Press Information Bureau – 6 Novmber 2017

• • The arrest in Chennai of an Indian Police Service (IPS) officer on probation, for cheating during the civil services examination, raises questions on future recruitments to the All India Services and the training of officers.
  • Seventh Pay Commission, Vigilance Week, Sardar Patel Birth Anniversary are being welcomed by the country.
  • Of course, he should be given every opportunity to defend himself, but the dice seems heavily loaded against him.
  • The question is, is this instance of misconduct by a public official, chosen on merit and pampered later with enviable perquisites, a mere aberration or is it symptomatic of a wider malaise?
  • Ultimately it is the moral fibre of an individual officer that counts.
    In recent years, some measures have been initiated to impart instructions in ethics.
    It is not my case that a greater emphasis on ethics will measurably improve civil service conduct. However, we also cannot say nothing can be done in the matter; that would be disastrous.
  • A large number of senior officers concentrate on their own careers at the cost of guiding trainees.
  • A substantial percentage of senior officials still stick to the path of virtue and act according to the codes of good conduct.
  • It is this phenomenon that gives us hope that all is not lost.
    A vibrant and well meaning national debate on the future of the IPS therefore seems appropriate.

• Whatever the motivation, the appointment of the former Director of the Intelligence Bureau (DIB) Dineshwar Sharma as the interlocutor for Kashmir is to be welcomed. Better late than never.

• Heavy-handedness is not the answer in Kashmir; it never has been and is not likely to be in the future. It only furthers the cause of separation.

• Kashmir is not a military or law and order problem; it is a political and emotive issue.

• Obviously the appointment of the special representative does not imply that Army operations would wind down.

• The Kashmiris know fully well that no representative of the Government of India can engage or talk beyond the Constitution.

• There is no better listener available in Delhi than Mr. Sharma, who has all the attributes required of an interlocutor.

• He is humble, talks little, understands and feels for Kashmir, and has infinite patience.

• Plus, he has loads of experience, including a stint in Srinagar during the most difficult days.

• Kashmiris crave peace and desire engagement.

• Threats of scrapping Article 370 and 35A of the Constitution only add to Kashmiri apprehensions, leading to unnecessary turns in the debate on autonomy, a legitimate Kashmiri aspiration.

• Not talking to the separatists would render the dialogue meaningless.

• As former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah once said, they were always available to Delhi for talks, it is the separatists that Delhi needs to engage with.

The magic of democracy is that hardliners get moderated and mainstreamed.

1. India may have won the final of the women’s Asia Cup hockey tournament against China in a penalty shootout, but it was a fully deserving victory.

1. The triumph came against formidable hurdles, and in the absence of any expectations.

1. A degree of pre-tournament disarray.

1. The team lost its second coach in the space of a year

1. Harendra Singh came to the assignment just a month before the Asia Cup, that too with no previous experience of having worked with a women’s hockey team.

1. Scale up support to the women’s game.
2. The lack of expectations, sadly, was clear from the fact that there was no live telecast, not even online streaming. Such live updates as there were came via social media.

The inadequate competitive exposure made available for the team was unfortunate. The road ahead is arduous.
A country that was a symbol of hunger and poverty at the time of Independence and admonished for its Hindu rate of growth during the initial decades has now transformed itself into one of the the fastest growing major economies. The accomplishments of modern India are recognised around the world.
The societal reach of this economic growth still remains unquantified.

• • • • Social Progress Index: We ranked States using social and environmental indicators on the basis of their capability to provide for

      basic needs such as shelter, water, and sanitation a foundation for well-being with education, health, and communication facilities analysing the prejudices that prevail in a region prohibiting people from making their personal decisions evaluating whether citizens have personal rights and freedom or whether they are susceptible to child labour, human trafficking, corruption, etc.

The study (2005-2016) helps analyse whether States, especially using social and environmental indicators, are heading in the right direction. It is also essential to help adjust policies as well as public and private investments.

       1) The overall social progress score for the country now stands at 57.03 (on a 0-100 scale),           approximately eight points higher than in 2005. Creation of a society with equal  Opportunities for all still remains an elusive dream. The country performs better in the provision of basic human needs rather than opportunities for its citizens.

1. 2) All the States have climbed the social progress ladder
2. 3) Greatest improvements have been in areas where social progress most often accompanies economic prosperity.

1. For instance, “Access to Information & Communication and Inclusion” depicts a strong relationship with per capita GDP and are the ones that have improved the most over the years.
2. “Health and Wellness & Environmental Quality”, that are least correlated with economic development, have eroded.
3. This suggests that States should focus on policies that target social issues. The focus on economic parameters will result in unbalanced social development.

