The Hindu
Front Page / NATIONAL
[1]Fortified foods to tackle malnutrition
Context
MNCs, co-ops, other manufacturers will add premixes of micronutrients to products
What has happened?
- Healthy-looking people are malnourished too, because their diet does not include the right micronutrients
- A number of enterprises will begin adding premixes of micronutrients to launch fortified foods
Mid-Day Meal Schemes Targeted
- Targeting children, the Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh governments have begun using fortified oil for their mid-day meal schemes
- The FSSAI has decided not to interfere in pricing
[2]SC sends out stern message against frivolous PILs
Context
Bench slaps Rs. 25 lakh costs on Non-Governmental Organisation for wasting judicial time
What has happened?
After 64 public interest litigation petitions (PILs) making “scandalous” insinuations against a former Chief Justice of India and judges of the Supreme Court and the Rajasthan High Court in the past 10 years, the Supreme Court finally lost patience and imposed Rs. 25 lakh costs on an organisation, Suraz India Trust, and its chairman Rajiv Daiya, and banned them from ever approaching a court in the country in the guise of espousing public interest
[3]Daunting water challenges across industries
Context
Multiple industries relying on water as an input in the production process, including textile processing, construction and hydro-power, have been severely impacted by the ongoing water scarcity in south India
[4]GSAT-9 heralds cost-saving technology
Context
Test feature in May 5 mission is a tool to cut fuel load & space launch costs
What has happened?
GSAT-9 or the South Asia Satellite, will carry a new feature that will eventually make advanced Indian spacecraft far lighter. It will even lower the cost of launches tangibly in the near future
Electric propulsion or EP system
- The hardware is a first on an Indian spacecraft.
- The satellite will be flying with around 80 kg of chemical fuel – or just about 25% of what it would have otherwise carried
- Managing it for more than a decade in orbit will become cost efficient
- Indian Space Research Organisation can launch sophisticated satellites on its upcoming heavy rockets instead of sending them to space on costly foreign boosters
GSLV MkIII is due for its full test also
[5]BidPut ambush behind, CRPF told
Context
Home Ministry asks Central forces to coordinate with police and act only on ‘actionable intelligence’
What has happened?
The Union Home Ministry has asked the Central forces deployed in the States affected by Left-wing extremism to step up operations based on specific intelligence inputs and overcome the “psychological setback” they suffered in the past few days
Asked Forces to coordinate with the State police while conducting operations and act only if there was “actionable intelligence”
Operation review
Focussing more on operations now, and road construction can take a back seat. Providing security to road construction had made them defensive and now that it has been temporarily halted, we can focus more on result-oriented operations now
Suspend Road Construction work or New Tech to expedite it
It was also suggested that either new technology that could expedite road construction be adopted or the work be suspended for a while as it exposed the security forces to unwanted attention and made them vulnerable to attacks
[6]Turkey supports India’s UNSC
Context
Turkish President RecepTayyip Erdogan’s India visit
What has happened?
Calls for restructuring of Council
Degree of Doctor of Letters (Honoris Causa)
JamiaMilliaIslamia conferred the Degree of Doctor of Letters (Honoris Causa) to Turkish President for his contribution to strengthen international cooperation, peace and diplomacy as well as for his extraordinary humanitarian aid to millions of refugees
Criticized current Structure
- Criticizing the current structure of the Council as arbitrary, he said that it was set up to address the crisis emanating from the Second World War but now that situation had changed drastically
- It therefore required thorough restructuring to address the current geo-political reality of the world. “Only five permanent members of the Council are deciding the fate of the entire world which is not fair”
[7]Curious case of dip, rise in Indian seas
Context
Scientists say such a ‘decadal swing’ in north Indian Ocean is unique and never observed in others
What has happened?
Global warming may be inching the oceans higher every year but researchers studying the seas around India report a paradox
The NIO
The NIO consists of the Arabian Sea, the Bay of Bengal and part of the Indian Ocean up till the 5°S latitude
The Paradox
- Previous studies that had measured ocean heights based on traditional tide gauges found that the NIO —like the rest of the world’s seas — continued to rise between 1993 and 2004
- From 1993 to 2003 — the first decade when satellites started to consistently track the rise and fall of ocean heights and global temperatures soared — the north Indian Ocean (NIO) sea levels fell. After 2004, sea levels began an unprecedented, accelerated spike till 2014
- Scientists associated with the study said that such a “decadal swing” in the North Indian Ocean was unique and never observed in either the Pacific or Atlantic oceans
Data
The NIO went down about 0.3 mm a year and from 2004 gained about 6 mm annually. This was twice the global, annual average of about 3 mm
Cause
Wind flows, which welled warm water on the Indian Ocean surface, changed directions every decade and probably influenced sea level patterns
Conclusion
It could be that coming decades — in spite of rapid, rising temperatures — will see a fall in sea levels but that’s still hypothetical
[8]Rajiv case: SC wants report on ‘larger plot’
Context
Convict Perarivalan condemns almost two-decade-long CBI investigation, saying it is ‘cloaked in secrecy’
What has happened?
The Supreme Court directed the CBI to submit a detailed status report, replete with the time frame by which its prolonged investigation into a possible larger conspiracy behind the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi will be completed
Editorial/OPINION
[1]Lokpal and the law
The court has noted that the Act provides for the selection committee to make appointments even when it is truncated due to a vacancy. It has made it clear that the fact that some amendments have been proposed and a parliamentary panel has submitted a report would not constitute a legal bar on enforcing the existing law
What has happened?
