📰 Shashi Tharoor gives Doklam report to Sushma Swaraj
Congress leader meets Minister as Standing Committee’s report could not be tabled in Parliament.
•Chairman of the Standing Committee on External Affairs Shashi Tharoor on Friday met External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj to resolve the stand-off over the panel’s report on the Doklam crisis.
•The panel failed to table the report in the just-concluded monsoon session, though it had met on August 7 and 9. At both meetings, sources said, BJP members had a series of objections and did not let the panel adopt the draft report.
‘No objections’
•According to sources, Mr. Tharoor submitted the report to the Ministry of External Affairs to give the government an opportunity to study it before tabling it in Parliament. “It seems that the ruling party has no objections with the recommendations of the panel but with the testimonies of MEA and Defence Ministry officials, which were candid and many of them unflattering towards the government,” a Committee member said.
•The report contains testimonies of former Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar, present Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale, Defence Secretary Sanjay Mitra and former Army chief General Deepak Kapoor (retd.). In parts, the testimonies from the MEA and the Defence Ministry contradict each other. Both sides, however, agreed that there was a build-up of Chinese troops at the other side of the border.
•Sources told The Hindu that Mr. Tharoor had explained the entire situation to Ms. Swaraj. The MEA will study and, if need be, redact the “problematic” portions.
•The panel however, would take the final call on the amendments suggested by the government.
•The report could be discarded if it is not submitted before the panel’s term expires on August 31. If the report was not submitted before its term ends, then the report could easily be binned. Congress president Rahul Gandhi is also a panel member.
•In the last two consecutive meetings, the report could not be adopted because of protests from the BJP members. The members in a meeting on August 7 first complained that they got the copy of the draft report too late and did not have enough time to give it a thorough reading.
•In the second meeting on August 9, the lone BJP MP Sharad Tripathi, left the meeting mid way citing ‘lack of qorum’.
•The military face off at Doklam between India and China started on June 16, 2017, when a Chinese road construction party tried to build a road in the Doklam region and was stopped by Indian troops.
📰 Tight-fisted neighbour? Indian aid to SAARC nations falls
Going by government data, assistance fell from ₹5,928.6 crore for 2013-14 to ₹3,483.6 crore for 2017-18; but Maldives has been an outlier, despite the dip in ties
•India’s financial assistance to SAARC neighbours declined considerably in the past five years, a reply by the government in Parliament this week showed.
•The startling figures were revealed in the Lok Sabha in answer to a question whether India had completed projects committed to countries in the neighbourhood. Minister of State for External Affairs V.K. Singh submitted a chart of India’s grant assistance (GA), or projects financed through a grant, to neighbouring countries. According to the figures, the GA actually fell from ₹5,928.6 crore for 2013-14 to ₹3,483.6 crore for 2017-18 for Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, the Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka combined.
•Significantly, the drop for most SAARC countries was most steep in 2014, the year the NDA government launched its tenure with the “Neighbourhood First” slogan. The one exception was the Maldives, to which Indian assistance has been consistently increasing year on year since 2013, despite the dip in bilateral ties. The Maldives is the only country of the grouping that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not yet visited, and despite rising tensions between New Delhi and Male over the conduct of elections this year and the crackdown on the Opposition parties by President Abdulla Yameen, Indian largesse appears to have increased ten-fold to the islands: from ₹9.67 crore in 2013-14 to ₹109.24 crore.
•When contacted, the External Affairs Ministry declined to make any formal comment. In its reply in Parliament, the Ministry had said: “An assessment of fund requirement is made before each financial year, based on the progress in execution aligned with project implementation cycle. Time lines fixed for projects vary, and are determined based on consultations with host governments and ground situation.”
•However, officials gave a number of explanations for the downtrend. “Our commitment to the neighbourhood has never been as strong,” said an Indian diplomat now serving in the region, explaining that the GA figures did not include the lines of credit extended to Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. These lines of credit are given at the minimal interest rates of 1-2%, the official explained, compared with loans offered by China at 6-7%.
•Another South Block official strongly denied the contention that the declining figures showed a flagging interest in the government’s neighbourhood policy. The official said financial assistance had a “cyclical” nature, and the GA figures for 2018-19 were expected to be higher for each of the countries involved. The GA for Nepal in 2017-18 was ₹303.26 crore, for instance, and was expected to rise this year to ₹650 crore, provided the government in Kathmandu was able to absorb the additional aid, he added.
