📰 Megalithic era sarcophagus unearthed at Viyur
A rich culture existed in the region
•A rare sarcophagus (stone coffin), said to be 2,000-year old from the Iron Age–Megalithic era, was discovered from a rock-cut cave at Viyur village of Kollam, near Koyilandy, in Kozhikode district on Monday.
•The coffin containing bone fragments was found during an excavation. “So far, such a rare finding has been discovered only from two sites in Kerala. Both these sarcophagi were recovered from Megalithic sites at Chevayur and Atholi, also in Kozhikode district,” K. Krishnaraj of the Archaeology Department, who is supervising the excavation, said.
•The bone fragments could be of either a man or a woman. They will be sent for carbon dating using accelerator mass spectrometry at the Beta Analytical Laboratory in California, he said. Excavation at the site commenced after a hemispherical rock-cut chamber was discovered in a compound while flattening land using an earthmover. The cave, with an inside pillar, measuring 1.9 metres in diameter, has a height of 90 centimetres.
•The entrance of the cave was on the eastern side. “The square-shaped door has equal length of 50 centimetres on all sides. Different types of pottery, mostly four-legged jars and iron implements, were found in the cave, ” he said.
•Sarcophagi was found in many archaeological sites in South India earlier. Some are adorned with a sculpture or inscription. But two types are usually found with bovine features or with legs.
•“As of now, we have obtained preliminary details about the excavations. However, it can be confirmed that a rich Megalithic culture existed in the region following the discoveries of pre-Iron age civilisation earlier. The excavation will continue for another week,” Mr. Krishnaraj said.
📰 36% rural youth can’t name India’s capital, finds survey
Pratham’s 2017 study focuses on teenagers; flags falling enrolment with age
•Fourteen per cent of rural youth in the age group of 14-18 failed to identify the map of India, says the 2017 Annual Status of Education Report (ASER), brought out by Pratham.
•Significantly, 36% of those surveyed did not know that Delhi is the capital of India.
•The report underlines, that 79% answered the questions ‘Which State do you live in?’ and 42 % could point to their home State on the map.
Change in focus
•“ASER 2017 focuses on an older age group: youth who are 14 to 18 years old,” the report says. “The survey looks 'Beyond Basics', exploring a wider set of domains beyond foundational reading and arithmetic in an attempt to throw light on the status and abilities of youth in this age group.”
•Whereas previous ASER reports have reached almost all rural districts in the country to generate estimates that are considered representative at district, State, and national levels, ASER 2017 was conducted in 28 districts spread across 24 States and generated only district level estimates.
Tapering enrolment
•“Most 14-18 year olds are in the formal education system — only 14.4% are not currently enrolled in school or college. However, this number varies a lot with age,” says the report. “At age 14, only 5.3% are not enrolled, but by age 17 this percentage quadruples to 20.7% and further increases to 30.2% at age 18. With almost 10% of India's population in this age group, these percentages translate into large numbers of youth who are not in the formal education system,” the report says
•The report also highlights the gender aspect of enrolment, with the number of girls falling sharply with age. While the enrolment ratios for boys and girls are almost the same at 14, at 18 years 32% of girls are not enrolled, as against 28% for boys.
•“About 25% of this age group still cannot read basic texts fluently in their own language. More than half struggle with division (3 digit by 1 digit) problems. Only 43% are able to do such problems correctly,” the report reveals. “53% of all 14 year-olds in the sample can read English sentences.”
📰 1.2 lakh fewer deaths in under-5 category in 2016
India registers best under-5 infant mortality rate since 2010
•India posted its sharpest, year-on-year decline in the under-5 infant mortality rate (u5) since 2010, according to figures from the Sample Registration Survey (SRS) made public this week. The u5, at 39 deaths per 1,000 live births, recorded a 5-point decline from the 2015 figure of 43.
•According the Union Health Ministry, this was a “landmark achievement” that translated to nearly 1,20,000 fewer deaths in 2016 as compared to 2015.
•At the national level, the u5 varies from 43 in rural areas to 25 in urban areas and ranges from 11 in Kerala to 55 in Madhya Pradesh. Except Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, all the “bigger States/Union Territories” have higher u-5mortality rates among girls than boys.
•“In Kerala the number of children dying between 1 and 5 years is very low, at just one per 1,000 live births. However, the data shows that the gender divide and the urban-rural gap when it comes to infant deaths continue in Kerala too as in most States. More girls seem to be dying than boys, the death rate of girls being 12 against 10 for boys. Also, the death rate is 12 in rural areas against 10 in urban areas,” Job Zachariah, UNICEF chief for Kerala and Tamil Nadu, told The Hindu while commenting on the numbers from Kerala.
•Though not as good as Kerala, Maharashtra too has recorded a dip. From 23 in 2014 and 24 in 2015, the State has gone down to 21 deaths per 1,000 children in the age group of 1 to 5 years in 2016.
•“Our aim is to get as good as Kerala,” Maharashtra’s Health Minister Deepak Sawant said on Tuesday.
•Last year in September, the State had recorded a dip in the infant mortality rate (0 to 1 years) and the progress was attributed to the regular screening and immunisation camps, especially in the tribal areas of Jawahar, Mokhada, Melghat, Palghar etc.
•The State’s aggressive trouble shooting however started after more than 50 babies died in the Special Newborn Care Unit (SNCU) of the Nashik Civil Hospital last August.
