9 PM Daily Brief – 24 May 2016

Brief of newspaper articles for the day bearing
relevance to Civil Services preparation

What is 9 PM brief?

• GS PAPER 1
  1. J&K writers oppose move to sideline Nastaliq script {Art and Culture}
  2. Digitising data on ‘stolen’ Buddhist relics {Art and Culture}
• GS PAPER 2
  1. U.K. grants refugee status to Nasheed {Foreign Policy}
  2. States told to withdraw tobacco packs without 85 p.c. pictorial warning {Bills and Laws}
  3. Ready to accelerate border talks: China {Foreign Policy}
  4. Obama lifts arms ban in his first visit to Vietnam {Foreign Policy}
  5. Raja Mandala: What Pranab must say to Beijing {Foreign Policy}
  6. When Centre targets state {Polity}
• GS PAPER 3
  1. Jan Dhan accounts more vulnerable to fraud by ‘money mules’: RBI’s Mundra {Economy}
  2. ‘Adopting BS-VI norms will make diesel vehicles costlier’ {Economy}
  3. Why Sebi’s action on P-Notes deserves only two cheers {Economy}

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GS PAPER 1

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 [1] J&K writers oppose move to sideline Nastaliq script

The Hindu

What happened?

• The reported move by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) to constitute a National Council for Promotion of Kashmiri Language with Devanagari and Sharda as its scripts prompted vehement opposition from Kashmiri writers and poets for ignoring Nastaliq, the traditional Perso-Arabic script.

Nastaliq

• Nastaʿlīq is one of the main calligraphic hands used in writing the Persian script, and traditionally the predominant style in Persian calligraphy.
• It was developed in Iran in the 14th and 15th centuries.
• It is sometimes used to write Arabic-language text , but its use has always been more popular in the Persian, Turkic and Urdu sphere of influence.
• Nastaʿlīq has extensively been (and still is) practiced in Iran, Pakistan, India, Afghanistan and other countries for written poetry and as a form of art.

 [2] Digitising data on ‘stolen’ Buddhist relics

The Hindu

What happened?

• Chinese authorities are engaged in a major international effort to digitally accumulate information on the priceless cultural treasures of the Buddhist caves in Dunhuang — murals, statues and manuscripts — that were taken away by Western expeditions and ended up mostly in museums of Europe, Asia and the U.S.

Dunhuang Buddhist caves

• Dunhuang Buddhist caves, housing 2,000 painted sculptures and half a million square feet of wall paintings, are in the Gobi desert, at a major junction of the ancient Silk Road.

Indian Connection

• Aurel Stein, former principal of Oriental College, Lahore, removed 24 trunks of ancient Buddhist scriptures and five boxes of paintings, embroideries, and other artworks from the Mogao caves, all for a princely sum of £130.
• The artworks brought by Stein have been deposited in the British Museum, but an impressive collection has also been exhibited at the National Museum at New Delhi.
• In fact, Stein’s 1913-16 expedition was funded by the government of India, with the understanding that majority of the finds of this excursion would lay the foundation of a new museum in Delhi.

International Dunhuang Project (IDP)

• The International Dunhuang Project (IDP) is an international collaborative effort to conserve, catalogue and digitise manuscripts, printed texts, paintings, textiles and artefacts from Dunhuang and various other archaeological sites at the eastern end of the Silk Road.
• The project was established by the British Library in 1994.
• The Dunhuang Academy is a major fulcrum of the International Dunhuang Project (IDP).
• It aims to unite information on “all these artefacts through the highest quality digital photography by coordinating international teams of conservators, cataloguers and researchers”.
• The National Museum in New Delhi is a founding member of the IDP.

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GS PAPER 2

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[1] U.K. grants refugee status to Nasheed

The Hindu

News

• The former Maldives President Mohamad Nasheed, who was allowed to travel to London for medical treatment by the government of President Abdulla Yameen in January this year, has been granted refugee status by the United Kingdom.

