📰 Parents are behind child marriages, says SC
‘At least one in three marriages in rural areas involve girl children below age of 18’
•The Supreme Court on Thursday said it was unfortunate that parents drive their minor children into marriage, while noting that at least one in three marriages in rural areas involve girl children below the age of 18.
•“It is a hard reality and is unfortunate that most of the child marriages happening in the country are done by parents of the girl child. However, to this, there are odd exceptions when a minor boy and girl fall in love and marry on their own,” a Bench of Justices M.B. Lokur and Deepak Gupta said.
•The Bench is hearing a petition filed by NGO Independent Thought challenging the Exception 2 to Section 375 (rape) of the Indian Penal Code, which permits “intrusive sexual intercourse with a girl child aged between 15 and 18 only on the ground that she is married.”
•The NGO, represented by advocate Gaurav Agarwal, said the statutory exception to rape was violative of right to life, personal liberty, equality and is discriminatory.
•The Exception is part of the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act of 2013 and is contrary to the anti-child sex abuse law, Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act of 2012 (POCSO).
•Mr. Agarwal argued that the law “violates the health of not only the girl child concerned, but also generations to come.”
•He said society must go forward and not get stuck with what was the social norm over 70 years ago.
📰 India thanks Switzerland for support in global fora
Modi seeks its help to ensure better financial transparency
•India on Thursday thanked Switzerland for its support in global multilateral organisations. Welcoming the visiting Swiss President Doris Leuthard, Prime Minister Narendra Modi sought greater cooperation to ensure bilateral financial transparency and thanked the Swiss government for its support to India’s membership bid for the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR).
•“Globalisation and disarmament are of extreme importance for both Switzerland and India. We are really thankful to Switzerland for its support to us on Missile Technology Control Regime,” Mr. Modi said and sought greater cooperation with Switzerland within the framework of India-EU cooperation. India became an MTCR member last year and made a serious bid for the membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group. In both the initiatives, Switzerland supported India. Mr. Modi recollected his visit to the country last year in the run-up to the plenary session of the NSG and urged closer continued cooperation in this sphere.
•Mr. Modi also sought Swiss support in ensuring transparency in investments and said, “Transparency in financial transactions is an issue of worry to stop black money, hawala transactions and fund for terrorism. Our cooperation continues with the Swiss to ensure automatic sharing of information. We welcome Swiss investments and work has begun on a new bilateral investment treaty.”
•Mr. Modi also noted that Switzerland has recognised traditional medicinal discipline of Ayurveda and sought greater cooperation to promote it in Switzerland.
Two pacts on railways
•Both sides signed two major agreements on railways.
•Emphasising her government’s commitment to financial transparency, the Swiss leader said, “We have accepted automatic exchange of information on financial issues. Hopefully, our Parliament will pass it by the end of the year. We have the strongest laws against money laundering and therefore we hope that the first exchange of information can begin by 2019.”
📰 GDP growth boards slow train at 5.7%
Officials blame it on sharp decline in industrial activity
•India’s GDP grew at 5.7% between April to June this year — the slowest pace recorded in 13 quarters or since the NDA government assumed office in May 2014 — led by a sharp decline in industrial activity that officials ascribed largely to an inventory drawdown by firms ahead of the rollout of GST from July 1. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley acknowledged that the growth numbers for the first quarter, which were lower than what most analysts expected, are certainly “a matter of concern”.
•GDP growth in the last quarter of 2016-17 was 6.1%, marking a steady decline from the 7.9% clocked in the April to June quarter. The gross value added (GVA) in the economy grew at 5.6%, same as the previous quarter but sharply lower than the 7.6% growth in the first quarter of the last year. Economist Ajit Ranade pointed out that this is the sixth continuous quarter marking a decline in growth.
•“The principal decline in growth is on account of industry, which comes in at 1.6% compared to 7.4% last year,” Chief Statistician TCA Anant said. Industrial output grew by 3.1% in the previous quarter. Analysts reckoned this to be the worst quarter for the manufacturing sector in five years, with growth at 1.2% compared to 5.3% in the previous quarter and 10.7% in the same quarter last year. That mining activity also shrank by 0.7%, compared to a 6.4% growth last quarter, didn’t help.