•“These [trends] are mainly related to project cycles,” concurred the former Ambassador to Afghanistan Amar Sinha, who was also Secretary (Economic Relations) before he retired. “Both our major projects — the Salma dam and the Afghanistan Parliament — were done and handed over [in this period]. So there is a natural tapering until we undertake the next major project.”
•When asked, officials conceded that one of the major reasons for the decline was that many projects had been completed in the neighbourhood, and there were fewer projects started in the period since 2014.
•In Afghanistan, India has shifted to work on small development projects (SDPs) rather than the ambitious highways, dams and big building projects that were started in 2008-09. In Bangladesh, the main grant for land acquisition for the Akhaura-Agartala rail “last link” project has now been completed. In Bhutan, which has always received the largest share of Indian assistance, the assistance required for major hydroelectric power plants like Punatsanghchu 1 and 2 and Mangdechu has been disbursed 75-90%, said officials, while Indian assistance to Bhutan’s 11th five-year plan (2013-2017) has been handed over nearly fully. In Sri Lanka, the decline was explained by delays in land acquisition for 15,000 homes to be built by India in the plantation areas, though the work on 45,000 homes in the north and east of the island has been completed.
•India is still completing three main projects in Maldives: a police academy, a coastal radar project, and the refit of MNDF ship Huravee. An offer to build a new Defence Ministry building is pending, which explains why the Maldives alone is the outlier to an otherwise declining trend in neighbourhood aid.
📰 North Karnataka, reeling under neglect
•Thirteen districts of north Karnatakarecently raised a fresh cry for a separate State, pointing out that Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy’s budgetary allocations favoured only the southern districts. The crisis has blown over and Mr. Kumaraswamy has clarified that he has big plans for the development of the region. Historical neglect during the pre-Independence era, coupled with apathy after unification of Karnataka, has often been cited as the reason for backwardness of north Karnataka. Almost on all markers of development, there is a marked lag. A symbol of this has been the Krishna. People of the region have always argued that the river and projects related to it never get the attention that the Cauvery in south Karnataka does. In recent times, the delay in solving the long-pending inter-State Mahadayi river row has been cited as another pointer to the apathy.
Has no government taken note?
•In 2000, the S.M. Krishna-led Congress government constituted a high-powered committee for redress of regional imbalances led by D.M. Nanjundappa. After an exhaustive study, the committee, in its report in 2003, listed 39 taluks as the “most backward.” As many as 26 of them were from seven districts of north Karnataka. The committee also indicated the quantum of resources required to ensure these taluks caught up with the others in development. Along with a special development plan of ₹16,000 crore over eight years, the committee pleaded for an optimal 60:40 ratio in favour of the northern region as a basis for additional resource allocation. However, despite acknowledging that implementation of the recommendations holds the key to the development, successive governments have paid only lip-service to the issue.
Why is it difficult?
•There are imbalances within the region. The 13 districts are further categorised into Hyderabad Karnataka and Bombay Karnataka (of Bombay Presidency). Compared with Bombay Karnataka, developmental lag is worse in Hyderabad Karnataka, the region which was under the Hyderabad Nizam’s domain till its liberation in 1948. The identification of two of the districts of the region, Bidar and Kalaburagi (earlier Gulbarga), as the poorest districts in the country in the National Sample Survey in 2005 and their subsequent inclusion in the food for work programme are indicative of the state of affairs.
What has been done so far?
•Amendment to the Constitution that gave special status to the Hyderabad Karnataka region under Article 371(J) has been seen as a big move towards development. However, the downside is that the Hyderabad Karnataka grouping has discouraged employees from other regions from working here. Over 1.30 lakh posts are still vacant in the region and development projects, particularly related to infrastructure and irrigation, often find lower or little allocation. As per official data, ₹13,565 crore of the ₹16,000 crore recommended by the Nanjundappa Committee has been spent between 2006-07 and 2014-15. However, development is not palpable, say people of the region.
What is the way ahead?
