Brief of newspaper articles for the day bearing
relevance to Civil Services preparation
- GS PAPER 1
- Being cosmopolitan in India – {Racism}
- Poverty the crucible of terror – {Poverty and terrorism}
- GS PAPER 2
- An order against the anti-graft fight – {Corruption}
- Why Siachen must be demilitarised – {International Boundaries}
- The curious case of Julian Assange – {International Spying – Whistle-blower}
- GS PAPER 3
- TRAI backs net neutrality, rules against differential rates – {Net Neutrality – Science & Technology}
- Spacecraft Aditya gets ready to gaze at the Sun– {Science & Technology – Space Mission}
- Bank insecurities– {Non Performing Assets – Banking }
- Slip Sliding– {Non Performing Assets – Banking}
- Call Luddite’s Bluff – {Science & Technology – GM Crops}
- Reflection on Davos – {World Economic Forum}
- The economic cost of Zika virus – {Science & Technology – Diseases and Virus}
GS PAPER 1
[1]. Being cosmopolitan in India.
Context:-
The recent attack on Tanzanian woman in Bangalore questions the city’s Cosmopolitan identity.
Cosmopolitan definition:-
A city by definition which ideally privileges and nurtures the unexpected encounter, and calls on its citizens to be able to respond humanely even to those who are not linked to us in familial, ethnic, nationalist or caste affiliations.
Kochi example:-
The lively and well-attended Kochi Biennale, which has been running since 2012, also shows, it is possible for such spaces to nurture not just creativity on a spectacular scale but a more unified public presence than at many comparable citywide festivals.
Obstacles:-
Majority of Indian cities are disfigured by combats over indigeneity, language nationalism, communal antagonism and fierce battles over who may be defined as “sons of the soil”. And of course tensions about race and gender.
Conclusion:-
The attacks on the Tanzanian woman and others in Bengaluru reveal to us, we must urgently and consciously develop a new ethics that respects, and responds humanely to, the strangers in our cities.
[2]. Poverty the crucible of terror.
Context:-
The artcile discusses how poverty has become the reason for rise of terrorist and not necessarily their idealogies.
The shift:-
From lofty academic discussions about the ideologically motivated, highly trained terrorists willing to give up their lives, we need to bring down the discourse, for now at least, to the reality of the new wave of terrorist violence against India from Pakistan — fronted by school dropouts, drug addicts, juvenile criminals and vagabonds.
It would be advisable to stick to the assessment that terrorism breeds in poverty.
Understanding the motive:-
Understanding what motivates a person to fight for a cause is critical in dealing with the violence his or her group will unleash. To do that we need to be able to go beyond propaganda unleashed by state organs immediately after a terror attack, claiming that every terrorist is highly motivated and well trained.
Policymakers need to even ignore the public posturing by terrorists, because there are often private reasons that would tell us better about why, in the first place, they took up arms.
The motives:-
Money:-
Money is a definite motive. Some of the recent terror recruits were being signed up with up to Rs. 50,000 and their families are offered Rs.5 lakh if they die. It is a royal sum in the part of the world they come from.
Misinterpreted religious ideologies:-
There is a definite dose of misrepresented Islamist fervour that is being used to influence these youth. But their ideological motivations are nowhere near that of terrorists in the Kashmir Valley a decade ago, or the ones who flew aircraft into the World Trade Centre towers in 2001, or those who stormed Paris recently.
Thriving on Poverty:-
We are witnessing a cottage industry that is thriving on poverty, mostly.
They are mostly recalcitrant youth, whose world view is limited by regressive religious lessons received in childhood, and whose desperation to earn some money turns them towards the only flourishing industry in their part of the world, terrorism.
Identifying the vitals:-
The vitals are the states that have given support to terror. There must be adequate deterrence for them.
A multi-pronged strategy that would attack the vitals, its key components being poverty, illiteracy and absence of robust democracy, that have turned many parts of Pakistan into factory floors producing cheap terrorist lives is needed.
