Newspaper Must Read Articles of The Day – 8 September 2015

Front Page/National

• Pak. Army Chief warns against ‘misadventure’: September 6th being the Defence Day of Pakistan to commemorate the defence of lahore during the 1965 war with India, the army chief has  declared that enemies will have to pay an ‘unbearable cost’ in case of a war with Pakistan. This is the first time India has celebrated the war anniversary as a victory for India.

• Batra moots education panel on the lines of EC: Mr. Dinanath Batra chairman of shiksha Bachao Andolan, the man behind banning of wendy doniger’s book On Hinduism has suggested some sweeping changes for inclusion in the New Education Policy like setting up an Education Commission on the lines of Election commission of India. He has also added that this will insulate education system from changing political regimes.

• Trust deficit in defence will be removed, says Parrikar:  The manufacturing for Defence is not moving in the required pace due to an atmosphere of suspicion and it has to be removed to strengthen trust. Already two third of the items manufactured for defence department has been opened up for private players and it is believed that biggest chuck for Make In India will come from Defence sector.

• SC rejects PIL plea against MPs’ ‘right’ to disrupt House: The Apex court has declined to hear a PIL filed by the NGO Janshruti asking it to interpret the absolute privilege enjoyed by the Members of Parliament to disrupt the parliamentary proceedings at the cost of tax payers money. The petition had also questioned whether there is any scale to define the term disruption. Another Petition is pending before the Supreme Court asking it to issue guidelines to ensure that Parliament discharges its duties.

• Kali river contaminates groundwater: Illegal industrial wastes released into the river Kali has contaminated the  ground water with heavy metals such as lead,total dissolved solids and iron. This contamination has resulted in stomach ailments brain disorders and even cancer among the residents. The lead content was 21 to 35 times the permissible limit (0.01mg/L ) in groundwater. The TDS contents were above 800mg whereas the permissible limit was 500mg. Similarly the iron content is as high as 21 times against permissible the 0.3mg/L.

Opinion/Editorial

• OROP and after: Thanking the government for giving a closure to the 40 year long issue of OROP the article suggests a spirit of give and take for the rest of the engagement to iron out the differences between the government and the army veterans until the final government order is issued.

• The Syrian catastrophe: The image of the three year old Aylan Kurdi has sent shock waves across the world about the humanitarian crisis faced by the Syrian refugees. The articles warns that it is high time the regional heavy weights such as Turkey and Saudi Arabia and their western backers should reverse their policy towards the rebels and  engage in talks with Assad regime to  solve the issue and avoid more catastrophes.

• An odd pitch to curb free speech: Justice Markandey Katju has expressed his dissent against the recent Maharashtra Government’s Circular curbing free speech as it is violative of the Constitution. He has cited examples from the judgements of the US Federal court and the corresponding Indian Versions to support his views upholding the ideals of Free speech.
  (See the newspaper of 5th September for the original article).

• A new Left rises in the West: The article highlights the rise of social democratic movements in the developed world and its vision for equality, education and the environment and how it is challenging the established politics of the west. Rising inequality and unemployment coupled by austerity measures have sparked off movements favouring citizen oriented and transparent political narrative.

• A bit for the state, a bit for the investor: The Law commission of India has reviewed the Model draft of the Bilateral Investment treaty and suggested some recommendations. According to the article the LCI has set out a basic minimum protection to the investors at the same time protecting India’s interests . Change from enterprise based definition to asset based definition, denial of benefits clause, redrafting the self judging clause are some of the major recommendations of the report.