THE HINDU – CURRENT NOTE 16 March
India hosts world’s oldest algae fossil
•Scientists in India have uncovered a pair of 1.6 billion-year-old fossils that appear to contain red algae, which may be the oldest plant-like life discovered on Earth.
•Until now, the oldest known red algae was 1.2 billion years old, said the paper in the journal PLOS Biology.
•Scientists often debate the question of when complex life began on Earth, but they generally agree that large multicellular organisms became common about 600 million years ago. This discovery could lead experts to rewrite the tree of life, said lead author Stefan Bengtson, Professor Emeritus of palaeo-zoology at the Swedish Museum of Natural History.
•“The ‘time of visible life’ seems to have begun much earlier than we thought,” he said. The material structurally resembles red algae, embedded in fossil mats of cyanobacteria inside a 1.6 billion-year-old phosphorite, a kind of rock, found in Chitrakoot region in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. “You cannot be a 100% sure about material this ancient, as there is no DNA remaining, but the characters agree quite well with the morphology and structure of red algae,” said Professor Bengtson. Scientists used x-rays to observe regularly recurring platelets in each cell, which they believe are parts of chloroplasts, the organelles within plant cells where photosynthesis takes place.
Science unravels spiders’ giant appetite
•The world’s spiders eat 400-800 million tonnes of insects every year — as much meat and fish as humans consume over the same period, a study has found.
•In the first analysis of its kind, researchers used data from 65 previous studies to estimate that a total of 25 million metric tonnes of spiders exist on Earth.
•Taking into account how much food spiders need to survive, the team then calculated the eight-legged creatures’ annual haul of insects and other invertebrates.
•“Our estimates... suggest that the annual prey kill of the global spider community is in the range of 400-800 million metric tons,” they wrote in the journal The Science of Nature .
•This showed just how big a role spiders play in keeping pests and disease-carriers at bay — especially in forests and grasslands where most of them live.
•“We hope that these estimates and their significant magnitude raise public awareness and increase the level of appreciation for the important global role of spiders,” the study authors wrote.
•For context, the study points out that humans consume about 400 million tonnes of meat and fish every year, while whales feed on 280-500 tonnes and seabirds about 70 million tonnes of seafood.
Gauntlet at Sukma
•It would be tempting, but dangerous, to see the deadly ambush by Maoists in Chhattisgarh’s Sukma district on Saturday as just a desperate act of a fading insurgent group. It must, instead, serve as a wake-up call for the security forces to beef up their standard operating procedures, especially intelligence-gathering capabilities, in the Maoist heartland in central India. Twelve personnel of the Central Reserve Police Force were killed in Sunday’s attack, and four others sustained injuries. A road-opening party of the CRPF’s 219 battalion was ambushed about 450 km from the State capital Raipur. The insurgents used improvised explosive devices, country-made mortars and arrows mounted with explosive heads, and made off with some weapons and radio sets of the force. Home Minister Rajnath Singh told the Lok Sabha that extremist groups were restless because of the “unprecedented success of the forces against them” in 2016, especially in Chhattisgarh where there was a 15% drop in left-wing extremist incidents. However, the precision and scale of the attack are an indication that the Maoists continue to hold formidable sway in Sukma, their long-time stronghold. In 2013 they ambushed a convoy of Congress leaders in Sukma district, killing more than 25 persons, including former Union Minister V.C. Shukla.
•There have been periodic Maoist attacks in the region. It is estimated that over the last two decades at least 15,000 people have been killed in Maoist-related violence. More than 3,000 of them were security personnel. And while violence is down from its peak in 2009-10, in 2016 official estimates put the toll at 213 civilians, 65 security force personnel and 89 Maoists. The government has over the past decade taken a patchy approach to bringing the so-called “red corridor” under its writ. The only presence of the state consistently visible across the region has been of the security forces, not of the civil administration. Counter-insurgency operations by the security forces have often been undermined by poor intelligence, flagging alertness of the security forces and the absence of a multi-layered political strategy. The Maoists do not survive merely on ideology; they have a well-oiled machinery providing protection to various interest groups in the absence of a robust state responsive to the security and welfare needs of the civilian population. Ultimately, any fight against non-state actors will be effective only when the state puts forward its combined might to exhibit what it can — and indeed must — provide to the people.
