📰 U.S., India may not sign security pact at 2+2 meet
Likely to merely announce an in-principle agreement
•At the 2+2 dialogue between India and the U.S. here on September 6, an announcement could be made about an in-principle agreement between the two sides on the Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA), but its signing is doubtful, say officials on both sides.
•“Work is still on. Some form of announcement is expected. Lawyers on both sides are looking into the draft. In the week prior, they did some adjustments in the text,” an official familiar with the process said.
Last-minute discussions
•While the contours of the agreement have been agreed upon, last-minute deliberations are under way to address specific concerns in the language. “As of now, it is difficult to say if it would be signed during the 2+2,” another official said.
•Diplomatic sources, too, while expressing the hope that the agreement would be signed, said realistically it was not clear yet. This is a similar trajectory followed when India signed the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Understanding. The two sides announced an “in-principle” decision to conclude it during the then U.S. Secretary of Defence Ash Carter’s visit to Delhi in April 2016. However, it was concluded only when the then Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar visited the U.S. in August that year.
•The US which has designated India a Major Defence Partner (MDP) has repeatedly stated that the foundational agreements were essential critical for India to gain access to cutting edge technology.
•The COMCASA will facilitate exchange of secure communications between the two militaries and allow the sale of encrypted communication systems to India. For a long time there have been concerns that this would allow US to listen into Indian secure communication channels. But these have been gradually overcome and India agreed to move forward with the agreement.
•However, signing the COMCASA “will override objections by the Indian military which fears that it will enable seamless penetration horizontally and vertically of the official Indian communications grid, including the most sensitive strategic communications network” writes strategic analyst Bharat Karnad in his latest book Staggering Forward.
Other announcements
•Apart from COMCASA, another major announcement likely to be made is for cross posting of officials at the US Defence Innovation Unit Experimental (DIUx) and India’s recently created Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX) to work on joint development projects. The proposal for this was made by the US and intends to take forward the co-development and co-production efforts under the Defence Technology and Trade Initiative (DTTI).
•Other announcements expected from the dialogue include likely US sale of MH-60 Romeo maritime helicopters and armed drones through the Foreign Military Sales programme. The US has already cleared the legislative hurdles to sell armed drones to India. A joint tri-service amphibious Humanitarian and Disaster Relief (HADR) exercise which has been in the works is also expected to be announced.
•As External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and their US counterparts Secretary of State Mike R Pompeo and Secretary of Defence James Mattis meet for the first 2+2 dialogue, the issue of India’s defence cooperation with Russia and the looming sanctions under CAATSA will be a major issue for discussion.
•India has already stated that it would go ahead with the purchase of the S-400 long range air defence system from Russia and the deal is expected to be concluded later this year.
📰 Conditions in Rohingya camps are disastrous, says UN official
Warns of a humanitarian crisis ahead of cyclone season
•A year since nearly a million Rohingya refugees poured into Bangladesh, the situation is yet to stabilize, and the impending cyclone season could spell disaster for the humanitarian effort, a senior United Nations official based in Cox’s Bazaar has warned.
•“Even to the naked eye it is clear that we are not just on the brink of disaster, but the disaster is happening around us,” said Sumbul Rizvi, the senior humanitarian coordinator for the Rohingya Refugee Response, making an appeal for more international funding. This year’s UN joint response plan (JRP) has received only 34% of the funds needed, in contrast to about 85% last year, she said.
Flagging response
•Amidst signs of the flagging global response to the crisis, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres addressed the Security Council on the situation on the ground this week, while a Human Rights Council report said the Myanmar military leadership should be investigated for “genocide” in the violence in August 2017.
📰 Making peace with Naya Pakistan
India should encourage people’s initiatives to forge a ‘coalition of the willing’
•The election of the eminent Pakistani cricketer, Imran Khan, as Prime Minister (albeit through a flawed election) has rekindled hopes among committed democrats in South Asia, especially India, that Pakistan is about to emerge into a new dawn. Also that it would bring to an end many of the travails that afflict India-Pakistan relations today.
Careful about false starts
•To be optimistic about the future of democracy in Pakistan and, alongside this, an improvement in India-Pakistan relations is, no doubt, welcome. However, it needs to be laced with more than a tinge of realism, since India-Pakistan relations have witnessed several false starts over the years. A moot question at the outset is this: How far can it be said that real democracy exists in Pakistan today, even though an election process was gone through? More important, can a political neophyte turn around the situation in a country whose attempts at democracy have never been fulfilled all these years?
