Click here to Download 9 PM Daily Brief PDF (17th Oct. 2016)
NATIONAL
[1]. Centre’s stand on triple talaq is based on gender justice
The Hindu
Context
Centre’s affidavit on the triple talaq issue, which is being heard in the Supreme Court, was based on the principles of assuring gender justice, gender equality and dignity
Government’s view
- Right to religion did not include practicing any harmful religious practices
- Law Commission’s wider consultation on the question of a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) was separate from the triple talaq issue
[2]. SIT moots independent ED probe into money laundering
Context
The Special Investigation Team (SIT) on black money has recommended that money laundering investigations by the Enforcement Directorate be allowed without any dependence on registration of cases by other agencies.
What is ‘Black Money’?
Black money is money which is earned through any illegal activity controlled by country regulations. Black money proceeds are usually received in cash from underground economic activity and, as such, is not taxed. Recipients of black money must hide it, spend it only in the underground economy, or attempt to give it the appearance of legitimacy through money laundering.
Sources of black money
Possible sources of black money include drug trafficking, weapons trading, terrorism, prostitution, selling counterfeit or stolen goods and selling pirated versions of copyrighted items such as software and musical recordings.
[3]. Judicial appointments: Panel to consult jurists
Context
The Standing Committee on Ministry of Personnel and Law Justice has scheduled a series of interactions with senior jurists for their views on a way forward in the light of ongoing tussle over the Memorandum of Procedure (MoP) for judicial appointments
Decision
A decision to hold consultations with jurists was taken at the meeting of the panel on October 13
Memorandum of Procedure
MoP here refers to the memorandum showing the appointment procedure for the appointment of Chief Justice of India and judges of Supreme Court of India
[4]. Uniform Code not just ideology-driven
Context
Government has denied that a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) was part of its ideological core
Government’s position
Present government don’t see UCC just as part of the manifesto
- Article 44 is part of the Constitution enjoining UCC
- The framers of our Constitution were clear that we must steadily progress towards a UCC
Government’s view on the way things have developed over triple talaq issue
Law minister explaining the government’s stand of triple talaq said that,
- If you look at the way Hindu personal laws developed, it was in this fashion.Sati was abolished, the age of consent for marriage amended by the Sharda Act, Dowry prohibition laws came in after there were challenges to these practices,” the Minister said. “It also shows, therefore, that evolution of law, consistent with these norms of gender justice is integral to India’s ethos
- Right to equality, non-discrimination on the grounds of sex and the right to live with dignity were part of our Constitution before the Western world granted these to women in their countries and before international covenants were signed
What is UCC?
Uniform civil codeis the proposal to replace the personal laws based on the scriptures and customs of each major religious community in India with a common set governing every citizen
[5]. Health spending- How States splurge on salaries
Context
Article focusses on the findings of a study of State Health Accounts of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Punjab. Researchers from PHFI and its partners, in collaboration, with the State governments, studied health accounts for these six States for the year 2013-14.
Findings of the report
- Bulk of the total public money spent in State-level healthcare system is not spent on medical services, but goes to wages and salaries of human resource
Stats: Wages and salaries account for 86 per cent of the total public expenditure in Punjab, 72 per cent in Maharashtra, 65 per cent in Kerala, 52.5 per cent in Madhya Pradesh and 35 per cent in Odisha
- Per capita total cost of care: It is defined as the money spent by patients as well as that spent by the government on paying salaries to staff, for health subsidy etc. As per the findings, it is lesser in government sector than private sector
Exception: Maharashtra is an exception to the rule. The total cost incurred per patient under OPD in the State is more expensive in public sector (Rs.1,082) than in private sector (Rs.964)
Reason: In many states government procures the medicines and give it for free to outpatients resulting in lower outpatient costs whereas in private sector no such provision of free emdicines is there. Hence, cost per outpatient incurred by the state is lesser in some states while in states where no such provision exists, the outpatient costs are driven higher.
