Comprehensive Current affairs 7 September 2020

 Kesavananda Bharati, petitioner in landmark SC judgement on Basic Structure is no more.

Kesavananda Bharati, on whose petition the Supreme Court delivered the landmark judgement on the celebrated doctrine of basic structure of the Constitution, died on Sunday.

The case in which Bharati had challenged Kerala Land Reform laws nearly four decades ago set the principle that the Supreme Court is the guardian of the basic structure of the Constitution and the verdict involved 13 judges, the largest bench ever to sit in the apex court. While the seer did not get the relief he wanted, the case became significant for its landmark judgment which clipped the widest power of Parliament to amend the Constitution and simultaneously gave judiciary the authority to review any amendment.

The Kesavananda Bharati case is significant for its ruling that the Constitution can be amended but not the basic structure. when some parcels of land of the Edaneer Mutt were acquired underthe land reform laws of Kerala, Bharati moved the Kerala High Court against it and partially succeeded.

However, when the 29th Constitutional Amendment was adopted by Parliament giving protection to Kerala laws, the seer moved the Supreme Court challenging it. The apex court ruled that the 29th Amendment is valid and held that the two Kerala land Acts that were included in the Ninth Schedule are entitled to the protection of Article 31B of the (validation of certain acts and regulations) Constitution.

The verdict had held that though Parliament has power to amend under Article 368 of the Constitution, it did not have the power to emasculate its basic features.

India invites Australia to join Malabar naval exercise along with US & Japan.

The stage is set for Australia to be part of the next Malabar naval exercise. The exercise will bring together the navies of India, Japan, Australia and the U.S. in the Bay of Bengal at the end of the year, according to senior Indian officials who asked not to be identified, citing rules.

Exercise Malabar is a trilateral naval exercise involving the United States, Japan and India as permanent partners. Originally begun in 1992 as a bilateral exercise between India and the United States, Japan became a permanent partner in 2015.

Past non-permanent participants are Australia and Singapore. The annual Malabar series began in 1992 and includes diverse activities, ranging from fighter combat operations from aircraft carriers through Maritime Interdiction Operations Exercises.

According to a diplomat from one of the participating countries, the Malabar exercise may not take place this year owing to the coronavirus pandemic, coupled with other factors such as the US presidential elections in November and stepping down of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe even as his successor is yet to be announced.

 Imran Khan announces Rs 1.1 trillion package to address infrastructure issues in Karachi.

➡Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has unveiled a financial package worth Rs1.1 trillion to address the chronic municipal and infrastructure issues of Karachi, the country's financial hub, after record-breaking monsoon rains caused widespread devastation in the city and left at least 60 people dead.

➡The rainfall spell which started in July and continued into August totally exposed the poor civic infrastructure including the drainage system of the city.

➡The Prime Minister has formed a "Karachi Committee" which includes the PPP and other opposition party members and has said they will deal with Karachi's problems together and all stakeholders will be involved in its implementation.

Arabian Sea picks the baton, spins up ‘low’.

A low-pressure area has formed over South-East and adjoining East-Central Arabian Sea, India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Sunday morning, with the Arabian Sea appearing to pick with aplomb from where the Bay of Bengal ended its frenetic run in August creating a record number of low-pressure areas and quantum of rainfall.

➡It would be interesting to watch the slow, northward movement of the latest low along the West Coast, ensuring the entire Peninsular India benefits ending a rather long, dry spell. The IMD takes the low, though weakening, into land over interior peninsula after crossing Goa-Konkan and moving further East to emerge into the Bay of Bengal off Andhra Pradesh.

➡Likely building mass.

Interestingly, it is predicted to build further mass here and grow back into a low-pressure area and widen the span of coverage over East and adjoining East-Central India, likely triggering anotherwave of rains there from mid-September. This could likely hold at bay the advance of the anticyclone from North-West India that normally signals the withdrawal of the monsoon.

➡So the monsoon withdrawal could likely get delayed further, though it all depends on whether the Arabian Sea low-pressure area sticks to its path and potential as the IMD appears to depict. The US National Centres for Environmental Prediction agrees with the IMD and has projected rains for the West Coast, Central and East India into the third week of September.

➡Meanwhile, an IMD outlook for the next 2-3 days speaks about the possibility of fairly widespread to widespread rainfall with isolated heavy falls, thunderstorms and lightning over Peninsular India. In the East, fairly widespread rainfall with isolated heavy falls accompanied with thunderstorm and lightning is forecast for Odisha and Chhattisgarh during next 3-4 days.

