Whatsapp 93125-11015 For Details
Addressing delegates from 195 countries at an Interpol event in New Delhi, Home Minister Amit Shah said the world needed to build a consensus on the definition of terrorism and should not attribute political reasons to terrorism.
Terrorism is a global problem. I firmly believe that nothing violates human rights more than terrorism. To combat cross-border terrorism, we need cross-border cooperation.
Interpol is the best platform for that. But first of all, all countries need to reach a consensus on the definition of terrorism. If this consensus is not reached, we will not be able to combat terrorism unitedly.
The resolve to fight terrorism in a united manner and the narrative of good terrorism and bad terrorism, and big terrorism and small terrorism, cannot run together,” Shah said at the closing ceremony of the 90th general assembly of the international association of national police forces.
The event that started on October 18 has seen the participation from 195 countries, and issues related to cooperation between member countries in combating terrorism, financial crimes, drug trafficking and child sex abuse were discussed. Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the inaugural session and urged the Interpol to speed up the process of issuing red corner notices as “corrupt and terrorists could not be allowed to have safe havens”.
Shah said the world would also have to build a consensus on the challenge of the spread of terrorism through online radicalisation from across the border.
We cannot see it through the prism of political ideologies. If we consider online radicalisation a political problem, then our fight against terrorism shall remain incomplete. India is committed to fight global terrorism along with the Interpol through technical inputs and manpower.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah hands over the Interpol flag to Andreas Holzer, Director of the Austrian Criminal Intelligence Service (CIS) on the concluding day of the 90th general Assembly of the Interpol in New Delhi.
Shah also batted for counterterror agencies across the world having a similar but separate, robust platform for sharing information.
It has been seen that in many countries the Interpol nodal agency and the counterterror agency are different. In such a situation it becomes difficult to bring all counterterror agencies of the world on one platform.
It is my suggestion to the Interpol that a mechanism must be established for real-time information sharing among all counterterror agencies in the world. This will strengthen our battle against terrorism.
The Interpol nodal agency in India is the CBI, but the counterterror agency is the National Investigation Agency. While the latter functions under the Ministry of Home Affairs, the former is under the Prime Minister’s Office.
Supreme Court: Act against hate speeches without waiting for complaint (Page no. 3)
(GS Paper 2, Polity and Governance)
Expressing its anguish over hate speeches, while calling these “very disturbing” and wondering “what have we reduced religion to”, the Supreme Court in interim directions directed the police chiefs of Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand to take “immediate” suomotu action against the offenders by lodging criminal cases without waiting for formal complaints.
It warned authorities that “any hesitation to act in accordance with this direction will be viewed as contempt of court and appropriate action shall be taken against the erring officers”.
The bench of Justices K M Joseph and Hrishikesh Roy issued directions on a petition by Shaheen Abdullah, a resident of Kozhikode in Kerala, who highlighted speeches delivered at a Virat Hindu Sabha organised by the VHP’s Delhi unit and other Hindu organisations in the Capital on October 10, and other similar petitions seeking action following hate speeches against Muslims at some DharamSansad events.
The bench sought to know what action had been taken over hate speeches in Delhi, UP and Uttarakhand, including a recent one in which BJP leader ParveshVerma called for “total boycott” without naming any community.
Before the bench dictated its order, Justice Joseph said, “This is the 21st century. Where have we reached? What have we reduced religion to? Article 51A speaks of scientific temper. It is tragic.
In its order, the bench said, respondents 2 to 4 (Delhi Police Commissioner and Director Generals of Police of Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh) “will file a report as to what action has been taken in regard to such acts as are the subject matter of this writ petition within their jurisdiction.
The bench said they “shall ensure that immediately as and when any speech or any action takes place which attracts offences such as Sections 153A, 153B and 295A and 505 of the IPC etc, suomotu action will be taken to register cases even if no complaint is forthcoming and proceed against the offenders in accordance with law.
Section 153A of IPC deals with promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony; 153B speaks about imputations, assertions prejudicial to national-integration); 295A refers to deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs; Section 505 deals with statements conducing to public mischief.
Warning of contempt action over failure to act against those making hate speeches, the Supreme Court is reminding authorities that there are enough provisions in the Indian Penal Code to initiate suomotu action.
It has specifically pointed to IPC sections 153A, 153B, 295A and 505 to deal with speeches promoting enmity on grounds of religion, public mischief and threatening national integration.
Govt. and Politics
DefExpo 2022 opens to public; AK-203, Rafale model on display (Page no. 11)
(GS Paper 3, Defence)
Visitors huddled the DefExpo 2022 venue to see the AK-203 by put on display by the Indo-Russian Rifles Pvt Ltd, as the exhibition in Gandhinagar opened to public.
Though the 12th edition of DefExpo 2022 was largely meant for Indian exhibitors, some foreign counterparts operating through Indian joint-venture firms, including from the US, UK, France and Israel, had also placed exhibits.
