Table of Contents
Rocky summit
Summit between the leaders of the world‟s strongest nuclear powers, which fought the Cold
War for decades, is an opportunity to discuss areas of shared interest, find ways to dial down
mutual tensions and work together to address global issues.
But well before Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin sat down for their first formal summit
meeting, in Helsinki, there were concerns that it would be overshadowed by allegations of
Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
Mr. Trump could have certainly managed the summit better by addressing genuine concerns
in the U.S. over allegations of Russia‟s election meddling(दखल).
Days earlier, the U.S. Justice Department indicted 12 Russian intelligence officials for hacking
and leaking emails of top Democrats.Number of contentious issues before both – The new Strategic Arms Reduction
Treaty (START) is set to expire in 2021 and Russia has shown interest in extending it.
For a consensus, high-level talks between the U.S. and Russia are needed.
From the crisis in Ukraine to the civil war in Syria, Russia-U.S. cooperation is vital to finding
lasting solutions.
The Iran nuclear deal, for which Mr. Putin and Barack Obama worked together despite
differences, is in a shambles.
Most of these issues, including the threat posed by nuclear weapons and intercontinental
ballistic missiles, were discussed at the summit.
But it‟s not clear whether the talks will lead to any significant change in policies.
Since the Ukraine crisis, the West has tried different methods, including sanctions and
pressure tactics, to isolate Russia and change its behaviour.
But those methods have proved largely unsuccessful as Russia is now a far more ambitious
foreign policy power with an enhanced presence in Eastern Europe and West Asia
The stakes are high and the bitterness of the past should not hinder U.S.-Russia relations.
That should have been the message from Helsinki
A fishy matter
Concerns over formaldehyde contamination of fish need to be addressed — scientifically
In June, the Kerala government found formaldehyde-laced fish being transported
Next, Goa reported similar findings.
But its Food and Drugs Administration later said levels in Goan samples were on a par with “naturally occurring” formaldehyde in marine fish
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India has banned formaldehyde in fresh fish, while the International Agency for Research on Cancer labelled the chemical a carcinogen in 2004.
A 1990 study by U.S. researchers estimated that humans consume 11 mg of the chemical through dietary sources every day- Fears of consumers
Getting the language count right
Death of a language is literally shrouded in silence- Because of its nature, a language is not
visible and fails to move anyone except its very last speaker
India learnt that a a total of 1,652 mother tongues were being spoken. Using illfounded logic,
this figure was pegged at only 109, in the 1971 Census.
The logic was that a language deserving respectability should not have less than 10,000
speakers.
This had no scientific basis nor was it a fair decision but it has stuck and the practice continues
to be followed.
Destruction of culture can be caused by something as small as a bureaucrat‟s benign decision. Even a well-intentioned language census can do much damage
The 1,369 have been grouped further under a total of 121 “group labels”, which have been
presented as “Languages”.
Of these, 22 are languages included in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution, called
“Scheduled Languages”- The remainder, 99, are “Nonscheduled Languages”.
An analysis shows that most of the groupings are forced. For instance, under the heading
“Hindi”, there are nearly 50 other languages.
Bhojpuri (spoken by more than 5 crore people, and with its own cinema, theatre, literature,
vocabulary and style) comes under “Hindi”.
Under Hindi too is the nearly 3 crore population from Rajasthan with its own independent
languages.
The Powari/Pawri of tribals in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh too has been added.
Given the widesprea use of English in education, law, administration, media and health
care, a significant number of Indians use English
To some extent it is the language of integration in our multilingual country.
Therefore, isn‟t the Census required to capture this reality?
It can, given the data on the language of second preference
The language Census may not attract as much attention as news about fuel prices.
But in the community of nations, the Indian census is bound to be discussed.
From time to time, UNESCO tries to highlight the key role that language plays in widening
access to education, protecting livelihoods and preserving culture and knowledge traditions
In 1999/2000, it proclaimed and observed February 21 as International Mother Language Day,
while in 2001 the „Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity‟ accepted the principle of
“Safeguarding the linguistic heritage of humanity and giving support to expression
India‟s linguistic diversity can become an integral part of our national pride.
Restoring faith in EVMs
A few procedural changes in the voting and counting process will help
On July 17, several Opposition parties decided to discuss the issue of malfunctioning
electronic voting machines (EVMs) in the current Monsoon Session of Parliament and place a
joint demand to the Election Commission (EC) to use ballot papers in the upcoming Assembly
elections and the 2019 Lok Sabha elections
Incidentally, in a recent interview, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) O.P. Rawat ruled out
the option of reverting to ballot papers- EVMs are being made a “scapegoat” because they
“cannot speak”
Some suggestions -A couple of procedural changes will bring in credibility to the voting
process- The EC has already operationalised the voter-verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT)
with an attached printer that will provide a paper trail for those who have cast their votes.
ECI should introduce a new procedure wherein the manual counting of the printed ballots
has to be done before announcing the result if the difference between the winner and the loser
is less than, say, 10%, and the loser demands a recount- In a democracy, elections should not
only be fair but should be seen to be fair-transparent reforms, EC can restore faith in elections
Prelims Focus Facts-News Analysis’
Page-1- Lok Sabha to debate TDP‟s notrust motion tomorrow
Speaker accepts notice given by Vijayawada MP Kesineni Srinivas
Prelims Focus Facts-News Analysis
Page-1- Sabarimala temple bar unreasonable: SC
„Exclusion of women amounts to the practice of untouchability
Prelims Focus Facts-News Analysis
ISRO ropes in 3 partners
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has roped in three partners to
help it assemble 27 satellites at a quick pace over the next three years.
Prelims Focus Facts-News Analysis
The government has once again expressed its concern at the imposition of import duties by
the U.S. on aluminium and steel.
Its appeal in the WTO Appellate Disputes Settlement Committee will be heard on July 19 and
20
Bill on death penalty for child rape to be tabled
Cabinet gives nod to present it in the monsoon session
„India for long-term partnership with Iran‟
Ties not dependent on third country, V.K. Singh tells LS
There are no plans to raise the retirement age of Supreme Court and High
Court judges, Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad
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