📰 DRDO successfully tests guided bomb
•The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has successfully tested an indigenously developed light weight glide bomb, Smart Anti Airfield Weapon (SAAW), which can target large enemy infrastructure, like airfields.
•“The guided bomb released from an Indian Air Force (IAF) aircraft and guided through precision navigation system, reached the targets at greater than 70 km range with high accuracies,” the Defence Ministry said in a statement on Friday.
•The tests were conducted at Chandipur in Odisha.
📰 ‘Article 35A is not part of the Constitution of India’
J&K Advocate-General Jehangir Iqbal Ganai says it’s a part of the Statute applicable only to the State
•Jammu and Kashmir Advocate-General Jehangir Iqbal Ganai on Friday said Article 35A, which is being contested in the Supreme Court through a number of petitions, “is not part of the Indian Constitution”.
•“There is an argument projected that the President has no powers to amend the Constitution. The fact of the matter is Article 35A is not part of the Constitution of India. It’s a part of the Constitution only applicable to J&K. There is a difference. So there is no requirement of Parliament amending it,” Mr. Ganai told The Hindu in an interview.
•He said Parliament as such had no powers to add any article of the J&K Constitution except to Article 370. “Every Article has been made applicable to J&K through Article 370. In Article 370, the President has been given powers to amend, alter or modify any article viz-a-viz J&K, with exceptions and modifications,” he said.
Presidential order
•Referring to the 1954 presidential order on Article 35A, which grants special rights to citizens of J&K over property and jobs, Mr. Ganai said the Article related to fundamental rights was in “desirable” and not “essential” list.
•“The Constituent Assembly of J&K has been of the opinion, as per the recorded debates, to have own Articles over fundamental rights. However, after the Delhi agreement of 1952 under Clause 6, the Centre appreciated the need to have special rights for J&K. And in fact acknowledges these special rights. Then Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru issued a statement in Parliament over deliberations held between the State and Centre over special rights,” he said.
Nehru stand
•He said Nehru recognised two issues in Parliament — one regarding the citizenship and special rights, while making reference to the special rights then existing since 1927 of Maharaja Hari Singh’s J&K.
•“Thus, the issue of special rights was put before Parliament and debated and accepted there,” the Advocate-General said.
•In the follow-up of Parliament debates of 1954, the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly formed two committees, one on basic constitutional structure and another on the fundamental rights.
•“Subsequently, the Constituent Assembly adopted a resolution on Article 35A. The annexure was sent to the Centre for concurrence and not for any approval from the President. In fact, all presidential orders require concurrence of the State Assembly equally,” he said.
•Claiming J&K is in a strong position to defend Article 35A in the court, he said, “The issue also brings to the fore the matter of trust reposed by the State and the Centre in each other then. One cannot negate the trust agreed upon in the past now. We believe the court is there to do justice. We hope the SC will decide the matter in accordance with law. The Constitution must stay supreme,” Mr. Ganai said.
•The SC recently listed the petitions regarding Article 35A for the last week of February after the Centre filed a petition for postponement in the wake of the appointment of special representative Dineshwar Sharma on Jammu and Kashmir to hold talks with stakeholders.
📰 Pak. faces flak over terror funding
India forces Financial Action Task Force to demand compliance report
•Even as it faced a Chinese veto on designating Masood Azhar a terrorist at the United Nations Security Council, India scored a major victory at the Financial Action Task Force that looks into terror financing that held its plenary in Buenos Aires this week.
•Pakistan has failed to penalise or curb the activities of any of the terror groups [designated by the UNSC]. India raised the issue at the International Cooperation Review Group (ICRG) in Argentina. Other countries supported India and now Pakistan has to submit a compliance report during the next session in February 2018, Home Ministry and External Affairs Ministry officials confirmed to The Hindu .
•The win for Indian negotiators was significant, said an MEA official, as it came even as China vetoed the latest bid to have Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar designated at the UNSC.
•“China tried hard to defend Pakistan during the FATF proceedings,” the official said, “But unlike at the UN, two speaking countries are needed to block consensus, and China was isolated there.”
February deadline
•According to the directive of the FATFs’ International Cooperation Review Group (ICRG), Pakistan has been asked to report again in February on action taken against designated terror groups such as the Lashkar-e-Taiba and its off-shoots Jamaat-ud Dawa and Falah-i-Insaniyat.
