12 Aug 2019: UPSC Exam Comprehensive News Analysis

A. GS1 Related

Context:

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, expressing concerns over reports of slowdown on the Kartarpur Corridor project, has urged Pakistan not to back down on its commitment as it would hurt sentiments of the Sikh community.

About Kartarpur Corridor:

• The Kartarpur shrine, in Pakistan’s Narowal district across the river Ravi is where Guru Nanak Dev, the founder of Sikhism, spent his final days.
• The shrine is highly revered by the Sikh community.
• The corridor is intended to be completed before the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev in November 2019.
• The Kartarpur shrine has one of the last copies of the original Guru Granth Sahib; there are some who believe that it contains not only the wisdom of the 10 Gurus but is itself the 11th and last Guru.

Details:

• India has revoked Article 370 to withdraw the special status to Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcated the region into two Union Territories – Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.
• In reaction to India’s move, Pakistan downgraded diplomatic ties with India by expelling Indian High Commissioner Ajay Bisaria and also formally suspended its trade relations with India.
• Pakistan has also suspended import of Indian goods under the Pak-Afghan transit treaty.
• India has sent a reminder to Pakistan for organising technical-level meetings, which India had proposed to hold during the first week of August 2019.
• With Pakistan reportedly not having responded to the proposed meeting, India has sent a reminder.
• Concerned with these developments, Punjab chief minister has expressed concern over reports of discernible slowdown in activities for the development of the Kartarpur corridor.
• While reiterating that Jammu and Kashmir was an internal matter of India, the chief minister said Pakistan should not link it with diplomatic or trade ties.
• It is believed that it would be a travesty to waste the opportunity made possible for diplomatic dialogue between the two countries, by the Kartarpur corridor.

Context:

Thousands of pro-democracy protesters hit the streets of Hong Kong for a tenth weekend in-a-row, defying police who fired tear gas at several locations.

Background:

• Hong Kong is a semi-autonomous region and a part of China. The city was an outpost of the British Empire for 156 years, during which time it developed into a global business hub.
• In a 1984 joint declaration, the British agreed to give the city back in 1997, and China agreed to allow a high degree of autonomy for 50 years, including guarantees of free speech, capitalist markets and English common law under a “one country, two systems” arrangement.

Details:

• Hong Kong’s government is now attempting to pass a law that would for the first time allow extraditions to mainland China. It currently, does not have an extradition agreement with Beijing.
• The proposal has generated massive opposition and a series of protests.
• The government of China has said that the proposed amendments would “plug loopholes” that allow the city to be used by criminals.
• It has assured that courts in Hong Kong would make the final decision on extradition, that only certain categories of suspects would be liable, and that individuals accused of political and religious offences would not be extradited.
• However, Human Rights Watch and the International Chamber of Commerce have warned against changing the law.

What’s the new extradition law?

• The “Fugitive Offenders and Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Legislation (Amendment) Bill 2019” was proposed by Hong Kong’s government in February 2019.
• It covers mainland China and other jurisdictions that don’t have an extradition agreement with Hong Kong.
• The bill was sparked by the case of a Hong Kong man accused of murdering his girlfriend in Taiwan. He was arrested in Hong Kong and convicted of money laundering but couldn’t be sent back to Taiwan for trial there because there’s no legal framework to do so.
• The Hong Kong government says the new law will ensure the city doesn’t become a haven for suspected criminals.

Concerns:

• Opponents are concerned that it could open the door for anyone, including political dissidents or civil rights activists, who runs in conflict with the Chinese government to be arrested on trumped-up charges in Hong Kong and sent to the mainland.
• Extradited suspects are likely to face torture.
• The law would apply to Hong Kong citizens, foreign residents and even people passing through on business or as tourists.
• Critics note the draft bill assigns to the city’s chief executive chosen by a committee stacked with Beijing supporters the leading role in handling extradition requests. Currently, the legislature can block extraditions.
• The proposed change is the latest in a series of moves by China under President Xi Jinping that are viewed as chipping away at Hong Kong’s autonomy,
• It is believed that the continued erosion of autonomy could jeopardize Hong Kong’s special status.
• Canada, the European Union and the U.K. also have expressed concern about the legislation and its potential effect on their citizens and business confidence.

C. GS3 Related

Category: ECONOMY

1. Govt. to launch ‘Uber for tractors’ app to aid farmers

Context:

Regular checks were being conducted on fish imported to Goa and the state’s Health Minister has confirmed that no trace of formalin has been found in fish brought to the state from outside.

Formalin:

• Formalin is a toxic, colourless solution that is derived by dissolving formaldehyde gas in water.
• Formaldehyde is highly reactive and flammable gas.
• Formalin is a cancer-inducing chemical used to illegally preserve fish.
• It is used in the manufacture of pesticides, fertilisers, glue, paper and paint, among other products.
• It irritation in the eyes, throat, skin and stomach. In the long run, continued exposure to formalin can result in cancers and also harm to the kidneys and liver.

Details:

• Formalin increases the shelf life of fish (highly perishable), therefore, is used as a preservative.
• Some amount of formalin is naturally formed while fish is transported with ice, but these are usually bound with tissues and not a risk.
• If fish is laced externally with formalin, it remains free and can cause serious health issue.
• In July 2018, the state government had banned the import of fish from outside in view of the scare of formalin (formaldehyde), being found in it.
• Since then, The state government wastaking services of the Quality Council of India (QCI) to conduct random checks on fish brought on the state borders and various local markets.
• It is found that no added formalin has been detected in any samples of fishes imported to Goa so far.

Context:

Protests are being staged against Uranium mining in Nallamala in Andhra Pradesh.