•Lack of political will is often cited as the biggest reason for backwardness, though the region has sent five Chief Ministers so far. But reasons are deeper, point out some studies. The Centre for Multi Disciplinary Research (CMDR), based in Dharwad, came out with a “Critical analysis of Dr. D.M. Nanjunadappa Committee Report and its implementation” by Shiddalingaswami V. Hanagodimath in 2014. It says: “This regional imbalance is the product of plans, because plan makers have concentrated on overall development than the potential and availability of resources in different regions and its optimum utilisation. Hence, regional disparity has increased.” The Siddaramaiah government had asked the CMDR to review the implementation of the Nanjundappa committee report. It submitted a draft report earlier this year, and the Kumaraswamy government must take it forward.
📰 ‘Ban on e-cigarettes to reduce safer choices for smokers’
Groups warn governments, say e-cigarettes are 95% less harmful compared to those containing tobacco
•The Council for Harm Reduced Alternatives (CHRA), a national tobacco harm reduction organisation, and the Association of Vapers India (AVI), an advocacy group that represents e-cigarette users, have warned the Central and State governments about the consequences of banning e-cigarettes.
•They said that a ban would deprive millions of smokers of safer choices and cause damage to public health.
•The CHRA said it is unfortunate that the government is mulling banning e-cigarettes, “which are 95% less harmful compared to tobacco cigarettes”, even as it promotes harm-reduction programmes in interventions on addiction and communicable diseases.
‘Regressive attempt’
•“Harm reduction is a concept we apply in our everyday lives by opting for safer products, be it refined oil or less-polluting cars. In tobacco use, too, the lives of users can be positively impacted with harm-reduced alternatives. The government has so far relied on an emotional appeal to persuade tobacco users to kick the habit, but never offered an alternative beyond gums and patches, that have a very low success rate. An attempt to ban e-cigarettes is regressive given that the government’s stated policy is to provide wider choices to consumers for all products and services, and not restrict them,” said CHRA director Samrat Chowdhery.
‘Premature idea’
•Director of AVI Pratik Gupta said, “The idea of banning e-cigarettes is premature, given that no study has been conducted by our health organisations on the health impact of vaping. Meanwhile, multiple peer-reviewed scientific studies in the U.K. and elsewhere have convinced health experts and governments to encourage smokers to switch to vaping. The hurry to ban e-cigarettes is not understandable.”
•E-cigarettes are not only less harmful compared to tobacco cigarettes, but also help smokers wean off the nicotine dependence,” he said.
•“Besides, vaping poses far lower risk to bystanders than passive smoking. Regulatory permission for the use of e-cigarettes in developed countries like the U.S., E.U. and the U.K. has yielded positive results, with smoking rates falling in these countries in recent years,” noted a release issued by the group.
📰 Genetic ‘barcodes’ reveal three frogs unreported in India
Technique also points to smaller distribution of the ornate narrow-mouthed frog, which may require a protection programme
•Barcodes are not used in supermarkets alone. Each species can be recognised by its unique genetic ‘barcode’ and using this method, a team of scientists has identified three frog species not recorded in India before.
•The researchers also found that the ornate narrow-mouthed frog — thought to be widely-distributed in Asia — is seen only in peninsular India and Sri Lanka.
•The findings were published this week in the international journal Mitochondrial DNA Part B, by a team that included scientists from Delhi University (DU) and the Wildlife Institute of India. It was the complex taxonomy of the ornate narrow-mouthed frog — it was first described in 1841 — that prompted the team to study it further.
•They collected 62 of these frogs across India and analysed their genetic data using DNA barcoding. They compared this with available genetic data from across south Asia.
Complex taxonomy
•Unravelling complex taxonomy, the team found that India is home to not just the ornate narrow-mouthed frog but also the Nilphamari, Mymensingh and Mukhlesur’s narrow-mouthed frogs (seen in other south Asian countries).
•The team reported Bangladesh’s Mukhlesur’s narrow-mouthed frog, for instance, from Mizoram. The nocturnal Nilphamari narrow-mouthed frog, seen in Bangladesh and Nepal, has been recorded in the Western Ghats (Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra), the Eastern Ghats (Andhra Pradesh and Odisha) and central, east and northeastern India. Most narrow-mouthed frogs seen in northeastern India are Mymensingh narrow-mouthed frogs.
