24 July 2019: UPSC Exam Comprehensive News Analysis

A. GS1 Related

Context:

The Supreme Court has extended the deadline for publication of the final (NRC) for Assam from July 31 to August 31, 2019.

What is NRC?

• The National Register of Citizens (NRC) is a register of Indian citizens.
• The purpose of the NRC update (happening only for Assam) is to identify illegal immigrants in Assam, many of whom migrated to Assam from Bangladesh during the 1971 war with Pakistan.
• In Assam, the NRC was first prepared in 1951 — the current exercise is a bid to update the 1951 register, and in the process, determine who is a legal Indian citizen based on a cut-off date: March 24, 1971.
• The process is undertaken by Registrar General of India and monitored by Supreme Court.

Read in-depth about NRC: National Register of Citizens

Background:

• Ahead of the August 31, 2019 date, two drafts (a partial and a complete) were published on January 1, 2018 and July 30, 2018 respectively.
• The final draft from last year excluded names of 40.7 lakh of the 3.29 crore applicants who had applied.
• This was followed by an “additional draft exclusion list” published on June 26, 2019, where an additional one lakh names were dropped from those who had been included in the final July 30 draft list.
• These people had the option of contesting the exclusion by filing claims, and appearing in hearings.
• In Assam, the NRC was first prepared in 1951 — the current exercise is a bid to update the 1951 register, and in the process, determine who is a legal Indian citizen based on a cut-off date: March 24, 1971.
• Those people who entered the country before this date, and have admissible documents to prove so, are eligible to be included in the NRC, and thus enjoy rights as citizens of India.
• All those who are out will have to provide reason for their exclusion by appearing before a quasi-judicial body called the Foreigners’ Tribunal.

Details:

• The NRC state coordinator Prateek Hajela had requested an extension of the deadline in light of the recent floods that ravaged Assam.
• He had also sought time for his officials to write out the final orders.
• The Assam government and the Centre, too, had requested an extension based on a plea to carry out a sample re-verification of 20 per cent names in the districts bordering Bangladesh, and a 10 per cent re-verification in the remaining districts.
• The government’s reasoning was that there had been many wrongful inclusions and exclusions in the updation of the NRC, and a re-verificaiton was needed to dispel doubts.
• However, in a report submitted by Hajela to the Court, he said that 27% (which accounts for 80 lakh names) re-verification had already happened during the hearings for fresh claims and objections.
• Based on this, the CJI-led Bench declined the government’s re-verification plea on Tuesday, while allowing a month-long deadline extension.
• Both the Central and State government, in identical but separate applications to the court, said many names have been wrongly included and excluded from the draft NRC, and a sample reverification had become necessary to quell the “growing perception” that lakhs of illegal immigrants may have infiltrated the list, especially in districts bordering Bangladesh.

Concerns:

• The error percentage in the border districts is just over 7%, while in other districts the average is over 12%.
• It was opined that low error percentage in the border districts was suspicious, especially when over the years these areas had seen people cross the border illegally and settle down in the State, thus spoiling the opportunity of the natives to make a life for themselves.

Context:

The 14-month Congress-JD(S) government in Karnataka collapsed, with Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy losing the confidence motion on the floor of the Assembly by six votes.

Background:

• The 2018 Assembly polls had thrown up a fractured mandate in Karnataka.
• The numerical strength of parties, in the House of 225, stood at 105 for BJP, 78 (Plus, one of Speaker) for Congress and 37 for JDS.
• The Congress and JDS had come together to form a coalition as a counter to the BJP.

What is trust vote?

• The Trust Vote or Confidence Vote is proposed by the party in power in order to demonstrate that it still enjoys the support of the majority of MLAs.
• A trust vote is a motion through which the government of the day seeks to know whether it still enjoys the confidence of parliament or Assembly.
• A trust vote is sought either during the first session if it is not clear whether a party or a grouping of parties command a majority in the house, or at any time during the five-year tenure of the house if it becomes apparent that the government of the day has lost its majority.
• This initiative is often looked upon as a strategy of the state government to pre-empt a no-confidence motion by the opposition parties.
• The government would be expected to resign if it loses a trust vote.

