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Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 31 January 2015

:: National ::

Human rights group slams India’s record

A top global human rights group has criticised the Indian government for its treatment of minorities, lack of protection for women’s and children’s rights, restrictions on free speech and insufficient support extended for human rights via New Delhi’s foreign policy engagements.
In its 25th annual World Report on human rights, New York-headquartered Human Rights Watch (HRW) noted that there was a “spike” in incidents of violence against religious minorities in 2013 in the run-up to the national elections where 133 people were killed and 2,269 injured in 823 incidents.
Even one year after the communal violence in Muzaffarnagar and Shamli districts of Uttar Pradesh where over 60 people, mostly Muslims, were killed and tens of thousands displaced, “both the Central and the State governments had not provided proper relief or justice,” the report said.
Citing numerous other incidents of violence against minorities, including recent cases of discrimination against Dalits in Andhra Pradesh and Bihar, the HRW report focused attention on the plight of those involved in “manual scavenging,” the cleaning by hand of human waste.
In terms of women’s rights, in early 2014, the government introduced guidelines for the medical treatment and examination of women and children who report rape, but failed to allocate resources necessary for their implementation. At the time of writing only two States had adopted the guidelines.

:: International ::

New China-Myanmar oil pipeline bypasses Malacca trap

China has taken a firm step to beef up its energy security by inaugurating a pipeline that will bring crude oil from a deep water port in Myanmar, along a transit route that will bypass the strategic Malacca Straits.
The first tanker that will offload 300,000 tons of oil is expected to arrive on Friday at Maday Island – a deep water port developed by China in the Bay of Bengal. From there, oil, mostly brought from West Asia and Africa, will be pumped into a 2402 km long pipeline that will stretch for 771 km in Myanmar and another 1631 km in China.
A gas pipeline, next to the Maday Island terminal, already runs from Myanmar’s port of Kyaukpyu. China also finalised plans to establish a rail corridor from Kyaukpyu to its Yunnan province.
The strategic oil pipeline will service China’s two major growth centres — Kunming and Chongqing, an industrial hub along the Yangtze River delta. Both cities are pivotal in the development of China’s Silk Road Economic Belt, the 21st century Maritime Silk Road. Kunming is one of the starting points of the Maritime Silk Road, because it connects with three countries belonging to the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) — Myanmar, Vietnam and Laos. Landlocked Laos in turn becomes the gateway to ports in Thailand, and a wider transportation network covering Malaysia and Singapore as well.
Significantly, the new oil pipeline bypasses the Malacca Straits — a narrow channel that connects the Indian Ocean with the Pacific. The Chinese are concerned that their access to the Malacca Straits — the main channel of their trade and energy supplies — can become compromised on account of Beijing’s growing rivalry with the United States, and maritime disputes with neighbours in the South China Sea.
As oil begins to flow, the Chinese are also building a refinery in Kunming that can process 10 million tons of crude annually.
Part of the shipments received will also be delivered to Myanmar, says the country’s Vice-President U Nyan Tun. China and Myanmar have jointly funded the project, including the construction of the Maday oil unloading terminal.
Analysts say that apart from enhancing energy security, the construction of an oil and gas pipeline from Myanmar is driven by environmental considerations, as China works to limit carbon emissions resulting from its over-dependence on coal.

:: Business & Economy ::

Base year change pushes GDP growth to 6.9% in 2013-14

The base year was last revised in January, 2010 The Modi Government, sharply revised India’s 2013-14 GDP growth estimate to 6.9 per cent from 4.7 per cent. The 2012-13 growth estimate was revised to 5.1 per cent from 4.5 per cent.
Former Finance Minister and Congress leader P. Chidambaram said that the data released showed that the 10 years of the UPA government recorded the highest decadal growth since Independence.
GDP data for a fiscal undergoes three rounds of revisions; the process takes three years. The Central Statistics Office (CSO) releases the second Revised Estimate for a financial year ending in March on the subsequent January 30.
The estimates released on Friday also follow a change in the base year for calculating national accounts to 2011-12 from 2004-05 in addition to the routine annual revision — where changes are made only on the basis of updated data becoming available.
The base year was last revised in January, 2010.
In case of base year revisions, apart from a shift in the reference year for measuring the real growth, conceptual changes, as recommended by the international guidelines, are incorporated, the official release said.
The changes have reduced the gap between the way India calculates GDP and the methodology used by the International Monetary Fund.
The jobs-creating manufacturing sector’s growth estimate for 2013-14 was revised to 6.2 per cent from minus 0.7 per cent and for 2012-13 was revised to 5.3 per cent from 1.1 per cent.