•The latest round of data builds on the SRS numbers made public last September that showed India had registered a significant 8% (3 point) decline in infant deaths per 1,000 live births (IMR) over the previous year. The IMR refers to death in infants who were yet to turn one. The decline from 37 to 34 per 1,000 live births translated to 90,000 fewer infant deaths in 2016 compared to 2015.
•In 2016, that edition of the report noted, India also recorded a major drop in birth cohort, which had for the first time come down to below 25 million.
•Despite this drop, one in every 29 infants nationally, one in every 26 infants in rural areas and one in every 43 infants in urban areas continues to die within the first year of their lives. Moreover, the sex ratio at birth —the SRS found — continued a steady decline that began in 2013 with only 898 girls for every 1,000 boys in 2016 compared to 909 girls for 1,000 boys in 2013.
📰 Disability pensions: Defence Ministry not to withdraw appeals
16 recommendations of panel accepted, says Nirmala Sitharaman.
•The Defence Ministry has no proposal to withdraw pending appeals against disability pensions and benefits. This was conveyed by Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in a letter to Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar.
•“At present there is no proposal to withdraw pending appeals in the Supreme Court,” Ms. Sitharaman said in the letter dated December 31, 2017 in response to Mr. Chandrasekhar’s July 2017 letter.
•Former Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar had attempted to reduce litigations against veterans and serving personnel and had appointed an expert committee to study the issue.
•Ms. Sitharaman said 16 of the 75 recommendations of the panel have been accepted. Another 16 were accepted in-principle requiring follow-up action in consultation with Service Headquarters (SHQ). “The remaining 43 require further examination in consultation with the SHQ, the Department of Personnel and Training and the Finance Ministry,” she said.
📰 ‘Water scarcity may hit thermal power’
Between 2013-16, 14 of India’s 20 largest thermal utilities had shutdowns due to water shortages: WRI
•India’s thermal power plants, about 90% of which rely on fresh water for cooling, risk facing serious outages because of shortage of water, according to a new report by the World Resources Institute (WRI).
•Between 2013 and 2016, 14 of India’s 20 largest thermal utility companies experienced one or more shutdowns due to water shortages, the WRI said, and calculated that this cost the power producers more than ₹91 billion ($1.4 billion) in potential revenue from the sale of power.
‘Lost generation’
•“India lost about 14 terawatt-hours of thermal power generation due to water shortages in 2016, cancelling out more than 20% of growth in the country’s total electricity generation from 2015,” the report’s authors wrote. About 40% of the country’s thermal power plants are facing great stress in terms of water availability, according to the report, defines water stress as the ratio of total water withdrawal over available supply. According to the report, not only does high water stress result in equipment shutting down, it also results in a lower level of efficiency when it is running.
•“Water shortages shut down power plants across India every year,” O.P. Agarwal, CEO of WRI India, said in a release. “When power plants rely on water sourced from scarce regions, they put electricity generation at risk and leave less water for cities, farms and families. Without urgent action, water will become a choke point for India’s power sector.”
•“Freshwater-cooled thermal power plants that are located in high water-stress areas have a 21% lower average capacity factor, compared to the ones in low and medium water-stress areas.” the WRI said.
•The WRI’s report predicts that this problem is set to worsen as India’s thermal power sector expands and demand for water from other sectors increases. It says that by 2030, 70% of India’s thermal power plants are likely to experience increased competition for water from agriculture, industry and municipalities.
•Significantly, the study found that water stress often occurs in places with abundant water supplies.
•“Some of the most disruptive water shortages occurred in India’s most water-abundant areas,” the WRI report’s authors said.
•“We also found that, even in water-abundant or low water-stress regions, thermal plants can still face water shortage-related risks during droughts or when monsoons are delayed. Some of those plants — for example, Farakka, Raichur, and Tiroda — experienced significant, if not the biggest, disruptions in generation caused by water shortages.”
•“Our lack of knowledge about how much water India’s power sector is using makes the problem harder to solve,” Ivaturi N Rao, Head, Corporate Environment & Climate Change for Tata Power, was quoted as saying in the report. “The Government of India has recently mandated limits for specific water consumption at thermal power plants, which is a critical step forward. However, they should also create policy incentives for water conservation. This will help encourage water efficiency and innovation across the power sector.”
📰 Online degree in non-tech courses
Javadekar says only universities with high NAAC scores will get permission
•The Centre would soon finalise regulations enabling universities with high National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) scores to offer degree, certificate and diploma courses for non-technical subjects in online mode.
•Minister of Human Resource Development Prakash Javadekar said this to newspersons after the culmination of the 65th Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) meet here.
•Only institutions with a NAAC grade of A plus and A plus plus – meaning, a NAAC score of 3.26 or above on a scale of 4 – would be permitted to start these courses, which would essentially be open and distance learning in online mode.
•“The UGC will approve their course structure. There will be online lectures, tutorials and also a weekly online discussion forum where professors will answer queries of the enrolled candidates,” Mr. Javadekar said. “There will be an online examination in six months or one year. They will be granted certificates if they pass.”
•He said this would open an additional choice for people who want to earn degrees, certificates or diplomas, but cannot enrol for regular courses.
•Insisting that this would not entail a decline in the level of education, he said only institutes with proven credentials would be permitted to run these courses.