•While hopes have been expressed that Pakistan may effect changes in the way it views relations with India, it is difficult to accept that merely because that country has a new leader who is not a politician in the usual mould, things are about to change. Democratic leaders in Pakistan, especially more recent ones like Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, have paid a heavy price whenever they sought to enlarge their democratic constituencies. They have been unable to withstand the machinations of the Pakistani ‘deep state’, which controls almost every single aspect of political activity in Pakistan.
•For the Pakistani ‘deep state’, the main enemy is India. No democratically elected leader can afford to ignore this fact. Hence, India needs to assess the situation in Pakistan in somewhat greater depth, and not jump to any conclusion of better prospects in India-Pakistanrelations in the immediate, or even medium, term.
•No doubt, history is replete with instances of how transformational leaders, who embody particular ideas and ideologies, are able to turn around the fortunes of their countries. No one can possibly accuse Mr. Khan, however, of being a transformational leader — one who is capable of inspiring people through well-considered and carefully thought out ideas and suggestions. Hardly anyone will credit him with a single visionary idea, or articulating a new vision for Pakistan.
•With regard to India-Pakistan relations, Mr. Khan has been content with reiterating hackneyed themes that every new Prime Minister or leader in Pakistan spouts at the beginning of his tenure, viz., a desire to initiate talks with India, resolve differences between the two countries, improve trade relations, resolve the Kashmir conflict, and alleviate poverty in both countries. In addition, we have the usual drumbeat of views by other members of his team, stressing the need for a dialogue between the two countries to sort out mutual issues and problems.
•The new Pakistan Foreign Minister, Shah Mehmood Qureshi (of 26/11 infamy), has ‘tongue-in-cheek’ proposed “a continued uninterrupted dialogue” to resolve “all outstanding issues”, whatever that means. In his previous stint as Foreign Minister in the Pakistan Peoples Party regime, he had hardly endeared himself to audiences in India, and there is no reason to believe he has changed colour under the Imran Khan dispensation. Many of the other key Ministers in Mr. Khan’s Cabinet are holdovers from previous administrations, quite a few being from the Pervez Musharraf period. None of this holds out much, if any, hope for an improvement in India-Pakistan relations.
Understanding Imran Khan
•It would be interesting to conjecture which constituency Mr. Khan caters to, or represents, other than himself. Only after that would it be possible to determine what our policy should be towards Pakistan, and how to deal with him. Not to do so would be the height of folly, notwithstanding the genuine desire for peace in our country, or perhaps in both countries.
•The circumstances under which Mr. Khan succeeded in these elections would seem to suggest that the ‘deep state’ in Pakistan played a not-so insignificant role in his victory, perhaps even a preponderant role. Over the years, the ‘deep state’ has co-opted some of the key levers of power, not excluding the judiciary, to maintain its stranglehold on Pakistan. Gone are the days when Generals like Zia-ul-Haq and Musharraf openly declared their intention to seek power and take charge of the state. Today, the ‘deep state’ adopts more insidious means to maintain control over the levers of power.
•Included in this repertoire of means and methods is choosing charismatic leaders, who have no worthwhile political base and willing to do their bidding, to front for them. In doing so, they avoid accusations of military dictatorship, and of trampling on democracy and democratic rights. It would not be the first time in Pakistan, or for that matter elsewhere in the world, that these kinds of tactics have succeeded.
•Whatever may be the initial euphoria, an individual functioning in this milieu is unlikely to be able to navigate an independent path that could lead, at least a part of the way, to eventual success. In the case of Mr. Khan, he seems to have even less room to manoeuvre. To all intents and purposes, he appears to be a prisoner of the ‘deep state’. India would do well to realise this at the beginning of his tenure as Prime Minister. It is much better than being lulled into a false sense of complacency.
Be clear
•In this context, India will need to create a framework that leads to realistic outcomes, given that it genuinely believes in peace with Pakistan. There needs to be clarity regarding short- and medium-term goals, before embarking on the ultimate objective of bettering India-Pakistan relations. Repeating past shibboleths and setting impossible goals is not the answer.
•The first step should be an acknowledgement that the new government in Pakistan faces threats, from elements both within and outside the government. Furthermore, the threat to better India-Pakistan relations comes from the ‘deep state’ embedded within the Pakistani establishment. Given the entrenched nature of the ‘deep state’, Mr. Khan will be compelled to adopt what may be termed as the ‘Pakistan First’ approach’, in which relations with India would have least priority, and the emphasis would be on better relations with China as also the U.S. and the West. In the light of this, the establishment in India should tailor its response appropriately if it hopes to succeed in the longer term.
