Daily News Compilation (HINDU) for 14th March

The many shades of grey in Ukraine

Were the events in Kiev that led to the crisis a revolution or a coup?

Western commentators : see the protests  as a revolution. 

Russian commentators : view it as a fascist coup. 

Author : Neither is the case.

Reasons:

Mr. Yanukovich’s government was corrupt, authoritarian and brutal. The fact that Mr. Yanukovich was democratically elected does not mean that he should not have been challenged outside of the ballot box. Protests were expressions of popular unrests.

But the weakness of Ukraine’s liberal opposition allowed the far right to take a leading role. The street thugs of Pravy Sektor or ‘Right Sector’ — a collection of hardcore neo-Nazi groups — were particularly prominent. In normal circumstances Western commentators would have denounced their presence on the streets of Kiev; because they played a useful role in the overthrow of Mr. Yanukovich, the fascists thugs have been accepted with a shrug.

The new government has shown itself to be as authoritarian as the old one. One of its first acts was to deny regions the right to give official status to languages other than Ukrainian (40 per cent of the population speaks Russian, and another 5 per cent other non-Ukraine languages).

Should Crimea be allowed to secede from Ukraine?

Russia : insists that the coming referendum in Crimea to determine whether or not it wishes to join the Russian federation is an expression of democracy and self-determination. 

Western commentators : condemn it as an illegal vote contrary to international law and the Ukrainian Constitution.

Points against Russia:

1. The presence of Russian forces and government control of the media make unlikely the possibility of a clean vote. 

2. The break-up of Ukraine would be potentially disastrous, threatening bloody sectarian violence and entrenching ethnic animosities. Many groups in Crimea, Muslim Tartars in particular, are rightly fearful of the Russian embrace. 

Points against West:

1. West ill-behoves governments that recently helped circumvent the Ukrainian Constitution to get rid of Viktor Yanukovich and install an unelected government to dismiss the referendum as ‘unconstitutional’. 

2. West is talking about territorial integrity whereas they undermined same things from the Balkans to Afghanistan to Iraq

3. Western politicians fail to recognise the strong sentiment that exists in large parts of Ukraine in support of close ties with Russia. Ukraine is a divided nation. If many in western Ukraine express their disenchantment with corrupt, undemocratic governance through greater support for the EU, many in eastern Ukraine and in Crimea do so through a yearning for closer ties with Moscow. 

Is the struggle in Ukraine a struggle between Russia and the West?

The key struggle in Ukraine is not between Russia and the West. It is for democracy and for those values often associated with the West, but not always promoted by the West. That is why, while we need to oppose Russian strongarm tactics, we need also to be sceptical of Western interference.

Western powers, while often being the loudest voices in proclaiming the virtues of democracy, have often taken an instrumental view of its desirability, preferring to prop up dictators when it suits their needs.

Northeast’s Myanmar connect

There are close historical and cultural connections between India's North East and Myanmar. There is close resemblance in the goods, dresses worn, food and languages spoken. The saying that Southeast Asia begins in northeast India takes credence. Author Thant Myint-U calls, “Where China meets India.” Yet India and Myanmar have not been able to exploit these connections.

Recent writings and research overflow with  opportunities that exist in the developing of connectivity infrastructure, but the gap between the purported potential and what has been realised remains enormous. Also the northeastern part of India and the western part of Myanmar consisting of Chin, Sagaing and Kachin states are both underdeveloped. 

Low economic and social development --> insurgencies raging on both sides of the border.

Some of the key reasons the northeast is unable to move from a largely subsistence agricultural economy to a production and manufacturing economy include 

• lack of scale economies, 
• constraints in the supply chain of raw materials and 
• the lack of access to a market, mainly emanating from poor infrastructure and restrictions across the border. 

The way out of this is to explore greater collaboration with Myanmar :

1. The weaving industries in northeast India or the food processing industries, both in Myanmar and northeast India, have not been able to grow in a limited market. The expansion of this can provide a wider consumer base that these industries desperately need to ensure profitability and sustainability.