•Dr. Anant stressed that a large part of this dip was due to a rise in input costs as well as an unprecedented “high level of inventory de-accumulation” in the first quarter as firms were worried if the GST regime would grant them input tax credits for output generated before its implementation. “If this is in anticipation of the GST price-levelling effects, then there may be a revival in the stocks in the second quarter. We must keep this in mind when interpreting the manufacturing data,” Dr. Anant said, adding that the negative wholesale price inflation (WPI) trends in the first quarter of last year, which made growth numbers high, had turned positive.
•“…The numbers are consistent with the longer run narrative of decline and since the WPI effect is now working itself out of the system, subsequent periods would restore to more normal levels of growth and you will not see a downfall in growth, which you saw from the second quarter of last year, going ahead,” he said.
•While the services sector did fairly well, growing at 8.7% compared to 9% in the same quarter last year, the gross value added by the agriculture sector dipped from 2.5% in the first quarter of last year to 2.3%.
📰 India, U.S. eye states to boost trade ties
USIBC plans ‘state engagement task force’ to help align business interests with those of the provinces
•India and the U.S. are working on establishing a state-level engagement mechanism to widen and deepen bilateral trade and investment ties. Towards this objective, the U.S.-India Business Council (USIBC), will unveil within a fortnight a ‘State Engagement Task force’ (SET) to ensure American and Indian companies align their interests with the priorities of the State governments of both the countries.
•The move comes as India and the U.S. are set to carry out a comprehensive review of bilateral trade ties. In that exercise, priority sectors will be defence and energy. While the focus in defence would include Lockheed Martin’s proposal to make F-16 fighter jets in India and the proposed sale of General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. or GA-ASI’s ‘Guardian Remotely Piloted Aircraft’ to India, energy ties would cover exports of U.S. natural gas, transfer of U.S. technology on oil and gas refining, as well as the conclusion of pacts between Nuclear Power Corp. and Westinghouse Electric for six nuclear reactors in India and related project financing. Other priority areas would be smart cities (including Ajmer, Allahabad and Visakhapatnam), regional airport development in India through public private partnership, e-commerce , digital payments and medical devices.
•On SET, USIBC acting president Khush Choksy told The Hindu nominations had been sought from USIBC members. As part of the proposed SET, preliminary discussions had been held on skill development and entrepreneurship promotion in Nagaland, he said, adding that there had also been talks on infrastructure development and job-creating activities in eastern/north-eastern India. Similar discussions would soon be held with the U.S. State governments to identify their priorities.
China way ahead
•According to the American Enterprise Institute, China was the ‘top import country’ for 23 U.S. States in 2016, followed by Canada (14). India was neither a ‘top import country’ nor a ‘top export country’ for any U.S. State.
•Industry inputs for four separate engagement channels — the comprehensive review of trade ties, forthcoming trade policy forum and the bilateral ‘commercial dialogue’ as well as the Global Entrepreneurship Summit in November — would be provided during the Global Entrepreneurship Conclave (GEC) being organised by the USIBC next month. Top government officials from India and the U.S. are likely to participate in the GEC, Mr. Choksy said.
•Issues like the U.S. concern over its trade deficit and India’s worries on U.S. visa ‘curbs’ would fall into a proper context once the two countries explore ways to solve the ‘larger puzzle’ of increasing bilateral goods and services trade to $500 billion, from $115 billion in 2016, Mr. Choksy said.
•“The USIBC wants a win-win outcome for businesses on both the sides. We are supportive of free movement of goods and services.”
📰 ‘Trade-distorting farm subsidies must go’
India, China submit proposal at WTO
•India and China have jointly submitted a proposal to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) calling for the elimination of the most trade-distorting form of farm subsidies by the developed countries as a prerequisite for consideration of other reforms in domestic support negotiations.
•“This is an important proposal by India and China in view of the ongoing negotiations for the upcoming 11th Ministerial Conference (MC) of the WTO to be held in Buenos Aires in December 2017,” said an an official statement.
•“It counters the efforts by some countries to target the subsidies of the developing countries while letting the developed countries retain their huge farm subsidies,” the statement added,
•The MC is the WTO’s highest decision making body. As per the joint paper, developed countries, including the U.S., the EU and Canada, had been consistently providing trade-distorting subsidies to their farmers at levels much higher than the ceiling applicable to developing countries, the statement said.
📰 Is it time to review Section 377?
The British got rid of it. India remains with countries it would not like to be associated with otherwise
•Section 377, titled “unnatural offences”, was enacted by the British after we lost our First War of Independence in 1857. They imposed their religio-cultural values upon us. Prior to that, sexual activities, including amongst homosexuals, were not penalised in India.