➡An extended outlook for September 11-13 indicates fairly widespread rainfall with isolated heavy falls over East and North-East India and scattered to fairly widespread rainfall over the South Peninsula.

Isolated to scattered rainfall has been forecast over parts of Central India while it would be dry over Gujarat state and North-West India where rains are on course to lift.

Loan moratorium: RBI likely to announce one-time loan restructuring guidelines soon.

➡The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is likely to announce the financial parameters of its proposed loan restructuring scheme soon. In his interview to CNBC Awaaz, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said that banks can extend the loan moratorium by 3, 6 or even 12 months under the one-time restructuring.

➡To mitigate the hardships faced by the borrowers during coronavirus pandemic, the central bank allowed the lenders to grant a loan moratorium for for three months of EMI (Equated Monthly Instalments), falling due between March 1 and May 31 2020. Later, RBI extended it for further three month till August 31.

➡The central bank later permitted the lenders a one-time restructuring of loans without classifying them as non-performing assets to help companies and individuals manage the financial stress caused by coronavirus pandemic. Only those companies and individuals whose loans accounts are in default for not more than 30 days as on 1 March, 2020, are eligible for one-time restructuring. For corporate borrowers, banks can invoke a resolution plan till 31 December, 2020 and implement it till 30 June, 2021.

➡For personal loans, banks have an option to invoke the resolution plan till December 31,2020 and implement it within 90 days from the date of invocation. Accounts which are standard, but not in default for more than 30 days as on March 1,2020 will be eligible for restructuring.

➡The RBI set up a five-member committee under former ICICI Bank chief executive chairman K.V. Kamath on 7 August to recommend eligibility parameters for restructuring stressed loans. The committee will only specify financial parameters like debt-equity and debt coverage, Das said in an interview.

Made-In-India Hypersonic Vehicle Successfully Tested.

➡India on Monday successfully flight tested the indigenously-developed hypersonic technology demonstrator vehicle (HSTDV) that is expected to power futuristic long-range missile systems and aerial platforms.

➡The HSTDV, based on hypersonic propulsion technologies, has been developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

➡India on Monday successfully flight tested the indigenously-developed hypersonic technology demonstrator vehicle (HSTDV) that is expected to power futuristic long-range missile systems and aerial platforms.

The HSTDV, based on hypersonic propulsion technologies, has been developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

 ➡with the successful test flight of the HSTDV, India has demonstrated capabilities for highly complex technology that will serve as the building block for next-generation hypersonic vehicles in partnership with the domestic defence industry.

➡The HSTDV powers cruise missiles and operates on scramjet engines which can attain the speed of around Mach 6 which is far better than ramjet engines.

Special focus on mains;

Q.1) What are the recent development in between India-Nepal relations?

Context:

On August 15, Nepal Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli made a friendly gesture towards India by telephoning Prime Minister Narendra Modi to convey greetings on India’s Independence Day.

This was followed by a meeting of the India-Nepal Joint Project Monitoring Committee on August 17 chaired by the Indian Ambassador to Nepal and the Nepal Foreign Secretary.

The committee was set up to review progress in the large number of bilateral cooperation projects.

An India-Nepal Joint Commission meeting at the level of Foreign Ministers is due later in October but may be held virtually due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.

But will the two sides hold Foreign Secretary-level talks on the vexed boundary issue that is related to Kalapani and Susta?

Unilateral actions:

The Nepali side has upset the apple cart by taking a series of unilateral actions.

A relatively minor dispute involving about 35 square kilometres of territory around the Kalapani springs, was expanded to claim a large wedge of Indian territory towards the east, measuring nearly 400 square kilometres.

 The expanded claim was incorporated into Nepal through a constitutional amendment and a revised official map. India has been confronted with a fait accompli though Nepal has conveyed its willingness to negotiate on the issue in Foreign Secretary-level talks.

India should be willing to engage in talks with Nepal on all aspects of India-Nepal relations. But any talks on the Kalapani issue should be limited to the area which was the original subject for negotiations and Susta.

To agree to talks which include the unilateral changes will create a very bad precedent not only in India-Nepal relations but in managing India’s borders in general. This is irrespective of Nepal presenting historical documents or maps which support its claims.