•The study reveals that the ornate narrow-mouthed frog is present only in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh. However, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) currently classifies the species as “Least Concern” based on the outdated information that it is widespread. This could be a “major concern”, said S. D. Biju, of Delhi University, who led the study. “An assessment of threats that this species might be facing in its currently restricted range could show it to be data deficient or even threatened, thereby requiring conservation attention,” he said.
Status review
•The study would “enable IUCN to review the conservation status of this group of frogs across South Asia at the earliest opportunity”, said Neil Cox, manager of the biodiversity assessment unit, IUCN. “Species informations are outdated for India and Sri Lanka and we are awaiting funding to begin re-assessments.” These findings also increase India’s frog species tally to 400.
📰 Centre to spend Rs. 10,000 crore on northeast
Over 400 projects to be implemented; 8,621 unconnected villages in the region to get special attention
•To boost connectivity in the northeastern States of the country, the Union government on Saturday announced investments worth nearly Rs. 10,000 crore in the region over the next four years to implement more than 400 projects.
•The Digital North East Vision 2022, which has been announced just a year ahead of 2019 general elections, has identified a total of eight thrust areas to enhance connectivity, including telecom infrastructure, electronics manufacturing units, BPOs and cyber security, besides promotion of digital innovations.
•“The success of Digital India lies in the successful implementation of Digital North East,” Electronics and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said.
•The majority of the projects will be implemented by the Department of Telecom. The Ministry of Electronics and IT is expected to fund projects to the tune of Rs. 1,397 crore, while the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region will spend Rs. 411 crore. The Home Ministry has committed investments of Rs. 53 crore. The investments from the private sector, however, are expected to be limited to about Rs. 70 crore. Special focus will be given to 8,621 unconnected villages in the region, Mr. Prasad said.
Electronics cluster
•As part of the initiative, Mr. Prasad also inaugurated the first electronics manufacturing cluster in the northeastern region in Guwahati on Saturday.
•Mr Prasad added that the number of seats provided for the region under the rural BPO scheme has also been doubled to 10,000.
📰 E. Mnangagwa, Zimbabwe’s new hope
•Zimbabwe’s newly elected President, Emerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa of the Zanu-PF party, has seldom shrunk from the rough and tumble of realpolitik. Born in a family of farmers, the septuagenarian veteran had come ominously close to being executed for plotting to blow up a rail line during the nation’s liberation struggle from Britain. The sentence was commuted to a prolonged jail term because he was a minor at the time.
How did he replace Mugabe?
•Last November, when Mr. Mnangagwa was dismissed as Vice-President of the southern African nation by the deposed dictator of 37 years, Robert Mugabe, history was merely repeating itself. He was elevated to that position in late 2014, in a sequel to the removal of Mr. Mugabe’s No. 2 at the time and a potential heir-apparent. In a strange irony, the victory against Joice Mujuru also meant a recompense for Mr. Mnangagwa’s failed bid for the vice-presidency a decade earlier. When the 2017 version of Harare’s palace intrigue began to unfold, it was also time for independent Zimbabwe’s history to be rewritten. Mr. Mnangagwa went briefly into exile, but returned as the popularly hailed, even if army-installed, President, dealing a decisive blow to the machinations of the former first lady.
Why is he controversial?
•The long career of President Mnangagwa, a known hardliner and Mugabe loyalist, is inevitably intertwined with Harare’s descent into authoritarianism under his mentor. As the country’s intelligence chief in the 1980s, critics hold Mr. Mnangagwa accountable for the Gukurahundi massacre of thousands of civilians by Mr. Mugabe’s Fifth Brigade. His role in the appropriation of agricultural land from the white minorities has also come under sharp criticism. In more recent years, Mr. Mnangagwa has nurtured his presidential ambitions through the Team Lacoste faction — an allusion to the liberation army — within the Zanu-PF, against the rival Generation 40 group. On assuming charge last November, Mr. Mnangagwa assured a hopeful nation that his writ would be the people’s will, assuaging concerns that the new President might end up being a prisoner of the past. He invited international observers, expelled for years, to monitor the general election, which he promised would be free and fair. In a positive signal to investors, the government agreed to ease the requirement for overseas firms to give a 51% stake to local partners. Mr. Mnangagwa also stressed that all other sectors, except diamonds and platinum, were open for foreign investment. The new narrative was broadly corroborated by evidence of a transparent voter registration system, freedom of expression and absence of intimidation of the Opposition. The climate in the run-up to the July 29 vote fuelled expectations that the election would bestow popular legitimacy on the new President, handing him a mandate to implement political and economic reforms. But the post-poll scenario has been marred by violence and fatalities familiar from the Mugabe era. The Opposition Movement for Democratic Change and international monitors have alleged that the defence forces were behind the atrocities.
