Daily Hindu Editorials

💥 LAW COMMISSION FAVOURS SIMULTANEOUS ELECTIONS The Law Commission of India has proposed holding simultaneous state and general elections and has sought public opinion on its recommendations regarding the same. Commission has proposed a series of Constitutional and other amendments to the Representation of Peoples Act, 1951, and Rules of Procedure to carve the way for ‘One Nation, One Poll’. 👉 Key recommendations A definition of simultaneous elections should also be added to Section 2 of the 1951 Act and proposed that the ‘Vote of No Confidence’ be replaced with a “Constructive Vote of no Confidence”. This means that while moving on no confidence motion may also put forward an option for forming an alternative government inured to avoid premature dissolution of the house The Law Commission further deliberated that when a hung Parliament or assembly arises leading to a stalemate, the members of the house may sit together and decide on the leader of the house can form a ...

💥 Daily Word Bytes - 1  from editorial  - Chasing The Monsoon  💥 water audit (noun) – a method of quantifying water flows and quality in simple or complex systems, with a view to reducing water usage and often saving money on otherwise unnecessary water use. Hindu Editorial usage :   The forecast has enhanced the economic outlook, but India must conduct a water audit bound to (adjective) – certain/sure, very likely, guaranteed. Hindu Editorial usage :   average of 89 cm, is bound to raise fresh expectations. look forward to (phrasal verb) – anticipate, wait for, expect. Hindu Editorial usage :   This is the third year in a row that they can look forward to a high output for a variety of crops, although fiscal realities have come in the way of realising higher farm incomes. Minimum Support Price (MSP) (noun) – it is a form of market intervention by the Government of India to insure agricultural producers against a...

💥In Karnataka, political one-upmanship has driven the concerns of the State to the backstage While the major contenders on the political scene in Karnataka — the Congress, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and the Janata Dal (Secular) or JD(S) — are yet to release their manifestos, the full-blast campaign that they have unleashed has made it amply clear that their priority does not lie in mounting a programme and seeking their mandate, and eventually accountability on that ground, but merely in winning the elections. 👉Sound bite games They have a set of tactics up their sleeves to win, and have chosen to reinforce traditional modes of politicking, by employing new techniques and imagery of communication. Elections, far from being an occasion to reformulate and reorder common interests, have become in their hands an endorsement to govern yet for another term. They are turned into sophistries of managing castes and communities, sound bites, image-projection and communic...

💥As China’s leverage increases, New Delhi has to reimagine its terms of engagement with neighbours As Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeks to redefine the priorities of the Commonwealth at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in London this week, India’s neighbourhood policy is coming under scrutiny. The visit of Nepali Prime Minister K.P. Oli to India earlier this month has led to suggestions that it could mark a new beginning in India-Nepal ties after the troubles of the past, and Mr. Modi is likely to visit Nepal soon in part to regain some of India’s lost strategic clout. This would also be to impart one last dose of dynamism to his ‘Neighbourhood First’ policy before the 2019 general election. 👉Warm to cold Soon after coming to power, the Modi government had promised to give priority to the immediate neighbourhood; it did engage with most of the governments here productively for some time. Relations with Sri Lanka and Bangladesh saw a dramatic improvement while...

💥The forecast has enhanced the economic outlook, but India must conduct a water audit The forecast of a normal monsoon has brought relief all around. For farmers, the India Meteorological Department’s estimate that rainfall during the summer, between June and September, will be 97% of the 50-year average of 89 cm, is bound to raise fresh expectations. This is the third year in a row that they can look forward to a high output for a variety of crops, although fiscal realities have come in the way of realising higher farm incomes. The Centre has been supportive of higher returns through the Minimum Support Price mechanism and additional bonuses have been announced by States such as Madhya Pradesh for procurement, but these have helped mainly rice and wheat. From a water management perspective, though, this trend has led to a skew towards these crops, which are heavily dependent on groundwater. Now that another year of good cropping is expected, and unremunerative prices will depress...

💥The anger is justified, but not the proposal to grant capital punishment for rape of minors Each time a horrific sexual crime hits the headlines, there is a clamour for prescribing the death penalty for such offences. Given this, it is perhaps no surprise that the gang-rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in Jammu and Kashmir has evoked a similar response. Union Minister for Women and Child Development Maneka Gandhi has said her ministry will seek an amendment to the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012, to provide for death as the maximum punishment for the rape of those below 12. The anger is understandable but legislation ought to be a well-considered exercise and not a response based on a sense of outrage over particular incidents. The last time a ghastly crime led to legislative change was in 2013, following a national outcry over the gang rape and murder of a woman in Delhi in December 2012. That set of amendments to criminal law was a structured respo...

💥What non-alignment means to India depends on the prism through which it is viewed As the 18th mid-term ministerial meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) concluded in early April in Azerbaijan, the question of India’s non-alignment status resurfaced, even if the country’s official position on the matter has arguably remained unchanged over the years. Indeed, as a founding member of NAM, India has remained committed to the purposes and principles of the movement. The NAM question initially arose in response to the erstwhile bipolarity of political power during the Cold War years, with most nations aligning themselves to either the U.S. or the Soviet Union. The end of the Cold War and the disintegration of the Soviet Union spurred the question of what the essence of NAM was, and with respect to whom the NAM countries remained non-aligned. The ‘Ten principles of Bandung’, which were proclaimed in the Asian-African Conference in 1955, outlined the principles of NAM. Being th...

This refers to the process by which the frequency of a particular gene in an environment may be affected due to chance events. So, a particular genetic trait may be annihilated by, say, a catastrophe that wipes out a species. Meanwhile, other genes may be favoured by such random events. This is in contrast to natural selection wherein genes are gradually favoured or discarded by the natural environment in which they exist. Genetic drift is generally attributed to American geneticist Sewall Wright although it can be traced to earlier works of other scientists like Charles Darwin. To Download this editorial in PDF version CLICK HERE