Daily News Simplified - DNS 03 10 19

Notes

SL. NO. TOPICS THE HINDU

PAGE NO.

1 Miles to go before becoming open defecation free 11`

2 Prime minister Modi declares country open defecation free 01

3 Furthering this neighborhood friendship 10

4 A sound review 10

5 Raining misery 10

6 cement firm to use plastic waste for fuel in Meghalaya 06

Dated: 03.Oct.2019 DNS Notes Title 1. Miles to go before becoming open defecation free - (The Hindu, Page 11)

Syllabus Mains GS paper II : Social Issues

Theme Health Issues

Highlights Context • On the sidelines of 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, PM Modi declared India

open defecation-free. Abstract

• Based on a study done 10 months ago the author examines the countrywide ODF status declaration by the Prime Minister.

• The author is critical of the declaration of the 100% ODF status both in terms of reliability of the data and modus operandi for achieving such status.

Observations of the author Reliability

• Based on the study conducted earlier this year in select parts of Bihar, UP, MP and Rajasthan, the author observes

• Though there has been a 34% increase in the ownership of toilets between 2014 and 2018, the numbers are far from 100% even in areas that have been declared ODF.

• While the number of people openly defecating has declined by 26%, more than 40% in the said states still defecate in the open including a quarter of those who own toilets.

Modus-operandi • Besides the Swacch Bharat Mission websites declares that the government has built 100

million toilets during the Mission period (2014-19).

• This implies that 38 toilets were built every minute in the country. • This was achieved, the author argues, based on coercion. • The survey of government official respondents revealed that people were threatened with

denial of benefits under rights-based schemes like PDS, Kisan Credits Cards etc. • About 1 in 4 families faced withdrawal of government benefits for not having a latrine. • The author also observes that maximum coercion is faced by Dalits and Adivasis. (Shivpuri

lynching incident in the recent times) • Besides the government officials and contractors were provided with unrealistic

construction targets with a threat of being fired. Conclusion

• The author concludes by stating the need to frame an overarching National Sanitation Policy in the spirit of Gandhian ideals of ahimsa and compassion.

Personal Notes P

Dated: 03.Oct.2019 DNS Notes

Title 2. prime minister Modi declares country open defecation free (The Hindu, Page 01)

Syllabus Mains: GS Paper II: Social Issues

Theme Health

Highlights News Summary • On the sidelines of 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, PM Modi

declared India open defecation-free. In focus: ODF status Definition

• A village/town/district/state is classified as open defecation-free if 1. All households in the said area have atleast one toilet 2. No visible human faeces in the environment

• In other words, ODF is the termination of faecal-oral transmission eliminating the contamination of ground water, surface water, soil etc.

• Note: One of the main objectives of Swacch Bharat Mission was to make India open defecation-free by 2019.

• SDG 6.2 also aims to end open defecation Background About Swachh Bharat Mission

• Swachh Bharat Mission was launched on 2nd October, 2014 in order to accelerate the efforts to achieve universal sanitation coverage.

• 2 sub-missions 1. Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin) 2. Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban)

• Strategy • Construction of both Individual household toilets and Community toilets. • Twin-Pit is the preferred technology in toilet construction.

Key achievements • PM has declared India open defecation-free. • Under Swacch Bharat Mission (Gramin) • About 110 million toilets have been constructed between 2014 and 2019. • Open defecation-free status of villages in India has improved from 38% in 2014 to

100% in 2019. • Under Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban)

Dated: 03.Oct.2019 DNS Notes

• About 6 million individual toilets and 5 lakh community toilets have been constructed.

• Besides SBM (U) has achieved considerable progress in door-door collection of waste, establishment of waste-to-energy and waste-to-compost plants.

Sustaining ODF status: A critique • While toilet construction is the 1st step, sustaining ODF status requires the

following § 100% usage: Sometimes toilets are used as dumping yard and people still

preferring defecating in the open. According to a survey, 44% of people in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh still defecate in the open.

§ Fly-proof: In order to stop faecal-oral transmission, toilets must be fly-proof

§ Safe septage disposal: for safe disposal of waste discharges § Access to water: Availability of safe water and soap for after defecation

and before meals. § Twin pits are expensive: Containment chamber of twin pit toilets is

expensive. § About 40% of toilets constructed under SBM (Gramin) are single-pit

toilets which are manually scavenged for disposal.

