📰 No pressure on India to buy F-16 fighters from U.S.: envoy
‘America is very proud of the expanding defence ties between the countries’
•The United States is not going to put pressure on India to buy F-16 fighter jets or any other defence system, a senior U.S. diplomat has said.
•United States Consul General in Mumbai Edgard Kagan said India has purchased more than $15 billion worth of American defence materials and the U.S. is very proud of the expanding defence ties between the two countries.
•Asked if there is a threat of the U.S. imposing trade sanctions on India after its multi-billion deal with Russia for the S-400 air-defence system, he did not give a direct answer. “The idea that the U.S. is going to pressure India to buy the F-16 or any other system is not true. We believe that American military systems bring tremendous capability to India or any other country which buys them. But we recognise that India makes its decisions on its own grounds,” he told PTIin an interview.
•Mr. Kagan said it is important to recognise that decisions have consequences and India is very well aware where the U.S. stands on a variety of issues. There are also matters that both countries can work closely to resolve, he said.
•India recently concluded a $5 billion deal to buy the S-400 air defence missile system from Russia, which could attract U.S. sanctions under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act instituted by the U.S. Congress on arms purchases from Moscow.
•American lawmakers, however, have allowed the possibility of a presidential waiver.
•Mr. Kagan said, “The fact is India has purchased over $15 billion worth of American defence materials and there hasn’t been any hint of a scandal. There hasn’t been one suggestion of any impropriety and that’s very significant. The American defence procurement are transparent... All details are published on the U.S. site.”
•This gives certainty to the people buying American products, the U.S. Consul General said. “When you compare the track record of the C-17 purchases for instance, or C-130 purchases, which were all done on budget, on time, and in a very transparent way without a single hint of impropriety with many other defence procurement, the difference is quite striking.” The C-17 and the C-130 are U.S.-made cargo aircraft.
•Asked about the Indian government directing social media platforms to take concrete steps to check spread of rumours and messages inciting unrest, cyber crimes, and other activities that could jeopardise national security, he said putting restrictions is no solution.
•“I would be very concerned trying to restrict speech either on social media or anywhere else. The challenge is only to make sure that you understand the consequences of their actions. The solution to me can’t be to control social media because inevitably the speech that we don’t like also means trying to prevent the speech that brings change,” he said.
📰 In the court of last resort
The Supreme Court’s actions in the CBI case underline the gravity of the institutional crisis
•The Supreme Court, on Friday, stepped into the institutional crisis engineered by the “forcible transfer” of the Director of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) earlier in the week. Given the patent illegality of the “forcible leave” of CBI Director Alok Verma, and the need to maintain the Bureau’s legal independence guaranteed by law, the Supreme Court has chosen to attempt to sort out this mess. That it needs sorting out is hardly news.
•Legally, the straightforward thing to do would have been for the Supreme Court to act according to the black and white law, and reinstate Mr. Verma, the CBI Director, and leave it there. Section 4B of the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act doesn’t allow the government to transfer the CBI Director during the two-year fixed tenure without the previous consent of the high powered committee consisting of the Chief Justice of India, the Prime Minister, and the Leader of the Opposition (or a member of the largest Opposition party in the Lok Sabha). This was introduced in 2013 by the Act constituting the Lokpal. Till then, the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) was a part of the committee mentioned in Section 4B. It isn’t any longer, and thus has no role in asking the government to divest the CBI Director of his powers.
•The Supreme Court has tread more cautiously — but given the administrative breakdown, prudently. It has not immediately reinstated the CBI Director and instead has clipped the wings of the “interim” Director, restraining him from making any policy or major decisions, except those that are routine and essential for the CBI to function. The interim order also said that his decisions thus far will be reviewed by the Supreme Court, and must be submitted to it. All transfers, including of one officer to Port Blair, will be reviewed by the Supreme Court.
The court’s administration
•The CBI, in essence, is now under the Supreme Court’s administration. The investigations being undertaken by the Director, Special Director, and all the transferred officers will likely stand frozen. Important decisions by investigating officers or decisions to be taken in critical cases will not be taken. It is unclear what the ‘routine’ decisions essential to the CBI functioning are, but the “interim” Director should be loathe to act with the alacrity and brutality he deployed in the first hours when he took office. His authority stands severely diminished, and were he to take any major action, one can expect a challenge to it in court.