•An official of the MHRD said there was a possibility that the regulations would separate the existent open and distance learning courses from courses in the online mode. While existent distance learning courses were subject to territorial jurisdictions of the universities concerned, the very nature of online education would mean freeing up these courses from such constraints.
•Mr. Javadekar also said that the CABE had resolved to increase Gross Enrolment Ratio in higher education from the present 25.2-% to 30-32-% in five years. It was believed that online education would help improve enrolment figures.
📰 All gore: jallikattu in Tamil Nadu
Regulating jallikattu remains an impossible challenge for district authorities in Tamil Nadu
•With animal rights activists at the head of the campaign against jallikattu, more attention seems to have been paid to cruelty to the bulls than the inherently dangerous nature of the bull-taming event, that puts both spectators and participants at risk. Two onlookers have died in the space of two days in the jallikattu events in Palamedu and Avaarangadu in Tamil Nadu as the barricades separating the spectators from the arena were inadequate. Two others were killed in the manjuvirattu (a variant of jallikattu) at Siravayalwhen the bulls were unleashed outside the earmarked arena, a violation of due procedure. Clearly, the safety arrangements monitored by the district administration at these annual events in the Pongal season failed to prevent death and injury. With some of the events inducting more than 400 bulls and almost twice as many tamers, jallikattu has become a disorderly spectacle, making a mockery of even well-laid-out plans. The Animal Welfare Board of India, which was earlier in the forefront of documenting instances of mismanagement in the organising of jallikattu events, seems to have shifted its stance with a change of office-bearers. Other than spotting some “small mistakes” and “human errors”, the AWBI team’s convener, S.K. Mittal, found little amiss in the Palamedu event. The concern, instead, was on preserving “native breeds” of bulls. After last year’s protests against the Supreme Court ban on jallikattu, when thousands of people gathered in public places in Tamil Nadu demanding a revival of the sport, the authorities have been wary of condemning bull-taming during Pongal. They now speak the language of custom and tradition, one that is similar to that of the jallikattu enthusiasts.
•When the Supreme Court banned jallikattu on the basis of submissions made by the AWBI, which recorded instances of cruelty to animals in regulated events, it did so on the ground that regulations were not working. Following public protests and political pressure, and on the strength of hurriedly drafted legislation, jallikattu is now back on the Pongal calendar. But nothing much has changed on the ground. Of course, participants and bulls are screened before being allowed into the arena. But the bulls do not heed the barricades that are meant to fence off spectators from the arena. Also, there is the risk of hyper-excited miscreants releasing the bulls outside the arena: this is what happened in Siravayal. District authorities have so far failed to find better ways to regulate the events, but more than the size of an event, the scale is the challenge. In short, there are too many events in too many places within a period of a few days, making regulation next to impossible. It is one thing to have well-regulated jallikattu. But we are far from staging it in a manner that leaves nothing to chance and that is insured against damage wreaked by a rampaging bull.
📰 The people connection: young Israelis in India
Young Israelis visit India in huge numbers each year, forging a stronger acquaintance
•Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is accompanied on his visit to India by a large delegation drawn from the defence, cyber, and agricultural sectors; he intends to boost trade, investment, and tourism between the two nations. This year, Israel’s Ministry of Tourism will spend $5-6 million in India in a bid to boost tourism to Israel. The goal is to have one lakh tourists visiting Israel in 2018.
Once distant
•When I was growing up in Kolkata in the 1950s and ’60s, India had virtually no relations with Israel. I remember a singular exception: an Israeli school friend of my brother’s who was sent to study at La Martiniere. His father was posted in Nepal on deputation to the Air Force. Yusef would tell us colourful stories of life in Israel. There were a few other Israeli visitors who held dual passports (Israel allows this) who were able to come to India. Several people from the Israeli foreign service visited India to help make arrangements for those Jews who wished to make aliyah – the right of any Jew to “ascend” to Israel. As the Marathi Jews were always the largest in number among India’s Jewish communities, they made the largest aliyah.
•Most Israelis knew little about India until about the mid-1990s. Some of the European pioneers of Israel were familiar with Tagore’s writings, and a street in Tel Aviv is named after him. Many Israelis knew of Mahatma Gandhi. Few know about the 800-year-old Indian hospice that was set up at the site where the Sufi saint, Baba Farid, is said to have prayed and meditated when he visited Jerusalem in the 13th century. It serves as a guesthouse for pilgrims of all faiths who come to Jerusalem to pray at Al-Aqsa mosque.
•India recognised the state of Israel in 1950, and in 1953 permitted it to open a consulate in Mumbai. Despite there being no formal relations, Israel provided India with crucial intelligence information during several wars. Full diplomatic relations were established between India and Israel until 1992 when India opened its embassy in Tel Aviv.
•Though there are many Indian Jews living in Israel – over 80,000 – they have remained a relatively quiet and somewhat “invisible” community. In Israel, Indian Jews are largely subsumed into the larger “Mizrahi” community of non-white Jews from North Africa and West Asia. Few in Israel know about the Jews of India, their varied histories, and the marked cultural and ethnic distinctions between them. This is largely due to where in Israel the Indian Jews settled, which, for economic and political reasons, was primarily in peripheral towns. When Jews from India first arrived in the 1940s and ’50s, the darker-skinned Bene Israel and Cochin Jews faced discrimination from the predominantly powerful European (Ashkenazi) Jews.