Personal Notes

Dated: 03.Oct.2019 DNS Notes

Title 3. Furthering this neighborhood friendship – (The Hindu, Page 10)

Syllabus Mains: GS Paper-II – International relations

Theme Foreign Policy

Highlights Context • Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is on her first official visit to India

from October 3-6, post the December 2018 general elections in Bangladesh,. • India and Bangladesh today enjoy one of the best periods of their relationship,

with positive development in the areas of diplomatic, political, economic and security relations.

• If we take a look at the areas of bilateral cooperation following major points emerge:

Boundary Issue By signing of the Land Boundary Agreement in 2015 the two neighbours amicably resolved a long-outstanding issue. The current Bangladesh government has uprooted security threats and acts of insurgency against India and today, the India-Bangladesh border is one of India’s most secured. Defence cooperation * In 2017, two defence pacts were signed between the two sides. * In 2018, India extended a credit line of $500 million to purchase armaments; two memoranda of understanding were also signed for cooperation between the naval forces. Trade Relations *Bilateral trade between India and Bangladesh was a little over $9 billion in FY 2017-18. * Removal of non-tariff barriers, such as harmonising the standards for goods accepted by India, will further facilitate Bangladeshi exports in Indian markets. Power Cooperation *In 2018, the Indian export of electricity to Bangladesh reached 1160 MW. *1,600 MW power station with a dedicated transmission system is being developed to boost power trade between the Sides. *Moreover India is also in collaboration with Russia for the development of Bangladesh’s first Nuclear power plant in Rooppur. It is worth mentioning that this plant will have two VVER 1200 units which are in conformity with post Fukushima safety standards. Connectivity Cooperation * Land routes have gained popularity over air travel, and are preferred by 85.6% of Bangladeshis visiting India. *Train services on the Dhaka-Kolkata and Kolkata-Khulna are doing well, while a third, on the Agartala-Akhaura route, is under construction. *Five additional bus services were introduced in 2018. *The first ever Dhaka-Kolkata cruise ship was launched in March this year. Tourism ties *In 2018, Bangladeshi tourists accounted for 21.6% of the tourists visiting India. *Today, Bangladesh contributes 50% of India’s health tourism revenue.

Dated: 03.Oct.2019 DNS Notes

Notwithstanding the various fields of cooperation just discussed, A few outstanding issues still remain, as discussed below: Teesta Water Sharing Agreement West Bengal governments’s refusal to endorse water-sharing terms agreed upon by the central government in 2015 has resulted in an impasse. Around 100,000 hectares of land has been affected by lack of water in the Bangladeshi side. National Register of Citizens (NRC) *19 Lakh Assamese have been left out from NRC with a group labelled as “illegal immigrants from Bangladesh” living in Assam post-1971. Bangladesh remains firm in its stance that no migrants travelled to Assam illegally during the 1971 war of independence and that the controversial NRC risks hurting relations. Border killings *Although decreased in number, the issue of border killings still remains an unpleasant issue affecting harmony in bilateral relations. India’s Border Security Force (BSF) claims that most of the firing is in self-defence in tackling cattle trafficking. However, since the ban by India on cattle export, cattle trade has fallen from 23 lakh in 2013 to 75,000 till the end of May this year — which makes the argument unconvincing. Rohingyas *Bangladesh, already faced with the challenge of providing shelter to more than a million Rohingya refugees fleeing under persecution from Myanmar, was upset with India’s remarks over the issue during 2017. India has an opportunity to display its leadership role by devising a safe, speedy and sustainable solution to the problem, thus preventing undue interference by an ambitious China in this regional matter. Delay in Aid commitments * Since 2010, India has approved three lines of credit to Bangladesh of $7.362 billion to finance development projects. Due to bureaucratic red tape, just $442 million has been disbursed till December 2018. While Bangladesh has been slow in implementation, India’s requirement of the disbursement process to be approved by India’s Exim Bank has not helped either.

• In the end, it is important to note that in a neighbourhood where distrust and cynicism prevail over friendship and hope, the relationship between the two countries has given hope for optimism. The shared colonial legacy, history and socio-cultural bonds demand that the political leadership of the two countries inject momentum into India-Bangladesh relations by addressing major irritants and expanding further cooperation.

