CIVIL SERVICES ACHIEVERS' POINT, GUWAHATI
THE ASSAM TRIBUNE ANALYSIS Date - 5 August 2020
(For Preliminary and Mains Examination) As per New Pattern of APSC
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CONTENTS
Dedicated DD Assam channel launched Pakistan map ‘Father of Indian theatre’ Ebrahim Alkazi dies at 94 Immediate review of India-ASEAN trade pact needed, says Puri Farm sector to cushion COVID-19 impact on economy: Report Sashidhar Jagdishan to succeed Puri as HDFC Bank CEO
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EDITORIAL
Progressive scheme Sword of Damocles over our natural heritage?
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Dedicated DD Assam channel launched (General Studies on Assam: Economic Development, Technology)
• Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Prakash Javadekar today launched Doordarshan Assam, a 24-hour dedicated channel for the State, via video conferencing from New Delhi.
•Speaking on the occasion Javadekar said “The channel is a gift to people of Assam and this channel will cater to all sections of the population of Assam and will Dedicated DD Assam channel launched be immensely popular.”
•The Minister said that it is important that all States have their own Doordarshan channels. The channels of other States are available on DD Free Dish.
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• Reiterating Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of turning North East into India’s growth engine, Javadekar said that the region has immense natural and human resource potential, and the connectivity has been improving steadily.
• The Doordarshan channel in Assam is part of a never-before focus on North East under the current Government. Governor Prof. Jagdish Mukhi while addressing the occasion said that it was a happy moment for Assam because the public broadcaster is adding a feather to its kitty with the launch of DD Assam.
• Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal who also joined the occasion from Assam said “This channel will boost the growth of Assam in all spheres of human activities, while at the same time help percolate the initiatives and programmes of the Government to grassroots.”
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Secretary of Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Amit Khare stated that DD Assam would contribute in a major way to the educational development of the State like other regional channels.
“DD Assam will be another milestone in our effort to provide online education in regional languages across States,” he said
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Pakistan map (General Studies – 2: International Relations)
On the eve of the first anniversary of the revocation of the contentious Article 370 and Article 35A, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan unveiled a new political map which includes the UT of J&K as part of Pakistan on Tuesday. Khan has decided to present the new political map at the United Nations as well. The Imran Khan cabinet approved the new map in which the complete Jammu and Kashmir, is shown integrated with Pakistan. The illegal map shows J&K as “Indian illegally occupied J&K – disputed territory – final status to be decided in line with relevant UNSC resolutions.”
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Figure: Proposed new map of Pakistan
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• “This is the most historic day in Pakistan’s history,” Imran Khan said while addressing a news conference after chairing the meeting of federal cabinet, which approved the new map today.
• Khan said that Pakistan has launched a political map which shows the whole Kashmir region, including “Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir” as part of his country’s territory
• In the press conference, Khan said: “Today is a historic day we have launched a new political map of Pakistan which is as per the aspirations of the entire nation as well as the people of Kashmir.”
• He also said the new map is backed by all political parties of the country. “This map also opposes the Indian government’s illegal act of August 5 last year,” the Prime Minister said.
•“The settlement of Kashmir dispute only lies in the UN Security Council resolutions. “Pakistan will continue to make efforts for the people of Kashmir,” said Khan adding that the dispute can only be resolved through political means not military.
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‘Father of Indian theatre’ Ebrahim Alkazi dies at 94 (General Studies-1: Culture)
Theatre doyen, legendary drama teacher and connoisseur of the arts Ebrahim Alkazi died on Tuesday after suffering a heart attack, his son said. He was 94. Alkazi, who was the longest serving director of the National School of Drama and mentored generations of actors, produced plays such as Girish Karnad’s Tughlaq and Dharamvir Bharati’s Andha Yug
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He is survived by his son Feisal Alkazi and his daughter Amal Allana, both well known theatre directors. Alkazi, who tutored acting greats such as Naseeruddin Shah and Om Puri, had been unwell for a few days. Tributes poured in for the man, who was NSD Director from 1962 to 1977, and was described variously as “father of modern Indian theatre” and “last of the Romans”. President Ram Nath Kovind said his death leaves a void in the world of performing arts. “Ebrahim Alkazi, doyen of Indian theatre, mentored and inspired generations of artists... A Padma Vibhushan recipient, his legacy will live on. My condolences to his family, students and art lovers,” the President said.
