9 PM Daily Current Affairs Brief – April 13 2017

[1]New India, different China

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Live Mint

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Front Page / NATIONAL

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[1]Petrol, diesel prices to be fixed daily

 

The Hindu

 

Context

Petrol and diesel prices

 

What has happened?

• State-owned fuel retailers — Indian Oil Corp. (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd. (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Ltd. (HPCL), — which own over 95% of the nearly 58,000 fuel outlets in the country, are likely to launch a pilot scheme for daily price revision in five select cities from May 1 and gradually extend it all over the country
• Petrol and diesel prices will change every day in sync with international rates, much like what happens in most advanced markets

 

The New Scheme

• Where?:The pilot scheme will be first implemented in Puducherry, Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh, Udaipur in Rajasthan, Jamshedpur in Jharkhand and Chandigarh
• Earlier: State fuel retailers currently revise rates on the 1st and 16th of every month, based on average international price in the preceding fortnight and the currency exchange rate
• Now: Instead of using fortnightly average, pump rates will reflect daily movement in international oil prices and rupee-U.S. dollar fluctuations
• Launch Date: Pilot scheme is planned to be launched on May 1
• The Goal: Daily price change will remove the big leaps in rates that need to be effected at the end of the fortnight, and consumers will be more aligned to market dynamics

 

Also

Petrol price was freed from government control in June 2010, diesel rates were deregulated only in October 2014

 

[2]India breached Tibet commitment

 

The Hindu

 

Context

Recent visit of the Dalai Lama to Arunachal Pradesh

 

What has happened?

China reiterated that the visit of the Dalai Lama to Arunachal Pradesh will have a negative impact on Sino-Indian ties, and accused New Delhi of breaching its commitment on the Tibet issue

 

Principle violated

• Violation of the ‘One China’ principle that defines the country’s statehood
• Might have a negative impact on proper settlement of territorial disputes between the two sides through negotiations

 

[3]Poll panel throws open challenge to hack EVMs

 

The Hindu

 

Context

EVM tampering allegations after UP and Punjab elections

 

What has happened?

To all those alleging that the EVMs used by the Election Commission were tampered with in the recent Assembly elections or that they could be hacked, the electoral body has thrown an open challenge asking them to prove the allegations

 

The Demo

• The exercise may be carried out in the first week of May
• Computer experts and political leaders would be invited to the demonstration site and they could use their skills to show whether the machines could be tampered with

 

Backdrop

Opposition parties met the Election Commission (EC) and requested to replace EVMs with paper ballots, as people had “lost trust” in the efficacy of the machines

 

Baseless Charges

The Commission has termed such charges baseless, stating that none of the complainants have come up with any proof to support their allegations

 

[4]Global interest in PSLV soars

 

The Hindu

 

Context

Inquiries from prospective customers double after its record launch of satellites

 

What has happened?

• The PSLV (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle) space vehicle has received more than double the volume of inquiries from prospective customers ever since it launched a record 104 satellites on a single flight in February
• A world best, 101 small foreign commercial spacecraft were taken up at once in the feat, catapulting the PSLV’s overall commercial tally to 180

 

Opportunity

Globally, 500 satellites are expected to come up for launch every year from 2018 onwards

 

Clear leader

• The PSLV, with a near impeccable 37 successes in 39 flights, he said, is a clear leader in the category of rockets that lift small satellites to low earth orbits or LEOs
• These satellites weigh up to 500 kg and must be placed in polar orbits 500 km from the earth

 

[5]National Lok Adalat settles over 6 lakh cases in one day

 

The Hindu

 

Context

Clearing the backlog of pending court cases

 

What has happened?

• As pendency hampers the justice delivery system, the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) ,has been quietly chipping away at the backlog and has accomplished its latest feat of settling over six lakh cases in just 24 hours
• The Second National Lok Adalat for 2017, conducted on April 8, through out the country from taluk level courts to High Courts, has settled nearly 6.6 lakh cases
• Out of this, 3.68 lakh cases have been reduced from court pendency and about 2.92 lakh cases were settled even before they could be filed in courts
• The cases ranged from matrimonial disputes, partition suits, civil matters, cheque bounce cases, motor accident claims, revenue disputes pending in courts, criminal compoundable cases and service matters pertaining to pension, retrial benefits, etc

 

Award is final

• The award of a Lok Adalat is final and cannot be challenged by way of appeals and revision, etc.
• Moreover, settlement of a pending court case in a Lok Adalat comes with an added incentive of refund of court fee to the party involved in the litigation
• The NALSA, has decided to organise bi-monthly National Lok Adalats for both pending and pre-litigative cases

 

Culture of settlement

• Pendency in subordinate courts is a whopping over 2.7 crore cases
• NALSA emphasised that it is developing a “culture of settlement”

 

Guidelines issued

A set of guidelines has been issued to State Legal Services Authorities to concentrate on the days of Lok Adalats to make efforts to see that parties in contest arrive at an amicable settlement

 

[6]Aadhaar robust; the poor have no complaints about it

 

The Hindu

 

Context

UID data safety for Aadhar

 

What has happened?