Background

• Mr. Nasheed was convicted and jailed in the Maldives in 2015 after a trial that attracted international criticism, including from the United Nations Group on Arbitrary Detention.

Plans of Mr. Nasheed

• He said, President Yameen has jailed every opposition leader and cracked down on anyone who dares to oppose or criticise him.
• In the past year, freedom of the press, expression and assembly have all been lost.
• He is planning for building a coalition of Maldivian opposition forces in exile in Britain, and of pressing their case in international forums.

[2] States told to withdraw tobacco packs without 85 p.c. pictorial warning

The Hindu

What happened?

• The Centre has set May 31 deadline for the States and Union Territories to withdraw from the market tobacco products whose 85 per cent packaging space is not covered with pictorial warning.

Additional Points

• The Pictorial Warning Rules under Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act (COTPA) 2003 had come into force from April 1, 2016.
• The order said that packages not compliant with the new rules be allowed for sale “only by printing, pasting or affixing the new warnings thereon covering 85 per cent of the principal display area.”

[3]Ready to accelerate border talks: China

 The Hindu

Issue

• India-China relations

Context

• President Pranab Mukherjee’s  first visit to China.

A positive note struck by China before President’s visit to China

• It said, it is ready to work with India to accelerate negotiations and resolve this historic issue at an early date to move forward bilateral relations.
• Earlier, Indian President had said that  India wants a fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable settlement to solve the border issue.
• Outlining the steps taken by India and China to resolve the dispute, China said that the two countries had established a series of working mechanisms, including talks at the level of Special Representatives to resolve the issue, besides reaching political guidelines and a three-step road map.

[4] Obama lifts arms ban in his first visit to Vietnam

The Hindu

News

• U.S. President Barack Obama has  lifted a decades-old arms export embargo on Vietnam.

US-Vietnam relations

• According to US, the move is  intended to step toward normalizing relations with the former war enemy and to eliminate a “lingering vestige of the Cold War.”
• US is seeking to strike this balance with Vietnam amid Chinese efforts to strengthen claims to disputed territory in the South China Sea, one of the world’s most important waterways.
• Lifting the arms embargo will be a psychological boost for Vietnam’s leaders as they look to counter an increasingly aggressive China, but there may not be a big jump in sales.
• The United States partially lifted the embargo in 2014, but Vietnam wanted full access as it tries to deal with China’s assertive land reclamation and military construction in nearby seas.
• Vietnam has not bought anything, but removing the remaining restrictions shows relations are fully normalized and opens the way to deeper security cooperation.
• US is pushing for stronger commercial and security ties, including approval of the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Trade agreement that is stalled in Congress and facing strong opposition from the 2016 presidential candidates.
• The United States is eager to boost trade with a fast-growing middle class in Vietnam that is expected to double by 2020.
• That would mean knocking down auto, food and machine tariffs to get more U.S. products into Vietnam.

[5] Raja Mandala: What Pranab must say to Beijing

Indian Express

Issue

• China’s opposition to India’s membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).
• With strong support from the United States and other leading Western powers, India is now quite close to becoming a full member of the global nuclear system.
• The only thing standing in the way is China

Click on Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) for additional information.

India-China relations over the the last five decades

• The political tensions of the 1960s and 1970s, following the border war of 1962, have yielded place to comprehensive engagement at all levels.
• The two sides have also managed to limit arguments about interference in each other’s internal affairs, ensured peace and tranquillity on the long and contested border, expanded economic cooperation, and deepened cooperation in multilateral affairs.

India’s support to China

• India has extended political support to a rising China’s global agenda — promoting a multipolar world that limits American power and the building of non-Western institutions such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, BRICS, and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.

China’s attitude towards India on our international priorities

China has been reluctant to give its support for

• Permanent membership of the United Nations Security Council
• Countering international terrorism
• India’s integration into the global nuclear order.

China’s arguments for preventing India’s membership of the global nuclear system

• India is not eligible for NSG membership because it has not signed the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.
• If India gets the membership, then Pakistan should get it as well.