•The Jews from Cochin settled mostly in “moshavs”, or community farms, in southern Israel. There, they became very successful at flower growing and export. The Bene Israel Jews from the Konkan were in a range of middle-class, modestly-paying professions. They settled in smaller towns such as Ashdod, Ramla, and Lod. In the 1960s, the Bene Israelis fought and won a major case to be fully accepted as Jews.
•Far fewer in numbers were the Baghdadi Jewish arrivals from Mumbai, Pune, and Kolkata. They became part of the much larger Iraqi Jewish community or integrated with other English-speaking immigrants to Israel. In the last few years, about 2000 Bnei Menashe Jews from Manipur and Mizoram have made aliyah as well; many of them have been placed in Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
•The Indian Jews in Israel have always held strong ties to India. They celebrate Indian Independence Day and Republic Day, and many of them, especially the Bene Israelis, listen to Indian music and watch Indian films, hold Indian cultural events for community members, and open Indian stores which stock the groceries and spices. They have formed their own associations, issue their own community publications, and keep their Indian Jewish traditions alive. However, very few Israelis in the past came to know about India from the Indian Jews who lived there.
‘A human bridge’
•Indian Jews were feted during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Israel last year. This visit commemorated 25 years of diplomatic ties between the two nations. Mr. Netanyahu called the Indian diaspora “a human bridge” between the two nations. I would argue that it is young Israelis who have flocked to India over the last 25 years, and who have come to know India first-hand, who have played a more significant role in familiarising Israelis with India.
•More than 40,000 Israelis visit India each year. For a country with a population of 6.5 million, that is a considerable number. India is now almost an obligatory visit for Israelis after finishing their compulsory army service. They live in the smaller towns and villages of India for as long as their money can last them, and revel in the freedom India offers them after their rigorous term of service.
📰 Open trafficking
Employment opportunities should be created in Nepal to prevent cross-border trafficking between Nepal and India
•Following the 2015 Nepal earthquake, the Ministry of Home Affairs said that human trafficking from Nepal to India witnessed “a three-fold jump”. The Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) reported that most of the victims were minors, with girls and boys in equal numbers, and many were from the earthquake-affected districts of Nepal. In Dhangadhi and Rupandehi districts of Nepal, representatives of NGOs working on human trafficking said that quake-affected Sindhupalchowck district was among the key source districts for cross-border trafficking to India. A large number of women from this district left the country after the earthquake to find employment abroad, either through Rasuwagadhi or some other transit point along the India-Nepal border, said Asha from an NGO. “The destination countries for most of them were Kyrgyzstan, Israel, West Asia, and India. Many have also left for Kathmandu,” she said.
•But identifying cases of human trafficking is not easy. Pancha Kumar Bakhu, who is Inspector, Area Police Office, Barabise in Sindhupalchowk, said: “No case of human trafficking has been registered since 2015, but ‘love affair’ (elopement) cases have been registered.” It is often difficult to identify a human trafficking case at the source since the victim may have been lured through the false promise of marriage or a job, said advocate Adrian Phillips from Justice and Care, an NGO that works on human trafficking.
•The Indo-Nepal Treaty of Peace and Friendship, 1950 provides for an open border between Nepal and India. At the Gauriphanta border in Lakhimpur Kheri district and Sanuali border in Maharajganj district of U.P. bordering Nepal, I discovered how easy it was to cross over to Nepal. An official from SSB at Gauriphanta, which guards the Indian side of the border, said that those entering India are not stopped, but “those with luggage are stopped and questioned.” As I crossed over to Dhangadi in Nepal from Gauriphanta, an official from the Armed Police Force, which guards the Nepali side, said that individuals are stopped on the basis of “suspicion, intelligence or information from family members or relatives.” The SSB also profiles victims and suspects.
•Closing the border may prevent cross-border trafficking, but it could also engender or accentuate economic vulnerabilities for those who have jobs or own businesses along the border. Poverty and unemployment in Sindhupalchowck have left young people vulnerable to internal and cross-border trafficking through the Rasuwagadi-Kerung border. It is imperative to create economic opportunities, particularly for the youth, within the country. Further, the Nepal-India border needs to be equipped with enhanced intelligence networks and effective monitoring mechanisms.
📰 No Rohingya entry since 2014: Rijiju
Sharp decline in insurgency-related incidents in Northeast, says Rijiju
•Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju said on Tuesday that no Rohingya entered India since 2014 after the Bharatiya Janata Party government came to power. Mr. Rijiju also said that insurgency-related incidents in the Northeast had come down to 308 in 2017, the lowest since 1997.
•The Minister said 1963 incidents were reported in 2000, and the overall decline was 85%.
•Home Minister Rajnath Singh reviewed the security situation in the Northeast on Tuesday.
•On August 9 last year, the Home Ministry had issued a circular asking State governments to initiate a procedure to deport illegal immigrants including the Rohingya.
‘Fresh entry prohibited’
•The Centre’s move led to an uproar with two Rohingya moving the Supreme Court against the decision.
•Mr. Rijiju said on Tuesday, “The illegal immigrants like the Rohingya who came to India, came before 2014. Fresh entry of Rohingya has been prohibited by the border guarding forces.”
•The Minister said no insurgency-related incidents were reported in Tripura and Mizoram last year. No security forces were killed in Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Mizoram.
