Tiger reserves to remain closed during monsoon
Conservation panel says it’s the breeding season for wild animals, especially tigers
•Tourism zones falling in the national park areas of the world famous Ranthambhore and Sariska tiger reserves in Rajasthan will remain closed during monsoon this year as the Forest Department has revised its earlier orders for keeping them open.
•The decision was taken after the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) took up the matter with the State government.
•The orders for keeping the tiger reserves open for tourism during July to September were issued on June 9 following a meeting of the State Wildlife Board’s standing committee and Ranthambhore Tiger Conservation Foundation. The guidelines of NTCA were mainly examined at the meeting.
•State Chief Wildlife Warden G.V. Reddy told The Hindu on Monday that the revised orders for closure of tiger reserves would be applicable to the national park areas. “The fringe areas will be kept open for the tourism activities,” he said.
•The revised orders, issued after considering the views of Field Directors, provide for complete closure of tourism zones 1 to 5 at Ranthambhore and two tourism zones at Sariska.
•The forest officers will also observe the condition of local roads and safety issues for closing specified zones for specific periods.
•While the NTCA has laid emphasis on keeping the national parks closed during monsoon as it is the breeding period of wild animals, especially the tigers, the State Wildlife Board had observed that the breeding of tigers extended throughout the year in Rajasthan, which is a low rainfall area.
•The criterion of closure due to monsoon season might not apply in the State and the damage caused by safaris to roads in the tiger reserve areas was “very negligible,” while the tourists were safe for travelling.
•Dr. Reddy pointed out that the zones 6 to 10 at Ranthambhore had been opened for tourism during monsoon in the past few years and no adverse effect on tigers and their conservation had been observed.
•Significantly, as many as nine parks in the rain intensive States of Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu remain open throughout the year. The NTCA, while identifying factors for closure during monsoon in its 2015 directive, had stated that the period for closure would be decided by the respective State governments.
Israel backs India’s fight on terror
No difference between Hamas, LeT, say officials
•Israel believes there is no difference between Pakistan-based “Lashkar-e-Taiba” and the Hamas group operating in Israel and Palestine, senior officials here said, adding that the Israeli government has unequivocally supported India on the issue of terrorism.
•“Killing civilians for any spurious ideological reason is terrorism,” said Mark Sofer, Deputy Director General of the Israeli Foreign Ministry’s Asia-Pacific department. “As opposed to a number of other countries in the world, Israel has never hidden the fact that it supports India hook, line, sinker on the subject of terrorism. The horrors coming out of Pakistan, from the Lashkar-e-Taiba are known, and we support India’s right to defend itself against terrorism just as Israel has the same right.”
•The strong words from Israeli officials came at a briefing on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Israel that begins on Tuesday — the first visit by an Indian Prime Minister — which they described as “historic” with “huge symbolic significance.”
Close cooperation
•The words on the common threat of terrorism were shared by Mr. Modi, who told an Israeli newspaper in an interview published on Monday that, “India and Israel could cooperate even more closely and complement each other's efforts to fight with the menace of terrorism.”
•India and Israel will sign a unique Strategic Partnership on non-security issues including Agriculture, Water, Science, technology and Space, said Mr. Sofer.
All eyes now on Modi-Xi meet in Germany
Though India continues to push for a flag meeting between local commanders, diplomacy is more likely to save the crisis
•The standoff between the Armies of India and China completed 18 days on Monday even as military sources speculated that a diplomatic solution could be in sight.
•All eyes are now on the meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Germany later this week.
•Sources said they were hopeful of a peaceful end to the confrontation before the two leaders meet. As of now, India continues to push for a flag meeting between local commanders.
•“The soldiers are sitting there facing each other. It will go on till a diplomatic solution is worked out,” a defence source said.
On the offensive
•Both sides had deployed additional troops after the initial face-off at the Sikkim-Bhutan-Tibet trijunction, on which all three countries have claims. However there is no further troop addition.
•“Normally, in a standoff no further reinforcements are sent after the initial push. We have standard procedures for that,” one officer stated.
•Mr. Modi and Mr. Jinping will be at Hamburg in Germany for the 12th G20 summit on July 7 and 8 during which they are expected to meet. The standoff is expected to figure in their conversation given the intensity it has generated on both sides.
