Comprehensive News Analysis - 07 October 2016

A. GS1 Related

Nothing here today folks!

B. GS2 Related

1. SC threatens to snap BCCI funding for domestic cricket

Category: Indian polity

Topic: Judiciary

Key Points:

• The Supreme court threatened to pass an order within 24 hours to stop all BCCI payments to State cricket associations for hosting domestic matches, including Ranji Trophy. The court warned BCCI that there will be no domestic cricket matches if the BCCI and its members do not fall in line with the Lodha committee reforms.

The Apex court indicated its intention to direct the reimbursement of Rs. 400 crore disbursed by the BCCI to State cricket associations on September 30 in a Special General Meeting (SGM). The SGM had happened merely two days after the Supreme Court-appointed Justice R.M. Lodha committee moved the apex court with a plea to replace the current BCCI top brass for causing impediments to the panel’s work to usher in transparency in the cricket administration.

• Ultimatum to BCCI – A Bench led by Chief Justice of India T.S. Thakur gave an ultimatum to the BCCI to give an undertaking by October 7 to unconditionally comply with the reforms of the Justice Lodha Committee upheld by the Supreme Court.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal who represented the BCCI responded “it was not possible” for the Board to persuade all the member State associations to fall in line within the next few hours.

2. East Aleppo faces destruction shortly

Category: International issues

Topic: Syrian crisis

Key Points:

• The United Nations Special Envoy for Syria, Staffan da Mistura made an impassioned appeal to save eastern Aleppo, warning the city faced total destruction and urging Islamist fighters to leave so civilians can get aid.

Addressing himself to the Russians and the Syrian government, he asked: “Are you really ready to continue this type of level of fighting using that type of weapons, and de facto destroy the whole city of eastern Aleppo … which is home to 275,000 people for the sake of eliminating 1,000 al Nusra fighters?”

3. India, Sri Lanka eye economic pact

Category: Bilateral

Topic: Indo – Sri Lanka cooperation

Key Points:

• India and Sri Lanka will sign an Enhanced bilateral economic partnership – Economic and Technical Co-operation agreement (ETCA) by the end of 2016 to allow the free flow of services, investments and technology. This will be in addition to the existing Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the two nations.

Impact:Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said that closer economic ties can accelerate growth among India’s five southern States and Sri Lanka and categorically denied there was any military engagement involved in the island nation’s negotiations with China for its ‘One Road, One Belt’ initiative.

• Sri Lanka’s PM also suggested the creation of a larger special zone of economic co-operation around the Bay of Bengal to India, which takes on board Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia in addition to BIMSTEC He further said Sri Lanka is negotiating a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Singapore, while India already has comprehensive economic partnership pact with the latter, so there is scope for a trilateral arrangement to boost the three economies.

Note –BIMSTEC stands for Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation. Its members are Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan and Nepal.

C. GS3 Related

1. GM mustard unlikely to get approval this rabi season

Category: Bio-technology

Topic: GM crops

Key Points:

• Union ministry of Environment said GM mustard, which was open for public consultation and received a nod from the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC), is unlikely to be approved during the ongoing season.

The crop is facing opposition from organic food proponents. Environmental activists have petitioned the Supreme Court seeking a moratorium on release of the crop without adequate and comprehensive bio-safety data, including feeding studies, which according to the petition has not been conducted.

• One of the crucial points of contention is has remained that the Ministry has not released the bio-safety dossier into the public domain despite orders from the Central Information Commission.

D. GS4 Related

E. Important Editorials: A Quick Glance

1. Chief minister in a hurry

• Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar will clearly leave no stone unturned in giving his prohibition policy a legislative punch. Within days of the Patna High Court striking a blow to the total prohibition regime in the State, the government notified the Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act, 2016, and approached the Supreme Court to challenge the High Court order.

The haste throws some light on Mr. Kumar’s political strategy, which is aimed at distinguishing himself in a crowded landscape. Prohibition was his main campaign outreach to women voters in the 2015 Assembly elections.

• Having won the votes of women in earlier elections on schemes such as bicycles for schoolgirls, prohibition gave his Janata Dal (United) an added moral aura he was fighting a no-holds-barred election against his former ally, the BJP, and he was fighting in alliance with Lalu Prasad’s Rashtriya Janata Dal.