•While taking pains to point out that it is not commenting on the functioning of the government, the Supreme Court has also taken over the powers of the CVC in this case. It is the CVC’s note to the government that was the ostensible provocation for the government to wield its axe at midnight. The CVC’s reasonings in that note to the government, which is challenged in the Supreme Court, were obviously not accepted by the court, and retired Supreme Court judge Justice A.K. Patnaik has been appointed, pending his formal consent, to supervise the investigation into the complaints against Mr. Verma. That the CVC requires supervision by the Supreme Court reveals the shocking state of disrepair in the system.
•Although the court did not mention the causes of its anxiety, the CVC’s note makes apparent the Supreme Court’s disquiet. It labours to explain why the complaint forwarded to it by the Cabinet Secretary must remain anonymous, but must be answered, though its allegations have not been independently verified, or prima facie established. It repeatedly points out that there is no wrongdoing found in the investigation of Rakesh Asthana, the CBI Special Director, by the CBI, but reminds the CBI that it must conduct the investigation fairly, and questions whether there should be an investigation at all without sanction from the competent authority. Other notes from the CVC are also seemingly in order to remind the CBI of Mr. Asthana’s rights. Another refers to allegations found in a secret note submitted by Mr. Asthana which in itself is derived from a secret, apparently undivulged, source. Any defence lawyer worth her salt will tell you that a ‘counter blast’ against the other side is not an effective strategy, especially when made after you have been accused first. The nature of the CVC’s demands reveals a bias. The CBI has dithered in providing records to the CVC, no doubt, but there is no matter of such great concern or exigency mentioned in the note that required immediate interim measures or a midnight cabinet meeting to wield the axe.
All about the CVC
•The CVC’s past history is also revealing. It usually acts as a postbox for forwarding complaints to the requisite government departments, without even bothering to ask for a reply from the department concerned. In this case, it hadn’t even received the CBI’s report on Mr. Asthana, which it had requested, when it voted in favour of the selection committee recommending him as CBI Special Director. Its explanation that Mr. Verma thumbed his nose at its supervisory role, leading to his removal, doesn’t hold water. And if that was the extent of the problem, far less egregious measures, consistent with its powers, were possible — including actually summoning the CBI Director instead of the records, and registering a case against him, which has still not been done. The sanction to investigate, required under Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act, as amended in 2018 by the government, was designed to protect officials from perceived investigative harassment, but it is hardly the CVC’s job to tell the CBI that its investigation is without the sanction of the law.
•This case continues the trend of the Supreme Court stepping into the executive’s domain. It has, never, however, done so to this extent. Two principal agencies in the fight against corruption, the CBI and the CVC, will function under its scrutiny.
Under the circumstances
•The Supreme Court, thus, has chosen to act according to its ideas of fairness, or equity, rather than the strict confines of the law. It has waded into the administrative crises trying to fashion a solution, but as an interim measure it has indicated that it will have to consider each decision of the “interim” CBI Director, and thus each decision of the officer transferred in every investigation. Justice Patnaik will have to supervise an investigation, within two weeks, into the vague and secret allegations against Mr. Verma. Both are woefully under-equipped for a task that requires fact-finding of such magnitude. However, as an interim measure, it is hard to think what else would have sufficed. When the executive and independent institutions act with such brazenness against the constitutional ethos, can the Supreme Court bear the entire burden of course correction? Are the sinews of the Constitution strong enough to withstand such vicious jabs?
📰 Gulf in strategic precepts
Japan must adopt an independent-minded approach in the Indo-Pacific that is more amenable to partners like India
•Twenty years after exchanging bitter words following New Delhi’s nuclear tests, India-Japan ties exude exceptional warmth. From development assistance to maritime cooperation, both countries view each other as “special strategic and global partners.” But an unsavoury truth is apparent beneath the surface: ties are a mile wide but an inch deep. In 2011, India and Japan began implementing the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement; yet seven years later, bilateral trade has yet to hit even the $20 billion mark. India’s exports to Japan have in fact contracted in four of the past six years. Since early 2010, Japan and India have discussed joint infrastructure projects in third countries, including announcing an Asia-Africa Growth Corridor. But not a single project has taken off, including in Myanmar and the Mekong countries where the two share complementary interests.
•The largest gap between form and substance is evident in the area of defence cooperation. The framework of Indo-Japanese defence ties has grown considerably, including the joint declaration on security cooperation, the action plan to advance such cooperation, a defence equipment transfer agreement, a classified military information security protection agreement, and the ongoing logistical support cooperation talks. Yet, 10 years later, the two sides have failed to realise the sale of a single defence article and there exists no conventional threat-specific contingency scenario in which the two militaries can practicably cooperate. The veiled threat to interdict Chinese shipping at the Indo-Pacific’s chokepoints might make for good theatre but is poor policy. Not since the Napoleonic wars has a campaign to interdict the shipping of a major power been successfully mounted — except during a general war.