2. This has to go hand in hand with the development of supply chain hubs that will foster manufacturing units across the region. These will produce goods that can be consumed within the larger region and beyond. 

3. Japan and Singapore have significant investments in Myanmar and India is comfortable with both undertaking investments in the NE.

4. Northeast India and Myanmar also share similar economic and business structures. The economy, which is largely agrarian and dependent on the export of unprocessed primary commodities and in which micro, small and medium enterprises are prevalent, provides for the basis of industrial development.

Currently, there is trade imbalance in favour of Myanmar. Given that the development of a goods export-oriented economy may take some time to develop in the northeast, there is opportunity to step up trade in services. This is a sector where, following the relaxation of the movement of people across the border, a large number of people from Myanmar have come to educational institutes and healthcare facilities in the northeast.

concerns related to border management and security:

1. There is a border dispute that needs to be settled by the highest levels of both governments. 

2. Even as goods move across the borders, so do drugs and arms. 

3.Human trafficking is another major issue. 

Gyaan

Indo-Myanmar Border
• The boundary was demarcated in 1967 under an agreement signed by both countries.
• Under the Government of India Act of 1935, Myanmar was separated from India, but the resolution of the border between them was left to the newly governments.
• The rise of insurgency and subsequent violation of the boundary by both insurgents and security forces of both countries forced India and Myanmar to negotiate a settlement on 1967.
• The rugged terrain makes movement and the overall development of the area difficult. The internal dynamics of the region in terms of the clan loyalties of the tribal people, inter-tribal clashes, insurgency, trans-border ethnic ties also adversely affect the security of the border areas. There is practically no physical barrier along the border either in the form of fences or border outposts and roads to ensure strict vigil.
• Close ethnic ties among the tribes such as Nagas, Kukis, Chin, etc., who live astride the border help the North East insurgents like Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN), the United National Liberation Front (UNLF), the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA), in finding safe haven in Myanmar.
• The location of the boundary at the edge of the “golden triangle” facilitates the unrestricted illegal flows of drugs into Indian territory. Heroin is the main item of drug trafficking. The bulk of heroin enters India through the border town of Moreh in Manipur.

• The provision of allowing the tribal communities of both countries to travel up to 40 km across the border without any passport or visa has also contributed to increased smuggling in the region.
• Border trade along the India-Myanmar border is carried on from two posts viz. Moreh in Manipur and Zowkhatar in Mizoram.

Time-bound trials for legislators

Supreme Court - 

1. deadline for lower courts to complete trial in cases involving lawmakers within a year of framing of charges.

2. trial courts will have to give explanation to the Chief Justice of the respective high court if the trial is not completed within a year.

3. the period can be extended by the Chief Justice of the High Court if he is satisfied with the reason given by trial judge for not completing the trial within this period.

4.  all such proceedings involving lawmakers must be conducted on a day-to-day basis in order to expedite the trial

The interim order — on a petition by a voluntary organisation — making the framing of charges as the point at which the clock begins to tick is based on a Law Commission recommendation that the filing of charge sheet could not be the appropriate stage for disqualification of candidates from contesting.

When the Supreme Court held in 1979, and reiterated in 1986, that speedy trial is a fundamental right under Article 21 of the Constitution, what it had in mind was the plight of hundreds of poor prisoners languishing in jails across the country without being brought to trial for years.

The Criminal Procedure Code does not prescribe a time limit for winding up a trial, but Section 309 makes it clear that once examination of witnesses begins, it shall proceed on a day-to-day basis until all witnesses are examined. This provision is rarely adhered to for various reasons.

Gyaan:

Article 21 in The Constitution Of India 1949

Protection of life and personal liberty No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to procedure established by law.

