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Defusing tensions

SC took over the situation
Time-bound and supervised inquiry on Alok Verma
Centre: grounded Director to control feud
SC: CVC to finish inquiry in max 2 weeks.
Former Supreme Court judge A.K. Patnaik is to supervise the CVC probe.
CVC’s primary responsibility is superintendence over the CBI in anti-corruption investigations.
Nageshwar Rao: wings are clipped. Just to supervise smooth functioning of agency.

Touching base

Summit-level meetings: 2006
Closely aligned world-view
Prime Minister Narendra Modi heading towards Japan
Expected topics: USA + China
President Donald Trump’s recent actions on trade tariffs, sanctions against Iran and Russia, as well as the U.S.’s exit from several multilateral and security regimes are impacting both countries in different ways.

U.S. sanctions over Indian engagement with Iran as well as defence purchases from Russia pose a looming challenge.
For India, the impact is more direct, as the economy has been hurt by new American tariffs, review of its GSP (trading) status, and restrictions on visas for professionals.
Japan: USA’s exit from TPP means ASEAN will come under radar of dragon. North Korea + USA on/off nuclear talk is a matter of concern.
Mr. Abe is in China as a PM for the first time in 7 years.
Shinkansen bullet train: Japan International Cooperation Agency releasing the first tranche of ₹5,500 crore
ShinMaywa US-2 amphibian aircraft: little progress
Japanese investment has gone up, trade figures are bit dull.

Who will speak truth to unfreedom?

Open societies encourage us to accept and welcome different ideas and practices.
Open societies liberate and expand our imaginations and our commitments.
Disorder is the order of the day, and violence is the currency of social transactions.
Sane voices have to speak up.
Keeping alive the spirit of critical inquiry.
Imaginatively designed courses in the humanities and social sciences lie at the heart of any university worth its name.
Above all students are introduced to categories that allow them to think, reflect, and critically engage with people, places and things.
Capitalism demands docile bodies and submissive minds.
Can we have a university without the humanities? It would be like a bar without alcohol!
Without critical disciplines, universities are no more than teaching shops, producing so much unthinking labour for the market.
Faculty members cannot criticise the policies of the government in their research work. Nor can they dare to critique a flawed foreign policy. And they cannot join political parties.

Proceed with caution

An NRC exercise in Tripura may open a Pandora’s box as India is still undecided on determination of citizenship status of lakhs of refugees from erstwhile East Pakistan.
Tripura was a princely state prior to its merger with India on October 15, 1949.
The petitioners have sought July 19, 1948 as the cutoff date in accordance with Article 6 of the Constitution.
The Dasarath Deb-led Left Front government in Tripura signed an accord with the erstwhile militant outfit All Tripura Tribal Force (ATTF) in 1993 to send back all Bangladeshi nationals who came to the State after March 25, 1971 and were not in possession of valid documents.
Article 6 of the Constitution implies that a migrant from erstwhile East Pakistan is deemed to be an Indian citizen if either of his or her parents or any of his or her grandparents were born in India and in the case where such a person has migrated on or after July 19, 1948, and has been resident in the territory of India since the date of his migration.
The migrant can also be deemed a citizen if such a person migrated on or after July 19, 1948 but has been registered as a citizen of India by an officer appointed by the Government of India.
Successive Census Reports and official records show how large-scale migration of people from erstwhile East Bengal and East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) changed the demography of Tripura, stoking fears among various ethnic communities, the original inhabitants, about their survival.
They were apprehensive that their identity, language, culture and traditions were at stake.
Prior to the 1951 Census, ethnic communities enlisted as Scheduled Tribes constituted the majority population in Tripura, and accounted for 52.89% of the total population of 1.73 lakh in 1901.
However, the percentage declined to 50.09 in 1941, 36.89 in 1951, to 28.95 in 1971 and 28.44 in 1981. It was 31.78% of the total population of 36.74 lakh recorded in the 2011 Census.
Influx of an estimated 5.17 lakh refugees from erstwhile East Pakistan into Tripura between 1947 and February 1971.
3.74 lakh migrated between August 15, 1947 and March 31, 1958 following Partition
1.43 lakh migrated between January 1, 1964 and March 24, 1971 due to communal riots in East Pakistan
13.50 lakh refugees from March 25, 1971 to September 30, 1971 following the civil war and Pakistan Army atrocities in East Pakistan during the Bangladesh liberation war
The population of Tripura in 1971 was about 15.57 lakh, of whom 11.42 lakh were born in India and 3.95 lakh were born in erstwhile East Pakistan.
In Assam, the NRC has been updated by taking midnight of March 24, 1971 as the cut-off date in accordance with the Assam Accord, but the Supreme Court is also hearing a petition seeking 1951 as the cut-off year for identification of foreigners in the State.

