📰 Caution against shaming
The Kerala High Court’s judgment on obscenity will have monumental implications
•The wave of shaming that was unleashed in the wake of the appearance of the image of a breastfeeding woman on the cover of Grihalakshmi, a leading women’s magazine in Malayalam, in March this year, seems to have finally been contained by the Kerala High Court’s eloquent judgment. Dismissing a writ petition claiming that the image was obscene, insulting to women and in violation of child rights, the judges explicitly stated that these claims were unfounded. They cited recent scholarship on free speech which cautions against anti-pornography positions that may only too easily slide into rank conservatism. This judgment is especially significant for Kerala where social conservatism has historically stayed largely unchallenged and spread right across the political spectrum. And where the challenge to it comes largely from the young, this judgment may seem to have monumental implications.
Echoes from the past
•Many battles were fought in Malayali society of the early twentieth century (and before) over the exposure of the upper body. While rules of caste difference and deference required that the chest, female and male, of those deemed to be social inferiors be exposed in the presence of ostensible social superiors, social reformism in general seemed outraged only by the nakedness of the female form. Perhaps such exposure of lower caste people was a way of emphasising, making visible, their vulnerability to power produced in and through the social contract between Brahmins and Nairs; nevertheless, modern social reformers inevitably read it through the lens of Victorian morality and so saw only the machinations of upper caste sexual predators in it — and the nakedness of the male chest remained unseen. The move to make women cover their breasts was a prominent item on the reformist agenda; though women in Kerala did breastfeed openly for the larger part of the twentieth century, this practice has faded.
•The image of a young model on the cover of Grihalakshmi actually makes only a very small dent in this deeply-entrenched, if entirely modern, taboo. For it certainly marks the woman very clearly as married, respectable, elite, and therefore ‘eligible’ to demand exception from the sexual gaze. It is seen to be maternal — distinguished clearly from the sexual. Seen that way, the image is not too far from familiar stereotypes about mothers: the mother’s body, being non-sexual and devoted to nurturing, is not about physical pleasure, and should be exempted from the sexual gaze, it seems to say. But the conservatives obviously disagreed, and saw it as obscene. That this view gained some traction reveals the strength of social conservatism, now armed with the shaming possibilities unleashed by the social media. What remained absent was critical scrutiny of the statement being made on biological motherhood — using the image of a sophisticated, professionally-groomed young woman who would be more identified with the modern workplace than the home. In a certain frame, this might appear to be the modern woman determined to also stay ‘traditional’, by embracing community-sanctioned marriage and motherhood in ‘traditional’ ways.
•The High Court judgment does consider whether the exposed female body is instantly obscene, and rejects the idea. It does mobilise ‘ancient Indian culture’ to support its argument — citing the representational traditions of Indian art — but later, seemingly addressing others who identify modesty that demands the clothed body as ‘tradition’, says: “We cannot, as a nation — people of all shades of faith and belief — afford to chain ourselves to the past, glorious it may have been… Only from the prism of the present, the past appears to be glorious.” It clearly distinguishes legal paternalism from legal moralism and warns against the same. This is truly valuable, especially, after the much-discussed Hadiya case, in which these were confused, and a young woman’s self-chosen marriage was annulled by the High Court. It considers several tests of obscenity and finally asserts that in present community standards, “Given the picture’s posture and its background setting (mother feeding the baby)... it is not prurient or obscene, or even suggestive of it.”
Cause for worry
•Clearly, this brings cheer to those who defended the cover as essentially non-sexual, and actually more related to developmental concerns such as maternal and child health. It also comforts those who would defend the image as a defiant depiction of pleasure in the mother-child physical bond. And these are, no doubt, important gains. Yet, at a time in which the government seems to be relentlessly pushing maternal-and-child and kitchen-centred programmes as ‘women’s development’, and given the slant towards social conservatism evident in many publications, one cannot but worry.
📰 U.S. postpones 2+2 dialogue with India
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman were to travel to the U.S. to take part in the meeting.
