The Hindu Editorial News Analysis 7th Dec 2017

Table of Contents

Dec 06, 2017 – Fifth Bi-monthly Monetary Policy Statement for 2017-18
RBI Monetary Policy: MPC maintains status quo; repo rate unchanged at 6%
RBI Act was amended in May 2016 was that
Price stability is a necessary precondition to sustainable growth
Monetary Policy Committee (MPC)
Maldives‟ FTA with China signals a drift in Delhi- Male ties
Development of Hulhule island
$1 billion, Chinese companies are exploring tourism prospects
said this week that it is not satisfied with the working of the FTA with India.
Beijing‟s success in outreach South Asia
Belt and Road Initiative, China seems to be ready to ramp up business
ties across South Asia
China already has an FTA with Pakistan, and is exploring or negotiating F
TAs with Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal
PLA-Navy might be looking for a military base in the islands linked to projects in Djibouti, Gwadar and Hambantota.

Let us be realistic about the UNSC

International Court of Justice seems to have lifted our spirits as a nation.
It would be prudent, however, not to interpret this in a way as to raise hopes of a
permanent seat in the Security Council.
The UNSC election
Two most prestigious organs of the United Nations are
• 1)-Security Council and
• 2)-International Court of Justice.
While the Security Council has 15 member states, the ICJ has 15 judges.
Election to the UNSC is conducted only in GA and requires 2/3 majority to get elected.
Election to the ICJ is held concurrently in the UNGA and UNSC and requires absolute
majority of the total membership in each organ
UNSC is by far more important from the national interest point of view.
It deals with questions of
• 1)-Peace and
• 2)-Security as well as
• 3)-Terrorism
Since it is in permanent session, we have to try to be its member as often as possible.
• 1)- Hafeez Saeed
• 2)- Kashmir issue, which Pakistan
• 3)-NSG
ICJ is required to represent the principal civilisations and legal systems of the world.
The judges sitting on ICJ are expected to act impartially, not as representatives of the
countries of their origin
ACABQ (Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions) and the
Committee on Contributions
Serving on both these committees, G. Parthasarathy, S.K Singh, as well as our current
permanent representative, ambassador Syed Akbaruddin.
Human Rights Council; we have had almost continuous representation on it- The U.S. lost the election to it a few years ago
The veto question
Primarily at our initiative, the question of Security Council reform, euphemism for expansion, has been under consideration since 1970s.
There is near unanimous support for increasing the number of non-permanent seats.
The controversial question is about the increase in the category of permanent seats
India, along with Brazil, Germany and Japan, has proposed an increase of six additional
permanent seats, the other two being for Africa.
G4’s initial position was for the same rights as the present permanent members, essentially
the veto right- Over the years, they have become more realistic
P-5 will never agree to give up their veto right, nor will they agree to accord this right to
any other country.
(France supports veto for additional permanent members.)
General membership of the UN wants to eliminate the existing veto;
P-5 are not willing to dilute their self-acquired right
We should be realistic.
If a permanent seat is not available, there are other proposals on the table.
One proposal is for the creation of „semi-permanent’ seats, according to which members
would be elected for six-eight years and would be eligible for immediate reelection.
Given India’s growing prestige and respect, it should not be difficult for us to successfully
bid for one of these seats;
It might be a better alternative than to unrealistically hope for a permanent seat

