17th FEBRUARY 2020 HINDU ANALYSIS

MUKURTI NATIONAL PARK AND FOREST FIRES

 Mukurthi National Park is located in the state of Tamil Nadu and is a part of the Western Ghats
specifically a part of the Nilgiri biosphere reserve. The kind of vegetation found is Montane grasslands
and shrublands in the lower altitude and shola grasslands at higher altitude. The key species that are
found in this Park are tigers and elephants, but the most important species found has to be the Nilgiri
Tahr. In fact, this national Park was specifically set up to conserve the Nilgiri Tahr which is considered
as a keystone species in this ecosystem.
 ”Keystone species” are those species which is considered to have an disproportionate impact on the
ecosystem despite their population being relatively smaller and are considered to be extremely crucial
for the survival of the ecosystem with most of the flora and fauna being dependent on it. It is believed
that if keystone species are pushed towards extinction, then it will result in the collapse of the entire
ecosystem. But, a number of ecologists dispute this theory according to them, there is no such thing
as keystone species. They believe that all plants and animals have a key role to play in the ecosystem
because they all contribute in their own unique way. But nonetheless, the Nilgiri Tahr is considered to
be one such keystone species in the Mukurthi National Park. That is why this protected area was set
up so that the Nilgiri Tahr could be conserved. Also, the Nilgiri Tahr is endemic to the Nilgiri
mountains and it has been listed as endangered by the IUCN.
 FOREST FIRES
 • Over the last few years, we have seen massive forest fires across the world.It has been noted that
that the frequency and intensity of the occurrence of forest fires have increased. Considerable experts
believe that this is a direct outcome of rising temperatures that has been caused by climate change
and global warming. From Brazil to Australia and India to Europe, we have witnessed massive forest
fires that have caused extensive ecological damage.
 • Causes of forest fires
 • Natural causes- lightening and volcanoes which triggers natural forest fires, can also be caused
when favorable circumstances exist. Generally, the favourable conditions exist during the summer
season. During the peak of the summer season, high temperatures are accompanied by low
moisture/humidity. In such conditions, the dried up organic matter can easily catch fire and can
spread rapidly to the forests. Such natural forest fires cause extensive damage to the flora and fauna.
But natural forest fires are not entirely bad for the ecosystem because natural forest fires tend to
have a beneficial impact and help in the regeneration of the ecosystem.
 Man made forest fires- When anthropogenic causes such as negligence, climate change and global
warming are added to the mix, then it can lead to massive and uncontrollable forest fires which can
cause irreversible damage to the ecosystem. Apart from the long term impact of human activities
such as climate change and global warming, even human negligence can cause forest fires. For
example, cigarettes and beedies that haven't been stubbed properly or naked fires that have been lit
in the forest areas carelessly and left unextinguished. Such sources of ignition, when they come in
contact with inflammable material such as dried grass or leaves or a dried organic matter, it can easily
trigger a forest fire that spreads rapidly. Under man made fires, we can also include sabotage where
deliberate fires are set by miscreants, deliberate clearing of forest land by setting fire in order to make
space for agriculture and industries. The best example for man made forest fires design to create
space for agriculture and industries would be the recent forest fires in Brazil.
 • The impact of forest fires can create a vicious cycle of deforestation, global warming and land
degradation.
 • India's vulnerability to forest fires by referring to the India’s state of forest report that is brought
 out by the forest survey of India(FSI). According to this report, the most fire prone parts of India are
located in the north east and in the central parts of India. In the Himalayan forests, the Western
Himalayas are more vulnerable because the Eastern Himalayas receives more rainfall and has high
humidity. Both the Western and Eastern ghats are vulnerable to forest fires. The Eastern ghats located
in the interior parts of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and odisha are highly vulnerable and in the
Western ghats, the most vulnerable has to be the nilgiri biosphere reserve and the other protected
areas in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and a few parts of Maharashtra.
 • Preparedness and Mitigation measures
Creation of forest fire lines, greater awareness among tourists and the local community to avoid
negligence, government and conservation Organization need to make use of technology to monitor
the occurrence and spread of forest fires, satellite technology and drones can be very effective in this
regard, also the disaster management authority should work out a long term mitigation plan as well,
Strict legal provisions should be brought in to promote safe practices and penalize negligent behavior
even around forest areas.

CHICKEN KILLING MONKEYS TRIGGER RETHINK ON LEOPARDS

 In every ecosystem, there are multiple food chains and within each food chain, every organism has an
ecological niche of its own.
 An ecological Niche refers to the role of an organism in an ecosystem.Every organism, be it a plant or
an animal, always contributes something to the ecosystem and also takes something in return from
the ecosystem. For example, bees and insects contribute by helping in pollination and they source
their food by depending on plants and other sources and they become food for other organisms such
as birds, reptiles etc. So this specific role of every organism in the ecosystem is referred to as its
ecological Niche.
 This article refers to the relationship between monkeys and leopards in Assam in the rural Eastern
parts of Assam. People have targeted leopards over the last two to three decades because leopards
tend to steal their cattle. So this increasing cases of man animal conflict led the people to kill most of
the leopards and unfortunately their population has fallen drastically from 12000 about 15 years ago
to less than 5000 as of now. This rapid decline in the leopard population is causing a new type of
problem for the people in the rural Eastern parts of Assam because as a leopard population declined,
the monkey population has exploded.
 If you look at this particular food chain, leopards tend to feed on monkeys and thus it helps to keep a
check on the population of monkeys particularly in these parts of Assam. Monkeys tend to raid crops,
houses etc. So people in this region are not only seeing this is a nuisance, but also feeling the
economic impact of these losses.
 This article helps us understand the natural balance which exist in ecosystems when every organism is
performing its respective ecological niche. But when human activities disrupt these critical links in the
ecosystem then it can create an irreversible imbalance in the entire ecosystem.

WAYANAD TIGER RESERVE PROPOSAL FAILS TO FIND FAVOUR

 The State Forest department of the Kerala government had initiated a proposal to upgrade the
Wayanad wildlife sanctuary to a tiger reserve. But this proposal has been rejected by the state board
for wildlife(SBW) which is headed by the Chief Minister of the state. Kerala already has two tiger
reserves- Periyar tiger reserve and the the Parambikulam tiger reserve.
 According to the latest tiger census report, these two existing tiger reserves of Kerala only have a
 tiger population of around 30 -35 and 22-25 respectively.
 Even though Wayanad is just a wildlife sanctuary, it has more than 50% of Kerala tigers according to
the latest census report. According to the 2019 report, Wayanad wildlife sanctuary alone has around
75 to 80 tigers. So this healthy tiger population has created an urgent need to upgrade the
conservation status of the Wayanad wildlife sanctuary to that of a tiger reserve. Accordingly the State
Forest department initiated a proposal but this proposal has been rejected by the state board for
wildlife because the state government feels that the establishment of a tiger reserve at Wayanad will
result in public protest and could increase the occurrence of man-animal conflict. The government has
said for the public consultations have to be held in order to generate public opinion and based on this,
the state board for wildlife will be making a decision.

INDIA INKS 14 MoUs WITH RUSSIA FOR DEFENCE SUPPOR, SPARES

 India has signed 14 MoUs with Russia for jointly producing spare components in order to service and
repair the Russian military equipment that India has already inducted into its armed forces.
 These MoUs even cover Russian military equipment that India is planning to acquire in the future.
These MoUs have been signed as an intergovernmental agreement and it provides for joint
manufacturing of these spare components for the Russian military equipment such as the T90 tanks
that has been already been inducted into the Indian army as the Bhishma tanks. This agreement also
covers a few air defence missile systems of Russia that India is planning to acquire in the future. These
include the Tungshka, Kabadrat, Osaka, etc.
 India and Russia has also signed an agreement covering the field of emerging technologies. India and
Russia are looking to work together in the field of AI, IOT, robotics, blockchain etc considering the
potential that these emerging technologies have for the defence sector.
 In order to promote this collaboration, India and Russia have proposed to establish the ICT centre of
excellence as a joint venture between the two countries. 

18th FEBRUARY 2020 HINDU ANALYSIS

WOMEN ARMY OFFICERS ARE ELIGIBE FOR PERMANENT COMMISSION: SUPREME COURT

 Women officers were inducted in the army starting 1992 but only for a period of 5 years initially
and that too in non-combat roles.
 Combat roles are those involving engaging or fighting the enemy, either in person or through
equipment. Non-combat roles included army education corps, corps of engineers etc. This was
called WSES (women's special entry scheme).
 In the year 2006, this scheme was replaced by Short service commission (SSC) which means you are
conditioned in the army but you will have a short service of 10 years which can be extended by
another 4 years.
 But once men completed 10 years, they could opt for permanent commission as well and if one was
recruited into a permanent commission, one could you serve till retirement. This permanent
commission was excluded for women. This also meant that they were not qualified for pension
because for an officer you are eligible for a government pension only and only if you have
completed 20 years of service.
 In the year 2003, a PIL was filed before the Delhi High Court to grant permanent commission to
those Short service commission women officers who have completed 10 or 14 year of service in the
year.
 In 2008, the defense ministry issued an order which said that permanent commission will be
granted to those SSC women but only in few fields/areas for example judge advocate, general or
army education corps-basically the legal minds of the army.
  But there were two problems with this order. Firstly, it was not granted in all areas and the second
problem was that it was prospective in nature and not retrospective. This meant it did not take into
account those who had already completed their 10 year tenure and have filed the case in 2003. So
it was again challenged in court.
 The Delhi High court in the year 2010 ruled in favor of a permanent commission of women. The
government of India challenged this order before the Supreme Court and even did not implement
this despite the Delhi HC order of 2010.
 The case is now going on in February 2019.The government of India issued another order.
This time the government of India is saying that it will give permanent commission to SSC women
but in 8 areas and not all 10 fields. Also, women officers will not be given commander posts where
they will command a battalion- This meant that women officers would not have gone beyond the
rank of a Colonel.
 This 2010 high court order which was challenged in the court yesterday and the Supreme
Court ruled in favor of the order. SC ruled that woman can serve as army commanders and
dismissed the GoI position. The GoI had told the SC that male soldiers were not ready to accept
orders from female officers.SC said that this position of the government is very disturbing and
ordered that the government would have to extend permanent commission to women offices in all
the areas. The government said that men and women are physically different and therefore cannot
be treated equally. But Supreme Court dismissed all the arguments by the government of India.
 However, SC did rule that women can serve as commanders but SC did not order that women be
deployed in combat roles. SC said that the army should rule and decide on this matter because the
exclusion of the men from combat operations was not examined by the court as it was not
contested in the appeal - which means that the supreme Court did not order that woman be
deployed in combat roles because it said army or other competent authority will decide on case to
case basis. But the supreme Court did say that if the women would be completely excluded from
the combat roles, that may not stand the test of judicial scrutiny.

Other important things related to the article-

 The government of India told the SC that it should not provide Commander roles to women
because the soldiers of the Indian army predominantly come from rural area and they're not yet
ready to accept orders from the women officers.
 But if we look at police or CRPF, men who are part of police or constable, they also come from rural
areas but we have had women as superintendent of the police, DGP, women officers as well. So if
men constables who predominantly come from rural areas can accept orders from female police
officers or female Para military officers then what stops men from rural areas who are posted in the
army from accepting the orders from women  officers.
 The fact is- a man is joining the army to serve the nation but it does not give him some extra shot of
testosterone, It does not give him any refresher course in misogyny
 If we look at banks, many bank managers are women and the security guards at these banks are
mostly ex- service men. If these ex-service men can take orders from the female Bank managers
there's no reason to understand why these male army members would not take the orders of
female army officer in command.
 What about Indian air Force/Navy?
Both Indian air Force and Indian Navy previously offered permanent commission to women and
many Indian air Force pilots also have been women. So Indian air Force and Navy do offer
permanent commission to women as well as in select Combat roles.
 There are a few countries which allow women in combat trolls for example Australia, Germany,
Israel and United States.
 There were some sexist arguments also made by the government before the court.
The government said that army offices are to be kept in isolation they have to face a lot of
hardships and that means women will not be in a position to survive in those conditions.
Similarly, women have to answer the call of the nature like pregnancy, childbirth and family. The
government affidavit also said that women ran the risk of being captured by enemy and taken a
prisoner of war. But all these arguments were dismissed by the SC.
 Despite this order, this Hindu editorial is very pessimist. It says that there are only 1653 female
officers in the Indian army out of a total of 40825 officers, says that implementation and change are
not likely to happen soon despite the fact that supreme Court has given a period of 3 months to the
government to implement these orders.

PROTECTING CHILDREN’S RIGHT TO PROTEST

 Ever since the implementation of CAA, there has been protest at multiple places in this country-
Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Indore, Mumbai etc. But the unique thing about these protests is that
these protests have been led by women, particularly Muslim women.
 But that has been some serious concerns.
These protests have also blocked roads at some places. So if you have a fundamental right of
freedom, of speech and expression, it is not an absolute fundamental right and comes under
reasonable restrictions. One such reasonable restriction is public order and if one is blocking roads,
they are violating public order.
 Another concern is with the presence of children at these protests. We have witnessed that a 4-
month infant in Shaheen Bagh in Delhi died because the mother of the infant was participating in
the protest. The child was exposed to cold and ultimately died. The SC took a Suo moto cognizance
of the matter. The SC expressed surprise and concern as to how children could participate in this
protest and how children were exposed to unfavorable climate conditions.
  Supreme Court yesterday conceded that mothers, children, ordinary people have the right to
protest against any form of Injustice against any law even if they don't want to wait for the SC to
decide whether CAA is constitutional or not, they want to explore other means of protest, they are
free to do so but they should not block roads. SC has now appointed a Senior advocate, Sanjay
Hegde, to act as a mediator.
Another lawyer, Sanjana  Ramachandran, will also be part of this committee so that these two
individuals can talk to the protesters at Shaheen bagh and try to persuade them to shift to another
place so as not to block roads. The court has also left to the discretion of Mr. Sanjay Hegde that he
may also include previous Chairperson of Information commission(IC) W.Habbibulah so that all
three could try and persuade the protesters at Shaheen Bagh to shift to another location.
 SC took a Suo moto cognizance of  the fact that a child has died when the child was exposed to cold
conditions at  Shaheen bagh protest. The court took it upon itself to decide whether children can
participate in protests or not and this newspaper column justifies the participation of children in
protest.
WHY?
 Firstly, because of article 19 which talks about every citizen in this country is provided freedom of
speech and expression and does not talk about age. So children also have the fundamental right to
protest to express themselves.
 The second reason is- India is also a signatory to the United Nations Convention(UNSC) on the
rights of the child and article 13 of this convention explicitly states that children have the right and
freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds regardless of frontiers either
orally, or in writing or print, in the form of art or through any other media of child's choice. That
means article 13 of the convention also gives the right to the children to democratically participate
in the protests and seek information about anything and everything.
 Another reason could be- there are schools which encourage children to read newspapers and
watch news channels and attending the protest is also a way for a child to receive information and
ideas because at a protest site, they get to experience different expressions of discontent because a
protest is also a space where children experience and assert their citizenship.
 This column also says that a child has the right to be present because a child is a stakeholder at the
Shaheen Bagh protest. Why ?
 Because these protests are also against the CAA ,also against NRC and in NRC, one has to prove his
citizenship through documents and if the mother or the father of a child is not in a position to
produce documents, that means they will be declared as an illegal migrant that will affect the
citizenship of the child as well because according to the citizens, for a child born in India after 1987,
citizenship can be Indian provided one of the parent is an Indian and the other is a not an illegal
migrant at the time of the birth. So, it is the right of a child to be present at these protests sides
because he/she is a stakeholder at citizenship.

INDIA’S BIRD POPULATION SUFFERS LONG TERM DECLINE

 State of India's bird 2020 report was released at the United Nations 13th conference of parties of
the convention on the conservation of migratory species of wild animals.
 According to this report, then numbers of India's national bird peacock has increased over the last
few decades and Vultures, eagles have decreased. This report identifies two types of species- those
who are doing relatively well in terms of their population, and those who are at conservation
concern- that means they are at high risk.
 This report says that 48% of the bird species have remained stable in the last 5 years but 101
species has been classified as a conservation concern. House sparrows or common Sparrow- there
was a popular notion that the number of house sparrows is declining because of the radiation
coming out from mobile phone towers. But this report says that this factor is not supported by
evidence.
 There is a decline in population of house sparrows in urban areas but the reason for that is paucity
for shortage of nesting sites. The reason is also declining insect population because this is one of
the important diet of the sparrows so if there was a popular notion of house sparrows population
was declining that's not true the population is stable as far as house sparrows are concerned but in
urban areas where is a decline of population.
 The bird species which have shown declining numbers are raptors, migratory birds and habitat
specialists including White-rumped Vulture, Richard's pipit, Indian vulture, Large billed leaf
warbler , Pacific Golden plover and Curlew sandpiper.
 The species which have shown increasing numbers are Rosy starling, feral pigeon, glossy Ibis, Plain
Prinia and Ashy prinia.
 The four species of bustards in India have also suffered continuous population declines because of
 historical hunting and widespread habitat loss compounded with their slow growth and
reproduction. The great Indian Bustard is also mentioned as critically endangered in the IUCN list of
2019. The population of vultures is declining primarily because of Diclofenac which is used by the
cattle it is an anti inflammation drug and when this drug is administrated to the cattle then the
cattle dies and their corpse is fed by vultures which are then exposed to Diclofenac.

INDIA’S DISTURBING TRAUMA NARRATIVE

 At a school in Bidar, Karnataka,at the annual day celebration, a play was performed. When this play
was performed an 11 year old had made some remarks and because of these remarks the Principal
of the school as well as the mother of this child where booked under Sedition.
 The child had said "The boy who was selling tea till the other day is asking us for documents, I'll ask
him where he was born and where his papers are. If he does not provide them, I will beat him with
my slippers".
 These slippers was seized by the police and sedition charges were slapped against the mother of
the child because it was alleged that the mother was responsible for writing these words and the
principal allowed this play to be carried out and performed at the annual day celebration.
 So the allegation is that in these lines the child is referring to the Prime Minister. But even if the
child is referring to the prime Minister clearly it is not sedition. Sedition is a serious charge. Unless
and until there is incitement of violence, it can't be sedition. That's what the Supreme Court has
repeatedly said and the police has the pair of slippers. It basically means that these flippers could
be used to incite violence against the prime Minister that is why it is sedition and it is a blatant
misuse of section 124 clause of Indian penal code.