•The much anticipated dialogue, between the defence and foreign ministers of India and the United States scheduled for July, has been postponed.
•The Ministry of External Affairs said the message postponing the talks came from the U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, even as U.S. President Donald Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, met Prime Minister Narendra Modi here on Wednesday. Mr. Pompeo spoke to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and expressed regret.
•“U.S. Secretary of State Pompeo spoke to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj a short while ago to express his regret and deep disappointment at the U.S. having to postpone the 2+2 Dialogue for unavoidable reasons,” said Raveesh Kumar, Official Spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs in a late evening message on his social media account.
•“Secretary Pompeo sought External Affairs Minister Swaraj’s understanding and they agreed to identify new mutually convenient dates to hold the dialogues at the earliest in India or the U.S.,” said the Spokesperson.
•The talks were expected to boost bilateral ease of ties in the backdrop of growing disagreement over the Iran nuclear deal and the brewing tariff war between the two sides. The high-level dialogue was designed to address bilateral issues following a summit-level meeting between President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Modi in 2017. Both Defence Miniser Nirmala Sitharaman and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj were expected to travel to the U.S. for the meeting with Secretary of Defence Mattis and Secretary of State Pompeo.
•The talks were postponed earlier once when the previous Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was asked to quit by President Trump in March 2018. It was previously scheduled for April. However the latest postponement which is also being considered as cancellation by some quarters comes in the backdrop of growing differences between India and the U.S. over the Iran nuclear deal.
•Last week, External Affairs Minister Swaraj met her French counterpart Jean Yves Le Drian where both sides agreed to “maintain” the Iran nuclear deal that allows for global trading with Tehran.
•The latest reports suggest that the U.S. has given a November deadline to Indian and Chinese companies that continue to trade with Iran disregarding U.S. Treasury’s sanctions.
•The Trump administration withdrew from the Iran deal also known by the acronym JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) in May.
•Earlier, Ms. Haley who is visiting India for the first time since taking over as the envoy of President Trump in 2017 described the meeting with Prime Minister Modi as the one representing two democracies.
•Great discussion with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on trade, defence, regional security, and strengthening our partnership. As the world’s oldest and largest democracies, our friendship is strong,” said Ambassador Haley on a social media platform after meeting Mr. Modi.
•Ms. Haley also met Ms. Swaraj.
•She began her three-day tour to India by visiting the 16th century memorial of Emperor Humayun located in South Delhi.
📰 Centre may scrap UGC, proposes new regulator
Places draft Bill in public domain for suggestions
•Setting the ball rolling for major reforms in higher education, the Centre has placed in the public domain a draft Bill for a Higher Education Commission of India – aimed at replacing the University Grants Commission – for eliciting suggestions from educationists.
•The draft Higher Education Commission of India (Repeal of University Grants Commission Act) Act, 2018, takes away funding powers from the proposed regulator and gives it powers to ensure academic quality and even close down bogus institutions.
•Stakeholders in the higher education sector can mail their suggestions at reformofugc@gmail.com by 5 pm on July 7, 2018.
•There is no plan to merge all higher education regulators, as was proposed through a planned agency called HEERA, which was supposed to be put in place as a super regulator.
•The present proposal, said secretary (higher education) R. Subrahmanyam, is to replace the UGC. Once this is done after the HECI Bill is passed by Parliament, the technical education regulator AICTE and the teachers' education regulator NCTE will also be reformed on similar lines.
•The new regime separates the academic and funding aspects of higher education. While HECI will be in charge of ensuring academic quality in universities and colleges, the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) – or another mechanism that will be put in place later – will be responsible for funding universities and colleges.
Closing down
•Another key feature of the draft legislation is that “the Regulator will have powers to enforce compliance to the academic quality standards and will have the power to order closure of sub-standard and bogus institutions”, said an MHRD release.
•Moreover, non-compliance could result in fines or even a jail sentence.
•Till now, the UGC had no such powers. All it could do was to release a list of bogus institutions and not recognise their degrees.
