A brief of newspaper articles for the day bearing
relevance to Civil Services preparation
National
[1]. India to press for equity at climate change talks despite pressure
Context: 21st session of the Conference of Parties (COP) is going to be held at Paris. The article discusses what India’s stance is going to be at the session.
India’s strategy at Paris
India’s strategy at the Paris Climate Change summit will be to work with emerging economies and press the developed world to concede that responsibility for cutting carbon emissions after 2020 cannot be shared equally by rich and poor nations
Major issues India will focus on,
- Failed ambitions on transferring low carbon technologies to the developing world
- The lack of support for a plan to fund mitigation (gradual reduction) and adaptation efforts
- Emphasis on CBDR: India will stress that developing countries should be given a greater room for cutting their emissions in accordance with their development needs so that they can fuel their economic growth.
[2]. Fortifying rubber wood naturally
What has happened?
A five-year-long research by scientists of the Institute of Wood Science and Technology (IWST) has resulted in finding an organic natural plant extract for treatment of rubber wood to preserve it better and make it stronger to match its friendly pricing.
Why rubber wood needs treatment?
Teakwood and rosewood have natural properties to protect them from termites and weather while rubber wood is highly susceptible to termite attacks so it needs treatment. Rubber wood comes under timber plantation.
The organic natural plant extract is an eco-friendly wood preservative
What does the mix has?
A combination of pongamia (honge) seed oil, cashew shell liquid, neem oil and specialised extracts of five other leaves and barks, including the acacia bark
At present the inorganic chemical based treatments are used in the industry. Health of the timber cannot be maintained with chemical treatments that has heavy metals as copper, chromium and arsenic elements in the mix
International
[1]. India, Singapore enters into a strategic partnership
What has happened?
India & Singapore signed a joint declaration wherein they have committed to a strategic partnership in the following areas,
- Defence
- Political
- Security
- Economic
- Cultural
- People to people contact
Other highlights of the PM’s visit,
- 10 bilateral agreements were signed
- Memoranda of understanding for curtailing drug trafficking and improving cybersecurity enabling Singapore and India to collaborate on technology and research.
- Agreements on collaboration in urban planning and wastewater management
Singapore could also be the country where India launches Rupee bonds.
What is a bond?
Generally, a bond is a promise to repay the principal along with interest (coupons) on a specified date (maturity). Some bonds do not pay interest, but all bonds require a repayment of principal. When an investor buys a bond, he/she becomes a creditor of the issuer. However, the buyer does not gain any kind of ownership rights to the issuer, unlike in the case of equities.
Opinions & Editorials
[1]. Crime and penalty in Bangladesh
Background to Bangladesh War
After the partition of India in 1947, East & West Pakistan were created. West Pakistan had Bengali Muslims as a majority population and to the East Pakistan authorities the Bengali Muslims of the East Pakistan were ‘inferior and impure’. So, the West Pakistan authorities began a policy of forcible assimilation of Bengalis on the cultural front.
The people of the East were looked upon as second-class citizens by the West, and Amir Abdullah Khan Niazi, who served as head of the Pakistani Forces in East Pakistan in 1971, referred to the region as a “low-lying land of low, lying people”.
1948: Jinnah declared Urdu as the national language of newly formed Pakistan despite the fact that only 4% of Pakistan’s population spoke Urdu at that time.
Refusal to recognise Bengalis as the second national language led to the formation of Bengali Language movement and strengthened the support base of the Awami league in the East Pakistan. Awami league was formed as an alternative to the Muslim league.
1952 Dhaka protest: The students of the University of Dhaka and other political activists defied the law and organised a protest on 21 February 1952. The movement reached its climax when police killed student demonstrators on that day. The deaths provoked widespread civil unrest. After years of conflict, the central government relented and granted official status to the Bengali language in 1956.
The Bengali Language movement acted as a forerunner for the Bengali nationalist movements like the Bangladesh liberation War in 1971.
1965 Indo-Pak war: During the war East Pakistan no extra military units were assigned to East Pakistan. Bengalis feared that in case of an Indian attack they would be left defenceless. This scenario aggravated the situation further, proliferating feelings of mistrust between the authorities of the East and West Pakistan.
Bhola Cyclone: It was a devastating tropical cyclone that struck East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) and India’s West Bengal on 12 November 1970. It remains the deadliest tropical cyclone ever recorded and one of the deadliest natural disasters in modern times.
The slow and inept response of the Pakistani government towards the relief work contributed to the already growing dissatisfaction. It exacerbated the bitterness felt in East Pakistan, swelling the resistance movement there. Funds only slowly got through, and transport was slow in bringing supplies to the devastated regions.
