The Hindu Editorial Analysis In English | Free PDF Download

Table of Contents

Reality check

1. Country is perpetually in election mode

2. Scattered polling results in extra expenditure.

• Chief Election Commissioner O.P. Rawat’s view that it is not possible to hold simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and the State Assemblies soon is a realistic assessment.

• In addition to the basic requirement of a legal framework under which the extension or curtailment of the term of any Assembly is constitutionally permissible, VVPATs + EVMs (24 lakh) will be a must.

• Mizoram Dec 15, Chhattisgarh Jan 5, Madhya Pradesh Jan 7 and Rajasthan Jan 20.

• It would be far more productive for political parties to focus on basic electoral reforms and find ways to curb excessive election expenditure.

Sovereignty and sensitivity

• Border Roads Organisation, helps build Bhutanese roads under Project Dantak.

• BRO decided to use tricolor highway markers stickers.

• Department of Roads had to remove a board which read “Dantak welcomes you to Bhutan”

• Another board that credited the “Government of India” had to be painted over.

• Indicator of heightened sensitivities in the Himalayan kingdom as it heads to its third general election.

• Mr. Tobgay has been unable to curb the national debt, owed mostly to India for hydropower loans, as he had promised to do in his last campaign.

• Opposition parties are blaming PM

• Manmohan Singh-led United Progressive Alliance government’s decision to cut cooking gas subsidy just before the 2013 elections in Bhutan has often been shown as proof of Indian interference, especially by the DPT party that lost that election.

• Narendra Modi government’s actions, indicating a preference for one party (for example, Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League in Bangladesh) or antipathy for another (such as for Mahinda Rajapaksa’s Sri Lanka Freedom Party), have been noted closely in Bhutan.

• India’s power-surplus status and the advent of other renewable energies like wind and solar power will make it more difficult for Bhutan to ensure that its hydropower sector becomes profitable.

• Bhutan too has decided that there is little point in avoiding engagement with China.

For better slum policies

• For migrants, cheap housing in slums is often the springboard to better lives.

• Studies: migrants often get stuck in a vicious cycle of debt and socio-economic stagnation.

• 2011 Census estimated 65 million people in slums, a marked shortfall from the UN-HABITAT’s 2014 estimation of 104 million.

• 70% of families in slums live in debt.

• Even water and electricity are disproportionately more expensive.

• The cumulative effect is that residents end up staying in the same slums for an average of 21 years.

• Seven out of 10 households have stayed in slums for at least four generations.

• Youth earn less than their more-educated peers who don’t live in slums.

Why context matters

• The idea of uniformity does not take into account the widespread inequalities in society.

• In the case of caste, B.R. Ambedkar had explained how caste is a form of graded inequality, where the fight for dignity gets more difficult as one goes down the caste pyramid.

• The Hindu would be failing in its journalistic duty if it does not point out a hate crime where the motive of the perpetrator is either caste or communal prejudice.

• It is important to understand the complex relationship between those wielding power flowing from privilege — privilege that can be based on caste, class, clan, gender or faith — and those who are subjugated and humiliated by them for not having that privilege.

• For a responsible journalist, any affront to human dignity is a story worth telling because the bedrock of journalism is the belief that it can reduce harm.

• It would be a dereliction of duty if a crime based on hate and prejudice is not differentiated from other crimes.

– Important News

Focus shifts to relief as waters recede in Kerala

• After five days of extremely heavy rain and floods that ravaged several parts of Kerala, Sunday brought respite following a gradual decrease in rainfall and receding water levels in the flood-affected areas, particularly Chengannur and Chalakudy.

• With 13 persons killed in rain-related incidents on Sunday, the toll since August 8 stood at 210. Dawood’s key aide held in London

• A key aide of Dawood Ibrahim, India’s most wanted terrorist, was arrested by the British police at ’s Hilton Hotel on Friday. Jabir Siddiq, aka Jabir Moti, is believed to be the right-hand man of Dawood, managing his investments in the U.K., the UAE and around the world. Over 6,000 apply for lateral entry

• More than 6,000 candidates have shown interest in 10 posts of Joint Secretaries in the Central government, offered to private sector specialists as part of the Modi government’s bid to bring in fresh talent in bureaucracy, officials said on Sunday. India building new fighter jet

• The Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA), India’s next indigenous fighter, is expected to make its first flight by 2032.

• Development work on the jet is under way. Xi calls for deepening of anti-corruption drive Ghani offers Taliban a new ceasefire Europe’s political will on Iran deal should be ac

• Half of farm households indebted: NABARD study

• – Financial News

• – EU, 11 Others Back US Stand Against Indian Subsidies

• The European Union, Russia, China, Japan and eight other countries have backed the US complaint against India’s export promotion schemes at the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

• Brazil, Canada, China, Egypt, the EU, Japan, Kazakhstan, Korea, Russia, Sri Lanka, Taiwan and Thailand have become third parties in the dispute.

• Former commerce secretary Rita Teaotia has said there was a “real” possibility that India could lose the trade dispute.

• China, Korea, Japan and Thailand are members of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) trade agreement along with India and have been pressuring it for deep duty cuts on at least 90% of the traded goods.

• “Sri Lanka wants to benefit from us losing our export incentives because it competes with us in many exports,” the expert explained.