•“HECI is tasked with the mandate of improving academic standards with specific focus on learning outcomes, evaluation of academic performance by institutions, mentoring of institutions, training of teachers, promote use of educational technology, etc.,” said the release.
•“It will develop norms for setting standards for opening and closure of institutions, provide for greater flexibility and autonomy to institutions, lay standards for appointments to critical leadership positions at the institutional level irrespective of university started under any law (including state list),” it said.
📰 ICSSR’s new vision: make research relevant to policy
The apex body has sent the proposal to the government
•In an attempt at making research projects awarded by the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR) move from “pure ideological research” to one that is in sync with policy imperatives, the apex social science research body has formulated a blue print of key areas for future research.
•It has sent a vision document called IMPRESS (Impactful Policy Research in Social Sciences) to the government, sources say.
•This apart, it has also made a tentative list of themes on which it would like to support research.
•“We believe that social science research should focus on areas that can link research to pressing policy needs of the time. Social science is close to society and research in it should contribute to solving the problems we face,” a well-placed source said on condition of anonymity. The ICHR awards doctoral and post-doctoral fellowships. It also awards minor and major projects. In future, proposals that are related to the thrust areas are more likely to pass muster, though other proposals also can.
•The document shared with the government identifies many thrust areas. These include research proposals on public private partnerships, food security, Make In India (a key policy initiative of the present government), federalism, regionalism and its implications, etc.
•Significantly, one of the thrust areas mentioned in the document is the idea of simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and State legislative assemblies, another idea supported by the present government.
•Fake news, paid news and media ownership also figure among the thrust areas for research, the official said.
•The ICSSR has also internally formulated some key themes for research, apart from the document shared with the Ministry of Human Resource Development.
•These include agrarian issues, farmers’ distress, agricultural growth, poverty alleviation, revitalisation of manufacturing, trade and investment policy, liberalisation and lost opportunities, etc.
📰 Rethinking the referendum
Two years on, Britain remains as divided as it was earlier over the issue of leaving the EU
•On Saturday, June 23, just two years to the day since the referendum in which Britain and Gibraltar (including Commonwealth citizens resident there) voted to leave the European Union (EU), over 100,000 people marched through London to call for a second referendum on Britain’s decision to leave. Some waved EU flags, others had placards calling for a “People’s Choice, Proper Choice”, and others again wore t-shirts with the message “Rethink Brexit, Renew Britain”. The participants ranged in age and background, though there were many young people. One carried a sign, “I’m 16, Brexit Stole my Future.”
The promises made
•“A chaotic government trying to push us over the cliff edge,” Caroline Lucas, the co-leader of the Green Party, told those gathered there. She pointed to a range of promises made during the course of the referendum campaign by the Leave side that had been unfulfilled, such as £350 million a week extra for the National Health Service (NHS) as well as the difficulties related to Northern Ireland and other matters that voters had not been aware of at the time of the vote. “It is time for you to decide, for you to take back control,” said Gina Miller, the campaigner who had taken the government to the Supreme Court over parliamentary accountability for Brexit. Pointing to the House of Commons, where MPs last week had voted by a slim majority to pass the central plank of Brexit legislation, the EU Withdrawal Bill, she said it was “dishonest” for politicians to suggest that “they still believe the will of the people is still the same as two years ago.”
•Two years on, as Britain remains as divided over the issue of leaving the EU, public debate has continued and gained ground on the virtues of a second referendum. Initially those concerned about the direction of Brexit policy had focussed, like Ms. Miller, on pushing for greater parliamentary accountability, but with both main political parties committed to respecting the “will of the people” and leaving the European single market (the Labour party is more committed to some form of custom union membership), opposition has turned elsewhere.
•The arguments are far from straightforward. Though won by a slim majority of 51.9% to 48.1%, the referendum result followed a high turnout of 72.2% which was well above the figure for recent general elections (which has ranged between 61% and 69% in the past decade). Contrary to initial suggestions that young people had not participated, subsequent research by two LSE academics found that around 64% of 18 to 24 year olds took part in the referendum, which was almost identical to the turnout for 40 to 54 year olds (for those aged 65 and over the turnout hit 90%).