•Section 377 penalises non-procreative sexual acts and any act of sexual perversity, as has been interpreted by different courts. Though it textually applies to all persons, homosexual and heterosexual, it has been targeted at gay men.
•The Delhi High Court in Naz Foundation v. Government of Nct of Delhi(2009)rightly held that criminalising sexual activities with consent in private not only impairs the dignity of those persons targeted by the law, but it is also discriminatory and impacts the health of those people. Gay men are seen as criminals by the law because of Section 377, and thus by other members of society. This judgment lifted the criminal restrictions on gay men. However, it was short-lived as the Supreme Court in Suresh Kumar Koushal v. Naz Foundation(2013) set aside the Delhi High Court judgment. The Koushal judgment did not notice that the rape law itself had changed whereby instead of mere restriction on penile-vaginal non-consensual sex, it now includes a range of sexual activities, including digital and object penetration.
Discriminatory in nature
•Section 377 is now restricted only to gay men and perhaps transgender people. The contradictions in the law are glaring. Consent is considered to be irrelevant. In the case of children, law presumes no consent. Therefore all sexual acts between an adult and a child are penalised.
•The latest judgment on privacy by the Supreme Court has observed that Koushalhas not appreciated the fundamental right to privacy in its application to Section 377. The Koushal verdict is dead; only its burial remains.
•After the Koushal verdict, there have been a large number of cases where gay men are being blackmailed by their acquaintances and the police in connivance with each other. These cases have sharply risen in the last three years. Though there is recourse in law, no gay man can take recourse to it because Section 377 itself makes gay men’s sexual practices illegal and would put them in danger of being arrested. I have come across cases where people have undergone terrible humiliation and psychological stress, apart from being blackmailed either by their acquaintances or the police. No human being ought to be subject to such acts on account of a natural sexual affection for another human being.
Not in great company
•The worst aspect of Section 377 is at the individual level. It makes gay men feel like lesser human beings because they are seen as criminals by law. That impairs not only their dignity, but forces them to go into the closet.
•The British, who enacted the law, got rid of it in the 1960s in England. Many countries have got rid of such laws, either by amendment of legislation or vide decisions of the court. India now remains with countries who India would not like to be associated with otherwise.
•While most people gained independence from the British, the LGBT community, and gay men in particular, in India have remained chained to Section 377. It is high time that the chains are broken and we get rid of Section 377 so that gay men and the LGBT community can live their lives with dignity.
📰 Understanding the Chinese mind
Any belief that China has been deterred by India’s firm riposte at Doklam could be misplaced
•Just when the stand-off between India and China over the Doklam plateau threatened to go the way of the 1986-1987 Sumdorong Chu incident (Arunachal Pradesh), the two sides agreed to step back and disengage, thus avoiding a confrontation. The Indian side has pulled back its personnel and equipment to the Indian side of the boundary, while China has agreed to make ‘necessary adjustments and deployment’ on its part. It is unclear, however, whether China will patrol the region, which it claims to have been doing earlier. Road construction will not continue for the present.
•Behind the scenes, quiet diplomacy by the two sides, no doubt, led to the defusing of what could have been a serious crisis. China’s interest in Doklam is not of recent origin and has a long history. Those on either side of the divide currently claiming victory must, hence, pause to think what the future holds. Jumping to conclusions at this point could amount to ‘missing the wood for the trees’.
•India’s actions in Doklam are easy to discern, viz. going to the help of a treaty partner in its time of need, a decision which incidentally has security ramifications for India. China’s reasons are more complex and labyrinthine but, nevertheless, cannot be easily wished away.
•To savour victory without understanding the factors at work would be a serious mistake. Going into the entire gamut of Sino-Indian relations to try to decipher what prompted China to moderate its stand after weeks of high decibel propaganda may not provide all the answers we seek.
•To begin with, China and India have a kind of competitive coexistence. While professing friendship, both sides nurse a mutual suspicion of each other — at times prompting several degrees of alienation. Both countries remain wary of each other’s intentions and actions. Yet, and despite the long-time rivalry between the two countries, we may need to look elsewhere for an explanation.
•Understanding the way the Chinese mind works is, hence, important. The Chinese mind tends to be relational, i.e. dictated by context and relationship, and its methodology tends to be obtuse. When the Chinese state that they have halted road building in the disputed Doklam area, while adding that they may reconsider the decision after taking into account ‘different factors’, what China means is that it is willing to wait to implement its decision, but at a time of its choosing when an opportunity exists for a settlement suited to its plans. Little finality can, therefore, be attached to any of China’s actions.