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed sadness at Alkazi’s demise. “His contributions to the world of art and culture are noteworthy. Saddened by his demise. My thoughts are with his family and friends. May his soul rest in peace,” Modi said. The film and theatre industry also mourned the death of the man who strode like the proverbial Colossus across the stage. For his contribution to theatre, Alkazi received awards including the Padma Shri in 1966, Padma Bhushan in 1991, and India’s second highest civilian award, the Padma Vibhushan, in 2010. He also received the Sangeet Natak Akademi award in 1962 for Direction, and later honoured with the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship for his lifetime contribution to theatre.
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Immediate review of India-ASEAN trade pact needed, says Puri For helping realise true bilateral trade potential (General Studies-3: Economic Development)
Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri today made a case for immediate review of the IndiaASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement and said it would help realise the true bilateral trade potential between India and the 10-member bloc of Southeast Asian countries. “The review of the IndiaASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement is pending. “An immediate review of the agreement and the effective utilisation of the ASEAN-India free trade agreement will contribute to the realisation of our 2020 trade target of $200 billion set by both parties,” the Minister of State for Commerce and Industry said. The minister added that he believes the FTA review will provide the partners the opportunity to further unlock potential.
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The proposed scope of the review of the free trade agreement (FTA) between India and ASEAN could include issues like customs procedures, further liberalisation of trade in goods and exchange of data, Parliament was informed in November last year. The ASEAN-India Trade in Goods Agreement was signed on August 13, 2009, and came into force on January 1, 2010. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is a regional inter-governmental organisation comprising 10 Southeast Asian countries. It aims to promote inter-governmental cooperation and facilitates economic, political, security, military, educational, and socio-cultural integration among its members and other Asian states. According to the minister, both India and ASEAN need to redouble their efforts towards strengthening cooperation in services sectors such as e-commerce, IT-enabled services, financial services, banking and tourism.
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“I think we have to find ways and means of ensuring that the ASEAN economies are equally welcoming of and receptive to exports from India as we are to imports from the ASEAN economies,” said the minister. Puri highlighted that a significant component of the bilateral trade engagement between India and the ASEAN countries is in the medium and high technology-intensive trade. In 2018, 40.6 per cent of imports and 28.8 per cent of exports from India to ASEAN were in this product category. “India’s annual trade deficit with ASEAN is close to $24 billion. The reasons are multiple and I would like in the coming months and years to see this trade deficit narrowed,” said the minister at a virtual conference organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).
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Puri pointed out that there is a range of non-tariff barriers, import regulations, quotas and export taxes. Expressing confidence that India and the ASEAN region will emerge “much stronger” by overcoming challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the minister said “we need to prepare for the fact that this may not be the last public health emergency faced by us”. Noting that “we must brace ourselves for a situation that further pandemics may come”, the minister said, “We should make sure to learn lessons from the ongoing pandemic which will stand us in good stead in the years to come.”
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Farm sector to cushion COVID-19 impact on economy: Report (General Studies -3: Bio-Diversity, Environment)
The worst seems to be over and the agriculture sector will provide a cushion for the coronavirus-hit economy this fiscal as there are prospects of good monsoon, the Finance Ministry said in a report today. India is well on the path of recovery from a trough in April, ably supported by proactive government and central bank policies, the Macroeconomic Report for July, released by the Economic Affairs department said. “With India unlocking, the worst seems to be over for the economy as high-frequency indicators recovered in June 2020 from unprecedented troughs in April; however, risks on account of rising COVID-19 cases and intermittent State lockdowns remain,” it said.
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It further noted that the rise in COVID-19 cases and subsequent intermittent lockdowns make the recovery prospects fragile and called for constant and dynamic monitoring. Pinning hopes on the farm sector, the report said agriculture is set to cushion the shock of the COVID pandemic on the Indian economy in 2020-21. “With the forecast of a normal monsoon at 102 per cent of long-period average (LPA), agriculture, which contributes about 15 per cent of total gross value added, is set to cushion the shock of COVID pandemic on the Indian economy in 2020-21,” it said. Timely and proactive exemptions from COVID-induced lockdowns to the sector facilitated uninterrupted harvesting of rabi crops and enhanced sowing of kharif crops, it said, adding, a record procurement of wheat has enabled a flow of around Rs 75,000 crore to the farmers which will boost private consumption in rural areas.
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Sashidhar Jagdishan to succeed Puri as HDFC Bank CEO RBI okays name for appointment (General Studies-3: Economic Development)
Sashidhar Jagdishan, the ‘Strategic Change Agent’ at HDFC Bank, will succeed Aditya Puri as the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of the country’s largest private sector lender from late October. HDFC Bank today said the appointment of Jagdishan has been approved by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for three years starting from October 27. Puri has led the bank since its founding more than 25 years ago and the appointment of the 55-year-old Jagdishan ends one of the most keenly watched successions in the Indian banking space.