•India and Japan must grapple with the gulf that separates their guiding strategic precepts if they are to transcend the hollow institutionalisation that infects strategic ties. Though swayed by competing currents of Asia-oriented or autonomy-centred diplomacy, Japan, ever since its Meiji opening 150 years ago, has never been able to successfully postulate an order beyond a Western-led alliance framework.
•For its part, independent India has never sought to articulate an identity within the framework of an alliance system – be it Western or any other. As Prime Minister Narendra Modi eloquently restated at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, New Delhi remains conspicuously committed to a non-Western, pluralistic model of cooperative security in Asia.
•Nuzzling together within a broader anti-China coalition can only go so far in bolstering strategic congruence. Rather, Japan must adopt a more independent-minded approach in the Indo-Pacific that is less attached to the West and more amenable to partners like India.
📰 ‘Extend Vishakha norms to religious institutions’
PIL plea says it will help check abuse against women
•The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear a PIL petition to extend the Vishakha guidelines against sexual harassment in workplace to ashrams, madrasas and Catholic institutions.
•The Vishakha guidelines introduced by the apex court in 1997 were evolved into a parliamentary law called the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act of 2013.
•The petition filed by advocate Maneesh Pathak said religious institutions also have women employed there other than those working on a voluntary basis. “If the Vishakha Guidelines are extended to these religious institutions, it would assist a lot in reducing sexually related crimes against women at religious places by gurus or leaders of that particular institution,” the petition said.
Background check
•It said the government should do a background verification of religious leaders, especially “new upcoming babas” or “heads of those madrasas” and churches. It also sought directions to the Centre to provide adequate measures for women safety at religious places by conducting periodic checks by State women panels.
•The petition mentioned recent instances such as cases of priests being accused of sexual abuse in Kerala and of self-styled gurus like Daati Maharaj, Baba Ram Rahim and Asaram Bapu.
📰 State ranked first with 10.5% growth
Surpasses developed ones like Maharashtra, Gujarat with ‘focused approach’
•Andhra Pradesh has achieved the number one rank in the country with an average growth of 10.5% during the last four years.
•It has surpassed many developed States such as Maharashtra and Gujarat following a “focused approach” and setting high targets for itself.
•According to the State Planning Department, the average growth in the country stood at 7.3% during the last four years. Probably, Andhra Pradesh is the only State to clock the double-digit growth rate.
•While Telangana has slipped to the second place, Maharashtra is ranked sixth. Punjab is placed 14th and Karnataka third.
•The growth in Andhra Pradesh was 9.2% in 2014-15, the year of bifurcation. Later, it was ranked second. In the subsequent year, it achieved a double-digit growth of 10.6% though its rank had slipped to the 4th place.
•Since then, the State has been achieving double-digit growth rates.
•Gujarat, which is considered the most developed State, registered a growth of 10.5% in 2014-15. But it slipped to 10.1 in 2016-17. Telangana, which registered 6.8% growth in 2014-15 could achieve 10.4% in 2017-18, officials said.
•The Per Capita Income (PCI) also increased by more than Rs. 40,000 during 2017-18 in the State, which started its journey with “the lowest PCI of Rs. 93,903” in the southern States.
•The PCI crossed the Rs. 1 lakh mark in 2015-16. The trend has been upward since then. The PCI grew to Rs. 1,08,163 in 2015-16 and to Rs. 1,23,664 in 2016-17 and Rs. 1,42,054 in 2017-18.
•Planning Secretary Sanjay Gupta said Andhra Pradesh, with a population of 4.96 crore (as per 2011 census), was placed 9th in the country with a PCI of Rs. 1.24 lakh in 2016-17 against Rs. 1.07 lakh in 2015-16.
•Compared with the all-India PCI of Rs. 1.13 lakh in 2017-18, there is a quantum jump in the State’s PCI in 2017-18 and 2015-16.
•The All India PCI was Rs. 1.04 lakh in 2016-17 and Rs. 95,000 in 2015-16. The PCI of Haryana, Maharahstra, Kerala, Karnataka, Telangana, and Gujarat was high as they touched or crossed the Rs. 1.81 lakh mark. But the increase was not on a par with that of A.P., he said.