A ROYAL MESS

 This is related to the AGR( adjusted gross revenue), the dispute between the Telecom companies
and the government.
 When the SC said that these Telecom operators who owe dues to the government will have to
submit these dues by midnight, there are some people who argue that this is a classic case of
judicial over reach. Critics say that there are multiple cases where the Supreme Court is not
showing the same alarcity as it is showing in this case.
 For example, electoral bonds scheme- Since it was launched in 2017, there has been repeated
petitions against this scheme. The professionals are arguing that the scheme violates free and
fair election which is a part of the basic electoral structure of the Constitution. But SC is not
showing the same alarcity in disposing of this case. Similarly there are a number of habeas corpus
petitions for the supreme Court dealing with Jammu and Kashmir. These cases have been delayed.
 The challenge to CAA- the SC is not showing alarcity in hearing these cases despite the fact that
there has been repeated Nationwide protests against CAA. All this can be cited as cases of judicial
evasion.
 But there are other cases of judicial over reach, for example, a few years ago the SC said that all the
bars and liquor shops within 500 m of national highway should be closed because they have to stop
the menace of the incidences of traffic accidents along the national highways. In some instances,
the SC issued orders to tackle monkey menace in Delhi, also issued orders on the use of seatbelt for
the  drivers and now this order wherein all these Telecom companies have  to pay their dues that
they owe to the government by midnight without considering the repercussions of this order.
 What are these repercussions?
The biggest loser in all this would be Vodafone Idea and in all likelihood, the Vodafone idea will go
bankrupt and if this happens in India , it is going to affect our investment climate and global
 investors will be wary of  investing in India. Secondly, it is going to create a duopoly- that means in
our Telecom sector we will only have Airtel and Reliance Jio , which goes against competition.
Thirdly, what about the 15,000 job losses that will result due to the shutting of Vodafone Idea in
India? What about banks who are exposed to Vodafone Idea who have Lent crores and crores  of
rupees to Vodafone idea, what about future 5G trials- the  5G spectrum will be auctioned by the
government and if they're only two players in the market apart from the state owned BSNL, it is
going to accrue less and less revenue to the government of India.
 This editorial does criticize these telecom companies as well. If  these Telecom companies would
have paid their dues on the yearly basis they would not have been confronted with such a situation
where they owe more  than 1 Lakh Crore to the government.
 How can we solve this Royal mess?
The ball is in the court of the government according to this editorial. The parliament may pass a law
to allow these Telecom companies to make payments over time or the government may reduce
revenue base license fees or spectrum usage charge.
This is the only way- Prudence and pragmatism is the only way to come out of this Royal mess.

MAY THE FORCE BE STRENGTHENED

 If we look at the distribution of powers mentioned under schedule 7 of the Constitution of India,
subjects such as police, law & order, prisons- they fall under state list. So all the states have their
own police force but in addition to these state police forces, the center manages 7 police
organizations. These are- CRPF(Central reserve police force ), CISF(Central industrial security
force),RPF(Reserve police force), SSB(Shastra Seema Bal), BSF(border security force), ITBP (Indo
Tibetan border force)and Assam rifles.
 CRPF before independence was called CRP (Crown representative police). CRP was established in
1939. At the time of the independence, the future of CRP was under discussion as law and order
was under state subject. Almost everyone questioned continuance of this police force. But Sardar
Patel was in favor of retaining CRP and that is why in 1949 the CRP became CRPF. At the time of
Independence, CRP had only two battalion. Today CRPF  has to 246 battalion.
 The mission of  CRPF is to enable the government to maintain the rule of law, public order and
internal security effectively and efficiently, to preserve the national integrity, promote social
Harmony and development by the holding the supremacy of the Constitution.
 But today's CRPF personnel are under stress and there are increasing suicides and fratricides (CRPF
personnel kill each other) cases found. These incidents have been on a rise. So the solution is the
home minister said that we will ensure that CRPF Jawaan is provided 100 days leave in a year so
that he gets to spend some time with his family and his family members will also be provided
health insurance.
 This column says that this 100 days leave is an impossible dream for the soldiers. It also says that a
CRPF personnel is posted in insurgency hit areas. They are tasked with maintenance of law and
order. The BSF forces are tasked at borders, CISF are used to provide security to airports and public
sector undertakings.
 This article says that instead of saying that all CRPF personnel should forever till their retirement,
focus on their law and order and in anti- insurgency operations, this should be done away with. This
column says that all those who are recruited to these 7 Central police organization for 15 years,
they should be deployed in anti insurgency areas that means , then for the next 10 years they
should be applied to border areas then towards the end of their service they may be deployed at
the  airport or for providing security to PSUs. Because as of now, if you are recruited in CRPF
throughout your term or tenure you are dealing with law and order problems and anti-insurgency
 cases- that means till the last day of your service you are in a high-risk job. This can be avoided if we
are following this system. Another reason is that a large number of personal individuals are taking
voluntary retirement but there is no rehabilitation for the same.
The government should look into the same, to provide rehabilitation. Although there is a welfare
rehabilitation board but it has not made any impact according to the author and other demand that
should be considered is that of OROP(One rank one pension). For example, the head of the CRPF is
basically an IPS officer. The column says that why can't we ensure that the senior officers who are
recruited to CRPF, one amongst them gets to head this force. What about this Non- functional
financial up gradation? This is something that was recommended by The 6th Pay commission.
 What is this non-functional financial Up gradation?
Initially it was for the IAS officers. Let's say for example, an IAS officer of 1990 batch is promoted as
additional secretary to the government of India. That means that once He/she is promoted, he gets
better salary as well but what about the other officers of the same 1990 batch who are not
promoted? This means they lose out on salary benefits. This non-financial financial upgradation was
recommended for IAS officers that means even if other batch members have not been promoted to
a higher post, they will still draw the upgraded salary. This was recommended by The 6th pay
commission.
 Since we are marking one year of the terrorist attack in Pulwama and more than 40 CRPF jawans
lost their lives in a suicide bomber attack, this column said that the functioning of the CRPF needs
to be revisited.

19th FEBRUARY 2020 HINDU ANALYSIS

PAKISTAN TO REMAIN IN TERROR FINANCING WATCH DOG’S GREY LIST

 FATF is an intergovernmental agency set up in the year 1989. Its principle objective was to tackle
money laundering. The financial system that we have in the world- the banks, the non-banking
financial corporations, the financial sector, that should not be used for money laundering.
 When 9/11 attacks took place on United States, the scope of FATF was expanded. Now it would
also look into terror financing. That is why FATF effectively creates two lists -Grey list and the
blacklist. All those countries for example, Iran, North Korea which are not cooperating with FATF
on money laundering or terrorist financing, are placed in black list and all those countries which do
co-operate with FATF but that cooperation is not enough, they have to do a lot more to curb money
laundering and terror financing - those countries are placed in the grey list.
  Pakistan has been placed in the grey list twice. Last time when Pakistan was again put on grey list,
It was given an option to comply with a 27-point action plan to be removed from the grey list or
they would be in the blacklist. When in November last year, a review meeting was held, it was
argued that Pakistan has complied only with 5 of these 27 action plans. So Pakistan was threatened
that in February 2020 there'll be another review, if it does not comply with all these 27 action plans
then they will be blacklisted.
 According to newspaper reports, it has now been decided that Pakistan will remain in this grey list
because the meeting is chaired by China and also there are Turkey and Malaysia- friends of
Pakistan. They all have come together to ensure that Pakistan is retained in the grey list and not
goes into the blacklist although the final decision will be will be announced only on Friday.
Newspaper reports also tell that Pakistan will be kept in this grey list for a period of 3 to 6 months.
After that, these two countries have promised that they would  remove Pakistan from grey list
 under FATF.

CENTRE’S RESPONSE SOUGHT ON PLEE BY ARJUNA AWARDEE

 Arjuna awards were initiated in the year 1961 and it is given to those players who have exhibited
good performance consistently (for a period of last 4 years at an international level). The player
given the award should also have shown qualities of leadership, sportsmanship and sense of
discipline as well.

KOTHARI TIPPED TO BE CVC, JULKA IS GOING TO BE THE CIC

 CVC ( Central Vigilance Commission) was set up in the year 1964 on the recommendations of a
committee on prevention of corruption. This committee on prevention of corruption was headed by
Shri K.Santhanam. But the CVC was neither a constitutional body nor a statutory body. it was setup
based on a government resolution. But in the year 2003, CVC was given statutory status, CVC law
was passed and Central vigilance commission was accorded with the statutory status.
 The composition of CVC consists of Central vigilance commissioner and not more than two vigilance
commissioner. The Central Vigilance Commissioner is appointed by the President on the basis of
the recommendations of a committee headed by the Prime Minister and other members of the
committee such as the MHA and the leader of the opposition of the Lok Sabha. That is why Adhir
Ranjan Choudhary, who is the leader of the Congress party in the Lok Sabha also participated in
these meetings. But the name which is recommended by the committee to the President is chosen
on the basis of unanimity/consensus. But in this particular case, Sanjay Kothari, who is currently the
Secretary to the President of India, is going to be the next Chief Vigilance Commissioner despite the
fact that the Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has expressed reservations about the
appointment.
 But this is not uncommon.
In 2012, when PJ Thomas was to be appointed as a CVC, the then leader of the opposition in the
Lok Sabha, Miss  Sushma Swaraj was opposed to the appointment.
 The office of the Chief information commissioner(CIC) was constituted in the year 2005 is also and
also appointed by the President but based on the recommendations of the committee headed by
the Prime Minister, leader of the opposition of the Lok Sabha and other members are the cabinet
minister nominated by the Prime Minister.

VISA POWER

 British Labour MP, Debbie Abrahams, who is also the chairperson of United kingdom's All Party
Parliamentary group and it is considered that Debbie Abrahams is very close to Pakistani
establishment and ISI and she has been very critical of the Government of India's position of
operationalizing Article 370 of the Constitution of India. She is also very critical of the alleged
Human Rights violation committed by the Indian security forces on Kashmir.
 That is why when Debbie Abrahams landed in Delhi, she was detained and questioned and
ultimately she was deported and her visa was cancelled
 This newspaper editorial raises a the question- If her  ties with the ISI and  the Pakistani
establishment were known to the government of India, why was Debbie Abrahams provided visa in
October 2019 and why did it take 4 months for the government of India to cancel that visa?
 This is similar to what happened in December 2019. External affairs Minister, Mr S.Jaishankar was
 on a visit to the United States that he had to meet a very influential house foreign affairs committee
of The United States. But at the last moment, this meeting was cancelled because another
Congresswoman, Miss Pramila Jayapal was also a member of this house of foreign affairs
committee and she was also critical of the GoI position on Jammu and Kashmir. in fact she had
called a house resolution which called the parliament of United States to criticize the GoI's decision
in J&K and that is why as a mark of protest, the foreign affairs Ministers S.Jaishankar  cancelled his
meeting.
 But Miss Debbie Abrahams is a part of the Labour Political party which is an opposition in the UK.
Also Miss Pramila Jayapal is a democratic and US President Donald Trump belongs to the
Republican party -The Grand old party of the United States. So in no way do the actions of the GoI
in protesting against Pramila Jayapal or for cancelling the visa of Debbie Ibrahim, are going to
impact in India's relations with the UK or The US because these two members are part of the
opposition and not part of the government.
 But what happens when governments themselves criticize or are critical of India's actions in Jammu
and Kashmir?
For example, Turkey or Malaysia- when Malaysia criticized the government of India's actions in J&K,
India acted swiftly and imposed restrictions on the import of palm oil and Malaysia is one of the
largest exporters of palm oil. So it affected Malaysia's economy. Turkish president was in Pakistan
and he justified Turkey's strong ties with Pakistan and Turkey has strongly reiterated its support to
Kashmir's Independence for resolution of Jammu and Kashmir based on UNSC (United Nation
security council) resolution because these resolutions call for plebiscite on the state of Jammu and
Kashmir.
So in these cases, India issues a strong demarche against Turkey and Malaysia and expressed anger
that a foreign country is meddling into the internal affairs of the country.
 This newspaper editorial says that this line of the GoI that no other country should interfere in the
internal affairs of India- would have been valid if at the same time the GoI would not have been
organising groups of foreign envoys to visit Jammu and Kashmir.
Last year, few MPs of the European Parliament were made to visit J&K, then we saw the visit of the
foreign envoys and high commissioners, then there were US ambassadors as well. On one hand,
GoI is allowing these foreign envoys  to visit Jammu and Kashmir. On the other hand, its
calling the foreign governments to stop interfering in our internal affairs. These two lines
contradict each other.
 The boycott or deportations of the politicians, visa denials to foreign journalists, all appear to be a
part of the pattern of a whimsical behaviour which is not suited to a democracy like India that
prides in its traditions of openness and debate.

 INDIA US TRADE ACTION AND INDIAN COUNTER STRATEGY

 US President Donald Trump is on a visit to India he will be landing in India on February 24th.
 There was a hope that a trade deal may be signed between India and the United States.
In all likelihood, that trade deal has been put off. Also, if we take a look at the statement of Donald
Trump today, he says that India has not been treating United States well. Despite this fact, he loves
Indian Prime Minister Mr Modi.
 We have also witnessed that in 2019, India was taken off from the list of GSP (generalized system of
preferences). Under GSP, US and other developed countries would import certain products, that
too from developing countries, and these products would be imported on concessional rates. That
means US will give a concession to those products coming from developing countries. The
important thing was that it was non-reciprocal which means that if United States is importing some
 goods or products from India at concessional rates, that does not mean that India also should
import some goods from United States at a concessional rate because GSP was non reciprocal in its
attitude.
 But India was taken off from GSP list and last week India was taken off from the list of developing
countries. India will now be treated as a developed country by the US and not as a developing
country. That means the exports from India to United States, if these exports have been subsidized
by the government of India, then on these products Countervailing Duties(CD)will be imposed by
the United States - exports to US will be expensive.

BIRDS HIT

 The latest report is refreshing as it taps into citizen involvement for good data and should serve as a
foundation for collaborative work.
 The unique thing about this report is that citizens are also involved in this and not just
ornithologists or experts.

IT’S TIME TO EMPOWER MAYORS

 AAP won the elections. Arvind Kejriwal is now the Chief Minister of Delhi but the Chief Minister of
Delhi is often compared to that of a Mayor because Delhi is a Union Territory, that Delhi
government has does not have the power to take decisions on land on law and order and on police.
And when Arvind Kejriwal won the election, this column argues that it is time to empower the
mayors.
 How can this be done?
It is time that elections to Urban local bodies should take place on non-party lines which basically
means two things –
 Mayors to Urban local bodies should be directly elected. As of now, you vote for your
councillors and these councillors choose one amongst them as the mayor of an urban local
body, normally for a period of 1 year, which is renewable as well. The column argues that
we should have a directly elected mayor. According to this column, there are only two
States- Uttarakhand and Jharkhand, where Mayor is directly elected. We should expand this
throughout the country so that urban local bodies mayors are directly elected by the
people.
 Election should be held on non-party lines. That means political parties should not contest
urban local body elections.
 This column argues that at Panchayati Raj institutions at the village level, there elections can
happen on party line basis -that means political parties should contest Panchayati Raj
elections and should contest rural local body elections because if political parties are not
contesting, then people will start voting in the name of caste- this implies that people in
rural areas- they will not cast their votes and they will cast their caste. So, to prevent this
caste politics at the rural level, we should have elections on party lines in rural local bodies.
But caste, according to this author, is not a factor in urban areas. That is why urban local
body elections, political parties should not contest elections and elections to be held on
non-party basis.
 The reason given by the author is that under the current system, CMs of the states do not
want a strong urban local body mayor because this mayor would be a threat to the chief
minister and since elections is conducted on party line basis, which primarily means that
counselors will select one among them as the mayor and normally, the ruling party will
 choose a member of its own political party as a mayor who is not a threat to the Chief
Minister. So if elections are held on non-party lines, ultimately this mayor will emerge as an
independent, strong, well educated ,well qualified and youngsters will be encouraged to
take part in the election process.

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE TERM ‘SECULAR’

 For example, if there is a liberal democracy -one where individual fundamental rights and
political freedom are guaranteed to the citizens and there is non-discrimination, what is the
use of the term secular?
Because secular means non-discrimination on the grounds of religion. So if there is a liberal
democracy which believes that there should be no discrimination on any grounds then what
is the point of having the word secular part of a liberal democracy because then it would
mean that this word would be subsumed in a liberal democracy ,secular would be a subset
of a liberal democracy.
 To make it even simpler, what is the value that "secular" adds if we are a liberal democracy?
 As a liberal democracy, we provide fundamental rights to the citizens, freedom of speech
and expression, non-discrimination, Right to equality, right to life and personal liberty, right
to practice one’s religion as well.
 Rajeev Bhargava, the author, argues that if we talk about Western European countries, this
word secular may not make much sense.
How did the secular state emerge in European countries?
Wars were fought and when this war was won, it would force all the people of the area to
opt for the religion of the King. If this was not done, people were either expelled or killed. 
This is how the European countries became religiously homogeneous.
 But over a period of time, when this Church or religious body became oppressive, it was
decided that Church should be separated from politics and economy - that means a so far as
political matters are concerned, churches should not interfere in this. This is secularism in
Europe -that means separation of Church matters and religious matters from those matters
which are temporal, for example, politics or economy.
 But in western European liberal democracy secularism would not mean much because
secularism would say non-discrimination on the grounds of religion but when the entire
area is religiously homogeneous, then secularism does not matter much.
 The word that is much more important is that they are a "liberal democracy". But the author
says that so far as India is concerned, multi-religious societies are concerned, diverse
societies are concerned, we cannot only rely on liberal democracy. We should also have
secularism as part of a of a liberal democracy because secularism would mean equal
treatment of all religions, non-participant outlook of the state, equal recognition of all
religions.
 ‘Secular’ can be added to a liberal democracy so that we can add confidence to the impartial
nature of the state.