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Under Puri’s leadership, HDFC Bank has become the most valued Indian lender by investors with a market cap of over Rs 5.71-lakh crore, majorly due to its ability to keep strong controls over dud assets and delivering healthy profit growths, even as the banking system witnessed a spurt in bad loans. The Reserve Bank approved Jagdishan’s name, the first choice for the bank board, in response to three names sent to it late on Monday evening, sources said. A board meeting would be convened to ratify the appointment of Jagdishan, the bank said in a regulatory filing to the stock exchanges Puri’s term ends on October 26. Jagdishan’s journey with HDFC Bank started in 1996, after he quit his job with German lender Deutsche Bank to join as a Manager in the Finance department in what was then an upstart venture spearheaded by a group of professionals from foreign banks led by Puri. He became the Business Head of Finance in 1999 and rose to being appointed as the Chief Financial Officer in 2008 and was later appointed as the ‘Change Agent’.
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The bank said Jagdishan has helped the organisation achieve strategic objectives over the years and played a critical role in supporting the growth trajectory of the bank. At present, he is the Group Head for finance, human resources, legal and secretarial, administration, infrastructure, corporate communications, corporate social responsibility and the ‘Strategic Change Agent’ for the bank.
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EDITORIAL
Progressive scheme (General Studies-2 : Governance, Social Justice)
The news that more than 40 crore bank accounts have been opened under the Government’s flagship financial inclusion scheme called Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), launched about six years ago by the NDA Government, is to be heartily welcomed. This scheme, started on August 28, 2014 with an aim to provide universal access to banking facilities to the people in the country, especially those living below the poverty line, has been one of the most progressive schemes to have been undertaken in independent India. Latest data reveals that there are 40.05 crore beneficiaries of this scheme and deposits in Jan Dhan bank accounts are in excess of Rs 1.30 lakh crore.
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The PMJDY has served to usher in banking literacy across the nation, primarily in rural areas, acquainting and empowering a segment of society which would otherwise not have had access to a system which acts as the backbone of the fiscal activities of the nation. Accounts opened under PMJDY are Basic Savings Bank Deposit (BSBD) accounts with additional features of RuPay debit card and overdraft, and enable easy familiarity with the banking system, something that is vital in a society with a high percentage of illiteracy. The objective being to assist the weaker section of society, the conventional requirements of banking have been waived in the PMJDY accounts – for instance, maintaining minimum balance is not required in them. Since the commencement of the scheme, the Government has made changes to it to enhance the gains accruing from having PMJDY accounts. In 2018 the accident insurance cover was doubled to Rs 2 lakh and the overdraft facility from Rs 5000 to 10,000. Also, considering the social phenomenon of joint families breaking up into unitary ones, the accounts now focus on ‘every unbanked adult’ rather than the earlier ‘every household’.
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The extent to which this scheme has brought about changes in the way in which money was traditionally handled in society has been considerable. Previously, in a male dominated society it were the men folk who controlled domestic finances, but this scheme has enabled women to wrest control. No wonder over 50% of the Jan Dhan account holders are women! The change has become visible, for instance, in tea plantations where salaries deposited in bank accounts have assisted women workers to control domestic spending. Apart from providing access to banking and need-based credit, remittances facility, insurance and pension to low-income groups, the PMJDY has also assisted the Direct Benefit Transfer scheme of the Central Government, and brought about an end to the ‘middleman’ syndrome in Indian society. As an example can be cited the successful implementation of the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana when the Centre remitted Rs 1,500 per account in three equal monthly instalments (April to June 2020) to support women during the Covid-19 crisis.
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Sword of Damocles over our natural heritage? (General Studies-3: Bio-Diversity, Environment)
The unfolding events of the past few months have forced a reconsideration of the future of the Northeast, with the basic identity of the region being a repository of vast natural resources at stake. Firstly, the India State of Forest Report 2019 released in late December 2019 showed further decrease of the area under forest cover across the region, despite an overall increase for India, in continuation of a declining trend since 2009. This year, a slew of unilateral policy decisions has undermined environmental safeguards in India, with profound repercussions for the northeastern region. The draft Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) Notification 2020 was circulated on March 23 and is open for public comments until August 11 next.