•Mr. Gupta said agriculture and allied sectors, industry and services registered a growth higher than the national average. While A.P. registered 11% growth during the last four years, it was only 2.4% at the national level.
📰 Siberian visitors freeze Assam-Meghalaya border dispute
•Umru village on the Assam-Meghalaya border lacks a road but that doesn’t stop its famous winter visitors — a flock of Amur falcons, the world’s longest travelling raptors.
•While Doyang Lake near Pangti village in Nagaland’s Wokha district is better known as a stopover for the Amur falcons during their annual migration from their breeding grounds in Mongolia and northern China to warmer South Africa, a flock has been seen since 2010 in Umru.
•The lack of an access road is not the only problem faced by the villagers. Umru is in Block II, one of 12 disputed areas along the Assam-Meghalaya border, since Meghalaya was carved out of Assam in 1972.
•Assam claims the village is under Baithalangso Assembly constituency of East Karbi Anlong district while Meghalaya asserts it is under Mawhati Assembly constituency of its Ri-Bhoi district.
•The 50-odd Gorkha households in the village prefer to be in Assam while the 30 Khasi tribal households want to be in Meghalaya.
Common cause
•But these disputes are forgotten when the village welcomes the falcons in mid-October, uniting to ensure a safe stay for the birds. Both communities have made common cause in protection of the Amur falcons and have fixed a fine of ₹25,000 for anyone caught ensnaring or killing the birds.
•“Various factors divide the people, but this should not affect the beautiful birds who know nothing about political boundaries,” L. Khriam, former headman of Umru said. Gorkha elders such as S.B. Chhetri echo the sentiment.
Birdwatchers paradise
•The Tyrso Valley Wildlife Protection Society is an NGO formed by the villagers of the eponymous Meghalaya village adjoining Umru. The group has been organising the Amur Falcon Festival since 2015 to celebrate the “birds that have this back-of-beyond area famous”.
•The festival is scheduled on November 7-8, a fortnight before the birds are expected to soar for the next destination on their migration.
•“People here have become sensitive about the birds because of our awareness campaigns. They are also opening up to the idea of homestays for birdwatchers and nature lovers who come here for the Amur falcons,” the society’s chairman Jro Shadap said.
•And the lack of a road had cramped their plans to open up to birdwatchers. The former Congress-led coalition government in Meghalaya under Mukul M. Sangma had sanctioned a nine km road from nearest roadhead, Liarbang and the villagers hope work on the road will begin soon.
•The Umru-Tyrso area, about 75 km northeast of Shillong, however, is a relatively recent pit stop for the Amur falcons. The birds used to flock to Umwang, also in the Block II disputed area, from 1998-2009 before human interference made them shift base.
•Wildlife officials in Nagaland also point out that the migratory birds used to roost in very large numbers in the Changtongya Community Conservation Reserve but moved on to Pangti and Yaongyimchen, a lesser roosting site. Efforts are on to revive the Changtongya area, about 100 km north of Pangti, for the migratory raptors.
📰 Moths are key to pollination in Himalayan ecosystem
Study of a dozen species revealed the presence of pollen grains
•Moths are widely considered as pests, but a recent study by scientists of Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) has revealed that these group of insects are pollinators to a number of flowering plants in the Himalayan ecosystem.
•Under the project titled “Assessment of Moths (Lepidoptera) As Significant Pollinators in the Himalayan Ecosystem of North Eastern India”, scientists collected moth samples from different ecosystem. The analysis of proboscis, a long and thread-like organ used to suck flower sap, of a dozen moth species’ revealed the presence of pollen grains.
•“Most of the studies on plant pollinators or plant- pollinator network are focused on diurnal interactions between the insects and plants. This particular study is based on plant- moth interactions, as a nocturnal phenomenon, ” Navneet Singh, principal investigator of the project, told The Hindu.
•The study was carried out in states such as Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim and West Bengal. According to Dr. Singh, proboscis of different moths belonging to families of moths, such as Erebidae and Sphingidae, were found to contain pollen of several flowering plants, including Rhododendron.
Unique structure
•What came as a bigger revelation was the structure of the proboscis in different moth species, he said.
•“On observing the proboscis under scanning electron microscope, we observed that these structures are not only meant for sap sucking, but are morphological designed for pollination. In some species of moths, the organ is found to be modified into a spine like structure and in others, a lateral canal to arrest and disperse pollen,” Dr. Singh said.
•Experts also pointed out that similar studies on ascertaining the role of moths in pollination are being undertaken different parts of the world.