What’s the way forward?
•Against this backdrop, the President’s urgent priority is to live up to the trust reposed in him by millions only months ago to liberate the nation from dictatorship and lift them out of poverty. For his part, Mr. Mnangagwa is keen to reopen the country to foreign investment, to re-engage with multilateral lenders and rejoin the British Commonwealth. Western capitals have been enthusiastic about building bridges with Harare, once a regional export hub and home to a vast educated population. But they have insisted on adherence to democratic standards and respect for human rights as preconditions for debt relief. Over these many years, Mr. Mnangagwa has burnished his credentials as a more pragmatic than ideological politician, unlike his strongman predecessor. Count on him to renew ties with the West, but without compromising the close economic bonds built with China. The latter, after all, comes with fewer strings attached.
📰 Why are the Marathas so restive?
What is the trigger?
•In July, while the monsoon session of the legislature was on, a group of Maratha protesters launched a sit-in against the BJP government for not fulfilling the promises made to the community, including 16% reservation.
•The issue, however, spilled outside the Assembly, when Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis cancelled his visit to Pandharpur for the Ashadhi Ekadashi puja. He cited police reports that pointed to the possibility of snakes being released in the crowd. It enraged the community which accused him of false allegations and announced a State-wide protest and bandhs. The Marathas also wanted clarity on the Chief Minister’s statement that of the new recruitment for 72,000 posts, 16% would be reserved for the community.
What did the government do?
•The bandh was marked by violence in Aurangabad, Navi Mumbai and the Chakan industrial area near Pune, with Maratha leaders alleging infiltration of anti-social elements. Eight Maratha youths committed suicide. Pressure from the community resulted in MLAs from the Shiv Sena, the Congress and the NCP offering to resign. The government finally announced a stay on the recruitment. It sought time till November to resolve the issue.
Why raise the demand now?
•The community feels the government is dragging its feet on reservation. The struggle for special treatment has been going on for the past few years. On November 14, 2014, the Bombay High Court stayed the Maratha reservation granted by the Congress-NCP government. It said the State had crossed the 50% limit capped by the Supreme Court and that the Mandal Commission (1980), the National Commission for Backward Classes (2000) and the Bapat Commission (2008) had concluded that the Marathas were a socially advanced community. The Supreme Court refused to stay the order.
•In January 2015, the State government decided to submit additional information to the court in support of Maratha reservation. On July 13, 2016, the rape and murder of a minor Maratha girl fuelled the community’s demands. Till 2017, over 58 massive silent Maratha morchas were organised across the State.
•To make its case stronger in court, in November 2017, Justice Maroti Gaikwad (retd.) was appointed as the head of the State Backward Class Commission. It is compiling a report to ascertain the economic and social backwardness of the community.
•The report will be based on the findings of a sample survey conducted in five villages in every district. It is yet to be submitted to the government. The case is pending in the High Court. Till then, no decision on reservation can be taken.
Is it justified?
•In 2008, the State Backward Class Commission, headed by Justice R.M. Bapat (retd.), did not endorse Maratha reservation, voicing opinion against the inclusion of the community in the OBC category as they were not “socially backward.” His report was neither accepted nor rejected by the State government. As the Maratha coordination committee launched a State-wide campaign called ‘Deta ki Jata’ (Are you giving or going back?), with the demand for reservation from 2011, the then Congress-NCP government, headed by Prithviraj Chavan, appointed a high-powered committee under Industries Minister Narayan Rane to submit a case to grant reservation for the Marathas. The report was submitted in June 2013. A year later, the Congress-NCP government cleared 16% reservation for the Marathas.
What lies ahead?
•Mr. Fadnavis has promised to resolve the issue. A special legislative session will be called after the report of the Backward Class Commission, and the reservation is likely to be extended.
•Till then, protests are likely to continue. With elections approaching, all political parties are attempting to keep Marathas — politically one of the strongest contingents — happy. As for the Marathas, with no clear leader, cracks are visible.