An exit from Brexit?
•In early March, British Prime Minister Theresa May took to the stage in Glasgow to address a gathering of Scottish Conservatives as talk of a potential second Scottish referendum gathered pace. Mrs. May adopted a strategy of attack: lambasting the Scottish National Party (SNP) for “tunnel vision nationalism”, including in its approach to the EU referendum.
•The SNP had been highlighting the significance of retaining single market access to the EU, but this, she said, clouded the fact that the U.K. domestic market was worth “four times more to Scottish firms” than Europe. She then pointed to an example of what she believed could be achieved outside the EU. She noted that Scottish whisky represented just a 1% share of the Indian market, thanks to a tariff of 150%. “I am determined we should do better than that for our key industries,” she said. “That’s why I led a major trade delegation to India last year, and why I was delighted to take the Scottish Whisky Association with me.”
•That speech — delivered just over a week before Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon’s momentous announcement that she would be seeking Scottish parliamentary approval for a second referendum on independence — highlighted one of the challenges facing Scotland, which will have to weigh up EU and U.K. membership should a new referendum on independence go ahead.
More about market access
•While Scotland voted decisively in favour of remaining in the EU (62% of Scots voted to remain, against 55.8% of Northern Ireland, 47.5% of Wales, and 46.6% of England), Brexit was as divisive of the “yes” and “no” camps of the 2014 Scottish referendum as it was of communities across the U.K., says John Curtice, professor of politics at the University of Strathclyde and a noted pollster.
•“Although a lot of people may have voted to remain in the EU, they weren’t doing so with an enormous enthusiasm that says we must stay above everything else,” he adds. It’s one reason why even after the Brexit referendumtook place last year, opinion on independence didn’t change dramatically from where it was in 2014, when just over 55% of the population said they wanted to remain within the U.K. in the independence referendum.
•Could that be about to change? Recent polls have suggested a rise in support for independence (to around 50%), perhaps spurred by the announcement of the U.K. government earlier this year that it would have no alternative but to leave the single market and the customs union — seen as a kick in the teeth by the Scottish government which in December published a White Paper setting out the case why it was essential for Scotland to retain unfettered access to it. Dubbing the Westminster government’s unwillingness to engage on this issue as a “brick wall of intransigence”, Ms. Sturgeon this week set out the case for a second referendum.
•Her focus on the single market — rather than E.U. membership — is perhaps indicative of her awareness that it is the risk of losing this rather than full-blown membership that is likely to rile voters.
•Exactly what question voters could face in a second referendum on independence remains to be seen. Ms. Sturgeon believes a referendum between autumn next year and spring 2019 would be ideal: by this stage the shape of the Brexit negotiations is likely to be somewhat clearer, enabling voters to make a more informed choice. While the U.K. government has the power to block the referendum from happening under current legislation, whether it would take the highly controversial step of doing so (particularly at a time it has emphasised taking back control and parliamentary sovereignty) remains to be seen. It is thought more likely that it could push to hold the referendum after Britain leaves the EU, though Ms. Sturgeon has warned that this would be akin to puncturing a lifeboat after sinking the ship. “I was elected as [First Minister] on a clear manifesto commitment…the [Prime Minister] is not yet elected by anyone,” she noted in a tweet earlier this week.
The factors at play
•The biggest question going forward will be public appetite for independence. Downing Street has insisted that it does not exist, and there are certainly factors that may make Scots cautious about leaving the union, such as the impact of the low oil price environment on the Scottish economy. Leaving the union and joining the EU would also be a logistical nightmare, calling the current open border between England and Scotland into question. The Westminster government is likely to play on those concerns as well as highlight the potential for industries such as the Scottish drinks industry within a U.K. unshackled by EU membership, with links to fast-growing Commonwealth countries, and beyond.