Union Minister for Law and Information Technology says the Centre is enforcing UID under a proper mandate of law, with due regard to privacy and confidentiality

 

On Aadhar being made complusory

• Under Section 7 of the Act, no poor person shall be denied the benefit of subsidy at all
• The only thing is that the person either should have an Aadhaar or should have applied for one
• Also, alternative means of identification will be available and acceptable through which the person can access all benefits

So nobody is being denied any benefit that might accrue to them

 

Aadhaar Safe

• Aadhaar numbers just confirm the identity
• The Aadhaar system does not know the purpose for which it is being sought
• The requisitioning authority will only use it for this purpose, it is completely encrypted, and if anyone uses it for unauthorised purposes, they can be punished for three years, and if a company violates this law, Rs. 10 lakh in compensation is to be awarded to the aggrieved
• Till date, there is no leakage of data from the system
• 34,000 agencies till now have been blacklisted

 

Need for linking Aadhaar with PAN cards or tax returns

• If the country has to grow, more people will have to come into the tax net
• This linkage, therefore, will help in weeding out double-triple accounts, and combating money laundering
• It is, therefore, good governance in an atmosphere of improving fiscals

 

Operators doing the enrolments can leak data?

• Operators are selected by a strict process, with the registrar of the State governments, the Centre and municipalities being involved
• Operators have to first put in their own biometric to operate the system every time and the whole process is robust in terms of safety features
• If anyone tries to fiddle with it, the system can help trace any attempts to tamper

 

Burgeoning (Increase) of a surveillance state

• Disclosure of information cannot be done for any reason other than national security. In that case, a joint secretary-level officer of the government of India specially designated for this purpose, shall record in writing the reasons for this
• A high-level committee consisting of the Cabinet Secretary, the Secretaries of the Ministry of Law and the Information Technology Secretary will go into any oversight
• And it is also open to legal challenge before a district judge, and no order shall be issued without a hearing
• Tougher than the Supreme Court’s certified guidelines on tracking of phone calls given out in 1995
• Core digital biometric information cannot be disclosed even by the person who owns it
• General biometric information cannot be disclosed except for the purposes authorised, and those who do so are liable for prosecution

 

[7]Centre files curative plea on AFSPA

 

The Hindu

 

Context

SC order a fetter (shackles) on security forces involved in anti-militancy operations

 

What has happened?

The government asked the Supreme Court to urgently reconsider its July 2016 verdict which ripped open the cloak of immunity and secrecy provided by the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act of 1958 (AFSPA) to security forces for deaths caused during encounters in disturbed areas

The Supreme Court had held that “there is no concept of absolute immunity from trial by a criminal court” if an Army man has committed an offence

 

The Verdict Earlier

The judgment by a Bench had held that every death caused by security forces in a disturbed area, even if the victim was a dreaded criminal or a militant or a terrorist or an insurgent, should be thoroughly inquired into to address any allegation of use of excessive or retaliatory force.

 

A-G’s stance

• This court ought to have appreciated that the principles of right to self-defence cannot be strictly applied while dealing with militants and terrorist elements in a hostile and unstable terrain
• This court ought to have taken into account the complexity and the reality of the conduct of military operations and tactics, especially while combating terrorists

 

Backdrop

The judgment came on a plea by hundreds of families in Manipur for a probe by Special Investigation Team

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Editorial/OPINION

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[1]Ending nuclear lawlessness

 

The Hindu

 

Context

The attempt at the UN to ban atomic weapons is based on the premise that all countries deserve equal security

 

What has happened?