Universal health coverage

UHC provides the framework in which the issues of access, quality and cost can be integrated Recent incidents- High-profile corporate hospitals.
Two cases involved children with dengue who died soon after leaving these hospitals in a
serious condition after their families were presented huge hospitalisation and treatment bills.
The third case involved a live premature baby being “declared dead” and handed over
to the parents wrapped(लपेटा हुआ) in plastic
Lack of professional standards- Medical bills, running into huge •- figures,
Three major issues are involved when we assess health care:
• 1)-Access,
• 2)-Quality and
• 3)-Cost.
Each of these needs to be addressed with clarity, and not in isolation.
Major challenge before poorly served rural areas and overcrowded urban areas
Government institutions suffer from low budgets and a lack of managerial talent
Universal Health Coverage (UHC), now enshrined in the Sustainable Development Goals
Steps to improving access
Higher levels of public •financing, investment in training and incentivised placements of
more health personnel and improved management through the creation of a public health
management cadre.
National Health Policy, 2017 and need urgent implementation.
Clinical Establishments Act is a good beginning, in moving healthcare facilities towards registration, ensuring compliance with essential standards of equipment and performance,
adopting standard management guidelines, grievance redress mechanisms, and respecting
encoded patient rights.
Managing cost
High out-of-pocket spending on health care leads to unacceptable levels of impoverishment.
Schemes can only provide limited cost coverage to subscribers.
Solution lies in doubling the level of public •financing to at least 2.5% of GDP by 2019,
rather than 2025, as proposed in the National Health Policy,
Success of UHC depends on effective regulation

Recognise the technology constraints

India‟s reliance on imported digital technologies cannot be levelled overnight to make way
for a uniform data law
Can law •fix what technology has cast in stone? This is the question that the committee of
experts led by Justice B.N. Srikrishna- Craft a data protection law for India.
White Paper- Rights and principles
What is missing from the paper, however, is an understanding of the many technologies that come together currently to protect data in India.
Cannot be levelled overnight to make way for a uniform data protection law.
For instance, more than 80% of Indian smartphone users today rely on Google‟s Android
operating system.
But the majority of those mobile devices are sold by Samsung, Xiaomi or Oppo.
Does the committee believe an operating system designed in Silicon Valley and a mobile
phone manufactured in China‟s Guangdong Province have similar rules to protect data?
Data of every citizen were to be held inside the country, the state could probably enforce rules for its storage and sharing.
But to demand “data localisation” would be unwise (the Srikrishna Committee too acknowledges this).
Many of the world’s giant data centres are located in northern climes near water bodies,
Since they require mild temperatures and enormous quantities of water to cool thousands
of servers.
U.S. Department of Energy in 2015 estimated that data centres in the country took about 2%
of its overall power supply.
Can India, with its round-the-year warm climate and scarce natural resources
, really afford to divert electricity and water to maintain data centres?
Need to spend substantial amounts on physically securing these installations.
India‟s inability to localise data means its digital economy is governed by hundreds of
“private” data protection policies, some of which even contradict each other
Modest solution could be to allow companies to pursue independent data protection policies (guided by baseline norms), but monitor their enforcement through a national,
multi-stakeholder agency.
United States Federal Trade Commission performs such a role
When the Indian digital ecosystem is mature enough, there could be more comprehensive
guidelines on the storing, sharing and collection of data

Prelims Focus Facts-News Analysis

Page-1– capital: U.S
Embassy to be moved out of Tel Aviv
U.S. President Donald Trump reversed decades of policy on Wednesday and recognised Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, despite warnings from around the world.
Page-1- Quake in Uttarakhand, tremors in Delhi
An earthquake measuring 5.5 on the Richter Scale hit Uttarakhand around 8.45 p.m. on Wednesday, causing tremors in Delhi-NCR.
Epicentre of the earthquake was in Rudraprayag, at a depth of 30 kilometres.
Page-7– Guinness memory record for Keralite
Santhi Sathyan has been undergoing memory training for seven years
There is a misconception that memory is an innate skill whereas it is a result of
years of training and perseverance, says Santhi Sathyan, who holds a Guinness world record for the longest sequence of objects memorised in a minute.
Page-8– „8% drop in environmental crimes‟
Data released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) recently have shown
a decline of over 8% in environmental crimes across the country.
Environmental crimes include offences related to
1)-Indian Forest Act, 1927,
2)-Wildlife Protection Act, 1972,
3)-Environmental (Protection) Act, 1986,
4)-Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981, and
5)-Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974.
Like in 2015, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh remained the highest contributor
Sikkim set to become fully literate in 2018: CM
Centre to promote tourism in Northeast
Jaitley asks industry to invest in infra
Scale up tea exports, says Prabhu