The Hindu Editorial Analysis | 12th October ’21 | PDF Download

Dangerous deadlock | TH

• The thirteenth round of talks between India and China ended with no resolution in sight.
• The contrasting statements sharply underlined the deadlock.
• There was no joint statement, as in the last round in August.
• Reports citing Indian official sources, put out two days before Sunday’s talks, revealed a face-off in the Tawang Sector in Arunachal Pradesh; later, Chinese soldiers had been detained for a few hours.
• Chinese military apparently leaked on social media images from last year purportedly showing injured Indian soldiers detained by China in the Galwan Valley.
• This leaves the LAC in a perilous situation.
• Not only are several hotspots unresolved — the latest round was to discuss Hot Springs, while disputes remain over Demchok and Depsang — the Corps Commanders were also set to work out new protocols for patrolling.
• Ladakh and the western sector may remain the focus of tensions, but as recent flare-ups in Uttarakhand and Arunachal Pradesh show, the middle and eastern sectors are hardly tranquil.
• Around 50,000 troops of each side remain deployed in forward areas

Combo Trouble | ToI

• 13th round of talks on the India-China border faceoff
• Army Chief General MM Naravane is clear-eyed about the Chinese challenge
• Naravane pointed to the continued large-scale PLA troop build-up and supporting infrastructure along the LAC to conclude that the Chinese are there to stay
• This means that the Indian army not only has to continue mirroring the Chinese troops, but also remain forward deployed for the second consecutive winter in eastern Ladakh where temperatures dip to -30°C.
• Such conditions put a massive strain on the troops and overall resources of the army.
• Militancy in Kashmir is entering a new phase
• The recent string of targeted killings may have been carried out by hybrid terrorists or youths not yet on the radar of security forces
• Ispiration from Taliban in Afghanistan
• Plus, there is already chatter about anti-India terror groups in Pakistan shifting some of their assets to Afghanistan.
• The Pakistan-China nexus poses a significant strategic-security challenge for India for the foreseeable future.
• Two-front war
• Grey-zone Chinese and Pakistani tactics
• Incremental costs over along period of time
• Tactics designed to drain India’s economic resources and keep it off-balanced along its northern border

1. On the defence front, plans to reorganise the military into joint theatre commands need to be accelerated to streamline both resources and fighting power.
2. Boosting the economy becomes a national security imperative if we are to match up to the two-front threats
3. Social polarisation needs to be curbed lest our enemies take advantage of this

Kashmiriyat | Pioneer

• The last one month has seen a sudden, seemingly inexplicable, spurt in violence in the Kashmir Valley.
• Over two dozen people have become targets of terrorists in a short span of time.
• There are no high-profile victims; the dead were easy, soft pickings.
• They were all killed from close range.
• The killing of two teachers in a Government school in Srinagar’s Eidgah area looked selective because the terrorists checked the identity cards of teachers and chose two victims who happened to be a Hindu and a Sikh.
• A Mohammad Shafi Lone, among other Muslims, was also shot down.
• It is claimed that a terrorist group, named The Resistance Front, is behind the attacks and that it is a front for Pakistan-based terror organisations.
• The violence appears to have two ends. Show the presence of terrorists, and instil fear among the people.
• It is like the killing of Srinagar-based Shujat Bukhari that sent a message to the media personnel that they could be targeted anytime.
• In terms of strategy, anyone can be a target and anywhere, any time.
• Rightly or wrongly, the people of Kashmir were led to believe that the abrogation of Article 370 and the division of the State of Jammu and Kashmir went against the spirit of “Kashmiriyat”.
• Two years down the line, during which the intense presence of security agencies clamped down on violence and disturbances, there are only two objectives to achieve.
• Stop the violence, however difficult a task it is, and confront foreign and non-state actors.
• Simultaneously, take the revival of the political process to its logical conclusion by holding elections at the earliest.