As tensions increased in March, foreign personnel evacuated because of fears of violence. The situation deteriorated further and developed into the Bangladesh Liberation War in March. This conflict widened into the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 in December and concluded with the creation of Bangladesh. This was one of the first times that a natural event helped to trigger a civil war.
Response of West Pakistan government
The West Pakistani establishment prevented them from forming a government. President Yahya Khan banned the Awami League and declared martial law.
After the West Pakistan government’s rejection of the mandate in 1971 elections, came the operation Searchlight.
Operation Searchlight
26th Mar 1971: This was a military operation conducted by the West Pakistan establishment to suppress the Bengalis call for self-determination. The original plan envisioned taking control of the major cities of East Pakistan on 26 March 1971, and then eliminating all opposition, political, or military, within one month, which didn’t happen.
Operation Searchlight was the culminating event that led to the Bangladesh Liberation war. It was during this operation that millions of people were killed en masse by the Pakistani army and the militias formed as a part of its paramilitary wings.
Operation searchlight pursued the systematic elimination of nationalist Bengali civilians, students, intelligentsia, religious minorities and armed personnel. Ethnic cleansing, mass murders, rapes were committed as a part of this operation.
This operation and the events that took place during the Bangladesh Liberation War have been categorised as genocide.
What has happened?
Two political leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami and Bangladeshi Nationalist Party (BNP) have been convicted and hanged as a part of the war crime trials going on in Bangladesh.
Jamaat-e-Islami: Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid
BNP: Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury
Jamaat-e-Islami
The predecessor of the party (Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan) strongly opposed the independence of Bangladesh and break-up of Pakistan. In 1971, it collaborated with the Pakistani Army in its operations against Bengali nationalists and pro-liberation intellectuals. Many of its leaders and activists are accused of participating in the Pakistani paramilitary forces that were implicated in war crimes, such as mass murder, especially of Hindus, rape and forced conversions of Hindus to Islam.
Bangladesh nationalist Party (BNP)
The BNP was founded as a centre-right liberal democratic party. It was established on September 1, 1978 during the regime of Ziaur Rahman. It has ruled Bangladesh for a total of 14 years and three terms since its birth (1978–1982, 1991–1996, 2001–2006)
The author argues that the conviction might be right but the death penalty given as a means to achieve the justice is wrong. Why?
- It gives the trial proceedings a color of revenge rather than of justice and thus weakens the stand of government
- The hardline stance government is taking might help the Islamic fundamentalists to recruit the followers from the sympathisers of those convicted, which is actually a large number, considering both Jamaat-e-Islami and BNP have large support bases. This is already happening as Jamaat is still organisationally strong and has vowed for revenge.
- Attacks on the secular writes and bloggers have also intensified after the executions. This might be due to the hardline stance of the government against the war criminals.
Conclusion
The challenge before Dhaka is huge. It has to ensure that those who committed crimes against humanity during the war are brought to justice, while at the same time preventing Islamist forces from using that process to their benefit.
[2]. Not without our girls
Common concepts and indicators wrt population
Birth rate: Number of live births per 1000 of the population.
Death rate: Number of deaths per 1000 of the population.
These statistics depend on people reporting the births and deaths that happen in their family. In I India it is mandatory by law to report births and deaths.
Growth rate or rate of natural increase of population: It refers to the difference between the growth rate and death rate.
Case1:
When growth rate is 0 or near 0 => population has stabilised or reached the replacement level.
Replacement level: It is the rate of growth required for new generations to replace the older ones that are dying out.
Case2:
When there is negative population growth => fertility levels are below the replacement rate. For eg: Countries like Japan, Russia, Italy and Eastern Europe are experiencing this negative growth rate.
Case3:
Very High growth rate is due to demographic transition.
Fertility rate: It refers to the number of live births per 1000 women in the child-bearing age group, usually taken to be 15 to 49 years. Unlike Birth and Death rates this indicator is crude rate i.e. a rough average.
Total Fertility rate: It refers to the average number of births to a cohort of women up to the end of the reproductive age period (estimated on the basis of the age-specific rates observed during a given period)
What has happened?
New data from a census has revealed that the desire for a male child in our society is more, even if it is at the exclusion of female child.
Observations from this data
- Pre-natal sex selection: Given that India has been successful in lowering the fertility rates in South India without coercive methods as in China, another implication has risen. The pressure to have small families is making the pre-natal sex determination more common. The census data shows that the smaller families have more boys and larger families have more girls than boys. Lack of access to pre-natal test technologies in the marginal communities had resulted in better sex ratios but due to urbanisation this is changing too
Conclusion
India must build upon his success in bringing down the fertility levels but not at the cost of the girl child. A meaningful discourse on the gender equality is the need of the hourr.