•For the present, it would perhaps be advisable for the Indian state to step back and provide greater scope for people’s initiatives, strengthen the existing democratic order initiatives driven by people’s groups, and enhance the constituency for peace in the subcontinent. Towards this end, it should coordinate strategies among different agencies within the government on how to enlarge the constituency for peace and liberal tendencies in both countries. The effort should also be on increasing the share of people in Pakistan who recognise the need to act responsibly, and rally the ‘likeminded’ who seek peaceful co-existence with India. It should involve appealing to people in Pakistan, much beyond those involved in the administration.
•Only after such moves reach a certain stage, and the outlines of a ‘coalition of the willing’ emerges, should the establishment step in. The short message is for people’s groups in India to engage, and engage with whomsoever it is possible to in Pakistan with a view to creating a suitable climate for peace and better relations. Admittedly, there are many segments in both countries that may not be willing at present to back the move for better relations. However, there does exist a constituency for peace in both countries, especially in India, which needs to be galvanised to act.
Strengthen democracy
•India should also take steps to encourage the rest of the democratic world to advance, and defend, democracy in Pakistan, and implicitly improve relations with India. It means actively cultivating a constituency for collective action among civil society worldwide, going beyond mere populism and the usual range of India-Pakistan tensions. If sufficient progress is made, then the establishments on both sides could proceed to the next step.
📰 Retail therapy
The forthcoming India-U.S. 2+2 dialogue should usher in clarity about defence ties
•A bunch of proposals amounting to about Rs. 46,000 crore approved by the Defence Acquisition Council is likely to boost defence cooperation with the U.S. Among the approvals is one for 24 Multi-Role Helicopters with anti-submarine warfare capability for the Indian Navy, expected to cost around $1.8 billion. These are likely to be procured under a government-to-government deal with the U.S. through its Foreign Military Sales programme. A suitable platform, the American Sikorsky MH-60, had already been shortlisted by the Navy, but the deal fell through. Helicopters in general and MRHs in particular are a critical capability vacuum for the Navy, with several capital ships sailing with empty flight decks. A major decision is the procedural approval for 111 Naval Utility Helicopters, costing over Rs. 21,000 crore. The process began last year but has been held up for want of clarity on the Strategic Partnership model, under which this would be the first project to take shape. The DAC has cleared the required guidelines on this, which should help take the process forward. Again, the U.S. has a major interest here as its companies are in the race for NUHs as well as for 114 fighter jets. The timing of these decisions is important as they come just before the first 2+2 dialogue between India and the U.S. on September 6, which will see India’s External Affairs and Defence Ministers meeting their American counterparts. An announcement on the MRH sale is expected at the 2+2 dialogue along with the sale of armed drones and the likely conclusion of the foundational agreement, the Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement, which would allow the sale of encrypted systems and enable communications interoperability between the two militaries.
•These developments fit into the U.S. strategy of strengthening defence cooperation, reflected in India’s elevation as a Major Defence Partner, and the simplification of licensing requirements for high technology trade. India is at the heart of the U.S.’s Indo-Pacific strategy; its National Security Strategy released in December 2017 says the U.S. will deepen strategic partnership and support our leadership role in Indian Ocean security and the broader region. But how long will the deals take to fructify? The Strategic Partnership policy itself needs policy clarity for seamless implementation. In addition, before embarking on multi-billion dollar deals, India must get clarity from the U.S. on its Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, that could place limits of India’s defence cooperation with Russia. India must retain its independent national security and foreign policy. The upgrade must also get us thinking more seriously about domestic defence manufacture — the country cannot aspire to be a global power and net security provider in the region by holding the tag of the largest arms importer year on year.
📰 Venkaiah seeks code for politicians
PM Modi backs him, but says enforcing discipline is now being mistaken for being autocratic
•Vice-President M. Venkaiah Naidu on Sunday called for evolving a consensus on the need for an Upper House in State legislatures, a code of conduct for politicians both inside and outside Parliament and legislatures, and keeping to inclusiveness and ending discrimination as a “nationalist” agenda.
•He was speaking at the release of his book Moving On, Moving Forward: A year in Office on his tenure as Vice-President and Chairman of the Rajya Sabha.
•“Nationalism, according to me — Bharat Mata ki Jai ...it means Jai Ho to all the 130 crore people irrespective of their caste, creed, sex or religion. Any discrimination on the basis of religion, any discrimination on the basis of caste, any discrimination on the basis of gender, is not acceptable to any nationalist. That sort of approach should be there among everyone of us. I hope we all move in that direction,” Mr. Naidu said. His call for a code of conduct was echoed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who spoke at the event along with former Prime Ministers H.D. Deve Gowda and Manmohan Singh.
•Mr. Modi said that enforcing discipline was now being mistaken for being autocratic.
