Daily News Simplified - DNS

08 07 19
Notes
SL. THE HINDU
TOPICS
NO. PAGE NO.

1 Crimes that India’s statute books have failed to define 11

2 No easy answer to economic slowdown 11

3 Reclaiming the Indo-Pacific narrative 10

4 Plan for district eco-panels draws fire 12

5 Quota politics 10
Dated: 08 JULY. 2019 DNS Notes

Title Crimes that India’s statute books have failed to define (The Hindu Page 11)

Syllabus GS Paper II: International relations

Theme Crimes against Humanity

Highlights Article Context: the author is highlighting that crime of humanities have not been define in
Indian Statutes

Crimes left out

➢ Crimes against humanity like genocide or mass killing of people which are usually
engineered by political actors with the assistance of the law enforcement agencies. Eg
1984 Sikh genocide .
➢ Internationally such crimes are dealt with under the Rome Statute of the International
Criminal Court (ICC). They are defined as offences such as murder, extermination,
enslavement, deportation, torture, imprisonment and rape committed as a part of
“widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, with
knowledge of the attack”.
➢ Since India is not a part of the Rome statute it is under no obligation at present to enact
a separate legislation dealing with CAH.
➢ But India has ratified the Genocide Convention (1948), yet has not enacted it in domestic
legislation.

Reasons for reluctance

➢ India did not become a party in the negotiation process on a separate Convention on
CAH, which started in 2014, because the convention adopted the same definition of CAH
as provided in the Rome Statute.
➢ The Indian representatives at the International Law Commission (ILC) have stated that the
draft articles should not conflict with or duplicate the existing treaty regimes.
➢ India had objected to the definition of CAH during negotiations of the Rome Statute on
three grounds.

Three grounds for rejecting Rome statue

➢ First, India was not in favour of using ‘widespread or systematic’ as one of the conditions
. It wanted it should be ‘widespread and systematic’, because it would require a higher
threshold of proof.
➢ Second, India wanted a distinction to be made between international and internal armed
conflicts. This was probably because its internal conflicts with naxals and other non-state
actors in places like Kashmir and the Northeast could fall under the scope of CAH.
➢ Thirdly, India did not want the inclusion of enforced disappearance of persons under
CAH. Though India is a signatory to the UN International Convention for the Protection
of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances , it has not yet ratified it. Hence including it
in convention would as it would put the country under an obligation to criminalise it
through domestic legislation.

Conclusion
➢ India’s missing voice at the ILC does not go well with its claim of respect for an
international rules-based order.
➢ Turning a blind eye to the mass crimes taking place in its territory and shielding the
perpetrators reflect poorly on India’s status as a democracy.
➢ It would be advisable for India to show political will and constructively engage with the
ILC, which would also, in the process, address the shortcomings in the domestic criminal
justice system.
Dated: 08 JULY. 2019 DNS Notes

Personal
Notes
Dated: 08 JULY. 2019 DNS Notes

Title No easy answer to economic slowdown (The Hindu Page 11)

Syllabus Mains GS Paper III : Indian economy

Theme Economic slowdown

Highlights Current problems in fiscal consolidation:

➢ Earlier editions of the Survey had suggested that since private investment was not
taking off, there was scope for public investment to pick up the slack.
However, The latest Economic Survey of 2018-19 has made it clear that investment in
the form of private investment is the key driver of economic growth and job creation.
➢ Therefore what this means is that the government must make fewer demands on
public savings so that more of it is available for private investment and stay on the
path of fiscal consolidation
➢ However, private investment is constrained not just by the crowding out effect of a
high fiscal deficit and the twin balance sheet problem, that is, high levels of debt in
companies and high non-performing assets of banks, as an important constraint on
private investment.
➢ The government has been able to control expenditure on major subsidies such as on
fertilizer & petroleum, which used to claim 2% or more of GDP, but is now around
1.4% of GDP.
➢ But the problem is that new items of expenditure have emerged. The PM-Kisan
scheme, which provides ₹6,000 for each farming household per year, will cost the
government ₹75,000 crore in 2019-20. The expenditure on the National Rural
Employment Guarantee Scheme keeps on increasing each year.
➢ The second problem with fiscal consolidation is the low growth in tax to GDP ratio.
Budget for 2018-19 projected the tax to GDP ratio to rise from 11.6% in 2017-18 to
12.1% in 2018-19 and further to 12.4% in 2019-20.
However the budget for 2019-20 estimates the tax to GDP ratio at 11.9% in 2018-19
and 11.7% in 2019-20. This is due to the shortfall in GST collections in 2018-19.
➢ The third concern with fiscal consolidation is that the Economic Survey 2018-19 has
indicated that the government can increase its revenue through dis-investment and
selling of land of PSUs. This would balance the shortfall in tax revenues.
➢ However, disinvestment through strategic sale of PSEs has not been much successful
in past. Secondly, disinvestment in PSEs has involved the buying of equity in PSEs by
other PSEs, which is mainly shifts money in government accounting. Apart from this,
the sale of PSEs land is a long-drawn-out process and generally leads to controversy
over valuation. Moreover, the sale of government assets to balance the Budget merely
defers fiscal problems to the future.
➢ The government’s hopes that the Bimal Jalan committee on the economic capital
framework for the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) would allow the RBI’s reserves to be
transferred further to the government, which would inject revenue to the government.
➢ Now the Bimal Jalan Comm report has not been made public and acc to the author it
is unlikely to agree to the government demand.
Dated: 08 JULY. 2019 DNS Notes