The counter belonged to the Indo-Russian joint firm that manufactures AK-203 assault rifles — from the Kalashnikov family of rifles — in Amethi district of Uttar Pradesh.
This firm has both Kalashnikov and Rosoboronexport producing rifles with Indian Defence public sector undertakings (PSUs). The only other major Russian presence at the DefExpo was Brahmos Aerospace.
A few metres away in Hall number 9, a French Dassault Aviation and Airbus had their stalls in close proximity with British Rolls-Royce. In Hall 8 and 12, Boeing and Lockheed Martin had set up displays of their Indian joint ventures.
Dassault Aircraft Service India Pvt Ltd has exhibited a model of Rafale fighter jets that have been delivered in India recently. “We have also displayed the Rafale M, a single-seat Naval version which we plan to sell to the Indian Navy,” said a French executive at the company’s stall who declined to be identified as he is was not the spokesperson of the company.
We brought these exhibits in March 2022. But we had to ship everything back after the DefExpo was postponed. Now we have brought everything back,” the French executive added about the DefExpo2022 which was originally scheduled to be held from March 10-14 at the same venue.
The exhibition was postponed by the Government of India, just four days before the scheduled beginning. The outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war was cited as the reason for postponing the event, which had foreign exhibitors, including Russians, Ukrainians, Americans and British.
The Russia-Ukraine war continues to remain an subject, about which many hesitate to speak about. When asked about the challenges faced by RollsRoyce while attending the DefExpo 2022, an Indian executive representing the company exhibiting Diesel engines for Naval and Coast Guard ships said, “I cannot comment. I am not sure if I can speak on the subject especially when our officials from HR and Brands are not around.”
The DefExpo saw over 1,300 Indian firms participating and most of it was dominated by defence PSUs. A discount of 25 per cent was also offered to space bookings to encourage wider participation of Indian companies.
Express Network
To push MSME, housing credit in the hinterland, govt plans to involve RRBs(Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
To provide credit to rural consumers, the government is planning to leverage the 15,000-odd strong network of the 43 Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) in the country by asking them to expand their portfolio by adding new segments.
The proposed mandate will require RRBs to go beyond their mainstay of agricultural loans to extending credit for education, housing and even small businesses in rural India.
This push to the RRBs by the government comes at a time when the Department of Financial Services has flagged concerns about public-sector banks having slowed lending to education loans due to higher defaults and the continuing struggle of the Micro Small and Medium Enterprise sector which suffered the most in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic and national and local lockdowns.
Government sources said the initiatives and targets will be part of the Enhanced Access & Service Excellence (EASE) reforms being undertaken by the Centre. EASE reforms were launched in 2018 for the public sector banks and are currently in their fifth phase.
Rural banks, for instance, would be asked to look beyond crop loans and also provide loans for tractors, small businesses in rural areas and education and housing loans too in rural areas.
Rural banks figure last in the list of banking options for people even in rural areas, who prefer a public-sector bank or even private banks and that needs to change. All these will be part of EASE reforms.
The Centre had in August-end asked PSBs to increase education loan disbursements amid complaints of delays in sanction and rejection of loan applications.
The Centre is working on a proposal to raise the guarantee limit for education loans from Rs 7.5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh to ensure banks restart lending to the education sector, The Indian Express reported on October 13.
Providing RRBs a new mandate may serve two purposes: it will help them expand their business by leveraging their huge rural network and local understanding, and also enhance credit access to rural consumers for purposes such as education, housing and micro businesses.
Asking RRBs to lend towards education, housing and small businesses would also help ease credit availability to the sectors. Another source said that the government wants the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) to guide rural banks.
The IBA currently does not have expertise to guide rural banks and the association may look at creating an RRB division at a later stage to guide them through the process.
RRBs came into being in 1975. In contrast, private banks, which were allowed after 1991 economic liberalisation, have a market share of 40 per cent of the total banking business.
Under the EASE programmebeing discussed, RRBs will be guided towards becoming more competitive and business friendly – making them customer friendly is top on the agenda.
PSBs, under the EASE programme, have a common reforms agenda to improve profitability, asset quality, customer service and digital capabilities. The programme has yielded results for PSBs and is in its fifth phase, where banks are working towards digitising operations.
Editorial Page
Not Hindi or English(Page no. 14)
(GS Paper 2, Polity and Governance)
India’s linguistic diversity poses two different challenges. The first is the imposition of Hindi as the primary language across the country.
This aspiration is resisted by different states. India has historically done well, and did not meet the fate of Sri Lanka, by creating linguistic states, by working out a three-language formula, and by a political culture that, with the exception of old Lohiaites and the BJP, has not pressed hard on the question of a single language.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s remarks on English in a recent campaign rally, the controversy over medical education in Hindi and the parliamentary report on promoting Hindi, will give new life to this politics.