GS PAPER 2
[1]. A n order against the anti-graft fight
Context:-
The Tamil Nadu government’s order mandating prior permission of the government for an inquiry into corruption charges against any State official is a rude jolt to those fighting against the lack of integrity in public administration.
Current scenario:-
Until this order, government approval for a preliminary enquiry (PE) or registration of a regular case was required only in respect of All India Services officers (Indian Administrative Service, Indian Police Service and Indian Forest Service).
Reason for such a move:-
The State government order cites a Supreme Court ruling in a public interest litigation of 1997, which struck down the Single Directive of the Government of India that drew a distinction between officers of and above the rank of Joint Secretary and the rest of the bureaucracy.
Single directive:-
The directive mandated prior Central government permission even to proceed with a PE while there was no such restriction with regard to those below the Joint Secretary.
Supreme court ruling:-
The 1997 ruling interpreted the Single Directive as discriminatory and violative of Article 14 of the Constitution that grants the right to equality before the law and equal protection of the laws to every citizen.
In respect of Central government employees, the annulling of the Single Directive, first in 1997 (the Vineet Narain judgment) and again in 2014 (following the incorporation of the directive into the Central Vigilance Commission Act, 2003) by the Supreme Court strengthened the hands of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and other vigilance agencies in giving them absolute freedom in proceeding with complaints of corruption without reference to the Central government.
New procdure after the order:-
The new procedure makes it obligatory for a complaint of corruption against any public servant — irrespective of his or her rank — of the State government to be vetted and sent first by the Vigilance Directorate to the State Vigilance Commission, which, in turn, will seek and consider the remarks of the government before ordering an “appropriate enquiry”.
Pros:-
The government order is unexceptionable as it does not discriminate between groups of State employees on grounds of rank.
Cons:-
Weakening anto corruption agencies:-
The Tamil Nadu government order does exactly the opposite. It emasculates an already weak Vigilance Directorate. The latter does not enjoy even the limited autonomy that the CBI enjoys.
Implementation difficulties:-
We are talking here of a workforce of more than 2,00,000 people. If the complaint against even someone in the lowest rung in each department — a police constable or a Grade IV employee in the Secretariat or Revenue Department, for instance — has to be vetted at three levels, viz. the Vigilance Directorate, Vigilance Commission and the department concerned, one must reckon with the attendant delay in its processing.
Loss of confidentiality:-
The loss of confidentiality of the contents of a complaint and the danger of destruction of evidence to prove misconduct are other sources of worry. It also includes the intimidation of whistle-blowers.
Conflict resolution:-
The government order does not also make it clear as to what happens when there is disagreement on the course of action
In respect of a complaint between the three principal players involved. Who will have the final say?
Increase corruption:-
The new order of things will further encourage the corrupt elements in government.
Checking and balancing the vigilance:-
Autonomy to anti-corruption agencies in initiating a PE or regular case will not result in miscarriage of justice because the ultimate power of sanction to prosecute a government official in a court of law rests with the government.
Through an amendment to the Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA), 1988 that has been approved by the Union government and is now pending before Parliament a former public servant cannot be prosecuted for corruption without any sanction from the government.
The Supreme Court has not disputed their competence in granting or denying sanction requested by an investigating agency.
The court has merely demanded greater speed in a government decision in this regard.
The Union government has brought in an amendment to the PCA that lays down a three-month deadline to decisions. This is also pending Parliament’s nod.
Bribes at every step
As per the 2015 ranking, we are 76th out of 175 countries.
The common man is exercised over the fact that he has to pay a price for every service that he is entitled to as a citizen. Digitisation of government processes has helped to an extent in many States. But this is yet to reach a number of areas of discretion which yield themselves to the demand and payment of bribe.
What is of the greatest concern is the rapid escalation of corruption to the higher echelons of the bureaucracy, especially the All India Services.