•A report presented at the meeting said abductions were down by 36% last year when compared to 2016.
•An official said 168 incidents of abductions were reported in 2016, which fell down to 102 in 2017.
📰 460 Indians deported by the U.S in 2017
New report links immigration control to terrorism, assimilation
•Tougher implementation of immigration laws in the U.S in the first year of Donald Trump presidency has resulted in 30 percent increase in arrests, compared to the previous year, but deportations have come down. While the overall number of undocumented people deported from the U.S in 2017 decreased from 2016, the number of Indians increased — 460 were deported last year compared to 353 in 2016. In 2015, 311 undocumented Indians were deported from the U.S, according to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
•Meanwhile, a report released by the administration linked its case for changing the immigration policy to national security and the ability of the immigrants to assimilate. An official speaking on background on Tuesday morning said 402 of the 549 people convicted of international terrorism-related charges in U.S. since September 11, 2001 were foreign-born. “Those who come to this country must love this country, should speak English…” the official said, promising measures to ensure that only those who can contribute to the country’s prosperity and can assimilate will be allowed in.
•ICE has said its enforcement raids targeting undocumented residents will continue in 2018. Last week, its agents raided dozens of 7-Eleven stores and arrested over 20 undocumented workers. Describing the raids as “a harbinger of what’s to come,” Derek N. Benner, acting head of ICE’s Homeland Security Investigation had said: “This is what we’re gearing up for this year and what you’re going to see more and more of is these large-scale compliance inspections, just for starters.”
•According to a Pew Research Centre study in 2016, there could be as many as five lakh undocumented Indians in the United States. Tougher enforcement of immigration laws could affect them. They have entered the country by crossing the border illegally or have overstayed their visas, and there is not much India can do for them diplomatically, officials familiar with the situation told The Hindu. Indian consulates in the U.S issue travel documents for them on an urgent basis, when sought, said officials. In 2017, Indian consulates issued 1229 travel documents, compared to 1000 in 2016 and 850 in 2015. Deportation and issuance of emergency travel documents cannot be directly correlated.
•The U.S deported 2.26 lakh people in 2017, compared to 2.40 lakh in 2016 and a vast majority of them were from Mexico. Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador were the other countries top on the list. ICE has said the decrease in deportation is due to prevention at the border, and reduction in attempts by people to sneak into the U.S illegally, given the tough enforcement.
•“It's clear from the numbers that any large scale immigration raids, detentions and deportations deeply impact the South Asian community in the U.S. With 450,000 undocumented Indians — in addition to at least 23,000 Indians and Pakistani DREAMers — these raids, detentions and the lack of movement on DACA and a DREAM Act continue to implicate and impact South Asian communities in the U.S,” a statement by the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum (NAPAWF) and South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT) said. ‘Dreamers’ are children who came to the U.S with their undocumented parents.
•Among the cases cited by the administration’s report on Tuesday, is of one Indian-origin citizen of the U.S. Khaleel Ahmed came to India in 1998 as a family member of a naturalized United States citizen from India. He subsequently became a United States citizen through naturalisation - the process called ‘chain migration’ that the Trump administration wants to end. In 2010, Mr. Ahmad was sentenced to more than eight years in prison for being part of an international terror conspiracy.
📰 Rohingya refugees to return in 2 years
Bangladesh, Myanmar sign deal
•Bangladesh and Myanmar have agreed to repatriate 650,000 Rohingya refugees, who fled Myanmar’s crisis-hit Rakhine province, in two years, according to an agreement signed between the two countries.
•The countries held the first meeting of a joint working group on the issue in Naypyidaw on Monday and Tuesday where the deal was signed, according to Bangladeshi officials.
•Under the deal, Bangladesh would establish five transit camps from which returnees would be received initially in two reception centres on the Myanmar side. Myanmar would shelter them in a temporary accommodation at the Hla Pho Khung and expeditiously rebuild the houses for the returnees to move in. According to the arrangement, Myanmar would consider resettling the displaced people staying at the zero line on a priority basis and reiterated its commitment to the stop outflow of its residents to Bangladesh.
•The two countries also finalised the “form” for verification of the returnees . Modalities for repatriation of orphans and children born out of unwarranted incidents have been incorporated in the arrangement.
📰 CJI meeting judges a welcome move: Congress
•As the Chief Justice of India met the four senior-most dissenting judges, political parties welcomed the initiative.
•Former Union Law Minister Ashwani Kumar said the reported gesture of the Chief Justice in reaching out to the judges who had raised “pertinent issues concerning judicial administration in the Supreme Court is timely and welcome”.
•He said issues concerning the highest judiciary must be resolved internally and the judges must come to an understanding on how to move forward in dispelling the ‘misgivings’ about its functioning.
•“Undoubtedly, the issues raised that are now in public domain have dented the institutional integrity of the Supreme Court. The prestige and dignity of the court must be restored at the earliest,” said the practising Supreme Court lawyer.
•Ever since the four judges voiced their differences with the Chief Justice last Friday, the government has maintained silence and called it an “internal issue” of the judiciary.
•Neither Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad nor any other Minister has spoken on it.
CPI(M) stand
•CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury told The Hindu that the issues raised were very important and must be settled.
•“If the judiciary can do it themselves, it is good. But the issues are far too important and cannot be brushed under the carpet,” Mr. Yechury said.
