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World
Far right wilders aims to be Dutch PM after shock win (Page no. 2)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
Far-right populist Geert Wilders wants to be the Netherlands’ next prime minister and would focus his efforts on curbing immigration, he said following a landmark election win that will have repercussions in the Netherlands and Europe.
A fan of former U.S. President Donald Trump and Hungary’s eurosceptic Prime Minister Viktor Orban, the vocally anti-Islam, anti-EU Wilders has also vowed to slash Dutch payments to the European Union and block the entrance of any new members, including Ukraine.
Though Wilders’ most radical ideas will be rejected by other parties he must work with in order to form a coalition government, fellow populists including Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister and leader of the hard-right League Matteo Salvini welcomed his win as showing that “a new Europe is possible.”
Spike in illness and pneumonia cases in China, WHO seeks more information (Page no. 2)
(GS Paper 2, Health)
Chinese officials say they did not detect any “unusual or novel diseases” in the country, the World Health Organization said, following an official request by the U.N. health agency for information about a potentially worrying spike in respiratory illnesses and clusters of pneumonia in children.
WHO cited unspecified media reports and a global infectious disease monitoring service as reporting clusters of undiagnosed pneumonia in children in northern China and formally requested more details from China earlier this week.
Outside scientists said the situation warranted close monitoring, but were not convinced that the recent spike in respiratory illnesses in China signaled the start of a new global outbreak.
The emergence of new flu strains or other viruses capable of triggering pandemics typically starts with undiagnosed clusters of respiratory illness. Both SARS and COVID-19 were first reported as unusual types of pneumonia.
Front Page
Governor can’t keep bill pending indefinitely: SC underlines law (Page no. 3)
(GS Paper 2, Polity and Constitution)
Underlining that the “Governor, as an unelected Head of the State, is entrusted with certain constitutional powers” but “this power cannot be used to thwart the normal course of lawmaking” by the state legislature, the Supreme Court has ruled that a “Governor cannot be at liberty” to keep a “Bill pending indefinitely without any action whatsoever”.
Noting that the “substantive part of Article 200 empowers the Governor to withhold assent to the Bill”, the three-judge bench of Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra said.
The bench made this clear in its judgment on a plea by the Punjab government against Governor Banwarilal Purohit who had kept pending the Bills sent to him by the state legislature — the detailed order on the November 10 ruling was uploaded on the Supreme Court website Thursday.
Supreme Court’s first woman judge, an icon of empowerment (Page no. 3)
(GS Paper 2, Judiciary)
Justice Fathima Beevi, whose appointment as the first Muslim woman judge of the Supreme Court had inspired women to pursue the legal profession, died at a private hospital in Kerala’s Kollam. She was 96.
Considered a role model for gender justice, she had been an icon of women’s empowerment as she blazed a trail in the legal profession and otherwise.
In his condolence message, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said the life of Justice Beevi was one of the remarkable chapters of women’s empowerment in Kerala.
Through Justice Beevi, Kerala had won recognition as the state which contributed the first woman judge to the country.
Vijayan said Justice Beevi had a unique strength to overcome all hurdles in life and her life is an inspiration for the entire society, especially women.
Her erudition in constitutional matters was demonstrated during her days as the governor of Tamil Nadu, added the chief minister.
Govt & Politics
The Supreme Court directed the Centre on Thursday to set up a fresh delimitation commission for ensuring a proportional representation of the communities specified as Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs), as mandated under the Constitution.
While asking the Centre to set up the delimitation panel, the top court, however, said it cannot direct Parliament to amend or make laws for giving proper representation to other communities that form part of the STs as that would amount to “venturing into the legislative domain”.
The directions were issued by a bench of Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra on a plea seeking a proportionate representation of the Limbu and Tamang tribal communities in the assemblies of Sikkim and West Bengal.
We have made it clear that they (Centre) have to set up the delimitation commission,” the bench said. It said the apex court has the power of judicial review to determine whether a provision enacted by Parliament is unconstitutional, but “this court will go beyond the line”.
Editorial
Resilience amid turmoil (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
From a macroeconomic perspective, the month of November has so far been rather cheerful, and may well end on a positive note when the GDP numbers for India are released for the second quarter.
In global geopolitics, positive signs have emerged from West Asia, where Israel and Hamas are reported to have agreed to a short ceasefire.
Another positive development has been US President Joe Biden and Xi Jinping, the President of China, holding a summit and discussing various global and bilateral issues including the West Asia situation, Iran, Taiwan, climate change and military communication.