While ministerial dishonesty is real in many instances, it does not justify a civil servant being complicit in such gross misdeed or lining his or her own pocket exploiting the rapaciousness of a Minister.
Fight against corruption:-
For this to happen there is a need for building the citizen’s will and resolve not to pay a bribe when demanded.
It is equally true that no one can individually help achieve a corruption-free government — we are far too familiar with tales of intimidation and murder of individuals who had taken up the challenge in the past.
It is a collectivity alone that could challenge and transform a corrupt order.
Conclusion:-
The State government has to “revisit” the order. Such a course of actioconsiderably enhance its credibility. A clinical re-examination of the issues should aim at introducing the position that now prevails in the Central government.
[2]. Why Siachen must be demilitarized
Context:-
Avalanche on the Siachen glacier that buried 10 Indian Army soldiers is a stark reminder to both India and Pakistan about the cost of military deployment in such inhospitable territory.
Costing lives:-
This was not an isolated incident but part of a growing trend in that region, as global warming dramatically affects the glacier.
Avalanches are a threat not just to Indian soldiers, but also to the Pakistani troops.
It is not just avalanches; the challenging terrain of the glacier and its surroundings as a whole have been regularly claiming lives.
According to reliable estimates, over 2,000 soldiers from both sides have died on the Siachen glacier since 1984, when India beat Pakistan by a few days to occupy many of the strategic locations on the glacier.
Previous initiatives :-
In June 1989, they came very close to clinching a final deal. The two sides had agreed to “work towards a comprehensive settlement, based on redeployment of forces to reduce the chance of conflict, avoidance of the use of force and the determination of future positions on the ground so as to conform with the Shimla Agreement and to ensure durable peace in the Siachen area.
India has in the past suggested delineation of the Line of Control north of NJ 9842, redeployment of troops on both sides to agreed positions after demarcating their existing positions, a zone of disengagement, and a monitoring mechanism to maintain the peace.
Lack of will:-
However, a lack of political will on both sides has meant that the status quo holds, and soldiers continue to pay a very high price in that remote snowy outpost.
Conclusion:-
The demilitarisation of Siachen is definitely doable. This is not only because it is diplomatically possible, but also because there is a critical mass of opinion in both India and Pakistan that neither can sacrifice, or put in harm’s way, so many lives on the inhospitable glacier.
If the initiative is not seized by both sides now, the vagaries of nature will continue to exact a toll on forces deployed in Siachen, even if peace holds.
[3]. The curious case of Julian Assange
Context:-
Personal liberty still eludes WikiLeaks founder and Editor-in-Chief Julian Assange, despite a ruling by a United Nations legal panel that has declared his confinement “arbitrary and illegal”.
Ruling:-
The ruling of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has met with support, but not surprisingly, with a bitter backlash as well.
It is the authoritative UN body that pronounces on illegal detentions based on binding and legal international instruments
The governments that have suffered incalculable damage from WikiLeaks’ relentless exposures are the ones who are opposing.
Opposition:-
Sweden and Britain have rejected the panel’s findings outright, despite the fact that they are signatories to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the European Convention on Human Rights and the other treaties upon which the UN legal panel has based its recommendation.
Both countries argue that his confinement is not arbitrary but self-imposed, and he is at ‘liberty’ to step out, be arrested, and face the consequences.
Contradicting stand:-
The same countries have in the past upheld rulings of the same panel on similar cases such as the ‘arbitrary detention’ of the Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi and former Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed.
Game plan of US:-
Mr. Assange’s defence team argues that the Swedish police case( rape accusation on Assange) is but a smokescreen for a larger political game plan centred on Washington, which is determined to root out whistle-blowers such as Mr. Assange, Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning for exposing dirty state secrets.
Wikileaks controversies:-
It was WikiLeaks that carried the shocking video evidence of the wholesale collateral murder by the U.S.-led forces of civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan, in addition to thousands of pages of evidence of other violations of sovereignty and international law.