•Also for the first time, Pakistan’s Central Bank, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), has been asked specifically to report on its work in shutting off the finances to the groups. A report on “SBP’s enforcement activity as it relates to ensuring compliance of the statutory regulatory orders [on terror financing] and penalising non compliance” has been demanded, according to the ICRG report.
•During previous FATF sessions, India had raised the funding of the groups and leaders like 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed, who openly addressed rallies and raised funds in Pakistan as well as LeT commander Zaki-Ur Rahman Lakhvi, who received bail in the Pakistani trial court hearing the Mumbai attacks case.
•In addition, volunteers of the Falah-i-Insaniyat Foundation (FIF), also run by Hafiz Saeed, have travelled to Syria and other countries on alleged “charity missions”, all of which is proscribed by the UN Security Council 1267/1373 rules.
•While officials concede the 37-member FATF is a voluntary group, without much power to enforce its ruling, it works through “peer pressure” and “naming and shaming” countries into compliance on terror finance by putting them on “grey lists and black lists”.
•“Pakistan is obviously not immune to their orders, and is also facing growing pressure from the US to cooperate,” an MEA official privy to the process told The Hindu .
Saeed detention
•In January this year, Pakistani authorities detained Hafiz Saeed in Lahore — an action understood to have been taken to avoid any negative reference at the FATF in February. During that session India raised the issue of another front of the JuD, the Tehreek-e-Azaadi Jammu and Kashmir (TAJK). Pakistan banned the TAJK barely days before the FATF’s next plenary in Spain in June 2017.
•Officials in New Delhi and Washington said they hope the FATF move will ensure that Pakistan curtails activities of all groups under the scanner, and keep Hafiz Saeed in detention for the foreseeable future.
📰 Unsafe boilers
The Unchahar tragedy points toan unforgivably lax safety protocol
•The boiler explosion at NTPC’s Unchahar power plant in Rae Bareli underscores the importance of inspections and protocols for hazardous industrial operations. It has cost at least 32 lives and caused severe injuries to scores of personnel. High pressure boilers are hazardous pieces of equipment, which are strictly regulated with special laws. In fact, the basic objective of the Indian Boilers Act, 1923 is to ensure the safety of life and protection of property by mandating uniform standards in the quality and upkeep of these units. That the Uttar Pradesh government failed miserably in meeting this objective is evident from the accident at the public sector facility. Quite clearly, the accident was entirely preventable because boilers are designed to provide warnings as soon as dangerous pressure builds up and trigger automatic safety devices at a critical point. They should undergo periodic inspections to ensure that all these features are working and intact. At the Unchahar plant, the blocking of an outlet for waste gases by ash, unusual in a fairly new boiler, calls for an inquiry into the quality of the equipment and the fuel used. Ideally, these aspects should be investigated by an external agency and not the NTPC.
•Industrial regulation has, unfortunately, come to be viewed as a barrier to ease of doing business in India. This is a result of inefficiency and corruption and the typical response of governments has been to relax crucial safety checks. Self-certification and third-party certification of facilities has received support from policymakers even in the case of boilers. Soon after assuming office, Prime Minister Narendra Modi likened maintenance of boilers to that of a privately owned car, where owners should be trusted to do their best because they understand the need for safety in its operation. But the two are not comparable. The Unchahar accident shows it is in everyone’s interest to have a transparent regulatory mechanism for hazardous industrial activity. The safety and welfare of workers and the public at large cannot be compromised. A rigorous approach to accident reporting must become part of the process if the weak spots in regulation are to be addressed. National Crime Records Bureau data provide insights into casualties caused by industrial boiler and gas cylinder explosions — there were 61 deaths in 2015 — and the rise in the number of accidents over the previous year points to the need for strict enforcement of safety protocols. The loss suffered by families of workers due to an accident that could have been averted cannot be compensated just financially. It must be the Centre’s endeavour to see that measures taken to make it easy to do business do not translate into lack of regulation, and putting lives at risk. Administrative reform can eliminate the corruption of inspector raj and achieve transparent regulation, while keeping the workplace safe.