•Nevertheless, arguments have focussed on the closeness of the margin, and what was voted on. Was a 50% threshold high enough, and was a mere 3-4% gap wide enough for such a fundamental and irreversible decision that was to determine the future of generations to come?
•And what of the question put to people in the referendum itself: “Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union or leave the European Union?” What did leaving and Prime Minister Theresa May’s now notorious slogan “Brexit means Brexit” entail?
•Did it necessarily involve leaving the single market (the elimination of tariffs, quotas, and the free movement of goods, services, capital and people)? Or the customs union (the clubbing together of countries to apply identical tariffs at the border)? Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein are part of the single market but not the EU, while non-member Turkey is part of a customs union with the EU, while also not a member.
•There have also been questions around the veracity of some of the claims made during campaigns such as the NHS pledge (referred to by Ms. Lucas at the protest) made by Vote Leave, the leading group that campaigned to leave the EU, and which was supported by politicians like Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson. The NHS pledge has in fact become a rallying point for the opposition movement. Earlier this month, the government courted anger, including from Conservatives, over funding for the NHS that was touted as a Brexit dividend. There are also concerns around the promises made to particular communities: former Cabinet Minister Priti Patel was among those who drew support from the Indian community for leaving the EU by suggesting that ending freedom of movement from the EU could give the government space to be more lenient towards non-EU nationals. Since then the government has continued to maintain its tough stance on immigration, refusing to budge on an immigration cap, and excluding Indian students from a relaxation of documentation requirements.
Problem areas
•New problem areas have continued to arise particularly over the Irish question, which has proved to be one of the issues hardest to resolve at the heart of Brexit. Leaving the single market and the customs union would result in a “hard” border on the island of Ireland, jeopardising the fragile peace process under way that has heavily relied on the fluid boundary and deep economic and social links. With the May government’s Northern Irish ally, the DUP, heavily opposed to anything that results in a different regulatory or customs regime in Northern Ireland and the rest of the U.K., options for an innovative solution are extremely limited. Business groups have become more and more vocal over their concerns, with Airbus warning that its future in the U.K. was at stake under a no-deal scenario, while the Society of Motor Manufacturers & Traders, which represents the auto industry, said that investment was already taking a hit from the uncertainty around Brexit. “With every week that passes, new facts emerge that no one knew about during the referendum,” warned Labour MP and People’s Vote advocate Chuka Umunna earlier this month.
•Further complicating matters have been questions over Vote Leave, and Leave.EU, another of the major Brexit campaign groups. Last month, the Electoral Commission fined Leave.EU £70,000 for breaking spending rules during the referendum, while its investigation into spending by Vote Leave is due to be published next month. A draft version of the report had concluded that rules had been flouted, the BBC recently reported.
•However, not everyone is convinced of the role of referendums: if a referendum on such a crucial issue lay at the heart of the problem, would pushing for another one be the right road ahead? Would gaining a meaningful say for Parliament be a better focal point?
•Whether Parliament has been guaranteed a “meaningful say” depends on who one asks. Last week, the government managed to win support for its EU withdrawal bill after offering certain “assurances” to potential Conservative rebels around the role that Parliament would have. However, the extent to which those guarantees can be relied on remains unclear with some suggesting that the so-called “assurances” simply involved the government reiterating what was standard procedure already.
Learning from the past
•In the meantime, the push for another referendum continues, but with a warning from some of its advocates. “If we are to succeed, we cannot repeat the mistakes of the past,” said Ms. Lucas at the rally, calling for the new campaign to avoid the pitfalls of the initial Remain campaign. This campaign had been dubbed “project fear” for its concentration on the economic dangers of leaving the EU, while its focus on enlisting top economists, politicians and others had led to leave campaigners whipping up the “anti-establishment” vote against them. “Our campaign must be radical, it must be young, it must be diverse; it must listen to people, empower them and create reasons for hope,” she said. “We must be different to win and we have to win.”