Concerns:

• Public resistance over uranium mining has hobbled India’s efforts to boost domestic production of the mineral, even as portions of the installed capacity at nuclear plants lie unutilized due to a fuel shortage.
• The government is, facing protests by residents and activists, who oppose uranium mining on health and environmental grounds.
• India faces a shortage of uranium because it has been slow in opening up new mines.

Details:

• A group of retired scientists from top research institutions along with environmentalists from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana have cautioned the AP Pollution control board about contamination of ground water in several villages around the Uranium Corporation of India Limited (UICL).
• It is also said that the mining would affect Krishna river, polluting the water and later the villages around it.
• Additionally, it is believed that the uranium mining in the forests would inevitably damage the delicate ecology of the region.
• And claimed that Chenchu tribes of the region would also be immediately affected.
• Generally, toxic waste is buried inside the earth. Concerns are being raised on how government is doing a sub-par job at management and the waste is exposed to human beings and ecology.
• The protestors have urged the government to spend money on research and development of renewable energy, such as solar, to provide for public needs instead of promoting the use of uranium, which only accounts to 3% of power in the country.

D. GS4 Related

E. Editorials

Context:

Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Amendment) Bill, 2019 has been passed by both the houses of Parliament and set to become the ‘law of the land’.

Details:

• There has been much development with respect to the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012.
• The bill was introduced with an objective of stopping the rampant sexual abuse of children, the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Amendment) Bill, 2019.

Highlights of the bill:

The amendment bill has a number of provisions to safeguard children from offences of sexual assault and sexual harassment.

• The Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2018 introduced the death penalty for rape of girls below the age of 12. At the same time, the POCSO Act, provides that where the same act constitutes an offence under the POCSO Act and any other law, then the offender will be punished under the Act or such law, whichever provides for greater punishment.
  • This has created an issue as the effect of such an amendment was death penalty for rape of minor girls but not for assault against minor boys.
  • The Bill does away with such a discrepancy. It is gender neutral and provides for the death penalty for “aggravated penetrative sexual assault of a child”, thus bringing both these pieces of legislation on a par with each other in this respect.
• The definition of ‘Sexual Assault’ has been extended to incorporate administration of hormones or chemical substances to children to attain early sexual maturity for the purpose of penetrative sexual assault.
• The bill is critical because it clearly defines child pornography and makes it punishable.
  • The Bill defines child pornography as any visual depiction of sexually explicit conduct involving a child including photograph, video, digital or computer generated image indistinguishable from an actual child.
  • The amendments also penalize the transmitting of pornographic material to children and propose to synchronise it with the Information Technology Act.
• The bill seeks to enhance punishment for sexual offences against children, with a provision of death penalty.
  • According to the amendment bill, those committing penetrative sexual assaults on a child below 16 years of age would be punished with imprisonment up to 20 years, which might extend to life imprisonment as well as fine.
  • In case of aggravated penetrative sexual assault, the bill increases the minimum punishment from ten years to 20 years, and the maximum punishment to death penalty.
• To curb child pornography, the Bill provides that those who use a child for pornographic purposes should be punished with imprisonment up to five years and fine.
• However, in the event of second or subsequent conviction, the punishment would be up to seven years and fine.

Concerns:

• The Bill provides for death penalty for the rape of minors. The intention of the Bill is to have a deterrent effect; but it can be argued that the introduction of the death penalty may backfire in cases of child sexual abuse and even have a catastrophic effect.
  • Often, the perpetrators of abuse are family members and having such penalty in the statute book may discourage the registration of the crime itself.
  • Also, it may threaten the life of the minor as the maximum punishment for murder is also the death sentence.

Death penalty – a double edged sword:

• The debate is about the probable ramifications of ‘death penalty’ provision in the Act.
• Today, the death penalty has become a prominent tool of symbolic legislation. Many a time, the Government, by introducing the death penalty, portrays itself to be strict and serious with regard to such offences.
• But, it largely diverts attention from the core issues of infrastructural apathy, procedural lapses and trial delays and conveniently evades the fact that it is the certainty of punishment rather than its severity which has deterrence in real sense.
• It is pertinent to note here that even a year-and-a-half after the passage of the Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2018, which introduced the death penalty for rape of a minor girl, such incidents have not been under check.
• The Justice J.S. Verma Committee, which was constituted in 2013 in the aftermath of the Nirbhaya case, after due deliberations found itself against the imposition of death penalty in rape cases.
• The 262nd Report of the Law Commission of India, 2015, also provides for abolition of the death penalty except in terror cases.
• Globally, there is research to support the view that despite stringent punishments, there is no fall in the rate of commission of crimes.
• Robin Conley in his book, Confronting the Death Penalty, has observed that the death penalty may seem just and appropriate in abstract but once you are privy to its practicality, it becomes less appealing.

The Supreme Court data:

• The Supreme Court has recently taken cognisance of the sexual abuse of children, directing its registry to file a case as writ petition with cause title “In-re Alarming Rise in The Number of Reported Child Rape Incidents”.
• According to National Crime Records Bureau data of 2016, the conviction rate in POCSO cases is 29.6% while pendency is as high as 89%.
• The prescribed time period of two months for trial in such cases is hardly complied with.
• The court has also taken note of the delay in trials, in turn directing the Central Government to set up special courts within 60 days of the order in each district having more than 100 pending cases under the Act.

The Bill is a step forward in preventing child abuse but the consequences of providing for the death penalty need to be closely observed.

2. Dealing with doping

Q1. Consider the following statements:

Q2. Consider the following statements:

Q3. Consider the following statements:

Q4. Ambubachi Mela is