Gopalan Case (1950) : SC took a "narrow interpretation" of Art 21 and held that:

1. Art 21 is available only against arbitary executive action and not from arbitrary legislative action --> "procedure established by law"

2. Personal liberty means only liberty relating to the person or body of the individual.

Menaka Case (1978) : Wider interpretation of Art 21:

1. Right to life and personal liberty of a person can be deprived by a law provided that law is reasonable, fair and just --> "Due process of law" (American Constitution)

2. Art 21 not merely confined to animal existence or survival but it includes within its ambit the right to live with human dignity and all those aspects of life which go to make man's life meaningful, complete and worth living.

The right is available to both citizens and non-citizens.

The wages of scientific fraud

News - Supreme Court of South Korea upheld its 2010 ruling, Hwang Woo Suk, the notorious stem cell researcher from the Seoul National University in South Korea, will serve a suspended jail term of one-and-a-half years for embezzlement and violation of the country’s bioethics law that came into effect in January 2005. 

Hwang shot into international fame for two “landmark” papers published in February 2004 and May 2005 in the journalScience. If the first one was for “cloning” 30 human embryos and for “deriving” a human embryonic stem-cell line from one of them, the second was for “creating” 11 human embryonic stem-cell lines from the skin cells of individual patients.

Hwang shot into international fame for two “landmark” papers published in February 2004 and May 2005 in the journalScience. If the first one was for “cloning” 30 human embryos and for “deriving” a human embryonic stem-cell line from one of them, the second was for “creating” 11 human embryonic stem-cell lines from the skin cells of individual patients.

It soon became evident that Hwang had committed one of the biggest scientific frauds in recent times by indulging in all kinds of unethical measures like 

1. image manipulation,

2.  rampant data falsification and fabrication, 

3. gross misrepresentation of facts, 

4. purchasing eggs for research, and 

5. forcing junior members in the same lab to donate eggs. 

There were acts of outright fraud as well — embezzlement of nearly $3 million and making applications for research funds based on fabricated data.

The franchise as the fulcrum of democracy

Good article for essay purpose

Important for purpose of Prelims:

The Motilal Nehru report on a draft constitution for free India advocated unlimited adult franchise and equal rights for women. The resolution of the 1931 Karachi session of the Indian National Congress regarded the affirmation of political equality, encapsulated in the notion of universal adult franchise, as fundamental to the future of Purna Swaraj or total independence. Britain had removed the remaining arbitrary restrictions on the exercise of the vote for adults only recently, in 1928. The principle of one man one vote galvanised large sections of the youth behind the anti-colonial struggle. A vindication was the overwhelming victory of the Congress in the 1937 provincial elections, held under limited suffrage based on income and education.

‘Over-taxation, lack of infrastructure hamper growth of aviation sector’

FICCI-KPMG report - The high growth in Indian aviation market and spread of regional services was being hampered by over-taxation and lack of infrastructure in smaller cities

According to the report, the Indian civil aviation industry is on a high growth trajectory, although with minor hiccups. The industry has ushered in a new wave of expansion driven by 

1. low cost carriers (LCC), 

2. modern airports, 

3. foreign direct investments (FDI) in domestic airlines, 

4. cutting-edge information technology (IT) interventions and 

5. a growing emphasis on no-frills airports (NFA) and regional connectivity. 

The Indian civil aviation industry is among the top 10 in the world with a size of around $16 billion. This is a fraction of what it can actually achieve, it states.

The report said Indian carriers were expected to double their fleet size by 2020 to 1,000 aircraft promising a huge opportunity for the maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) business. But high taxation could drive away investment in this crucial area, it added. 

Report said 

1. taxes on aviation turbine fuel and MRO, 

2. service tax on air tickets and 

3. high airport charges were some of the things that need a re-look.

Merely 5-10 per cent of MRO work for Indian airlines was carried out in India and most of it outsourced to third-party service providers outside the country which was a classic case of scoring self goals.

The study strongly pitched for putting in place a strong domestic MRO industry as the domestic fleet was projected to double by 2020.

Gyaan :

Recently Ministry of Civil Aviation proposed to build 200 low cost airports in the next 20 years.

During the 12th Plan alone, about Rs 1,500 crore is being earmarked to develop non-metro airports. The idea is to connect tier II and tier III cities and enhance air traffic beyond metros.