📰 Nepal welcomes ‘2+1’ dialogue mechanism
‘India, China can benefit from format’
•Nepali officials are mulling over China’s proposal of a “two-plus-one” mechanism, where Beijing and New Delhi can jointly hold a dialogue with a third country in South Asia.
•“We welcome the two-plus-one format as we are confident that such a dialogue will be conducted in a spirit of equality and mutual respect,” Shakti Bahadur Basnet, Nepal’s Minister of Forests and Environment, told The Hindu in Beijing.
•The Chinese side has been emphatic that its relations with the Nepal will be conducted according to the five principles of peaceful coexistence — the basis for a foreign policy among equals.
‘Five principles’
•The joint statement issued at the end of last week’s visit to China of Nepal’s Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli stressed that China-Nepal ties “maintained the momentum of healthy development on the basis of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, which sets a model of harmonious coexistence between countries of different sizes and social systems”.
•Separately, an official source had earlier told The Hindu that the Chinese side proposed to Mr. Oli, a “two-plus-one” format for dialogue. Mr. Basnet pointed out that in the era of globalisation, it was imperative for Nepal to maintain close ties with both its neighbours — China and India.
•The Nepali Minister saw the rise of China and India as a “big opportunity” for the development of Nepal. “Nepal’s two big neighbours are developing very fast. It is a big opportunity for us if we can manage our relations with both countries properly.” “In this way Nepal wants to be a bridge between India and China,” he observed.
•Mr. Basnet said that Nepal “understands the spirit of Wuhan,” alluding to the “informal summit” in April between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He said that Nepal was looking for a partnership with China and India to develop connectivity in the Himalayan nation.
📰 Reality check: On bank NPAs
RBI report warns that the worst on NPAs may be yet to come. Urgent changes are needed
•The worst is far from over for Indian banks. The financial stability report released by the Reserve Bank of India on Tuesday has warned that the gross non-performing assets (GNPAs) of scheduled commercial banks in the country could rise from 11.6% in March 2018 to 12.2% in March 2019, which would be the highest level of bad debt in almost two decades. This puts at rest the hope of a bottoming out of the NPA crisis that has affected the banking system and impeded credit growth in the economy. The GNPA of banks under the prompt corrective action framework, in particular, is expected to rise to 22.3% in March 2019, from 21% this March. The RBI believes that this will increase the size of provisioning for losses and affect the capital position of banks. In fact, the capital to risk-weighted assets ratio of the banking system as a whole is expected to drop from 13.5% in March 2018 to 12.8% in March 2019. The deteriorating health of banks is in contrast to the economy, which is on the path to recovery, clocking a healthy growth rate of 7.7% during the last quarter. The RBI, however, has warned about the rising external risks that pose a significant threat to the economy and to the banks. The tightening of monetary policy by the United States Federal Reserve and increased borrowing by the U.S. government have already caused credit to flow out of emerging markets such as India. The increase in commodity prices is another risk on the horizon that could pose a significant threat to the rupee and the country’s fiscal and current account deficits. All these factors could well combine to increase the risk of an economic slowdown and exert pressure on the entire banking system.
•A major highlight of the financial stability report is the central bank’s finding that public sector banks (PSBs) are far more prone to fraud than their private sector counterparts. This is significant in light of the huge scam unearthed at a Punjab National Bank branch earlier this year. The RBI notes that more than 85% of frauds could be linked to PSBs, even though their share of overall credit is only about 65%. This should come as no surprise given the serious corporate governance issues faced by public sector banks, which to a large extent also contributed to the lax lending practices that are at the core of the NPA crisis. In his foreword to the report, RBI Deputy Governor Viral Acharya has noted that governance reforms at PSBs, if implemented, can help improve their financial performance and also reduce their operational risks. For now, the RBI expects the government’s recapitalisation plan for banks and the implementation of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code to improve the capital position of banks. These reforms can definitely help. But unless the government can gather the courage to make drastic changes to aspects of operational autonomy and the ownership of PSBs, future crises will be hard to prevent.