Limits to accommodation | TH

• The RBI’s latest monetary policy statement and accompanying actions reflect the dilemma confronting monetary authorities.
• RBI’s Monetary Policy Committee voted unanimously to keep benchmark interest rates unchanged as part of its efforts to support growth as the economy recovers.
• Interest rates at growth-supportive lows.
• The monetary panel reiterated its plea for fiscal authorities to step in and help contain inflationary pressures.
• As Prof. Varma had noted in his dissent, monetary authorities face the danger of failing to fulfil the MPC’s primary mandate of anchoring inflation expectations firmly around the 4% target.
• The projection for average inflation for the full fiscal year has been cut by 40 basis points to 5.3% even as the committee stresses that with core inflation ‘persisting at an elevated level’.
• The Centre and States should… calibrated cuts in indirect taxes on petrol and diesel.
• Governor Shaktikanta Das: time had come to wind down the pandemic-era liquidity support
• Contact intensive services, which contribute about two-fifths to economic output and were among the worst hit by the COVID restrictions, still considerably lag their pre-pandemic levels.
• The manufacturing sector is still nowhere near supporting a rebound in investment demand.
• A failure that would hurt savers the most and risks derailing a consumption-led revival.

The next step is a constitutional right to health | TH  

• Constitutional ‘Right to Health for all’.
• The pandemic has exposed and aggravated the cracks in our health-care systems, and this is a lesson we cannot afford to ignore and not learn.
• In June this year, I called on the Parliament of India to take immediate measures to make necessary amendments to the Constitution to declare health care a Fundamental Right.
• I was reassured with positive responses from parliamentarians across party lines who have supported this call.
• Farmers and unorganised workers, women and children
• Farmers are the primary protectors of our fundamental right to life.
• Yet, the majority remain at a loose end when it comes to their own rights and well-being, and that of their families.
• Employment benefit schemes do not reach them, and the ones that do are mostly on paper.
• Women bear a disproportionate burden of the gaps in our health-care system.
• A ‘Right to Health’ would mean that services reach the woman where and when she needs them.
• A large number of children who belong to the poorest and most marginalised communities of our country grow up working in hazardous situations be it fields, mines, brick kilns or factories.
• When rescued, these children are ridden with complex health impacts of working — primarily tuberculosis, skin diseases, eyesight impairment, and malnutrition, besides the substantial mental health impact.
• A constitutional ‘Right to Health’ will transform not only the health and well-being of our people but will act as a leap for the economic and developmental progress of the nation.
• The vision for Ayushman Bharat will be strengthened with a constitutional ‘Right to Health’.
• The right to free and compulsory education was arguably one of the most valuable legacies of the earlier Government.
• A constitutional amendment to introduce the ‘Right to Health for India’ can be the legacy of this Government.

NEWS

• PM Modi speaks to British counterpart Boris Johnson; Reviews progress on India-UK Agenda 2030
• Aatmnirbhar Bharat campaign is not just a vision but also a well-thought, well-planned, integrated economic strategy, says PM while launching ISA
• Prime Minister to participate in G20 Extraordinary Leaders’ Summit on Afghanistan in virtual format today
• Power Ministry mandates electricity distribution companies to undertake energy accounting on periodic basis
• Five Army soldiers including a JCO martyred in an encounter with terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir
• India’s COVID-19 vaccination coverage crosses 95 crore 82 lakh mark
• Central govt launches second attempt to auction 11 coal mines
• CCI imposes penalty on two firms for bid rigging of GAIL tender
• MoS External Affairs Meenakshi Lekhi addresses 60th anniversary of NAM
• Northeast Frontier Railway completes electrification work of 649 route kilometer
• Three US-based economists win economics Nobel Prize for work on natural experiments
• India strongly condemns terrorist attack on Shia Mosque in Afghanistan
• Durga Puja celebrations begin in Bangladesh

Q.) Abulrazak Gurnah, who won the 2021 Nobel Prize in Literature, belongs to which country?

1. Kenya
2. Ghana
3. Tanzania
4. Somalia

Q.) The R-value, which is used to guage the spread of Covid-19 pandemic, is greater than 1 or very close to 1 for Mumbai, Koklkata and Bengaluru. What does ‘R’ signify?

1. Reaction number
2. Resistance number
3. Reproduction number
4. RNA number

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