•News broke out early last week on the standoff between the two countries at the trijunction which began on June 16 after Chinese troops tried to construct a road in the Bhutanese territory at Doko La over the Zom Cheri ridge. Indian Army personnel present there intervened and stopped the Chinese team from advancing.
•China reacted sharply to this and charged that “Indian troops trespassed the recognised and delineated boundary” between the two countries.
•Breaking silence on the issue, the Centre said last Friday that it was “deeply concerned” at the recent Chinese actions as such construction would represent a significant change of status quo with “serious security implications” for India.
•India also reiterated its commitment to finding a “peaceful resolution through dialogue” with China.
Israel to help ensure food security in India
Countries to sign strategic partnership
•The Israeli Foreign Ministry on Monday unveiled the final agenda for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s historic visit to the West Asian nation, where he will be escorted throughout by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as they visit a floriculture farm, a memorial for Indian soldiers in Haifa, a water desalination programme on a beach, lunch with business CEO’s from India and Israel together, as well as an address a gathering of about 5,000 Israeli citizens of Indian origin in Tel Aviv.
•India and Israel will sign a unique Strategic Partnership on non-security issues including Agriculture, Water, Science, technology and Space, said Mark Sofer, Deputy Director General of the Israeli Foreign Ministry’s Asia-Pacific department.
•“Strategic partnership means a lot of things… including first and foremost food security…. [India] needs to feed and provide sustenance in the form of water to its 1.3 billion people and this visit will be predicated on the relationship on issues we can cooperate on which will bring maximum benefits to people of both sides,” said Mr. Sofer, in reply to a question about why India and Israel were not signing a full-fledged Strategic partnership, despite close defence ties.
•On his arrival on Tuesday in Tel Aviv, Mr. Modi will receive protocol reserved only for the U.S. President and the Pope, as Mr. Netanyahu greets him at the airport for a welcome ceremony. Also present will be priests of different faiths including rabbis, imams and priests.
•Both leaders will then travel to the Danziger floriculture farm in a village community also called a “Moshav” not far from the airport. Mr. Modi will then pay respects at Israel’s holocaust memorial “Yad Vashem” in Jerusalem.
•Both leaders are expected to make statements before Mr. Modi heads for dinner at Mr. Netanyahu’s residence on Tuesday night. During his entire stay in Jerusalem, Mr. Modi will stay at the King David Hotel, which is historic as it was bombed by a Zionist group in 1946 during Israel’s struggle for nationhood, killing 92 people. It is the hotel most heads of state have been hosted at ever since, and local newspapers say Mr. Modi will stay in the same suite of rooms U.S. President Trump stayed in during his visit in May.
•On Wednesday, the leaders and their delegations will have talks, and the signing of several agreements including that have been discussed over the past few months during visits by at least seven separate delegations from India, and will issue a joint statement.
•Recounting the increase in high level visits from India in the run up to this visit, which was first announced in 2014, but has been actualized this year, as a part of the 25th anniversary of Israel-India setting up full diplomatic ties.
SC allows abortion of ailing foetus
Kolkata woman has moved court after she discovered that the foetus suffered from severe cardiac impairment
•Upholding her right to choose, the Supreme Court on Monday allowed a woman to abort her over 20-week-old foetus with severe abnormalities.
•A Bench of Justices Dipak Misra and A.M. Khanwilkar, dictating the order in an open court, took note of the mental stress suffered by Sharmishta Chakraborty.
•The law does not permit abortion if the foetus is over 20 weeks old.
A woman’s right
•Ms. Chakraborty had approached the Supreme Court seeking permission to abort her foetus after she discovered that it suffered from a severe form of cardiac impairment called pulmonary atresia. She presented to the court a report by paediatric pulmonologist, Devi Shetty, which said there was a high possibility of permanent brain damage.
•The right of a woman to have a reproductive choice was part of personal liberty, Justice Misra observed in the order. The court said every woman had a sacrosanct right to bodily integrity. It allowed the abortion to be conducted at a Kolkata hospital.
