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Setting a proper diet plan

India is 1 of the fastest growing economies in the world
Global Hunger Index 2018: 103 out of 119 countries
Hunger levels categorised as “serious”
Child malnourishment level is one of the highest in the world
Varies considerably across States
July 2018: 3 girls died of starvation in Delhi
Our national capital has a high per capita income
National Family Health Survey-2016
The proportion of stunted (low height for age) children under five is significantly higher (38.4%) than global (22.9%) averages
Underweight (low weight for age) children rate (35.7%) is a lot higher than the global average (13.5%) 53.3 million stunted (low height for age) 49.6 million underweight (low weight for age) 29.2 million wasted (low weight for height)
Growing prosperity has hardly made any significant dent in chronic malnutrition of children.
Faster economic growth is good and beneficial but that is not in itself enough.
If millions of Indian kids are undernourished, then it will impact our future Human Capital.
Core problem: too much focus on GrowthOriented- Development.
Chhattisgarh and Odisha, have performed better on this front compared to Gujarat and Maharashtra where per capita income is almost double.
Odisha is a low-income State, but it has better
Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS),
Public health facility/workforce per lakh population,
Educational attainment among women
Gujarat is more about growth and investment and is behind Odisha when it comes to above-given services.
Tribals, rural, poor and illiterate mothers’ children are badly off in so-called developed States of Haryana, Gujarat, and Punjab.
These groups are also affected in poorer States of U.P., Bihar, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh.
Around two-thirds of stunted/underweight children are from 200 districts of both less developed and developed States.
Irony in food production and malnourishment
Districts: Karnal, Panipat, Sonipat, Rohtak, Gurugram are agriculturally-developed. But malnutrition is higher here compared to Odisha.
Madhya Pradesh has registered double-digit growth in food grain production, but acute malnutrition is still critical in most of its districts.
Food Intake Index
19 food items in all 640 districts
Only 12% of children are likely to be stunted and underweight in areas where diversity in food intake is high, while around 50% of children are stunted if they consume less than three food items.
The diversified food intake is very low in a majority of Indian districts; just 28% of children consumed over five items of the total 19 food items.
Controlling/regulating food price
Strengthening the public distribution system (PDS)
Income support policies
Diversity in food items in worst-hit districts
National Nutrition Mission: to fight maternal and child malnutrition
by 2022
Underweight: from 35.7% to 20.7%
Stunted: from 38.4% to 25%
Budget for these programs should be generous.

The gold standard for a Prime Minister

Ambedkar was not appreciated by both the left and the right, and decades after his death, he was at best ignored.
Later jurists and scholars joined his followers to dust up his legacy and recognise him as a guide in political, social and constitutional matters.
Nehru is now moving through an eclipse.
A genuine admirer of Nehru would have been mistaken for a courtier. The three virtues of a leader 1. She must have a track record of service with humility.
What it requires of him is to submit to people’s will while being firmly anchored to due process. 2. The commitment to the institutions of state forms the second virtue of a leader.
Nehru understood the indispensability of institutions above personalities. For e.g. strong opposition in a democracy. 3. The third virtue is the quality of the leader’s legacy.
A complex office like that of the Prime Minister of India requires not one but two divergent temperaments, wherein lies the difficulty of being a successful Prime Minister.
Wear many hats

A question of writ

Sabarimala: faithful believe that the deity’s powers derive from his asceticism, and in particular from his being celibate.
The exclusion of women was given legal sanction by Rule 3(b) of the Kerala Hindu Places of Public Worship (Authorisation of Entry) Rules, 1965.
4:1 bench of SC: exclusion of women between these ages was violative of the Constitution.
Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra and Justice A.M. Khanwilkar: excluding women did not constitute an “essential religious practice”
Section 3: places of public worship must be open to all sections and classes of Hindus, notwithstanding any custom or usage to the contrary.
Rule 3(b) prohibiting the entry of women was directly contrary to this.
Justice R.F. Nariman: Article 25(1) all persons are “equally entitled” to practise religion.
Rule 3 prohibiting the entry of women, was violative of Article 15(1) of the Constitution.
Justice D.Y. Chandrachud: transformative nature of the Constitution
“transform Indian society by remedying centuries of discrimination against Dalits, women and the marginalised”
Article 17: constitutional provision prohibiting untouchability.
The sole woman judge, Justice Indu Malhotra, who dissented, reasoned: Issues of deep religious sentiments should not be ordinarily be interfered by the court.
Notions of rationality cannot be invoked in matters of religion.
1929: funeral of a killer, Ilmuddin
He murdered Rampal, a publisher, who had published an allegedly unsavoury reference to the life of Prophet Muhammad.
M.D. Taseer, assured the British authorities that there would be no trouble if there was a proper burial with a procession and Islamic prayers.
Final result: Section 295A of the Indian Penal Code
Zia-ul-Haq’s Pakistan: Sections 295B and 295C were added to the Pakistan Penal Code which criminalized blasphemy against Islam and even made it punishable with death.
2009: a case of Asia Bibi
Salman Taseer: his bodyguard Mumtaz Qadri killed him.
The Chief Justice of Pakistan, Saqib Nisar, has reportedly defended himself by saying, “No one should have the doubt that the Supreme Court judges are not lovers of Prophet Muhammad… How can we punish someone in the absence of evidence?”
Both India & Pakistan, profess at least lip service to the rule of law.
Years of majoritarianism have brought Pakistan to the point where its institutions have had to defend themselves before doing justice to minorities.
India is at a stage, where its majority is seeking to bring its institutions to acquiesce in majoritarian instincts.
The question is whether the people and the institutions succumb to pressure or adhere to principle.
It is in the adherence to individual rights that the greater public good rests.