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The EIA was set up in the mid-1990s as a legal framework under the Environmental Protection Act, 1986 to safeguard local communities from the environmental and socio- economic impacts of projects that access and utilize natural resources, and provided a platform for public consultation in development decision-making. Contrary to the spirit of the Act, the draft EIA 2020 seeks to dilute these same environmental regulations to facilitate ease of doing business in India The people of Northeast India are proudly connected to the natural world and the biological diversity is celebrated in their art and music. Culture and traditions are steeped in nature and local communities have been practising sustainability for millennia before the word was coined. The draft EIA 2020 hangs like the proverbial Sword of Damocles over this natural heritage. We must wake up from our coronavirus-induced somnolence and oppose the notification before it is too late.
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The most controversial component of the draft EIA 2020 is the proposal to legitimize post-facto clearance, thereby paving the road for legalizing projects that violated existing laws and were set up without obtaining the mandatory prior clearance. This clause will reward defaulters for violations of the law of the land rather than impose deterrent punitive action. Expectedly, this is seen as an open invitation for violations and is contradictory to the principles of environmental governance. It will have a profound impact in the northeastern region where encroachment and illegal extraction are rampant. The other key change is the exemption from mandatory public hearings proposed for certain types of new and expansion projects. The provision for setting up any industry within 100 kms of the international boundary without public consultation is important for the region with all States sharing one or more international borders.
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Further, the Government can exempt ‘strategic’ projects related to defence or security from public hearing; the definition of ‘strategic project’ is missing in the draft EIA 2020, giving discretionary powers to the Government. The draft EIA 2020 notification takes away the power to report environmental violations from affected communities and local stakeholders, and only the project developers and government authorities will be able to register official complaints for projects under the EIA. Public participation in the decision-making process is part of the democratic traditions of this country and a mandatory public hearing process ensures accountability in the future. It is particularly important for the Northeast region with widespread community ownership of resources and prevalence of ancient community consultative traditions among tribal communities.
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The notification has also reclassified the industries required to pass complete scrutiny, excluded major sectors, and reduced the scope of the EIA process. It keeps river projects out of the new environment clearance process and experts have opined that activities like dredging will endanger river ecosystems and dependent communities, besides affecting aquatic wildlife including the Gangetic river dolphin. India is a signatory to the Convention on Biological Diversity, and the ‘Zero draft of post- 2020 global biodiversity framework’, published in January and likely to be adopted in October next, calls for protection of at least 30% of all land and sea areas to stop catastrophic loss of biodiversity by 2030. This commitment will require creation and regeneration of new protected areas, prioritizing areas of abundant biodiversity India’s National Forest Policy 2018 also aspires for one-third of total land area under forest and tree cover to achieve the national goal for eco-security.
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In Northeast India, we have the defined landscape to adhere to these global commitments and state goals, and the draft EIA 2020 notification will negatively impact the possibility all such future considerations. While the debate about dilution of these safeguards was transpiring, the Baghjan blowout and fire happened, and the subsequent predicament of residents exposed the inadequacy of the existing safeguards to protect the rights and livelihoods of the indigenous communities around the oil well. At the same time, a plethora of investigative reports suggest that illegal coal mining is rampant and point out the loopholes in the regulatory system. There are other factors, including the impacts of climate change that will require vast mitigation efforts comprising of nature-based solutions including restoration of natural areas.
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In December 2018, Assam and Mizoram were named as the most vulnerable to climate change among 12 Himalayan States at the 24th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP24) at Katowice, Poland. Last year, the Hindu Kush Himalaya Assessment Report corroborated earlier findings besides providing fresh insights into impacts in the Eastern Himalayan region. The predicted loss of over a third of extant glaciers by 2100 is compounded by the fact that average temperatures in the region have already increased by 1.3 degrees Celsius, and projections that 40% of the glaciers in the Tibetan plateau could disappear by 2050. There will be implications on the overall water, energy and food security of our Northeast region and the easing of environmental regulations will exacerbate these conditions and the hamper resilience of affected regions.
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The first ever climate change assessment for India published last month has also presented a grim analysis of observed changes and future projections of warming impacts including precipitation changes, temperature rise, droughts, sea level rise and extreme weather events. The Northeast is already affected by floods, erosion, landslides, loss of livelihoods, biodiversity loss, and a history of conflicts. India’s move to dilute existing environmental laws is contrary to the prevalent global narrative of strengthening natural defences. Considering these vulnerabilities, the draft EIA 2020 notification is an existential threat to the socio-economic and ecological stability of the entire northeastern region.
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