1) Keeping the peace: On India-China border tension-
CONTEXT:
With four incidents along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in recent weeks, the India-China border is witnessing the highest tensions since the Doklam stand-off in 2017. In the three years since, both sides have done remarkably well to keep the peace.
NO ESCALATION:
- Prime Minister Modi and President Xi both agreed differences should not be allowed to escalate (carry it further) into disputes. Also, a clear message was sent to the two militaries to abide (follow) by the detailed protocols (rules) already in place, such as those agreed to in 2005 and 2013.
- These regulate the activities of troops in the contested zones that lie in between both sides’ overlapping claim lines of the undefined LAC.
- On May 19, China’s Foreign Ministry accused the Indian Army of “attempting to unilaterally change the status” of the LAC. The stand-off in Ladakh appears to have been triggered by China moving in troops to obstruct road construction activity by India.
- Last year, India completed the Darbuk-Shyok-Daulet Beg Oldi (DBO) road which connects Leh to the Karakoram Pass. India also maintains a key landing strip at DBO at 16,000 feet.
RIGHT TO MUTUAL AND EQUAL SECURITY OF THE TWO SIDES:
- The broader context for the tensions is the changing dynamic along the LAC. India has been upgrading its roads as it plays catch-up, with China already enjoying an advantage in both terrain and infrastructure.
- China now seems to be telling India it has no right to carry out the kind of activity that Beijing has already done. India is well within its right to carry out construction work.
- Delhi needs to remind Beijing that a fundamental principle that underpins(focusses) all previous agreements is recognising the right to mutual and equal security of the two sides.
STEPPING BACK:
- The immediate priority is for both sides to use existing channels and step back. Flag meetings between brigade commanders have so far been unable to break the stalemate(deadlock).
- The incidents have underlined(focussed) how the new LAC situation is placing existing mechanisms under renewed stress.
- India and China should grasp(comprehend) the current situation as an opportunity to revive the stalled(halted) process of clarifying the LAC. China has resisted this as a distraction to the boundary negotiations.
- But rather than agree on a line, both can instead simply seek to better understand the claims of the other and reach a common understanding to regulate activity in these areas.
- Clarifying the LAC may even provide a fresh impetus(push) to the stalled boundary talks between the Special Representatives.
- 22nd Meeting of the Special Representatives of India and China- https://mea.gov.in/press-releases.htm?dtl/32234/22nd_Meeting_of_the_Special_Representatives_of_India_and_China
- Beyond the posturing, both sides know a final settlement will ultimately have to use the LAC as a basis, with only minor adjustments.
CONCLUSION:
- Only a settlement will end the shadow boxing on the LAC. With both countries in the midst of an unprecedented (not happened before) global pandemic, the time to push for a settlement to a distracting, protracted(prolonged) dispute is now.
- India and China must end tensions on the border by clarifying the LAC.
2) A double disaster: On a cyclone amid the coronavirus-
CONTEXT:
- The trail(series) of death and devastation that Cyclone Amphan has left in West Bengal and Odisha demonstrates, once again, the fragile(weak) state of eastern coastal States during the storm season.
- At least 72 people are dead in Bengal and normal life is paralysed(halted) for millions in Kolkata and in the rural areas of both the States.
DISASTROUD IMPACT:
- That Amphan would be a terrible disaster was anticipated(known before).
- The impact has been catastrophic(disastrous) even with reliable forecasts of its movement since May 16, and the preparatory moves by National and State Disaster Response Force units.
CODE OF PRACTICE:
- The States along the east coast have evolved a code of practice for a storm coming under category 3 and above:
- evacuations, arranging for backup power, warning people to stay far from the coasts, designating strong buildings as cyclone shelters, and providing for at least a week’s supply of cooked food besides bolstering(strengthening) medical supplies.
AID TO THE AFFECTED:
- Yet, the loss of life and damage to livelihoods is always significant.
- The Centre and the governments of the affected States, including those in the Northeast must help people already weighed down by a severe lockdown pick up their lives again.
- There is an additional challenge, as thousands of people have been moved to crowded shelters where the COVID-19 pandemic poses a continuing threat.
- Adhering(following) to hygienic practices, monitoring those requiring medical assistance and testing for the virus is a high priority.
CYCLONE WARNING SYSTEM:
- India’s cyclone warning system has made major advances for being able to provide clear warnings and saving lives.
- Many who were working in distant States have just returned to Odisha and Bengal in the wake of the economic paralysis caused by COVID-19, and need sustained support after the storm.
- West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has appealed for strong support from the Centre, which the State must be provided to help it overcome the double jeopardy(harm) of the pandemic and the cyclone.
- Encouragingly, some vital activities such as functioning of the Kolkata airport were restored a day after the cyclone struck, facilitating movement of essentials, and additional NDRF personnel(team) despatched to restore normalcy.
- The challenge is to provide pre-fabricated(manufacture sections of (a building or piece of furniture) to enable quick assembly on site) facilities for safe shelter in outlying areas, such as the Sunderbans, and use off-the-shelf solutions such as solar power to mobilise communities.
CONCLUSION:
While the battle against the virus may yet be won sooner or later, India must strengthen its response capabilities for a never-ending cycle of storms along its coastline.
3) The lockdown has highlighted stark inequalities-
CONTEXT:
- The novel coronavirus is a global threat, but the pandemic has had an uneven impact across countries and within countries.
- Historically, social inequality has always been extreme in India. However, the lockdown has sharpened the edges of inequality even further, especially because of the way it has been implemented.
- What is more, the largest lockdown in the world with hardly any safety net (like pension, insurance) was imposed at a four-hour notice.
