The Hindu Editorial News Analysis 27th Dec 2017

After the sanctions

• Diplomacy remains the best option to bring North Korea to disarmament talks
• Fresh round of economic sanctions imposed
• Predictable response to mounting international frustration over the nuclear stand-off•
• Charged the North Korean government with the world-wide ‘WannaCry’ cyberattacks in May
  • 1)-The sanctions include an 89% curb on refined petroleum imports into North Korea,
  • 2)-Stringent inspections of ships transferring fuel to the country,
  • 3)-The expulsion of thousands of North Koreans in other countries (who send home
  crucial hard currency) within two years.
• There is some good news on this imbroglio(उलझन).
• Even as China and Russia approved the latest measures.
• Aim of the sanctions regime has been to force North Korea to
  • 1)-Halt its nuclear programme and
  • 2)-Start disarmament negotiations.
• September, North Korea- Claimed was a hydrogen bomb
• Revival of stalled peace negotiations between the P-5 nations and North Korea may be the
  only realistic alternative on the horizon.

India and China today

• Swedish journalist and strategic analyst Bertil Lintner
• Speaks about the challenge to India from China in South Asia,
• his research on the 1962 war,
  1)-India-China relations on the contours of the ‘new Cold War’ in Asia,
  2)-Beijing’s vision for the Indian Ocean
• Difference in political culture between India and China
• Recently,Chinese foreign ministry said that treaty with Britain over Hong
  Kong was now history, or that the international court ruling on the South
  China Sea favouring the Philippines was just an unfair judgment
• While India was preparing White Papers and documentation and maps
  and copies of treaties on the boundary, China was preparing for war
• I think the Indian Ocean is going to become the biggest challenge
  in the near future.
• I find it hard to believe they will •fight another war in the Himalayas
• China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), Doklam stand-o•ff
• Resolution of the boundary- biggest challenge in the near future.

Countering growing inequality

• Indian social policy must raise health and education levels all around, as China has done
• Release recently of the World Inequality Report 2018 (Q- Released By-?)
• Brought into focus an aspect of economic progress in India.
• This is the continuous growth in inequality here since the mid-1980s.
• Reported •finding that the top
  • 1)- 1% of income earners received 6% of the total income in the early 1980s,
  • 2)- 15% of it in 2000,
  • 3)- 22% today(2017).
• As this is a report on a global scale, we can see the trend in inequality across the world
  providing a comparative perspective across countries.
• It enables a comparison of economic progress made in India and China
• Since 1980, while the Chinese economy has grown 800% and India’s a far lower 200%,
• Inequality in China today is considerably lower than in India- share of the top 1% of the
  Chinese population is 14% as opposed to the 22% reported for India.
• World Development Indicators data released by the World Bank show that per capita income in China was •five times that of India in 2016.
• We can see this in the divergent economic histories of North and South Korea.
• So what is it that China did better than India?
• Human capital- Spread of health and education in that country enabled the Chinese economy to grow faster than India
  • 1)- Ritualistic focus on the trappings(ताम-झाम) of democracy,
  • 2)- From frenetic(fast and energetic) election campaigns to stylised
  • 3)- Skirmishes(झड़प) in the legislatures, has not worked to deliver its promise.
• We now need to reorient public policy so that the government is more enabling of private
  entrepreneurship while being directly engaged in the equalisation of opportunity through a social policy that raises health and education levels at the bottom of the pyramid.

How India rejects bad patents

• 2005, India made some remarkable amendments to the Indian Patents Act of 1970, to
  keep medicines affordable in the country.
• Since then we have faced a significant blowback not just from the global pharmaceutical
  industry but also from developed world including from the U.S. and the European Union
• India rejects bad patents in far greater number than developed countries.
• Fndings of new study by us which examined all 1,723 pharmaceutical applications rejected by the Indian Patent O•ce (IPO) between 2009 and 2016 have been an eye-opener.
• Section 3(d) of the Indian Patents Act- became the subject of international attention
  after its use in rejecting a patent application by Novartis for the anti-cancer drug, Gleevec
• We found that it •filters the bad from the good, with the lowest possible administrative
  and •financial burden
• 45% of all rejected pharmaceutical patent applications cited Section 3(d) as a reason
  for rejection.
• Without Section 3(d), Indian public would have to bear burden of invalidating a bad patent
  through litigation.

Prelims Focus Facts-News Analysis

• Page-1– 3 Pak. jawans killed in cross-LoC raid
• Not a surgical strike but local, tactical operation, say Army sources
• Pakistani soldiers were killed in a cross-border raid by Indian Army on a
  temporary post across the Line of Control (LoC) on Monday. The raids come just
  two days after four soldiers of a patrol team were killed in an ambush by Pakistan

Rajini to announce decision on political foray on December 31

• Page-11– GST collection goes down again
• Experts say the fall, in part due to large number of rate reductions, will improve from January
• The Goods and Services Tax (GST) collection in November fell further to •80,808 crore from •83,346 crore in October, show official data released on Tuesday.
• Page-11-IAS officers to reveal assets by January 31
  Must for promotions, foreign postings
• All IAS officers have been asked to submit details of their assets by next month,
• failing which they will be denied vigilance clearances needed for promotions and
• foreign postings, the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT)
• Department has written to all Central government departments, States and Union Territories asking them to ensure submission of immoveable property returns (IPRs) by IAS
  officers by January 31
• Page-12-China moots Afghan entry into CPEC
• China on Tuesday flagged the possible inclusion of Afghanistan in the
  China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) — a move that is likely
  to irk India.

Extra Points

• ‘Brexit deal can act as a model for EU’s ties with Turkey, Ukraine’
• ‘India to become •fifth largest economy in 2018’
• India is set to overtake the United Kingdom and France
  to become the world’s •fifth largest economy next year, a
  report said Tuesday.
• India will move up to •fifth place in 2018 and vault
  to third spot by 2032, the Centre for Economics and
  Business Research (CEBR), a London-based consultancy.

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