•On June 24, the court wanted to stretch the law on abortion that would allow termination of pregnancy beyond 20 weeks if the foetus suffered from severe abnormalities. It had referred the present case to a medical Board for an expert opinion.
•Ms. Sharmishta, in her petition, stated that of the 26 million births that occur in India every year, approximately 2-3 per cent of the foetuses had severe congenital or chromosomal abnormality. Many suffered Intrauterine Foetal Death (IUFD). It was possible to detect certain abnormalities before 20 weeks, but some could be detected only after that period.
SC takes a maiden step towards paperless court
Slick interactive digital display devices replace stacks of files
•The familiar presence of heaps of case files on the judges’ dais at Chief Justice of India J.S. Khehar’s courtroom was conspicuous in their absence on Monday.
•Their absence heralds the Supreme Court’s first move towards a “paperless” court.
•Slick interactive digital display devices have replaced towering stacks of files found perched precariously on the judges’ desks. These devices will guide the judges through the daily roster of cases.
•In a candid comment, Justice Khehar told the courtroom at large that “it is easier to function without the paper files.” Later in the day, he was overheard giving a few tips to his companion judge on the Bench, Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, about accessing files on the display device.
•“We are learning,” the Chief Justice said to the advocates in the courtroom.
‘Hassle-free atmosphere’
•Chief Justice Khehar said the uncluttered desk had ushered in a hassle-free atmosphere, which is in fact good for the lawyers arguing their cases. Otherwise, judges, lawyers, litigants and court staff had to deal with multiple copies of voluminous petitions and bulky annexures running into thousands of pages on a daily basis.
•A Supreme Court statement said it had made all preparations to evolve as a paperless court. “As the concept of paperless court involves various technical and functional issues, it is proposed to implement the project gradually, as it would be a new method of working for the advocates and the judges.”
•It said that “at the first instance, only fresh matters listed in the first five courts will be accessed by the judges digitally on an interactive display device.”
Deregistered firms to face money laundering probe
Three lakh more suspected shell companies to get show-cause notice
•The Enforcement Directorate (ED) will be roped in to probe if companies de-registered recently have been involved in money laundering, official sources said in the wake of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statement on Saturday that over one lakh companies had been struck off at one go.
•“The fate of one lakh companies has been locked with one stroke of a pen in one minute. The Registrar of Companies (ROC) has removed these one lakh companies. More will be found and even tougher action can be expected against shell companies,” Mr. Modi had said, addressing chartered accountants in the national capital on Saturday.
Scrutiny stepped up
•Meanwhile, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) is preparing to send show-cause notices to over three lakh more firms for striking off their names from the ‘register of companies’, government sources told The Hindu .
•Tax consultants and government sources pointed out that while action against companies are initiated under the Companies Act, the scrutiny was stepped up in the wake of demonetisation and as part of the action against black money.
•Sources said the ED, which deals with Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) provisions, will soon be called in to look at the companies recently struck off the register. The ED is empowered “to take actions of attachment and confiscation of property if the same is determined to be proceeds of crime derived from a Scheduled Offence under PMLA.” The ED can also launch prosecution against those involved in money laundering.
•These measures followed an operation that was launched post-demonetisation to expedite action against companies that failed to start business within one year of incorporation or were not carrying on any business for two immediately preceding financial years or not applied for dormant status.
•It gained momentum in April, when the Registrar of Companies (RoC) in several States/Union Territories issued show cause notices to over two lakh companies for striking off their names. The firms are given 30 days to submit their response. If the reply is found unsatisfactory, the corporate entity’s name can be removed.
•However, referring to Section 252 of the Companies Act, officials pointed out that persons aggrieved by the RoC order — notifying a company as dissolved under Section 248 of the Act — may file an appeal to the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) within three years from the RoC’s order. If the NCLT finds that the removal of the company’s name was unjustified, it may order its restoration in the register.
•According to the MCA, the total companies registered in India as on May 31, 2017, were 1,659,965, of which 1,322,175 were active.
•There were 305,386 closed companies, of which about 10,336 were liquidated/dissolved, while 265,096 were defunct (and hence struck off). In addition, 25,562 companies were in the process of being struck off and 123 in the process of being re-activated.