[3]. Among the Ramayanas, Sita’s ascent
Context: Author feels that attempts are being made to impose a single and homogenous version of Ramayana on the country whereas the other versions of Ramayana that one can find in villages of India are being thrown into the shadows of anonymity
Why the author feels so?
- Fixing a date on Ramayana: Union Minister of State for Culture and Tourism Mahesh Sharma praised a foundation for researching on the Ramayana, which like the Indian Council of Historical Research is trying to fix a date to the epic.
- Nearly five years ago, poet and scholar A.K. Ramanujan’s Three Hundred Ramayanas, prescribed as study material for history undergraduates in Delhi University, was removed from the curriculum. It was done following the pressure from the ABVP (Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad)
Conclusion
It is futile to try to fix a date to this epic or even try to impose a standardised version of it on the country because other versions of Ramayan exist and they are equally important
[4]. The pulse of the matter
Context: Farmers tend to lose out irrespective of whether crop prices go up or down. Government needs to rectify this.
What is the issue?
Whenever the prices of the crops go up like recently in case of dal, the only ones who gain profit are the traders i.e. the middlemen and the sellers.
It’s quite ironic, even when the prices of crops go up farmers lose and when they are down they have to lose out on profits anyway.
Examples
- A case of Daal: The prices of Tur daal reached Rs 200/kg some time back but the profits of higher prices were pocketed by the middlemen and the sellers.
- A case of potato: Similarly, because of a bumper production of potato the prices have crashed. At the wholesale market potato is available at Rs. 4 to Rs. 5/Kg but still it is being sold at Rs 14 to Rs 15/Kg in the open market. The result is that potato farmer is still suffering despite a bumper harvest.
The problems
- Only inputs: Farmers complain that though they receive good input informs of fertilizer, seeds and other agricultural info but no one comes forward to sell their produce at remunerative prices. Since the green revolution the focus has been solely on the production and when the harvest is good farmers’ profits are neutralised by low prices.
- Only traders’ benefit: In case of the market, farmers are forced to sell their produce just after the harvest as they are already under debt. So, by the passage of time the prices go up it is only the traders who gain, not the farmers because they had already sold their produce to the trader. By the time the product reaches the retail outlets more prices are added on to it, meaning consumers also do not get the benefits of the excess production.
Hence, the responsibility to ensure that the farmers get proper value for their crops is of the government.
What government does?
Government declares MSP (Minimum Support Price) for 25 crops but procurement is done only for paddy and wheat.
Impact of what government does?
This system has led to distortions in the production patterns of the country because the cultivation of rice and wheat is considered to be safer because of an assured market.
Encouraging farmers to grow pulses
India largely being a vegetarian country has a very important source of protein in terms of pulses so their production needs to be increased.
- Research- In case of pulses a hybrid variety like corn and paddy has not been successful in enhancing the yield so more research is required to increase the productivity of pulses.
- Increasing the area under pulse production is also a good way to increase pulse yield.
- Improving seed availability – seed availability of pulses has been problematic
Benefits of growing pulses
Nitrogen fixation: In the roots of pulses lies a bacterium called Rhizobium which can fix the nitrogen from the atmosphere into the soil thus enriching its quality and fertility.
How can government bring the prices down?
Some long term solutions can include,
- Maintaining buffer stocks- To maintain buffer stocks we would need to have a sufficient production first. So, government should encourage the farmers to grown pulses. Having a buffer stock means government can release pulses in the market
- Improving the irrigation facilities: As pulses are mostly grown in rain-fed areas so improving the irrigation facilities will improve the production levels.
Ensuring proper prices: Agriculture in India is becoming an unattractive profession. Farmers continue to pursue it because they have no other option. If the government ensures a proper remunerative price for their produce only then the situation would be rectified
[5]. City of new dreams
Context: PM delivered the 37th Singapore lecture on the concluding day of his 4-day Malaysia visit.
Main points of PM’s lecture
- Singapore is not only India’s largest trading partner in Southeast Asia but also its “biggest source and destination” for investment, and a major partner in newer projects like smart cities, clean energy and sustainable infrastructure
- Act East policy: PM delineated the good work done by the P.V Narsimha Rao’s government which enacted the Look East policy thereby reiterating his commitment to ‘Act East Policy’ by cultivating good relations with China, Korea, Japan and ASEAN
India & Singapore
India has signed,
- a new, enhanced bilateral defence cooperation agreement with Singapore
- nine deals, including on cyber security, civil aviation and shipping
Conclusion
The author feels that New Delhi has let down its South-Asian partners by not stepping up to its role of providing security to these nations. The new defence pact reinforces India’s commitment towards this goal.