•Maintaining that there could be no compromise on the independence and integrity of the judiciary, he said, “It is the responsibility of all the three organs to ensure these issues are resolved and the integrity and independence of judiciary is strengthened.”
📰 Government to revisit Malimath report on criminal justice system
The Malimath panel had made 158 recommendations but these were never implemented.
•A 2003 report of a Committee on reforms in the criminal justice system that recommended admissibility of confessions made before a police officer as evidence in a court of law is being revisited by the Centre, a senior government official said.
•The Committee on Reforms of the Criminal Justice System, or the Justice Malimath Committee, was constituted by the Home Ministry in 2000 by then Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani, who also held the Home portfolio. It was headed by Justice V.S. Malimath, former Chief Justice of the Karnataka and Kerala High Courts.
•The Commitee’s report was discussed at the annual Directors General of Police (DGP) conference held at Tekanpur in Madhya Pradesh earlier this month at which Prime Minister Narendra Modi was present.
•Mr. Modi attended the presentation made by Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) DG R.K Pachnanda on the Committee’s recommendations. Senior police officers also briefed the Prime Minister on internal security.
•Asked if the government would implement the recommendations, Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju said, “Consultations will be held with the Law Ministry. Home Ministry cannot implement the report on its own.”
•The Malimath panel had made 158 recommendations but these were never implemented. The subsequent UPA governments from 2004-2014 did not act on the report either.
Judges’ impeachent
•The Committee also suggested constituting a National Judicial Commission and amending Article 124 to make impeachment of judges less difficult.
•“The Committee however, feels that the aberrations in the conduct of judges can be checked or even corrected if the problem is noticed at the earliest and efforts made to correct them.
•In the High Court, the Chief Justice is regarded as only the first among the equals. Except constituting benches and assigning work, he does not exercise any authority over his colleagues. This has considerably eroded discipline which is so necessary for any institution,” the Committee had said.
•It had suggested that Section 54 of Evidence Act be substituted by a provision to the effect that in criminal cases, evidence of bad character and antecedents is relevant. “Just as evidence of good character of the accused is relevant, evidence regarding bad character of the accused should also be relevant. There is no good reason why evidence regarding bad character of the accused should be made relevant only when evidence is led about his good character. This is quite illogical and irrational,” the report had said.
📰 Colour-coded passports draw flak in Kerala
Says Central govt decision is discriminatory and violative of human rights
•The Central government’s decision to issue orange colour passports to persons requiring emigration check has evoked an angry reaction from leaders and organisations cutting across political lines in Kerala.
•From Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala, both the ruling and Opposition party leaders have expressed their anger and dismay at the Central government decision which, they said, is discriminatory and violative of human rights.
•In a Facebook post, the Chief Minister said the passport reform would divide Indian citizens into two classes in gross violation of the fundamental rights guaranteed by the Articles 14 to 17 of the Constitution. The decision to issue orange passports to those require emigration check and blue passports to those who do not require such check would make those who had not cleared Class 10 second class citizens, he said.
•While a large number of labourers might be those who had not cleared Class 11, there could also be many from the business community who had not had formal education beyond that level.
•The Central government’s decision would prove particularly hurtful when those carrying the orange passports visit other countries. This might result in their being treated as second class citizens and some even losing out in the process. The CM also took exception to the decision of the Ministry of External Affairs to leave out the details such as address of the passport-holder.
📰 Goa plea against Mahadayi dams misleading: Karnataka
Krishna water has been shared with A.P., Maharashtra, says M.B. Patil
•Terming the Goa submission challenging Karnataka’s trans-basin diversion of Mahadayi waters into the Malaprabha reservoir as “misleading and contradictory”, State Water Resources Minister M.B. Patil said water has been shared with Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra from the Krishna basin by the Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal (KWDT) in the past.
•Senior counsel Atmaram Nadkarni, representing Goa, in his 531-page submission before the Mahadayi Water Dispute Tribunal (MWDT) on Monday, pleaded against allowing the diversion of the Mahadayi river water by the governments of Karnataka and Maharashtra.
•Speaking to The Hindu on Tuesday, Mr. Patil said the KWDT has allocated 98.2 tmcft water to the Koyna dam in Maharashtra for generation of power and 25 tmcft for the Telugu-Ganga project (under KWDT-II).
•Mr. Nadkarni had challenged the 12 proposed projects by Karnataka in the Western Ghats, apart from the trans-basin diversion of Mahadayi waters. About 200 tmcft water is available in Mahadayi basin, according to a 2003 Central Water Commission report. Unfortunately, Goa uses only around 10 tmcft while the remaining goes into the sea, Mr. Patil argued.
•“Goa’s opposition to share 7.56 tmcft with Karnataka is very unfortunate,” he said.
•Karnataka would place its demand seeking its share of 36.558 tmcft of water in the Mahadayi basin before the Tribunal, the Minister said.
•In the letter to BJP Karnataka president B.S. Yeddyurappa, Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar had agreed for talks on providing drinking water to drought-prone districts of Malaprabha basin.
•Meanwhile, Congress workers staged a protest against Goa Water Resources Minister Vinod Palyekar over his use of an objectionable term while referring to the people of Karnataka.
📰 Government ends Haj subsidy from this year
•Union Minister for Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Tuesday announced the Centre would phase out subsidies for the annual Haj pilgrimage, two months after his Ministry had taken the decision.
