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THE GIST of Editorial for UPSC Exams : 30 September 2019 (Out of my mind: People or Parliament sovereign? (The Hindu))

Out of my mind: People or Parliament sovereign? (The Hindu)

Mains Paper 2 : Polity
Prelims level : Parliament sovereign
Mains level : Role of Parliament

Context

  • The crisis in the UK yields an interesting contrast concerning the question ‘Who Rules?’ Boris Johnson as Prime Minister chose to prorogue Parliament, truncating the number of days it could meet.

Judges failed to agree

  • The High Court in Scotland judged the prorogation illegal but the English High Court said it could not rule on a political matter.
  • The Supreme Court of 11 judges unanimously ruled that prorogation was illegal because it prevented Parliament from doing its work. Parliament was Sovereign.
  • The Court cited a judgment from 1611 which said that the King “hath no prerogative but that which the law of the land allows him”.
  • This was even when the King was the sole Executive. Johnson had misled the Queen. Prorogation was illegal and void.
  • The UK Supreme Court distinguished between the Executive (Absolute King or elected Prime Minister) and Parliament, declaring Parliament to be sovereign. The Unwritten Constitution of the UK relies on old judgments and established conventions.

Way forward

  • The Indian president is chosen by legislators at the Centre and in states. In effect, the president is chosen by the prime minister. In the UK, the Head of State is not chosen effectively by the ruling party but is a hereditary monarch.
  • This is why Indira Gandhi got away with promulgating Emergency signed by the president.

    Online Coaching for UPSC PRE Exam

    General Studies Pre. Cum Mains Study Materials

THE GIST of Editorial for UPSC Exams : 30 September 2019 (Ramakrishna Mission’s move to make residents take ownership of their waste is sociologically transformative (The Hindu))

Ramakrishna Mission’s move to make residents take ownership of their waste is sociologically transformative (The Hindu)

Mains Paper 3 : Environment
Prelims level : Mangaluru
Mains level : waste management and pollution control

Context

  • The Ramakrishna Mission in Mangaluru may have invented the most ingenious method to address an attitudinal problem embedded in the collective Indian psyche.
  • During a cleanliness drive that the Mission organised, the volunteers identified individuals who dumped their household trash at 300 different locations in Mangaluru.
  • The volunteers followed garbage-throwers and returned the waste at their doorstep. People threw their house trash despite the Mangaluru City Corporation’s door-to-door waste collection policy.
  • But when the volunteers started returning their trash, 90 per cent people stopped throwing it in the open.

Way ahead

  • The everyday reality is that disposal of waste or cleaning is a menial, “dirty” task performed by someone other than the one who generates it.
  • This is an all-pervasive psychology which prevents an individual from taking responsibility for the waste he and his household generate on an everyday basis.
  • The challenge of disposing around 62 million tonnes of municipal solid waste per annum in 7,935 towns and cities is at the institutional as well as individual level.
  • While municipal authorities have to step up their solid waste disposal mechanisms, individuals have to ensure proper segregation of waste at source and its recycling.

Conclusion

  • By forcing people to take responsibility for their household waste, the Mission has performed a sociologically transformative service.
  • Besides equipping municipalities and provincial administration with enhanced technical and financial support, such efforts need to be replicated if Swachh Bharat has to translate from slogan to reality.

    Online Coaching for UPSC PRE Exam

    General Studies Pre. Cum Mains Study Materials

THE GIST of Editorial for UPSC Exams : 30 September 2019 (Two Asian powers and an island (The Hindu))

Two Asian powers and an island (The Hindu)

Mains Paper 2 : International Relations
Prelims level : Lotus tower
Mains level : Recent developments in China-Sri Lanka ties

Context

  • The magnificent Lotus Tower in Colombo, considered to be the latest symbol of Sri Lanka-China ties, was opened to the public recently.
  • In this backdrop, here is a comparison of China and India on developing ties with Sri Lanka in the Sirisena years.

What is the Lotus tower?

  • An agreement to build the Lotus Tower was signed by China and Sri Lanka in 2012.
  • It was to serve as a multi-functional telecommunication tower.

What are the recent developments in China-Sri Lanka ties?

  • Maithripala Sirisena had showed a strong anti-China mood since coming into power.
  • Nevertheless, Colombo-Beijing ties have stood the test of time.
  • China has been able to resolve all the controversies over the projects such as Colombo Port City and Hambantota port.
  • The Port City’s execution is underway without any major hitch.
  • When it is completed, it will stand beside the Colombo port, which serves as a major transhipment hub for India.
  • A Chinese company has got Hambantota on lease for 99 years along with associated land of 15,000 acres.
  • More importantly, Sri Lanka is a member-country of the Belt and Road Initiative of China. Some raise concerns that economic ties with China are driving Sri Lanka into a “debt trap.” But, despite this, the bilateral relationship among the two countries on the economic front is only becoming stronger.
  • According to the 2018 annual report of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, imports from China accounted for 18.5%, just a little less than the 19% from India.

How has India’s contribution to Sri Lanka been?

  • Unlike China, India has not accomplished much in Sri Lanka in the Sirisena years despite the “neighbourhood first” policy since 2014.
  • India has made a joint venture deal recently with Japan and Sri Lanka to develop the East Container Terminal at the Colombo Port.
  • Besides this, India has not taken up any major infrastructure project in Sri Lanka.
  • Not much is known about the status of a project to renovate the Kankesanthurai harbour in the Northern Province.
  • [India has provided over $45 million in early 2018 for this project.]
  • There is also little progress in India’s proposals to develop the Palaly airport in the North.
  • Also, the Economic and Technical Cooperation Agreement, an improved version of the existing bilateral Free Trade Agreement, has been shelved
  • In recent years, only a couple of social sector projects of the Indian government gathered momentum.
  • These include building 60,000 homes for Tamils of the civil war-torn Northern and Eastern Provinces as well as those in the hill country region.
  • India has also contributed for the provision of ambulance services all over the island.
  • Recently, an agreement was signed to upgrade a key railway segment, connecting the north and the south, at $91 million.
  • However, given its potential and willingness to do more in development cooperation, India’s track record has much to be desired.