Dated: 03.Oct.2019 DNS Notes

Personal Notes

Dated: 03.Oct.2019 DNS Notes

Title 4. A sound review – (The Hindu, Page 10)

Syllabus Mains GS paper II – Polity & Governance

Theme Vulnerable sections

Highlights Context : The Supreme Court recalled its directions in a March 20, 2018 verdict that had effectively diluted provisions of arrest under the Scheduled Castes & Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. This was following a plea by the Centre seeking a review of that judgment. What is review of a judgment? ‘Review’ of a Supreme Court judgment is done by the same Bench. ‘Overruling’ means that the law laid down in one case is overruled in another case. When a higher court on appeal alters the judgment of a lower court, it is called ‘reversal.’ Generally, a review is heard in the judge’s chamber, but may be heard in open court in important cases — as in the Sabarimala and Rafale cases, in which no order has been pronounced yet. In the SC/ST case, a Bench of Justice Adarsh Goel and Justice U U Lalit had admitted a review of the March 20, 2018 judgment in Subhash Kashinath Mahajan vs State of Maharashtra. After Justice Goel retired, a new Bench was constituted that eventually referred the matter to a three-judge Bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra (who authored the 51-page review judgment on Tuesday) and included Justice M R Shah and Justice B R Gavai. Why was the SC/ST Act enacted? Since crimes against SCs and STs are fundamentally hate crimes, the Rajiv Gandhi government enacted the Act in 1989 in furtherance of the provisions for abolition of untouchability (Article 17) and equality (Articles 14, 15) in the Constitution. In accepting the review, Justice Mishra relied on the Statement of Objects & Reasons of the Bill that stated that “despite various measures to improve the socio-economic conditions of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes, they remain vulnerable. They are denied number of civil rights. They are subjected to various offences, indignities, humiliations and harassment. They have, in several brutal incidents, been deprived of their life and property”.

Dated: 03.Oct.2019 DNS Notes

What was the Subhash Kashinath Mahajan case about? Mahajan was Director of Technical Education in Maharashtra. Two non-SC officers had made an adverse entry on the character and integrity of a Dalit employee, whom Mahajan in 2011 denied sanction for prosecution against those officers. The denial was challenged on the ground that the state government and not the director was the competent authority. The Supreme Court held that safeguards against blackmail are necessary as “by way of rampant misuse, complaints are largely being filed against public servant/ judicial officer/ quasi- judicial officer with oblique motive for the satisfaction of vested interests”. In what manner had the 2018 judgment diluted provisions for arrest? ANTICIPATORY BAIL: Keeping in view the special nature of crimes against Dalits in Section 18 of the Act, Parliament had laid down that the provision of anticipatory bail under Section 438 of the Criminal Procedure Code of 1973 will not be available to an accused under the Act. The provision of anticipatory bail was introduced for the first time on the recommendation of 41st Law Commission in 1973. It is a statutory right, not part of the right to life and personal liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution, and thus there is no fundamental right to anticipatory bail. A few state amendments to Section 438 exclude anticipatory bail. In the March 20, 2018 judgment, the Supreme Court laid down safeguards, including provisions for anticipatory bail and a “preliminary enquiry” before registering a case under the Act. On Tuesday, the Bench said Section 18 was enacted to instil a sense of deterrence and relied on Kartar Singh (1994) in which the court had held that denial of anticipatory bail does not violate Article 21. FIR: Justice Goel had observed that “liberty of one cannot be sacrificed to protect another”, and added that the “Atrocities Act cannot be converted into charter for exploitation or oppression by unscrupulous persons or by police for extraneous reasons”. He ordered that neither is an FIR to be immediately registered nor are arrests to be made without a preliminary inquiry by an SSP. An arrest can only be made if there is “credible” information and police officer has “reason to believe” that an offence was committed. In the review judgment, Justice Mishra said public servants already have a remedy in false cases under CrPC Section 482 and can get such FIRs quashed by High Courts. He rejected the need of an SSP’s approval for arrest. Section 4 of the SC/ST Act casts a specific duty on public servants to record an FIR as per information given. Non-registration of FIR is punishable. Section 22 protects public servants for actions taken in ‘good faith’, for which no legal proceedings can be initiated against them. PERMISSION: In 2018, the court had said that even if a preliminary inquiry is held and a case registered, arrest is not necessary, and that no public servant is to be arrested without the written permission of the appointing authority. The court extended the benefit to other citizens and said they cannot be arrested without the written permission of the SSP of the district. On Tuesday, Justice Mishra said the decision on arrest is to be taken by the investigating authority, not the appointing authority. Were other provisions diluted? Justice Goel had observed that “interpretation of Atrocities Act should promote constitutional values of fraternity and integration of the society. This may require ‘check on false implication of innocent citizens on caste lines’.” Observing that the law should not result in caste hatred, the court overlooked the fact that the Act had to be enacted due to caste hatred. The review judgment said that such riders for registering a report are wrong and it would give an advantage to upper castes whose complaints can be registered