•“Venkaiah ji is a disciplinarian, but our country’s situation is such that it has become easy to call discipline undemocratic. If someone calls for discipline, he is branded autocratic ... the whole dictionary is opened. But the discipline Venkaiah ji calls for, he himself follows it,” the Prime Minister said.
•Mr. Modi lauded Mr. Naidu for his years in public life and his year as Vice-President.
•“He has been in public life for 50 years: 10 years in student politics and 40 years in State as well as national politics,” he said.
•When the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee wanted to give Mr. Naidu a Ministry in his government, the latter said he wanted to be the Minister for Rural Development.
•“Venkaiah ji is a farmer at heart. He is passionate about the welfare of farmers and agriculture. The Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana came into being due to the efforts of Naidu ji . In a time when political discourse was centred on train stoppages only, he ensured that leaders began to think more about roads and other forms of connectivity,” he said.
•Interestingly, Mr. Naidu, looking back on his experience as presiding officer of the Rajya Sabha recently, said the anti-defection laws should be implemented in letter and spirit expeditiously, within three months.
•“I know that this is absolutely feasible since I could dispose of the petitions that I received within this time frame,” he said, a reference to the petition moved by Opposition leader Sharad Yadav when the latter had been removed by his party, the Janata Dal(U), recently.
Rajya Sabha disruptions
•While saying he was disappointed over the frequent disruptions in the functioning of the Rajya Sabha, Mr. Naidu said the recently concluded Monsoon Session with intensive legislative work had provided a ray of hope.
•Dr. Singh lauded Mr. Naidu for his one year in office, and said the latter would be facing more challenges in the coming years and would hopefully acquit himself with similar credit. “There are more worlds beyond the stars, more challenges ahead,” Dr. Singh said.
📰 President Kovind sets off on Europe tour
•President Ram Nath Kovind arrived in Cyprus on Sunday on the first leg of his three-nation tour to continue India’s high-level engagements with European countries.
•The President and his wife were received by Cyprus’ Minister of Energy, Commerce, Industry and Tourism Georgios Lakkotrypis at the Larnaca International Airport.
•“Happy to begin my visit to Cyprus, one of our closest and most steadfast partners in the international community. My delegation and I bring warm and friendly currents from the Indian Ocean to the waters of the Mediterranean. Looking forward to a productive visit,” Mr. Kovind tweeted.
•The President will also visit Bulgaria and the Czech Republic.
•This is his first overseas state visit in the second year of his presidency.
📰 U.S. to cancel $300 mn aid to Pak.
Pentagon says Islamabad has not taken ‘decisive action’ in support of America’s new South Asia strategy
•The U.S. military plans to cancel $300 million in aid to Pakistan due to Islamabad’s lack of “decisive actions” in support of American strategy in the region, the Pentagon said on Saturday. The U.S. has been pushing Pakistan to crack down on militant safe havens in the country, and announced a freeze on aid at the beginning of the year that an official said could be worth almost $2 billion.
•The Defense Department has sought to cut aid by $300 million “due to a lack of Pakistani decisive actions in support of the South Asia Strategy”, Lieutenant Colonel Kone Faulkner said. “We continue to press Pakistan to indiscriminately target all terrorist groups,” Mr. Faulkner said, adding that the latest aid cut request was pending Congressional approval.
•Pakistan has fought fierce campaigns against home-grown militant groups, and says it has lost thousands of lives and spent billions of dollars in its long war on extremism. But U.S. officials accuse Islamabad of ignoring or even collaborating with groups, which attack Afghanistan from safe havens along the border between the two countries.
Role in Afghanistan
•The White House believes that Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency and other military bodies have long helped fund and arm the Taliban for ideological reasons, but also to counter rising Indian influence in Afghanistan. It also believes that a Pakistani crackdown could be pivotal in deciding the outcome of the long-running war in Afghanistan.
•U.S. frustration has boiled over before: President Donald Trump’s predecessor Barack Obama authorised drone strikes on Pakistani safe havens.
•But Mr. Trump’s aggressive language has especially angered Pakistani officials.
•“The United States has foolishly given Pakistan more than 33 billion dollars in aid over the last 15 years, and they have given us nothing but lies & deceit, thinking of our leaders as fools,” Mr. Trump wrote on Twitter earlier in 2018. “They give safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan, with little help. No more!”
•Pakistani leaders disputed the $33 billion figure, insisting that around half of the money relates to reimbursements, and the Prime Minister’s office accused Mr. Trump of ignoring the great sacrifices the country has made to fight extremism.
•In March, a senior U.S. official said that Pakistan has “done the bare minimum to appear responsive to our requests”, and concerns over a lack of action by Islamabad against militant groups still persist.