📰 Encouraging mediation to settle disputes
The deliberations at the UN Commission on International Trade Law will facilitate legal reform to ease dispute resolution
•Beginning this week, India will participate in deliberations at the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) in New York on an important issue concerning resolution of commercial disputes. Commercial disputes are resolved not only through courts and arbitration but also through mediation. The deliberations will consider how these settlement agreements in disputes in international commercial transactions will be implemented by courts in different countries.
An important draft
•Several concerns make this draft important for India and its businesses. Mandatory pre-litigation mediation has been introduced in commercial disputes. The adoption of the convention will address a policy gap on outcomes from the mediation process involving cross-border disputes. With a definitive legal framework recognising and enforcing mediated settlement agreements, businesses will be encouraged to consider mediation in managing and resolving disputes that arise in their commercial transactions. India has lost substantial earnings as a result of international disputes being taken for resolution outside the country. Strengthening the dispute resolution policies will encourage dispute resolution in India, where the commercial relationship once began.
•As is evident, international transactions involve the application of different laws, by virtue of the persons from different countries being involved, or their undertaking a business in a third country. The draft convention that is now under consideration relates to the enforcement of settlement agreements arising from disputes in international commercial contracts. The convention will link laws adopted by countries to recognise domestic mediation and extend them beyond their boundaries. UNCITRAL has formulated principles on which countries should recognise and enforce mediation agreements arising from cross-border disputes. Once formalised, countries will have a consistent framework for enforcing mediation agreements made in other countries.
•The draft convention defines mediation as a “process whereby parties attempt to reach an amicable settlement of their dispute with the assistance of a third person (the mediator). The mediator lacks the authority to impose a solution upon the parties to the dispute.” Courts of a country before which a mediated settlement agreement is brought must ensure implementation of the terms of settlement. The courts will allow a party to a settlement agreement to rely on this agreement as a defence in cases filed on the basis of disputes already settled by the agreement.
Enforcement of settlement agreement
•When the settlement agreement comes up before the court for implementation or enforcement, the court will review it on the basis of certain conditions. These include the capacity of the parties to enter into the agreement, the question whether the subject matter of the agreement is one that can be settled through mediation in terms of its domestic laws, and so on. Once the agreement has been reviewed, the court must enforce the agreement on the terms agreed. Courts can decline enforcement only on these conditions. The importance of the draft convention is in the identification of these conditions after careful deliberation.
•Mediated settlement agreements typically don’t need court assistance for enforcement since the terms of settlement have been chosen and determined by the parties. However, with this convention comes the certainty that settlement agreements through mediation will be acknowledged as a resolution of the dispute, and will be respected and enforced. Further, if the court were to decline enforcement, this will be done on grounds that are known to international parties.
•One hundred and seventy-four countries recognise mediation and conciliation as a method of resolving disputes, and as an alternative to going to courts. International business and dispute resolution institutions such as the International Chamber of Commerce, the Singapore International Mediation Centre and the World Intellectual Property Organisation all have established rules and assist businesses in resolving disputes through mediation. Businesses, in turn, have turned to mediation as the first step in resolving differences that arise in their international disputes. The convention is opportune and will facilitate legal reform to ease dispute resolution.
📰 Ujjwala revolution
With supplies ramping up and service improving, the adoption of LPG has received a boost
•Last month, the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) completed two years of operation. During this time the number of LPG connections has crossed 4 crore, and LPG penetration in India has risen from 56% in 2014 to 80%. While distributing new connections is no mean feat, the greater challenge for the mission lies in refills.
•It is worth considering the usage pattern of PMUY customers who have been in the system for a year or more and have been buying four or more cylinders a year. Data from the Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL), which has given out almost half of the Ujjwala connections, suggest that between May 2016 and April 2017, IOCL enrolled 85.47 lakh Ujjwala customers. From May 2016 to April 2018, the average cylinder consumption of these customers was 4.4 per year, including the installation cylinder.