Conflict avoidance
•Any belief, hence, that China has been deterred by India’s firm riposte at Doklam could be misplaced. Since the China-Vietnam conflict in 1980, China has avoided getting into any outright conflict. It has preferred attrition — a protracted campaign to secure a relative advantage — to forceful intervention.
•By stepping back from a confrontation with India over a minor issue at this time, what it had in mind were two significant events, viz. the BRICS summit in China in September and the forthcoming 19th Congress of the Chinese Communist Party. Also, it possibly believes that this would help China dilute global perceptions about its aggressive designs.
•This may not be as far-fetched as it may seem. China is playing for higher stakes in a globalised world. For instance, on the South China Sea, it has preferred to employ confidence-building measures to deal with the U.S. while awaiting a more opportune moment to assert its claims.
•China is even seeking more opportunities for cooperation, rather than confrontation, with the U.S. on trade matters. In the case of the U.S., China believes that relations between the two are adequately multilayered, providing scope for mitigating areas of mutual benefit.
•The BRICS summit and the 19th Party Congress both have high priority for China today. Nothing will be permitted to disrupt either event. Extraneous factors would not be allowed to affect this situation. For President Xi Jinping, presiding over the BRICS Summit at this juncture will help consolidate his informal leadership of the group. As the undisputed leader of BRICS, China believes it can take a signal step towards global leadership.
•China is currently seeking to reshape the regional and international order, and is keen to fine-tune its ‘Great Power diplomacy’. It, hence, needs to be seen as preferring peace over conflict. The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is a potent instrument in this direction, but needs a peaceful environment to succeed. Limited wars or conflicts, even with the possibility of successful outcomes, would damage China’s peaceful image globally. Active power projection could at best provide a pyrrhic victory when the goal China has set is much higher.
•The 19th Party Congress is even more important from President Xi’s point of view. It is intended to sustain his legacy and leave his stamp on the Party in the mould of Chairman Mao. To achieve comprehensive success, he needs peace to achieve his target. Till then everything else will need to wait.
•This is again a delicate moment for China on the economic planes. It needs to redress the economic imbalance between its coastal regions and the hinterland States. One stated objective of the BRI is linking these regions with China’s land neighbours. China’s growth rate is actually declining, debt levels are dangerously high, and labour is getting more expensive. At this moment, hence, it is more than ever dependent on international trade and global production chains to sustain higher levels of GDP growth. It can ill-afford to be seen as a disruptor rather than a pillar of the existing economic global order. For the present, development, therefore, is the cardinal objective.
•The Achilles’ heel of the Chinese economy is the lack of resources, specially oil. Oil from the Gulf region is critical for China’s growth. Peace in Asia is thus vital to ensure uninterrupted supplies of oil. Uncertainties and disruptions across the Asian region would hamper China’s economic progress.
•Apart from this, China also faces several cross-border security challenges, in addition to unrest in Tibet and Xinjiang. Embarking on military engagement outside the country’s borders could aggravate China’s problems. At a time when China is intent on sustained economic growth at one level, and aspiring to be a Great Power at another level, this could prove to be a dampener.
•For all the above reasons, China currently leans towards the pragmatic when it comes to relations with countries other than those in its immediate periphery in East Asia. It is not keen to follow a policy adopted by its new-found strategic ally viz. Russia which has paid a high cost for its ‘interventionist’ policies. China tends to take a longer term view of its future and, despite the rising crescendo of nationalism in China today, is anxious not to upset the international political or economic order. For this reason alone, it would shun a conflict with India in the Doklam area.
Not a status quoist power
•China is not a status quoist power, and aspires to be a Great Power. It is well-positioned to achieve this if it maintains its present course. Any interruption, by indulging in a conflict with nations small or big, would not only damage but derail the levels of progress that are essential to achieve this objective. President Xi’s China dream seems predicated on this belief. It implies support for a rule-based international system, linked to ‘Tianxia’, in the belief that this would help China overtake the U.S. as the dominant world power. When China talks of a ‘new type of Great Power relations’ it already envisages itself as Great Power in the making. It is unlikely to do anything to deviate from this goal.
•While this attitude cannot be taken for granted for all time, the current Chinese leadership seems comfortable in following this prescription. It appears to believe in the aphorism that ‘the longer you can look back, the farther you can look forward’.