•Pakistan’s new Prime Minister Imran Khan has repeatedly blamed Islamabad’s participation in the U.S.-led anti-terror campaign for the surge in terrorism on home soil over the last decade and has vowed to rebalance Islamabad's relationship with Washington.
•Mr. Khan has also shown a willingness to hold talks with militant groups and sought support from religious hardliners in the run-up to elections last July.
📰 Green Tribunal steps in to conserve Ghats
Curbs States from activities that may have adverse impact
•The six Western Ghats States, including Kerala, have been restrained by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) from giving environmental clearance to activities that may adversely impact the eco-sensitive areas of the mountain ranges.
•The panel directed that the extent of Eco-Sensitive Zones of Western Ghats, which was notified by the Central government earlier, should not be reduced in view of the recent floods in Kerala.
•The Madhav Gadgil-led Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP) report had created a political furore in the State with most of the political parties and a section of the church opposing it.
•The Tribunal Bench, in its order, noted that any alteration in the draft notification of zones may seriously affect the environment, especially in view of recent incidents in Kerala. It was on a petition filed by the Goa Foundation that the Bench issued the order. The Principal Bench of the panel, which permitted the Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change (MoEF and CC) to re-publish the draft notification on Eco-Sensitive Zones, which expired on August 26, ordered that the matter may be finalised within six months. It also ordered that the draft of the republished notification be placed on the record of the tribunal.
Pulled up for delay
•The Bench was headed by NGT chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel and had Justice S.P. Wangdi, and Nagin Nanda, expert member, as its members.
•Pulling up the ghats States for the delay in filing objections regarding the notification, the tribunal observed that the “delay on account of objections of States may not be conducive to the protection of the eco-sensitive areas” and the matter must be finalised at the earliest.
•The WGEEP had earlier proposed “much larger areas for being included in the eco-sensitive zone” though the Kasturirangan-led High Level Working Group, also appointed by the MoEF and CC to look into the WGEEP report, had reduced it. The Ministry had accepted the Kasthurirangan report and issued the draft notifications on ecologically sensitive zones.
•The Principal Bench of the tribunal, which noted that the ecology of the Western Ghats region was under serious stress, also highlighted the fact that Western Ghats region was one of the richest biodiversity areas which needed to be conserved.
📰 Protocol breached in Tamil Nadu organ transplant case, says probe
‘Salem case attracts provisions under Transplantation Act and IPC sections’
•An investigation ordered by the Tamil Nadu government into the retrieval of organs from a brain dead patient at a private hospital in Salem district in May this year has found that the harvested heart and lung were allocated to two foreign nationals in two corporate hospitals in Chennai without adopting the stipulated protocol for allocation.
•The organs were harvested and transplanted on the patients on May 21. In one case, the organ was allotted to a foreigner although it was requested for an Indian patient in the waitlist of organ recipients. Recipients of the heart and lung died shortly after the transplant surgeries were performed.
•The inquiry officer has concluded that two outsourced staff of the Transplant Authority of Tamil Nadu (TRANSTAN) had violated norms, by allocating the kidney to a different patient, and shifting allocation to benefit recipients admitted to the Chennai hospitals. Engaging of the outsourced staff at TRANSTAN was done in 2014. Both members resigned after the controversy over allocation of organs to foreign nationals was raised.
Letter from Kerala CM
•The inquiry committee was set up by the Department of Medical and Rural Health following a letter from Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to his Tamil Nadu counterpart Edappadi K. Palaniswami seeking an investigation into a complaint that organs were “stolen” from a brain dead patient, P. Manikandan of Palakkad in Kerala, who met with a road accident near Kallakurichi in Villupuram district on May 18.
•Referring to the instant case, the inquiry report said, “This again points to the TRANSTAN co-ordinator aiding specific hospitals to get allocation of organs to patients of their choice, denying others ahead of them in the waiting list.” The two TRANSTAN outsourced staff “wilfully put the wrong UID (unique identity number)” to facilitate the bypassing of patients. “In addition they did not update the TRANSTAN registry or the website of the changed recipient numbers,” it said.
•The investigation revealed that in one case, the reason given to allocate the organ to an international patient and not an active Indian patient was that the chief surgeon of the hospital was out of station. “However, it was established that he was in station and available” in the private hospital in Chennai on the night of May 21 when the transplant was done.
•The report said the offences made out in the Salem case attracted the provisions under Section 18 (Punishment for removal of human organ or tissues or both without authority) of The Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Act, 1994, and Section 465 (forgery), 420 (cheating) read with 120B (criminal conspiracy) of IPC.
•The inquiry revealed that Manikandan’s family members were reluctant to give their consent to harvest his organs but later gave in after persuasion.