- The sudden decision deprived (taken away) countless people of jobs and livelihoods. This has strained the fragile(weak) social and economic fabric far more than it needed to.
A DISASTROUS DECISION:
- Nobody is safe from the virus, but some classes are more protected than others. Class and wealth inequality means COVID-19 may pose greater risks to some as it poses a double threat to them.
- In India, the lockdown favours the “balcony classes(rich)”, with no regard of its consequences for others.
- Lockdown has exposed the precarious(severe) existence of millions of migrants who operate the levers(wheels) of the informal economy.
- It has hit the workers in the informal economy as it has left them with no income, no food and no shelter.
- The Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy estimates that about 140 million people have lost jobs since the lockdown.
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NO SUBSTANTIVE SUPPORT FROM THE GOVERNMENT:
- Worldwide, the defining images of India’s lockdown are the caravans(group) of migrant workers walking hundreds of kilometres to reach their homes.
- Bereft(no support) of substantive support from the government or their employers, they want to escape the city and get back to their villages and families.
- The SaveLife Foundation, a non-profit organisation working to prevent road accidents, has recorded nearly 2,000 road crashes and 368 deaths from March 25, when the lockdown began, to May 16.
MINISTRY GUIDELINES:
- The Union Home Ministry had asked shops, industry and commercial establishments to pay wages to workers during the lockdown but it offered no financial support should this not happen.
- Social activist Harsh Mander asked the Supreme Court to order the government to pay wages. As expected, the apex court refused to intervene.
- However, the Court intervened and asked the government not to resort to any coercive(forceful) action against private companies that have not paid their workers full wages during the lockdown in accordance with a government order in March.
- Since then, the government has dropped the crucial order.
- Clearly, the Court has readily accepted the government’s assurance that it was looking after migrant labourers.
- But all that the government had done was take small steps such as providing dry rations and a paltry(small) sum of ₹500, the first of the three instalments of a sum of ₹1,500 relief, to Jan Dhan accounts of women.
PUTTING THE ONUS ON CITIZENS:
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in one of his national addresses, asked each citizen to help nine poor families during the lockdown. This puts the responsibility for containing the consequences of the pandemic/lockdown squarely on the citizens, instead of instituting a government-backed social support system.
- While the call to compassion is unremarkable, it has two implications — it minimises the urgency of state intervention required to deal with the economic crisis and it passes on the responsibility to citizens with an emphasis on citizens’ duties as against citizens’ rights.
TREND IN OTHER COUNTRIES:
- Quite the reverse is happening in many other countries which have introduced huge relief packages.
- It involves large amounts of government expenditure to provide money for workers’ wages for up to three months, giving money to companies, unemployment allowance or direct benefit transfers.
- The Spanish government unveiled sweeping reforms that led to nationalisation of all private hospitals.
- The U.K. extended a worker furlough (grant leave of absence to) programme that pays people idled by the pandemic till the end of October. This is similar to the Paycheck Protection Programme in the U.S.
- Both seek to preserve jobs rather than resorting (falling to) to mass lay-offs(temporary suspension).
NEED OF TRANSFER OF CASH:
- In India, transfer of cash in the past two months of lockdown could have mitigated(lessened) the most heart-breaking migrant crisis since the Partition in 1947. This was the basic requirement of justice.
- But the government failed to transfer money to the distressed people or to small businesses and commercial establishments.
- Failure to do so has exposed the heartlessness of the BJP government. It refuses to embrace the welfare state path adopted by most governments which believe radical change is essential for restoring a social balance underlying the welfare state of earlier years.
- In the event, acute(severe) distress and disempowerment of the most vulnerable has further deepened existing social inequalities of Indian society.
- The government’s lack of sympathy and concern for the stranded(trapped) migrant workers clearly shows that the system doesn’t work for everyone.
- No wonder, migrant labourers across India have told reporters they won’t return to see such humiliation(insult) again.
GREATER PRIVATISATION:
- Seen against the scale of distress, the government’s economic stimulus package is niggardly(miserly) based on minimal fiscal cost and minimum social spending.
- Just about everything is included in the fiscal stimulus ranging from repaying tax refunds to loans. At this rate, even a good monsoon can be considered fiscal stimuli.
- The immediate relief to the people is not more than 1% of the GDP. The stimulus package has been rightly dismissed by almost everyone outside the government as too little, too late.
- Most shocking is the slew(series) of controversial reforms announced by the Finance Minister in the last episode of her five-part serial on the government’s stimulus package.
- Instead of addressing the migrant worker crisis, the government has embarked on greater privatisation and further opening the economy to foreign capital. It has thrown open coal, defence production, space travel, among other areas, to the private sector.
- These contentious pieces of economic reforms wouldn’t be counted as rescue package anywhere; moreover, it is wrong and unethical to push them under lockdown without parliamentary oversight.
MNREGA:
- The much-derided(ignored) Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) and National Food Security Act (NFSA) have come to the rescue of the people.
- Ironically, both schemes are legacies of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government and both were hugely criticised by the BJP. MGNREGA was described as a “living monument” of Congress failure in addressing poverty.
- Now the government has decided to allocate an additional ₹40,000 crore to MGNREGA. This is welcome as it will provide a semblance(likeliness) of relief during distress in rural India.
- But in cities migrant workers do not have even this modicum(small amount) of social security. The one important lesson that this pandemic has underlined is the urgent need for an urban employment guarantee scheme.
- In the meantime, generous cash transfers can provide economic security. However, for this to happen, we need a more humane government responsive to the basic needs of its people.