•Kailash Chandra, director of ZSI, emphasised that the study was unique, as scientist are looking at a new group of insects (moths) as pollinators. Usually bees, wasps and butterflies are considered as prominent pollinators.
•“About 90% of the world’s flowering plants are pollinated by animals. Therefore, pollinators are essential for the genetic exchange among flowering plants and the biodiversity among plants,” Dr. Chandra said. In India, estimates put the number of of moth species at nearly 12,000.
•Researchers have pointed out that almost two-thirds of common large moth species have declined over the last 40 years in some parts of world. One of main reasons for the decline is light pollution (an increase in artificial light in moth habitats).
📰 Special course may help cut deaths due to medical errors
A two-day module is mandatory for surgical trainees in the U.S. and the U.K.
•With nearly 50,00,000 Indians dying due to medical negligence every year, experts claim that a specialised course for doctors and hospital staff focusing on how a critically ill or injured patient should be handled could bring down the figure by almost 50%.
•The Acute Critical Care Course (ACCC), developed in the early 1980s in Europe, has come as a boon for medical institutions abroad by reducing the death rate of patients by nearly 10%, even in serious health complications including sepsis, said Ajay Sharma, a transplant specialist and consultant at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital in the U.K.
•The two-day course has become mandatory for surgical trainees both in the U.S. and the U.K., which annually lose over four lakh and 98,000 patients, respectively, due to medical errors, Mr. Sharma said.
•A study by the Harvard University last year showed that nearly 50 lakh deaths occur in India annually due to medical errors triggered by lack of practical knowledge among the doctors and nurses to handle patients when brought to the hospital.
•The ACCC aims to train the medicine specialists and the surgeons of various specialisation such as surgical, gynaecology, orthopaedics and emergency to suspect and identify patients at a risk of deterioration, Mr. Sharma said.
•He said “implementing the course in Indian hospitals, especially in the rural areas, can bring down the mortality rates due to medical negligence by nearly 50%.”
•The comprehensive course includes imparting training to the new and existing doctors of a hospital receiving critical care patients either on a high fidelity simulation or preserved dead bodies to make them understand the crucial steps to prevent errors.
•M.C. Misra, former director of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and a fellow at the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburg, said the ACCC is specially designed for those hospitals where doctors do not have practical knowledge about handling patients that require critical care.
Timely steps
•“The deteriorating health of most of the patients can be identified well in time if the residents are trained in how to use simple principles of applied physiology. Timely steps are much more effective than last-minute heroic measures,” Mr. Misra, one of the pioneers in pushing for the implementation of ACCC in the Indian hospitals, said.
•“This course takes care of prevention of small mistakes that make it life-threatening for the patient, be it administering IV fluids in patients, minor surgeries or anything else, agreed Geeta Shetty from the University of Birmingham in the U.K.
Medical negligence
•“In many cases of medical negligence in India, delay in taking care of breathing leads to organ dysfunction and poorer outcome even if given the best treatment, Ms. Geeta said.
•The fundamentals, Mr. Sharma added, taught as part of the course are not just confined to general surgery, but also to the cases of gynaecology, gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, and pulmonary.
•“Most of the new doctors are not well-versed in identifying and managing unexpected adverse events which have an enormous impact on the outcome of a patient’s health,” said Mr. Sharma.
•“The ACCC is an opportunity to practice these issues and challenges while helping in honing the technical and non-technical skills of the individual in a simulated environment,” he said.
•Mr. Sharma and his team have trained medical specialists at various Indian hospitals in ACCC since 2012, when the course was introduced in India.
Limited spread
•However, ACCC has not spread far and wide in India with only 450 doctors across the country completing the course, experts said.
•Even major hospitals, mostly in the rural belts, continue to ignore it despite most of the medical error cases causing death being reported in tier 2 and tier 3 cities where the concept of critical care does not exist.
•The concept of ACCC came into existence after England’s Hillsborough disaster, a fatal human crush during an FA Cup semi-final match between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest in 1989 when over 96 people were killed and nearly 800 injured.
•According to the experts, the death toll could have been much lower if adequate medical arrangements were available in hospitals and the staffers were trained well.
•ACCC can help the doctors to develop the technical and non-technical skills of managing such patients, said Selva Kumar, a leading cardiovascular surgeon based in the U.K.
•Mr. Kumar noted that the course teaches how to correctly execute the basic timely procedures such as ensuring a proper breathing passage for a critically ill or injured patient instead of stopping the bleeding that can be secondary.