•One in five Ujjwala customers who enrolled in May 2016 is using seven cylinders annually, thus matching the national per capita consumption of 6.8 cylinders in 2017-18. A total of 60% of those enrolled in May 2016 are on their eighth cylinder at present, implying an annual usage of four cylinders. A similar trend is also seen for those enrolled in March 2017: 20% using seven or more cylinders annually, and 56% on to their fourth cylinder.
•Studying the usage of gas by PMUY customers and visiting multiple villages across the country, the following features of the programme are evident. One, interactions with PMUY subscribers suggest that they focus on the value that LPG generates for them and not on its cost. Munesh from Uttar Pradesh says, “LPG is neither cheap nor expensive; it is just worth the price I pay for it.” She makes enough money through sale of cow dung manure to finance her LPG refills. Narayani from Chhattishgarh is now able to find time to stitch blouses and bags. Reena Rudrapal from Tripura makes idols. We also observe benefits such as customers being able to devote more time towards children, the elderly and sick, along with reduced drudgery and gains in health.
•Two, the programme has also witnessed the emergence of a peer learning platform: the Pradhan Mantri LPG Panchayat. By sharing the vision of early adopters and ironing out service issues, the LPG Panchayats being held at village levels across India are helping more and more people appreciate the advantages of clean fuel.
•The adoption of LPG has received a boost with supplies ramping up and service improving. In April 2014, there were 13,896 LPG distributors across India. This number is now 20,227. Another 3,750 distributorships will be commissioned in 2018-19. Similarly, the loan deferment policy, which has allowed the recovery of loan amounts from Ujjwala customers, has been deferred for their next six refills starting April 1, 2018. This allows customers to avail of the subsidy during this period.
📰 Stranded on migration
The issue is top of the agenda in the Brussels meeting today
What is the issue?
•More than 1.8 million migrants have come to Europe since 2014, mostly from West Asia and Africa. This has become a contentious electoral issue across Europe with right-wing populists capitalising on an anti-migrant sentiment for electoral gains. While migrant inflows have fallen since their peak in 2015-16, some countries such as Italy, Spain and Greece have each accepted 12,000-15,500 migrants this year alone. EU countries are now grappling with (and fighting over) the treatment of migrants within their territories and related policies. The temporary migrant resettlement system of 2015, which was formulated to distribute migrants across the EU, failed when many countries refused to meet their quotas. Migration is top of the agenda when leaders meet for a European Council meeting in Brussels today.
Why is migration in Europe in the news again?
•Earlier this month, Italy’s Interior Minister, Matteo Salvini, refused to grant MV Aquarius, a ship that had rescued 629 migrants, docking permission. The ship was finally allowed to dock at Valencia, Spain, after food had run out and the UN refugee body had made appeals. More than 600,000 migrants have arrived in Italy from Africa in recent years. Mr. Salvini wants to deport 500,000 of those who are in Italy, fix the migrant resettlement system, build migrant reception centres in Africa, and do away with the Dublin Regulation which says refugees must apply for asylum in the EU country where they first landed.
How does issue affect the German government?
•More than 1.6 million migrants have made their way to Germany since 2015, the bulk of them arriving when Chancellor Angela Merkel suspended EU migration rules in 2015 to accept migrants stranded in other countries. This issue has since been used to attack Ms. Merkel politically, and last year helped the far-right Alternative for Germany win seats in the German parliament for the first time. It now threatens the coalition government headed by Ms. Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU), with Interior Minister Horst Seehofer, who heads the Christian Social Union, the CDU’s Bavarian sister party, saying he will not allow migrants registered in other countries to enter Germany. Mr. Seehofer has given Ms. Merkel until the end of this week to secure an EU deal on migration, an outcome that Ms. Merkel has said is unlikely. If Mr. Seehofer follows through on his proposal, it is likely to get him sacked, putting the governing coalition at risk.
📰 Rupee tumbles to 19-month low on oil
Slides on concerns that rising crude prices could widen the current account deficit, stoke inflation
•The rupee slid to a 19-month low against the dollar as concern that rising crude oil prices could widen the country’s current account deficit and stroke inflation combined with fears of a trade war that could spur capital outflows to weigh the Indian currency down.
