes, electronic and electrical waste, hazardous microorganisms, genetically engineered microorganisms, etc. In these rules, the responsibilities of the concerned authorised persons, namely an “Occupier” and an “Operator,” have been specified.


(a) Occupier: The occupier is a person who has control over an institution generating biomedical waste, such as a hospital, nursing home, clinic, or laboratory, and has overall administrative control to ensure the proper handling, segregation, storage, and disposal of biomedical waste generated within their facility. They must take all necessary steps to prevent adverse effects on human health and the environment. The following are the major responsibilities of the occupier:


1. Provide a safe, ventilated, and secured location for storing segregated biomedical waste in coloured bags or containers within the premises, as specified in these rules.


2. Ensure that there is no secondary handling, pilferage of recyclables, or inadvertent scattering or spillage by animals, and that the biomedical waste from such place or premises shall be directly transported in the manner as

prescribed in these rules to the common treatment facility.


3. Ensure that the laboratory waste, microbiological waste, blood samples, and blood bags are pre-treated on-site through disinfection or sterilisation in the manner as prescribed by the World Health Organisation (WHO) or National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) guidelines before sending it to a common treatment facility for final disposal.


4. Ensure that the solid waste, other than biomedical waste, is disposed of following the provisions of the respective waste management rules made under the relevant laws and amended from time to time, and do not mix treated biomedical waste with municipal solid waste.


5. Provide on-site training regarding handling and segregation of waste to all its healthcare workers and others involved in handling of biomedical waste at the time of induction and thereafter at least once every year, and the details of training programmes conducted, number of personnel trained, and number of personnel who have not undergone any training shall be provided in the Annual Report.


6. Provide adequate personal protective equipment (PPE) to health care workers and others involved in handling biomedical waste.


7. Arrange for a health check-up at the time of induction and at least once a year for all its health care workers and others involved in handling biomedical waste, and maintain the records for the same.


8. Maintain and update the biomedical waste management register daily. Display the monthly record on the website as per the prescribed categories and colour codes in the biomedical waste management rules.


Stay tuned for the next part, where I’ll cover the remaining aspects. Have a wonderful weekend!

(The writer is an environmentalist.)

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