There is an urgent need to identify and focus on social parameters.

• Demonetisation has affected refugees in India.
• often wrongly perceived to be “illegal immigrants”
  Although India has not signed the Refugee Convention and does not have a domestic asylum law, it has a history of being a generous host to refugees.

• The lack of documentation to open bank accounts rendered them without the means to convert their cash into new currency, and virtually wiped out their entire savings. They struggled even to buy essential provisions or avail medical services.

• Refugees in India typically have a refugee card; a limited number have temporary visas. Those who tried opening bank accounts with these documents report that banks refused to recognise these as valid documentation for proof of ID or residence.

• While the Aadhaar Act states that anyone residing in India for 6 of the 12 months preceding the date of the application is eligible to obtain the card, many refugees who fulfil this requirement report that they have been turned away by local Aadhaar centres.

• There have been some concerns that the possession of Aadhaar would allow non-nationals to access schemes meant exclusively for citizens; however, this can be addressed by issuing a limited version of the Aadhaar card to refugees.

Without such measures, the core objective of demonetisation — eliminating the underground economy and achieving full financial inclusion — will remain an unfulfilled vision.

• Probe ordered into ‘Paradise Papers’

• The government reconstituted a Multi-Agency Group led by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) chairman on Monday to investigate cases relating to the ‘Paradise Papers’ data disclosure.

• The Paradise Papers include about seven million loan agreements, financial statements, emails, trust deeds and other paperwork over nearly 50 years from Appleby, a prominent offshore law firm with offices in Bermuda and also from Asiacity, a Singapore-based family-owned trust company. The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and its Indian partner The Indian Express late on Sunday released data on offshore entities involving people and companies from 180 countries.

India ranks 19th in terms of the number of names that feature in the papers.

• 26 killed in U.S. mass shooting

• At least 26 people were killed and 20 wounded when a gunman opened fire at a church gathering on Sunday morning in south Texas.

• The police said the victims were between the ages of five and 72, but according to a Washington Post report one of them could be a one-year-old child. Between 12 and 14 of the victims were children.

• Police have identified the gunman as Devin Patrick Kelley, 26, a former member of the U.S. Air Force, who was also killed in the incident.

Sutherland Springs had a population of fewer than 400 people — nearly 50 of them now dead or injured.

Flooding in Northeast

• 2017 will be one of the three hottest years on record, with many high-impact events including catastrophic hurricanes and floods, debilitating heat waves and drought, a provisional statement on the State of the Climate released by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has said.

• The average global temperature from January to September 2017 was approximately 1.1°C above the pre-industrial era.

• As a result of a powerful El Niño, 2016 is likely to remain the warmest year on record, with 2017 and 2015 being second or third.

• The WMO statement, which uses 1981-2010 as the baseline, was released on Monday at the opening day of the United Nations climate change conference in Bonn.

Extreme weather events due to climate change have affected the food security of millions of people with agriculture accounting for 26% of all the damage and loss associated with medium to large-scale storms, floods and drought, the statement said, citing an FAO assessment.

Use editorial freedom wisely: Modi

• Calling upon media houses to take extra effort to maintain credibility and use the editorial freedom wisely for public interest, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Monday that any reform in the media can only come from within through introspection.

• Citizens with mobile phones were journalists’ allies for sharing and dissemination of success stories of individuals. “It can also be of immense help in directing relief in times of crisis and natural disaster,” he said.

He foresaw an India by 2022 that was free from disease, corruption, casteism, communalism, poverty and illiteracy among other challenges.

China to talk trade, N. Korea with Trump

• U.S. President Donald Trump arrives on Wednesday in , where there are concerns about a fledgling security relationship between the U.S., Japan, Australia and India in the Indo-Pacific area.

• Ahead of Mr. Trump’s visit to Asia, the Chinese Foreign Ministry warned that a nascent convergence among the quad must not target a third country.

• Before Mr. Trump touches down in Beijing, the Chinese have made elaborate preparations to welcome their guest.

• A commentary in the People’s Daily said that apart from security concerns such as North Korea, areas like energy, infrastructure, a regional free trade arrangement, and inviting Washington to participate in the Belt and Road Initiative are likely to feature during Mr. Trump’s visit.

• “Around 40 companies will follow Trump to visit China, 10 of which are energy enterprises like Cheniere Energy, the only company sending America’s shale gas overseas,” says Lv Xiang, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

The Chinese have also not given up on the U.S. joining the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, as well as promoting a Free Trade Area of the Asian Pacific with both the U.S. and China as partners.

Sharing is caring!