•The rupee fell 0.54%, or 37 paise, against the dollar on Wednesday to settle at 68.61, the currency’s lowest close since November 24, 2016, when it ended at 68.73.
•The Indian rupee has slumped almost 7% against the dollar so far this year, making it one of Asia’s worst performing currencies.
Likely intervention
•On Wednesday, it touched an intra-day low of 68.68 in afternoon trade, which may have prompted the central bank to intervene by selling dollars, dealers said.
•Forex traders said the rupee’s depreciation is in line with other emerging market currencies as the dollar index has strengthened in the wake of the U.S. Federal Reserve raising interest rates.
•“Like other EM currencies, rupee too has developed a strong depreciation bias due to the fast strengthening of the dollar index as the Fed has been steadily raising interest rates,” said Rupa Rege Nitsure, group chief economist, L&T Finance Holdings.
•“Elevated oil prices are also weighing on rupee as India's dependence on oil imports is very high. Other factors that are impacting Indian currency are the political uncertainty in the wake of upcoming State elections and the general elections of 2019. This combined with the concerns over earnings outlook has led to FPI [foreign portfolio investor] outflows,” she said.
•Brent crude futures were 4.9% higher at $77.91 a barrel in late European trade.
•Concerns about inflation and the fiscal deficit also impacted bond prices with the yield on the 10-year benchmark government bond rising 4 basis points to 7.87%.
‘Reserves cushion’
•“On the positive side, the rupee's weakness should aid our exports amid improving global growth outlook,” Ms. Nitsure said.
•“India enjoys a good cushion of foreign exchange reserves and the RBI is in a good position to control heightened volatility in the currency,” she added.
•Equities too fell, with the NSE Nifty index declining by 97.75 points, or 0.9%, to a three-week low of 10,671.40 due to losses in energy, PSU bank, media, infrastructure, realty and metal stocks amid signs of an escalating trade war between the U.S. and other world economies.
•Traders also opted for caution before the June expiry of derivative contracts due Thursday. Sector-wise, energy dropped by 2.46%, PSU banks fell 2.43%, media shed 2.12%, infra lost 2.04% and realty retreated 1.79%.
•Other industry groups that fell include metal 1.26%, autos 1.25%, financial services 0.86% and private banks 0.83%.
📰 Japanese mission reaches unexplored asteroid Ryugu
The probe will bring back samples to shed light on the origin of life on the earth
•A Japanese probe has reached an asteroid 300 million km away to collect information about the birth of the solar system and the origin of life after a more than three-year voyage through deep space.
•The Hayabusa2 probe successfully settled into an observation position 20 km above the Ryugu asteroid, officials from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said on Wednesday.
•Researchers broke out into cheers when the probe arrived in place, a feat JAXA described as “shooting from Japan at a six cm target in Brazil”.
Ahead of Asteroid Day
•“Today, we are at the beginning of a space science exploration that is unprecedented for humankind,” project manager Yuichi Tsuda said. The successful mission came just days before the UN’s International Asteroid Day on June 30, a global event to raise awareness about the hazards of an asteroid impact and technological progress to counter such a threat.
•Scientists hope to glean clues about what gave rise to life on the earth from samples taken from Ryugu, which is thought to contain relatively large amounts of organic matter and water.
•Photos of Ryugu — which means “Dragon Palace” in Japanese, a castle at the bottom of the ocean in an ancient Japanese tale — show an asteroid shaped a bit like a spinning top with a rough surface.
•The Hayabusa2 probe was in good shape and is now ready to start exploring the asteroid over the coming 18 months, JAXA said. The next stage is to identify suitable sites to take samples from once the probe touches down on the asteroid, scientist Seiichiro Watanabe said.
•That probe returned from a smaller, potato-shaped, asteroid in 2010 with dust samples despite various setbacks during its epic seven-year odyssey and was hailed as a scientific triumph.