•Investigators noted that the counselling for family members, which should have been done by the grief counsellor of the private hospital as per the TRANSTAN guidelines, was done by its Chief Operating Officer (COO).
•“Thus, the COO showed interest in pacifying the family members though they were not willing for organ donation and they had declined thrice,” the report said.
•The inquiry revealed that the kidney was proposed for one patient but given to another. The heart was allotted to a Ukrainian national, but investigation revealed that it was transplanted on a Lebanese patient, who died hours after the transplant as the “heart did not work.”
•The organ utilisation certificate in this case did not mention the nationality of the citizen who underwent the transplant. The then Member Secretary of TRANSTAN who headed the organ transplantation programme told the investigators that he was not aware that the heart harvested from Manikandan was put on a Lebanese patient instead of the Ukrainian national.
•The change in allocation was done privately over the personal mobile phones of TRANSTAN coordinators and the transplant team of the corporate hospital.
•The report recorded the testimony of a TRANSTAN official that that in one case, a senior bureaucrat in the State government had intervened directing him to “allocate immediately” an organ for a patient in a corporate hospital.
•At another Chennai hospital, the report said there were five active Indian patients waiting for lung transplant but the organ was given to an Israeli patient.
•Investigation revealed that the hospital authorities gave a variety of reasons to justify the decision. Incidentally, the organs used by the two corporate hospitals in Chennai were refused by other hospitals since they were of “poor quality.”
•In the report, the inquiry committee referred to an instance on March 13, 2018, where the outsourced staff of TRANSTAN allowed a corporate hospital in Chennai to take the lung of a donor for an international patient even when active Indian patients were on waiting list in other hospitals. No “decline message” was obtained from the Indian patients.
•In another case TRANSTAN coordinators not only allowed a private hospital in a southern district — neither licensed for transplantation nor authorised to declare a patient brain dead — to declare a patient brain dead in November 2016 but allotted the heart of the donor to an international patient in Chennai.
📰 For a shift in gear: on managing natural disasters
There has to be a change from focussing only on managing natural disasters to improving resilience
•Kerala’s unique topography — of coastal plains and rolling hills between the Arabian Sea and the Western Ghats — is vulnerable to several natural hazards, landslides, flooding and coastal erosion being the most common. Incidents of flooding have become frequent, aided by human intervention. In the massive flooding the State faced recently, more than a million people were displaced and had to be housed in relief camps. The conservative estimate of losses has been put at ₹21,000 crore. While the Madhav Gadgil-led Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel had recommended the gradation of the Western Ghats into three eco-sensitive zones, with significant restrictions or outright bans on construction and mining activities, this was not acceptable to the State government.
Vulnerable country
•India is prone to disasters. About 70% of its coastal areas are prone to tsunamis and cyclones, about 60% of its landmass vulnerable to earthquakes, and 12% of its land to floods. Multi-storied housing is booming in urban India, built on a framework of beams, pillars and brick walls. With parking spaces prioritised at the ground level over structural stability, retrofitting is urgently needed, despite the significant costs. Most Indian houses are made of brick masonry walls, with fire/unfired bricks and stones, and yet few if any undergraduate civil engineering courses consider these materials, focussing instead on reinforced cement and concrete. Earthquake engineering is taught as a specialisation at just a few universities, leading to a serious shortage of retrofitting-trained civil engineering manpower.
The gaps
•Yet, risk management is still in its infancy. In the case of Kerala, in 2003, the Home Ministry had proposed the formation of specialist teams to manage disasters using four battalions from the Central Industrial Security Force and Indo Tibetan Border Police. Kerala was required ‘to identify a State-level training institution’ for the purpose. The project has been forgotten. It has been the same response, even after the Ockhi disaster when the Centre proposed forming a special team and funding.
•We are far behind even in forecasting disasters that occur annually. Even now, after the Kedarnath floods in 2013, Uttarakhand still has few if any Doppler radars to provide early alerts about cloudbursts and heavy rain. There are few guidelines on construction in flood-prone regions, or even a map of safe zones.
•Few States have prepared emergency action plans for the over 5,000 large dams in India, with reports of just 200 dams having been covered so far. Inflow forecasts are available for around 30 reservoirs and barrages (there are over 4,800 such structures). Mitigation projects for upgradation of the observatory network have barely commenced. The effectiveness of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) has been hampered by a shortage of trained manpower, training, infrastructure and equipment, which prompted the Comptroller and Auditor General to highlight the National Disaster Management Authority’s performance in projects such as vulnerability assessment and mitigation projects of major cities as “abysmal”.
