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THE HINDU: Assets case: Karnataka appeal in Supreme
Court interference in TN’s affairs, says Jayalalithaa
Chief
Minister Jayalalithaa on Thursday launched a full frontal attack on the
authority of the Karnataka government to move the Supreme Court against her
acquittal in a disproportionate assets case, labelling it as an “interference
in the internal affairs of Tamil Nadu” and a violation of the federal scheme
enshrined in the Constitution.
In
a six-page document, she questioned the locus standi of
the Karnataka government in filing a special leave petition or an appeal in the
apex court for an alleged offence which took place in Tamil Nadu.
The
Chief Minister invoked Article 162 of the Constitution, which prescribes that
the executive power of the State Executive is co-extensive with that of the
State Legislature.
In
her affidavit which highlighted the major points which will be argued in
defence of her liberty during the Supreme Court hearings scheduled to start
from February 2, Ms. Jayalalithaa said, “Karnataka has no legislative power in
respect of the affairs of the State of Tamil Nadu and consequently has no power
to prosecute the alleged offender in the Supreme Court for offences committed
in Tamil Nadu against the State of Tamil Nadu.”
Opening
up a legal Pandora’s Box on how far a State government to whom a case is
transferred for fair trial by the Supreme Court can proceed, the Chief Minister
argued that Karnataka got a role as “prosecutor” in the case only after the
Supreme Court transferred the corruption case to it on November 18, 2004.
If
not for this transfer order, Karnataka had no involvement in the corruption
case. It was neither the de facto complainant nor the de jure aggrieved party.
No crime under the Prevention of Corruption Act or the Indian Penal Code has
been committed against Karnataka.
The
transfer to Karnataka, she said, was for the specific purpose of conducting a
fair trial, and that goal has now been achieved. There is nothing further left
for the State of Karnataka to do in this case.
Ms.
Jayalalithaa argued that only Tamil Nadu has the “exclusive jurisdiction” to
file the special leave petition or appeal against the Karnataka High Court
judgment of acquittal on May 11, 2015 as she is a “public servant of the State
of Tamil Nadu”. She questioned the locus standi of DMK leader K. Anbazhagan and
BJP leader Subramanian Swamy to involve themselves in the Supreme Court
appeals.
The
Chief Minister invoked Article 162 of the Constitution, which prescribes that
the executive power of the State Executive is co-extensive with that of the
State Legislature.
“Karnataka
has no legislative power in respect of the affairs of the State of Tamil Nadu
and consequently has no power to prosecute the alleged offender in the Supreme
Court for offences committed in Tamil Nadu against the State of Tamil Nadu,”
Ms. Jayalalithaa contended.
The
Chief Minister asked why the Supreme Court should entertain Karnataka's
petition under Article 136 of the Constitution (special leave to appeal by the
Supreme Court) when the prosecution had completely failed to prove the gravamen
of the charges of criminal conspiracy, abetment and possession of
disproportionate assets against the accused.
Ms.
Jayalalithaa contends why income tax assessments relied on by the High Court
after conscious evaluation and testing on the basis of testimonies of several
witnesses should now be re-opened.
The
Chief Minister further asked the Supreme Court why it should now review
findings of fact already determined by the High Court, including that there is
no cogent evidence to show that N. Sasikala, J. Elavarasi and V.N. Sudhakaran
got their wealth through Ms. Jayalalithaa.
Ms.
Jayalalithaa asked whether Karnataka was entitled to maintain the petition
against the High Court's judgment setting aside the confiscation of assets of
five companies which the prosecution alleged were owned by the accused persons.
That too when there was no charge levelled under the Benami Prohibition Act.
ac·quit·tal
A judgment that
a person is not guilty of the crime with which the person has been charged.
vi·o·la·tion
The action of
violating someone or something.
en·shrine
Place (a
revered or precious object) in an appropriate receptacle.
al·leged
(of an incident
or a person) said, without proof, to have taken place or to have a specified
illegal or undesirable quality
pre·scribe
(of a medical
practitioner) advise and authorize the use of (a medicine or treatment) for
someone, especially in writing.
pros·e·cute
Institute legal
proceedings against (a person or organization).
pandora’s
(pandora)
(Greek mythology) the first woman; created by Hephaestus on orders from Zeus
who presented her to Epimetheus along with a box filled with evils
ag·grieved
Feeling
resentment at having been unfairly treated.
abetment
The verbal act
of urging on
con·tend
Struggle to
surmount (a difficulty or danger).
con·scious
Aware of and
responding to one's surroundings; awake.
e·val·u·a·tion
The making of a
judgment about the amount, number, or value of something; assessment
con·fis·ca·tion
The action of
taking or seizing someone's property with authority; seizure.
