Current Affairs from The Hindu DATE: 06-03-15
S.NO. / NEWS ITEM / SYLLUBUS / ESSENCE OF THE ARTICLE1. / Sushma in Colombo today ahead of Modi trip (Page 10) / a) I.R / a) External Affairs Minister Sushma will arrive in Sri Lanka on a two-day trip and will hold discussions on arrangements for the PM Modis visit.
2. / Sri Lanka keen on Indian investment (Page 12) / a) I.R / a) Signalling potentially closer economic ties with India, Sri Lanka has invited several top Indian companies to invest in major projects in Sri Lanka, particularly for cooperation in the manufacturing sector.
3. / Colombo to temporarily suspend Beijing-funded port project (Page 12) / a) International / a) A week ahead of the scheduled arrival of Indian PM Modi, the Sri Lankan Cabinet decided to temporarily and immediately suspend the controversial Chinese-funded port city project in Colombo.
4. / US flags threat to satellites from China (Page 10) / a) International / a) The US expressed concern over China developing disruptive counter-space technologies and underscored the need for an early conclusion of a global code of conduct on use of outer space.
5. / China scales down growth guidance to reset economy (Page 13) / a) International
b) Economy / a) China has decided to scale down its 2015 growth rate target to 7 percent as part of an effort to gradually reset its economy along a sustainable, eco-friendly and corruption free path.
6. / Unconstitutional exercise of power (Page 8) / a) National
b) Polity / a) The proposed amendment bill to the Land Act has amendments that are an exercise of state power without reason, with the basis for these changes on assertions of an unclear agenda of development.
7. / From lip service to action in science (Page 9) / a) National
b) S&T / a) If Modis new and much-needed thrust of Make in India has to truly translate into reality, Indian Science and Technology has to be strengthened much more.
8. / Micro Bank Macro Push (Page 15) / a) Economy / a) A new bank (MUDRA) announced in the budget last week could boost loans and cut borrowing costs for the cash-starved domestic small businesses.
S.NO. / NEWS ITEM / SYLLUBUS / BACKGROUND / IMPORTANT POINTS
1. / Sushma in Colombo today ahead of Modi trip (Page 10) / a) I.R / a) India – Sri Lanka relations
b) Indo – Lanka Accord 1987
c) IRCONs railway project / a) External Affairs Minister Sushma will arrive in Sri Lanka on a two-day trip and will hold discussions on arrangements for the PM Modis visit.
b) Her last visit to Sri Lanka was in 2012 (as Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha) and handed over the IRCONs railway project in Sri Lanka. Modis Visit is the first bilateral visit by an Indian PM since Rajiv Gandhi visited the island in 1987, to sign the Indo-Lanka Accord.
c) Modi will address the Sri Lankan Parliament during his visit. He is the third Indian leader to be given the special honour. The last time an Indian leader addressed the Sri Lankan Parliament was in 1979 when the then PM Morarji Desai visited the nation on the invitation of President Jayawardene.
2. / Sri Lanka keen on Indian investment (Page 12) / a) I.R / a) India – Sri Lanka relations
b) Economic ties
c) Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA)
d) Free Trade Agreement (FTA) / a) Signalling potentially closer economic ties with India, Sri Lanka has invited several top Indian companies to invest in major projects in Sri Lanka, particularly for cooperation in the manufacturing sector.
b) Pointing to themanufacturingoftyres,two-wheelers and three-wheelers as potential areas of cooperation between the two countries, the Central BankGovernor said they would bring an immediate benefit to the Sri Lankan economy.
c) On whether there was a shift in the Sri Lanka govts position on the CEPA that New Delhi has been pushing since 2005, hesaid both the President and the PMi saw huge potential for CEPA to be expanded into a full-fledged FTA.
d) India is Sri Lankas largest trade partner and bilateral trade between the countries stood at $4.6 billion in 2014.
3. / Colombo to temporarily suspend Beijing-funded port project (Page 12) / a) International / a) Sri Lanka – China relations
b) Chinas projects in Sri Lanka
c) Port city project / a) A week ahead of the scheduled arrival of Indian PM Modi, the Sri Lankan Cabinet decided to temporarily and immediately suspend the controversial Chinese-funded port city project in Colombo.
b) The decision comes at a time when Sri Lankan govt representatives have been expressing contradictory views on the $1.34-billion project funded by a Chinese firm.
c) Prior to presidential polls, PM Ranil had announced that the project would be stopped should his alliance come to power, citing environmental concerns.
d) However, the new govt announced that it would go ahead with the project, since the necessary environmental clearances had been obtained.