- Costs per inpatient: in all States studied, the total cost of an inpatient episode — which involves hospitalisation — is much higher in private sector compared to public sector
- Contributions by local healthcare:Contrary to the popular perception that only the State health department funds healthcare at the State level, the findings show important contribution by other sources
Example: In Maharashtra, 23 per cent of healthcare money comes from local bodies, which is significantly high compared to Kerala, the next best State, where local bodies contributed 5.8 per cent.
- Case of Maharashtra: Firms pay a considerable amount of money in Maharashtra — constituting 8.6 per cent of the total money spent on healthcare in the State — to provide healthcare for their workers and families, signifying high spending for a few people. This is because Maharashtra is the major financial centre of the country. In other five States, this figure didn’t exceed 1.5 per cent
Importance of health estimates
- Health accounts monitor the flow of resources in a health system and provide estimates of spending and utilisation by various entities including both government and private sector.
- For the first time, Health Accounts Estimates have been conducted at the state level in India.
Hindu had reported earlier that
The bulk of the total money circulating in Indian healthcare (69 per cent) comes from Out Of Pocket (OOP) payment by households
- OOP: The OOP is the money which individuals pay out of their own
EDITORIAL
[1]. Kairana and the politics of exclusion
Context
The National Human Rights Commission’s report on the ‘Kairana exodus’ raises questions about its remit as an unbiased arbiter in conflict situations
Background
In June, the BJP’s Lok Sabha Member of Parliament Hukum Singh had released a list of 346 members of Hindu families that had allegedly fled Kairana town in Shamli district of western Uttar Pradesh due to persecution and pressure fearing atrocities at the hands of Muslim criminals and extortionists.
- The forced exodus claim was denied by the State government and the district administration.
- Several investigative reports by the media, notably in The Hindu, The Indian Express ,Hindustan Times and Quint had denied any such exodus. They found it to be exaggerated and false as many of the people had migrated for various reasons and some had done so in search of better opportunities.
NHRC comes into picture
In response to a complaint filed by Monika Arora, a Supreme Court advocate, and a vocal and active member of the BJP, the commission constituted a team from its Investigation Division to look into the complaints of exodus of Hindu families from Kairana due to fear of criminals.
NHRC’s report is flawed
The NHRC report released on September 21 observed that these allegations are ‘serious’ and that several Hindu families have migrated because of the worsening law and order situation after victims of the Muzaffarnagar riots settled there.
- The five-page report comprises brief statements on the criminal incidents given by select witnesses. There is no evidence in the report that these crimes were committed by displaced people who had settled in Kairana, even though the report asserts that the presence of Muzaffarnagar riot victims has changed the demography of Kairana and this has led to a further deterioration of law and order in the town.
- Report recommended the formation of a high-level committee of the Government of U.P. “to meet each of the displaced families from Kairana Town now living in districts Dehradun, Panipat, Muzaffarnagar, Roorki, Karnal, etc. of Uttarakhand and Haryana in order to redress their grievances and facilitate their return to Kairana, if so desired” It did not make the same proposals for the rehabilitation of over 75,000 people displaced from Muzaffarnagar in 2013.
- Report doesn’t mentions the ongoing process of communal mobilization and internal displacement in the western Uttar Pradesh
Living apart: Communal Violence and Forced Displacement in Muzaffarnagar and Shamli
A 2016 report, Living Apart: Communal Violence and Forced Displacement in Muzaffarnagar and Shamli , based on detailed ground-level research done by the non-governmental organisationsAmanBiradari and Afkar India, found that
- 270 families (approximately 2,000 people) had settled in Kairana and that even after three years, riot victims are living in ghetto-like resettlement colonies with little support from the State administration.
- Uttar Pradesh administration not only failed to rehabilitate riot victims displaced from their homes and villages, it also actively encouraged Muslim refugees, who used to live in Hindu majority villages, to resettle in Muslim-majority colonies, thus escalating the social divide.