•We need to revise the norms for disaster relief in India. Each State and district has different costs for labour and construction, making the idea of a uniform amount for relief redundant. In Kerala’s Kuttanad region, one of the earliest affected by the floods, the specified compensation of around ₹92,000 for a completely destroyed house offered was seen to be inadequate. Current disaster norms do not differentiate between States, offering, for example, the same amount per unit for disaster relief in Bundelkhand as in Goa. Such practices are bound to lead to an inadequate recovery.
On the ground
•Disaster norms are also skewed more towards rural areas, focussing on agriculture, fisheries, livestock and handicrafts from a relief perspective. Typically, after a disaster, revenue officials are responsible for visiting affected areas and identifying people for relief, in turn offering scope for misuse and corruption. In addition, any disaster relief will typically exclude anyone living in an unauthorised area. Such norms also exclude share-croppers and agricultural labourers, while focussing only on small and big farmers. The former are also the ones excluded from the rural credit market, while facing significant risk from agricultural uncertainty. Finally, unlisted disasters which are not neatly bucketed in the specifications under the Calamity Relief Fund are restricted to a relief of 10% of the fund’s annual allocation.
Moving forward
•Planned urbanisation can withstand disasters, a shining example being Japan which faces earthquakes at regular intervals. The India Disaster Resource Network should be institutionalised as a repository for organised information and equipment gathering.
•India needs a strong disaster management agency. Disaster preparedness should be focussed on meeting the immediate contingency, implementing a conceptual, long-term rehabilitation strategy while maintaining an ethnographic understanding. It must be built on anticipatory governance, emphasising studies that embed foresight and foster citizen awareness. The NDRF must fill its vacant specialist positions while being given better control over transfers and deployment of its personnel. Without such reforms, only the Indian Army and paramilitary forces can remain first responders, and States will continue to cry out for relief. Perhaps, it’s time to move on from being focussed only on managing natural disaster emergencies to improving resilience.
📰 Risks remain: on GDP growth
The spurt in economic growth is news, but the Centre must watch the fiscal deficit
•The Indian economy grew at an impressive rate of 8.2% in the April-Junequarter this year, its fastest pace in nine quarters, according to official GDP data released on Friday. The first quarter growth spurt was propped by strong performance in the manufacturing sector, which grew at 13.5%, after shrinking 1.8% in the first quarter last year, thanks to de-stocking by firms in the lead-up to the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax. The construction and agriculture sectors that grew just 1.8% and 3%, respectively, in Q1 in 2017-18, clocked growth rates of 8.7% and 5.3% in Q1 of 2018-19. While high frequency data points like auto sales and industrial output are in sync with these numbers, it must be remembered that this 8%-plus growth print can be attributed to the resolution of several GST transition problems, budgetary support to the rural economy and, in no small measure, the effect of a lower base last year. The economy had grown just 5.6% in Q1 of 2017-18, owing to the lingering effects of demonetisation and the impending implementation of GST from July 1, 2017. Government spending made a significant contribution to overall economic growth, witnessing a sizeable increase of about 10% compared to last year, helping boost gross fixed capital formation. The latest data marks a steady upward march in the economy over the past four quarters.
•The 8.2% figure couldn’t have come at a better time for the Modi government. But some of Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s points to discredit the quality of growth under the UPA — for instance, that it compromised on the fiscal and current account deficits and led to spiralling inflation — are emerging as key risks for the economy again. Just over 86% of the budgeted fiscal deficit target for the current financial year has been reached within the first quarter; GST collections, after a slew of rate cuts to spur consumption, have dipped to about ₹94,000 crore in August. The falling rupee, oil price trends and the expanding current account deficit are equally worrying, as is the Reserve Bank of India’s expectation of a rise in inflation in the latter half of this year. Also, growth in the services sector has decelerated from last year’s levels. The ‘normalcy’ of this monsoon is marred by wide regional variations. In such a scenario, the RBI, which has already raised interest rates twice in the last three months, is unlikely to adopt an easy money policy that is congenial to growth. India remains the world’s fastest growing large economy. But it needs to grow even faster to spur job creation. The focus must be on sorting out vital economic indicators that are far from perfect. Sustaining an 8%-plus growth rate needs more pro-active policy-making and a continuous pursuit of well-crafted reforms.
📰 UN begins talks on treaty to protect imperilled high seas
It focusses on providing environmental protection to 46% of the planet’s surface
•United Nations on Tuesday kicked-off talks on a 2020 treaty that would regulate the high seas, which cover half the planet yet lack adequate environmental protection.
•Four sessions of talks, each lasting two weeks, are planned to take place over two years, with the goal of protecting marine biodiversity and avoiding further pillaging of the oceans.