Details:

• In a House of 225 MLAs (including one nominated member) 20 MLAs were not present at the time of voting. The absentees included 15 rebel MLAs who have resigned – 12 from Congress and 3 from JD(S), 2 Congress MLAs who abstained due to health reasons, 2 Independents and the lone BSP MLA.
• The confidence motion was put to vote, six days after Mr. Kumaraswamy moved it and amid a heated debate on the issue of 15 resignations from the ruling parties.
• While 99 MLAs expressed confidence in the Kumaraswamy-led government, 105 opposed it.
• The speaker announced that the motion was defeated and adjourned the House sine die.
• He later tendered his resignation to Governor Vajubhai Vala.
• Following which BJP announced its decision to stake a claim to form a government in the state.

Context:

The Lok Sabha on passed the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, 2019 by a voice vote.

Details:

• The Bill seeks to weed out corruption and improve road safety.
• The Bill proposes a National Transportation Policy for ushering in guidelines on the transportation of goods and passengers.
• It was announced that the Ministry would end the system of road monitoring being undertaken by independent engineers and it would be carried out by an expert company.
• It was also told that 14,000 accident-prone black spots in the country were identified and Rs. 14,000 crore, raised from the ADB and World Bank, would be invested to rectify them with a view to control road accidents.
• An important feature of the Bill is that new vehicles will be registered at the dealer level and it will eventually remove buyers’ interface with registration authorities.

Concerns:

The states are concerned that, the Centre is trying to take away the States’ powers with certain provisions of the draft law. However, the Transport Minister said “It is up to the States if they want to make their transport system more modern and efficient. The Centre would not interfere with the States’ working and only facilitate the implementation of the framework such as facilitating availability of foreign funds.

Context:

The government is in the process of finalising an OTC drug policy, which may bring more clarity on the drugs that a wider population can access.

Need for OTC drug policy:

• Self-medication is not new to India.
• A 2015 survey conducted by Lybrate among 20,000 people across 10 cities showed that 52% of people practised self-medication.
• But the country lacks a well-defined regulation for over the counter (OTC) medicines, important for patient safety.

Details:

• The Organisation of Pharmaceutical Producers of India (OPPI), a body of multinational drug companies, has worked with the government over the past one year by providing inputs to the draft of the OTC policy.
• The government has taken inputs from companies like Cipla, Glenmark, Sun Pharma and others who are not members of OPPI and is seriously considering taking them forward.

How will an OTC policy help?

• But an OTC policy will improve access to drugs that are okay to be sold as OTC and restrict access to other drugs.
• Besides antibiotic resistance, steroid use is also a big problem.
• When you widen access to OTC drugs, it automatically releases the government’s time and resources, which can be focussed on drugs that need to be stringently prescribed.
• These drugs can be made easily accessible in small towns as well. The idea is to make sure that the right product rests in the right place.
• Society has learnt that OTC medicines are those that don’t have major side effects but help improve health.
• Many countries have brought more products under the OTC category to focus on drugs that need to be strictly regulated.

C. GS3 Related

Category: ECONOMY

1. IMF cuts India’s growth forecast for 2019-20 to 7%

Context:

The meeting between United Nations Special Envoy on Climate Change, Luis Alfonso de Alba, and Union Environment and Forests Minister Prakash Javadekar discussed India’s initiatives to meet its climate commitments.

Details:

• Ahead of the United Nations Climate Summit in New York in September, Mr. de Alba, appointed by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres as his climate envoy, is visiting several countries and urging leaders and businessmen to do more to ensure that global warming does not exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius.
• The Secretary-General is exhorting countries and leaders to come with concrete plans at the meeting and not mere policy statements.
• The UN also announced a ‘Clean Air Initiative’ that calls on governments to achieve air quality that is safe for citizens and to align climate change and air pollution policies by 2030.

Initiatives in India:

• India is already taking a leadership position on achieving its Nationally Determined Contribution (or climate goals).
• India has created 80,000 MW of renewable power and set a target of achieving 175,000 MW by 2022.
• It has reduced energy intensity by 21%, was increasing forest cover and that the distribution of 70 million gas cylinders under the Ujjwala scheme had helped save trees, reduce pollution and improve health.

United Nations Climate Summit in New York:

• The Summit will bring together governments, the private sector, civil society, local authorities and other international organisations to develop ambitious solutions in six areas:
  • a global transition to renewable energy
  • sustainable and resilient infrastructures and cities
  • sustainable agriculture and management of forests and oceans
  • resilience and adaptation to climate impacts
  • alignment of public and private finance with a net zero economy.