• In the last week of March, at the United Nations in New York, history was made as diplomats from about 130 countries started formal talks on an international treaty to ban nuclear weapons
• None of the nine nuclear weapon countries showed up, India and Pakistan included
• The U.S. Ambassador to the UN, staged a public boycott outside the negotiating hall

 

A Noble Goal

• Declare it illegal for any country to produce, possess, stockpile, deploy, threaten to use, or use nuclear weapons
• The final treaty could be approved and ready for signature before the end of this year

 

Long Needed

• The nuclear weapons ban talks are the fulfilment of a long-standing demand that all countries deserve equal security
• For decades, the world has pressed the handful of countries with nuclear weapons to free humanity from the nuclear danger
• The very first resolution at the UN, passed in 1946, called for a plan “for the elimination from national armaments of atomic weapons.”

 

Early Steps

UN General Assembly resolution: November 1961 UN General Assembly resolution that declared: “Any state using nuclear and thermonuclear weapons is to be considered as violating the Charter of the United Nations, as acting contrary to the laws of humanity, and as committing a crime against mankind and civilization.”

 

The Cold War race

Both sides knew no one would win in a nuclear war but they prepared to fight regardless. It was an insane and murderous logic: since neither side could allow the other to prevail, the only acceptable outcome to both was mutual assured destruction

 

The end of the Cold War offered the hope of a new start for the world

 

International Court of Justice steps in

The UN General Assembly asked the International Court of Justice to rule on the legality of the threat or use of nuclear weapons

In July 1996, the court issued an advisory opinion, with two key conclusions:

• The threat or use of nuclear weapons would generally be contrary to the rules of international law applicable in armed conflict, and in particular the principles and rules of humanitarian law
• There exists an obligation to pursue in good faith and bring to a conclusion negotiations leading to nuclear disarmament in all its aspects under strict and effective international control

 

The door opened to a nuclear weapons ban

 

Resistance of the nuclear club

• In the 20 years since the court issued its judgment, countries with nuclear weapons have simply refused to comply
• Rather than starting “negotiations leading to nuclear disarmament”, they have sought to block them, choosing to launch long-term costly programmes to maintain, modernize, and in some cases augment their nuclear arsenals

 

Back to Basics

• Non-nuclear states and peace movement activists launched an international effort to highlight nuclear weapons capacity to cause widespread suffering and indiscriminate harm
• This won support from the majority of the world’s countries

 

Vienna Conference

At the Vienna Conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons in 2014, officials from 158 countries showed up

 

Historic Resolution

This process led to the adoption of a historic resolution at the UN last October “to negotiate a legally binding treaty to prohibit nuclear weapons, leading towards their total elimination”

 

India abstained

• India and Pakistan abstained from the UN vote
• Argument: India’s main argument was that nuclear disarmament talks should only happen at the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva
• Reason:The reason was simple: the Conference on Disarmament works by consensus, which means any state can block progress

 

Time to force the issue

• Rest of the World should wait: Most of the other nuclear weapons states, led by the U.S simply insisted that the world wait for them to decide when they are ready to give up their nuclear weapons
• Why not? : The world would never have banned slavery if we had to wait for all the slave owners to agree in advance that slavery was a bad thing and that they were ready to end it

 

We are not waiting

Rather than waiting for that day, the nuclear weapon-free countries have decided to take matters into their own hands

• The Ban Treaty: Their first step is the ban treaty. It lays down a clear marker for what weapons the world thinks no state can seek, possess and use in wartime. This is how other weapons have been banned, be they chemical weapons, biological weapons, landmines, or cluster munitions

 

Occasional Violations should not deter the process

• As recently in Syria with chemical weapons, there are occasional violations of the international laws banning weapons of mass destruction, but the world now condemns such actions and decent people everywhere would support efforts to find the perpetrators and bring them to justice
• The possibility of violations has never stopped countries from passing laws and agreeing on what should be prohibited

 

Conclusion

The driving force for the demand for a nuclear weapon-free world is a simple humanitarian impulse, the love and compassion for other human beings so, India, Pakistan, and all of the nuclear weapons states should prepare to give up their arsenals or be treated as outlaws

 

[2]In a safer lane

 

The Hindu

 

Context

States should start preparing to implement the changes in the Motor Vehicles Act

 

What has happened?

The Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill passed by the Lok Sabha this week will take a little more time to come into force, since it has not cleared the Rajya Sabha in the Budget session

 

Changes proposed to the Motor Vehicles (MV) Act of 1988 

The Centre assumes a direct role in the reforms

Issue Guidelines: Centre will introduce guidelines that bind State governments in several areas, notably in:

• Creating a framework for taxicab aggregators
• Financing insurance to treat the injured
• To compensate families of the dead in hit-and-run cases
• Prescribing standards for electronically monitoring highways and urban roads for enforcement and modernising driver licensing

 

Why Changes?