•“It is part of the Modi government’s efforts to empower minorities with dignity and without appeasement,” he told a media briefing at the BJP headquarters here. The decision was first reported in The Hindu in November.
•The Centre’s decision followed a 2012 Supreme Court order asking that subsidies for the Haj be phased out by 2022 and the money saved (around ₹450 crore annually) diverted to more welfare-oriented activities. Political parties reminded the government of the caveat in the court order that the funds should be spent on welfare.
•In November Mr. Naqvi told The Hindu that his Ministry and the government had a larger responsibility towards the minorities and the money saved from the Haj subsidy withdrawal would be used for the education of the girl child.
•A new Haj policy, formulated by a committee headed by former bureaucrat Afzal Amanullah had also suggested that women Hajis be allowed to perform the pilgrimage without male escort, or mehram. In a first, a batch of over 1300 women will perform the annual pilgrimage of Haj from India without a mehram this year.
•“Woman Haj assistants would accompany them and arrangements have been made,” Mr. Naqvi said.
📰 Following the grain trail: on India's public distribution system
Many States have initiated ‘reforms’ of the public distribution system that are hurting millions of people
•India’s public distribution system (PDS) is in danger of being derailed in several States across the country. Recent disruptions of the PDS have taken different forms, from compulsory biometric authentication to so-called direct benefit transfer (DBT). The consequences are alarming, but tend to go unreported.
Biometric mix-ups
•Jharkhand is a prime example of this problem. By mid-2016, the PDS in Jharkhand had greatly improved, partly due to a series of reforms inspired by Chhattisgarh’s experience and intensified under the National Food Security Act (NFSA). Instead of completing these reforms, for instance by removing private dealers, the Jharkhand government made Aadhaar-based biometric authentication compulsory for PDS users. The consequences, documented in a recent study published in the Economic and Political Weekly, were sobering. Large numbers of people, especially among vulnerable groups such as widows and the elderly, found themselves excluded from the PDS. Those who were still able to buy their food rations faced considerable inconvenience due to connectivity and biometric failures. Worse, there was a revival of corruption, as PDS rice meant for those who failed the biometric test was siphoned off with abandon.
•The damage was made worse in mid-2017, when the Jharkhand government mass-cancelled ration cards not linked with Aadhaar. On September 22, the government claimed that Aadhaar had enabled it to cancel 11 lakh “fake” ration cards, but this figure stands no scrutiny, and indeed, it was retracted later. Many of the cancelled ration cards actually belonged to families that had been unable to link their card with Aadhaar for no fault of their own. The family of Santoshi Kumari, an 11-year old Dalit girl who died of hunger on September 28, was among them.
•The mass-cancellation of Aadhaar-less ration cards, without verification and without even informing the victims, was both inhuman and illegal. The State government received some flak for it from the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) — it is another matter that UIDAI is participating in the crusade to make Aadhaar-based biometric authentication compulsory in various contexts. But far from learning from this mistake, or doing anything to repair it, the Jharkhand government launched a further attack on people’s food entitlements: the monthly PDS rations of 5 kg per person were restricted to those whose individual names had been linked with Aadhaar in the ration-cards database. The following sort of situation is now very common in rural Jharkhand: a family has five members, but only three are listed along with their Aadhaar number in the database, so the family ends up getting 15 kg of rice per month instead of 25 kg. This restriction, incidentally, is a flagrant violation of the instructions issued by the Food Ministry in Delhi on October 24, in response to the uproar that followed Santoshi Kumari’s death.
The cash route
•All this, however, is just a trailer. Preparations are on for a much bigger assault on the PDS in Jharkhand: the transition to so-called “direct benefit transfer”. Under the DBT system, people have to collect their food subsidy in cash from the bank before using it to buy rice from the ration shop at ₹32 per kg. Until now, they were able to buy rice from the ration shop at ₹1 per kg. Direct benefit transfer is an odd term for the new system, whereby the food subsidy is provided in a very roundabout way.
•The DBT system was initiated in Nagri Block of Ranchi district last October, on an experimental basis. The State government is planning to extend it in other parts if the experiment works. But it seems to have decided in advance that the experiment is a success, without paying serious attention to the ground realities.
•In Nagri, it does not take long to discover that the new system is a disaster, and that most people are angry with it. The main problem with DBT is that people waste enormous time shuttling between the banks, pragya kendras (common service centres) and ration shops to get hold of their money and then use it to buy rice at the ration shop. For many of them, this is a three-step process. First, they go to the bank to find out whether the subsidy has been credited and update their passbook. Second, they go to the pragya kendra to withdraw the cash, as the bank often insists on their doing so from these centres. Third, they take the cash to the ration shop to buy rice at ₹32 per kg. At every step, there are long queues, and for many people the bank or pragya kendra is also far away. For people with mobility problems, like the elderly or disabled, this entire process is a nightmare. One elderly woman we met had to be taken to the bank each time by two relatives – one to drive the motorbike and one to hold her from the back seat.
•The ordeal was particularly trying in the last few weeks, when people had to adapt to the new system. Many families have several bank accounts, but apparently, they were not told where to look for their subsidy. Even the bank manager we met in Nagri, or for that matter the Block Development Officer, did not know which account is selected for DBT when a household has several bank accounts. As a result, many people had to run from bank to bank to find out where their subsidy had been deposited. This is all the more difficult as the food subsidy is not always easy to distinguish from other bank credits.
