Daily Hindu Editorials

There is as much politics around the Winter Olympics as enthusiasm about sport The Russian doping scandal continues to cast a long shadow over international sport as the 2018 Winter Olympics begin in PyeongChang, South Korea, on February 9. In December, the International Olympic Committee banned Russia from competing in the Games following investigation into an alleged state-sponsored doping programme at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. The decision to ban Russia came after the IOC’s Disciplinary Commission, headed by former president of the Swiss Confederation Samuel Schmid, confirmed “systemic manipulation of the anti-doping rules and system in Russia”. The IOC had stated, however, that clean Russian athletes would be allowed to compete as neutrals and last month invited 169 of them — each to be known as Olympic Athlete from Russia (OAR) — to participate in the PyeongChang Games. The announcement did not go down well outside Russia, even though the IOC declared that “more

The Union Budget has reinforced the correction of the inverted duty structure (IDS) which has adversely impacted manufacturing for decades. An IDS means higher duty on intermediate as opposed to final/finished goods, with the latter often enjoying concessional custom duty under some schemes. The Budget has raised customs duties significantly; Chinese/other imports have swamped India’s small- and medium-sized enterprises and large manufacturing companies, raising the import-intensity of manufacturing as well as dampening job growth by raising capital intensity. So it is no surprise that the share of manufacturing in GDP and employment has not risen since 1991. We have ceded ground to China as the ‘factory of Asia and the world’, a process that must be reversed urgently if we are to realise the ‘Make in India’ dream. The goods and services tax (GST), especially the IGST or Integrated GST component, has begun to erode the advantage that the IDS was giving to foreign exporters in Indian m

It would be absurd to construe the new roster for allocation of cases in the Supreme Court, with division of work among the judges according to various subject categories, as a move towards greater objectivity or fairness. This new roster comes on the heels of an important press conference by the four senior-most judges of the Supreme Court expressing dissatisfaction at the manner of allocation of cases and the high-handedness of the Chief Justice of India in asserting his supremacy as master of roster to the exclusion of the senior judges of the court. But even a cursory glance at this new roster raises more questions than puts to rest the issue of a fair and transparent roster for allocation of cases in our apex court. 🔹In consultation? Was this roster prepared in consultation with senior judges of the Supreme Court? Have the cases been allocated according to a particular judge’s expertise in a subject matter? Has the allocation been done in keeping with principles and procedures

Beneath the bluster in U.S. President Donald Trump’s talk on trade, there seems to be a realisation of the risks to his globally disruptive agenda. Mr. Trump, who has routinely decried several global arrangements as adversarial and zero-sum, explained at the recent Davos World Economic Forum that “America first does not mean America alone.” This could pave the way for a more realistic appraisal of the world, by an administration somewhat isolated in the global arena. The import of that remark became clear when Mr. Trump declared that he was open to revisiting the Trans-Pacific Partnership that he had pulled out of last year. Overcoming differences, the remaining 11 nations of that original grouping will adopt in March 2018 the renamed Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership. Echoing Mr. Trump’s new thinking are also talks on the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Negotiations are now dominated by details over whether Canada and Mexico could be a

With three disgruntled allies, the BJP is struggling to hold its partners together Alliances are needed most in wartime, even if they are best made in peacetime. The Bharatiya Janata Party does not depend on the numerical strength of any alliance partner for its survival in government at the Centre, but it could well need all the help it can get in 2019 for the next Lok Sabha election. In the south, where it requires electoral partners the most, the BJP counts only on the Telugu Desam Party in Andhra Pradesh, but the strains are beginning to show on this long-standing friendship. Suddenly, the BJP finds itself having to deal with a belligerent TDP, which is under some political pressure to demonstrate to its support base that it is doing all it can to get the best deal for the State from the Centre. Also, the glue that bound these two parties earlier — that of anti-Congressism — is wearing somewhat thin now. After the founding of Telangana, the Congress is no longer the TDP’s principa

A second referendum is not a good idea, says the campaigner who took the British government to the Supreme Court over Brexit Gina Miller, née Gina Singh, was thrust into the spotlight in 2016 after a London court appointed her as the lead claimant in a case that attempted to ensure that the British government sought parliamentary approval before triggering Article 50, Britain’s formal notification of withdrawal from the European Union (EU). Born in Guyana, with part Indian ancestry, and the daughter of that country’s former attorney general, Ms. Miller pursued a number of campaigns before the one on Brexit, including one to increase greater transparency in the British financial services industry. The backlash she faced from sections of the right in Britain after the court accepted her arguments on the need for parliamentary approval have not prevented her from continuing to be a vocal progressive voice on Brexit-related issues, sexual harassment, and the £1 billion deal struck betwee