Economic Digest
[1]. Student loans dry up as bad debt climb at Banks
What has happened?
Data compiled by the finance ministry has shown that an increase in Non-Performing assets (NPAs) have led several public banks to go slow on educational loans.
The issue
NPAs in education sector: There are a lot of NPAs in the education sector. Such loans should be devised in a flexible manner
Under educational loan scheme,
A student can borrow up to,
- 10 lakh for domestic education
- 20 lakh for studying in foreign colleges
- Borrowers need not pay during the tenure of the course and for an additional year
- The repayment period is five to seven years
- For loans up to Rs.4 lakh, banks cannot demand any collateral : As per bankers, maximum number of bad loans are in this segment
Credit-guarantee fund
Government has created a credit guarantee fund that banks can draw upon in case of defaults on loan repayments
Vidya Laskhmi portal
It is a first of its kind portal providing a single window for students to access information and submit applications for educational loans to banks and for government scholarships. Banks have been asked to integrate their systems with this portal.
[2]. Pooled Funding Vehicle Rules a Tad Too Liberal?
What has happened?
In a gazette notification issued last week, government has mentioned that an Alternative Investment Fund (AIF) -a pooled investment vehicle -in India can have majority or even almost the entire money from offshore investors and still buy into businesses where foreign ownership is restricted.
What is a pooled investment vehicle?
Investment funds that combine capital from many investors to deploy it according to a particular investment strategy is termed as pooled investment vehicle
What is AIF?
Anything alternative to traditional form of investments is referred to as Alternative investments. Examples of traditional form of investment include bonds, fixed deposits or real estate
AIF in India
In India, alternative investment funds (AIFs) are defined in Regulation 2(1) (b) of Securities and Exchange Board of India (Alternative Investment Funds) Regulations, 2012.
It refers to any privately pooled investment fund, (whether from Indian or foreign sources), in the form of a trust or a company or a body corporate or a Limited Liability Partnership(LLP). These are presently not governed by SEBI or by other sectoral regulators like PFRDA, IRDA or RBI. Hence, in India, AIFs are private funds which otherwise do not come under the jurisdiction of any regulatory agency in India.
Capital Fund, hedge funds, private equity funds, commodity funds, Debt Funds, infrastructure funds, etc while, it excludes Mutual funds or collective investment Schemes.
What does the new rule say?
It says that now a fund would be considered domestic as long as its sponsors and managers are Indian. For eg: An AIF set up by a local Indian company having 75% foreign investment would be considered as foreign while a fund having 49% foreign investment with an Indian asset management company controlled by an Indian holding 51% would be considered local.
What analysts have to say?
Companies might use this rule to scuttle FDI regulations. Foe eg: A 500crore AIF having 495 crore of foreign investment can directly buy as much as it wants into companies carrying out ecommerce, or holding farm land or making defence machinery -entities where foreign ownership is either capped or barred.
One benefit of a relaxed AIF regime is,
- Greater investment
- Access to foreign capital for all sectors
[3]. Robbing Peter to pay Paul
What has happened?
7th Pay commission has recommended a 23.55% hike in the salary of the central government employees. Author in this article has said that government in order to finance the pay hike would resort to ‘taking from one hand and giving it to other’ policy.
How can govt finance the pay hike?
- Taxpayers’ purse: Taxes can be raised. If so, higher salaries will come at the expense of all taxpayers. If taxpayers consume less than the government servants then the consumption will rise but if the taxpayers consume more than the government servants then the consumption will decrease as when taxes are increased the amount left to spend is less.
- Printing the money: Government can finance higher salaries by printing money -technically called monetising the fiscal deficit but RBI won’t allow government to pursue this policy.
- Borrowings: the government can finance higher salaries by borrowing more from markets but additional borrowing would increase the fiscal deficit. Finance minister is absolutely committed to reducing the fiscal deficit, from 3.9% of GDP this year to 3.5% next year and 3.0% the year after. So, he cannot use this route to finance higher salaries. The same is true of state governments, which must also prune their fiscal deficits in line with their financial responsibility and budget management targets.
- Financial cuts: The government can finance higher salaries by cutting its own spending. It can’t reduce interest on past debt, and obviously cannot reduce salaries -it has to increase them. So, by cutting investment it can pay for increased salaries which is bad because the need of the hour is to boost investment.
By: ForumIAS Editorial Team
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