•“The negotiations will relate to spaces beyond national jurisdictions, or areas that belong to no country in particular,” said Julien Rochette of the Paris-based think tank Iddri, or the Institute of Sustainable Development and International Relations.
•Talk will focus on “the high seas and the international zone of marine waters, or about 46% of the planet’s surface,” he added.
•In 1982, the UN adopted the Convention on the Law of the Sea, but left the high seas free from restrictions.
•“All States enjoy the traditional freedoms of navigation, overflight, scientific research and fishing on the high seas,” it said.
•The convention took effect in 1994, without the participation of the U.S.
•Since then, shipping routes have expanded considerably, and the resources of the ocean deep have aroused significant interest, whether by fishing or mineral extraction.
•“Marine life is already reeling from the impact of industrial fishing, climate change and other extractive industries. We have a shared responsibility to protect our global oceans before it is too late,” said Sandra Schoettner, a marine biologist with Greenpeace.
•Talks will focus on creating protected areas on the high seas, more sharing of maritime resources and technology, and research on environmental impacts.
Fishing restrictions
•Some whale-hunting nations, like Japan, Iceland and Norway, are expected to be more cautious than others because they fear overly strict fishing restrictions.
•The U.S. is also reticent “because they are opposed to all regulation of marine genetic resources and they did not ratify the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea,” said Ms. Rochette.
•“Russia has also been dragging its feet for a long time.”
•Liz Karan, an ocean expert, called the negotiations “a critical turning point.”
📰 ‘Mauritius tops India’s FDI charts again’
FDI in manufacturing slumps: RBI data
•Mauritius remained the top source of foreign direct investment (FDI) into India in 2017-18 followed by Singapore, whereas total FDI stood at $37.36 billion in the financial year, a marginal rise over the $36.31 billion recorded in the previous fiscal, according to RBI data.
•While FDI from Mauritius totalled $13.41 billion as against $13.38 billion in the previous year, inflows from Singapore rose to $9.27 billion from $6.52 billion. FDI from the Netherlands declined marginally to $2.67 billion as against $3.23 billion a year earlier.
•Provisional data for the fiscal ended March revealed that FDI into the manufacturing sector witnessed a substantial decline to $7.06 billion, as against $11.97 billion a year earlier.
•However, FDI into communication services rose to $8.8 billion in FY18 from $5.8 billion. The inflows into retail and wholesale trade also shot up to $4.47 billion as against $2.77 billion, while financial services too saw a rise to $4.07 billion from $3.73 billion in the previous year. “The fact that these sectors accounted for more than 50% of total FDI of $37.36 billion in 2017-18 reflects the global interest in new areas, including online marketplaces and financial technologies,” said Assocham in a statement.
📰 Why is a Public Credit Registry important?
What is PCR?
•A public credit registry is an information repository that collates all loan information of individuals and corporate borrowers. A credit repository helps banks distinguish between a bad and a good borrower and accordingly offer attractive interest rates to good borrowers and higher interest rates to bad borrowers.
•The move is based on the recommendations of a committee, headed by Y.M. Deosthalee. PCR will address issues such as information asymmetry, improve access to credit and strengthen the credit culture among consumers. It can also address the bad loan problem staring at banks, as corporate debtors will not be able to borrow across banks without disclosing existing debt. A PCR may also help raise India’s rank in the global ease of doing business index.
•Setting up the PCR will help improve India’s rankings in the World Bank’s ease of doing business index.
Panel’s proposals
•The committee has suggested the registry should capture all loan information and borrowers be able to access their own history. Data is to be made available to stakeholders such as banks, on a need-to-know basis. Data privacy will be protected.
Why PCR is necessary
•Credit information is now available across multiple systems in bits and pieces and not in one window. Data on borrowings from banks, non-banking financial companies, corporate bonds or debentures from the market, external commercial borrowings (ECBs), foreign currency convertible bonds(FCCBs), masala bonds, and inter-corporate borrowings are not available in one data repository. PCR will help capture all relevant information about a borrower, across different borrowing products in one place.
•It can flag early warnings on asset quality by tracking performance on other credits.
PCR in other countries
•PCR in other countries now include other transactional data such as payments to utilities like power and telecom for retail consumers and trade credit data for businesses. Regularity in making payments to utilities and trade creditors provides an indication of the credit quality of such customers.
Innovation in lending
•Access to credit information, including debt details and repayment history would drive innovation in lending. For example, currently most banks focus on large companies for loans and consequently the micro, small and medium enterprises are left with limited options for borrowing. With satisfactory payment history and validated debt details made available, it will increase the credit availability to micro, small and medium enterprises along with deepening of the financial markets. This will support the policy of financial inclusion.
