Daily Hindu Editorials

‘Uncooperative’ Federalism The 15th Finance Commission’s Terms of Reference need moderation, or else states will lose fiscal powers. The Finance Commission is a constitutional body, an indepen­dent arbiter of resources between the union and the states. The core mandate of the commission is to divide union taxes in a way that enables the union and the states to perform their respective expenditure responsibilities defined in the 7th Schedule of the Constitution of India. Finance commissions in the past had performed this role admirably, and as an institution it earned tremendous respect among all stakeholders. One of the major strengths of India’s federal fiscal structure is an independent finance commission and the role it has played in strengthening federalism in this country. The commission’s mandate is defined by its “Terms of Reference” (ToR). The 15th Finance Commission’s (XV-FC) ToR have raised serious apprehensions among states. Apart from the controve...

Remember Asifa Bano Stop and ask, can depravity, brutality and injustice be justified by religion and politics? Asifa Bano is a name we should not forget. The brutal murder and serial rape of this eight-year-old Bakherwal–Gujjar girl living in a village 72 km from Jammu is horrific enough in all its detail. But, what has emerged since the police investigation led to the arrest of the alleged perpetrators of the crime is even worse, for it has exposed the fault lines in our society. How have we reached a point where the rape and murder of a child is used to fuel communal hatred and promote politically sanctioned impunity for criminals? The gruesome details about what happened to Asifa between 10 January, when she disappeared, to 17 January, when her brutalised young body was found, are terrifying because of what this represents in terms of human depravity. That a child could be abducted, drugged, confined in a temple, repeatedly beaten and raped, and then mu...

👉 Govt launches e- FRRO scheme to provide hassle-free travel for foreigners • The government has launched the web-based application ‘e-FRRO’ (e-Foreigners Regional Registration Office) which aims to provide efficient visa related services online to foreigners visiting India. => About ‘e- FRRO ’ scheme • The e-FRRO scheme is aimed at building a centralized, transparent online platform for the foreigners to avail visa related services and to provide Faceless, Cashless and Paperless services to the foreigners with user friendly experience. • Under the scheme, foreigners would be able to get as many as 27 Visa and Immigration related services in India from the comfort of their place of stay. • Using the e-FRRO application, foreigners can apply online on the portal and obtain the service(s) through email/post without appearing in person at the FRO/FRRO office. • Advantages of e-FRRO include facilitation of legitimate foreigners through “Digital India” vision of the Govern...

💥 Daily word bytes - 1  from editorial  - Divided we Fall  💥 terms of reference (phrase)  – scope, limits, range/purview. Hindu Editorial usage :  Prime Minister Narendra Modi thinks vested interests are behind the “baseless” allegation that the terms of reference of the 15th Finance Commission are biased against certain States or a region vested interest (noun)  – a personal interest in something to get benefit. Hindu Editorial usage :  Prime Minister Narendra Modi thinks vested interests are behind the “baseless” allegation that the terms of reference of the 15th Finance Commission are biased against certain States or a region bias (against) (phrase) - prejudice against someone; influence, sway. Hindu Editorial usage :  Prime Minister Narendra Modi thinks vested interests are behind the “baseless” allegation that the terms of reference of the 15th Finance Commission are biased against certain States or a region clamour ...

👉Gold (17) M.C. Mary Kom won 45-48 kg category boxing event, claiming gold in her debut Commonwealth Games. Bajrang Punia won the gold medal in freestyle 65kg wrestling. Tejaswini Sawant won the 50m rifle position event 15-year-old Anish Bhanwala bagged gold in men's 25m rapid fire pistol. In men's freestyle 74kg wrestling, double Olympic-medallist Sushil Kumar won gold. Rahul Aware added another gold medal to India's tally, winning in the Men's Freestyle 57kg wrestling event. In the double trap women shooting, India's Shreyasi Singh won gold. Shooter Heena Sidhu won gold in 25m pistol event to give India its 11th gold medal in the Games. The Indian mixed team badminton claimed gold for the first time in the Games' history. In the 10m men's air pistol event, India's Jitu Rai won gold. This is his second Commonwealth gold.  In the women's table tennis event, the Indian team won its first ever Commonwealth gold ...

💥Perhaps we need to turn to art to understand the inner conflict of the Indian political tradition💥 Recent work by the Mumbai-based artist and curator, one of the founders of the Kochi Biennale, Riyas Komu interrogates our relationship with both the symbols of the state and the values that they are meant to enshrine and invoke. “Holy Shiver”, a series of works including sculptures in metal, wood and terracotta, videos, oil portraits, woodcuts, installations and archival prints, refers to the instinctive response of the body, whether animal or human, when it senses danger and enters a ‘fight or flight’ mode. Horripilation (the hair on the back of the neck standing on end), the trembling of the extremities, the tensing of muscles — these primordial physical reactions to a perceived external threat Komu uses as an allegory for how the body politic responds when confronted with the ‘other’, whoever is identified as an enemy of the ‘self’. The instinctual biological ‘shiver’ o...

💥The debate on the Finance Commission’s terms of reference needs reshaping💥 Prime Minister Narendra Modi thinks vested interests are behind the “baseless” allegation that the terms of reference of the 15th Finance Commission are biased against certain States or a region. He did not name the region, but he was clearly responding to growing clamour from the southern States for a rethink on the parameters for the Commission to determine revenue-sharing between the Centre and the States. The southern States are concerned that the Commission is switching from the 1971 Census to the 2011 Census. This means States that have done relatively better to control population growth could see their allocations, as a fraction of the total resources, reduced. However, speaking in Chennai Mr. Modi said a State like Tamil Nadu would actually benefit from the Commission’s mandate as the Centre has mooted incentives for those who have done well on population control. That the Prime Minister has had t...

💥Fixing road design and enforcing safety protocols should be priorities💥 Bald data on Indians killed or injured in road accidents put out annually by the Centre obscure the human impact of the carnage on national and State highways, as well as urban and rural roads. Given the level of official indifference, it would be unsurprising if the deaths this week of at least 23 children and many others in a school bus crash in Kangra, Himachal Pradesh, or of the 18 labourers in a lorry accident in Maharashtra, or of nine people in a truck mishap in Uttar Pradesh are mere blips on the radar of administrators. Bringing sanity to the roads of a fast-motorising country seems to be nobody’s responsibility. India as a whole is inured to the ghastly toll every year, although the Supreme Court has been trying to shake governments out of their apathy through the Committee on Road Safety it constituted in 2014 and several specific and time-bound directions. The response of the Centre and the State...