•However, winning that argument may prove tricky, given the already existing concerns about the future of sectors such as banking in a Britain outside the EU. An independence campaign is likely to emphasise the opportunities that remaining within the single market could have to attract investment from the financial services sector, among others.
•There are other factors at play too: while all political parties in Westminster threw themselves into the “no” campaign in 2014, their ability to do so is likely to be more constrained this time round, particularly if Brexit negotiations are under way. Also given the electoral impact in 2014 for Labour of sharing a platform with the Conservatives (essentially electoral oblivion in Scotland), it is questionable whether they would do so again, particularly under the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn.
•According to Nighet Riaz, who headed “Scots Asians for Yes to an Independent Scotland” during the first referendum campaign and is currently standing for election as a councillor in Pollokshields, one of the most ethnically diverse wards of Glasgow, while opinion on the EU referendum was mixed within the local community, there is a real concern about the future. “On the doorstep, we are hearing people asking, ‘What does Brexit mean for us, our jobs, our mortgages, and our day-to-day living?’” She believes the campaign for a second referendum is likely to gather momentum. “Everything we were promised [in the first referendum] did not materialise: we were told we would be listened to, we were an important part of the union, but we have been disregarded and ridiculed on the same lines as before and during the referendum… we voted against Brexit and we are now getting dragged out of the single market.”
A lost opportunity
•On March 9, a day after International Women’s Day, Parliament cleared the Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Bill. Union Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya called it his “humble gift to women.”
•The Bill extends the period of paid maternity leave for women working in the organised sector to 26 weeks from the current 12. This is applicable to all organisations that employ 10 or more people. Although on the face of it this is a Bill that will benefit women employees, in its implementation it is likely to adversely impact women in the workplace. The gender ratio in corporate India is already highly lopsided. In 2015, women accounted for only 21% of the jobs at the entry level to managerial position, according to a report, From Intention to Impact, published by Catalyst, a non-profit organisation. Even as HR managers strive to increase the gender diversity in their organisations, they are wary about the added costs of hiring young, fertile women. This extension of maternity leave to six months will effectively double these costs and this is likely to result in much fewer women being employed in the corporate sector.
•In progressive countries, at least a part of the maternity costs are borne by the government. In India, this is entirely passed on to companies. There is both a direct as well as an indirect cost to long maternity leaves. “We have to also consider that, especially when teams are small, the cost of the absentee employee is borne by other employees, not so much in money, but in terms of working additional hours to make up for the absence,” the HR head of a large organisation said. “Therefore, when we make a hiring decision, we have to think about the impact that having several young women in a team will have on the overall productivity of the team and the hidden costs that the organisation has to bear.”
•Also, India’s leaking pipeline – the number of women who quit their jobs between junior and middle levels – is 50%, compared to the average of 29% in Asia. This also implies that the number of women who avail their maternity benefits and yet do not resume their jobs is rather high, adding to the cost concerns of their recruiters.
•That said, some of the other provisions in the Bill are encouraging and if implemented well, will help young mothers stay in the workplace. For example, organisations which employ more than 30 women (or 50 people, whichever is less) will now have to provide a crèche. The mother is allowed to visit the crèche four times during the day. Also, mothers who adopt babies are entitled to 12 weeks of paid maternity leave.
Forgotten fathers
•Where the Bill fails utterly though, is in its complete negligence of the roles of fathers. Not only is this a lost opportunity to make some provisions for gender parity, it also works as a double whammy against women, by heaping all parental responsibilities exclusively on her. It further pushes the arguments of both comparative costs of hiring women versus men, as well as ties women down to the primary role of being childcare providers and not professionals in the workplace.
‘Bad loans slowing, remain a challenge’
•Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the resolution of banks’ non performing assets (NPAs) remained a challenge even though the rate of increase of such bad loans had slowed in the last quarter of the current financial year.
