Table of Contents
Sanctions relief
• Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA): To impose sanctions on any country carrying out significant defence and energy trade with sanctioned entities in Russia, Iran and North Korea.
• August 2017: signed reluctantly by President Donald Trump arguing that the law took away his powers to decide on such matters.
• The governments have been working hard to avert a standoff over the issue.
• India made it clear it would go ahead with the S-400 Triumf missile system deal with Russia regardless of the U.S. law and the threat of sanctions.
• Indian delegations led by the Foreign Secretary had made a three-fold case for the waiver:
1. No weapons India bought would be used against the U.S.
2. U.S., which wants to partner with India in the Indo-Pacific, would hamper India’s military abilities by applying the sanctions or denying the country crucial technology
3. India has significantly reduced its dependence on Russian military hardware while increasing
defence purchases from the U.S., and it would be unfair if the U.S. rewarded the effort with
punitive measures.
• Amendment to Section 231 of CAATSA proposed by Congress will be greeted with a sense of relief in both New Delhi and Washington.
• External Affairs and Defence Ministers at the ‘2+2 dialogue
• The sanctions proposed by the Trump administration for energy trade with Iran still loom, as do possible punitive measures at the World Trade Organisation over tariffs and counter-tariffs the two countries have imposed on each other
Detention no cure
• The legislation to amend the Right to Education Act to give States the power to detain students who fail an examination in Class 5 or 8 is a negative measure.
• It would weaken one of the progressive features of the RTE Act, which is to guarantee the continued presence of the child in school during the formative learning phase.
• Genuine concerns on learning outcomes: determined not only by a student’s effort
• NITI Aayog: bringing back detention in elementary schooling would increase the dropout rate, impacting the poor and Dalits the most as they depended on government institutions.
Different messages, different methods
• Visits to Africa by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping this week underscore, both India and China are shaping new narratives of engaging with Africa.
• Senegal and Rwanda, with a stopover in Mauritius
• Mr. Modi’s second trip to mainland Africa after his visit to Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania and Kenya in 2016.
• In the last four years, there have been 23 outgoing visits to Africa by the President, the Vice President and the Prime Minister.
• Mr. Xi’s visit, his first to Africa after being re-elected in March, comes weeks after the first China-Africa Defence and Security Forum last month in Beijing, which saw a host of African defence ministers and army chiefs in attendance.
• Africa exports raw materials and imports manufactured goods.
• India-Africa trade: $62.66 billion (2017-2018)
• The Indian private sector has yet to take full advantage of the investment climate in Africa.
• China-Africa trade: $166 billion in 2011
• Indian engagement lays emphasis on the long term — enhancing Africa’s productive capacities, diversifying skills and knowledge, and investing in small- and medium-sized enterprises.
• robust people-to-people connections, increase investment-led trade and business opportunities, and strengthen bilateral partnerships
• Project ‘Mausam’: an initiative of the Ministry of Culture, which seeks to revive lost linkages with the Indian Ocean ‘world’ (East Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia).
• China’s approach is more traditional — resource-extraction, infrastructure development and elite-level wealth creation.
• India’s African cross-border connectivity has three primary forms:
1. maritime-port connectivity under the government’s Security and Growth for All in the Region (SAGAR) and the SagarMala initiative
2. digital connectivity under the Pan African e-Network project on teleeducation and tele-medicine (launched in 2004)
3. air connectivity in the form of direct flights from Indian cities to
African destinations
• Asia Africa Growth Corridor (AAGC): India-Japan
• AAGC is a consultative initiative between three equal partners (India, Japan and Africa), the
BRI is more of a top-down
• There are significant differences in their approaches, and the challenge for them would be to develop partnerships with African nations in a way that makes Africa a part of their growth stories to.
India proud to be Africa’s partner: PM
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday outlined 10 guiding principles for deepening India’s engagement with Africa to help in its economic
growth and tackle challenges such as terrorism and climate change.
• He said Uganda, also known as the “Pearl of Africa”, was a land of immense beauty, great wealth of resources and rich heritage.
• He said the two nations were connected to each other by ancient maritime links, the dark ages of colonial rule, the shared struggle for freedom and the uncertain paths as independent countries in a divided world.
• “We will strengthen our cooperation and mutual capabilities in combating terrorism and extremism; keeping our cyberspace safe and secure; and, supporting the UN in advancing and keeping peace,” he said.
• He said India would work with African nations to keep the oceans open and free for the benefit of all nations.
• India will harness its experience with digital revolution to support Africa’s development; improve delivery of public services; extend education and health; spread digital literacy; expand financial inclusion; and mainstream the marginalised, he said. “We will work with you to improve Africa’s agriculture,” he said.
India’s Magna Carta
• July 8, 2018: 100th year of the publication of the ‘Report on Indian constitutional reforms’, commonly known as the Montagu-Chelmsford Report (MCR).
• Edwin Montagu, then Secretary of State for India & Lord Chelmsford was Governor-General
• Montagu, had advocated for increased participation of Indians in the
British Indian administration and had begun consultations nearly a year earlier.