China’s violation of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty

• After India’s 1974 atomic test, China signed a nuclear pact with Pakistan in 1976, which facilitated the transfer of nuclear weapons technology and missile production capabilities to Pakistan in the 1980s and 1990s.
• In a violation of NSG guidelines, China has sold additional nuclear power reactors to Pakistan. China has now encouraged Pakistan to apply for NSG membership and complicate India’s own efforts.

What India should say to China?

• Playing the Pakistan card at the NSG will have significant long-term negative consequences for India-China bilateral relations, and that it is no longer business as usual on this issue in Delhi.
• India should communicate to the Chinese leadership that China’s NSG mischief will leave the government with two unavoidable conclusions
• One, Beijing is unwilling to accommodate any of India’s core national interests.
• The other, China is willing to risk all costs in the relationship.

[6]When Centre targets state

Indian Express

Issue

• Critical analysis of President’s Rule.

Author’s view on President’s Rule

• The only reason for imposing President’s Rule under Article 356 (read with Article 355) can be external aggression and internal disturbance which shakes the foundations of governance altogether as in Punjab (1987-90).
• Even external and internal disturbances do not require President’s Rule.
• Article 352 allows emergency for a part of India.
• According to author, President’s Rule should be abolished.
• If Union governance can do without President’s Rule, so too the states.

Lessons from Uttarakhand

• One, President’s Rule should never have been imposed to undermine federalism and electoral democracy
• Two, it was imposed for party political gain only
• Three, it was de facto defection which the constitutional amendment of 2003 had outlawed
• Four, the governor behaved in a partisan manner
• Five, the single judge rightly ordered a floor test but should have suspended President’s Rule (as the Supreme Court did later)
• Six, the division bench rightly struck down President’s Rule and ordered a floor test
• Seven, the Supreme Court should never have stayed the division bench’s order
• Eight, the Supreme Court gave time to the disqualified defectors, but that didn’t work out
• Nine, eventually there was a floor test. The President’s Rule was revoked.

Road Ahead

• The next Supreme Court hearing is on July 12. Has the Supreme Court given the defectors another chance to catch up?

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GS PAPER 3

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[1] Jan Dhan accounts more vulnerable to fraud by ‘money mules’: RBI’s Mundra

The Hindu

Issue

• RBI  has warned that Jan Dhan accounts can be misused by ‘money mules’.

What are money mules?

• Money mules are people who serve as intermediaries for criminals and criminal organisations.
• Whether or not they are aware of it, they transport fraudulently gained money to fraudsters.
• The use of intermediaries makes it difficult to figure out the identity of the fraudster.
• Money mules, just like fraudsters, are guilty of illegally transporting fraudulently gained money and can be prosecuted for this.

Why such concerns?

• Recently,  an idle account was used for receiving and transferring large funds without the knowledge of the account holder.

What else?

• RBI said that Jan Dhan accounts accounts are  “very vulnerable” to frauds and asked banks to be on guard against such activities.
• It has asked banks to have a proper mechanism to monitor transactions in these accounts.
• Failure to guard against misuse of customer accounts, might result in banks incurring supervisory sanctions and enforcement action from the RBI.

[2] ‘Adopting BS-VI norms will make diesel vehicles costlier’ +  ‘Improved tech can cut emissions’

The Hindu                                                                                                                                        The Hindu

Issue

• Bharat Stage norms

Key points:-

• Hydrocarbon usage in the country is growing rapidly and it is imperative that technology moves apace to ensure the damage to the environment is limited.
• Technology holds the key to achieving the government’s goals of reducing carbon dioxide emissions and oil imports by 10 per cent and introducing BS-VI-compliant fuel across the country.

What are BS norms?

• Bharat Stage emission standards, introduced in 2000, are emission standards that have been set up the Central government to regulate the output of air pollutants from internal combustion engine equipment, including motor vehicles.
• The different norms are brought into force in accordance with the timeline and standards set up by the Central Pollution Control Board which comes under the Ministry of Environment and Forests and Climate Change.

