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Eyes wide shut

1 st Nov: 5 Bengali men were gunned down in Assam near Tinsukia.
Symptoms of fault lines between communities in Assam
National Register of Citizens: 4m didn’t make it
Politics ensuing over this has left the State polarised.
Thursday’s tragedy should serve as a grim warning to the powers that be of potentially darker times ahead if the surcharged rhetoric is left unchecked.
Supreme Court Bench that is monitoring the NRC exercise signalled an accommodative stance by agreeing to allow the use of five more documents by those left out of the NRC final draft.

Mob rule

Asia Bibi case of Pakistan.
2009: Arrested for blasphemy
2010: awarded death penalty
Salman Taseer, a secular Governor of Punjab state was shot dead in 2011.
Shahbaz Bhatti, Minister for Minorities called for changes in law & he too was killed.
Prime Minister Imran Khan’s administration has capitulated to pressure from extremists 1. Govt will not oppose review petition 2. Govt will prevent Ms Bibi to leave Pakistan
This is 2nd time when Pak govt has bowed down to the demand of Khadim Hussain Rizvi, a firebrand cleric and chairman of the Islamist party, Tehreek-e-Labbaik.
Govt has done her a disservice & emboldened extremist sections

The ghosts of laws past

Shreya Singhal v. Union of India, 2015: SC struck down Section 66A of the Information Technology (IT) Act, 2000 as unconstitutional.
Even after all this, there are few cases where police have jailed people using this law.
Section 303 of the Indian Penal Code was struck down by SC in 1983. In 2012, HC of Rajasthan intervened to save a person from being hanged for being convicted under that offence.
A systemic problem within the Indian legal system: there exists no official method for sharing information about such decisions.
Communication channels for sharing information is basic for any organisation.
India Code versions still have 66 & 303
Notifications are a good way to share information. But as there are not mandates for it, there is no means to ensure that they are issued.
There is a pressing need to move from a system where communication about judicial decisions is at the mercy of initiatives by scrupulous officers, to a method not contingent on human error to the greatest possible extent.
Enforcing unconstitutional laws is sheer wastage of public money.

Failing to lead by example

Kerala has served as a model of progress guided by a long-sustained pursuit of welfare policies, especially in health and education.
Kerala also has a history of social movements that mobilised people to let go of the grip of custom and ritual.
Conflict and the threat of violence can, and perhaps, should be attributed to political rivalry and administrative ineptitude.
Education tends to arouse many expectations, both in the individual and the social mind.
It depends on what is taught and how.
Education did spread widely, but efforts to reform its inner world — curriculum and pedagogy — remained weak and somewhat confused.
Hailed as a model, Kerala has disappointed.

Within the ambit of humanity

- April 2003: “insaniyat ke daire mein”
- The divide was artificial and politically constructed; the Indian Constitution had been amended over a 100 times and any peace settlement would inevitably have required its amendment, even if it were to only change Article 370 from temporary to permanent. But the issue had caused conflict for five decades. By avoiding it, Vajpayee allowed for a sour history to be put aside. He also allowed a cover for the Hurriyat to enter talks.
- In late April, following Vajpayee’s statement in Srinagar, Pakistani Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali called Vajpayee to discuss reopening talks. In July, R&AW director C.D. Sahay went to Pakistan on an under-the-radar mission to discuss Musharraf’s offer of a ceasefire. In November, Pakistan announced a ceasefire on the Line of Control, which India reciprocated, following which there was a decline in cross-border movement of guerrillas.

Dramatic breakthroughs: SAARC meeting took place in 2004.
Then 7 members decided to choke terrorism and implement.
Implement South Asian Free Trade Agreement by 2006.
Starting in spring 2003, Brajesh Mishra, then India’s NSA and Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, and Pakistan’s special secretary to the president, Tariq Aziz, opened backchannel talks.
On Kashmir, Musharraf declared his willingness to “leave the UN resolutions [on a plebiscite] behind” if India agreed to talks. His formula for talks was to (a) consider the range of solutions on offer; (b) weed through the ones that were unacceptable to India or Pakistan or the Kashmiris (though who would represent the people of Jammu and Kashmir was left ambiguous); and (c) begin to work on solutions that might be acceptable.

Important News

China backs Pakistan’s ‘quest for peace’ via talks
China on Sunday backed Pakistan for trying to resolve “outstanding issues” with India through dialogue
Support: Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) and counterterrorism.
“Pakistan supported active participation of China at the platform of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).”
Though China is an observer at SAARC, New Delhi is unlikely to countenance a more active Beijing role in the South Asian grouping.
Maneka Gandhi slams ‘ghastly murder’ of tigress
“I am definitely going to take up this case of utter lack of empathy for animals as a test case. Legally, criminally as well as politically.”
Sirisena reconvenes Parliament
Air quality improves to ‘moderate’ level in city
e-waste management, Kerala’s worry
lack of authorised dismantling and recycling units
E-Waste Management Rules, 2016
Greater flamingoes at Hope Island after 25 years
After a long a gap, a flock of five greater flamingoes has been spotted along the coast of Hope Island, a part of the Coringa Wildlife Sanctuary in Andhra Pradesh
Water ATMs may help in bridging safe water gap
For thousands of communities across India, the process of getting drinking water is now the same as the process of getting cash: they head to an ATM.
With 82 crore people who still do not have access to piped water and 70% of water in the country contaminated by pollutants, the government is increasingly starting to accept small water enterprises — such as water ATMs and community purification plants — as an alternative solution to the safe drinking water challenge.

Financial News

Defaulters list: CIC issues notice to RBI chief
The Central Information Commission (CIC) has issued a show-cause notice to RBI Governor Urjit Patel for “dishonouring” a Supreme Court judgment on disclosure of the wilful defaulters’ list.
The CIC has also asked the Prime Minister’s Office, the Finance Ministry and the RBI to make public the letter of the former Governor Raghuram Rajan, on bad loans.
‘Post-policy health conditions must be covered’
All health conditions arising after the inception of a health insurance policy should be covered and cannot be permanently excluded, a committee has recommended to the insurance regulator.
This is among the key recommendations of a committee appointed to look into standardisation of exclusions under health insurance policies.
The panel has submitted its report to the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India.