• Unresponsive Bureaucracy
• There is a dire need to have clear rules and transparent processes, since transport bureaucracies have remained unresponsive to the needs of a growing economy that is witnessing a steady rise in motorization
• Corruption increased:The bottleneck created by their lack of capacity has stifled regulatory reform in the transport sector and only encouraged corruption

 

Enforcement is the key

• Research shows that imposing stricter penalties tends to reduce the level of enforcement of road rules
• IIT Delhi’s Road Safety in India report of 2015: The deterrent effect of law depends on the severity and swiftness of penalties, but also the perception that the possibility of being caught for violations is high
• Ineffective Enforcement:The amendments to the MV Act set enhanced penalties for several offences, notably drunken driving, speeding, jumping red lights and so on, but periodic and ineffective enforcement, which is the norm, makes it less likely that these will be uniformly applied
• Accountablity: Without an accountable and professional police force, the ghastly record of traffic fatalities, is unlikely to change

 

States

Early Rollout:  State governments must prepare for an early roll-out of administrative reforms prescribed in the amended law, such as issuing learner’s licences online, recording address changes through an online application, and electronic service delivery with set deadlines

Online Applications: To eliminate corruption, all applications should be accepted by transport departments online, rather than merely computerising them

Protection for Samaritans:Protection from harassment for good samaritans who help accident victims is something the amended law provides, and this needs to be in place

 

[3]Powering India-Nepal ties

 

The Hindu

 

Context

This is an opportune moment to push for electricity trade with a long-term perspective

 

What has happened?

• On February 14 Energy Secretary-level talks known as the joint steering committee (JSC) meeting concluded in Kathmandu
• It was decided to endorse the detailed project report of the 400 kV Butwal-Gorakhpur cross-border transmission line

 

Backdrop

• In 2014 when India and Nepal signed a Power Trade Agreement doors opened for Nepal developers/traders to access the Indian power market
• At first, Nepal was apprehensive that it would not get a fair deal trading with a large neighbour, but power is now traded in India on exchanges transparently and the price is known to all, thus assuaging some of Nepal’s apprehensions

 

Opportunity for India

• Nepal is short on Power:Nepal is short of power and will need to import power for some years to accelerate its economic growth
• Power Target:It has an ambitious target of reaching 16,500 MW of hydro capacity by 2030, which includes the joint project with India at Pancheshwar
• Load Shedding: In 2015, Nepal faced load-shedding of up to 16 hours a day during the dry season, when the available capacity of Nepal’s hydropower decreases to a third of installed capacity
• Power Shortages: Peak load outstripped domestic power generation capacity, causing serious power shortage, which was partly met with by import from India
• Missed Opportunity: Out of an economically viable and technically feasible potential of 43.5 GW, only 0.8 GW had been developed by March 2016
• Hydro Potential Development:With this market, Nepal’s hydro potential can be developed faster

 

India has Surplus

India has surplus capacity at present so it can help

 

Benefits for India also

• Flexible Hydropower Import:In the years to come, it can fruitfully import flexible hydropower from Nepal to balance its fast growing renewable generation and also provide a market for Nepal’s electricity

 

Bhutan& India

Bhutan has reaped the benefit of power export to India and its per capita income in purchasing power parity adjusted for international dollars increased from $475 in 1980 to $7,860 in 2015

 

Energy study

Integrated Research and Action for Development (IRADe):

• Carried out a detailed modelling study which explored electricity trade potential on an hourly basis till 2045
• This study was carried out as a part of US AID-supported South Asia Regional Initiative for Energy Integration project

 

Electricity Trade Benefits to Nepalaccording to the Study

More Import:Nepal’s revenue from export of electricity to India increases its ability to import more goods and also to invest more in the economy

Increase in GDP:This increases its gross domestic product, consumption and use of electricity, which improves quality of life

Development of Hydropower potential: The prospect of electricity trade with India makes it possible for Nepal to develop its hydropower potential and has important consequences

Economic Development:Increased availability of electricity accelerates its economic development

Exporting electricity:The construction of transmission lines to import electricity become lines to export electricity by 2025

Export Revenue Increase:Its annual export revenue from the electricity trade becomes NPR 310 billion in 2030, NPR 840 billion in 2040 and NPR 1,069 billion in 2045, at 2011-12 prices

