Comprehensive News Analysis - 11 November 2016

Useful News Articles

A. GS1 Related

Nothing here today folks!

B. GS2 Related

Theresa May’s underwhelming visit

Category: International Relations

Topic: India-Britain

Key Points:

India and the U. K. have many reasons to have close relations
They are two pillars of the Commonwealth, sharing democratic values and a world view on many political issues including terrorism.
The Indian community that has settled in Britain has helped deepen ties
Today India is the third largest investor in the U. K., and the U. K. is the largest G20 investor in India
It stands to reason that for her first foreign visit outside Europe after taking over as Prime Minister, Theresa May chose India
The two MoUs signed in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Ms. May, on improving the ease of doing business and on intellectual property rights
Just three days before her visit to India, London announced new restrictions on overseas students, including two- tier visa rules based on the “ quality of courses”, and a crackdown on work visas to control migration
The irony is that London has refused to budge on facilitating the “ return” of the likes of Vijay Mallya and Lalit Modi

SYL Land Bill unwarranted, says court

Category: Governance

Topic: River water disputes

Key Points:

The Supreme Court, referring to its 2006 Mullaperiyar dam judgment, held that a State Assembly “cannot through legislation do an act in conflict with the judgment of the highest court which has attained finality”
The opinion termed the enactment of the Punjab Sutlej Yamuna Link Canal Land (Transfer of Proprietary Rights) Bill in 2016 by the current Akali Dal government as “unwarranted developments” when the Presidential Reference was still pending in the apex court
The 2016 Bill, which is yet to receive the assent of the Governor, planned to give back to the farmers over 5000 acres acquired for the canal

C. GS3 Related

Making climate rules at Marrakech

Category: Environment

Topic: Climate Change

Key Points:

The United Nations conference on climate change now under way in Marrakech, Morocco, has the ambitious task of drawing up the first steps on enhanced finance and technology transfer, which is vital to advance the Paris Agreement that entered into force on November 4
India’s negotiating positions at the ongoing Conference of the Parties 22 ( CoP 22) must ensure that on both these aspects, the basic principle of equity and common but differentiated responsibilities laid down by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change are upheld
Mitigating greenhouse gas emissions is central to the effort to contain the rise of the global average temperature in the current century to well below 2 ° Celsius since pre- industrial levels
But that goal is considered impossible even if sincere action is taken on all pledges made so far, necessitating a higher ambition
Moreover, the Paris Agreement does not have a carbon budget system that gives weightage to the emerging economies taking their historical handicap into account
The imperative therefore is to demand suitably high financial flows to both mitigate emissions and prepare communities to adapt to climate change
In India’s case, new developments in sectors such as construction, transport, energy production, waste and water management, as well as agriculture, can benefit from fresh funding and technology
Adopting green technologies in power generation, which has a lock- in effect lasting decades, and other areas like transport with immediate impacts such as reduced air pollution has a twin advantage
The local environment is cleaned up, improving the quality of life, and carbon emissions are cut
It is imperative therefore that the national position raises pressure on rich countries for technological and funding assistance under the Paris Agreement
In parallel, India would have to update its preparedness to meet the new regime of transparency that is to be launched under the climate pact

D. GS4 Related

Nothing here today folks!

E. Important Editorials: A Quick Glance

The Hindu

The forgotten war

Category: Internal Security

Topic: Terrorism

Key Points:

On October 24, the Communist Party of India (Maoist) lost around 30 of its cadres in a covert operation jointly organised by the Greyhounds of Andhra Pradesh and the Special Operations Group of Odisha
This occurred in the densely forested region of Malkangiri district in Odisha
Many in the establishment, including some among the security forces and the media, have since claimed that it marked the beginning of the end of the Naxalite movement in the country
We are, hence, hardly at an inflection point in the battle against Maoists
Nevertheless, the gap still remains wide, enabling movements such as those of the Maoists to exploit the situation
Admittedly, there is little in common between today’s Maoists who indulge in unbridled and often gruesome violent acts and the erstwhile purist revolutionaries of the Charu Majumdar era who had hoped to bring about “A Spring Thunder over India”. Yet, there is still more than an umbilical link between the latter and today’s Maoists. This cannot be ignored.
The movement cannot be written off
It still has reservoirs of support in many rural pockets, and still more so in the more neglected and forgotten tribal regions of the country
It is still able to convey an impression that the Maoists are the ‘torch bearers’ of ‘an idea’ whose time is about to come
Central and State governments, the administration and the security establishment need to recognise that the movement cannot be approached from a purely law and order point of view
The process of improving the conditions of the poor and the tribals clearly need to be speeded up if the movement is to be effectively checked

The new colour of money

Category: Indian Economy

Topic: Black Money/ Demonetisation

Key Points:

The government had announced that the 500 and Rs. 1,000 notes in circulation till the midnight of November 8 will no longer count as legal tender
Demonetisation is a standard tool in any government’s bag of public policy instruments
On the taxman’s radar, a demonetisation that delegitimises a certain currency, or even certain denominations of it, would extinguish wealth held in that form
Existing black money cannot be used to generate more of the same
To this extent the scheme cannot be faulted
Of course, it cannot be assumed that what is in a bank will necessarily be declared to the income tax authorities, but it will certainly come under scrutiny in a way that it was not when stashed under the mattress
What are some reasons why we may welcome such a move?