•The idea of a ‘bad bank’ for such assets was still under discussion, Mr. Jaitley said, even as the Centre was considering multiplication of the oversight committee mechanism set up by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to process cases referred by different banks.
•Chief Economic Adviser (CEA) Arvind Subramanian, who had floated the idea of a ‘bad bank’ to take over stressed assets in the Economic Survey for 2016-17, said earlier this week that the government must sometimes consider bailing out large corporate borrowers even at the risk of being charged of crony capitalism in order to surmount the NPA problem.
•RBI Deputy Governor Viral Acharya has said that a piece-by-piece approach won’t fix the NPA problem which needs an urgent solution.
Public debate
•“Several possible alternatives exist and the issue is being debated on public platforms,” Mr. Jaitley told MPs at a consultative committee meeting on the NPAs, referring to the ‘bad bank’ proposal.
•A few MPs said the Centre must ‘go ahead’ and establish a Public Sector Asset Rehabilitation Agency (PARA) mooted by the CEA, but said such an agency should only consider those NPAs where sector specific reforms do not help, and called for taking tough action against wilful defaulters, including naming and shaming them.
•“The core problem of NPAs is with very large corporates, though few in numbers, predominantly in the steel, power, infrastructure and textile sectors. They had expanded their capacity during the boom period (2003-08), but could not face the onslaught of global financial crisis and consequent slowdown thereafter,” the Finance Minister said.
•The government, Mr. Jaitley said, is taking sector-specific measures to deal with bad loans and the steel sector is on the recovery path, while several decisions have been taken to help resolve problems faced in the infrastructure, power and textile sectors.
•A presentation was made to the MPs on various measures undertaken by the Government and the Reserve Band for tackling NPAs.
‘Criminal action’
•“Apart from recovery proceedings, criminal action must be taken against the big wilful defaulters and their photographs may also be published. A member also suggested that under the SARFAESI (Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest) Act, the focus should be on catching big wilful defaulters,” according to an official statement, which listed some of the suggestions made by the members of Parliament.
•Taking cognisance of investigative agencies’ actions against bankers for some bad loans, a few MPs stressed on the need to restore the confidence of bankers and enable them to take commercially viable as well as rational decisions.
•“One of the members said that the Chief Vigilance Officer of the Public Sector Bank be made a part of the bank’s credit committee and the Board of the bank should take a call first about the decisions taken by their officials rather than investigating agencies directly acting on the basis of their own information,” according to a Finance ministry statement.
•Some members also suggested allowing state governments to bid for stressed assets and keeping a close eye on the functioning of private asset reconstruction companies, whose performance ‘is not up to the mark in many cases.
Centre unveils plan for export infra
•The Centre on Wednesday unveiled a scheme to create export-related infrastructure and boost the competitiveness of India’s shipments.
•The scheme would have a budgetary allocation of Rs. 600 crore, with an annual outlay of Rs. 200 crore per year, and it would be implemented from FY’18 till FY’20, according to a Commerce Ministry statement.
•“The objective of the proposed scheme — Trade Infrastructure for Export Scheme (TIES) — is to enhance export competitiveness by bridging gaps in export infrastructure, creating focused export infrastructure, first mile and last mile connectivity for export-oriented projects and addressing quality and certification measures.”
Replacing ASIDE
•The scheme replaces a centrally sponsored scheme — Assistance to States for creating Infrastructure for the Development and growth of Exports (ASIDE).
•Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said: “The focus is not just to create infrastructure but to make sure it is professionally run and sustained. There will be an (inter-ministerial) Empowered Committee (chaired by the Commerce Secretary) to periodically review the progress of the approved projects in the Scheme and will take necessary steps to ensure achievement of the objectives of the Scheme.”
•Commerce Secretary Rita Teaotia said the scheme would provide assistance for setting up and upgrading infrastructure projects with overwhelming export linkages — like border haats, land customs stations, quality testing and certification labs and cold chains. She said last and first mile connectivity projects related to export logistics will also be considered.