•The trend of registration of companies (month-wise) showed that after a high of 10,000 in May 2016, it had gradually fallen to about 6,000 in November 2016 — the month when demonetisation was announced — and then started shooting up to touch around 11,500 in March 2017 (barring a fall in January, the new registrations had surged).
•The new registrations fell in April to around 9,000, but then rose to 9,673 in May.
Close vigil on GST rollout progress
Special emphasis on keeping prices of essential commodities under check; weekly meetings on anvil
•The government is keeping a close watch on the day-to-day progress in the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) at the highest levels with Union Finance, Defence and Corporate Affairs Minister Arun Jaitley holding a review meeting with Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia, CBEC Chairperson Vanaja Sarna and other officials on Monday.
Implementation tracked
•The meeting, chaired by Mr. Jaitley, was followed by another video-conference meeting between Cabinet Secretary Pradeep Kumar Sinha and senior Finance Ministry officials, including Ms. Sarna, and senior officials from other government departments.
•“The Finance Minister wants to be on top of things and wants to be kept in the loop on all routine updates on GST,” a senior Finance Ministry official told The Hindu . “So far, the implementation has been very smooth,” he said.
•In a statement, the Finance Ministry indicated that such meetings would take place on a weekly basis.
‘Avoiding shortage’
•“Cabinet Secretary Mr. Sinha has asked every Secretary to take up the responsibility of their own stakeholders, trade and industry and with State officers as far as implementation of GST is concerned,” the statement said. The government had asked all the departments to ensure that there was no shortage of products and consumer items in order to keep a check on prices, the statement added.
•Special emphasis was laid on keeping prices of essential commodities under check, the statement said.
•Mr. Sinha also asked the departments concerned to ensure that retailers, dealers and shopkeepers displayed a ready price list under GST of the items sold by them.
•The government, on its part, must ensure that the benefits of GST were passed on to the consumers so as to keep inflation in check, he said.
•The meeting with the Cabinet Secretary was attended by Secretaries or senior officers from the Ministries and Departments of Textile, Food & Consumer Affairs, Food Processing, Railways, MSME, Rural Development, Tourism, Fertilizer, Pharmaceuticals, and Financial Services, among others.
Open acres
The new hydrocarbon policy makes exploration more attractive for investors
•The recently unveiled Open Acreage Licensing Policy and the National Data Repository together are a significant and welcome step towards opening up the hydrocarbon exploration and production industry in India. By placing greater discretion in the hands of explorers and operators, the Licensing Policy attempts to address a major drawback in the New Exploration Licensing Policy, which forced energy explorers to bid for blocks chosen by the government. Companies can now apply for particular areas they deem to be attractive to invest in, and the Centre will put those areas up for bids. This is more attractive for prospective operators because in the past, the blocks chosen by the government often were large swathes of land or sea in which only a small fraction had hydrocarbon reserves. By offering companies the freedom to choose exactly the areas they want to explore, and their size, the government has a better chance to woo serious energy investors in an effort to help achieve a more cohesive framework of the country’s energy security. Tied to this is the National Data Repository, which is envisaged as a centralised database of geological and hydrocarbon information that will be available to all. Besides allowing potential investors to make informed decisions, this will open up a new sector in India. There are a number of companies around the world that make it their business to simply explore hydrocarbon basins and sell the information they gather. The new initiative seeks to incentivise such prospectors.
•Companies may also submit applications through the year and not just at designated and often infrequent points, as was the case earlier. The Directorate General of Hydrocarbons has said that while the auctions will be held twice a year for now, the frequency could be increased as soon as the industry grows accustomed to the new system. This, too, will lend more flexibility to the industry. However, there are still some concerns about the implementation of the overall Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing Policy. The policy awards an extra five points to bidders for an acreage if they have already invested in the exploration and development of that area, but it is doubtful if this is enough of an incentive, since the investment needed to simply explore is significant. By contrast, no such preference is given to mineral explorers while auctioning mining rights — instead, a revenue-share from mining operations is their recompense for exploration efforts. This could be considered for the hydrocarbon sector as well. Another concern is whether India can attract enough investment to meet the government’s objective of reducing oil imports by 10% by 2022, especially given the past experience investors have had with large projects such as KG-D6. There are after all proven reserves in other parts of the world, such as the Gulf of Mexico, that could still keep investor appetite for Indian acreage weak.