The concealment of income with a view to avoid tax is a crime. So, in a constitutional democracy such as ours, those who do deserve to be punished
In order to evade the law, those with unaccounted wealth proceed to corrupt others, most importantly representatives of the state.This criminalises the system further. If democracy is a way of actualising the public will, such criminalisation of the machinery of government works against the ideal. So, the practice of tax evasion needs to be rooted. To that extent this move of the government may be welcomed

But how significant is it likely to be in the punishment it metes out to tax evaders and in its ability to control the generation of unaccounted wealth in the future?
The quantitative significance of this move depends upon the extent to which unaccounted, or ‘ black’, wealth is held in the form of high- value currency notes of the specified denomination
If unaccounted money by Indians is held in the form of foreign bank accounts, the present scheme can do nothing about it
There is, however, the separate issue of counterfeit currency
If there is a significant volume of counterfeit currency circulating in the form of 500 or Rs. 1,000 notes, the demonetisation will also extinguish unaccounted money from this source
If counterfeit currency is actually used to de- stabilise the Indian Union, as has been claimed, deflating this route enhances its security
This would count as another reason to welcome the move
Now to the question of whether the demonetisation will eliminate the black economy of the future. It should be obvious that it cannot by itself
For this we would need a policy that checks the generation of black incomes at source. It would be a good surmise that much of the unaccounted money is generated in the purchase and sale of gold and of property
The markets for gold and property are highly concentrated, with relatively few sellers exerting considerable control over supply
Currency after all is only the medium in which unaccounted wealth money is held
Pulping the stock of money of certain denominations cannot stem the flow of unaccounted income to be generated in the future
Strict oversight of transactions in the areas of the economy where they thrive can alone achieve this result

Asian Age: The order of compassion

Category: Society

Topic: Culture

Key Points:

The last word is yet to be said on the top court’s ban on the conduct of jallikattu (bull taming), a sport popular in rural Tamil Nadu held in celebration of the annual harvest festival, Pongal
However, the great compassion that a two-judge bench showered on animals in their obiter dicta suggests that the Supreme Court will just not permit the sport since it clearly inflicts untold miseries on animals
The same argument would also hold good against the running of bullock (rekla) races popular in Maharashtra and any other forms of entertainment like cockfights involving cruelty to animals
The judges’ concern for animals came through in every line they spoke
The suggestion that people would be better off playing computer games was particularly stinging and should bring a sense of shame in these enlightened times even as the dichotomy in compassion to cows and cruelty to bulls was pithily brought out
The issue has become deeply political in Tamil Nadu where the taming of bulls is seen not just as a “valorous” sport but as a part of the ancient Tamil culture in which rearing of bulls is tied to entertainment at annual fetes

F. Concepts-in-News: Related Concepts to Revise/Learn:

Demonetisation
Climate Change
Jallikattu
Naxalism
India – Britain

G.BILLS/ACTS/SCHEMES/ORGS IN NEWS

Overview of ground water in India – Discussion Paper

H. Fun with Practice Questions 🙂

Question 1.Which of the following is/are true?

UK is the 3rd largest inward investor in India, after Mauritius, and Singapore
UK ranks first among the G20 countries and accounts for around 9% of all foreign direct investment into India for the period April 2000 – September 2015

a) Only 1 b) Only 2 c) Both 1 and 2 d) Neither 1 nor 2

Question 2.Which of the following is/are not correctly matched ?

River	Dam
a. Satluj	Bhakra Nangal
b. Kaveri	Alamatti
c. Ravi	Chamera
d. Periyar	Idukki

Question 3.Which of the following is true?

The “Marrakesh Agreement”, was signed in Marrakesh, Morocco, on April 15, 1994, at the conclusion of the Uruguay Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations
All WTO members are parties to the Marrakesh Agreement, including countries that have joined the WTO since it was signed

a) Only 1 b) Only 2 c) Neither 1 nor 2 d) Both 1 and 2

Question 4.Which of the following best explains the concept of ‘Demonetisation’?

Demonetization is the act of stripping a currency unit of its status as legal tender
Demonetization enchances the changes of hoarding of money, increase in parallel economy and offers new ventures for producing fake currency in the economy

a) Only 1 b) Only 2 c) Both 1 and 2 d) Neither 1 nor 2

Question 5.Which of the following is/ are not a part of Great Britain?

a) Scotland b) Northern Ireland c) Wales d) Scotland

Check Your Answers

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