Conclusion:-
By defying the UN panel’s carefully considered recommendation that Mr. Assange be freed and awarded compensation, Britain and Sweden are damaging their own international standing.
They must reverse their stand and do what law and decency dictate by allowing Mr. Assange an opportunity to prove his innocence without fearing extradition to the United States.
GS PAPER 3
[1]. TRAI backs net neutrality, rules against differential rates.
Context: TRAI’s proposal to introduce differential pricing for Internet services which was seen as a major blow to net neutrality.
What has happened?
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Monday barred telecom service providers from charging differential rates for data services, effectively prohibiting Facebook’s Free Basics and Airtel Zero platform by Airtel in their current form.
Net Neutrality
The principle that Internet service providers should enable access to all content and applications regardless of the source, and without favouring or blocking particular products or websites.
It was way back in 2003, when a media law professor from Columbia University in the US, Tim Wu, first wrote of the need for a common principle wherein all ISPs and governments view all data traffic on the internet equally and without discrimination and without differential charging based on content, user, platform, application, site, mode of communication or the type of equipment attached.
Ever since, the debate on whether the internet traffic should be completely free and available to all or whether the ISPs could charge a premium for providing faster speeds and better data access experience has been raging.
TRAI Regulations :
- No service provider can offer or charge discriminatory tariffs for data services on the basis of content.
- No service provider shall enter into any arrangement, agreement or contract, by whatever name called, with any person, natural or legal, that the effect of discriminatory tariffs for data services being offered or charged by the service provider for the purpose of evading the prohibition in this regulation.
- Reduced tariff for accessing or providing emergency services, or at times of public emergency has been permitted.
- Rs50,000 fine per day subject to a maximum of Rs50 lakh for contravention of these regulations
- TRAI may review these regulations after a period of two years.
Reactions:
While the move was cheered by Net Neutrality activists and industry bodies such as Nasscom and IAMAI, telecom operators, who had been pushing for allowing of differential tariff for data service, expressed disappointment saying the ruling would impact the Narendra Modi government’s ambitious Digital India initiative.
As per the regulations released on Monday, existing plans like Airtel zero and Free basics which are in contravention of the rules can continue for six months, post which they will need to be stopped.
[2]. Spacecraft Aditya gets ready to gaze at the Sun.
Context: Aditya – India’s third extra terrestrial outing after moon(chandrayan) and mars(Mars orbitor) is being built to study the sun from a stable orbital position called L1. Sanctioned in 2008, it is due to take flight in three years.
What has happened?
ADCOS-Advisory Committee on Space Sciences, the brain behind the project and ISRO’s multi faculty body which designed and planned the previous two extra terrestrial missions have started talks to add another spacecraft under Aditya to observe the sun from a different stable orbital position called L5.
This is a very unique formation as having two spacecrafts studying the sun from two different positions viz. L1 and L5 will give us an added advantage in measurements and more clarity. Older L1 sun missions by US and Japan could not yield much result/information.
What is L1,L5?
Lagrange point is a location in space where the combined gravitational forces of two large bodies, such as Earth and the sun or Earth and the moon, equal the centrifugal force felt by a much smaller third body. The interaction of the forces creates a point of equilibrium where a spacecraft may be “parked” to make observation.
These points are named after Joseph-Louis Lagrange, an 18th-century mathematician who wrote about them in a 1772 paper concerning what he called the “three-body problem.” They are also called Lagrangian points and libration points.
There are 5 such points between the earth and the sun namely – L1, L2, L3, L4 and L5.
Challenges:
- Affordability of building two spacecrafts
- To create an all-aluminium 20-metre-high magnetic test facility near Bengaluru to specially assemble and test the spacecraft and instruments in a magnetically clean manner with “not one electric material, not even a car, being nearby”.
[3]. Bank Insecurities.
How can the government resolve the NPA crisis?
It must put to use multiple instruments.
