Daily Hindu Editorials

Xi to visit India in 2019 (GS 2 IR) The Chinese premier accepted Mr. Modi’s invitation for another “informal summit”, like the one held in Wuhan between the two leaders, in India next year. Details:  Prime Minister of India and President of People’s Republic of China, Mr. Xi Jinping held their first Informal Summit in Wuhan on April 27-28, 2018, to exchange views on overarching issues of bilateral and global importance, and to elaborate their respective visions and priorities for national development in the context of the current and future international situation. PM Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping met on the sidelines of the 2-day Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit being held in the coastal city of Qingdao. It will be the first SCO summit since its expansion, when India and Pakistan were included as full members at the Astana summit in Kazakhstan last year. India is likely to pitch for concerted regional and global action against terror networks an...

👉The RBI’s inflation-targeting framework has reduced its flexibility to respond dynamically to other market-driven factors👈 Not so long ago, bi-monthly policy meetings of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) entailed nail-biting suspense for market participants, who watched it for cues to the future direction of interest rates. Rate hike decisions by the MPC, that too after a long pause, inevitably roiled the stock and bond markets. But the latest meeting saw the tables being turned. When the MPC decided to peg up its repo rate by 25 basis points, signalling a reversal from its cheap money policies of the last three years, traders and investors were unperturbed. The S&P BSE Sensex ended the day with a 275-point gain. The 10-year government security saw its yield rise by a mild 9 basis points. Commentators even congratulated the MPC for putting through a ‘dovish’ hike. If you are wondering about this non-reaction, blame Mr. Market for ...

👉A ‘bad bank’ is not a magic bullet; tackling NPAs requires other structural reforms as well👈 Union Minister Piyush Goyal, currently in charge of the Finance Ministry, has announced the formation of a committee to assess the idea of special asset reconstruction companies or asset management companies to take over bad loans from banks. The bankers’ panel has been given two weeks to revert. The idea of a ‘bad bank’ is not new. Chief Economic Adviser Arvind Subramanian had suggested the creation of a Public Sector Asset Rehabilitation Agency (PARA) to deal with what he described as India’s “festering twin balance sheet problem”. By this he meant over-leveraged corporates unable to service debt or invest afresh, and banks hit by non-performing assets (NPAs) cagey about fresh lending. This overhang hurts new investments and continues to dent India’s medium-term growth and job creation prospects. A professionally-run PARA, or the so-called ‘bad bank’, could assume custody of the larges...

👉The Taliban’s reciprocal truce against Afghan troops provides a glimmer of hope👈 The Taliban’s announcement of a three-day ceasefire with Afghan government troops for Eid, two days after President Ashraf Ghani declared an unconditional week-long ceasefire, is a glimmer of hope for a breakthrough in the long-struggling peace process. This is the first time the Taliban has announced a ceasefire in the 17 years since it was removed from power in Kabul. Though it has not acknowledged the government ceasefire, the timing and the public declaration unmistakably point to the reciprocity of the decision. In the past, Mr. Ghani’s government had tried several times to reach out to the Taliban to find a breakthrough in the conflict. In 2015, when both sides were in an advanced stage of talks, it was revealed that the Taliban leader Mullah Omar had died years ago, upending the whole process. In February, Mr. Ghani had invited the Taliban to shun weapons and join peace talks in return for se...

👉The time is now ripe for the government to create a data-driven governance architecture👈 The “audacity of hope” for a country of a billion aspirations is yet to bear result. The new wave of a technological revolution will not be from pure data or access to consumer behaviour. The application of data and their assimilation with solving social problems, enabling better governance and powering elected governments to serve their citizens better is ushering in a new revolution. When Artificial Intelligence is coupled with open data, a real paradigm shift begins. With choice and information-sharing now redefining consumer behaviour, every company is looking to embrace or at least look like it is embracing the new paradigm of data-driven innovation. 👉Privacy and consent “Datafication” of businesses has also brought to the fore the criticality of developing data management, storage and privacy laws. The European Union with its General Data Protection Regulation has been a front-r...

👉We need to amend the law and forge political consensus to avert subversion of democracy👈 Speakers and Governors, acting independently of each other or in concert, can navigate the destiny of State governments. Governors also have the capacity to install governments and give them enough time to manufacture a majority. The Governor’s discretion allows them the necessary elbow room to invite either the leader of the single largest party or the leader of a quick-fix post-poll alliance, engineered through generosity in kind or cash, to form the government and give that leader enough time to iron out the creases to win a trust vote in the Assembly. This is because Speakers and Governors, even after their appointments, continue to be guided by their respective parties’ best interests. The result is that those holding these exalted constitutional offices enjoy little public trust or credibility. Constitutional values are made subservient to political outcomes. The provisions of the ...

Modi likely to take the spirit of Wuhan to Qingdao  {International Relations} Why in news? Prime Minister Narendra Modi today departed for China’s Qingdao to attend the two-day long 18th Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). Agenda of SCO summit The SCO has a rich agenda for cooperation, ranging from fighting terrorism, separatism and extremism to promoting cooperation in connectivity, commerce, customs, law, health and agriculture; protecting the environment and mitigating disaster risk, and fostering people-to-people relations. Highlights This will be India’s first participation in the summit as a full-time member of the organisation. India, along with Pakistan, became the full-time member during Astana summit in June 2017. Prime Minister Modi is also scheduled to hold bilateral talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping apart from holding meetings with various other participating leaders. SCO The SCO is a permanent intergovernmental international organ...