The delta miracle
The steady loss of mangroves in the Sundarbans makes conservation efforts vital
•Fresh evidence of loss of forest cover in the Indian Sundarbans, which represent a third of the largest contiguous mangrove ecosystem in the world, is a reminder that an accelerated effort is necessary to preserve them. Long-term damage to the highly productive mangroves on the Indian side occurred during the colonial era, when forests were cut to facilitate cultivation. As a recent Jadavpur University study has pointed out, climate change appears to be an emerging threat to the entire 10,000 sq km area that also straddles Bangladesh towards the east, and sustains millions of people with food, water and forest products. There is also a unique population of tigers that live here, adapted to move easily across the land-sea interface. The Sundarbans present a stark example of what loss of ecology can do to a landscape and its people, as islands shrink and sediment that normally adds to landmass is trapped upstream in rivers by dams and barrages; such a loss is not compensated by the limited benefits available elsewhere in the islands from additions. As a confluence zone of freshwater brought by the big Himalayan rivers and high concentrated salinity, these islands are a crucible of biodiversity that helps the 4.5 million that live on the Indian side. It is remarkable, for instance, that the mangrove tree species, including the Sundari, which has historically helped the local economy in the construction of boats and bridges, make up as much as a third of the global trove of such trees. Understandably, the region has attracted a large number of settlers, and the population within Indian boundaries has risen from 1.15 million in 1951 to 4.4 million six decades later.
•Parts of the Sundarbans are legally protected as national parks and sanctuaries, and there is a special focus on tiger conservation. Yet, its future now depends on local actions that will protect the banks from erosion, and policies that address the pressures created on natural resources by lack of human development. Suggestions for fortification against erosion on the lines of the dikes in The Netherlands merit scientific evaluation. Strengthening them with endemic plant and tree species that can thrive in changing salinity conditions can provide co-benefits to local communities. Carefully considered ecotourism holds the potential to raise awareness and funds, since the Sundarbans harbour a raft of bird and animal species. There is also a strong case for international climate finance to be channelled to India and Bangladesh for the region’s preservation, given its global uniqueness. It is vital that local communities are pulled out of poverty, which would also relieve the pressure on natural resources. Climate research and social science thus have a synergistic role in giving the Sundarbans a greater chance of survival.
The organising principle of lynch mobs
The executors of violence know that strong-arm tactics send powerful signals of who belongs and who does not
•What encourages Indians who subscribe to different religious persuasions, speak different languages, and hold different conceptions of the good to believe that they are equal members of a democratic political community? Many features bind us together: shared memories of a massive struggle against colonialism, the spectacle of and general enthusiasm for elections, love of cricket and fascination with Bollywood. The most important bond that welds disparate people into a political community is, arguably, constitutional democracy and the fundamental rights granted by the Constitution.
About the right to life
•Logically, the one right that enables us to possess and exercise other rights is the right to life granted by Article 21 of the Fundamental Rights Chapter of the Constitution. It states explicitly that no person shall be deprived of her life or personal liberty, save by procedure established by law. In 1950, the Supreme Court, in the case of A.K. Gopalan vs the State of Madras , interpreted the phrase “procedure established by law” as any procedure laid down in a statute enacted by a competent legislature. For 23 years, the court did not interpret the right to life as a principle of natural justice, but as a fragile right that could be taken away by arbitrary legislation.
•Over the years the Supreme Court changed its stance. In 1973, in the case ofPrabhu Dayal Deorah vs the District Magistrate, Kamrup , the court ruled that anti-social activities can never be reason to invade the personal liberty of citizens. The history of personal liberty is the history of observance of procedures; this is the only bastion against ‘wanton’ infringements of personal liberty. In theManeka Gandhi case (1977), the court ruled that the right to life had to be read along with the right to equality and the right to freedom, granted by Articles 14 and 19 of the Fundamental Rights Chapter. Any procedure that could possibly infringe on the right to life and personal liberty had to be right, just, and fair, and not arbitrary, fanciful and oppressive. The court would decide whether a procedure is just.