Misc:By 2045, Nepal’s GDP becomes 39% larger, its per capita consumption 23% higher and per capita electricity consumption 50% higher than if trade were to continue at its modest current level

 

Electricity Trade Benefits to India according to the Study

Peak Loads Satisfied:Meeting the evening peak in India when its large solar PV capacity would not be available becomes easier and cheaper

Monetary Gains:The gains in monetary terms are comparable for both Nepal and India

 

Steps Needed

Swift Action: The sooner Nepal develops its hydropower potential, the earlier the benefits

For electricity trade to materialise, policy, institutional and technical infrastructure are necessary

Investment needs:Building hydropower projects and transmission infrastructure is highly investment-intensive

Payment Security:Without a stable, long-term conducive policy and an institutional environment in place, which ensures payment security, it is unlikely that investors will put their money in this risky business

 

Steps taken by the Indian Government

CBET: The Indian government issued guidelines and draft notification on cross-border electricity trade (CBET) policy to enable Indian/Nepal producers/traders to seamlessly exchange power with neighbouring nations

 

Conclusion

• A climate of confidence and trust in the long-term trading relationship between India and Nepal can greatly help Nepal meet its ambitious target and provide an opportunity for Indian investors to invest in Nepal
• This could help us smoothen our recently strained relations with Nepal as well as strengthen our historically friendly ties.

 

[4]Passage without scrutiny

 

The Hindu

 

Context

We must move to a system where every Bill goes through the committee stage in each House of Parliament

 

Current State

• This Session, 20 Bills were introduced, and to date none of these have been referred to standing committees of Parliament; one Bill — the constitutional amendment to create a national commission for backward classes — was passed by Lok Sabha and then referred by Rajya Sabha to a select committee
• The Mental Healthcare Bill passed this session and the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill passed by Lok Sabha this week incorporated most of the changes recommended by the committees

 

In the Past

• In the last three years, just 29% of Bills have been referred to parliamentary committees
• 60% and 71% of bills examined by committees in the 14th and 15th Lok Sabhas, respectively

 

Some problematic Bills

Three Bills passed by Parliament may face constitutional challenges

 

The Specified Bank Notes (Cessation of Liabilities) Bill

The Billfollows up on the demonetisation exercise

It provides a limited time period for citizens who were abroad between November 9 and December 30 to exchange their notes

Indian residents could do that until the end of March 2017, and NRIs till June

The Bill also made it an offence to hold more than 10 pieces of the old notes (25 for research or numismatic purposes)

Issues Raised

Violation of Article 300A:

• The notification of November 8 that denotified the notes allowed time till December 30 for depositing these, and said that any person unable to do so would be given further time to deposit them at specified RBI branches
• On December 30, an ordinance was issued (the Bill is identical to the ordinance) that provided further time only to citizens who were abroad till that date
• This is akin to expropriation of property without any compensation and may violate Article 300A of the Constitution

Violation of a fundamental right:

If holding the notes is made a criminal offence on December 30, and a person having them that day cannot deposit or exchange them, then this is effectively making an action an offence with retrospective effect and may be seen as a violation of a fundamental right

 

Finance Bill

• Provision:The terms of engagement of quasi-judicial bodies will be determined by the Central government by notification instead of being specified in the Act

• Issue:This provision may contravene several judgments that lay out the independence of the judiciary as a basic feature of the Constitution

• Provision: Another provision of the Finance Bill permits income tax officers to refuse to disclose to any court or tribunal the information that formed the basis for a raid

• Issue: This may contravene the principle of judicial review of executive action

 

Enemy Property Bill

• Provision: Vests the rights over enemy property with the Central government
  • This amendment has been made with retrospective effect (going back four decades), and will affect all property that may have been sold (and resold) since then.
  • The Bill also bars any court from hearing cases related to enemy property.

Issue:These provisions may not adhere to principles of due process and judicial review.

 

Taxation Laws Bill

It makes several amendments related to the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax

Undue power to the Custom Officer:In addition, it adds a section to the Customs Act, which requires various authorities to disclose to the customs officer any information required

Issue:The question is whether Lok Sabha examined the appropriateness of giving such powers to the customs officer

 

Simply passed as Money Bills

Except the Enemy Property Bill, the other three were not referred to committees and were passed as Money Bills

 

Importance of the Committee: Issues Raised on the bill

The Enemy Property Bill was examined by a select committee of Rajya Sabha, and a note of dissent signed by six of its 23 members pointed out constitutional issues, but the suggested changes were not incorporated by Parliament while passing it

 

Conclusion

• The key lesson is the importance of detailed scrutiny by Parliament
• It may be advisable to move to a system like that of the British Parliament where every Bill goes through the committee stage in each House
• That may take more time to pass a Bill but will ensure that there is adequate deliberation by parliamentarians before they pass a Bill

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Economy

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[1]Hold fiscal deficit at 3% till FY20, says N.K. Singh panel

 

The Hindu

 

Context

Centre had set a target of 3.2% of GDP in 2017-18

 

What has happened?