SC has made it clear in a judgment that Lokpal and Lokayukta Act of 2013 an “eminently workable piece of legislation” and there is no justification to keep the enforcement of the Act under suspension till the amendments, as proposed, are carried out
Read More: You can read more about SC’s judgment here
Government’s stand
Government’s argument is that appointments of Lokpal chairperson and members is not currently possible, and would have to wait till the 2013 Act is amended to replace the LoP with the single largest Opposition party leader
Court’s stand
The court points to sub-section (2) of Section 4 of the original 2013 Lokpal Act, which makes it clear that an appointment of the chairperson or members of Lokpal will not be invalidated merely because one of the members of the selection committee — the LoP — is missing
- In short, the available members of the Lokpal selection committee could very well recommend suitable persons to the President for appointment to Lokpal
- Why wait for amendments?If an appointment process done by a “truncated” Lokpal Selection Committee is already recognised under the 2013 Act, why should the government wait for any amendments at all
Present situation
Though a Parliamentary Standing Committee submitted its report on December 3, 2015, fully supporting the amendment to replace the LoP with the single largest Opposition party leader in Lok Sabha, the law is yet to see the light of the day
- It should be noted that India ratified the United Nations Convention against Corruption way back in May 2011
Conclusion
Author concludes that the country does not have an anti-corruption ombudsman not due to any legal bar, but due to the absence of political will
[2]Equity in taxes
Context
Rich farmers need to be treated on a par with other taxpayers, but with a clear road map
What has happened?
- Rich farmers need to be treated on a par with other taxpayers, but with a clear road map
- A controversial proposal by BibekDebroy, a member of the government think tank NITI Aayog, to tax agricultural income above a particular threshold
- An appropriate tax policy should draw a distinction between rich and poor farmers, thereby addressing the widespread political apprehension of bringing agriculture under the tax net
Why?
India’s tax base, standing at a minuscule 5.9% of the working population, is already among the lowest in the world
[3]Sukma is a wake-up call
Context
Recent Attack on CRPF
What has happened?
- Only better training, equipment and tactics will help security forces prevail over the Maoists
- No Training to the CRPF Personnel
- Shortage of MPVs (Mine Protected Vehicles)
- Lack of Intelligence sharing between local police and Central forces
The issue has been discussed in previous briefs in detail.
Economy
[1]NITI Aayog for abolishing 2% duty on mobile phone circuits
Context
The Budget had imposed duty on imports to push the ‘Make in India’ campaign
What has happened?
Mobile phones could become cheaper if the government accepts a proposal by the NITI Aayog to drop the 2% import duty imposed on a critical component for handsets in the Union Budget for 2017-18
The Budget
- The Budget had imposed a 2% special additional duty on imports of populated printed circuit boards (PCBs) used for mobile phones, to push the Make in India campaign
- The duty is aimed at providing ‘adequate protection to domestic industry,’ the government had said, so that local manufacturers of PCBs get an incentive of sorts
- Handset prices were expected to rise by over 1% owing to the duty
Effective Export Strategy
- The world market in electronics products is $2 trillion compared with only $65 billion in the domestic market
- Therefore, an aggressive export strategy is essential to credibly prepare ourselves for the fourth Industrial Revolution
Indian Express
[1]Diagnosing China
Context
Its seeming illogic reflects an incapacity to perceive international realities
Despite decades of unprecedented economic growth, which propelled China to a position in the world next only to the US in terms of economic and military power instead of becoming more liberal similar to the Western Countries, China seems to be veering towards greater state control
India
Growing proximity to the US and strengthening defence infrastructure along the India-China border, particularly around areas that China claims as its own, have been viewed as unfriendly acts by the Chinese
China vs Logic
As an explanation for the episodes of seemingly illogical Chinese behaviour vis-a-vis less powerful nations, Edward Luttwak, in his book The Rise of China vs The Logic of Strategy put forward the concept of “great state autism” — a collective national lack of situational awareness that reduces a powerful nation’s ability to perceive international realities with clarity
Unable to forge long term alliances
- China’s demonstrated insensitivity to the concerns of nations it considers weaker, while being hypersensitive to its own, is an offshoot of this affliction
- Due to this domineering attitude, China will be unable to forge lasting alliances with other nations, a factor that will ultimately prove detrimental to its quest of world dominance
- The validity of this insight is evident from the fact that despite its growing strength, China’s closest allies remain rogue states — North Korea and Pakistan.
Conclusion
The rise of China will likely be stemmed because of what Paul Kennedy, in The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers, termed “imperial overstretch” — a growing contradiction between a power’s global ambitions and its weakening economic capacity to support its strategic and economic commitments.
Live Mint
[1]A robust IPR regime is necessary for growth
Context
Innovators and entrepreneurs must trust the patent system for intellectual property rights (IPR) if they are to embark on risky innovation gambles
Patents
Patents can even be efficiently used as bargaining chips in the electronics industry and can be used for defensive purposes to avoid being torpedoed. They are a proven solution to the traditional incentives-diffusion paradox that was presented more than 50 years ago by Nobel prize winning economist Kenneth Arrow
The International IP Index 2017 released by the US Chamber of Commerce, ranked India at a dismal 43rd position out of 45 countries
This Shows:
- Challenges to innovation continue to exist in India and, therefore, the government needs to build upon the positive rhetoric of its IPR policy with the substantial legislative reforms that innovators need
- Multiple problems are still faced by pharmaceutical, software, biotechnology, automotive, movie, music and other technology-led, IP-intensive industries
- Beliefs, attitudes and approaches towards IPRs in India must change for the sake of the ambitions articulated in this government’s many initiatives—from Make In India to Startup India and Smart Cities
Conclusion
Adopting new technologies to solve an array of problems will require policymakers to devote a higher level of attention to IPRs than they are used to giving
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