The Hindu Editorial Analysis 27th July 2018

Table of Contents

The Pakistan test

• The campaign for these federal and provincial elections in Pakistan has been called the “dirtiest” in its history, and the announcement of the results is already tainted by allegations of
rigging and military interference.
• The removal of Nawaz Sharif as Prime Minister last summer and later from the electoral arena over a conviction on corruption charges had given the impression that the dice were loaded in Mr. Khan’s favour.
• New PM’s first job would be to negotiate assistance from the International Monetary Fund to stave off a balance of payments crisis.
• China-Pakistan Economic Corridor & loans from China
• Mr. Khan has long held that the U.S. must first pull out troops from Afghanistan, and was called “Taliban Khan” for suggesting that Taliban militants were fighting for “independence”.
• Mr. Khan will also have to tackle terror groups inside Pakistan
• those that target Pakistani forces
• those that target its neighbours
• His comments on resolving disputes through dialogue must be regarded seriously.

Prime Minister Imran Khan

• The victory margins of the Imran Khan and his Pakistan Tehreek-eInsaf are huge and impressive.
• It has been clear for many months now that Pakistan’s military establishment, with support from the superior judiciary, did not under any circumstances want Mr. Sharif’s party to win.
• There was much prepoll rigging by the military.
• Independent commentary in the media was controlled and censored and many journalists and media houses were threatened and shut down.
• Imran’s forceful campaign: more visible on various platforms
• Marriage with Bushra Riaz Wattoo

Front Page

Pakistan’s Election Commission has not yet released the official final results, but Mr. Khan has maintained a commanding lead, according to projections by many television stations, using their own methods.
It is not clear whether the PTI would get a majority or be forced to form a coalition government.
The election, in which Pakistanis voted for the National Assembly and the four provincial assemblies, marked only the second time in Pakistan’s 71-year history that a civilian government has handed power to another.

Tackling HIV

Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS): good news for the global war against the syndrome
Between 2010 and 2017, several countries made rapid progress in reducing HIV incidence and getting antiretroviral therapy to patients.
Today, three out of four people with HIV know their status, and 21.7 million get treatment.

2010-2017: drop in number of new cases and deaths by 27% and 56%
Tuberculosis is the biggest killer of HIV patients across the world. • India is now able to treat over 90% of notified TB patients for HIV.
Social stigma surrounding AIDS-infected people in India, while high, is declining slowly too. • With 2.1 million cases, India is among the largest burden countries in the world. • The Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act criminalises several aspects of sex work, while Section 377 of the IPC criminalises gay sex.
Studies show that fear of prosecution under such laws prevents homosexual men, drug-users and sex workers from seeking HIV screening and treatment.
Right to health is universal: no one should be left behind in the fight against HIV.

AI superpower or client nation?

Google’s CEO compares AI with fire and electricity in terms of their role in human civilisation, while Stephan Hawking feared that AI could end humanity.
AI systems are set to transform our economic, social and political organisation.
Globally, just one or two concentrations of AI power may rule the world.
concentrate income and wealth
assured basic income for all
AI does not develop in laboratories and then get applied by businesses. AI develops within business processes, as data are mined from digital platforms, and turned into intelligence, which is ploughed back to produce more data and intelligence, in infinite loops.

Any country’s AI therefore largely exists within its huge, domestically owned commercial digital/data systems.
In the U.S. it is with Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple and Microsoft — and in China with Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent.
India has no such large domestically owned commercial data systems.
AI is as much about cultural, political and military power.
It is mastery over the systemic cores of AI where the real national advantage lies.
Platform promotion: It is mastery over the systemic cores of AI where the real national advantage lies.

A big nation like India cannot derive satisfaction from rapidly becoming a client country for AI
What really counts is whether India owns the centres of systemic AI that comes from controlling huge commercial data ecosystems.
India has a right to provide such domestic protection through policy, especially if India begins to treat its collective social/economic data as a strategic national asset, as our mineral resources are.
With its highest IT as well as entrepreneurial/managerial competence, and a huge domestic market, India is among extremely few countries that can make it.

Keeping the past alive

Has the Right to Information Act been weakened?

Section 13(5) of the Act equates the salaries, allowances and other terms and conditions of service of the CIC and ICs to that of the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and Election Commissioners (ECs), respectively.
Since the mandate of the Election Commission of India and the Central and State Information Commissions are different, their status and service conditions need to be rationalised accordingly.
RTI Act could only provide information that was available.
At the centre of the discussion is the need to focus on reassessing the efficacy of the RTI on the substantive issues of providing information and enforcing the provisions of the Act, and the awareness of applicants and respondents through periodic seminars, workshops, etc.
The Commission also encounters cases of numerous applications filed by a single applicant on the same subject matter.

Important News

Front Page

• West Bengal renames itself as ‘Bangla’
• Participating in the discussion, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said she had personally taken up the issue with the Home Ministry.
• Ramon Magsaysay for ‘3 idiots’ muse
• Sonam Wangchuk: educational reformer from Ladakh
• Bharat Vatwani: a psychiatrist who works for mentally ill street people in Mumbai

• Lok Sabha passes anti-trafficking Bill
• The Bill lays down a stringent punishment of 10 years to life imprisonment for
aggravated forms of trafficking, which include buying or selling of persons for the
purpose of bonded labour, bearing a child, as well as those where chemical
substances are administered, and a survivor acquires life-threatening illnesses
such as AIDS.
• The Bill proposes establishing a National Anti-Trafficking Bureau (NATB) for
coordinating and monitoring of trafficking cases.
• It also provides for a Relief and Rehabilitation Committee and Rehabilitation Fund
with an initial allocation of ₹ 10 crore.
• U.S., EU agree to ease trade tensions
• Washington won’t impose tariffs on automobiles, EU commits to buying U.S.
soybeans and natural gas
• SC pulls up U.P. for Taj document
• The Supreme Court on Thursday came down heavily on the Uttar Pradesh
government for a draft report on the vision document for the protection of the
Taj Mahal without consulting the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) tasked with
protecting the monument.