Identifying bad assets:-
The first is to coax banks to identify bad assets. The NPAs eat into profits and that is why banks hide them. In fact, banks further lend to corporates and help them service their past loans.
ARC by government:-
Second, the government must set up an asset reconstruction company (ARC) to buy these bad loans from banks. There are 15 privately owned ARCs, but they have failed because banks fear a witch-hunt by the government at a later date for having the NPAs at a particular discount.
The ARCs will buy bad assets only at a discount; so there is always an element of subjectivity in pricing. If an ARC is funded by the government, it will bring credibility to the plan. With the sale of impaired assets at a discount, banks will have to write off the amount, and take a hit.
Recapitalisation:-
They will need additional capital, far more than the Rs 70,000 crore committed by the government over the next four years. Providing for such amounts from the Union budget presents a challenge since the government has to increase spending, to maintain the growth momentum, while trying to meet the fiscal deficit target.
Between the mid-1990s and the early 2000s, the government deployed a unique mechanism to recapitalise banks.
Monies to the tune of over Rs 20,000 crore were provided to banks for capital but the banks, in turn, invested these in government bonds.
These were called recapitalisation bonds and were converted into marketable securities akin to government paper in subsequent years.
This exercise was budget-neutral, meaning that there was no direct cash outgo and it did not add to the fiscal deficit.
Depoliticising banks:-
The most important, reform is to seriously start the process of de-politicising banks.
In the case of banks, the government must get out, and let them be professionally owned and managed. This is a long haul and Indradhanush, a plan announced last August, is a babystep in that direction.
A lot needs to be done, as laid out in the P.J. Nayak committee’s recommendations.
Also the government needs to stay out of ARC operations and let it be managed by experts and professionals who are not constrained by public-sector salaries. The exercise could well serve another purpose — showing the road ahead for overhauling the PSBs.
[4]. Slip Sliding.
Bad assets:-
A response to an RTI query has revealed that 29 state-owned banks wrote off a total of Rs 1.14 lakh crore of bad debts between financial years 2013 and 2015.
The top culprits — who have written off the most loans — belong to the public sector. This is not a new problem.
Reason:-
Several experts have pointed towards the growing non-performing assets (NPAs) in the banking sector since the start of financial year 2012, in the aftermath of the global financial crisis.
Impact:-
Affecting government finance:-
Public-sector banks (PSBs) account for almost 70 per cent of all banking activity in the Indian economy and any slippages have to be borne by the government, or indirectly, the taxpayer.
Less monetary policy transmission:-
High and increasing levels of NPAs are also holding back monetary policy transmission in the economy, wherein interest rate cuts by the RBI fail to attract greater investments.
Reasons:-
Broadly, there are three reasons why banks have faltered.
Low growth:-
One, due to the overall economic growth deceleration. Certain sectors, for instance, the manufacturing sector, especially medium and small enterprises, were affected far more than others.
Policy paralysis:-
Two, the policy paralysis that afflicted many projects which either kept waiting for approval or could not take off due to partial approvals.
Credit evaluation mechanism:-
Three, the credit evaluation mechanism at the level of the banks was found wanting.
Problem of PSB’s:-
As the P.J. Nayak Committee report released in 2014 revealed, the governance of PSB boards had systemic flaws, which are yet to be addressed. Unlike the better-governed private-sector banks, more focused on retail loans, the PSBs had an overwhelming exposure to infrastructure-related projects, which had a long gestation period.
Conclusion:-
Ignoring the NPA problem will make it worse. The first step is to know the true level of NPAs in the system.
It is welcome that the RBI stands firm in its demand that banks come clean by March 2017. It has also provided solutions such as the Strategic Debt Restructuring mechanism. It is time for the government to do its bit by introducing structural reforms in banking. A look at the Nayak Committee recommendations will help.
[5]. Call Luddite’s Bluff.
Context:-
The artcile criticises the protests against GM Mustard and points out vested interests behind the same.
