03 Oct analysis
Comprehensive News Analysis – 03 October 2016
October 3, 20160 Comments
Table of Contents:
A. GS1 Related:
B. GS2 Related:
2. Breaking out of election mode
3. N-deal with Japan ‘ready’ to be sealed
C. GS3 Related:
1. India ratifies Paris Climate agreement
2. Prognosis is good for India’s organ transplant programme
3. Firms press accelerator to boost consumption
D. GS4 Related
E. Important Editorials : A Quick Glance
F. Concepts-in-News: Related Concepts to Revise/Learn:
G. BILLS/ACTS/SCHEMES/ORGS IN NEWS
H. Fun with Practice Questions
I. Archives
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Useful News Articles
A. GS1 Related
Nothing here today folks!
B. GS2 Related
Category: International Relations
Topic: Regional Groupings
Key Points:
The agreement reached at the extraordinary meeting of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to trim the cartel’s collective output by about 700,000 barrels a dayIt is an effort to balance supply and demand in the global oil marketThe output cut, announced for the first time in eight years, is a tacit admission by the group’s largest producer Saudi Arabia that its ‘pump-at-will’ approach has hurt its economyWith demand growth for petroleum slowing far more rapidly than previously predicted, the success of the production curbs in reviving oil prices will significantly hinge on cartel discipline — something that has often been lacking in the past
Category: Governance
Topic: Federalism
Key Points:
With India on the cusp of achieving rapid economic growth, we must ensure that development on all fronts is not hampered by frequent elections.
In the Past:
Holding of simultaneous elections between 1952 and 1967
Reasons in favour of Simultaneous elections
The cycle of continuous elections was affecting the developmental process and good governanceThe process of separate elections was forcing the political class to typically think in terms of immediate electoral gains rather than focus on long-term programmes and policies for the overall progress of the nation and its peopleHolding elections simultaneously would certainly save money, time and energy, and ensure effective governance, according to the Chief Election CommissionerIt would help in better coordination between the governments at the Centre and in various StatesThe country will achieve progress and remain strong only when the Centre and States act as equal partners, irrespective of the political differences of those governing at the national and regional levelsIt would make our democracy stronger and healthier as it would provide a level playing field to all the players across all StatesIt will vastly reduce the burden on the exchequerIt will put an end to the practice of frequent deployment of police and other government staff on election duty in different States
Regarding Model Code of Conduct (MCC):
A Parliamentary Standing Committee has pointed out that the imposition of the Model Code of Conduct puts on hold the entire range of development activities of the Union and State governmentsFrequent elections lead to imposition of MCC over prolonged periods of time leading to policy paralysis and government deficit
Challenge:
conducting concurrent elections is ahumongous logistical task in terms of deployment of personnel, EVMs and other material
Conclusion:
The time has come to make a beginning and ensure political and administrative stability both at the Central and State levels for the country to march unhindered on the path to progressNeed build a political consensus on the issue, constitutional amendments to be put in place for fixed tenure of the legislative bodies for the process to be kick-started
N-deal with Japan ‘ready’ to be sealed
Category: International Relations
Topic: India-Japan
Key Points:
The India-Japan nuclear agreement, under discussion since 2008, is “ready to be signed”According to the sources, the nuclear cooperation agreement which also needs to be cleared by the Japanese parliament or DietWhile India has refused to sign the NPT and CTBT treaties, it issued a unilateral moratorium on testing many years agoJapan has been insisting that the nuclear deal include a clause that would cut off nuclear supplies should India test a weaponIndia has thus far resisted the move, as this would disrupt its nuclear power programmeJapanese government sources are quoted as saying the “the pact will include a clause to halt Japanese cooperation with India if New Delhi conducts a nuclear test,” indicating that India has given in on this pointJapan has conceded on India’s demand that it be allowed to reprocess nuclear fuel from Japan, as long as India submits to inspections by the UN nuclear watchdog IAEAIf the deal is signed, it will be a big boost for India’s nuclear power industry as the two major U.S. companies planning plants in India — GE and Westinghouse — are both Japanese ownedIndia is also keen on Japanese funding for its clean energy projectsA deal with Japan, the world’s only victim of nuclear weapons as well a country deeply scarred by the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident, would be a powerful vote of confidence in India’s nuclear programme, in a year it hopes to push its bid to join the Nuclear Suppliers Group
C. GS3 Related
1. India ratifies Paris Climate agreement
Category: Environment
Topic: Climate Change
Key Points:
India ratified the Paris Agreement on Climate Change by depositing the instrument of ratification with the United NationsIt was on the occasion of the 147th birth anniversary of Mahatma GandhiA special event was organised to mark the occasion, also observed as the International Day of Nonviolence, at the UN headquartersIndia is the 62nd country to ratify the agreementIndia accounts for 4.1 per cent of the emissions, a UN statement said
Gandhiji’s Relevance
Living through an age of triumphant industrial capitalism, Gandhi had warned of the dangers posed by the unbridled exploitation of natural resourcesGandhiji foresaw the pivotal role environment would occupy in development debates decades laterHe was as an avid and early environmentalistEncapsulating the whole idea of sustainable development more than seven decades ago he had said, “The earth, the air, the land and the water are not an inheritance from our fore fathers but on loan from our children. So we have to handover to them at least as it was handed over to us”
Prognosis is good for India’s organ transplant programme
Category: Science and Technology
Topic: Technology
Key Points:
India’s still nascent organ transplant programme is making progressEfforts to increase the knowledge base are taking off and crucial policy decisions are taking shapeOfficials of the National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (NOTTO), National Informatics Centre (NIC) and other stakeholders will meet to draw a road map for documenting patient progress, networking all transplant hospitals of the country and also figure out the official policy to treat out-of-turn requests for organsIt’s not enough to have a database of donor pledgesThe NIC is developing a national registry of organ and tissue donorsWhile the national registry will have robust data of donors that can be viewed by all hospitals, and where they can feed in details of patient progress, there are concerns ranging from maintaining donor confidentiality to ensuring that it is an inclusive exercise
Firms press accelerator to boost consumption
Category: Indian Economy
Topic: Growth and development
Key Points:
The last year has seen a profusion of companies that are looking to give consumers loans of amounts smaller than those doled out by banksOther companies looking to improve the credit ratings of consumers unable to secure loansStill others trying to speed up the process by which electronic payments are made, and thereby incentivising consumptionIn doing so, these companies are bolstering the one leg of the economy that is emerging as a prime driver of growth — personal consumptionThe Bharat Microfinance Report 2016 by Sa-Dhan said — 61 per cent — of the non-income generating microfinance loans given in fiscal 2016 went towards financing consumptionThe second-highest segment was housing, at 18 per cent.Private Final Consumption Expenditure — the measure of how much is spent on food, clothing, footwear, electronics, etc. — worked out to 55 per cent of India’s GDP in the first quarter of this financial yearIt shows how important private consumption is to the economyIn order to facilitate this consumption, a number of micro-lending companies that cater to those people looking for small loans that banks are not typically ready to give have sprung up
The Risk:
Lending is done at a certain interest costIf it is done for consumption then it could generate a lot of NPAs since the loans are not being put to income generation uses
D. GS4 Related
E. Important Editorials: A Quick Glance
The Indian Express
Category: Indian Economy
Topic: Planning
Key Points:
A spectre, to misquote Karl Marx, it appears, is haunting India’s new urbanisation — the spectre of agrarian pastsIn the last 15 years, it has repeatedly stalked Hyderabad, Mumbai, Delhi, Uttarakhand, Guwahati, Srinagar in the form of urban floodsThe fault lies in forgetting our agricultural past and ignoring climate changeIt took us centuries to develop the complex systems of values assigned to lands in the agrarian settlementThese values are based on soil conditions, gradient, location relative to other geographic and geological features such as ground water, surface water, drainage patterns etcLands were strategically exploited for production, left fallow to recover, left unoccupied to provide buffers against the cycles of excesses of natureUrbanisation alters this agrarian imprint with new logics of efficiency and economy of service deliveryAfter land use conversion for urbanisation, the boundaries change into rigid geometric patternsIn the 1970s, lands that served ecological functions were occupied by the poor who migrated into the city and found no housingWith increasing pressure for land monetisation, governments and public utilities are all vying with each other to capture and convert land parcels to new usesRidge systems, stream paths, accumulation points in the valleys — all play critical roles in managing precipitation and drainage — have been flattened
Conclusion:
We must recentre our policy and retrain our engineers into acknowledging our agrarian pastWe must manage urbanization well by careful observation, data gathering over long periods of time, modelling the behaviour of nature in the altered contextWe must review and revise revenue laws and rules that govern land categories and shape land use change
How?
This requires homegrown multidisciplinary expertiseImport modelling tools and sensor technologiesHistorical data must be generated, captured and curatedWe can hire international consultants but native intelligence must be affirmed and nurtured in our cities
F. Concepts-in-News: Related Concepts to Revise/Learn:
India-JapanParis Climate dealOPECUrbanisationSimultaneous elections
G. BILLS/ACTS/SCHEMES/ORGS IN NEWS
H. Fun with Practice Questions
Question 1: Which of the following is true regarding OPEC?
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is a permanent, intergovernmental OrganizationOPEC has its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland
a) Only 1
b) Only 2
c) Both 1 and 2
d) Neither 1 nor 2
Question 2: Which of the following is/are true regarding federalism?
Cooperative federalism refers to a concept in which the state governments, local governments, and the federal government share responsibility in the governance of the peoplecompetitive federalism refers to getting states to compete for investments with each other as well as the centre
a) Only 1
b) Only 2
c) Both 1 and 2
d) Neither 1 nor 2
Question 3: Which of the following statement/s is are true?The famous cities of Nagoya and Osaka are located in the Honshu island of JapanThe islands in order from south to north are Hokkaidu, Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu
a) Only 1
b) Only 2
c) Both 1 and 2
d) Neither 1 nor 2
Question 4: Which of the following is true?
a) Durand Line: India-Afghanistan
b) Radcliff Line: India-China
c) Mc Mohan Line: India-Myanmar
d) None of the above
Question 5: Which of the following is not one of the INDC’s of India?
India to reduce the Emissions Intensity of its GDP by 3o to 35 Per Cent by 2030 from 2005 LevelIndia to create additional Carbon Sink of 2.5 to 3 Billion Tonnes of Co2 Equivalent through Additional Forest and Tree Cover by 2020
a) Only 1
b) Only 2
c) Both 2 and 2
d) Neither 1 nor 2
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