20th FEBRUARY 2020 HINDU ANALYSIS

 

INDIA US RELATIONS

 The government of India has said that the trade agreement with the US has only been delayed and
 not stopped during the upcoming visit of Trump. India and US were expected to sign a mini trade
deal in order to resolve the trade disputes and tension which has been affecting the bilateral
relations over the last couple of years. As trade negotiations between the two countries have fallen
apart for the time being and this became evident when the US trade representative cancelled his
visit to India recently. This gave rise to reports that trade differences between the two countries
have not been resolved and it is unlikely that the trade agreement would be signed during the visit
of Donald Trump to India.
 In the backdrop of these reports, strategic experts, the media and the opposition parties- they
started questioning the Indian government whether anything substantial was going to be achieved
during the visit or was it being organized just to impress the domestic audience of both the leaders
because for Donald Trump, this is an election year and he would be looking to boost his domestic
image by projecting his "America first" approach. This could be one of the reasons behind the
refusal of the US to finalize the trade deal before the elections. This has led the critics of the Indian
government to question whether the visit is largely political in nature or is it expected to achieve
any substantial progress.
 In response to these questions, the Indian government has said that the trade deal has only been
delayed for the time being and it has not been taken off the negotiating table and is likely to resume
once the Presidential elections in the US are over. India's foreign Secretary Harshvardhan Shringla
has asked the critics to look at the larger context of the visit because the visit of Donald Trump
signifies the growing closeness of India and US in the strategic domain.
 There is another article related to India's defense ties with the US. Ahead of Trump visit, the Indian
government has approved a few key defense deals with the US. The cabinet committee on security
has granted its approval for the procurement of 24 MH 60R Seahawk helicopters for the Indian
Navy. India is also looking to finalize the procurement of 6 additional Apache attack helicopters for
the Indian army. The Sea hawk helicopter is a multirole helicopter that is primarily meant for naval
operations. It has been developed by Sikorski- an American defense manufacturer and its design is
based on the popular Black hawk helicopters that are used by the US army. The procurement of sea
hawk helicopters is expected to address the critical shortage of helicopters that the Indian Navy is
facing on its Frontline warships. The Apache that has been developed by Boeing, is an advanced
attack helicopter that is currently in the process of being inducted into the Indian Airforce and a
separate deal is currently being worked out to induct them into the aviation core of the Indian army
as well. Both the deals are expected to be signed as a government to government deal between the
two countries.
 The US has been pushing India to procure its missile defense systems instead of procuring them
from its rival Russia. The US has referred the largest aircraft infrared countermeasure, which is a
missile defense system for VIP aircraft and it has also offered the integrated air defence weapon
system to India. Through these deals, the US is looking to increase its military sales to India and it is
also looking to counter the sale of Russian weapons to India.
 During the visit Donald Trump is expected to push India to procure fighter jets for the Indian air
Force and the Indian Navy. So these defense deals, some of which have been approved and some of
which are in the process of being negotiated, highlight the growing strategic closeness between the
India and the US. It also projects the US as a reliable military hardware supplier for India which is
one of the largest importers of weapons in the world.
 But the downside is that it shows India's growing dependency on American military hardware and
this could pose as a challenge for India's historic defense ties with Russia. Traditionally, Russia has
been the key supplier of weapons to India. But of late, the US has emerged as an alternative.
So the rivalry between the US and Russia has extended to the sale of weapons to India as well and
India faces the challenge of balancing its relationship with both the super powers.
 Apart from this, India's growing dependency on foreign military hardware affects its long-term
plants of promoting indigenous defense products.
 There is another column which highlights the nature of Trump visit to India and also evaluates the
cost and benefits of this visit to India. The writers evaluates that the intention of Trump is to
improve bilateral relations with India or to score political points in the run up to his presidential
campaign. First, the writers focus on the trade dispute between the two countries over the last two
to three years. A number of trade related issues has cropped up between India and the US.
This dispute has emerged primarily because of the nature of trading between the two countries.
On looking at the trade equations, the US always has a huge trade deficit with India.
India enjoys a trade surplus with the US but this trade deficit of the US has always been within
manageable limits and it is hardly 1/10th of the trade deficit that the US has with China. But as soon
as Trump took over in 2016, he started promoting his "America first" approach and his
administration has targeted all the countries which according to Donald Trump , were being unfair
to the US. The countries that fall under this bracket include China (which has a huge trade surplus
against the US), close allies of the US such as Germany, France, Canada and it also includes
developing economies like Mexico and India. Over the last couple of years, Trump administration
has accused these countries of following unfair trade practices and in response has imposed tariffs
on these countries. For example, the US imposed tariffs on the export of steel and aluminium from
India. Similarly tariffs were imposed on China and other countries as well and this initiated a trade
war between the countries. So when the US targeted Indian exports by imposing higher rates, that
is India also responded by imposing higher tariffs on American exports to India.
These tensions increased as the US revoked India's GSP status.
 GSP stands for Generalized System of Preferences and under this program the US provides a
preferential treatment for exports coming from developing and underdeveloped countries in order
to promote their exports.  Earlier India also enjoyed the GSP status and as a result around 5.7 billion
dollar worth of exports from India to the US was given the GSP status. But the Trump administration
revoked India's GSP status by stating that India's unfair trade practices are affecting American
interests. The Trump administration was also critical of India's e-commerce regulation policy and in
response; it proposed to limit the availability e-H1B visas to Indian professionals.
Recently, the US has threatened India with section 301 investigation.
 Section 301 of the US trade Act empowers the US President to act against a foreign government if
the US President is convinced that a foreign government is resorting to unfair trade practices against
the US for providing unfair subsidies and imposing unjustified taxes. Section 301 of the US trade Act
empowers the US government to take action against the government by imposing higher tariffs and
by placing non-tariff barriers.
 So both the countries were hoping to resolve these differences by working out a trade deal or at
least a mini trade deal. But now such a trade deal has become impossible and is falling apart
because Donald Trump realizes that he cannot be seen to be offering concessions to India in
election year. Donald Trump has always projected himself as a protector of American interests
under his "America first " approach as a part of this approach, he has waged trade wars and
renegotiated trade agreements even with close allies such as South Korea Canada etc. India cannot
come as an exception and that too in election year.
 So this is where the writers are questioning the Indian government to assess The costs and benefits
of the President’s visit which largely seems to be a political visit to India.
 India was under the impression that a trade deal could be worked out if it offered lucrative different
deals in return. That is one of the reasons why India has agreed to procure the Sea hawk helicopters
and it is also looking to procure 6 additional Apache helicopters. So by offering such lucrative
defense deals, India was looking to bring down the trade deficit of the US and it was hoping that this
 would be sufficient to convince Donald Trump to finalize a trade agreement but these hopes of India
have not come true because US administration has designated India as a developed country.
 The writers are trying to say that a trade deal with the US is highly unlikely and it is unlikely that the
US will give back the GSP status to India mainly because of Trump's domestic political compulsion.

THE MISSING PIECE OF INDIA’S JIGSAW PUZZLE

 It refers to the need for India to come out with a defense white paper that could highlight India's
threat perceptions, strategic concerns and based on such an analysis, India could optimize the
procurement of weapons. This column has been written by M.K Narayanan who was India's former
national security advisor.
 As of 2018, India was incurring the 4th highest defense expenditure after US ,China and South
Korea. India is clearly one of the top importers of weapon and military hardware in the world,
mostly because India lacks indigenous development center. But before any country procures
weapons, its decisions should be based on two factors-The level of threat perceptions the country is
facing (dependent on the Geopolitical environment) and on the cost to benefit analysis of procuring
expensive defense platforms. But in India has no such structured analysis. As a result, there is a lack
of clarity with regard to India's threat perceptions and there is no detailed cost to benefit analysis to
optimize India's defense spending. In this context, the writer calls upon  the Indian government to
come out with a detailed white paper analysis which would  highlight India's threat  perceptions,
strategic concerns and accordingly, a detailed cost to benefit analysis can be carried out which can
help to optimize in India's  expenditure.
 Currently, India is in the process of procuring expensive but critical defense platforms from a
number of countries. It is all set to import the Rafael fighter jets from France, it is about to sign a
deal with Russia to procure 200 helicopters along the DS 402 defence system. From US, India is
looking to purchase more number of reconnaissance aircraft, additional Apache attack helicopter,
national advanced surface to air missiles system in order to create a multi ballistic missiles shield. It
is also looking to acquire the Seahawk helicopters for the Indian Navy. With such mega deals in the
pipeline and when India is willing to spend millions of dollars on these deals, it is very essential to
optimize military expenditure based on an accurate cost to benefit analysis.
 The writer says that such analysis is currently being carried out but they're not structured and does
not provide sufficient clarity. So a defense white paper will help in identifying the external threats
posed by India's immediate neighbor such as Pakistan and China. It is well established fact that
Pakistan poses a significant military threat to India. Pakistan is not just a conventional threat but
also a nuclear threat. But it is still not clear whether China is a military threat that it is being made
out to be or it is just an economic threat to India. It is true that India and China have fought a war in
the 1960s and we still have standing border disputes but since the 1980s China has not engaged in
any military conflict with any country. Of late, China has emerged as an economic powerhouse and
strategic experts believe that China is converting its economic influence to strategic influence.

CENTRAL GOVERNMENT CUTS ITS SHARE IN FLAGSHIP CROP INSURANCE SCHEME 

 The PMFBY (Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojna) was an ambitious crop insurance scheme launched
by the government of India in 2016. It was meant to protect the farmers from Crop loans and to
ensure the recovery of loan for the banks and the financial institutions. When the scheme was
launched, it was mandatory for all the farmers who have crop loans to get registered under the crop
insurance Scheme. But now the central government has introduced a key change and it has made
registration under the scheme voluntary for Farmers who have crop loans. Another key change has
been introduced with regard to the funding pattern. As far as the premium is concerned, under the
 earlier funding pattern, Farmers were expected to pay 2% of the premium amount for Kharif crops,
they were paying 1.5% of the premium amount for Rabi crops and 5% of the premium amount for
cash crops and the remaining part of the premium amount was being provided by the central
government and the state government in the ratio 50:50. But, right now the central government has
reduced subsidy to 25% and 30% for irrigated and non-irrigated areas respectively. Due to this
change in funding pattern, there is a reduced subsidy burden on the central government and
increased the subsidy burden on the state governments.

SWACHCHH BHARAT MISSION SECOND PHASE GETS NOD 

 Tthe central government is all set to implement the second phase of the Swachchh Bharat mission.
The second phase is primarily focused on promoting Solid waste Management, liquid waste
management and sustaining to abolish open defecation that was achieved in the rural areas.
 The center has approved an amount of around 50000 crore rupees for the next 4 years and another
88,000 crore rupees would be released based on the recommendations of the 15th finance
commission and based on the allocation made for the MNREGA for the next 4 years and based on
the revenue that would be generated through solid and liquid waste Management initiatives in the
rural areas.
  Allocation of this budget to the state governments would be made by the department of drinking
water and sanitation and the program would be implemented on the ground by the state
governments by working along with the local governments.
 On analyzing the funding pattern for the second phase, the central government would take up 60%
of the burden for regular States and 90% of the burden for special category States such as the
northeastern States and the Himalayan states.

CENTRE TO FORM NEW LAW PANEL

 The Law commission of India(LCI) is constituted by the Indian government and its mandate is to
examine and review existing laws and recommend suitable changes providing for legal reforms. The
first LCI was set up in the year 1955 and till date, 21 law commissions have functioned and
submitted around 277 reports to the government. Yesterday, the government has approved the
establishment of the 22nd Law commission of India and as always, has been given a fixed term of 3
years.
 The law commission will consist of a full time Chairperson who will either be the retired judge of the
SC or the Chief Justice of a high court. Apart from the Chairperson, there will be 4 full-time
members, including a member secretary. Apart from the full-time members, there will be a
maximum of 5 part-time members who will assist in the functioning of the law commission. TheLCI
functions according to the terms of reference that has been set by the government and it is
empowered to take up Suo-Moto initiatives. As a part of this mandate the work of the law
commission of India is to review all the existing laws and suggest suitable reforms. It is also
responsible for suggesting changes to the legal system in order to improve justice delivery and
reduce the backlog of pending cases.
 Back in 2010-15, a proposal was brought up in front of the Indian government to make the LCI a
permanent body. It was proposed to give a permanent status-either by passing an act in the
parliament which would have made the LCI a statutory body or it was supposed to be set up as a
permanent body to the executive order of the government. But this proposal was not followed
through and hence the LCI has to be reconstituted by the government once in every 3 years.
 ART BILL PROPOSES NATIONAL REGISTRY OF CLINICS 

 The Union Cabinet has approved the Assisted Reproductive Technology Regulation bill (ART) 2020
and the Bill is all set to be introduced in the parliament. But the article is very factual in nature- it
only provides the provisions of this bill.

21st FEBRUARY 2020 HINDU ANALYSIS

NIRBHAYA CASE CONVICT CLAIMS MENTAL ILLNESS

There is a raging debate going on in the country- Should capital punishment be abolished?
Section 302 of Indian Penal Code described death penalty, capital punishment for those who have
been convicted under serious offenses but this section is violating Article 21 of the Indian
constitution which talks about right to Liberty. SC has repeatedly said that Article 21 is not being
violated as those convicts who have been booked on serious offenses are hanged. That means
Section 302 of the Indian penal code is constitutional because article 21 is not an absolute
fundamental right. There are some exceptions under which your right to life and personal Liberty can
be snatched.
 But should India continue with Capital punishment or is it time for India to abolish capital
punishment and join the list of more than 100 countries across the world which have abolished
capital punishment?
 ARGUMENTS IN FAVOR OF CAPITAL PUNISHMENT:
 Death sentence act as a deterrent- There are individuals who do not resort to crimes like
rape, dacoit etc because they fear the law.
 If capital punishment is abolished, then the other alternative would be life imprisonment.
This means that all the prisoners would have to be in jail throughout their life and that would
involve additional expenditure on these convicts in the form of medical treatment, food etc.
Why should taxpayers’ money be misused to keep these convict alive if they're serving life
imprisonment?
 To prevent future commission of crimes by the same convicts.
 To prevent hostage like situation- We faced such a situation when IC 814 airline was hijacked.
It was taken to Dubai and then to Kandahar which was then the Capital of the Taliban
administered Afganistan. In return for this hostages, the attackers asked for 3 dreaded
terrorists. Out of the 3 terrorists released, one of them was Maulana Mazhood Azhar who
later on founded Jaish-e- Mohammad(JeM), which is responsible for the Parliament attack of
2001,Uri attack, Pathankot attack, Pulwama attack. If that man would have been hanged,
then we would not be in such a position and could prevent all these Terror  activities as well.
Similarly, Mushtaq Zargar was another terrorist released in exchange of these hostages who
later on founded another error organization in Pakistan.
 It gives a sense of closure to the victim's family.
 The Japanese argument -Japan also has capital punishment in its law books but uses very
rarely and whenever Japan uses Capital punishment it is reinforced by larger public opinion.
Japan is a workaholic society. They believe that good things happen to those who do good
and bad things happen to those who do bad .This is like a consequensalist argument.
So hanging of the convicts will reinforce a sense of belief in the society that if we do good,
good things will come to way and vice versa.
 ARGUMENTS AGAINST CAPITAL PUNISHMENT:
 This debate goes back to 1764 when an Italian Jurist Cessare Baccauria published a treatise on crimes
 and punishments. In this treatise, he argues that punishment is an important thing. If they are not
punished there will be chaos and disorder in the society. But there should be two objectives of
punishment- it must act as a deterrent and it must reform the offender. However, a Capital
Punishment cannot reform an offender because he is too dead to be reformed and it is not necessary
that capital punishment will act as a deterrent. For instance, the suicide bombers are not scared of
death. Instead, they are scared of getting caught. They also have cyanide pills with them to ensure
that if they are about to get caught, they consume these pills and ultimately die so that they are not
caught and will not leak all the details about their organisation to the police.
 There are some states in the US which have abolished capital punishment and some which have not.
States where capital punishment are abolished have shown shown less number of crimes, murders,
homicides, rapes as compared to those states where capital punishment is still a valid form of
punishment. So we can say that the deterrent effect of a capital punishment is at best inconclusive.
 Lord Macaulay was the architect of Indian penal code when it was drafted in the 1860s.
He writes in the introduction to Indian penal code that he was questioned numerous times that he is
punishing murder with murder. But what about rape? Why is rape, dacoity not punished with death
penalty? But initially when Indian penal code was drafted, rape was not punishable by death. One
can argue that one  cannot equate murder with rape or murder with dacoity because if somebody is
raping a woman and if the punishment for rape and murder is same, then the individual might as well
as raped the woman and then murder her, because in any case if he is caught, he will be slapped with
the death penalty. If death sentence does not act as a deterrent, then the only logic in favor of such a
sentence is retribution , that is, an eye for an eye. But in the words of Mahatma Gandhi -an eye for
an eye will make the whole world blind. Even if we take retribution into account, Retribution is- the
manner in which you have wronged me I will inflict the same punishment on you, that is why murder
is punishable with death. But rape or dacoity is not punishable with counter rape or dacoity. So even
this retribution argument is getting violated.
 There is another argument. There are those who favor capital punishment on the grounds that
capital punishment is not awarded in all cases of crime but only in the rarest of the rare cases. This
was seen in the very famous Bacchan Singh versus State of Punjab verdict in 1982 where the SC said
this. But SC did not elaborate which cases would be the rarest of the rare? It elaborated on this in the
Machhi Singh case. It said that whenever you are confronted with a case, draw a balance sheet- a
balance sheet of mitigating circumstances and aggravating circumstances. If mitigating circumstances
out of this case are more, than you should not award death penalty but if the aggravating
circumstances are more than you should go for a death penalty or capital punishment. But what are
these mitigating circumstances ? These circumstances speak in favor of the accused.
For example, if I am an accused and i kill somebody but this was my first crime and  I am not a
habitual criminal or I committed this crime in a fit of rage, so I am in the punishable ground but at the
same time, capital punishment should not be awarded beacise yhere are some arguments which
speak ij my favour.
 What about Aggravating circumstances? Aggravating circumstances speak against the accused.
Is there something so horrible about the crime that if you award life imprisonment it would not be
justice? For example, the Nirbhaya case- it was not just an act of rape, it was a gangrape. It was not
and just an ordinary gangrape, this woman was raped in a moving bus by 5 to 6 individuals and
the grotesque nature of the crime was that an iron rod was inserted into her vagina which ruptured
her intestines. In these cases, the only justice would be a death penalty.
 But sometimes the rarest of the rare cases are decided on the whims of the judges. This is because
the rarest of the rare cases is not explained clearly by the SC. But perhaps, the most logical argument
against capital punishment is its irrevocability and this has happend and SC has accepted this.
 Shatrugan Singh Chauhan vs Union of India Judgement 2014-many argue that this is this 2014
judgment which humanized capital punishment in India. Shatrugan Singh Chauhan said 3 things-
 Solitary confinement- SC said that until your Mercy petition has been rejected by the
President, you should not be kept in solitary confinement because even after you have been
convicted or awarded a death penalty, you still have fundamental rights attached.
 If Mercy petition is rejected by the President , there is judicial review possible.
  If there is an inordinate delay , your death sentence will be commuted  to life imprisonment.
In Chauhan's  case, 15 convicts- their death sentence were commuted to life imprisonment
because President was taking a lot of time on deciding this and the time ranged in between
1.5 years to 11 years.
 But if we look at the constitutional scheme of India, the president is a rubber stamp. While deciding on the
mercy petition, he has to go by the advice of ministry of home affairs. SC also said that a minimum 14 day
notice should be given to the condemned individual to make peace with god and at the same time, mental
health evaluation should be done by the prison authorities and if there are individuals who have been
condemned to death if they are suffering from mental illness for example, schizophrenia, they should not be
hanged, death sentence should be commuted to life imprisonment. So if the convict is claiming mental
illness, based on this 2014 SC judgment, if it is conclusively proven by the medical board he person is
suffering from mental illness, his death sentence will be commuted to life imprisonment.
 A petition has been filed by the Central government which says that all these guidelines of Shatrugan
Chauhan versus the Union of India are convict-centric. But we need a victim-centric guidelines. In case of
Nirbhaya, there are 4 convicts. The existing rules say that that unless and until all these 4 individuals exhaust
their legal remedies, no one can be hanged as they have been booked under the same crime and have to be
hanged together. These convicts are now misusing the rules. The center is asking that once your review
petition has been rejected , you can file curative petition, but the time period  must be decided by the SC.
Within this time, if one does not file a curative petition, there will be no remedy available.
 Another change should be that Mercy petition should be filed before the President within 7 days when one’s
death warrant is issued by the court.
 A third change could be that within the 7 days when  Mercy petition has been rejected by the President of
India, death warrant should be executed regardless of the pending legal proceedings against the case
convicts. We also don't have a specific time period of what constitutes the delay in converting a death
penalty to a life imprisonment.

ROGERS CASE CABINET ADVICE HAS NO VALUE, SAYS CENTRE

 The former PM Rajiv Gandhi was contesting Lok Sabha elections in TN, there he was attacked and ultimately
was killed. There were close to 26 individuals arrested. Some of them were acquitted later on but few
individuals such as Nalini and others were sentenced to death for conspiring to kill the former PM.
 The death sentence of Nalini was commuted to life imprisonment because Sonia Gandhi requested for this.
Nalini had a small daughter and Sonia Gandhi had mercy on her daughter and ultimately she requested for
her clemency.
 This case relative to Nalini, we know for sure that the President has some pardoning powers. The governor
also has these powers but governor cannot pardon the death sentence. Pardoning a death sentence is only
the prerogative of the President of India but governor can commute this death sentence to life
imprisonment. But if somebody sentenced to life imprisonment, the governor can also go for a remission-
that means this life imprisonment can be converted to an imprisonment of 10 years or 8years and here, the
governor is acting on the aid and advise of the Council of Ministers headed by the CM.
 When Nalini's death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment ,she was serving time in Vellore jail and
she served 20 years in jail. The then government of TN, headed by J.Jayalalitha, recommended to the
Governor that she should be freed as she has served 20 years in jail and normally, the life imprisonment is for
14 years.
 Then there was a clash between the Center and the State government of TN. The center's position was that
Nalini is booked under TADA which is basically a Central law. So, governor’s pardoning powers does not
extend to the centre. Governor can only pardon all those convicts who have been booked under the state law
and not the central law.
 Now this tussle is before the SC. But the interesting thing here is when the CM and his counselor ministers
are giving some advice to the governor, is the governor bound by that advice? Similarly, in Maru Ram case, SC
said that when an advice is given to the governor so far as the pardoning powers of the governor are
concerned, the state government can set the individuals free even without the signature of the governor.
 Why this petition is pending before the court? The home ministry has said that this advise of the state
 government to the governor is nothing but zero and until the MHA decides something, it cannot be
implemented.

 CENTRE WON’T DILUTE ARTICLE 371

 Article 371 talks about certain special provisions for some states like Maharashtra, Sikkim, Gujarat, Mizoram,
etc. For Arunachal Pradesh too, special provisions exist. The Legislative Assembly will not have less than 30
members. This means that Constitution does not specify the strength of a legislative assembly. It only talks
about the minimum MLAs in a legislative assembly must be 40 and maximum it can go to 500. But special
provision for Arunachal is the State Assembly of Arunachal should not have less than 30 MLAs. Second
provision is that law & order of Arunachal Pradesh will be the responsibility of the governor.
 But for Mizoram and Nagaland, the special provision carry more weight. Any law passed by the parliament, if
it affects the social and religious practices, culture, land transfer or the sale of land of Nagas and Mizoram, it
will not be applicable to Mizoram and Nagaland, the law cannot be passed until the State legislative assembly
passes a resolution accepting this law.
 The home minister said that after the revocation of Article 370 for Jammu and Kashmir, there is no reason for
North Eastern states to worry Article 371 will remain untouched.

TRUMP CARDS

  US President and PM Modi are all set to meet for the fifth time in the last 8 months. What is going to be the
focus of the meet?
 Trade- There were expectations that a trade deal would be signed between the two countries. This
however looks unlikely. President Trump has repeatedly criticized both India as well as China and he
says that US jobs are stolen by these two countries. Trump said that India and China are not opening
their markets fully for US products and the tariffs imposed by India on US products are
discriminatory. This is repeatedly spoken about Harley Davidson. Initially the import tariffs on Harley
Davidson motorcycles was 100%. Later on President Trump says that he called up the Indian PM and
he slashed this import tariff by 50% but even this 50% tariff on Harley Davidson motorcycles by India
is unacceptable. He called India the tariff king of the world. Last year, the US Government had
promised that US will launch investigation under Section 301 of the US trade act of 1974.
So, GSP was revoked.  Also last week, US categorized India as a developed nation.
 The second area of work would be the defense purchases. The Cabinet committee and security (CCS)
on Wednesday cleared a 2.4 billion dollar deal to purchase 24 US MH60 Romeo Helicopters.(Anti
submarine helicopters). Under the rule, any defense purchased of more than 1000 crores, CCS
approval is a must. This Romeo helicopter deal is big because Chinese submarine are roaming the
Indian Ocean. Currently, we are using Boeing P8i aircraft to keep a check on enemy submarines but
these Boeing helicopters operate from land that is why these Romeo helicopters are very important
for India.
 Another focus area of the meet is going to be on Indo-pacific strategy. The Chinese investments in
Indian ocean and Pacific ocean are huge. US is also wary of Chinese influence in this region. That is
why US wants to partner with Japan ,Australia as well as India to counter the Chinese influence in the
Indian ocean.
 Afganistan's future-  It looks certain that there is going to be some sort of peace deal between the
Taliban and the US and if there is a peace deal, that means US will fully withdraw from Afghanistan. If
this happens, then Taliban would be in a position to come to power in Afghanistan. India is still
considering TalIban as a terrorist entity. Having another hostile neighbor apart from Pakistan is going
to be a big challenge for India and Pakistan will support Afghanistan. So if this deal goes through,
Pakistan, instead of focusing on Pak Afghanistan border, will start focusing on Pakistan India LOC
(line of control). So we will see more and more terrorist insurgencies and attacks in J&K. It is
expected that PM Modi will talk about India's security concerns vis a vis Afghanistan as well.
 ART OF LIFE

 What is Artificial Insemination? It is the deliberate introduction of a sperm into a female cervix through
means other than a sexual intercourse.
  IVF(In vitro fertilization)- Mature  female eggs are collected/retrieved and are then fertilized by the sperm of
the man in a lab. This fertilized egg/embryo is then transferred to the uterus of a woman.
 Surrogacy- If a woman is not in a position to deliver a child, then this fertilized egg/embryo will be
introduced into the uterus of another woman. This woman is called a surrogate woman.
 Surrogacy, Artificial Insemination, IVF - all of them are Assisted Reproductive Techniques(ART) and for that,
there is a bill that has been cleared by the Union cabinet. The editorial says- although this bill should have
been cleared much before the Surrogacy bill was passed, because Surrogacy bill has been passed by Lok
Sabha and is pending in the Rajya Sabha, they also know that there are going to be amendments in medical
termination of pregnancy (MTP) act under which the proposal is that up to 24 weeks, the fetus can be
aborted because right now the limit is 20 weeks. One can abort a fetus up to 12 weeks only on doctor's
permission or consent but if the pregnancy is between 12 to 20 weeks, then one would need the consent
from 2 doctors. But the bill says that the abortion period should be increased to 24 weeks.
 All such legislations will have a positive impact on the reproductive rights and choices of women of India.
This bouquet also includes preconception for prenatal diagnostic techniques act for example, if Ultrasound is
conducted one cannot go for sex determination as determining the sex of the fetus before the delivery is a
crime. Louise Brown in 1970 became the first test tube baby and 2 months later, in 1978, Kanupriya Agarwal
became the first test tube baby of India and the doctor responsible was Kolkata based Subhas
Mukhopadhyay.
 A research conducted by INITO-a Bangalore based medical Technology company, says 10 to 15% of married
couples face infertility and such couples end up taking services of an regulated ART Labs. This bill proposes to
regulate these. A regulated Labs National Board is to be set up. This board will lay down rules such as what
should be the physical infrastructure in all these ART labs and clinics, labs required diagnostic equipment,
manpower required. This also says that once this law is passed, States as well as Union Territories will
constitute their own boards and boards at the state level will regulate these clinics but on the basis of the
policies laid down by the National Board. Most significantly, this bill recommends punishment, also jail term
if somebody violates these provisions. This editorial says that it is the best chance to eliminate exploitation in
this field.

WHAT DISTINGUISHES WELFARE MEASURES FROM FREEBIES? 

 AAP came in power with a thumping majority, bearing 62 of the 70 seats in the Delhi Legislative Assembly.
Many people called this election as a referendum on AAP’s policies on education, health as well as
something called freebies. What are the freebies?
 Free electricity, free water supply up to a certain point, massive investment in health and education. Some
people call these measures as welfare measures, others call them freebies.
 Few years ago, SC said these freebies shake the route and cause of free and fair elections in India. If AAP won
the Delhi elections because of its contribution in health and education sector, we should not call them
freebies because it is the fundamental obligation of the government to provide health and good education to
its citizens. Secondly, if we are offering water and electricity free or at subsidized rate, this is again the
fundamental obligation on part of the government. Calling them freebies is demeaning them and a similar
thing was done to MNREGA . MNREGA said 100 days employment is a guaranteed right, a statutory right for
the people in rural India and we call them freebies. However, it is not a freebie because we are raising the
level of the people, we are giving money in the hands of the people and they in turn, they would create
assets for us in terms of wells, ponds, roads etc in rural India. So ultimately, they are not freebies
but welfare measures on the part of the state.
 But are these welfare measures fiscally viable? It should not happen that more and more welfare measures
are given by the state governments and ultimately they enter into debt- there is fiscal deficit problem later
on- which ultimately boomerangs on the economy? 
 The writer argues that for a UT such as Delhi, this is fiscally viable because Delhi has a good revenue capacity
as well and if drinking water, electricity, public transport, education ,health are provided at subsidized rates
to the people, these are called merit goods and it is good that the state government is implementing all
these measures. There is another good argument in favor of these welfare measures. Women are provided
pink slip so that they can travel in the government buses without paying any fare. By this, they are saving
money. This money will be some sort of a disposable money which they will spend on something else for
example, to buy a toothpaste. We are currently facing a demand problem- people are not demanding goods
and services, so the disposable money that these individuals are saving can be used to fuel demand and
ultimately in the current economic slowdown, this is going to be a very good mechanism. But these welfare
measures are different from the welfare measures that we see in Tamil Nadu. For example, the Dravidan
parties, for e.g the AIADMK, they promise free juicer, mixer, grinder, television sets, washing machines etc to
the electorate. Are these freebies or welfare measures?
 The writers  argue that that these are welfare measures because when juicer, mixer and grinder is given to
women in Tamil Nadu for example ,it ultimately is a time saving mechanism for them which could be
divulged in other productive mechanisms . And this is particularly important in a state such as Tamil Nadu
where the rice is always being ground to make idli or dosa. For example ,politicians are giving away cycles to
girls. This is a welfare measure because mobility for a girl child is very important. It will also reduce incidents
of groping in public transport by miscreants.

22nd FEBRUARY 2020 HINDU ANALYSIS

PAKISTAN RETAINED ON GREY LIST OF ANTI TERROR FINANCING WATCHDOG

 The FATF has decided to retain Pakistan on its grey list. During its latest summit in
Paris, the FATF has decided on this matter and has identified Pakistan as a terror
financing risk. Now Pakistan has been given a fresh deadline and by June 2020, it is
expected to completely implement the 27 point action plan that has been prescribed
by the FATF. This action plan was prescribed by the FATF in 2019 and Pakistan was
asked to implement the action plan by September 2019. However Pakistan had failed
to abide by this deadline and this deadline had been extended to November 2019.
During this review, it was found that Pakistan had implemented only 4 targets out of
the prescribed 27 and hence a fresh deadline was given for February 2020. During
this entire period, Pakistan has managed to implement 14 targets out of the 27
prescribed targets.
 So during the latest review the FATF has found Pakistan lacking in these areas. It has
asked Pakistan to identify and investigate all terror financing activities within its
jurisdiction. Now Pakistan is supposed to freeze all the funds and bank accounts of all
UN designated terrorists and it is bound to effectively prosecute such individuals who
are involved in terror financing activities. The FATF expects Pakistan to take strict
action against terror outfits such as Taliban, Al Qaeda, Lashkar-e-taiba and Jaish-e-
Muhammad which are operating out of its soil. Now the FATF expects Pakistan to
fulfill these targets by June 2020 or else Pakistan could face the risk of being placed
on the black list of FATF.
 If a country is placed on this blacklist, then it will invite sanctions against its banking
sector and it will affect its ability to raise international finance. Currently only two
countries have been placed on the black list of FATF-Iran and North Korea.
 ASLEEP AT THE WHEEL

 This is related to the topic of road safety in India. India registers one of the highest
numbers of motor vehicle accidents in the world and as a result accounts for one of
the highest number of deaths and injuries caused by road accidents. In 2018 alone,
India accounted for more than 1.5 lakh deaths that have been caused by road
accidents. This high fatality/casualty causes emotional loss, loss of income and
livelihood and leaves behind permanent physical and mental trauma on the victims
and their families.
 Studies have shown that most of these accidents have been attributed to human
error and negligence, poor road conditions and lack of road safety in India and also
the lack of enforcement by the authorities. The incidents caused by road accidents
are entirely preventable provided that we take the adequate steps hence promoting
road safety and reducing road accidents- This has been included as a target under the
UN SDGs. Under SDG 3.6, all the UN members have been mandated to reduce deaths
and injuries caused by road accidents by 50% by 2030 and to provide for safe,
accessible, affordable and sustainable transport systems and promote the concept of
road safety. For the pursuit of these targets, recently, a global ministerial conference
on road safety was held at Stockholm. On behalf of India, Union ministry Nitin
Gadkari participated in the summit and he has reiterated India's commitment to
achieve these goals which have been laid down in the UN SDG. But studies and
estimates have shown that India is lacking behind with regard to achieving these
targets.
 During the ministerial conference on road safety, the World Bank presented an
assessment report on road accidents in India. According to this report, 69% of fatal
road accidents involve victims in the age group of 18-45 years. So this fatality rate
directly translates into a severe economic loss for the country and to the families.
Another important fact that has been brought by the report is that 54% of the road
accidents victims in India involve vulnerable road users such as pedestrian, cyclists,
two wheelers etc. The report also said that if India plans to achieve the sustainable
development goal 3.6, then it needs to invest an additional 109$  billion  in the next
decade. Thus, massive investments are needed to improve India's road infrastructure
and to design and build roads that are free from black spots and blind spots where
most of the road accidents occur. India also needs to focus on strictly enforcing the
recently amended Motor Vehicles Act(MVA).
 Recently MVA was amended by the Central government and it provides for the
imposition of high penalties against those who violate traffic laws and regulations.
Such steep penalties can have a deterrent effect and can promote the safe usage of
roads and vehicles by the users. But unfortunately, these amended provisions are
failing to have the desired deterrent impact because most state governments have
diluted the provisions as the penalties were considered to be very high by the general
public. What the general public and the state governments do not understand is that
such high penalties are needed to deter negligent driving and that too human error. 
Apart from diluting the provisions , the state governments has also failed to strictly
enforce the laws and regulations because when it comes to road safety and traffic
laws, they have to be enforced by the state government at the end of the day. But
unfortunately, due to weak enforcement and corruption at the lower levels , the
existing laws and regulations have failed to have the desired deterent impact.
 So the editorial says that the amended MVA still has the potential to promote road
 safety and bring down accidents because it allows the consultants and the
contractors who design and build roads, to be held liable for poor design, negligence
and poor construction which might lead to road accidents. It also empowers the
central government to set up a National Road Safety Board which can issue directions
to the state governments with regard to enforcement. This can go a long way in
promoting road safety and in pushing down road accidents. The central government
needs to push the state governments to strictly enforce these provisions and also
needs to make adequate adjustments in order to promote quality road infrastructure
as well as promote road safety awareness among the public. If these initiatives are
taken, India might still come close to achieving these ambitious targets that have
been laid out under the UN SDGs.

