The Hindu Editorial Analysis | 2nd July ’20 | PDF Download

Do it like Vietnam

• Vietnam has seen only 355 confirmed coronavirus cases and ZERO death.
• Quick return to normal = greater investments
• Befor lockdown Vietnam gained the most export market share in Asia.
• ADB’s GDP growth forecast for Vietnam this year is 4.1%
• HSBC: “Pho’nomenal Vietnam”
• How it has minimised weaknesses and maximised strengths?

• Covid battle: Its medical facilities are less advanced than the peers in the region.
• Density of doctors
  • 8 per 10000 people
  • Marginally better than India
  • Brazil: 22/10000
  • USA: 26/10000
• Vietnam worked on preparation and prevention
• Vietnam reportedly launched CYBERATTACK on China to get better information about Covid-19
• Strict quarantine
• Patriotic sentiment

Management of the Economy

• Stimulus opportunity to address some of the infrastructure shortfalls that limit the integration of domestic firms into the global value chain.
• Fast Tracked projects: metro lines to expressways
• World Bank Logistics Performance Index: between 2016-18 Vietnam climbed from 64 to 39
• FTA with EU ratified last month.
• Hanoi is building alliances and planning for change over the longer term.
• Nomura: in 2018-19 56 companies moved bases from China.
  • Vietnam got 26, Taiwan 11, Thailand 8 and India 3
• On really incentivising foreign firms to set up shop in the country, India is only playing catch up rather than leading the race.

Police state?

• India’s economy and human capital are many times greater.
• Fresh revelations in the Sathankulam custodial murder case.
• Judicial magistrate informed Madras HC that he was intimidated by three police officers.
• A woman constable who courageously deposed against her colleagues.
• Crucial CCTV footage has been erased.
• Madras high court: ordered the Tamil Nadu police   CB-CID to immediately begin investigation till the CBI team entrusted with the case takes over so that more evidence isn’t destroyed.
• The magistrate who robotically remanded the two grievously injured men to judicial custody, government doctor who issued medical fitness certificates to them despite the injuries, and callous officials at the sub-jail where the father-son duo endured a painful 48 hours, highlight the systemic rot.
• Landmark judgments from DK Basu (1997) onwards have ironed out procedural loopholes to be followed in detention, arrest and remand.
• Ensuring swift conviction for murder of all police officers involved in the Sathankulam killings will be a major step towards bringing justice back on rails, as it will serve as a warning to other policemen inclined to inflict such gratuitous brutality.

Violent policing in India results in custodial deaths and torture [The Telegraph]

• An arrest can amount to a death sentence in India.
• Alarming data on the use of excessive force on suspects and undertrials by law-enforcers.
• 2001 to 2018: 1727 custodial deaths in India
  • Only 26 policemen convicted
• 2006 Supreme Court’s historic judgement: every state should have a police complaints authority where citizens can file complaints against policemen for acts of cruelty.
• Only a handful of states have implemented it.
• Colonial hangover
• Idea of community-based policing gaining ground around the world.
• What India needs is Police Reforms.

Lax on safety

• Two deadly industrial disasters, in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.
• Loss of at least eight lives and causing serious injuries to many.
• Value of Safety Protocol
• Boilers are dangerous pieces of equipment
  • release mechanism
• At least on paper, boilers are regulated by Indian Boilers Act.
• Safety is all about culture.
• States have not internalised a culture of zero tolerance to boiler accidents.
• The response of the Centre and States to industrial accidents is usually to stem public outrage by announcing compensation for victims.
• Such accidents are mostly preventable, and occur rarely in the industrialised world, because of impeccable attention to safety.
• India’s aspirations to industrialise should be founded on safety.
• Safety is investment and not an expense.