NHRC’s reputation compromised
Author says that NHRC’s reputation has been strengthened by its fair actions in the past esp with regards to communal riots in Gujarat in 2002 where it moved to SC to secure a fair trial.
- Its neutrality is critically important because that is what gives its reports and decisions credibility as a record of ground reality, without serving any person or party’s interest
- Its impartiality has been undermined by the decision to investigate an exodus list supplied by a political party with a clear stake in upping the communal ante ahead of the Uttar Pradesh elections.
- Doing so NHRC has given a communal color to a law and order problem
Conclusion
In today’s times where majoritarianism is gaining currency, institutions like the NHRC have to play a counter-majoritarian role instead of playing to the tune of communal elements
[3]. An onerous task ahead
Context
Article brings forth the fact that Paris agreement is entering into force without the requisite support structure for its success
European Union approves
The European Union’s ratification of the Paris Climate Agreement has pushed it beyond the required threshold ensuring that the Agreement will enter into force, or become part of international law, on November 4, 2016
Paris agreement
The Paris Agreement, in contrast with the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, makes all countries responsible for reducing GHGs instead of just the rich or Annex-1 countries
- Individual countries are now responsible for implementing their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), goals that each country developed and submitted to the UNFCCC before the Paris Conference of Parties (COP) in December 2015. Most of the pledges, including India’s, are partly or entirely conditional on financial support for their implementation
Support
Author states that there is no support structre in place for the Paris agreement to succeed.
- No progress: Rich countries are supposed to make available $100 billion annually by 2020 for climate-related projects in poor countries. There is little sign of any significant progress towards this goal.
- Targets set are low: As per the INDCs submitted by most of the countries, targets that have been set would not be sufficient to stem the rise in global temperature to under 2oC
A permanent change in CO2 concentration
The earth’s atmosphere has exceeded 400 parts per million (ppm) of carbon dioxide (CO2). CO2 concentrations have been steadily going upward since humans began removing fuel from below the ground and using it to fire up the industrial revolution.
- There are small annual fluctuations in these concentrations, which are usually at their lowest after the summer as vegetation in the Northern hemisphere absorbs the atmospheric gas. In autumn, as leaves fall, the CO2 levels begin to increase.
- Over the past few years, several places in the world have recorded concentrations above 400 ppm, but this September, when concentrations should generally be lowest for the year, the values have remained above 400 ppm
Therefore,a significant shift in human behaviour and economic systems, which are closely tied with atmospheric systems and the future of our planet.
Change is happening
Change may in fact be taking place now in several small isolated communities around the world.
- There are eco-villages and transition towns (although they also go by other names) where renewables alone are used, people track all their emissions, and try to build communities while adopting simpler and less consumerist lifestyles.
- Kigali agreement: On October 15, a global agreement was reached to limit the use of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), which are used mainly as refrigerants and are powerful GHGs.According to estimates, this agreement could help avoid about 0.4ºC warming until 2100.
Conclusion
Currently, about 82 per cent of the world’s energy comes from burning fossil fuels.Improving efficiencies of energy production and use, and increasing the contribution from renewables are major improvements, but the world will have to go to “net zero” emissions over the next few decades in order to avoid exceeding a 2ºC rise by mid-century or soon thereafter.The missions is possible if social movements, civil society organisations, legal systems and political leaders work together.
INTERNATIONAL
[1]. BRICS meet declaration pledges to fight terror
Context
The 8th BRICS summit ended with the adoption of the Goa Declaration which pledged opposition to terrorism, even as India failed to get a consensus on references to “cross-border terror” and Pakistan-based terror groups in the final statement.
Points made by Goa declaration
- The text of the declaration did not name any country specifically as the source of cross-border terrorism but officials maintained that India did get the diplomatic edge it wanted from the summit.