• The Centre can take a pause on the fiscal consolidation front over the next three years by maintaining a fiscal deficit to GDP ratio of 3% till 2019-20, the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Review Committee chaired by former Revenue Secretary N.K. Singh has recommended
• The FRBM law enacted in 2003 had originally envisaged attaining a fiscal deficit of 3% of GDP by 2008-09, but amendments over the years had revised the year for achieving the same target to 2017-18

 

Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Review Committee

Set up to comprehensively review and give recommendations on the FRBM roadmap for future

Recommendations:

• The panel has advocated reaching a fiscal deficit to GDP ratio of 2.8% in 2020-21, 2.6% the subsequent year and 2.5% in 2022-23
• The panel has recommended that the existing FRBM Act and rules be scrapped and a new Debt and Fiscal Responsibility Act be adopted and proposed the creation of a Fiscal Council that the government must consult before invoking escape clauses

 

Escape clause

The panel has introduced an escape clause that allows the government to skip the fiscal deficit target for a particular year, in following situations:

• National security concerns
• Acts of war
• National calamities
• A collapse of the agriculture sector
• Far-reaching structural reforms with unanticipated fiscal implications
• if the economy’s real output growth slips by three percentage points from the average of the previous four quarters

 

Deviation:

• It recommended that deviations from the stipulated fiscal targets should not be more than 0.5%
• The Reserve Bank of India governor, a member of the committee was inclined to only permit a 0.3% deviation

 

Buoyancy clause

Has been proposed, so that fiscal deficit must fall at least 0.5% below the target if real output grows 3% faster than that average

 

[2]Panel to suggest norms for Bitcoins, virtual currencies

 

The Hindu

 

Context

Virtual Currency regulation

 

What has happened?

• The government has decided to close the regulatory gaps to keep a check on virtual currencies, including Bitcoins, and has set up an inter-disciplinary committee to recommend an action plan for dealing with such currencies within three months
• The committee will also include experts from the RBI, the central government’s think tank NITI Aayog and State Bank of India

 

Why?

• The circulation of Virtual Currencies which are also known as Digital/Crypto Currencies has been a cause of concern
• Advisory issued: The Reserve Bank of India has not given any licence or authorisation to any entity or company to operate such schemes or deal with Bitcoin or any virtual currency
• As such, any user, holder, investor, trader, etc. dealing with Virtual Currencies will be doing so at their own risk

 

The Committee

• The inter- disciplinary committee will be chaired by Special Secretary (Economic Affairs) with representatives from the departments of revenue and financial services and the ministries of home Affairs as well as electronics and Information Technology
• Goals: Will necessarily examine how to cope with money laundering opportunities as well as consumer protection concerns that could arise from the use of virtual currencies

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Indian Express

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[1]New India, different China

 

Indian Express

 

Context

Chinese reaction to the Dalai Lama visit to Tawang this time varied in tone and tenor from previous occasions. There are reasons for that.

 

Reasons for a Stronger Reaction

• Tussle over the successor of Dalai Lama:
  • The Chinese have already installed their own Panchen Lama, who is regarded as next only to the Dalai Lama in the Tibetan spiritual hierarchy
  • His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama is at an advanced age
  • As per the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, indications about the next Dalai Lama would be left behind by the present one
  • Successor from India:They seem to especially suspect that the Holiness might choose someone from India, or even from Arunachal Pradesh, as his successor, thus leaving the movement for Tibetan independence with another leader

• Territorial claims over Arunachal Pradesh: Long standing dispute with India

 

Finlandisation

• Term coined by the German political scientist Richard Lowenthal in 1961
• In the aftermath of the Second World War, Finland chose to follow a policy of not standing up to the Soviet Union militarily or economically, even while the country had remained a part of Allied Western Europe

 

Conclusion

Probably the Chinese feel that India is coming out of this Finlandisation under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and hence, the serious warning

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Live Mint

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