Recognise the importance of forests

• Vijay Ramesh, a doctoral student at Columbia University: between 2014-20, forest land size nearly equal to NAGALAND have been approved for diversion or is pending approval for infrastructure and developmental projects.
• Based on government data, the study found out that the proportion of forest areas cleared since 2014 is over 68% of what was cleared between 1975 and 2014; before 2014, most of the forest diversion was related to encroachments and mining while between 2014 and 2020, it has been mainly mining-led.
• India needs natural resources for industrial growth and to pull people out of poverty.
• State must consider the ecosystem services that these forests provide to the country.
• Evaluate whether large-scale diversion will be beneficial in the long-run.
• Lack of appreciation of the unseen benefits of forests.
• India’s first-ever Assessment of Climate Change over the Indian Region report: country’s average temperature is expected to rise by 4.4 degree Celsius by end-2100
• Forests can deliver economic benefits by mitigating the impacts of the climate crisis.

Free ration for poor

• PMGKAY extended till November-end.
• Free ration: about 60 per cent of the country’s population
• Migrant workers are reluctant to return to the states where they used to work.
• Looking for jobs at their native places, they need food security to survive this difficult period.
• Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy: rural unemployment rate has fallen from 17.71 per cent in the first week of June to 7.62 per cent in the month’s last week.
• This drop is attributed to a sharp increase in the demand for work under MGNREGA and the availability of work opportunities during the ongoing kharif sowing season.
• One nation, one ration card: June 2020 deadline missed.
• The government has announced to make it operational across India by March 2021.
• The ambitious scheme, which envisages the integration of about 80 crore consumers, more than 5 lakh ration shops and over 5.4 crore tonnes of foodgrains per year, needs meticulous planning and seamless execution to realise its vast potential.
• With government schemes focusing mostly on the poor, other sections of society have been left to fend for themselves.

China’s proxy warriors [Pioneer]

• China thought India will not retaliate.
• Xi Jinping is unleashing his proxies and opening up new fronts.
• Beijing got Nepal to wage a cartographic war with India.
• Pakistan started moving 20,000 troops in the Gilgit-Baltistan area.
• Reports: Chinese army holding talks with terror organisation Al-Badr to incite fresh violence in Kashmir.

• Terrorist threat to the iconic Taj Mahal hotel in Mumbai
• Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), egged on by the Chinese, has reportedly stepped up infiltration in a bid to fire up the Line of Control (LoC) and contain India with a pincer attack.
• Recent spate in terrorist killings in Kashmir and given the improved local intelligence.
• Chinese strategy seems to be wearing us out on both LAC and LOC.
• Nepal + Pakistan = India bashing

NEWS

• India has to scale up its diplomacy, use its favourable image in the West and even its friendly vibes with Japan and Australia.
• We need to use every multi-national forum, alliances and reinvigorate bilateral ties with the neighbourhood to make enough noise about the asymmetric relationship with China.
• India and China have emphasized the need for an expeditious, phased and stepwise de-escalation as a priority along the Line of Actual Control.
  • Both sides have been engaged in discussions through established military and diplomatic channels to address the situation.
  • This was the third senior Military Commander-level engagement to discuss issues related to disengagement at the face off sites along the LAC and de-escalation from the border areas.
  • Both the leaders agreed that the overall situation would be handled in a responsible manner and both sides would implement the disengagement understanding of 6th June sincerely.
• Union Minister Nitin Gadkari has said that India will not allow Chinese companies to participate in highway projects, including those through joint ventures.
• The United States has issued a business advisory to companies with supply chain links to entities complicit in forced labour and human rights abuses in Xinjiang and throughout China.
• The recovery rate of COVID-19 patients has improved to 59.43 percent.
• Uttar Pradesh Government will launch a special campaign today for door to door medical screening in all districts of Meerut division which have large number of Corona positive patients.
• The United Nations Security Council has demanded an immediate cessation of hostilities in key conflicts including Syria, Yemen, Libya, South Sudan and Congo to tackle COVID-19.
• President Vladimir Putin has won a resounding victory in his bid to stay in power until the middle of the next decade.
• In Assam, nearly 15 lakh people are reeling under the fury of floods in 21 districts.
• Rlys opens doors for private trains.

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