- pointed out the need for countering the Islamic State which has occupied territories in Iraq, Syria, and Libya. Specifically mentioning the Arabic acronym of IS, Daesh, it said the threat posed by the group is “unprecedented” and called for a Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT) in the U.N. General Assembly
- The declaration called for resolution of the civil war in Syria, in accordance with the “legitimate aspirations of the people of Syria” and sought action against U.N.-designated terrorist groups like IS and Jabhat al-Nusra
- The final statement also called for all nations to counter radicalism, and block sources of financing international terrorism, “including through organised crime by means of money-laundering, drug trafficking, criminal activities, dismantling terrorist bases and countering misuse of the Internet including social media by terror entities through misuse of the latest Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs)”.
[2]. India rekindles bond with Hungary
Context
India & Hungary signed 2 agreements during the visit by Vice president Mr Hamid Ansari to Hungary
Agreements
- One of the two memoranda of cooperation that India and Hungary, a country of two great rivers, signed relates to water management.
- The other provides for cooperation between the Indian Council for World Affairs and the Institute of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary.
- Defence industry cooperation is another positive move
- Cooperation in the fields of film-making and agriculture have also been initiated
Background
The Indian outreach comes in the backdrop of the support Hungary has extended to India’s bid for membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group, and also in the context of the post-Brexit uncertainties for Indian business and industry in the United Kingdom.
- Hungary is, it is understood, in the process of putting in place a policy of incentivisation to Indian companies coming to this country.
[3]. Bhutan supports India on surgical strikes along LoC
Context
Bhutan stands “shoulder-to-shoulder” with India in its fight against terror, said Bhutan’s Prime Minister TsheringTobgay, adding that its decision to pull out of the SAARC summit came as an act of solidarity with India.
Bhutan’s stand
“The security situation is deteriorating because of terror and terrorism which cannot be tolerated. And the worst form of terrorism is cross-border terrorism,”
“If you are going to act only when you have been violated personally, then you can’t claim to be part of a greater commons,” Mr. Tobgay said
[4]. Sirisena seeks solution to fishermen issue
Context
Sri Lankan PresidentMaithripalaSirisenaasked Prime Minister NarendraModi to find a “firm” solution to the “thorny” fishermen issue
What is the fishermen issue?
The issue refers to the problems faced by the fishermen on both sides of the border in India and Sri Lanka. The attributable causes are the instances of Indian fishermen being prevented from fishing, facing harassment and arrest by the Sri Lankan Navy (SLN), and also the nearly 200 deaths resulting from SLA operations involving interdictions and firings on suspicion of the Indian trawlers aiding LTTE and gun running while fishing in the area, as reported over the past decade
ECONOMY
[1]. Centre rethinks 40% annuity order under NPS
Context
To make the National Pension System (NPS) more attractive, the Centre could do away with a norm mandating retiring employees to buy an annuity with 40 per cent of accumulated corpus.
National Pension system (NPS)
- NPS is a social security benefit offered by the government to target the majority of population that does not have/does not receive pension benefits from its employer.
- It is a defined contribution scheme (unlike EPF, PPF where returns are guaranteed by the government) regulated by the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA).
- The investment in NPS is to be maintained until maturity/retirement.
- Upon retirement, a part of your corpus will be allowed to be withdrawn as lump sum, and the balance will be mandatorily paid out as pension annuity.
Who is covered?
- Any individual between the age of 18 years and 55 years is covered. He could be a resident or a non-resident.
Advantages
- Cost – NPS is the cheapest among current retirement products and defined contribution schemes; It is also easy to transact in NPS.
- Flexibility – The subscriber is given a PRAN, which will remain with him for forever. The account is portable irrespective of change in job/location.
- Returns – The returns would be higher than traditional debt investments (such as post-office schemes, bank deposits etc) due to equity element in the investment.
Reference: Article
[2]. BRICS agrees to set up credit rating agency
The Hindu
Context
The five-nation group BRICS agreed to set up an independent rating agency based on market-oriented principles, saying it would further strengthen the global governance architecture.