The Bharat Stage norms are based on European regulations

• Euro norms define the maximum limit of pollutant that a vehicle can emit. (CO2, nitrogen oxide, sulfur and suspended particulate matter)
• If vehicle emits more than this limit, it cannot be sold in Europe.
• In India, we follow Euro norms under the label “Bharat stage” norms. We are gradually implementing them in more and more cities

Enforcement

• Since October 2010, Bharat Stage (BS) III norms have been enforced across the country.
• In 13 major cities, Bharat Stage IV emission norms have been in place since April 2010.
• In 2016, the Indian government announced that the country would skip the Euro V norms altogether and adopt Euro VI norms by 2020.
• The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas has set a deadline of 2017 by which time all the vehicles in the country must be BS-IV-compliant and 2020 for the rollout of BS-VI fuel.

Impact of BS norms on diesel vehicles

• The government’s decision to leapfrog the Bharat Stage (BS)-V Emission Standards and implement the BS-VI norms by April 2020, four years ahead of the earlier schedule, will make diesel vehicles costlier by Rs.70,000 to Rs.1,50,000.
• The diesel segment is likely to witness a sizeable price increase due to introduction of additional components.
• As diesel vehicles would require significant technology changes, the cost differential between petrol and diesel passenger vehicles would expand further.
• It will make diesel passenger vehicles costlier (vis-à-vis petrol variants) and may deter demand for diesel vehicles.
• Availability of technology would not be an issue, the key challenge for Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) would be adapting the available solutions to Indian market conditions in a short time-frame, in a cost-effective manner.

[3] Why Sebi’s action on P-Notes deserves only two cheers

Livemint

Issue

• Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has tightened the norms for issuance of participatory notes (P-Notes).

Participatory Notes

• Participatory Notes commonly known as P-Notes or PNs are instruments issued by registered foreign institutional investors (FII) to overseas investors, who wish to invest in the Indian stock markets without registering themselves with the market regulator, the Securities and Exchange Board of India.
• Participatory notes are instruments used for making investments in the stock markets.
• However, they are not used within the country. They are used outside India for making investments in shares listed in the Indian stock market. That is why they are also called offshore derivative instruments.
• In the Indian context, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) and their sub-accounts mostly use these instruments for facilitating the participation of their overseas clients, who are not interested in participating directly in the Indian stock market.
• For example, Indian-based brokerages buy India-based securities and then issue participatory notes to foreign investors. Any dividends or capital gains collected from the underlying securities go back to the investors.
• Indian regulators are not very happy about participatory notes because they have no way to know who owns the underlying securities.
• Regulators fear that hedge funds acting through participatory notes will cause economic volatility in India’s exchanges.

Why PNs are popular among the foreign investors?

• These are largely used by foreign investors who do not want to or cannot access Indian markets directly.
• This could be either because they want to avoid the rigmarole and the cost of registering with another regulator, or because of restrictions in their investment mandates.
• Some investors also like to use P-Notes because of the flexibility they provide.
• P-Note issuers are known to issue over-the-counter derivatives products that are customised to their customers’ needs.
• This could be a put option for a tenure that is not readily available in Indian markets, or an exposure to an index that is not traded, or something far more exotic.
• To the extent that such products are not available in the onshore markets, there will always be a demand for such structured products in the form of P-Notes.

What SEBI should  do?

• Sebi is making access through P-Notes increasingly cumbersome, it should make attempts to ease access for genuine investors through other means. The evidence is quite the opposite.
• Indian government liberalised regulations on depository receipt (DR) issuances in November 2014.
• This was a welcome move as far as improving access to foreign investors was concerned.
• Unfortunately, market participants are still awaiting clarity from Sebi for operating guidelines related to these new regulations.
• Sebi needs to work on a number of fronts to improve access for foreign investors.
• More curbs on P-Notes may keep some bad elements out, but it will be a pity if in the process genuine investors are also pushed away.
• Especially so when there are ways to improve access without compromising on compliance.