Important News

Sri Lanka unity govt. falls, Rajapaksa sworn in as PM
In a sudden move, President Maithripala Sirisena on Friday pulled his faction out of Sri Lanka’s ruling coalition and within hours appointed former President Mahinda Rajapaksa as Prime Minister. • Disqualified T.N. MLAs to move SC
The 18 AIADMK MLAs, whose disqualification by the Tamil Nadu Speaker was upheld by the Madras High Court on Thursday, have decided to challenge the verdict in the Supreme Court. If byelections are held in the interim, they will contest as candidates of the T.T.V. Dhinakaran-led Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK).
Pakistan’s ban on Saeed’s outfits lapses
India questioned Pakistan’s commitment to fighting terrorism following reports that Jamaat-ud Dawa and its associate group Falah-I-Insaniyat Foundation are no longer on the list of banned organisations.
Eight killed in U.P. firecracker unit blast
IAF gets first overhauled Sukhoi
‘Farm loan waiver not a permanent solution’
World Agriculture Prize for Swaminathan
Free power and farm loan waivers cannot be a permanent solution to the problems in the agriculture sector, Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu said on Friday, warning that populist poll promises could be damaging in the long term.
China, Japan pivot to new markets
Shinzo Abe says bilateral relations are moving to a new stage of cooperation from competition
Faced with the threat of a trade war with the U.S., China and Japan have decided to work together to develop new overseas markets, by focussing on collaboration instead of competing with each other.
Migratory birds start arriving at Chilika, but numbers are down
Migratory birds have started arriving at the wetlands of Odisha’s Chilika Lake — one of the largest wintering grounds in Asia, but not in their usual numbers this year.
Close to one million birds congregate on the mudflats of the lake during winter. The lake is home to 230 bird species, out of which 97 are intercontinental migrants. The lake is also a designated Ramsar site (a wetland of international importance).
The Nalabana Bird Sanctuary and Mangalajodi, the two major places where the birds congregate, also have not received the usual numbers. “Many birds are flying in v-shape over Chilika and assessing the situation. Once the mudflats are exposed, birds will descend in lakhs,” said Mr. Nanda.
One of the reasons behind the low turnout is the flooding after incessant rain triggered by cyclone Titli.

Financial News

RBI to inject ₹40,000 cr. in November
The Reserve Banksaid it would inject ₹40,000 crore into the system in November through purchase of government securities as it looks to meet festive season demand for funds.
For October, the RBI has already injected ₹36,000 crore into the system through open market operations (OMO).
“Based on an assessment of the durable liquidity needs, RBI has decided to conduct purchase of government securities under OMOs for an aggregate amount of ₹400 billion in the month of November 2018,” the RBI said. The auction dates and the government securities to be purchased would be communicated in due course.
Acharya for ‘independent’ central bank
India’s central bank needed to be independent to improve the macroeconomic stability, and policies needed to be rule-based, the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) Deputy Governor Viral Acharya said on Friday.
“To secure greater financial and macroeconomic stability, these efforts need to be extended to effective independence for the Reserve Bank in its regulatory and supervisory powers over public sector banks,” the RBI Deputy Governor said in a speech, the text of which was posted on the central bank website.