4. / US flags threat to satellites from China (Page 10) / a) International / a) US – China relations
b) Chinas counter space technology
c) India – US space agency cooperation
d) Chandrayaan / a) Ahead of the first Indo-US Space Security Dialogue next week, the US expressed concern over China developing disruptive counter-space technologies and underscored the need for an early conclusion of a global code of conduct on use of outer space.
b) US official said that China has satellite-jamming capabilities and is following a full suite of anti-satellite systems
c) Highlighting the threat posed by space debris to space faring nations, he sought deeper cooperation with India for early conclusion of a global framework on code of conduct for space and stressed on maintaining long-term security and sustainability of outer space environment, including space situational awareness and collision avoidance.
d) He said that there are a number of things that the US is interested in cooperating with India. For example, maritime domain awareness and improving space situational awareness capability.
e) Indian and US space agencies have cooperated in Indias Chandrayaan mission launched in 2008 and during the visit of Obama to India in Jan, both nations committed to enhance space cooperation for peaceful purposes.
5. / China scales down growth guidance to reset economy (Page 13) / a) International
b) Economy / a) Chinas economic growth / a) China has decided to scale down its 2015 growth rate target to 7 percent as part of an effort to gradually reset its economy along a sustainable, eco-friendly and corruption free path.
b) PM Li said that Chinas economic development has entered a new normal. Without deepening reform and making economic structural adjustments, we will have a difficult time sustaining steady and sound development.
c) The govts 7 percent projection aims to balance high employment (the key to social stability) with structural change during the economic transitional phase.
6. / Unconstitutional exercise of power (Page 8) / a) National
b) Polity / a) Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (LARR) Act of 2013
b) Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency
c) Land Acquisition Act of 1894
d) Social Impact Assessment (SIA)
e) Article 14
f) Article 19(1)(f)
g) Article 31 / a) Having introduced an ordinance to ease the process of land acquisition by curtailing many of the safeguards introduced by a new law that was brought into force only last year, the Central govt now seeks to have the ordinance confirmed in Parliament.
b) The proposed amendment bill to the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in LARR Act (which replaced the colonial-era Land Acquisition Act of 1894) aims to do the following.
c) One, it removes a previous bar on acquisitions by the state for the purposes of establishing private hospitals and educational institutions.
d) Two, it removes a requirement established under the LARR Act that necessitated the prior consent of at least 80 percent of affected families when acquiring land for private companies.
e) And three, it removes a necessity for a detailed SIA mandated by the LARR Act for land acquired for a special category of purposes, such as projects vital to national security and the defence of India, industrial corridors and infrastructure projects.
f) These amendments are an exercise of state power without reason, with the basis for these changes on assertions of an unclear agenda of development. But whats equally disturbing about the bill is that at least some of the changes that the amendments propose would also be unconstitutional.
g) It grants a state the authority to take private property without the owners consent. In its original form, the Constitution not only guaranteed to all citizens a freedom to acquire, hold and dispose of property but also provided that no person shall be deprived of his or her property except by authority of law. And where property was acquired for a public purpose, the taker was also required to compensate the landowner.
h) Immediately after the Constitution came into force, the state found its social reform programme opposed by an inability to compensate zamindars for lands seized from them. Consequently, an excess of amendments were introduced and a number of pieces of legislation aimed at land reforms were placed beyond the scope of judicial review.
i) Ultimately, in 1978, the Janata Party removed the guarantee of the right to property as a fundamental right. Article 19(1)(f) (which gave citizens the freedom to acquire) hold and dispose of property and Article 31 (which limited the states ability to seize property) were both removed; the right to property was now reduced to the non-fundamental status of a legal right.
j) These amendments failed to grasp that Articles 19(1)(f) and 31 were so closely interwoven with the whole structure of our Constitution that those rights cannot be cut out without leaving a hole.
k) The removal of the right to property from its status as a fundamental right might have even helped in bringing forth greater parity in land ownership. But, in todays neo-liberal atmosphere, this has only contributed towards greater inequities.
l) After the constitutional amendment, through the old Land Acquisition Act of 1894, different govts oversaw arbitrary seize of land by expanding the definition of public purpose to inappropriate lengths. The LARR Act sought to cure this imbalance. And to the extent that it provided for an enhanced compensation for a social and environmental impact assessment and for a voice to landowners, the new legislation was a success.