Personal
Notes
Dated: 08 JULY. 2019 DNS Notes

Title Reclaiming the Indo-Pacific narrative (The Hindu -Page.10)

Syllabus Mains: GS Paper – II : International relations

Theme Indo – pacific vision

Highlight Recent Context: At the 34th summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in
s Bangkok in June, its member states finally managed to articulate a collective vision for the Indo-
Pacific region in a document titled “The ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific”.
➢ However, it is a non-binding document.
➢ ASEAN has been reluctant to frontally engage with the Indo-Pacific discourse as the
perception was that it may antagonise China. But there was soon a realisation that such
an approach might allow others to shape the regional architecture and marginalise the
ASEAN itself. And so the final outlook that the ASEAN has come up with effectively
seeks to take its own position rather than following any one power’s lead.

Indian Response: India has welcomed the ASEAN’s outlook on the Indo-Pacific as it sees
“important elements of convergence” with its own approach

Its Significance:
➢ The ASEAN’s intent to be in the driving seat is clear as it seeks to manage the emerging
regional order with policy moves.
➢ ASEAN to reclaim the strategic narrative in its favour in order to underscore its
centrality in the emerging regional order.
➢ The rise of material powers, i.e. economic and military, requires avoiding the deepening
of mistrust, miscalculation and patterns of behaviour based on a zero-sum game.
➢ Should also complement existing frameworks of cooperation at the regional and sub-
regional levels.
➢ Quick conclusion of a Code of Conduct in the South China Sea, an increasingly
contested maritime space which is claimed largely by China and in parts by the
Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia. Tensions continue to rise over the
militarisation of this waterway.
➢ The ASEAN outlook does not see the Indo-Pacific as one continuous territorial space, it
emphasises development and connectivity, underlining the need for maritime
cooperation, infrastructure connectivity and broader economic cooperation.
Dated: 08 JULY. 2019 DNS Notes

Personal
Notes
Dated: 08 JULY. 2019 DNS Notes

Title Plan for district eco-panels draws fire (The Hindu -Page.09)

Syllabus Mains GS Paper III: Environment

Theme Environmental impact assessment

Highlights Context This article highlights various concerns with respect to proposed Environment
Impact Assessment Notification, 2019 released by the Ministry of Environment, Forests and
Climate Change.

Details
➢ The EIA 2019 aims to be an update of the EIA 2006. Several provisions in the EIA
2006 over the years have been challenged in the National Green Tribunal (NGT) and
led to the MoEF modifying rules. The EIA 2019 aims to be an update that
accommodates all these revisions.
➢ It provides for 3 tier institutional mechanism for giving environmental clearances.
Category A projects: Central Government
Category B1 : State Environment impact Assessment authority
Category B2: District Environment impact Assessment authority (mining of minor
minerals)

Concerns with the proposal

➢ The notification has proposed that the District magistrate or collector shall be the
chairperson of DEIAA.
➢ It is to be noted that the District magistrate also acts as "District Mining officer" and
is tasked with the responsibility of issuing mining leases. The District collectors
usually have target to collect revenues from the mining activities and hence this
creates a conflict of interest in their role as chairperson of DEIAA.

Conclusion
The notification is presently circulated to States as a ‘zero draft’ meaning that it is at a stage
where comments are being sought from State authorities after which the draft will be
modified and then further opened to public comments.
Dated: 08 JULY. 2019 DNS Notes

Personal
Notes
Dated: 08 JULY. 2019 DNS Notes

Title Quota Politics (The Hindu -Page.10)

Syllabus Mains GS Paper II: Polity

Theme Inclusion of OBC in Scheduled caste list

Highlights Context: The editorial highlights that UP government’s proposal to confer status of
Scheduled Caste to 17 backward castes has no legal basis as only Parliament under Article
341 of the Constitution empowered to do so.

➢ Article 341 mentions that President in a state after consultation with the Governor, by
public notification, specify the castes, races or tribes or parts of or groups within
castes, races or tribes which shall for the purposes of this Constitution be deemed to
be Scheduled Castes in relation to that State or Union territory.
➢ The article further highlights that Parliament may by law include or exclude any
caste, race or tribe or part of or group within any caste, race or tribe from the list of
Scheduled Castes specified in the above mentioned notification.
➢ So, we understand that only Parliament under Article 341 (2) is empowered to
include or exclude any caste within the Scheduled Caste (SC) and state governments
do not have such power.
➢ However, the state government of UP in the pretext of upcoming by-polls and to
have political mileage has attempted to confer SC status to 17 backward castes in the
state.

Challenges in conferring SC status

➢ These 17 backward castes are among the most disadvantaged among the backward
classes. Categorising the backward classes into two or three sections has been seen
as one way to provide them the benefits of reservation among other social backward
groups.
➢ In such an exercise, these castes may qualify for a compartment within the OBC
quota. However, these backward classes cannot be treated as members of SC as they
may not have suffered untouchability and social discrimination.
➢ There seems to be a political motive behind the said move and can carve a separate
vote bank among the backward sections for the ruling class.
➢ Since, state do not have power, it is likely that the notification may be nullified by
Supreme Court in due course of time.
Dated: 08 JULY. 2019 DNS Notes

Personal
Notes