In the event, he was returned to the Chief Minister’s post, but with the RJD getting a greater number of MLAs than the JD(U). Mr. Kumar’s natural claim to the big post draws from his personal credibility, seen to be more potent than his party’s. This connect with a wide cross-section of the public, as a politician empathetic to aspirations for a dignified, socially and educationally empowered life, had him in the fray for a larger national role during his BJP-allied days, and so too in his current anti-BJP politics.

• The prohibition plank, with its Gandhian overtones and empathetic message to women, gives Mr. Kumar a chance to arrogate to himself the mantle of a moral campaigner nationally. In the immediate term, it allows him to set himself apart from the RJD’s rougher politics, and change the subject soon after his government found itself emitting the wrong message on law and order, particularly when Mohammad Shahabuddin was briefly out on bail. By attempting to overcome the High Court order, Mr. Kumar may have underlined his assertiveness, but he has, in the process, missed the opportunity the court gave him to reconsider the harsh punishments outlined in the previous law, with all the questions they pose for civil liberties, as well as the very architecture of the legislation.

The prohibition regime forces the deployment of the police to seal the State’s border, and away from more mindful policing within, which was the change Mr. Kumar’s long chief ministership promised. The punishment worked into the current law gives the police greater opportunity for rent-seeking. This may alienate the very constituencies that keep him in the running for a role larger than his party’s electoral footprint.

2. Stamping down on prejudice

• The revival of the HIV and AIDS (Prevention and Control) Bill, 2014, and the Union Cabinet’s approval for provisions that make discrimination against people living with the virus punishable, are positive steps. Such laws, however, can only deliver benefits within the overall constraints imposed by an underfunded public health system.

Where the legislation can make some difference, with active monitoring by HIV/AIDS support groups, is in ensuring that acquiring the infection does not mean an end to education, employment, access to housing and healthcare due to discrimination. The success of the anti-discrimination aspects hinges on the readiness of governments to accept the inquiry findings of ombudsmen, to be appointed under the law, and provide relief. Since the new law is intended to both stop the spread of the disease and help those who have become infected get antiretroviral therapy as well as equal opportunity, it will take a high degree of commitment to provide effective drugs to all those in need. In August, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare put the number of people getting free treatment nationally at 9,65,000, of which 53,400 are children. This must be viewed against the most recent estimate last year, that 2.1 million people live with HIV in India, of whom 7,90,000 are women. Regional variations in access to diagnosis and treatment must be addressed.

• The legislation and the structure of complaints redress that it proposes should provide some relief to thousands of families that face discrimination in admitting children to school, an infected individual getting a job, or treatment in hospital. Unlike many other diseases, however, HIV/AIDS has received global attention and funding, thus building up pressure on governments to come up with supportive policies. Communities will now have the opportunity to ensure that the strongest element of the prospective law, assuring confidentiality of HIV status, is enforced. A breach could invite imprisonment and a fine. Yet, the proposals approved by the Cabinet fail on one important count: the insurance industry is allowed to use actuarial calculations to limit access to products to people with HIV. The Centre’s initiative is palpably weak, since a universal system would not discriminate against people with any form of illness, and would fully embrace the goal of health and welfare for all. National AIDS Control Organisation data for 2015 indicate that while there is an overall decline in HIV prevalence among visitors to antenatal clinics, there was a rise in nine States. The government must get down to business and close such gaps.

F. Concepts-in-News: Related Concepts to Revise/Learn:

• Lodha committee – BCCI reforms
• Arab spring – Syrian crisis
• One road – One belt initiative
• FTA – Economic cooperation & technology agreement
• GM crops
• National AIDS control organization
• HIV

G. BILLS/ACTS/SCHEMES/ORGS IN NEWS

H. Fun with Practice Questions 🙂

Question 1: Which of the following statements are correct about Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC)

Question 2: 'Lodha Committee’ appears in news. It is related to?

Question 3: Recently, a series of uprisings of people referred to as `Arab Spring’ started from Tunisia. It is still active in

Question 4: Consider the following Statements regarding the DPSP/Directive Principles of State Policy:

Question 5: Consider the following statements regarding National AIDS control organization (NACO) :

I. Archives:

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