But there is another subtler issue that gets overshadowed by the question of “Hindi imposition” — the status of vernacular languages.
The anomaly of the Indian language experiment is not the political accommodation given to so many languages. It is that the accommodation comes with a hierarchy.
English has been the language of power, at the frontiers of knowledge and access to privilege. The vernacular had become increasingly confined to identity, culture, and a marker of second-class status. The challenge of Hindi, for example, is not that it might be imposed on the South. That is easy to deal with.
The challenge of Hindi is that inhabiting the world of Hindi is seen as closing off access to the frontiers of knowledge, not just in science but in civic knowledge, like higher echelons of law.
It is also treated as a marker of parochialism and inferior status. The problem may be less acute with other languages like Tamil, Kannada or Bengali, but it exists.
The anomaly of the India experiment is not diversity: It is the claim that the language of self, identity and culture be different from the language of knowledge, privilege and access.
This is the experiment India is conducting on a large scale. Is it a sustainable one? Arguably, behind the success of the BJP in North India is not the desire to impose Hindi.
It is the untapped resentment of a Hindi culture that often is made conscious of its own second-class status in global hierarchies. Millions of vernacular speakers feel disenfranchised in the worlds of knowledge and prestige.
State failure compounds this problem. India’s two-language formula produces a superficial bilingualism. We may speak two or three languages.
But most of us cannot operate at the frontiers of knowledge in two languages. And the teaching of the third language is totally wasted. There is so much hand-wringing about the Nehruvian state sidelining Indian culture.
But the real issue was not that Sanskrit was sidelined. It was that it is taught in a way that even after years in our school system, those who had passed the exam had no competence in it.
Explained Page
Scorched-earth tactics (Page no. 17)
(GS Paper 3, Defence)
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Russian President Vladimir Putin was using “energy and hunger” as weapons but his “scorched earth tactics” would not help Russia win the war over Ukraine.
Speaking to the German parliament, Scholz said, “We will not let Moscow’s latest escalation go unanswered … Scorched earth tactics will not help Russia win the war. They will only strengthen the unity and resolve of Ukraine and its partners.”
Scholz’s comments came as Ukraine was forced to ask its residents to cut down on electricity usage amid sustained Russian bombing of energy infrastructure.
Scorched earth tactics form part of a military strategy which seeks to destroy anything that could be of use to the enemy, including energy supplies, bridges, provision stores, agricultural fields, road and railway links, etc.
The destruction could be carried out by the enemy, or by the retreating army of a country which does not want invaders to use its resources. Harming civilians as part of this strategy has been banned under the 1977 Geneva Convention.
According to the Oxford Reference, the “term was first used in English in 1937 in a report of the Sino-Japanese conflict, and is apparently a translation of Chinese jiāotŭ.”
The strategy seeks to deplete the enemy’s resources to sustain warfare, and also break their morale by inflicting heavy hardships on combatants and non-combatants alike.
Over the past week, Russia has rained missiles on Ukraine’s cities, destroying civilian infrastructure, including power and water supply lines.
As winter approaches, lack of electricity is likely to cause serious suffering. Experts have commented that the tactic is being used by Russia as on the actual battlefield, its military is experiencing setbacks.
According to a Wall Street Journal report, Ukrainian cities are “highly dependent on reliable electricity supplies and centralised heating. Any disruption to these during winter can cause pipes to burst and render high-rises uninhabitable.”
Scorched earth policy has been part of warfare since ancient times, with the nomad Scythians using the tactics in their war against the Persian Achaemenid Empire led by King Darius the Great (who ruled 522 BCE to 486 BCE). The nomadic herders Scythians would hide in the steppes after destroying food supplies and poisoning wells.
A notable example of the use of this tactic came during the American civil war in 1864, when Union General William Tecumseh Sherman and his soldiers burnt everything in sight as they marched through Confederate areas.
The campaign, known as the March to the Sea, is estimated to have cost the South close to $100 million. Sherman’s men pillaged farms, destroyed railway tracks and factories, set fire to cotton crops, and even burnt land deeds so that plantation owners would not be able to prove ownership.
Economy
Internationalisation of rupee has risks but they are unavoidable: RBI deputy governor (Page no. 23)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) deputy governor T Rabi Sankar said there are many advantages to internationalisation of the rupee but, at the same time, there are risks associated with it which are unavoidable if India wants to become an economic power.
In July this year, RBI came out with a scheme permitting rupee settlement of international trade.
Internationalisation of the rupee is a process that involves increasing use of the local currency in cross-border transactions.
It involves promoting the rupee for import and export trade and then other current account transactions followed by its use in capital account transactions.
If a substantial portion of its trade is in rupee, non-residents would hold rupee balances in India which would be used to acquire Indian assets. Large holdings of such financial assets could heighten vulnerability to external shocks, managing which would necessitate more effective policy tools.