8th May’18 – The Hindu Editorial Complete Analysis

Table of Contents

Price freeze

 Abandoning the daily price revision of petrol and diesel sets back an important reform.
 Brent crude oil – highest level in more than three years on Monday, at more than $75.
 Dynamic pricing mechanism in June last year allowing oil marketing companies
(OMCs) to revise fuel prices daily.
 Since April 24, the oil companies have abandoned the daily price revision
 Petrol and diesel prices rose by 1 to 2% in April while Brent crude rose by more than 8%.
 This comes as a pleasant surprise
 Petrol is a hot political subject and successive governments at the Centre
 OMCs are under pressure from the government to withhold upward revisions in the days
before Karnataka goes to the polls
 The government should opt to ease the burden of fuel taxes.
 The best way to do this might be to bring domestic fuels under the purview of the
goods and services tax.
 For now, there is enough room to bring down prices by reducing excise duties on oil.
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Where the law needs to change track
 The recent deaths of schoolchildren at an unmanned rail crossing highlight why the Railways
Act must be amended.
 In late April, a bus with schoolchildren collided with a train at an unmanned railway level
crossing, near Kushinagar in Uttar Pradesh.
 Thirteen of them died.
 This is not the first time
 We can look for some answers in a 1997 Supreme Court judgment
(Union of India v. United India Insurance).
 In May 1979, in Kerala, 40 passengers and the driver of a passenger bus that had been hired
were killed at an unmanned level crossing.
 Cases were filed b4 the Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal, Ernakulam, claiming compensation
against the owner and insurance company of the bus as well as the Indian Railways.
 In relation to claims for railway accidents, the Railways Act provides for fixed compensation
on predetermined scales.
 Only a passenger on a train can make a claim before the Tribunal.

Continue

 In the course of the judgment, the Supreme Court borrowed the neighborhood principle
articulated in Donoghue v. Stevenson (1932).
 It said that the duty of care for the Railways extends not only to those who use the Railways‟
services but also to people who are “neighbours” namely, users of vehicles on roads
that intersect with tracks
 New unmanned rail crossing
 Security for all – gates with a watchman to prevent accidents
 Need for continuous audit
 An amended law

The problems with a DNA registry

 Building such a database is not easy, does not always offer justice, and is an ethical landmine.
 Despite the spate of violent attacks against women, including rapes, in India, very few of the
men implicated have been convicted.
 While identifying the rapist is the first step to serving justice, his identity does not guarantee
due punishment or a stiff sentence for the crime.
 According to the National Crime Records Bureau, only about a quarter of rape cases
ended in conviction in 2016.
 India needs a sex offenders‟ database or a DNA database of those accused and
charged with rape.
 India has developed a draft Bill for such a DNA database and the Andhra Pradesh
government even announced that it has signed up with a private agency for
collecting DNA from all its citizens.
 Concerns
 Based on experience in other countries, building such a database is not easy
 Aftermath of the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

Prelims Focus Facts-News Analysis

 Page-1- Trial in Kathua case moved to Pathankot.
 SC orders in camera proceedings to protect witnesses.

Prelims Focus Facts-News Analysis
 Page-1- MPs move SC on impeachment plea
 Challenge Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu‟s rejection of motion against CJI Misra
 A five-judge Constitution Bench, led by Justice A.K. Sikri, will on Tuesday hear a
writ petition filed by Rajya Sabha members calling as “eyewash” Vice-President
Venkaiah Naidu‟s refusal to admit the motion for removal of Chief Justice of India
Dipak Misra on the grounds of abuse of power and forgery.

Prelims Focus Facts-News Analysis
 Page-1- New norms for labelling food planned
 All packaged food with at least 5% content from genetically engineered sources need to be labelled so.
 Moreover, foods that exceed norms of sugar and fat will need to carry „red‟ and
„green‟ labels specifying the extent to which they do so, according to draft regulations
from the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).

Prelims Focus Facts-News Analysis

 Page-2- Whirlwind from border fans dust storm in Rajasthan
 Traffic disrupted, power poles uprooted in Jaisalmer and Bikaner; no loss of life.

Prelims Focus Facts-News Analysis
 Page-12- Putin sworn in for fourth term
 He is on course to become the longest-serving Russian leader since Joseph Stalin

Prelims Focus Facts-News Analysis

 ‘Trump-Kim meet likely in Singapore’
 Rupee hits 15-month low; crosses 67/$
 Indian teen’s satellite soars in Mexico sky
 Anitha-SAT measured the effects of air pollution and global warming.

Map Practice

 Indo- Nepal treaty
 Treaty of peace & friendship between the Govt of India & the Govt of Nepal
 Signed on 31st July 1950- At Kathmandu
 Aim- establishing a close strategic relationship