📰 The Japanese pivot
Shinzo Abe’s success as Donald Trump’s alliance-building guide to Asia will be crucial
•At a time when some world leaders strain to hide their disdain for U.S. President Donald Trump, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has become Mr. Trump’s golfing buddy, phone friend and staunch supporter. This trans-Pacific bromance is only set to deepen during Mr. Trump’s first official trip to Asia (November 5-17), which will begin with a three-day stop in Japan.
•His itinerary includes meetings with the Emperor and Piko-Taro, the singer of the viral ditty, “Pen-Pineapple-Apple-Pen”. But the significance of the visit lies elsewhere. It will underscore the close alliance between Japan and the U.S. at a time of shifting geopolitical sands in Japan’s neighbourhood. Fresh from confirming President Xi Jinping as its undisputed leader, an ascendant China is reshaping the strategic topography of Asia, while North Korea continues to test missiles and threaten nuclear catastrophe.
•Mr. Trump has thus far lacked a clearly articulated Asia policy. How he plans to replace, or renew, the “pivot” to Asia, a cornerstone of his predecessor Barak Obama’s foreign policy, remains unclear. This visit provides an opportunity for a coherent exposition of what the U.S. intends for the region. But it needs to be watched most of all for indications of how far Mr. Abe is willing, and able, to guide Mr. Trump’s policies in Asia.
Confusing signals
•Consistency is not Mr. Trump’s strong suit. In the past, he has sent out erratic signals, which have been confusing to many Japanese. On the campaign trail he fingered the U.S. trade deficit with Japan (which stands at more than $68 billion) as an example of American industrial weakness. He suggested that Tokyo pick up a greater proportion of the bill for the U.S. military facilities it hosts. And he pulled the U.S. out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal, causing a loss of face to Mr. Abe who had expended considerable political capital in committing Japan to it.
•Nonetheless, Mr. Abe continued to court Mr. Trump, becoming the first world leader to visit him in New York while he was still President-elect, joining him on the golf course in Florida, and chatting with him on the phone up to four times a week. Mr. Abe has spoken to Mr. Trump more often this year than he did with Mr. Obama over the last four years of his presidency. This strategy has largely paid off, blunting U.S. trade criticism of Japan and eliciting explicit commitment to Japan’s defence.
•There now appears to be little danger of Japan’s greatest fear — being abandoned by the U.S. to its own military devices — coming to pass. Mr. Trump has reiterated strong support for the U.S.-Japan alliance and his harsh rhetoric on Pyongyang’s weapons testing is in consonance with Mr. Abe’s own hawkish position.
Dealing with North Korea
•The ironic challenge that has emerged for Mr. Abe is to rein in Mr. Trump’s enthusiasm for standing up to North Korea. In recent months, Mr. Trump has engaged in a rhetorical duel with North Korea’s leader, including calling him “Rocket Man” in a speech to the United Nations General Assembly this September and thundering that the U.S. was ready to “totally destroy” the country.
•But, were a verbal escalation to lead to actual military strikes, the first in the line of fire would be Japan, rather than the U.S. The Japanese are generally pacifist and have scant appetite for brinkmanship. North Korea has proved that its missiles can reach Japanese cities (and U.S. bases in Japan) within minutes of being launched.
•Therefore, Mr. Abe’s attempt will be to use the U.S President’s visit to ensure that he remains tough, but not too tough, a delicate line to tread. He will need to play a similar, tempering role in relation to Mr. Trump’s China policies. Although Mr. Abe does not want Beijing to emerge as the regional hegemon, a U.S. trade war with China will disrupt global supply chains and cause economic instability, with adverse spillover effects for Japan.
•Mr. Trump appears to distrust multilateral fora, preferring to deal with nations on a bilateral basis. In contrast, Japan is acutely aware of its limitations when acting alone, and is actively seeking multiple partnerships. Tokyo is not only trying to revive the TPP, even without U.S. participation, but has also recently suggested a quadrilateral top-level dialogue between Japan, the U.S., India and Australia to promote open trade and security cooperation.
•Mr. Abe’s embrace of, and success in this role as Mr. Trump’s moderating, alliance-building guide to the region can be crucial in determining the outcome of global politics. The million yen question is whether Mr. Abe is capable of going from courting Mr. Trump to shaping him.