Bittersweet judgment

On October 10, the U.K. Supreme Court held that a baker’s refusal to bake a cake with a message in support of gay marriage does not constitute unlawful discrimination.
Gareth Lee placed an order of a cake: “support gay marriage”
After initially accepting the order, the bakery refused to fulfill it and offered a refund on the basis that it was a “Christian business”.

the identity of the customer
disquieting consequences
freedom not to speak Bert and Ernie

U.K. Supreme Court: bakery discriminated not against the customer, but against the message
The bakery’s response would also have been identical had a heterosexual man or woman requested the cake with the same message.
One of the important arguments was whether a message printed on a cake would be conceived of as speech not just of the customer, but also of the baker.
Sculptor or Painter and Printing shop
The court made the mistake of conflating speech with conduct?

Selective histories

“Three Hundred Ramayanas: Five examples and three thoughts on translations”, by linguist A.K. Ramanujan
2011: Delhi University’s academic council succumbed to pressure and dropped the scholarly essay from the curriculum.
If critical thoughts and theories are not nurtured in campuses, where else should they be put to rigorous scrutiny?
Nandini Sundar’s book: The Burning Forest
God as Political Philosopher: Buddha’s Challenge to Brahminism, Why I am not a Hindu and Post-Hindu India: A Discourse in Dalit-Bahujan Socio-Spiritual and Scientific Revolution by Mr. Kancha Ilaiah

Full disclosure

Securities and Exchange Board of India: trying to increase the level of scrutiny on credit rating agencies.
Many CRAs failed to inform investors about the health of IL&FS
According to the new norms, credit rating agencies will have to inform investors about the liquidity situation of the companies they rate through parameters such as their cash balance, liquidity coverage ratio, access to emergency credit lines, asset-liability mismatch, etc.
Rating agencies already make at least some of these disclosures one way or the other, mandating the formal disclosure of these facts is still welcome.
The primary one is the flawed “issuer-pays” model where the entity that issues the instrument also pays the rating agency for its services.
Second, the credit rating market in India has high barriers to entry, which prevent competition that is vital to protecting the interests of investors.
Without a sufficient number of alternative credit rating providers, quality standards in ratings will not improve.

Important News

French govt. didn’t guarantee Rafale deal, Centre tells SC
The Centre admitted in the Supreme Court on Wednesday that there was no sovereign guarantee from the French government on the deal for 36 Rafale jets in case the manufacturer, Dassault Aviation, defaults.
The sovereign guarantee is a promise by a government to discharge the liability of a third person in case of his default.

Sri Lanka Parliament votes against Rajapaksa govt.
GSAT-29 has a perfect launch
Amid concerns over Cyclone Gaja spoiling the launch of the country’s heaviest satellite to be carried on board an indigenous rocket from Indian soil, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) pulled off the feat to perfection on Wednesday.
SUV stolen by 4, Punjab put on alert
Remember: In 2016, terrorists, who attacked the Pathankot air base, snatched a Punjab police officer’s car to get to the target.
Modi, Pence discuss trade, terrorism in Singapore
All the traces in global attacks lead to a single source: PM
Winter session from December 11 U.S. Vice-President Mike Pence

Financial News

India to Dispute US’ Claim of Under-reporting Cotton Subsidies
India will dispute US’ findings that claim New Delhi paid trade-distorting subsidies in the last seven years to its cotton farmers in excess of 10% permitted for developing countries.
The US has alleged that India provides market price support or MPS for cotton “vastly in excess of what it has reported to the World Trade Organization (WTO)” and it ranged from 53 -81% of the value of production from 2010 -11 to 2016 -17.