What strained the India-Sri Lanka ties?

  • China-funded infrastructure projects in Sri Lanka may look great, but India-Sri Lanka ties are deeper and more complex.
  • Despite the deep ties, India and Sri Lanka have seen some unpleasantness in bilateral relations in contemporary times.
  • The anti-Tamil pogrom of 1983 dragged India into the Sri Lankan Tamil question.
  • The Indian Peace Keeping Force was withdrawn in March 1990.
  • India’s former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated in May 1991.
  • These events distanced India from Sri Lanka till the final phase of the civil war.
  • In the last 5 months of the war (ended in May 2009), India repeatedly conveyed to Sri Lanka that the rights and welfare of the civilian population should not get disturbed with hostilities against the LTTE.

What does Sri Lanka need now?

  • The Rajiv Gandhi-Jayawardene Accord of 1987 and the 13th Amendment to the Sri Lankan Constitution was finalized.
  • The Amendment envisaged devolution of powers for provinces.
  • With all their shortcomings, these two still provided a solid framework to address the ethnic question.
  • But apart from a political settlement, the Northern and Eastern provinces, which account for less than 10% of Sri Lanka’s GDP, require economic development.

Way ahead

  • With Sri Lanka getting a new President soon, India must coordinate with the new leadership.
  • India’s priority should be to not just get expeditious approvals for pending infrastructure projects but also contribute to a holistic development of Sri Lanka’s youth.
  • Also, India should sustain its interest on developmental issues concerning the hill country Tamils, regarded as the most backward in Sri Lanka.

    Online Coaching for UPSC PRE Exam

    General Studies Pre. Cum Mains Study Materials

THE GIST of Editorial for UPSC Exams : 30 September 2019 (Know your onions (The Hindu))

Know your onions (The Hindu)

Mains Paper 3 : Economy
Prelims level : Not much
Mains level : Storage facilities for farm produce

Context

  • Ever since the Delhi government was ousted in 1998 by popular outrage over a spurt in onion prices, politicians have been wary of this vegetable.
  • The political response should solve, not structurally worsen, the problem that lies at the root of the occasional shortage of the vegetable.

Ban on onions export

  • The ban on export of onions that the central government has imposed follows in a traditional route and ignores the need for the farmer to get better terms of trade, paving the way for future shortage.
  • Onion is a relatively small crop, a little over 15 million tonnes in India.
  • China cultivates a lower area, but is the world’s largest producer, because its yield is about half as much higher than in India.

Hurting many

  • Bangladesh is very unhappy with India’s export ban,because that has worsened the shortage there.
  • Sudden export bans shut off the possibility of the farmer getting a bumper price for his crop, something that he feels he is entitled to, as the obverse of the distress sale he often has to undertake.
  • The sensible course is proper storage at times of harvest and steady decumulation of stocks over the year.
  • This will not help, however, in case of a sudden shortfall in output, thanks to flooding or unseasonal rains, as has happened this year.

Conclusion

THE GIST of Editorial for UPSC Exams : 28 September 2019 (As Xi comes a-calling, a footprint without traction (The Hindu))

As Xi comes a-calling, a footprint without traction (The Hindu)

Mains Paper 2 : International Relations
Prelims level : Nepal Communist Party
Mains level : Geo-Political movement and relations between Nepal and China

THE GIST of Editorial for UPSC Exams : 27 September 2019 (Declare a climate emergency (The Hindu))

Declare a climate emergency (The Hindu)

Mains Paper 3 : Environment
Prelims level : Fossil Fuels
Mains level : Global impact on using fossil fuels

THE GIST of Editorial for UPSC Exams : 27 September 2019 (Centre, US agency launch Forest-PLUS 2.0 (Live Mint))

Centre, US agency launch Forest-PLUS 2.0 (Live Mint)

Mains Paper 3 : Environment
Prelims level : Forest-PLUS 2.0
Mains level : Significance of Forest-PLUS 2.0 program

THE GIST of Editorial for UPSC Exams : 26 September 2019 (The attack on agroecology (The Hindu))

The attack on agroecology (The Hindu)

Mains Paper 3: Economy
Prelims level: Agroecology
Mains level: Uses of Agroecology technology in agricultural practices

THE GIST of Editorial for UPSC Exams : 26 September 2019 (After Assam NRC, troubles may visit ‘sister’ Tripura (The Hindu))

After Assam NRC, troubles may visit ‘sister’ Tripura (The Hindu)

Mains Paper 2: Polity
Prelims level: National Register of Citizens
Mains level: Requirement of National Register of Citizens in Tripura

THE GIST of Editorial for UPSC Exams : 26 September 2019 (The real deal: On India-U.S. trade deal (The Hindu))

The real deal: On India-U.S. trade deal (The Hindu)

Mains Paper 2 : International Relations
Prelims level : India-US trade deal
Mains level : Significance of the trade deal

THE GIST of Editorial for UPSC Exams : 25 September 2019 (Inequality of another kind (The hindu))

Inequality of another kind (The hindu)

Mains Paper 2: Polity
Prelims level: Article 21
Mains level: Requirement of Digital inequality and Digital literacy

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