m) Therefore, the state can argue in favour of the present amendment bill as follows. One, consent of landowners is not required as a matter of constitutional guarantee. Two, the conduct of an SIA prior to land acquisition is similarly not constitutionally mandated. And three, the Constitution no longer proscribes acquisition for purposes that are not public, and acquisition of land for private educational institutions and private hospitals is hence wholly permissible.
n) In removing the necessity for an SIA and for the securing of consent of landowners from acquisitions for certain purposes in contradistinction with acquisitions for other purposes, the govt effectively wants to treat one batch of landowners differently from other batches of landowners.
o) To justify such classification, the state will have to show us not only that the distinction between acquisitions for rural infrastructure or industrial corridors and acquisitions for wildlife protection is an intelligible one but also that this distinction bears some rational relation to the object of the former acquisitions.
p) Therefore, the creation of a separate category of purposes militates against principles of equality contained in Article 14. Neither the land that is being acquired nor the people from whom the land is being acquired stand on any special footing that justifies the present amendment.
q) When the ruling party argues in favour of the proposed amendments in Parliament, it ought to also show us how these provisions will fulfil the conditions of equality under the Constitution.
7. / From lip service to action in science (Page 9) / a) National
b) S&T / a) Union Budget
b) Science and Technology (S&T)
c) Make in India
d) SAARC satellite
e) Chandrayaan-2
f) NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar Mission (NISAR)
g) Kudankulam nuclear power plant
h) ISRO / a) Finance Minister Jaitleys Budget failed to increase the allocations for ST.
b) Further on the flip side, the Ministry of Earth Sciences has had its plan budget cut by 7 percent and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research has seen its allocation actually drop by a massive Rs.24 crore.
c) If Modis new and much-needed thrust of Make in India has to truly translate into reality, Indian Science and Technology has to be strengthened much more.
d) Modi had earlier said at ISRO that the organisation must develop a SAARC satellite which can be dedicated as a gift to the neighbours. In view of this, for the first time 2 crore was allocated to make this satellite. The satellite will be placed over the subcontinent and will be a geostationary communications one helping in voice, data and television services.
e) Modest allocations have been made for Indias second mission to the moon Chandrayaan-2. For the human space flight programme, Rs.21 crore has been allocated; the ISRO had sought over Rs.12,500 crore for this.The fourth satellite of Indias ambitious indigenous navigation systems, which will be launched in a few weeks, has been allocated Rs.120 crore.
f) A cooperative effort with the US called the NISAR (which is likely to be launched by 2021) got a leg up with Jaitley allocating Rs.50 crore for this.
g) The Indo-US bonhomie on the development understanding on the nuclear deal is more about positive atmospherics than reality.
h) The Budget shows that the Modi govt has not abandoned the countrys ambitious 3-stage nuclear programme with the Department of Atomic Energy getting a 12.6 percent increase in its budget and the plan outlay reaching 15,108 crore.
i) On expected lines, Indias ultra-modern 500 MW prototype fast breeder reactor and is being made at Kalpakkam has got an increased allocation of over Rs.1600 crore as it is likely to become operational very soon. The Finance Minister also announced that the much-delayed second 1000 MW unit of the Russian-made Kudankulam nuclear power plant will become operational in this fiscal year.
j) The Department of Science and Technology has to live with a small 4.1 percent increase in its budget.
k) If Modis Make in India appeal has to truly succeed in generating plenty of jobs in the defence manufacturing sector alone, then supporting Indian science has to move away from only lip service to reality.
8. / Micro Bank Macro Push (Page 15) / a) Economy / a) Micro Units Development Refinance Agency (MUDRA) Bank
b) Microfinancing
c) Crisil / a) A new bank announced in the budget last week could boost loans and cut borrowing costs for the cash-starved domestic small businesses.
b) Lenders and entrepreneurs say that MUDRA Bank (to be set up with a corpus of Rs.20,000 crore and a credit guarantee corpus of Rs.3000 crore to help microfinancing firms to lend more) should help use up firms which account for 40 percent of Indias exports, just as the govt tries to revive growth.
c) Rating agency Crisil estmates that microfinance lenders have loan assets totaling $5.6 billion. But they have had a limited impact on small businesses as they primarily target lending to individuals or groups of individuals among the poor.
d) Experts said that the micro and small enterprises have been starved of credit.
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