Watching in silence
•According to this interpretation, the recent spate of attacks on Indian citizens, the lynchings and slaughter, can be rightfully construed as ‘wanton’ assaults on personal liberty and the right to life. What is worrying is that individuals are emboldened to perform acts of indescribable violence on bodies of fellow citizens. They have reason to know that they will get away with these repulsive violations of a primary fundamental right.
•In most cases, police personnel prefer to look elsewhere. Elected ministers of State governments defend actions that maim and murder on flimsy and unsubstantiated grounds, such as transportation of cattle. In a recent case, a young man was brutally killed because he was reportedly carrying meat. Surely those who design and execute violence should be penalised severely for breaching the basic right to life and liberty. But our democratically elected Central government watches in near silence even as its citizens are subjected to reiterative brutality.
•Elusive expressions of distress by politicians who command immense power, and who possess control over the means of coercion, is simply not enough. Perpetrators of violence must be punished, aspirant wrongdoers must be deterred, and civil liberties must be restored. If India has some claim to constitutional democracy, the sanctity of fundamental rights must be upheld by our power elites.
Markers of protest
•It is precisely this message that for the past three years has been delivered by Indian citizens. Writers, poets, and dramatists returned honours given by the state. Citizens march to protest against atrocities perpetrated on our students, on our own people who are Muslims or Dalits, and on our democratic sensibilities. Last week thousands of Indians assembled across the country to state unambiguously: ‘Not in My Name.’ The marker of the protest can be read in two ways. It can be interpreted as distancing ourselves from the barbarism that has been unleashed on vulnerable Indians. But this reading is untenable. This form of protest is one of the most spectacular expressions of loss of confidence in elected leaderships, a mass no-confidence motion. We are no longer ‘the people’ in whose name you rule.
•Democratic citizens need to deepen protests, because lynching and murders are not random or isolated incidents. The link between the issue of cow protection and Hindu-Muslim communal violence has been clear since the late nineteenth century. Worship of the cow was one of the reasons why Muslims felt excluded from the construction of an overtly ‘Hindu’ nation, built around pure and impure food and the consequence of consumption.
A project of consolidation
•Today, the project of consolidating a Hindu nation has been stepped up. The larger intention of the Hindutva project is to cast a miasma of fear and trepidation over entire regions, and to put minorities and the so-called lower castes ‘in their place’. The project seems to have worked. Now people have to be careful where they live, and how they travel, for anyone, anywhere can be subjected to intimidation.
•The prospect is frightening. We are going to live in desolate cities, because vulnerable communities, in search of protection, will migrate to ghettos overflowing with their own people. We will be living and working in blank and bleak urban (and some rural) spaces, where no one reaches out to the members of another community. They simply do not know what the outcome is going to be.
•This is the exact fate of Ahmedabad, a once bustling textile town. Though repeated communal violence led to ghettoisation in 1969, some Hindus and Muslims continued to live in mixed neighbourhoods. By the 1990s only a few mixed neighbourhoods remained. Spatial segregation was almost complete after 2002. The fate of a ghettoised city is depressing. Residential exclusion narrows the cultural and political horizons of communities, closes off options, pre-empts creative mingling of perspectives and prevents solidarity.
•Rituals of random violence have their own rationale, the maintenance and reproduction of dread of the unknown, or even of the known. The consequences are clear. People in search of protection cluster together. The political community fragments, and the collective self of India is once again fractured. We are set back a hundred years when neighbours turn on neighbours. Today, matters are worse, because people video-record the torture of their neighbours in the name of cow-protection. They then post these videos on the social media. What could be more perverse and more threatening?
•The splitting up of the political community in India and the dissolution of solidarity, spatial segregation as the vulnerable seek shelter, and mindless violence seem to be part of a larger project of the extreme right. The executors of violence know that strong-arm tactics send powerful signals of who belongs and who does not. These seemingly indiscriminate and arbitrary instances of violence, murder, and mayhem are not isolated. They add up to a project that is politically dangerous because it threatens defenceless people. In 1947, India was partitioned into two countries. In the 21st century, Indian society seems to be fated to undergo another sort of partition, spatial segregation born out of fear. The right to life has lost meaning in an India where vigilante groups rule who will be targeted and how.