Despite there being no joint statement or formal cooperation declaration, the summit still managed to send a positive and important signal that cooperation can bring benefits to a nervous world.
On the economic front, a positive surprise has come from the recent inflation prints in the developed world. The US consumer price index based inflation stood at 3.2 per cent in October, down from 3.7 per cent in September.
The print provides the Federal Reserve with evidence that its battle against rapid inflation is indeed working, even if with a longer lag.
Alongside, inflation in the European Union also dropped sharply to 2.9 per cent from 4.3 per cent the month before, below the consensus expectations of 3.3 per cent.
Ideas Page
For a breath of fresh air (Page no. 11)
(GS Paper 3, Environment)
Five hundred and thirty-nine children dead every day. Twenty-two children every hour. One child every five minutes.
No, this is not a report from the war zone in Gaza. It is the toll of breathing India’s toxic air. According to the State of Global Air 2020 report, air pollution killed over 1.16 lakh newborns in India within 27 days of their birth.
As per a study by Lancet Planetary Health, one of every five deaths in 2019 could be attributed to air pollution. The effects of air pollution start impacting a child even before she is born.
Studies have shown a direct link between pregnant women exposed to bad air quality and stillbirth, preterm delivery, and low birth weight in babies.
Particulate matter pollution is one of the leading causes of cardiovascular disease in India. PM2.5 pollution (fine inhalable particles, with diameters that are generally 2.5 micrometres and smaller) is estimated to cut short an Indian’s life expectancy by over five years.
And in Delhi, which frequently tops the list of the most polluted cities in the world, by almost 12 years. Over the years, Delhi’s Air Quality Index (AQI), has consistently been over the World Health Organisation’s acceptable limit by 8-10 times. A top pulmonologist tells me, this is equal to smoking 30 cigarettes a day.
Explained
How farm fires are counted (Page no. 15)
(GS Paper 3, Environment)
After much debate over its contribution to the national capital’s alarming pollution levels, the farm fire season is drawing to a close.
Across six states — Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh — a total of 55,725 farm fires were recorded between September 15 and November 23.
Of these, 36,323 fires were in Punjab, with the state also seeing the highest single-day count for the season so far, with 3,230 fires recorded on November 5.
Starting September 15, the Indian Agricultural Research Institute’s (IARI) Consortium for Research on Agroecosystem Monitoring and Modeling from Space (CREAMS) Laboratory puts out a daily bulletin on paddy residue fires.
This bulletin, carrying data from Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Delhi, provides a district-wise breakdown of the number of farm fire incidents recorded, as well as comparative figures from previous years (2020 onwards).
It also gives the exact location where these fires were recorded, the satellite that recorded them, time of recording, and their intensity or fire power.
How the new IRRA platform, a trapeze net for investors will work (Page no. 15)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
The Investor Risk Reduction Access (IRRA) is a platform that will act as a ‘safety net’ for investors in case of technical glitches faced by a trading member or a stock broker registered with SEBI.
It will provide investors an opportunity to close open positions and cancel pending orders in case of disruption at the stock brokers’ end.
IRRA has been jointly developed by all the stock exchanges – BSE, NSE, NCDEX, MCX and Metropolitan Stock Exchange of India (MSE) and was launched Monday by Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) Chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch. We explain how it works and how investors can access it.
IRRA platform has been developed to reduce risks faced by investors in the eventuality of technical glitches at the trading member’s end at both the primary site and disaster recovery site.
Its purpose is to provide investors with an opportunity to square off/close their open positions and cancel pending orders using the IRRA platform in case of technical glitches or unforeseen outages that render the trading member’s site inaccessible.
Economy
RBI tightening: Bankers blame high NBFC exposure to small unsecured loans (Page no. 19)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) decision to increase risk weights on the unsecured consumer credit and credit card dues is driven primarily by concerns over a sharp rise in such loans offered by non-banking financial companies (NBFCs), and onward lending by them through fintechs.
The RBI’s worry is mostly in the sub-Rs 50,000 loan segment of unsecured personal loans, where NBFCs have high exposure.
NBFCs have been catering to this low-ticket segment of borrowers through their tie-ups with fintech companies. Any stress at NBFCs will have an impact on the banking sector.
RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das had said Wednesday that the increasing interconnectedness between banks and non-banks merits close attention.
Largely, it is the NBFCs (unsecured personal loan) book which has grown very abnormally. NBFCs exposure to unsecured personal loans have grown up very fast and that is why the entire industry figure has also gone up. This has worried the regulator.