TERROR IN GERMANY

 Few days ago, a brutal terror attack took place in Germany. The attack was carried
out by Neo-Nazi who subscribe to a far right wing ideology and the attack was carried
out against the Muslim immigrants who have settled in Germany.
 Over the last few years, Europe has been receiving a study influx of refugees and
illegal migrants from countries such as Syria, Libya, Iraq which are currently in a state
of civil war. These conflicts have triggered a massive humanitarian crisis and a large
number of refugees and illegal migrants have been seeking to enter Europe in order
to escape persecution back in the home countries. So, in response to this migration
crisis, countries such as Germany have adopted a liberal refugee policy. Progressive
countries such as Germany have adopted a liberal policy to accommodate and settle
down refugees largely on humanitarian grounds. But such liberal and humanitarian
policies have been opposed by radicals far-right wing extremist outfits across Europe.
Germany has also seen a rapid rise in far right wing extremism that is primarily
motivated by anti-immigrant views. Far right wing extremism, be it of any religion or
any country, is primarily based on three factors- Xenophobia, Racism and Jingoism.
 Xenophobia is nothing but the dislike of a particular country for holding prejudice
against the people of a particular country.
Racism is the perceived feeling of one’s racial superiority and jingoism is nothing but
excessive patriotism/nationalism.
 The rise of far right wing ideologies promotes hate crimes against foreigners,
especially against immigrants and minorities. In fact, the attack that took place in
Germany is a reminder of the horrific terror attacks that took place last year in Christ
Church. Around the world we have been noticing a trend- far right wing extremism is
on the rise, that is in countries such as Germany, Italy, Poland or Belgium as well as in
the US, Australia or New Zealand and as well as in few parts of Asia. Sympathizers of
the Nazi ideology have been making use of the social media platforms to promote
xenophobia, racism and jingoism which in turn have directly contributed to rising
incidents of terror attacks, hate crimes against immigrants and minorities.
 But one should also remember that the rise of Neo-Nazizm is a part of an action and
reaction cycle that has accompanied the rise of jihadist ideas which is also a type of
far-right extremism. The Islamic state which rose to prominence through these
conflicts, has exported its far right ideologies to Europe as well by exploiting the
migration route. Even though a majority of the migrants are innocent civilians, the
ISIS has managed to infiltrate a few extremists and radical jihadists by exploiting the
migration route and this has resulted in a number of terror attacks across Europe
 over the last four to five years.
 Apart from this, the steady inflow of migrants has contributed to an increase in crime
rate in few European countries and these factors has become fodder for right wing
political parties and sympathizers of new Nazi ideology to further promote far right
wing ideologies. So it is a classic example of two far right wing ideologies feeding off
each other. Jihadist ideology feeds on its hatred of the Kafir or the Non-believer
whereas Neo-Nazi ideology feeds on xenophobia racism and jingoism.
 The editorial says that the rise of these far right wing groups in Europe poses a
serious threat to peace and security.

SEARCHING IN NEW INDIA US MODUS VIVENDI

 • The writer says that India needs a support of the US if it has to realize its objective
of establishing a rules based order in the Indo-pacific region. Today, the Indo-Pacific
region has emerged as the hub of global geopolitics. Traditionally, the Atlantic ocean
had been the hub of global geopolitics, especially during the World wars and Cold
wars. Back in those days, the major powers were the Western democracies and the
Soviet Union and its allies and since all major political developments used to occur in
the Atlantic ocean, it had emerged as the focal point for most of the countries and
since all the major geo political developments used to occur in the Atlantic ocean, it
has emerged as the focal point for all major powers. But this equation has changed
entirely over the last 25 to 30 years, the rise of the Asian powers such as India, China,
Japan etc, has shifted the focal point of global geopolitics from the Atlantic ocean
towards the Indo-Pacific region. Today, China has not only emerged as a superpower
but it has also emerged as a direct challenger to the dominance of the US. So in order
to contain China's influence and aggression, the US has launched a dedicated foreign
military policy that is focused on the IP region. China, on the other hand has
managed to create hostilities with most of the powers in the IP region except for
Pakistan and North Korea. For example, the South China Sea dispute and the East
China Sea dispute has brought China in direct conflict with all the Southeast Asian
and East Asian countries. Similarly, China has a standing border dispute and strategic
rivalry with India. China also shares a strategic rivalry with countries such as Japan,
Australia and New Zealand which happen to be the closest allies of the US. The US
and its closest allies such as Australia and Japan have been eager to establish a rules
based order in the IP region to contain China's aggression. India has also expressed a
similar interest and it has even come up with an IP doctrine that seeks to establish a
rules based order in the region.
 What is a rules based order?
Rules based order is a system/mechanism through which countries follow rules and
regulations that are being laid down under international law and help in the
maintenance of peace, stability and order in the region. So establishing such Rules
based order for the IP region has become a priority for these countries because China
has shown a complete disregard to international law. So, to contain China's
aggression and promote rules based order, countries such as Japan and US proposed
a grouping of like-minded countries known as the squad of the quadrilateral.
 So the writer says that if India seeks to establish rules based order in the Indo-pacific
region and if it's to contain Chinese aggression, then it needs a complete support of
the US, especially in the defense sector. The writer in fact, uses the Iron curtain
reference to compare the developments in today's IP with the developments in the
 Atlantic Ocean during the cold war. During the cold war, an Iron curtain had been
drawn between Western democracies and the Communist countries led by the Soviet
Union. When such Iron Curtain was drawn, even a country such as Britain needed to
rely upon The US because by then the US had emerged as a predominant power in
the world.
 Today's situation in the IP region is quite similar where China has openly threatened
the rules based order by allying with countries such as Pakistan and North Korea. If
India seeks to protect and maintain this rules based order, it needs to seek the help
of like-minded countries specially superpower such as the US. The writer explains
how both the countries share common strategic objectives by providing a brief
overview of the relationship. Between the 1975 and the early 2000s, India and US
shared hostile relationship mainly because of the cold war. During the liberation of
Bangladesh war, India was forced to side with the Soviet Union by abandoning its
Non-Alignment policy mainly because of the hostility that shown by the US by
supporting Pakistan. During the 1971 conflict, this hostility continued well in the early
2000 mainly because of India's nuclear weapons program and Pokhran test. But post
2001, the relationship has been completely transformed and today both the
countries are closer than ever. The 9/11 attacks and the global war against terrorism
made India and US realise that both of the countries would stand to benefit by
cooperating in the field of counter-terrorism, security and defense cooperation. So,
then Vajpayee government started promoting closer relations with the US with
regard to sharing of intelligence and defense cooperation. But a major breakthrough
came in the India US relations when the Manmohan Singh government worked out
the civil nuclear deal between the two countries. From here onwards, India and the
US has become extremely close due to the alignment in the strategic objective. This
has enabled India to sign 3 out of the four foundational military agreements that are
demanded by the US. The US, in return, has started treating India as a Non-NATO
Ally. Both the countries have even initiated the 2+2 dialogue between their
respective defense and foreign ministers in order to align. India and US have
managed to expand their bilateral military exercise to the trilateral level by including
Japan as well.
 So by citing these examples, the writer says that the stage is set for India to build
close a strategic and defense relations with the US and this would be much needed if
India is to establish a rules-based order in the Indo-Pacific region especially if the
objective is to contain China's aggression.
INDIA MALDIVES AGREE TO TAKE ON TERRORISM, RAICALISATION

 India's home minister Amit shah and his Maldivian counterpart have signed
agreements to promote cooperation in the field of counter-terrorism and counter-
radicalization between the two countries. The two countries have even agreed to
work together to counter organized crime and drug trafficking which is a primary
road for raising money in finances for terrorist and radical activities. These
agreements acquire all the more significance because of late, Maldives has begun to
emerge as a hub for radicalism inspired by the jihadist ideology of the Islamic state.
Maldives is also highly vulnerable to the activities of the organized criminal groups
and drug cartels and since the country is made up of hundreds of small islands, these
small islands could be easily taken over by a terror outfit and could be used as a base
to target Indian interests in the Indian Ocean region.
 So that is one of the reasons why India is looking to enhance counter-terrorism
 operation with Maldives. Also, both the countries have signed another agreement for
promoting cooperation in the field of policing and law enforcement.

23rd FEBRUARY 2020 HINDU ANALYSIS

ADEQUATE WATER IN KAWAL TIGER RESERVE

 It is located in the state of Telangana and is considered to be one of the oldest sanctuaries in the Northern
Telangana region. It was established as a wildlife sanctuary in 1965 and later it was given the status of a
protected area in 1999 under the Wildlife Protection Act. Then in 2012, the Kawal Wildlife Sanctuary was
declared as a tiger reserve by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA). it is located in the
catchment area of two peninsular rivers- the Godavari and the Kadam rivers. The Kadam is a minor tributary
of the Godavari. The type of vegetation that is found here is that of dry deciduous forests and it is very rich in
teak forests. In fauna, The Royal Bengal tiger is found. It also has a healthy population of leopards, sloth
bears, the Indian Bison, the four horned antelope and the Sambar deer. All these animals have been listed
as vulnerable by the IUCN.
 This article refers to the frequent water shortage that this critical habitat would face during the summer
season. Since the tiger reserve is located in the semi-arid region of interior Telangana, it wouldn't receive
sufficient rainfall. This water shortage was driving the animals towards human habitation and it was
contributing to the increasing incidents of man-animal conflict. But over the last one year, this problem
appears to have been resolved and there is sufficient availability of water due to these factors- prolonged
monsoon season of 2019, artificial watering holes, release from Sri Ram Sagar project on the Godavari river.
Due to this adequate availability of water, authorities are not expecting any water shortage during the
upcoming summer season and hence they do not foresee any incidents of man-animal conflict.

MONSOON IN SUNDERBANS LIKELY TO GET LONGER, WARN CLIMATE EXPERTS

 A Research paper titled the Sundarbans and climate change, has been submitted during the convention on
the Conservation of migratory species (CMS), and also called the Bonn Convention (UN BASED INTER
GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION) of wild animals that was recently hosted by India in Gandhinagar.
 During this summit, a research paper dealing with the impact of climate change on the Sundarbans
ecosystem was submitted. Sundarbans is a huge Delta region open towards the Bay of Bengal. It is located in
both India and Bangladesh and this vast Delta is formed by the confluence of the Ganga, Brahmaputra and
Meghna rivers in Bangladesh. This Delta is considered to be a unique and critical ecosystem primarily
because large parts of it is occupied by Mangrove wetlands. Apart from this, we also come across freshwater
swamp forest, tidal waterways, agricultural plains etc. This entire ecosystem is considered to be very rich in
biodiversity and hence the Sundarbans has been designated as a UNESCO world heritage site for its natural
heritage. On the Indian side of Sundarbans, we have the Sundarbans National Park, Sundarbans tiger
reserve. This ecosystem has been declared as the Sundarbans Biosphere Reserve under the man and
biosphere programme of UNESCO. Recently in 2019, the Indian side of Sundarbans has been designated as a
Ramsar site. This makes the Sundarban wetlands the largest protected wetlands in India. It is considered to
be an critical ecosystem because it is home to a number of threatened species including the Bengal tiger,
which has been listed as endangered by the IUCN. The Indian river terrapin (a type of freshwater turtle),
which has been listed as critically endangered by the IUCN, Ganges river dolphin (also declared as India's
national aquatic animal), also listed as endangered and there is also the Hilsa fish, which is the staple food of
West Bengal and Bangladesh and it has been listed as near threatened by the IUCN.
 This sensitive critical ecosystem is facing a number of threats and these threats have been brought out by
the research paper that was submitted at the CMS convention at Gandhinagar. The paper has mainly focused
on the impact of climate change on this ecosystem. The biggest threat posed by climate change is that it can
 have a long term impact on the monsoon season, for example, prolonged monsoons or frequent droughts
can affect water levels in the wetland ecosystem, excessive flooding or a complete shortage of water both
can be detrimental to the well-being of an ecosystem and since the Delta areas are low lying, they become
highly vulnerable to the impact of rising sea levels caused by climate change which can make the entire
Sundarban Delta highly vulnerable to coastal flooding and tidal inundation, Excess influx of seawater and
increased salinity beyond tolerable levels in the soil and this could be detrimental to the aquatic plants and
animals. Apart from this, the Bay of Bengal region is highly vulnerable to the impact of cyclones and climate
change can directly contribute to the increasing frequency of cyclones and weather events and under threat
would be the operational Farakka barrage by India.
 The Farakka barrage has been built on the Ganga river and it has diverted water away from the Sundarbans
Delta so the manner in which the Farakka barrage is being operated has always been a source of dispute
between India and Bangladesh because this directly affects the livelihood of farmers and the agricultural
plains as well as the ecosystem of Sundarbans. Then marine pollution caused by ships and industries in the
region is also a threat to the Sundarbans ecosystem and towards flora and fauna.
 So, in the light of these threats, the research paper submitted and the CMS convention calls for long term
coastal planning in the Sundarbans region in order to preserve the important intertidal habitats in the
region.

GOVERNMENT IS PUBLIC PRIVATE FUND TO GIVE R&D A SHOT IN THE ARM 

 The department of Science and Technology has proposed to set up a pool fund for R&D which would receive
funding from both the government as well as the private sector. According to the proposal, the government
would match the investment that would be made by the private sector the objective is to encourage and
incentivize the private sector to invest more in R&D. Even though India ranks in the list of top five countries
with regard to the number of scientific publications, it still ranks very low with regard to investments in R&D.
Over the last 15 years, India has more than tripled its investments in R&D but still as a percentage of GDP, it
does not match up with the investments made by the developed countries. In 2004 and 2005, India was
investing around 24000crore rupees in R&D. In 2017, this number had increased to more than one lakh crore
rupees but even though the investment has more than tripled as a percentage of GDP, India’s investments in
R&D has always remained around 6-7% of GDP.
 Many developed countries such as US, China, Israel and even South Korea has made significant increases in
their expenditure on R&D. US spends around 2.8 % of its GDP on R&D. For China, this number stands at 2.1
%. For Israel, it is at 4.3 % and for South Korea, it is at 4.2 % .
 Another interesting point is that, in India most of the investments in R&D is made by the government and
not by the private sector. The government alone accounts for around 60% of the investments whereas the
private sector contributes only 40%. In contrast, in other developed countries, the trend is exact opposite. In
these developed countries, private sector is investing more in R&D as compared to the public sector.
 On looking at India's share in the global spending on R&D, its % contribution still ranks very low. In 2017,
around 1.7 trillion dollars was spent in PPP terms of R&D. Out of this, the top spenders are the US, China and
Japan where as India ranks very low and its % contribution stands at 2.8% out of 1.7 trillion dollars. It is quite
understandable that India's investment in R&D doesn't match up to these developed countries because India
is a lower middle income country whereas these countries are either upper middle income countries or high
income countries. But the concern for India should be the fact that its investments in R&D as a percentage of
GDP has stagnated, even though its GDP per capita has increased consistently over the last 15 to 20 years.

1 IN 3 PAYMENTS FOR MATERNITY BENEFIT SCHEME, CREDITED TO WRONG ACCOUNT

 PMMVY (Pradhan Mantri Matriv Vandana Yojana) : This game was launched by the government of India in
2016 after revamping the existing Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyog Yojana. It is basically a maternity benefit
programme and it provides for conditional cash transfer to pregnant and lactating women in order to
compensate for the wage loss that they incur during pregnancy and also to promote healthy nutritional
development of the child. Since the scheme is focused on promoting the healthy development of the child
 and the mother, it was brought under the National Food Security Act in 2013. This scheme is implemented
by the Union ministry of Women and Child Development. Under this scheme, a total amount of 6000 rupees
is transferred to pregnant and lactating women for their first life birth. Since it is a conditional cash transfer
scheme, the amount is transferred in three installments which is based on the fulfillment of these prescribed
conditions- first installment of 1000 rupees is provided if the mother registers the pregnancy in a registered
health facility or any Anganvadi center. The second installment of 2000 rupees is provided if the mother goes
for a prenatal check-up during the 6th month of pregnancy, then the 3rd installment of 2000 rupees is
transferred when the birth certificate of the child is provided after completing the prescribed vaccination
program. This incentive has been designed to promote behavioral changes among pregnant women so that
they can receive institutional healthcare and adequate nutrition which in turn can promote the healthy
development of the child and mother. The first condition ensures that the mother sees institutional
healthcare and the second condition ensures that follow up checkups are done in time and the third
condition insurance that the birth is registered and the prescribed vaccines are administered. So, the overall
objective of the program is to ensure the healthy development and well-being of the mother and the child.
 But a recent study conducted by the Niti Aayog has identified a few flaws in its implementation. According to
the study, in one out of every three payments, the money is been credited to the wrong account even
though the beneficiary's bank account has been linked with their aadhar cards. These points to flaws in the
Aadhar system and in the linkage of bank accounts to Aadhar numbers. So when money is wrongly credited
into a different account it ends up discouraging and dis-incentivizing the beneficiary. The study has
identified that this is one of the primary causes of dissatisfaction among the beneficiaries of the scheme. The
study has shown that the beneficiaries lack awareness about the scheme. As a result, they are not able to
avail the entire benefits of the scheme.
Another major problem is implementation- A complex documentation process that is involved at each stage
of receiving the installments at each stage. The beneficiaries have to fill out a set of complex documents and
since most of the beneficiaries are illiterate and do not know how to write, they end up relying upon data
entry operators or low-level clerks or midwife who unknowingly perform typo or clerical errors while
entering the data. Such wrong entry of data and wrong documentation and handling the payment process
and as a result the beneficiaries of the scheme fail to avail its benefits. 