•If people had cash reserves, the system might work better: PDS purchases would not be contingent on bank transactions. What is striking is that so many people in rural Jharkhand, even in a relatively developed block like Nagri, have so little cash. And even those who have some cash, it seems, prefer to use the DBT subsidy to buy rice from the ration shop, partly because they are not clear about the rules of the game.
•Incidentally, the State government announced last year that Nagri was all set to become Jharkhand’s first “cashless block”. Today, it is forcing people to handle more cash than they want to.
Beyond Jharkhand
•Even as the people of Nagri fume and protest against the DBT experiment, the State government is trying its best to project it as a success and justify its extension to the whole State. If this happens, millions of people will face renewed food insecurity.
•Jharkhand is among the worst cases of destabilisation of the PDS, but similar moves are happening in other States. Most of them are under tremendous pressure from the Central government to impose Aadhaar-based biometric authentication or move towards DBT. In Bihar, I am told, DBT failed in the pilot block (Kasba in Purnia district), but the failure went largely unreported. In Rajasthan, the biometric authentication has caused enormous damage, evident even in the government’s own transactions data. Even Chhattisgarh, known for its model PDS, is under pressure to follow the diktats of the Central government and adopt Aadhaar-based technology. In all these States, we know senior officers in the Food Department who understand the inappropriateness of this technology and privately oppose it. Yet, they have no choice but to follow the Central government’s instructions. This is symptomatic of a larger malady in India’s social sector: growing centralisation and technocracy.
•The most disturbing aspect of this trend is a lack of concern for the hardships that people face. Aadhaar-less ration cards are cancelled without notice. Pensions are discontinued without the victims being told what the problem is. Job cards are cancelled just to meet the “100% seeding” targets. Elderly persons with rough fingerprints are deprived of food rations without compensation. Cash payments are automatically redirected to Aadhaar-linked bank accounts that people sometimes know nothing about. In effect, they are treated as guinea pigs for undependable technologies, without any effective arrangements for grievance redressal or even information sharing. Let people perish if need be, Aadhaar must prevail.
📰 Centre to seek comments on farm export policy draft
‘Policy aims to boost produce shipments, value addition’
•The Commerce Ministry will soon put out a draft Agricultural Export Policy for comments from the public, according to a senior official.
•The proposed policy, which aims to boost shipments of farm items by identifying niche products and new markets, also has a focus on value addition and reduction of wastage through pre and post-harvest interventions, Santosh Sarangi, Joint Secretary in the Ministry, said at a press conference on the two-day mega international food and beverage trade show —‘Indus Food’ starting January 18.
•More than 400 exhibitors are expected to participate in the event, besides buyers from about 43 countries. About $2.5 billion worth of business is expected to be finalised during the event, as per government estimates.
•Farm exports must touch about $60 billion by 2020 from $31 billion in 2015 to help achieve the objective of doubling farmers’ incomes in line with the government policy.
Exports rise
•Exports from the segment rose 18% to $21 billion in April-October 2017-18 period as against just 5% in 2016-17.
•The proposed agricultural export policy will also help develop agricultural clusters. Commerce Minister Suresh Prabhu had said recently that, “If there are clusters for industry, why should we not think about clusters for agriculture.”
•“Farmers have the right to access global markets and get better prices (for their produce),” Mr. Prabhu said.
•He added, “We have to develop global supply chains and we will work on that.” The proposed policy would also cover issues such as logistics, certification and traceability to increase shipments of farm produce including coffee, tea, fruits and vegetables.
📰 Australia to offer payment for Great Barrier Reef rescue ideas
Environment Minister appeals to scientists, innovators and business leaders
•Australia is calling on the world’s top scientific minds to help save the Great Barrier Reef, offering hundreds of thousands of dollars to fund research into protecting the world’s largest living structure.
•The UNESCO World Heritage-listed reef is reeling from significant coral bleaching due to warming sea temperatures linked to climate change.
•The 2,300-kilometre site is also under pressure from farming runoff, development and predatory crown-of-thorns starfish, with experts warning it could be suffering irreparable damage.
•On Tuesday, the Australian government announced a Aus$2 million ($1.6 million) funding pot available to people with bright ideas on how to save the reef.
•“The scale of the problem is big and big thinking is needed, but it’s important to remember that solutions can come from anywhere,” said Environment Minister Josh Frydenberg.
•He said the money would be available to the world’s “greatest scientific minds, industry and business leaders, innovators and entrepreneurs”.
•“Solutions could focus on anything from reducing the exposure of corals to physical stressors, to boosting coral regeneration rates by cultivating reef-building coral larvae that attract other important marine species,” Mr. Frydenberg added.
•Up to Aus$250,000 is available for an initial feasibility stage, where researchers can test the technical and commercial viability of their proposals for up to six months.
•More than one proposal is expected to be accepted at this stage, the government said.
•A further Aus$1 million will then be made available to the best solutions at the proof of concept stage, where applicants develop and test their prototypes for up to 12 months.
•Those that are successful will retain intellectual property rights and will be able to try to commercialise their innovation.
•The 2017 bleaching marked the second-straight year that corals have been damaged by warming sea temperatures, an unprecedented occurrence that scientists said would give the invertebrate marine creatures insufficient time to fully recover.