THE HINDU: Modi calls meeting
to review government decisions
Prime
Minister Narendra Modi has called a meeting of his Council of Ministers for
January 27, a day after Republic Day to seek a review of all decisions taken by
the Cabinet, and the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) in the last
one-and-a-half years of the NDA government.
“The
agenda circulated has only one item, and it seems to be a mid-term review of
sorts for the government,” said a top source. At the end of 2016, the
government will be half-way through its five-year term, and this year is being
seen as a make-or-break one to deliver on governance and the economy.
Mr.
Modi had earlier set up eight groups of secretaries to suggest innovative ideas
to implement the government’s programmes, and this too is being seen as a way
to keep his team on its toes. The agenda has set off speculation that there
could be a Cabinet reshuffle during the winter session of the budget session of
Parliament.
“Politically
already it was being said States like Bihar were over-represented in the
Council of Ministers, and now that elections are due in Uttar Pradesh in 2017,
one can expect to see some additions from that State,” said a senior
office-bearer of the BJP.
Sources
had earlier confirmed to The Hindu that
Mr. Modi would reach out to the Opposition after Republic Day to clear certain
Bills, barring the Goods and Services Tax Bill, in the budget session.
on one's toes
ready for any eventuality; alert.
spec·u·la·tion
The forming of
a theory or conjecture without firm evidence.
re·shuf·fle
Reorganize or
change the positions of (government appointees, members of a team, etc.).
bar
Fasten
(something, especially a door or window) with a bar or bars.
BUSINESS STANDARD: Gender equality still not a reality
Partial results of the fourth National Family
Health Survey, for the 13 states and two union territories that comprise its
first phase, have been released. Data for the second phase are currently being
collected. The numbers are useful as far as individual states are concerned and
they are distributed in a way that, when taken together, are fairly
representative of the whole country. But the overall picture is still
incomplete. It is now 10 years since the third survey and the gap between
surveys has been increasing. (The gap between the first and second surveys was
six years.) According to one report, the ministry of health and family welfare
was not entirely in the picture when the department of statistics took the
initiative to make the data available. There may have been some hurry to show
results. Certainly, the gap between surveys has been commented upon by domestic
and international researchers, and does not indicate a happy state of affairs. It
is urgently necessary to select a set of important indicators, which impact
national health and have data on them collected and released every two or three
years. Unless this is done, it will be difficult most of the time to get recent
data that are historically comparable - and without that discipline
policymaking may suffer.
The official statement on the survey results released says that infant mortality rates for all the states and territories have gone down - but the national figure had also gone down between the first, second and third surveys. What is important to know is whether the rate of decline has gone up or down. It is also not very helpful to know that Madhya Pradesh is a laggard and Goa is a front-runner. This is true to a well-established pattern. What is significant is that both Madhya Pradesh and Bihar, which are laggards, have shown a significant improvement between the third and the fourth surveys - but West Bengal, which was not a laggard, has done even better in terms of the rate of improvement.
The statement also notes that the total fertility rate (the number of children a woman is likely to have in her entire reproductive life) has gone down in all states. This is in keeping with the changes between the first three surveys - and it is again not surprising that Bihar and Madhya Pradesh are laggards. What appears significant is that 10 of the 13 states covered have either achieved or maintained the replacement rate (have enough children so as to maintain the population at the save level, neither falling nor rising). As the statement says, this is a major achievement. It is also apparent from the survey results that women are receiving better ante-natal care overall, and larger proportions are going through assisted or institutional deliveries. What is disappointing is that the sex ratio (number of women to men) has worsened in virtually all the states covered. As this is a reflection of social attitudes, indicating that there is no end to the preference for boys and adverse sex selection, the aim of achieving gender equality remains distant.
The official statement on the survey results released says that infant mortality rates for all the states and territories have gone down - but the national figure had also gone down between the first, second and third surveys. What is important to know is whether the rate of decline has gone up or down. It is also not very helpful to know that Madhya Pradesh is a laggard and Goa is a front-runner. This is true to a well-established pattern. What is significant is that both Madhya Pradesh and Bihar, which are laggards, have shown a significant improvement between the third and the fourth surveys - but West Bengal, which was not a laggard, has done even better in terms of the rate of improvement.