24th FEBRUARY 2020 HINDU ANALYSIS

NEW HIGHWAY THREATENS TIGER TERRITORY IN ARUNACHAL PRADESH

 Arunachal Pradesh has three tiger reserves. This includes- The Namdapha National tiger reserve,
the Pakke wildlife sanctuary tiger reserve, Kamlang tiger reserve. The state government has already
taken up the construction of a two-Lane highway that passes through the Namdapha tiger reserve
and this project had been earlier opposed by the wildlife activists because of its impact on wildlife.
 A new highway project has been proposed by the State government which cuts through the Pakke
tiger reserve in Arunachal Pradesh. This new highway project has been named as the East West
Industrial corridor (EWIC) and it proposes to connect the West Kamyung district in Arunachal
Pradesh with Assam. A part of this highway project includes an elevated stretch that passes
through the Pakke tiger reserve and this proposed project is being opposed by the environmental
activists. This project would have an impact on the habitat and the wildlife. They argue that the
highway project not only threatens the Pakke  tiger reserve, but it also poses a threat to the
neighboring Nameri tiger reserve in Assam which is located adjacent to the Pakke tiger reserve.
 Of late, the construction of highways and elevated corridor through National parks and tiger
reserves has been frequently in news.
One such highway has been proposed to connect the Bandipur tiger reserve in Karnataka with the
Wayanad wildlife sanctuary in Kerala. This proposed project is being supported by the government
 of Kerala as well as by the people of Wayanad district whereas this project is being opposed by
environmental activists and the people of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu as well. Those who are
opposed to such projects argue that when highways are built at ground level through the protected
regions, it automatically results in increase of traffic and this translate to more accidents involving
wildlife.
 So as a solution to this, the proponents of such projects have proposed the construction of
elevated corridor through the protected areas where dedicated underpasses can be provided for
animal movement which can prevent the occurrence of such accidents.
 One such elevated corridor has already been built at the Kanha Pench corridor which connects the
Kanha tiger reserve with the Pench tiger reserve in MP and Maharashtra. This project had also
witnessed the same controversy. The proponents of such projects have always argued that such
projects are essential to improve connectivity in the region and promote economic activity. They
argue that such projects have a minimal impact on the environment and wildlife because elevated
corridor can provide for dedicated underpasses for animal movement which can help in preventing
accidents and enable their movement from one habitat to another.
But those who are opposed to such projects argue that these are linear infrastructure projects
which end up dividing the habitat. Habitat fragmentation is one of the major causes for loss of
biodiversity. Linear projects such as the construction of roads, canals, the laying of power lines,
telephone cables end up dividing the habitat and it does have an impact on the wildlife.
 Environmental activists argue that that highways and elevated corridors are built to the core
regions of protected areas- it definitely contributes to air pollution noise pollution and there is no
guarantee that underpasses can bring down the occurrence of accidents.

RUSHIKULYA ROOKERY ALL SET TO WELCOME OLIVE RIDLEYS

 Olive Ridley turtles are quite unique and are found in the tropical and warm waters around the
world. It has been listed as vulnerable by the IUCN and these turtles are primarily found in the
Pacific ocean as well as in the Indian ocean but they can also be found in few parts of the Atlantic
ocean as well. The most unique feature about Olive Ridley turtles is their mass nesting and hatching
phenomenon. Every year, Olive Ridley turtles choose preferred nesting sites around the world that
are located in the tropical areas and they lay eggs in large numbers. During this nesting season at
preferred locations, thousands of mother turtles walk up to the beach and they lay their eggs in
unison and walk back into the waters. After a few weeks of mass nesting, we get to witness the
mass hatching of these eggs. Thousands of baby turtles hatch at once and start walking towards the
sea. This is considered to be a visible spectrum and a critical natural event for the environment.
 But the Olive Ridley turtles are facing a number of threats. Their mass nesting and hatching
phenomena is being affected by mechanised fishing which makes use of trolling boats. Mechanised
boats and trollers scoop up large quantities of fish from the bottom of the sea bed and accidentally
pickup Olive Ridley turtles as well.
They are also affected by marine pollution caused by ships, oil leakage, plastic pollution etc. Then
the erosion of beach due to rising sea levels and the accumulation of debris and plastic in the beach
is also a threat to the mass nesting and hatching phenomenon. The mother turtles and the baby
turtles face the threat of being hunted by predators or by human beings.
 In India, the coastline of Orissa is a preferred nesting site for The Olive Ridley turtles. Along the
entire coastline of Orissa we have a number of sporadic nesting beaches but mass nesting sites are
located at the Rushikulya rookery at the mouth of the Rushikulya river as well as at the Gahir Mata
beach.
 This article refers to the arrangements that the state Forest department is making for the upcoming
 mass nesting season. The main objective of the forest authority is to provide security to the mother
turtles and the eggs. So a metal fence is being erected around the mass nesting sites in order to
protect the mother turtles and the eggs from humans as well as from predators. The forest
department and environmental activists are conducting a community awareness programme for
the local fishing community in order to ensure that the local communities become a part of the
conservation efforts. To protect the mother turtles that are waiting near the coast lines from
mechanised boats and trollers, mechanised fishing has been banned and the state authorities are
even patrolling the region to enforce this ban and over the last few months, the state forest
department has been working with volunteers and environmental activists in order to clean up the
beaches so that all the accumulated debris and plastic waste can be removed and to tackle hunting
and poaching, the state authorities have taken steps to prevent the entry of predators and has set
up constant monitoring at the mass nesting sites.

NO COUNTRY IS DOING ENOUGH TO PROTECT CHILDEN’S HEALTH, FINDS STUDY 

  WHO, UNICEF and Lancet has brought out a report which evaluates the performance of
governments with regard to protection of their children's health, environment and their future.
According to this report, no country in the world provides adequate protection to the children for
ensuring their survival and well-being. The report also identifies a few imminent threats that could
affect child health, environment and its future. It identifies climate change and ecological
degradation as an immediate and long term threat because degradation of environment and
climate change can cause shortage of water, food, it can increase pollution and extreme weather
events and the maximum impact of all these events is always felt on the weaker sections which
includes children as well.
 As a result, the health, future and the very survival of children could be affected. The report
evaluates the performance of around 180 countries and it ranks Norway, Republic of Korea –
( South Korea) and Netherlands at the top of the list. The report says that children have the best
chance of survival in the three countries. The report places India at the 131st position out of the 180
countries and appreciates India for making improvements with regard to providing health and
sanitation facilities to children. The credit for this should mostly go to the success of the Swachh
Bharat mission and the report also points out that India's low spending on healthcare could be a
major risk for the health and future of children. The report also brings out the dichotomy of obesity
and malnutrition that is being seen in the countries around the world. For example, if we look at
India's rural areas and if we look at the weaker sections in urban areas, we will find that children
born in these families report very high levels of malnutrition but at the same time children born to
middle class and upper class family, report very high levels of obesity. Infact the same trend has
been brought out recently by a report of the Indian government as well. But this trend is not just
limited to India but has become a global trend. The report says that the number of obese children
in the world has increased by 11 times between 1975 and 2016. This also highlights the deep social
economic divide that exists in our society. While rapid economic growth has brought about a lot of
influence in a number of families around the world, we still have millions of families in rural areas
and in few pockets of the urban areas who has been deprived of similar development and growth
opportunities. So this social economic divide is directly responsible for the dichotomy of obesity
and malnutrition that is witnessed in a particular country.
 The report also praises a few countries efforts to reduce their CO2 emissions. According to the
reports, only 9 countries in the world are on track to achieve their CO2 emission targets and this
includes Sri Lanka from the South Asian region.

YOUTH CAN BE A CLEAR ADVANTAGE FOR INDIA

 The UN population front defines demographic dividend as the economic growth potential that
results from a population age structure that is in a given population. If the number of people in the
working age is higher, then the economic growth potential for that country would also be higher.
So when people are in the working age group, that is between 15 to 64 years, then they can be
productive and can contribute to the growth of a country's economy. Demographic dividend is said
to occur when a country’s working age population is higher than its non-working age population.
 In India, we are currently going through a demographic dividend phase. Currently, India is said to
have one of the youngest populations in the world and by 2022, its median age would be at 28
years. In comparison, the median age for China and United States would be 37 years, for western
Europe it would be 45 years and for Japan, it would be 49 years. This clearly shows that while major
countries in the world continue to age, India will still retain the young population.
 This phase of demographic dividend began for India in 2004-2005 and it is said to last for another
five decades at least. So if India aspires to become a developed country in the next 20 to 30 years,
then this would be the perfect opportunity and it needs to capitalize all this. If we look at
developed Asian economies such as Japan, China and South Korea, they have achieved spectacular
growth over the last 30 to 40 years mainly because they were able to exploit their demographic
dividend. On looking at the success stories of Japan, China and South Korea, it becomes very clear
that having a demographic dividend alone is not sufficient to generate economic growth because
having a demographic dividend is more of a luck and not destiny in itself. These countries were able
to transform their positive age structure into economic growth by coming up with suitable policies
and programmes. Through such policies, these countries ensured that good health care and good
education was provided to the citizens. They created sufficient employment opportunities and they
also built the right kind of infrastructure and this is what helped these countries to transfer their
demographic dividend to economic growth.
 So if India's policies and programs are not in line with the subject, then our demographic dividend
can quickly turn into a demographic disaster. If we look at India's state wise population, we will find
that it is quite heterogeneous. For example, if you look at Kerala's population it is already ageing
whereas Bihar’s population is still very young and it will continue to remain in the working age
group until 2051. So this heterogeneous age structure is what is helping India to sustain its
demographic dividend for more than five decades. But due to this heterogeneity, by 2031, the
working age population in at least 11 out of the 22 major States would have declined. So this is
something that India needs to watch out for and plan accordingly. India's policies and programs
should be based on the heterogeneous mixture of India's population. Having a higher percentage of
working age population doesn't necessarily translate into economic growth because working age
population should be employable. Employability of a person is dependent on his health education
skills etc.
 An economic survey and recent report by the UNICEF points out that India's youth are
unemployable even though they are educated because they do not have the right kind of skill set.
So this raises questions on the quality of education that is being provided in India and the quality of
vocational training and skill sets and the health industries as well. There are various reports which
point out the high prevalence of malnutrition in India and malnutrition can directly affect the
productivity of working age population. Another challenge for India would be its vast gender divide.
The lack of inclusion of women in education and in the workforce could come as a major setback
for India because nearly half of India's population are women. So when such a percentage of
population are not being utilised due to gender and education gaps in healthcare, nutrition and due
to the gender gap, we cannot expect to transform demographic dividend into economic growth.
 The author says that if India hopes to leverage its demographic dividend, then the government
needs to come out with suitable policies and programs or else India's demographic dividend can
 quickly turn into a demographic disaster.

BATTING FOR THE DOWNTRODDEN

 
 The writer makes a case for holding the rights of the Dalits. Recently, the SC declared that claiming
reservations for promotions in government jobs is not a fundamental right. This landmark
judgement of the SC prevents the Dalits from claiming reservations for promotions in government
jobs. So going forward, dalits can claim reservations in education and while seeking entry to
government jobs but they cannot claim reservation as a fundamental right while seeking
promotions in government jobs.
 The writer says that this decision of the SC will lead to further oppression of the Dalits and it will
result in the exclusion of the SCs in the higher bureaucracy. The writer presents data to show that
dalits are underrepresented in the higher bureaucracy even though they are given reservations
while entering government services. The writer even points out the prevalence of untouchability in
the Indian society even though it has been abolished by the constitution and he says that the
dominance of the upper caste and the prevalence of untouchability will result in the discrimination
and the dehumanization of the Dalits. So by making these arguments, the writer says that the SC
needs to uphold the rights of the Dalits by taking note of their prevailing situation.

CHERISH OUR BIODIVERSITY, SAYS PM

 The PM has called upon young students to cherish India's biodiversity while delivering his monthly
Mann ki baat address. During this radio address, the PM highlighted India's biodiversity by talking
about the Meghalayan cave fish which was recently discovered by a team of experts from India, US
and other countries. This cave dwelling fish was discovered last week in the caves of the Jayanti
hills in Meghalaya and it has been labelled as the world's largest subterranean fish. Experts believe
that this fish is closely related to the Mahseer fish. But it is also different from the endangered
Mahseer fish because the Meghalayan cave fish displays troglowmorphism.
 Troglowmorphism is a type of adaptation that is displayed by animals that are living in constant
darkness. Since the Meghalayan cavefish lives in the dark caves of Jayanti hills, it is blind because it
does not have eyes and it is white in colour because it lacks melanin content. So this is a unique
adaptation that is displayed by animals that live in constant darkness and referred to as
Troglowmorphism.
 The PM has also referred to ISRO'S Yuvika program. Under this program, ISRO arranges site visits
for students to various centres and facilities of ISRO and it also conducts workshops on astronomy.
This program is run by ISRO mainly to encourage young students to gain interest in Science and
Technology, especially in space Technology. During the radio address, the PM has also praised the
Indian air Force for running an aircraft on biofuel. Recently, the IAF flew the AN-32 aircraft from Leh
airport and this became the first aircraft in India to be run on biofuel. The aircraft used a mixture of
10% biojet fuel which has been developed by CSIR and the Indian Institute of Petroleum in
Dehradun.

25th FEBRUARY 2020 HINDU ANALYSIS

DONALD TRUMP CALLS MODI A TRUE FRIEND, LAVISHEES PRAISE ON PM
 US President Donald Trump is on a visit to India. President Trump along with PM Modi addressed a
massive gathering at the Sardar Patel stadium at Motera, Ahmedabad. This Sardar Patel stadium is
the world's largest cricket stadium in terms of the seating capacity and can accommodate 110000
people which is higher than the seating capacity of Melbourne cricket ground in Australia which can
accommodate 25,000 people. The stadium has been rebuilt after demolishing the old one. It was at
this stadium that Sunil Gavaskar became the first test cricketer to cross 10,000 test runs. This
stadium is hosting Namaste Trump and this is the Indian counterpart of howdy Modi.
 In September last year PM Modi, along with President Trump, addressed to a massive Indian
American community gathering at Houston. That event was named howdy modi. So Namaste Trump
is an Indian counterpart of howdy modi.
 The two countries are going to sign defene deals worth 3 billion US dollars. Is Donald Trump doing a
balancing act on Pakistan? One interesting thing is when President Trump spoke at this event, he also
invoked Pakistan and termed the US Pakistan relationship as a very good one. Why is it that an
American president speaking on Indian soil is talking about Pakistan US relationship and that too in a
good way?
Analysts say it has something to do with the Taliban. In all likelihood, a peace deal is going to be
signed between the US and the Taliban which would ensure that US will fully withdraw from
Afghanistan and Pakistan is responsible for this US Afghanistan peace talks.
 On trade fronts, there are hiccups in the India US relationships like the GSP was revoked, India was
categorized as a developed nation but on a strategic level, we have seen that the India US
relationship has strengthened. But at the same time Pakistan-US relationship has also got
strengthened. In the recent past, Trump said that today Pakistan-US relationship is so strong that it
has never been this. In July 2019, when PM Imran Khan visited the US, just few days before the visit
General Mark Milley who is the highest ranking officer in the US military had said that US interests
are better served if US maintains a strong military relationship with Pakistan and in December 2019,
US and Pakistan decided to restart their military training program and this is despite the fact that
Pakistan has not taken strong steps to dismantle the terror infrastructure on its soil and at the same
time US has not been pushing very hard to blacklist Pakistan at the FATF. Experts say that if US is not
pushing hard, along with the support Pakistan is getting from China, Turkey and Malaysia, this is
ensure that Pakistan is retained in the grey list of FATF, If it has not been blacklisted.
 So it is very interesting for US President to speak well about Pakistan while on the Indian soil. After
the Mumbai attacks, the then US President urged Pakistan to take strong steps to dismantle the
terror infrastructure on Pakistani soil and Barack Obama in that meeting with the Indian PM
Manmohan Singh ensured that we are together with India in its fight against terrorism. Yesterday
when President Trump spoke, he talked about the threat coming from Islamic fundamentalism but at
the same time, speaking good about Pakistan is something which is unprecedented.

DHANKAR SEEKS UPDATE ON CIVIC POLLS FROM SEC

 West Bengal Governor seeks an update on the Civic polls from the State EC. Article 324 of the Indian
Constitution talks about ECI. It says that Superintendence direction and control of all elections
whether to Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha or to state legislatures will be the responsibility of the ECI. So
far as local elections, elections to municipalities and Panchayati Raj are concerned, that is the domain
of SEC.
 SEC is also a constitutional body and consists of a state election commissioner who is appointed by
the governor of that state but he cannot be removed by the Governor. He can only be removed
based on the resolution passed by the Parliament, similar to that of a HC JUDGE. So the criteria on
which he can be removed is either misbehavior or incapacity. Both houses of the Parliament- Lok
Sabha and Rajya Sabha have to pass a resolution by special majority and then based on this
 resolution President of India is empowered to remove the state election commissioner from its
office.

ASI PLANNING TO BARRICADE AROUND FRAMED STONED CHARIOT AT HAMPI

 The Stone Chariot at Hampi is a shrine dedicated to Garuda and it is built inside the Vittala temple
complex. This chariot was built by King Krishnadevaraya of the Vijayanagara empire and the period is
16 century. The stone Chariot is internationally recognised as the world heritage site by UNESCO.
 The architecture is inspired by the Indian style of architecture and this Chariot is built by slabs of
granite. If you look at this Chariot, it looks as if it is one solid structure but in fact, it is built by slabs of
granite and the linkages of these granite is hidden. Archaeological survey of India is planning a
barricade around this famous stone Chariot at Hampi.

INCOME SCHEME TO COVER FEWER FARMERS

 PMKSN(Pradhan Mantri kisan Samman Nidhi) is a central sector scheme and is 100% funded by the
government of India. The scheme is effective from 1st December 2018 and under this scheme,
income support is provided to farmer families.
 A farmer family is a family unit consisting of a husband, wife and minor children who collectively own
cultivable land up to two hectares and for such farmer families, income support is provided this.
Income support is 6000 rupees per annum but this income is paid in installments of 2,000 rupees
every 4 months.
 State governments and the government of union territories identify these farmer families. The
amount is directly transferred to the bank account of the beneficiaries. Initially the target was that 14
crore families will be identified so that income support is provided to the farmer families. Now,
according to this newspaper article, this scheme is going to benefit only 12 crore people. The
beneficiary target has come down to 12 crores from 14 crores earlier.
 Agriculture minister said that West Bengal is a big culprit because West Bengal has refused to join
this PM Kisan scheme and Bihar is another culprit. According to the Agricultural minister, instead of a
state identifying this beneficiary, they are waiting for beneficiaries themselves to identify and
register. In Bihar, only 59.7 lakh have registered on the PM kisan portal and now the central
government has asked West Bengal to join in this scheme. But there are some farmer families who
have been excluded from this scheme. These are- a.) where one or more member is holding a
constitutional post, b.) Similarly, if one or more member was or is a member of the legislative
Assembly, member of Parliament whether to Rajya Sabha or Lok Sabha or you are a chairperson of a
district Panchayat or a mayor of a municipal committee, your family is also not eligible for this
income support, c.) Similarly if one or more member was or is a Central government employee or a
state government employee or a member of public sector enterprise d.) if one or more members of
your farmer family is a retired individual who is driving a pension of more than 10000 rupees per
month and e.) all those farmer family is where one or more individual members have paid income tax
in the last assessment year event - these farmer families are not eligible for income support.