D. GS4 Related

E. Editorials

The editorial throws light upon the possibilities of mechanism for broader conversations between India and Pakistan that the Kartarpur Corridor could provide.

India-Pakistan Relations:

• Ties between India and Pakistan are at their lowest in two decades.
• The Kargil war (1999), the Agra Summit (2001), the attack on Parliament (2001) and Operation Parakram (2001-02) meant a sustained period of deep hostilities, with diplomatic missions downgraded.
• Since 2015 and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Lahore visit in the same year, the leaders of both countries have not met for talks.
• In mid-2018,the backchannel diplomacy between the National Security Advisers of both countries was called off by Pakistan
• In September 2018, India called off a planned meeting between the Foreign Ministers in New York.
• In the wake of the Pulwama terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir in 2019, India attacked terror targets in Pakistan which in turn sent fighter jets to the border.
• Subsequently, after India moved missiles and deployed submarines, Pakistan raised a full air alert and imposed an airspace ban.

Kartarpur Corridor – an exception:

• Despite the tensions between the two countries, talks on the Kartarpur corridor are still on.
• India’s decision to embark on a course that will need regular and repeated India-Pakistan meetings is a breach of its otherwise firm “no talks without terror ending” policy.
• By agreeing to the Kartarpur corridor the government has made an exception from a matter concerning national policy for a matter of faith.
• Giving life to the wishes of so many will ensure political dividends in India.
• It is remarkable that the talks have continued through one of the most difficult years in the relationship. There have been three rounds of technical-level meetings to ensure both sides complete the infrastructure needed.

About Kartarpur Corridor:

• The Kartarpur shrine in Pakistan’s Narowal district across the river Ravi is where Guru Nanak Dev, the founder of Sikhism, spent his final days. The shrine is highly revered by the Sikh community.
• The Kartarpur Corridor was first proposed in early 1999 by the prime ministers of Pakistan and India, Nawaz Sharif and Atal Bihari Vajpayee, respectively, as part of the Delhi–Lahore Bus diplomacy.
• In 2018, the foundation stone for the Kartarpur corridor was laid down on the Indian side.
• Two days later the foundation stone for the corridor was laid down on the Pakistani side.
• The corridor is intended to be completed before the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev in November 2019.
• The Kartarpur shrine has one of the last copies of the original Guru Granth Sahib; there are some who believe that it contains not only the wisdom of the 10 Gurus but is itself the 11th and last Guru.

What are India’s concerns with respect to the Kartarpur Corridor Project?

• India has made clear, its interest in the project for several decades. However, in the case of Pakistan, the reasons have not been as transparent.
• Military establishment’s surprise backing has only raised doubts on whether Islamabad has an ulterior motive.
• India has also spelt out its apprehensions over Pakistan allowing separatist Khalistani groups, including those funded by groups based in the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada, to try and influence pilgrims.
• Of specific concern is the ‘Referendum 2020’ for a worldwide referendum on a separate Sikh state by the Sikhs for Justice Group (banned by India).
• The other irritant is the possible use of the corridor for drugs and arms movement.
• The terror threat by Pakistani Punjab-based anti-India groups such as the Lashkar-e-Toiba and the Jaish-e-Mohammad is also a constant concern.

Can Kartarpur Corridor help in easing tensions between the two countries?

• The Kartarpur Project could provide a mechanism for broader conversations between India and Pakistan.
• The template that Kartarpur has given both sides is also worth considering for the format of other bilateral negotiations.
• The obvious extension from this would be for having other faith-based corridors for Hindu, Muslim and Sikh pilgrims in both countries; this would be in addition to the list of 20 shrines (15 in Pakistan, five in India) that were negotiated under the 1974 Protocol on visits to Religious Shrines.
• It would be a travesty to waste the opportunity made possible by the Kartarpur corridor. Both the countries must make use of the Kartarpur template for other bilateral negotiations.

2. What suits Trump

Q1. Consider the following statements about the FAME -India Scheme:

Q2. World Economic Outlook (WEO) is published by

Q3. Consider the following statements:

 Q4. Consider the following statements: