DAILY NEWS ANALYSIS 08 AUGUST
POLITY
J&K special status | Home Ministry pulls out original instrument of accession to support Article 370 move
- Accession document of J&K with that signed with the other princely States, each and every word was the same. Though the legal document was the same, but Article 370 was only applied in J&K.
- Article 370 could be removed as it was not part of the original agreement.
- The document was to accede in respect of only the following subjects — Defence, Foreign Affairs, Communications and ancillary that included matters related to courts and election.
- Article 370(3) provided the President the powers to amend or repeal the Article by issuing a notification, based on a recommendation of the Constituent Assembly of J&K and since it doesn’t exist any more, it would be read as the Legislative Assembly. Since the Legislative Assembly of J&K was dissolved last year, its powers vested in both the Houses of Parliament.
- This makes a legal basis for the amendment to Article 370, taking away the special status of Jammu & Kashmir.
Centre unveils plan for coastal zone management
The plan will lay out guidelines for coastal states to adopt when they approve and regulate projects in coastal zones.
The Environment Ministry has unveiled a draft plan that will dictate how prospective infrastructure projects situated along the coast ought to be assessed before they can apply for clearance.
The draft Environmental and Social Management Framework (ESMF) is part of a World Bank-funded project.
This World Bank funded project will assist the Government of India in enhancing coastal resource efficiency and resilience, by building collective capacity (including communities and decentralised governance) for adopting and implementing integrated coastal management approaches.
Guidelines ensure:
- Minimum or no impacts on cultural properties and natural habitats.
- Compensation for any loss of livelihood or assets.
- Adoption of higher work safety standards.
- Occupational and community health and safety.
The key activities proposed for coastal zone development:
- Mangrove afforestation/shelter beds,
- Habitat conservation activities such as restoration of sea-grass meadows,
- Eco-restoration of sacred groves,
- Development of hatcheries,
- Rearing/rescue centres for turtles and other marine animals,
- Creation of infrastructure for tourism,
- Restoration and recharge of water bodies,
- Beach cleaning and development
- Demonstration of climate resilient or salinity resistant agriculture
- Water harvesting and recharge/storage
- Creation of infrastructure and facilities to support eco-tourism
- Community-based small-scale mariculture
- Seaweed cultivation
Recently Bombay high court had struck down the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) clearance for its ₹14,000-crore Coastal Road citing inadequate scientific study.
So far three coastal States, namely Gujarat, Odisha and West Bengal, have prepared Integrated Coastal Zone Management Plans with support from the World Bank.
Parliament functioning in first session of 17th Lok Sabha:
In 17th Lok Sabha, the Oath-taking Session has been combined with the Budget Session.
- Lok Sabha worked for 281 hours, which is 135% of the scheduled hours. This is higher than any other session of Parliament in the past 20 years. On an average, Lok Sabha has worked for 81% of its scheduled time in the past 20 years.
- Rajya Sabha worked for 195 hours, which is 100% of the scheduled hours. On an average, Rajya Sabha has worked for 76% of its scheduled time during a session in the past 20 years.
- Question Hour functioned for 95% of its scheduled time in Lok Sabha and, 65% in Rajya Sabha during this session.
- 38 Bills were introduced in Parliament during the Budget Session (excluding the Finance and Appropriation Bills). 28 Bills were introduced and passed in the same session; no new Bill referred to committees
- Lok Sabha spent 46% of its time on legislative business; Rajya Sabha spent 51%
- 25 Bills (66%) were discussed within five working days from their introduction. Two Bills in Rajya Sabha and one Bill in Lok Sabha were introduced, discussed, and passed on the same day.
- Bills and motions are usually passed through voice vote. Only if an MP demands a ‘division’, the vote of each MP is recorded and reported.
- For Constitutional Amendment Bills, the division is mandatory in order to ascertain the special majority.
- 20% of the demands were discussed; the rest of the Budget was guillotined.
- 94% first-term MPs participated in a debate during the session;96% women MPs participated.
----------------------------------------------------------------
International Relations
Kashmir issue: Pakistan expels Indian envoy, suspends bilateral trade
Pakistan has undertaken a multitude of actions in response to revocation of article 370 by Indian Parliament.
- Expulsion of Indian High Commissioner.
- Suspension of the bilateral trade.
- Will not be sending its High Commissioner-designate to India.
- Will take the Kashmir issue to the UN, including the Security Council.
- Will observe August 14, its Independence Day “in solidarity with brave Kashmiris” and August 15 as a “Black Day”.
- Directed all diplomatic channels to be activated in order to expose brutal Indian racist regime, design and human rights violations.
- Pakistan has closed its airspace for Indian flights.
Analysis:
- Pakistan has accepted that revoking article 370 is an attack and semi-war like situation. It can worsen the security situation in Kashmir.
- It will try to convince world about its case on Kashmir and can internationalize the issue.
- Calling off bilateral trade means closure of all crossing points which will Indian affect with Afghanistan.
- Economic impact would be limited as trade is little between both countries.
- India would prefer diplomatic reactions than terrorism on its soil.
Reference: https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/pakistan-expels-indian-envoy-suspends-bilateral-trade/article28874330.ece
----------------------------------------------------------------
Environment
Ocean warming, overfishing increase methyl mercury toxin in fish
Methyl mercury is an organic neurotoxin that can bio accumulates (bioaccumulation occurs when an organism contains higher concentrations of the substance than do the surroundings) in fish and shellfish.
- Methylmercury also biomagnifies. For example, large predatory fish are more likely to have high levels of mercury as a result of eating many smaller fish that have acquired mercury through ingestion of plankton.
- Despite a decrease in seawater concentration of methylmercury since the late 1990s, the amount of toxin that gets accumulated in certain fish which are higher in the food chain have been found to increase.
- The amount of methylmercury in fish higher in the food chain can change due to two reasons — ocean warming and dietary shifts due to overfishing by humans.
- Besides dietary changes, ocean warming too causes changes in the methylmercury accumulation in fish. Fish metabolism is temperature dependent. So as ocean temperature increases, fish experience higher metabolism and more energy obtained from food is spent on maintenance rather than growth, leading to more methylmercury getting concentrated in predatory fish.
- The researchers warn that human exposure to the toxin through fish consumption is bound to increase as a result of Climate change.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Society
Mental health: Schools weighed down by lack of trained counsellors
There’s a rise in the number of students struggling with peer pressure, body image issues and other challenges. Students are more often prone to academic stress, interpersonal problems, which can include bullying, family issues, and inability to cope with physical and psychological developments.Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), have made it mandatory for schools to bring in counsellors.
Issues:
- Quality of mental health facilities.
- Lack of adequate counsellors.
- Lack of a regulatory body or mechanism governing the functioning of counsellors.
- Negative feedback.
- Non-Confidentiality of shared information’s.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Economy
NIIF to get up to $2 bn from Australian Super, Ontario Teachers’
- Australian Super, one of Australia’s largest superannuation fund and Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (Ontario Teachers’), one of Canada’s largest single-profession pension plans, have each signed agreements with the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) of India for investments of up to $1 billion each in NIIF’s Master Fund.
- The Master Fund has a tenure of 15 years and is denominated in Indian rupees to suit the requirements of the infrastructure sector.
- With this, NIIF Master Fund becomes the largest infrastructure fund in India with assets under management of over $1.8 billion and a co-investment pool of $2.5 billion, which will enable the fund to invest at the scale required for large infrastructure requirements in India.
- The fund invests in equity capital of core infrastructure sectors in India with a focus on transportation, energy and urban infrastructure.
National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF)
- National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) is India’s first sovereign wealth fund that was set up by the Government of India in February 2015.
- The objective behind creating this fund was to maximize economic impact mainly through infrastructure investment in commercially viable projects, both Greenfield and Brownfield.
- NIIF currently manages three funds each with its distinctive investment mandate. Master fund, Fund of funds and strategic fund.
RBI takes offbeat tack to help reverse growth slowdown
This is the first time the RBI has moved rates by a figure that is not a multiple of 25 bps. A percentage point comprises 100 bps. The Reserve Bank of India opted to break with convention by reducing the key policy rate, the repo rate, by 35 basis points (bps) to 5.4% as it focused monetary policy measures on helping revive demand to tackle a deepening economic slowdown.
Repo rate is the rate at which the RBI lends money to commercial banks. Reduction in Repo rate is a monetary policy measure to boost consumption, investment and economic growth.
RBI has revised its forecast of growth to 6.9% from 7% earlier. Reduced the risk weight for consumer loans except credit cards from 125% to 100%.
Impact of RBI decisions:
- Will revive the demand, domestic consumption, investment which can boost economic growth.
- EMIs to fall after ‘unconventional’ 35 bps rate reduction.
- May increase the consumer inflation in second half of the fiscal year to 3.5-3.7%.
- Banks will be able to pass the reduced rate as SBI was quick reduced its rate by 15 basis points after yesterday’s policy rate cut.
- Lending to NBFC will increase overcoming the liquidity crunch in NBFC ( Non-Banking Financial companies).
1.png)