DUAL CITIZENSHIP

 CAA is the law of the land. It provides citizenship to religious minorities from three countries-
Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. But the illegal migrants from Sri Lanka and refugees have
been left out or kept out of CAA. In 2016, the then chief CM of Tamil Nadu J Jayalalitha had
requested for a dual citizenship for these Tamil refugees from Sri Lanka and last month, in his address
to the legislative Assembly, the governor of Tamil Nadu also has called for a dual citizenship for these
Tamil refugees.
 This editorial is against any such idea because we do not value dual citizenship in India. There is no
concept of dual citizenship. You are a citizen of India and at the same time, you cannot be the citizen
of any other country. So if these Tamil refugees are Sri Lankan nationals, they cannot be given Indian
 citizenship. We have a scheme called Overseas citizens of India(OCI) which is closest that India can
get to dual citizenship but that doesn't mean that these individuals are provided dual citizenship. It
only means that those who are holders of this card can enter India without any visa for life but they
are not provided political rights. that is, not contest elections or vote for Indian elections. Aat the
same time, restrictions have been imposed on them for the purchase of agricultural land.
 Why  Tamil refugees had been kept out of CAA?
It has been considered the wisdom of the government of India that we want to send all the refugees
which is close to 95000 in number back to Sri Lanka. So when constitution of India does not recognise
dual citizenship, we should not be creating false expectations amongst these Tamil refugees. They
cannot get dual citizenship but at the same time we do not have a refugee law.
 So this editorial says that there is an urgent need for a refugee law in India and at the same time the
government of India should not treat these Tamil refugees as illegal migrants because these Tamil
refugees have entered India with the knowledge of the government of India, with approval of the
government of India as well. So, despite the fact that these Tamil refugee do not have the required
travel documents and Visa, but they have entered India with the knowledge and approval of the
government of India that is why they should not be treated as illegal migrants by the government of
India and out of these 95000 people, if some want to go back to Sri Lanka, we should facilitate the
travel but if some people want to stay in India for studies or for work, we should facilitate their stay
in India as well. Long term visa or exclusive long term visa should be provided to the Tamil refugees.

UNASSAILABLE KEYWORDS FOR THE JUDICIARY

 
 This column is about Justice Arun Mishra, one of the SC judges and the speech he gave at the
International Judicial Conference 2020. The topic was-“ judiciary in a changing world”. He said that
PM Modi is a versatile genius who thinks globally and applies locally.
 This column says that this was not an ordinary conference. The Union government is the biggest
litigant before the SC. There is something called ‘presumption of constitutionality’, that means that
whenever Parliament passes a law SC assumes that this law is constitutional. It is for the petitioners
to prove that it is unconstitutional and if the petitioners are able to prove so, SC will strike this law
down. But if a SC judge is praising the member of the executive, the PM, iit takes the presumption of
constitutionality to another level. Now, not only laws passed by the Parliament are assumed to be
constitutional, it also would mean that the actions of the executive would also be deemed as
constitutional by the judges.
 That is why Dushyant Dave, the SC lawyer and the President of SC bar association, is very critical of
the statement of Justice Arun Mishra. In 1997, the supreme court created a charter called
restatement of values of judicial life. According to this charter, every judge must at all times be
conscious that he is under the public gaze, which basically means that even if a judge admires a
political leader personally, they are expected to keep that admiration to themselves and not let it
affect their opinions. So when a judge praises a PM, it creates a necessary doubt about the
independence of the judiciary. The Indian SC is viewed as one of the most strongest and powerful
constitutional courts in the world. It is perhaps the only country in the world where judges are
appointed themselves by the judges. The judges in India appointing the judges themselves- it is
because they view that judiciary should be independent so that there is no interference by the
executive.
 So on one hand, you want your institution to be independent and at the same time, you are praising
the executive. This is something that cannot be understood. The column says that if there is a lame
man and a judge, we should treat both of them equally because Lame Man is also a product of the
society and the judge is also a product to the society. But there should be a different yardstick for a
judge and a different yardstick for a layman. That is why it is unbecoming of a sitting judge of SC to
publicly praise the member of an executive, that is, the PM.
 Supreme Court derives is strength from the constitution. The final interpreter of the Constitution is
the SC. But how can we be sure that the SC is also an institution of credibility? We can only ensure
the SC is a credible institution if people have faith in the SC.
  So SC draws its strength from the constitution but it draws its credibility from the faith the people
repose in the SC and if the judges of the SC are publicly praising the executive and the biggest litigant
in India is executive, then it will erode the faith of the public in the constitution and this should have
been avoided.

THE ISSUES AROUND DATA LOCALISATION IN 2017, THE SUPREME COURT VIA UNANIMOUS VERDICT

 SC declared that right to privacy is a fundamental right guaranteed under article 21 of the
Constitution of India. But there is no data protection law in India. That is why there is a personal data
protection bill that has been introduced in the winter session of the Lok Sabha this bill has been
referred to joint parliamentary committee.

26th FEBRUARY 2020 HINDU ANALYSIS

DONALD TRUMP RENEWS OFFER TO MEDIATE ON KASHMIR BUT SKIRTS CAA

 • Donald Trump renews offer to mediate on Kashmir but skirts citizenship amendment act.
 • key highlights of President Trump's visit to India-
India and the United States now are comprehensive global strategic partners.
if we look at the joint statement it says that we must work on the early conclusion of this agreement called
basic exchange and cooperation agreement (BECA) IS AGREEMENT HAS NOT BEEN SIGNED THE JOINT
STATEMENT SAYS THAT WE MUST WORK ON THIS CONCLUSION OF THIS AGREEMENTthe agreement
basically deals with security partnership India and United States once signed the agreement they will be in
a position to share some data that to secretly the data is mapping data and geo spatial data (data that has
geography components to it for example data related to GPS satellite imagery for example)once this
agreement is signed in India and the United States will share this data secretly so this is some sort of a
security partnership if United States wants close closer defence or security cooperation with the country it
science few foundational agreements and there are four foundational agreements one such agreement is
this BECA.THE OTHER AGREEMENTS ARE COMMUNICATIONS COMPATIBILITY AND  SECURITY AGREEMENT (
COMCASA) (this agreement was signed in 2018 this agreement allows India access to some advanced
defence systems that means India is in a position to import advanced us defence systems under this
agreement in 2018), logistics exchange memorandum of agreement (LEMOA)(signed in the year 2016 and
disagreement allows both India and United states that you can use each others air land on able basis for
what purpose let's say for example us wants refuelling of its ships or its aircrafts than us ships or aircrafts
can use Indian air and naval bases for example for repair resupply.), general security of military information
agreement (GSOMIA)(THIS WAS SIGNED WAY BACK IN 2002 THIS AGREEMENT ALLOWS INDIA AND UNITED
STATES THAT YOU CAN SHARE SOME CLASSIFIED INFORMATION WHAT SORT OF CLASSIFIED INFORMATION
FOR EXAMPLE INDIAN GOVERNMENT CAN ACCESS SOME INFORMATION FROM US GOVERNMENT FROM
THE COMPANIES IN NIGHT STATES SO BASICALLY WE ARE TALKING ABOUT CLOSE COOPERATION BETWEEN
THE INDIAN GOVERNMENT AND THE US GOVERNMENT AND US DEFENCE COMPANIES IN MILITARY
INFORMATION)
 • the joint statement also refers to something called blue Dot network. joint statement between India and
United States says India and the United States have expressed interest in the blue dart network what is
blue dart network many experts say that this blue dart network is a counter to China's belt and road
initiative what is this belt and road initiative China is heavily finding them so that they can develop this
infrastructure so China wants to expand its influence and one mechanism of that is belt and road initiative
this blue dart network was jointly launched by us Japan and Australia in the year 2018-2019 this bluedart
network is basically for cooperation to build the infrastructure in this indo-pacific region and India has
expressed its interest in joining this bluedart network.
 • ****widening us China rift fuels trump's modi outreach
 • why is Donald Trump coming closer to prime Minister modi or why United States is coming closer to India
it has got something to do with the widening gulfs between us and China the rift between the United States
and China there is some sort of trade war ongoing between the two countries where China is imposing
tariffs on US goods and US is imposing tariffs on Chinese goods if we look at prior to 2001 what was the
foreign policy of the United States us foreign policy was let's integrate China into our in influence that is we
want China to come under the influence that was the foreign policy of policy of the United States but then
China emerged as a superpower this is when under the president ship of Barack Obama the foreign policy
of United States visa with China shifted now the foreign policy changed and it says let's counter China China
wants to displace United States in the indo-pacific region that is why United States is looking at something
called quad what is an informal strategic dialogue between the United States Japan Australia and India if we
want to counter the influence of China in the indo-pacific region we need the support of the other
democratic countries in the region as well.quad is also a counter to Chinese influence in the indo-pacific
region so that is what is a particle is about it says that if United States is coming closer to India it is not
something which is not unique to Donald Trump because this is a policy that is favoured by Barack Obama
as well and this policy has bipartisan support that means whether we have a democratic president in
United States or Republican president of The United States this policy of the United States is going to
continue what United States wants it wants to counter the Chinese influence in the indo-pacific region and
for that us has to come closer to India former Indian ambassador to China Mr Ashok kantha face India
should also include Australia in this exercise Malabar-it's basically a naval exercise involving us India and
Japan.
 • another important take away from the joint statement is India's entry to nuclear suppliers group (nsg)
Donald Trump has reaffirmed the support the United States to ensure that India enters into this nuclear
suppliers group NSG was founded in the year 1974 it was counter to when India tested its first nuclear
weapon in 1974 so as a counter to that nuclear testing this group was formed the objective of this group?
Nsg says that there are some equipments and materials can be used for the development of nuclear
weapons so we must and sure that this equipment and materials do not go into the hands of those
countries who want to develop these nuclear weapons or who want to transfer this material for this
technology to other countries who do not have a nuclear weapon so basically it is about nuclear non
proliferation there are countries which have nuclear weapons but we don't want to proliferate nuclear
weapons so we have to ensure that the technology and the materials that has been used or can be used for
the development of nuclear weapons we should control their exports so energy is basically a export control
mechanism a body which controls the export of nuclear weapons technology or materials India is not a
member of this group despite the support of the United States China is obstructing to India's entry to the
group China says that is India is admitted to this group Pakistan should also be admitted what is the
objection of other countries India has not signed npt agreement nuclear non proliferation treaty so other
countries were part of this nsg say that unless and until India scientist treaty agreement we should deny
entry to India but Donald Trump has for the reaffirmed US support for India's entry to the NSG there were
other ki agreements between the two countries for example that 2.2 billion US dollar deal for the purchase
of Romeo anti-submarine helicopter that has been signed the agreement for the purchase of Apache
aircraft systems but there is no tradedeal but both sides have agreed that we will work closer together for
the early sining of this treaty on Kashmir Donald Trump has a green reiterated it support for its offer for
mediation and this has been a consistent approach of US President Donald Trump and it has got something
to do with the close relationship that Donald Trump shares with Pakistani prime Minister Imran Khan.

 • ****Assam Accord clause 6 panel:gives report to CM

 • ASSAM HAS FOR LONG COMPLAINT OF ILLEGAL MIGRATION AND BECAUSE OF THIS ILLEGAL MIGRATION
THE CULTURE AND LANGUAGE AND THE RELATION AND THE LAND OF ASSAM IS UNDER THREAT
ACCORDING TO THE PROTESTERS IN ASSAM.there was a long movement in Assam close to 6 years starting
in 1979 which was led by all Assam students Union (aasu) devar asking for that all these illegal migrants
that were entering Assam RBI identified arrested and deported this protest movement was which was
launched 1979 came to an end in 1985 when Assam Accord was signed this Accord was signed between the
government of India the government of Assam all Assam students Union according to this record all those
who have entered a Sam before 1966 1st January 1966 they are the residents of Assam but those who was
entered between 1966 to 24th of March 1971 they will also be a same residents but for 10 years they
should not have political rights they should not have the right to cast vote in the elections but all those who
have entered Assam on or after 25th March 1971 those are to be identified arrested and deported and for
that nrc exercise exercise was carried out specifically for Assam under the guidance of the supreme Court
of India but what is this clause 6 of Assam Accord clause 6- constitutional legislative and administrative
safeguards as may be appropriate shall be provided to protect preserve and promote the cultural social
linguistic identity and heritage of the Assamese people but which are the safeguards for that a committee
shall be setup and this committee will recommend what sort of safeguards are required for the protection
of these Assamese people now a panel was set up this panel has submitted its report.
 • Assam government sometime ago also announced plans to hold census for four communities of
Assamese Muslims there was a demand from Assamese Muslims that we are all labelled as Bangladeshi is
so if we look at the Muslims in Assam the general impression that the alleged is that we are all treated as
illegal migrants whenever we say that the Muslims from Assam India we are labelled as Bangladeshi
infiltrators so you should separated from others that means even within the Muslim community in Assam
there are some indigenous Muslims as well and to identify this indigenous Muslims census exercise will be
carried out to identify 4 communities of Assamese Muslims these are-Goriya, moriya, deshi, julha-there are
some Assamese experts who save that the Muslim population Assam settled 600 to 700 years ago some
experts also say that the Muslim migration to Assam started in 13th century when bakhtiyar khilji invaded
the area so to identify them and separate them from other Muslims a census exercise will be carried out in
Assam.

 • ****rights duties and the constitution

 • when Constitution was drafted there were many people who were not happy with the constitution they
are cute that the constitution is only focusing on rights and is not focusing on the duties for example PV
kane, and expert on the Indian Constitution he writes in the history of Dharma shastra that our constitution
is blindly aping the Western European constitution because our constitution is only emphasising on rights
and not on the duties as Indians we have duties towards our environment towards our culture parents
teachers excetra and it is this aspect of duties that is neglected in our constitution and our constitution is
blindly aping and following the Western European constitution because the only talk about the rights and
not the duties later on Constitution was amended 42nd constitutional amendment act in the year 1976
article 51 capital a was added part 4A was added to the constitution and a list of 10 fundamental duties
were incorporated into the Indian Constitution in 2002 one more fundamental duty was added so in total
as of now there are 11 fundamental duties enshrined in the constitution under article 51 part a.when the
fundamental duties chapter was added to the constitution it was done on the basis of the report prepared
by sardar swaran Singh so Indira Gandhi set up a committee headed by sardar swaran Singh and identifying
the list of fundamental duties were incorporated in the constitution Indira Gandhi was asked what is the
need for the purpose of having fundamental duties in the constitution she said that the citizens of India are
more concerned about their rights if they are more aware about their rights I want to them aware about
the duties as well.
 • Chief Justice of India while speaking at a conference said that that feature that is part of a Constitution
that is often neglected is the fundamental duties chapter he says that real rights are a result of the
performance of the duties but the author of this article disagrees with the Chief Justice of India he is
reminding the Chief Justice of India by fundamental rights chapter was added to the constitution in the first
place what was the logic to have fundamental rights chapter in the constitution he says when the
constitution was drafted there were two concerns in the minds of those were framing the constitution
concerned number one was that during the colonial regime Indians were treated as subjects for their
interests did not count devices were unheard in some cases some tribes were treated as criminal tribes and
identify them and said that there are some people who by their very nature are drawn towards crimes and
those tribes were called criminal tribes and to address these concerns the author says that the fundamental
rights chapter was added to the constitution the voices of the Indian citizens must be heard they must have
the freedom of speech and expression concern number to during the second world war II witnessed the
hollow cast by the Nazis committed horrible atrocities on the jews. but how did the genocide take place this
genocide was preceded by when the dignity of the Jews was violated to prevent such a situation from
happening in India that was the reason why fundamental rights chapter was added to the constitution so
the writer argues that the first role of the fundamental rights chapter is to prevents the citizens from being
dehumanized II logic watched that the framers of the constitution they were aware that the society we are
inheriting is a deeply heirarchial society e there is discrimination on the grounds of gender caste religion
and and many other factors that is why fundamental rights chapter was added to the constitution so that
this chapter can act as a guarantee against this hierarchical societythat we have a fundamental right against
forced labour that we have a fundamental right against discrimination against equality untouchability.so
the writer argues that only after all these guarantees that guarantees of fundamental rights once this
guarantees which are given to the people of the country by the constitution once this guarantees are fully
implemented then the constitution can ask its citizens to do their duties the writer quotes BR ambedkar
and says that the fundamental unit of the Constitution must remain and individual Gautam Bhatia argues
that if this fundamental rights chapter talks about competing heirachyotherwise we are going to miss
interpret the concept of duties and the in the constitution he sides example of a 1981 case was heard by
the supreme court the case was about the crew of air India and then Indian airlines this crew can be male
or female but there were different rules for men and women men could marry at any point in time and
would retire at the age of 58 for example females if within 4 years of their service they were married they
were made to retire or at the start of their first pregnancy there were made to retire so supreme Court
allowed this because in that case supreme Court focus more on duty and not on the fundamental rights
chapter which talks about non discrimination on the grounds of gender of supreme Court said that it is the
duty of women to ensure good thinking of their children it is the duty of the women to ensure the success
of family planning programme so Gautam Bhatia basically argues that constitution of India is basically a
document of transformation it is through this constitutional guarantee of fundamental rights can be
transformer society into a society where there is no discrimination on the grounds of gender caste religion
and so on and so forth so without understanding fundamental rights if you focus on fundamental duties
then we are going to miss interpret the constitution.

 • *****more psychological than an empowering water option

 • in 2013 the supreme court directed the election commission of India that what you should do on an
electronic voting machine you should add another option and that button should be nota none of the
above if you look at the participation of people in the electoral process the participation has been healthy
but even then we do not see message participation of the people if you look at the voting pattern people in
the rural India voted relatively large numbers but rural people in urban areas they relatively voted in lesser
percentages and when question is asked to the individuals why are you not voting dates se all these
candidates set up by political parties they are not inspiring so why should we vote for them so basically if
we have to vote for that candidate should be clean political parties should be stored setup clean candidates
because if any in any case if air Force 2 vote we have to vote in favour of a criminal so why should we vote
and that is why we are extending from voting and do not participate in the electoral process this judgement
supreme Court said will go a long way in insurance more participation of the people.
even if the citizens are not happy with the candidate set up by various political parties we should give them
another option.
Tibetan Vincent feelers two political parties that look most of the voters in your constituencies are not
happy with the kind of candidates was put forward so tomorrow please set up clean candidates otherwise
people faith in the electoral system will reduce.
supreme Court thought that nota would have a psychological impact on the political parties if people more
and more are voting in favour of no top it will send a strong signal to political parties that you must setup
clean candidates but what we have seen over a period of time the votes registered in favour of nota is
either declining or stagnant if you look at 2014 Lok Sabha elections 1.1% for cold in favour of nota 2019 Lok
Sabha elections 1.08 percent work polled in favour of nota but if you look at the recent elections in Gujarat
aur madhya Pradesh or Karnataka for example if there is a candidate a who has won the elections let's say
for example he bad 1000 words candidate be banned 700 words not a in some constituencies in Gujarat
madhya Pradesh and Karnataka in favour of nota 400 people would what that means the difference
between the winning candidate and the losing candidate was less than the number of votes polled in favour
of nota which means even if candidate gets 1000 words nota gets 1100 words and that a is your
representative in your constituency because if nota gets more votes in a particular constituency that
doesn't mean election will be countermanded that means the next highest vote getter will be your
representative a petition was filed in the supreme court last year this petition argued that if in a particular
constituency votes in favour of nota are more than any other candidate election in this constituency should
be countermanded and fresh elections must be held supreme Court rejected this saying that it will make
democracy very costly that is why we are not in favour of this how can we make this nota empowering that
see objective objective of this newspaper column there are two options option number one if the if there is
a constituency and nota polls 1000 votess for example and there are candidates a B and c who Pol votes
less than nota aur political party which polls lesson the number of votes for nota then all these candidates
and political parties should not be allowed to contest the next election from this constituency that is one
way of empowering nota option second way of empowering is it is nota none of the above that means in
last button on an electronic voting machine is not a what if it was the first button this note of good become
notb none of the below is there something psychological with the placing of this button at the bottom of
the top.
Albert a taebal in an article in the American journal of political science in 1975 there was another article in
2004 in the journal of politics they have discussed that there is an advantage in the first position of the
ballot paper of the ballot unit of the electronic voting machine so if less and less people are opting for nota
will there be a psychological change if not a becomes notbthis positioning of nota option at the top of the
electronic voting machine will it lead to a significantly different outcome we don't know but this is an
option worth considering all that is not mentioned in this newspaper column,Australia for example there is
something called compulsory voting that means if you are not sick if you are present in your constituency
you have no other option but to go to a polling booth and exercise your franchise and that is why the voting
percentage in Australia in excess of 95% then voting in Australia is compulsory till 1984 for example there
was something called Donkey vote. when analysis was done donkeys got elected to the parliament donkeys
are those individuals who I daily had no chance to win an election but they are still getting selected because
their name izzat serial number 1 on an electronic voting machine which means that if I am a citizen of
Australia I have to compulsorily vote. what do I do I enter a polling booth quickly press press the first
button on electronic voting machine and then disappear from the polling booth because I want to utilise
the remaining part of the day.that means you are entering the polling booth quickly pressing the first
button on the booth and then you are leaving the booth and this entire exercise was called donkey vote
later on Australia change this picture and randomly assigned names on electronic voting machines so there
are two or three options to make nota more empowering 1 if the distance between the winning candidate
and the losing candidate is less than the votes polled in favour of nota in this particular constituency the
election should be held a fresh number 2 if in a particular constituency there are political parties are the
candidates who are polling less than the number of votes polled in favour of nota then the next elections
this political party and this candidate should not be allowed to contest elections and thirdly instead of none
of the above let's make it none of the below.

 • ***counting birds together

 • we have any agency called the IUCN-international Union for the conservation of nature and natural
resources this organisation is based out of Switzerland its in international organisation which is working in
the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources.sustainable use means that we
need development for that we need resources but how can we exploit the resources in such a manner that
we don't extinguish the mall but we utilise them in a manner that our future generation is also able to use
these resources which means that the resources should be utilised but in a manner that such resources are
also available for our future generation when we use the resources we may have to encroach into the
habitat of animals and birds that is why you see and runs programs or projects for habitat conservation not
just for habitat conservation but also for species conservation iucn identify species on the basis of their
availability for example species can be categorised as least concern near threatened critically endangered
vulnerable endangered extinct for example.
 • let's take the example of bird species in India previously iucn identified that there are 67 birds species in
India which are either critically endangered or endangered or vulnerable now this birds of India report 2020
at 34 more words into this category according to this report there are hundred and one word species that
need our concern that are at a risk that doesn't mean that all is bad this column says that there is hope
according to this column the state of India's birds report has two distinct features that define a new
approach which are the features number 1 the information of these birds have been collected not just from
researchers or experts but ordinary individuals is well so data has come from citizens as well so this was
some sort of citizen LED initiative researchers and experts can't be present everywhere but ordinary
citizens are everywhere so if you are supporting a bird pass on that information so that is information can
be evaluated this can be a template for future trust the citizens involve the more and more in the service
and that is how we can get better information about the birds in India second important feature of this
report was that the reports data is not secret this report is in the public domain so you can criticize it and
you can also if find it why these two approaches are significant let's say for example 13 1300 bird species in
India but some of these birds species are allowed some of them are very colourful which means you can
easily identify them some are diurnal present during the day which means you can easily identify them but
some of these birds are shy quiet nocturnal so it is very difficult for us to take them to find them we have to
travel to their habitats as well some words habitats maybe in forests are in wetlands on mountains or and
cities or in oceans for example on top of that some of these birds are migratory as well so these are the
challenges that we face when we have to identify and collect information about the birds these challenges
can be overcome based on such citizen let initiatives and that is why close to 15500 birdwatchers
collaborated to prepare this state of India's bird report in 2020.

27th FEBRUARY 2020 HINDU ANALYSIS

27th February 2020 hindu analysis

 • ****committee to study Ulsoor lake population
 • The Southern bench of the National Green Tribunal has ordered the establishment of a committee to study the
extent of water pollution and water quality in the Ulsoor lake which is located in Bengaluru.
 • The NGT was established through the NGT act which was passed by the Parliament in 2010. It draws inspiration
from Article 21 of the Indian Constitution and thanks to the the wider interpretation of the article 21 that has been
given by the SC.  Under this wider interpretation, SC has included the right to a healthy environment to be a part of
right to life and personal liberty.  The main objective for establishing the NGT was to provide for speedy
environmental justice in order to reduce the backlog of pending environmental related cases at the higher judiciary
and also dealing with environmental related cases requires a certain degree of expertise and this element of
specialisation has been brought in to the domain of environmental justice.
With the establishment of the NGT,  NGT is headed by a chair person who is appointed by the Government of India.
The chairperson is a retired judge of the SC who selected by the government of India after consulting with the Chief
Justice of India and the chairperson is assisted by a set of judicial members and export members. The act provides for
at least 10 and a maximum of 20 judicial members and export members and the orders of the NGT carry the same
power as that of a supreme Court but the NGT is not bound by the civil civil procedural Court this said NGT is guarded
by the principles of natural justice coming to the places of sitting the NGT act provides for the principal veg to be
located at New Delhi it also provides for regional ventures there located in Pune Bhopal Kolkata and Chennai these
regional benches intern can even setup circuit benches for example the southern bench at Chennai has had
established soch adventures and Bengaluru aur Hyderabad depending upon the jurisdiction of the case coming back
to the article the NGT has ordered the establishment of a committee to study the extent of pollution and water
quality in the ulsoor lake it has asked the committee to measure not just the biochemical oxygen demand and
chemical oxygen demand but also the total Coliforms, faecal coliforms as well as the presence of heavy metals such
as arsenic in the lake.
 • biological oxygen demand(BOD) is the amount of dissolved oxygen needed by aerobic biological organisms to
break down organic material present in a given water sample at a certain temperature over a specific time period.
 • if the measured b o d is higher it indicates that the water body is polluted.it can also be used as an indicator to
measure the efficiency of waste treatment and sewage water treatment facilities.
 • chemical oxygen demand is a second method for estimating water quality it basically measures the amount of
oxygen that is needed for chemically oxidizing the organic matter in a water sample this can help us understand the
amount of organic matter that is present in water and hence it can be used to understand the water pollution in lakes
rivers excetra usually both COD and bod test are done together and search combined testing will help us estimate the
amount of non biodegradable organic material in a wastewater the COD test has one particular advantage of a b o d
test the COD test can be carried out in just two to three hours as compared to around 5 days that is needed to
complete a b o d test but the COD test has a few drawback of its own it is considered to be less basic than b o d
because it measures everything that can be chemically oxidized rather than just levels of biological oxidize organic
matter so it basically and sab measuring the amount of oxygen that is needed for breaking down biodegradable
organic matter non biodegradable organic matter as well as fuel types of inorganic matter that would be found in
water bodies hence the COD test is considered to be less specific as compared to the b o d test but it has the
advantage of being must much faster than the periodic test and hence both the tests are usually carried out in
conjunction.
 • coliforms a type of bacteria that is commonly found in the digestive tract of animals including human beings they
are also found in the feces on the excreta of these animals. coliform bacteria are found only in the digestive tract of
warm blooded animals so the question is how can the measurement of coliforms help us Axis water quality we know
that the contamination of water by animal feces is a serious health hazard because animal feces including that of
human beings contain a variety of disease causing pathogens.to measure the extent of water pollution caused by
physical contamination we need to measure the concentrations of these disease causing pathogens but this is quite
problematic because disease causing pathogens are found in very small numbers and hence it is not practical to test
every water sample for the presence of this dangerous pathogens instead the presence of these dangerous
pathogens can be detected by using an indicator organism such as colophon bacteria because only form bacteria and
disease causing pathogens have the same sources and they are generally found together and the advantage of
measuring coliform bacteria is that it is quite easy to measure because they are found in large numbers.

 • ****Assam at the centre of fresh border row

by the mid 19th century large parts of today's Northeast had come under colonial occupation and it had been made a
part of the Bengal province but in 1874 the Assam region that is today's Northeast region was separated from the
Bengal province then 1912 the same province was established by the colonial government which included today's
Assam meghalaya parts of Bangladesh mizoram Manipur nagaland as well as arunachal Pradesh prior to this the
British government had introduced the Bengali Eastern frontier regulation in 1873 and order to implement the inner
line permit system in the north east of India this permit system was introduced by the British in order to prevent
Indian from other part of the country is as well as outsiders from settling in the north east of India this permit system
was introduced mainly to protect the commercial interests of the British government bust post independence as well
I ILP system has continuedin few parts of the north east and today it is applicable in arunachal Pradesh mizoram
nagaland and it was recently introduced in Manipur as well they rlp system has been continued post independence
by the Indian government and the respective state governments mainly to protect the unique culture tradition and
heritage of the indigenous tribes as well as to protect India's India's strategic interests insensitive international
borders over the years Assam province of the colonial government has gone through a lot of political changes during
partition sylhet was given to East Pakistan and tripura became a union territory of India even Manipur was made a
union  territory and a few years later both the union territories were given full statehood but apart from this to this
entire region constituted the state of Assam in post independent India it basically included today's Assam meghalaya
nagaland mizoram and arunachal Pradesh or as it was known before the North East frontier agencies show all the
states that we have today have been carved out of the bigger state of Assam first it was nagaland which was given
statehood in 1963 due to Naga insurgency then in 1970 the government clubbed the garo hills the khasi hills and the
jayanti hills to form meghalaya as an autonomous state within Assam then within a couple of years meghalaya was
given full statehood then in the same here nefa was renamed as arunachal Pradesh and it was established as a union
territory and the Lushai hills region of Assam was carved outto establish mizoram as a union territory in 1972 then
later in 1987 both arunachal Pradesh and mizoram were given full statehood but this process of carving out nagaland
mizoram arunachal Pradesh and meghalaya from the largest state of Assam and the continuation of the inner line
permit system and the states has created a number of border disputes which continue to festival event today these
border disputes has even turned into clashes between the security forces of the respective States as well as between
the people of these States in the past violent clashes has been witnessedbetween Assam and nagaland as well as
between Assam and meghalaya and Assam and mizoram now the border dispute between the Assam and mizoram is
back to the forefront the state government of mizoram has written to the central government seeking a revision of
the boundary with Assam mizoram shares a 123 kilometre border with southern Assam and it is claiming a large part
of the land that correctly is with Assam so the mizoram government is seeking the centre to revise the boundary with
Assam based on the Bengali Eastern frontier regulation of 1873 and the inner line of The lushai hills notification of
1993.

 • ****IAF aircraft lands in burhan with medical supplies

 • India has airlifted medical supplies to haan in order to help China to deal with the coronavirus disease in 2019 that
Indian air Force has made use of its C-17 globemaster military transport aircraft to airlift around 15 tons of medical
supplies to one and of the return file flight will be evacuating the remaining Indians in bahan as well as citizens of few
friendly neighbouring countries this is a part of India's diplomatic initiative to assist China during its time of crisis as
well as to bring back Indian nationalists was still stuck in burhan previously India ran to such rescue missions button
both the occasions a civilian aircraft from air India was used but for the third mission which was carrying medical
supplies as well India decided to make use of a military transport aircraft and this and it up turning into a diplomatic
dispute between India and China India has been requesting permission for this flight from the 13th of February but
India's request was being repeated tonight by China even though China was formatting other countries to deliver
medical supplies and rescue their citizens but after a minor diplomatic stand of China has finally permitted the Indian
air Force to fly a c 17 globemaster carrying medical supplies and on the return flight it would be bringing back few
Indians as well the C-17 globemaster is one of the most reliable and efficient military transport aircraft in the world it
can be used for both strategic and tactical their leaves it can be used to carry huge quantities of cargo large number
of troops and it can even air lift armoured vehicles and artillery guns so this gives a tremendous advantage to the
Indian armed forces to deploy that troops to Frontline positions as well as in faraway locations along with their cargo
and equipment in a very short span of time this aircraft can also be used for disaster management during tough
timesthat is for providing humanitarian assistance and disaster relief it can be used to carry huge quantities of
supplies and relief 18 material as well as to rescue the victims of disaster India has made use of this aircraft to help
out friendly foreign countries such as Bangladesh Myanmar Nepal and even a few countries in the Indian ocean
region and Africa and now it has taken supplies to China as well such missions not only help India to extend its soft
power but it will also help in extending India's hard power this feature care craft has been built by Boeing and India
has acquired this aircraft from the United States than other similar aircraft in the Indian air Force is the c130j super
Hercules this is a much smaller military transport aircraft as compared to the C-17 globemaster and hence it is largely
used for tactical operations it can be used to deploy special forces and equipments behind enemy lines and it can
even land and takeoff on an prepared landing strips this tactical military transport aircraft has been manufactured by
Lockheed Martin and India has acquired it from the United States even this smaller aircraft can be used for disaster
management to carry supplies relief material as well as to rescue people.

 • *****virus cases emerging faster globally: who

 • the article refers to the deadly turn that the korona virus has taken until a few days before korona virus disease
2019 that was caused by the sars coronavirus 2 viruswhat is largely concentrated in two clusters that was entered in
China and Japan but due to the effective containment strategies of these countries the number of new cases had just
started to see a decline but unexpectedly the disease has scenery surgeons in other parts of the world until a few
days ago a majority of the cases were concentrated in these two countries and very few cases and that's well being
reported in other countries but within a span of one week hundreds of new infections and a large number of deaths
are being reported from South Korea Iran and Italy the rate at which the infection spreading is been countries is quite
alarming and the fertility rate as well is many times higher than the fatality rate that was seen in China or Japan so as
a result these countries have gone into an emergency mode in order to combat the disease and contain the spread of
the infection and this sudden search of infections has caused a lot of concern for the world health organisation that w
h o n even the United States are worried that this could quickly turn into a global pandemic because new infections
have been reported in South America as well as in Pakistan and in line with these threads India has issued a travel
advisory to these three countries.

 • *****sex and power

 • is article refers to the me too movement the me too movement traces back its origin to 2006 when a civil rights
activist tarana Burke made use of social media to highlight her personal traumatic experience of facing sexual
harassment specially at workplace even before social media platforms such as Facebook Twitter extra could become
popular tarana Burke made use of Myspace to publicly narrator experience of sexual harassment at the hands of
powerful wealthy and influential men by using the #meetoo this set an example and established strength of sorts and
give an opportunity to victims of sexual harassment special in the hands of powerful man to publicly name and
shame their resources but over the neck few years the movement weekend but with the emotions of Facebook and
Twitter and with the revolutionization of the social media world the #me too movement for a major research in
between 2015 and 2018 the movement began reviving in the United States particularly in the Hollywood industry
and multiple women begin to use the hashtag meetwo on social media platform to pinpoint their resource and
narrate their traumatic experiences generally at workplaces when women face sexual harassment on all station or
even rape at the hands of powerful influential bosses that becomes very difficult for the victim to report such
incidents but one of the drawbacks of the movement was that according to critics at least some of these allegations
could be entirely false and motivated while this criticism might be true in a few cases there is no denying that the
#me too movement created a new platform a new opportunity for women to come out and report cases of sexual
harassment and speak up against their harasses because no such platform existed in the past and this alone could be
sufficient to say that the #me too movement stands vindicated then upon this the editorial refers to the recent
conviction of Harvey winsteinw in a number of sexual harassment and rape cases so this convection of a repeat
offender by the US quote highlights the success of the #me too movement in shedding light on this dark social reality
and it even prompted the large society to debate on the topic of consent and respect towards women.

28th FEBRUARY 2020 HINDU ANALYSIS