Dated: 03.Oct.2019 DNS Notes

without any such inquiry. How frequently do SCs/STs face atrocities? A crime is committed against an SC every 15 minutes. Six SC women are raped every day on an average. Between 2007 and 2017, there was a 66 per cent growth in crimes against SCs. Data from the National Crime Record Bureau, which the 2018 judgment was based on, showed cases of rape of SC women had doubled in 10 years. On Tuesday, Justice Mishra quoted the Subramanian Swamy judgment (2014) in which the court had held that where statutory provisions are unambiguous, the court cannot read these down. The court accepted that Dalits have suffered for long and negated the basis of last year’s judgment in which the court had commented on false cases under the Act. Were similar guidelines not issued by the SC in other cases? The Supreme Court can lay down guidelines only in cases of legislative gaps. For instance, it laid down guidelines on sexual harassment, khap panchayats, lynching etc. But where the field is occupied by parliamentary legislation, the judiciary is bound by the text of law. It can, however, examine constitutionality of such a law. The review order observed that the March 2018 guidelines encroached upon the field reserved for Parliament, and therefore recalled these directions.

Dated: 03.Oct.2019 DNS Notes Personal Notes

Dated: 03.Oct.2019 DNS Notes

Title 5. Raining Misery (The Hindu, Page 10)

Syllabus Mains: GS Paper 3 : Disaster management

Theme Floods

Highlights Context :

Large parts of the capital, Patna, have been paralysed without power and communications.

The State government is trying to drain its streets of water, and critical rations are being distributed by boat

and helicopter. The grim situation of floods highlights a need for overhauling the way in which floods are

managed.

Highlights

• Indian cities are attracting heavy investments in several spheres, but State and municipal

administrations have not matched their ambitions for development with capacity building and

infrastructure creation.

• They must focus on ensuring the safety of citizens and durability of economic assets. Ignoring urban

planning and adaptation is proving costly, and losses are sapping the vitality of the economy.

• In its Cities and Climate Change report, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change pointed to

flooding as a key danger, apart from drought and heat islands.

• This is particularly true of urban centres through which rivers flow — such as Patna — and are often

located on the coast, facing the additional threat of cyclones. India’s cities should work towards

solutions that use engineering and ecology to contain the excess water from rain and put it to good

use.

• This could be in the form of new lakes and bioswales, which are vegetated channels to manage

rainwater.

• There is no better time to create such green infrastructure than today, as water management is a

priority programme of the NDA government.

• States should be able to find financial and technical linkages to put up flood-handling structures.

• In Bihar’s case, coordination with Nepal to track monsoon flows is also vital, since big Gangetic rivers

originate in the Himalayan region.

Dated: 03.Oct.2019 DNS Notes

Personal Notes

Dated: 03.Oct.2019 DNS Notes

Title 6. Cement firm to use plastic waste for fuel in Meghalaya (The Hindu, Page 06)

Syllabus Mains: GS Paper 3 : Environment

Theme Plastic pollution

Highlights Context:

The Meghalaya government has signed an agreement with a major cement firm for buying

plastic waste to be used as fuel instead of coal for producing clinkers.

Highlights

• Meghalaya has almost 10% of India’s limestone reserves.

• Further , these cement companies rely largely on coal which is also mined in the Meghalaya

• The cement firm that offered to buy the plastic waste had its factory retrofitted to consume

plastics in place of coal.

• The State Pollution Control Board would be monitoring the ambient air quality after the

plastics are burned so that no harmful emission takes place, he added.

• Meghalaya had begun battling plastic in 2018 by building the first plastic road in Nongstoin

town followed by another in Tura town this year.

• A few months ago, the Meghalaya Plastic Challenge was introduced which speaks about

plastic waste management by involving local organisations and traditional tribal bodies.

Personal Notes

Dated: 03.Oct.2019 DNS Notes