Present situation
Currently, the world’s three big credit ratings agencies Moody’s, Fitch and S&P, which together account for a 90 per cent share of the ratings market, rule the roost.
Why an independent rating agency?
Infrastructure plans involve long maturation projects that discourage the private sector, especially in the case of less developed countries. Adding to these problems, the share of resources from multilateral banks is small and almost inconsequential.
- The multilateral banks’ investment portfolios often follow policy criteria that tend to overlook critical infrastructure projects, the ones that could make a real impact on billions of citizens.
This is where the need for an alternative ratings agency comes into play.
Conclusion
A new agency made up of specialists with deep understanding of the modus operandi of BRICS and developing countries – with the aim to rate infrastructure and sustainable projects – can contribute to the inclusion of projects that generate “positive externalities”
[3]. Unprepared for bad days
Context
India lacks the institutional mechanisms to deal with the death of firms and the failure of banks
Author says that,
- Bank credit to the industrial sector has started shrinking. Its decline has been a serious cause for concern as credit growth is essential to revive investment
- We should have prepared for worst case scenarios that next 25 years after 1991 can offer but we only prepared for the best
Way forward
Recapitalisation: In a government owned banking system loss-making banks cannot be shut down. The only way out seems to be “recapitalisation”, or putting tax payer money into making up for the losses or loans not returned.
- The situation is fraught with problems. Banks are not willing to either recognise bad loans or sell off weak assets at losses. The regulator is willing to give leeway knowing that government has limited money to recapitalise loss making public sector banks. If banks are forced to recognise losses and government cannot put money in, credit would only decline further.
Conclusion
As long as the economy was small and business cycles were mild, our economcy somehow managed. However, after 2000 there was a doubling of GDP, very high growth, and then a sharp downswing of the business cycle after 2008. Policymakers have been looking for short-term answers whereas a long term approach is needed here.
[4]. No one asks the farmer
Context
Author states that instead of any political party, government should let the farmers decide on the issue of Genetically Modified Mustard
Author points out the instances where government in previous years had to face similar criticism while importing seeds from other countries like in case of wheat and Bt cotton
Who developed the GM Mustard?
Scientists at Delhi University’s Centre for Genetic Manipulation of Crop Plants (CGMCP) developed the variety.
- The CGMCP scientists have basically modified the barnase-barstar-bar technology, originally used in canola, to create a robust and viable hybridisation system in mustard
- It enables crossing of a wide range of Indian and East European origin mustard lines, creating hybrids potentially giving higher yields and also expressing other desired traits relating to disease resistance or oil quality. This is something not achievable through conventional breeding, more so given the narrow genetic base of mustard varieties grown in India.
Opposition to GM Mustard
- GM mustard hybrid incorporates three alien genes — barnase, barstar and bar — rendering it inherently unsafe for human and animal health
Counter: These genes have already been deployed in canola, which belongs to the same Brassicaceae plant family as mustard
- Critics allege that the barnase-barstar-bar technology was originally developed by a company now part of the German multinational Bayer AG, and the CGMCP scientists had done nothing new.
Counter: Scientists have been able to obtain six foreign patents — three from the US and one each from Europe, Canada and Australia — for their work in transgenic mustard breeding. Copyrights are not given for already created things
- Critics have also pointed at the bar gene, which makes the plant resistant to the application of the herbicide glufosinate. Their argument is that Herbicides should not be permitted because they displace farm labourers engaged in manual weeding
Counter: It is not farmer’s responsibility to provide rural employment.
Canola oil & other products
India is already now importing some 3,50,000tonnes of canola oil every year, a lot of it GM, and three mt of soyabean oil, which is entirely GM. No NGO till date has blocked a single consignment of imported GM oil or even corn entering any Indian port.
- How is it that GM technology is fine in imported videshi oil, but not if employed for desi mustard oil?
Conclusion
A farmer should be given a chance to grow the seed and see as to how it actually works out but he is being denied that chance to make an informed judgement by those who don’t really farm for a living.
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