• Giving provincial legislatures the mantle of self-governance
• MCR: “to emancipate the local governments and legislatures from central control; and to
advance, by successive stages, in the direction of conferring responsible government on the
provinces.”
• “the Provinces are the domain in which the earlier steps towards the progressive realisation of
responsible government should be taken”.
• “Government of India must remain wholly responsible to Parliament.”
• The MCR would go on to become the basis for the Government of India Act, 1935, and, ultimately, the Constitution.
• Magna Carta, which means ‘The Great Charter’, is one of the most important documents in history as it established the principle that
everyone is subject to the law, even the king
guarantees the rights of individuals
the right to justice
the right to a fair trial
• In 1215 King John agreed to the terms of the Magna Carta following the uprising of a group of rebel barons in England.
The Sabarimala singularity
• As a study of the rival contentions made before the five-judge Bench that heard arguments shows us, the religious freedom clauses in the Constitution are possessed of a special complexity, which the court’s own past jurisprudence has turned into a
quagmire of contradictions.
• Generally, the right to freedom of religion of both individuals and groups is recognised as an intrinsic facet of a liberal democracy.
• The Constitution memorialises these guarantees in Articles 25 and 26.
• Articles 25: recognises a right to freedom of conscience and a right to freely profess, practise, and propagate religion, subject to common community exceptions of public order, morality, and health, and also, crucially, to the guarantee of other fundamental rights.
• Article 25(2)(b): It accords to the state a power to make legislation, in the interests of social welfare and reform, throwing open Hindu religious institutions of public character to all classes and sections of Hindus.
• Article 26: which is also subject to limitations imposed on grounds of public order, morality, and health, accords to every religious denomination the right, among other things, to establish and maintain institutions for religious purposes and to manage their own affairs in
matters of religion.
• Clash between a series of apparently conflicting claims
• If the court can look beyond the essential practices doctrine and see this case for what it really is — a denial to women not only of their individual rights to freedom of religion but also of equal access to public space — it can help set the tone for a radical re-reading of the
Constitution.
• Ultimately, the Constitution must be seen as representing not a hoary conception of boundaries between the state and the individual, but as a transcendental tool for social revolution.
Front Page
• Imran Khan’s party forges ahead in Pakistan polls
• Hours after polling began for the general elections, an Islamic State suicide bomber blew himself up outside a polling station in Bhosa Mandi area of Balochistan’s provincial capital, Quetta, killing 31 people, including policemen.
• The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) of former president Asif Ali Zardari was leading in 39 seats, a sign indicating that he could be a ‘kingmaker’ in case of a hung parliament, according to media reports.
• Marans to face trial in illegal phone exchange case
• The Madras High Court on Wednesday set aside an order
• March 14: a special court for CBI cases passed an order
• Discharged: Former Union Minister Dayanidhi Maran, his elder brother Kalanithi Maran of Sun TV and five others from the BSNL illegal telephone exchange case.
• Justice G. Jayachandran allowed a revision petition preferred by the CBI and concurred with Additional Solicitor General G. Rajagopalan that the accused ought not to have been discharged when there was sufficient material to prosecute them.
• Nationwide truckers’ strike hurts manufacturing too
• The prices of fruits and vegetables and other items have gone up by 12% to
15% and some people have started resorting to black marketing
• ‘Terror outfits are using children’
• Ball in Speaker’s court now
• Parliamentary privileges are certain rights and immunities enjoyed by members of Parliament, individually and collectively, so that they can
“effectively discharge their functions”.
• When any of these rights and immunities are disregarded, the offence is called a breach of privilege and is punishable under law of Parliament.
• A notice is moved in the form of a motion by any member of either House against those being held guilty of breach of privilege.
• Rules: It says that a member may, with the consent of the Speaker or the Chairperson, raise a question involving a breach of privilege either of a
member or of the House or of a committee thereof.
• The Speaker/RS chairperson is the first level of scrutiny of a privilege motion.
• Lok Sabha, the Speaker nominates a committee of privileges consisting of 15 members as per respective party strengths.
• Rajya Sabha, the deputy chairperson heads the committee of privileges, that consists of 10 members.
• VVPATs will be ready for Lok Sabha polls, says EC
• The manufacture and supply of machines are being monitored daily, said the
electoral body.
• In May 2017, the Commission placed an order of 16.15 lakh VVPATs to the Public
Sector Unit (PSU) manufacturers Bharat Electronics Limited and Electronics
Corporation of India Limited, to meet the requirements for the 2019 Lok Sabha
elections.
• “Till date, 5.88 lakh units have been produced by the PSUs, which is 36% of the
total quantity to be supplied,” said the Commission.
• Scheme must cover child abuse victims: SC
• The Supreme Court said on Wednesday that a government scheme for rape
survivors should include child victims of sexual assault.
• Compensation Scheme for Women Victims/Survivors of Sexual Assault/Other
Crimes-2018, proposed by the National Legal Services Authority, include child
victims.
• The scheme proposes a uniform payment of ₹5 lakh to the maximum of ₹10 lakh
to gang-rape survivors in any part of the country. Similarly, in the case of rape
and unnatural sexual assault, the victim will get a minimum of ₹4 lakh and the
maximum of ₹7 lakh.
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