What are non- frill airports : to overcome the high operating and service costs of major airports non frill airports will be made in non-metro cities. They will have basic infrastructure and will be like upgraded high class railway stations.

Source

Price rise most burning issue for farmers: CSDS survey

Price rise, not corruption, will be the most important issue for farmers when they go to vote in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, says a Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS) random survey.  Issues of unemployment and lack of irrigation will be other concerns that will influence the target group farmers.

Only 10 per cent of those interviewed believed that poor and small farmers got the benefit from farmer related schemes. Education, health and employment emerged as the major responsibilities that worry Indian farmers, the respondent group said.

Expert panel wants transgender declared third gender

An expert committee has recommended that ‘transgender’ be declared the third gender, with the individual having the right to choose gender, and has asked the government to prepare a law to prevent discrimination and atrocities against these people.

Importantly, it has asked the National Crime Records Bureau to collect and compile statistics of crimes against transgender persons and cases registered against them.

The committee, set up by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment last year has said

1. action must be taken against parents who neglect or abuse their gender non-conforming children and doctors who practise electro-shock or other kinds of unethical “conversion” therapy. 

2. Criminal and disciplinary action must be taken against delinquent police officers for violation of human rights of transgender persons.

Its report, submitted a few weeks after the Supreme Court criminalised same gender consensual sex, wanted laws against sexual assault and harassment and domestic violence made transgender-inclusive. Now Section 375 of the IPC, as amended, does not cover the transgender persons as victims of sexual assault. Section 375 should be included to cover sexual assault on them.

Recommending that ‘transgender’ be used as an inclusive term to cover all gender identities and expressions, the report has called for a compilation of all known transgender socio-cultural groups to be prepared and circulated among all for guidance. The terms ‘sex’ and ‘gender’ should not be used interchangeably, and only the term ‘gender’ should be used in official documents, such as identity documents, application forms, returns and reports.

Pointing out that the Constitution is ‘sex blind’ — equality before the law irrespective of sex — the report says a harmonious reading of the constitutional provisions as well as provisions of the Citizenship Act, 1955, and the General Clauses Act, 1897, will show that in fact any of these laws are not in conflict with the concept of ‘person,’ and a transgender person will undoubtedly fall within the definition of ‘person.’

Gyaan

Difference between sex and gender (Yes there is a difference!!!) :
The words sex and gender are commonly used interchangeably, but many linguists would argue that their usage is quite distinct. Sex refers to the biological and physiological characteristics, while gender refers to behaviors, roles, expectations, and activities in society.

Sex refers to male or female, while gender refers to masculine or feminine.

Web-GIS tool to gauge solar potential

The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) has unveiled the first-ever cloud based open-source Web-GIS tool for estimating rooftop solar power potential for Indian solar cities.

The main objective of this initiative is to develop a high performing and flexible Web-GIS tool to estimate the rooftop solar power potential for Indian cities. The web-GIS tool will be launched in Chandigarh followed by other cities.

Gyaan

Open source: In production and development, open source as a development model promotes

a) universal access via free license to a product's design or blueprint, and 

b) universal redistribution of that design or blueprint, including subsequent improvements to it by anyone.

In simpler terms suppose a given software is open source then you don't need to buy its license (Like Windows OS if you use genuine software). Also you can find bugs in the software and share it with the development community. Bug fixes will be incorporated in future releases of the software.

What is GIS?

A geographic information system (GIS) integrates hardware, software, and data for capturing, managing, analyzing, and displaying all forms of geographically referenced information.

GIS allows us to view, understand, question, interpret, and visualize data in many ways that reveal relationships, patterns, and trends in the form of maps, globes, reports, and charts.

A GIS helps you answer questions and solve problems by looking at your data in a way that is quickly understood and easily shared.

A sojourn in the Andamans

Researchers at the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands recently recorded two new species of birds — the Great Short-Toed Lark and the Blue and White Flycatcher.