Chinese Example:-
The China National Chemical Corporation acquired Swiss agrochemicals and plant biotechnology giant Syngenta that to takeover target for US life sciences major Monsanto.
The state-owned company’s takeover shows the value the Chinese authorities attach to biotechnology in furthering food security.
On the other hand India deferred a decision on allowing commercial cultivation of a GMO mustard hybrid.
Significance of Mustard:-
Mustard contributes to a quarter of India’s edible oil production but meets hardly a third of its consumption.
A technology that is expected to raise mustard crop yields by 25-30 per cent would obviously go some way in reducing reliance on imports, currently valued at over $10 billion.
Other foreign GMO Edible oils:-
Out of the total 14.5 million tonnes (mt) of imports, a significant chunk (3.5 mt) comprises soyabean and rapeseed oil, which are predominantly GMO.
The “swadeshi” activists protesting against domestic cultivation of GMO hybrid mustard seem to be silent when it comes to “videshi” imported GMO oils.
The “food crop” reason:-
The opposition to GMO mustard on grounds of it being a “food crop”, unlike cotton, is equally dubious. Cotton-seed yields not only fibre, but also oil and de-oiled meal consumed directly or indirectly by human beings.
If nobody is really protesting against their consumption — or, for that matter, of imported GMO oils — there is no reason to single out hybrid mustard.
Make in India:-
Also, unlike Bt cotton that is based on the proprietary technology of a multinational (Monsanto), the developer of GMO mustard happens to be a publicly funded centre under Delhi University. In other words, this is a product that fits with the government’s own Make in India framework.
Conclusion:-
The government has to stop pandering to Luddite interests and worry more about what is in the interest of farmers and national food security.
[6]. Reflection on Davos.
Fourth industrial revolution:-
In reality, steam power and mechanization, followed by electricity, the telegraph and railroads and, most recently, computers were the three revolutions that forever altered the way human beings live.
The fourth industrial revolution refers to the onset of interconnected devices, artificial intelligence, robotics and rapidly increasing levels of automation.
The labour issue:-
While one could assume that these innovations would lead to separating most of humankind from the drudgery of “low-level” labour, the dystopian side is the continued carving out of what one might characterize as high-quality jobs in manufacturing and services.
Different views:-
One view was that in prior industrial revolutions, old skills gave way to new abilities.
However, this time around, the set of jobs with new skill requirements (and therefore higher pay) would be fewer than the ones they would replace.
The other view was that the workforce would adjust to developing new skills just as it had done in the previous industrial revolutions.
[7]. The economic cost of Zika Virus.
Zika virus:-
The virus may be linked to an alarming spike in microcephaly, a birth defect, in Brazil, and a neurological disorder elsewhere.
Until last year, Zika, which is transmitted through the Aedes mosquito, was known for only scattered outbreaks and mild symptoms.
Taking dengue as a measure:-
Some idea of the potential financial havoc the disease might wreak can be gleaned by looking at another sickness spread via the Aedes mosquito: dengue.
Donald Shepard, a health economist at Brandeis University, ran the numbers and concluded that in 2013 dengue cost the global economy: $8.9 billion.
That figure represents the price of caring plus the cost of lost time and productivity.
Unsurprisingly, the burden was heavy on developing countries and also add in the cost of prevention and the estimate rises to $1.2 billion.
The comparison with Zika is not perfect. Dengue has a greater global reach.
There are various strains of dengue virus, which can lead to the severe, and potentially fatal, dengue hemorrhagic fever. According to Shepard’s calculations, dengue took 13,586 lives in 2013; that’s a relatively small share of the total number of victims, but those deaths represented 11.9% of the disease’s global economic burden.
Impact onTourism :-
Shepard’s findings do not include the toll on tourism.
That’s bad news for recession-ridden Brazil, currently hosting its foreigner-friendly Carnival festivities and expecting as many as half-a-million tourists for the Olympic Games in August, during the cooler, drier, less mosquito-friendly tropical winter.
By: ForumIAS Editorial Team
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