Borders which have been accepted by both sides for more than 100 years and which have also been reflected on their official maps cannot be unilaterally altered by one side coming up with archival material which has surfaced in the meantime.

This would make national boundaries unstable and shifting, and create avoidable controversies between countries as is the case now between India and Nepal.

Geography and boundaries:

The Treaty of Sugauli of 1816 sets the Kali river as the boundary between the two countries in the western sector. There was no map attached to the treaty.

Nepal is now claiming that the main tributary of the Kalapani river rises east of the Lipu Lekh pass from the Limpiyadhura ridgeline and hence should serve as the border.

Even if the lengthiest tributary may be one principle for a riverine boundary, which is itself debatable, it is not the only one.

There are many boundaries which do not follow any geographical principle at all but are the result of historical circumstances, mutual agreement and legal recognition.

 History and ties:

Independence Day has meaning for us because we engaged in a long and painful struggle for independence from British colonial rule.

We also recall that it was the ruler of” independent” Nepal which sent troops to fight alongside the East India Company, mercilessly killing those who were fighting India’s first war of independence.

The same independent country was happy to receive as reward chunks of Indian territory in the Terai through the treaty of 1861.

If no agreement has superseded the Sugauli treaty as has been claimed then, perhaps the “Naya Muluk” received after Nepal’s alliance with the Company against Indians fighting for freedom, should be restituted. Or should this brand of “chicanery” be excused since it benefited Nepal?

Conclusion:

For India, more than the exemplary inter-state relationship, it is the unique people-to-people relations between India and Nepal; and, fortunately, inter-state relations have been unable to undermine the dense affinities that bind our peoples together.

While India should reject the Nepali state’s ill-conceived territorial claims, it should do everything to nurture the invaluable asset it has in the goodwill of the people of Nepal.

Q2.) A globally-competitive tech-solutions/app ecosystem can’t be sustained without government partnership. Critically comment.

Context:

Last week, after four months of vetting, the government finally announced the winner of its video-conferencing app challenge.

Vconsol, by Techgentsia, a start-up from Kerala, won the competition; the app focuses on security and uses OTP as an authentication method for login.

The company will receive Rs 1 crore as prize money from the government, apart from Rs 10 lakh for operation and maintenance for the next three years. Additionally, the government will use the app on a contract basis.

In April, when the government had announced the challenge for Indian start-ups to build an alternative to the likes of Zoom, it had received 1,983 applications.

Background:

Over the last few months, following a rigorous process, it narrowed the list down to 12 participants, giving each R 10-12 lakh for app development.

It then selected five, with Rs 20 lakh each to three for further development and Rs 15 lakh to the other two.

From this pool, four finalists were selected, and last week, the government also announced Rs 25 lakh rewards for Sarv Webs Pvt. Ltd. (Sarv Wave), PeopleLink Unified Communications Pvt Ltd (Insta VC), Instrive Softlabs Pvt Ltd (HydraMeet), to develop their product within the next three months.

All four companies will be listed on the government’s GeM portal so that government bodies can get into contracts with them for video-conferencing solutions.

Earlier initiatives taken so far:

Such hackathons are not a new approach; the government, via NITI Aayog and other agencies, has been conducting similar challenges to rope in private players to build apps. However, the scope for continued engagement, until now, has been limited.

The video challenge marks the first step with regards to the government actively promoting Indian apps.

The government partnered an international hackathon-organising forum for ‘Hack the crisis’ in April, to encourage tech-solutions for addressing different aspects of the Covid-19 pandemic, and has announced a line-up of hackathons.

 Need more support from the government:

While this is welcome, more proactive support from the government is needed, via the kind of engagement the GeM listing for the video-conferencing apps represents. Also, such solutions should not be just crisis-response or a knee-jerk reaction.

The government needs to help build start-ups in the field of health-tech, agri-tech, ed-tech, etc.

It also needs to promote innovations in new technologies like artificial intelligence, machine learning, blockchain, mixed reality, and robotics.

Some states have started incorporating such solutions for better governance.

Agra partnered with the start-up Gaia and Microsoft to create a corona dashboard for the city, and Mumbai did the same, too; many governments and city administrations purchased drones from Garuda, a Chennai-based company, to sanitise large areas.

Apart from providing initial capital and facilitating incubation programmes—these have been going on for long now—governments at all levels need to hire start-ups through contracts for faster or better government-service delivery.

Conclusion:

A globally-competitive tech-solutions/app ecosystem can’t be sustained without government partnership.