The statement also notes that the total fertility rate (the number of children a woman is likely to have in her entire reproductive life) has gone down in all states. This is in keeping with the changes between the first three surveys - and it is again not surprising that Bihar and Madhya Pradesh are laggards. What appears significant is that 10 of the 13 states covered have either achieved or maintained the replacement rate (have enough children so as to maintain the population at the save level, neither falling nor rising). As the statement says, this is a major achievement. It is also apparent from the survey results that women are receiving better ante-natal care overall, and larger proportions are going through assisted or institutional deliveries. What is disappointing is that the sex ratio (number of women to men) has worsened in virtually all the states covered. As this is a reflection of social attitudes, indicating that there is no end to the preference for boys and adverse sex selection, the aim of achieving gender equality remains distant.
in·fant
A very young
child or baby
mor·tal·i·ty
The state of
being subject to death.
lag·gard
A person who
makes slow progress and falls behind others.
ap·par·ent
Clearly visible
or understood; obvious.
ad·verse
Preventing
success or development; harmful; unfavorable.
dis·tant
Far away in
space or time.
INDIAN EXPRESS: You are here
With the launch of
the fifth payload of the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS),
the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) is almost set to deploy a secure
and nationally owned alternative to GPS, which will cover all of India and a
zone about 1,500 km beyond the national borders. After two more launches, India
will join the small group of nations with their own satellite navigation
systems. The US GPS was the trailblazing system with a global footprint,
followed by the Russian GLONASS and French DORIS. By 2020, the European Union’s
Galileo and China’s BeiDou satellite arrays are expected to be globally
deployed.
BeiDou is still a
regional system, and the IRNSS marks India’s first, confident and very
necessary step into this field. It will have two services, a public access
system and an encrypted variant for the military. Indeed, while satellite
navigation systems are generally celebrated for improving accuracy in
conjunction with other services like GPS — DORIS can drill down to millimetric
levels, which is valuable in the earth sciences — security will be the initial
deliverable of the IRNSS. The need for secure communications is understood in
our hacker-infested world and, by extension, so is the need to own
communication satellites. However, the need to own secure positioning services
should be equally obvious. A major geopolitical incident could render foreign
GPS systems hard to access, or impossible to trust.
The extra accuracy
which the IRNSS promises will assume significance for future developments like
the Internet of Things, to revolutionise logistics and inventory management,
for instance, and perhaps enhance telemetry services. The Isro is taking a
significant step with the IRNSS, helping to future-proof the nation from the
perspective of the security and accuracy of data. In an information-hungry
world, it’s serving the national priority of generating and owning reliable
data on the neighbourhood.
pay·load
The part of a
vehicle's load, especially an aircraft's, from which revenue is derived;
passengers and cargo.
de·ploy
Move (troops)
into position for military action.
trailblazing
Trail blazing,
or trailblazing, is the practice of marking paths in outdoor recreational areas
with blazes, markings that follow each other at certain — though not
necessarily exactly defined — distances and mark the direction of the trail.
ar·ray
An impressive
display or range of a particular type of thing.
en·crypt
Convert
(information or data) into a cipher or code, especially to prevent unauthorized
access.
con·junc·tion
The action or
an instance of two or more events or things occurring at the same point in time
or space.
hack·er
A person who
uses computers to gain unauthorized access to data.
in·fest
(of insects or
animals) be present (in a place or site) in large numbers, typically so as to
cause damage or disease.
telemetry
Automatic
transmission and measurement of data from remote sources by wire or radio or
other means
THE NEWYORK TIMES: Aung
San Suu Kyi, the Dragon's Lady
YANGON, Myanmar —
When in November Sai Win Myat Oo, a candidate from the Shan Nationalities
League for Democracy, ran for a seat in the Parliament of Shan State, in
southern Myanmar, he was confident in his chances of being re-elected. The
people of his constituency had consistently voted for the local Shan party in
the past.
Yet he lost to a
candidate from the National League for Democracy (N.L.D.), the majority-Bamar
party led by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, which swept the general election last year,
winning some 80 percent of contested seats in the national Parliament.
Apparently, it was the ethnic Wa people of Shan State, many of whom resettled
there from northern parts of country in the late 1990s, who cast the decisive
votes.
Rumor has it they had
received instructions to vote for the N.L.D. from the United Wa State Army — at
30,000-strong, the most powerful rebel group in the country — which is
headquartered on Myanmar’s border with China. Chinese sources I spoke to in
academe and the intelligence services denied that Beijing had anything to do
with those directives. But one senior Shan politician and three Myanmar
military insiders said they thought it was Chinese influence that had swung the
Wa votes in Shan State.
Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi,
for her part, has adopted positions that are generally accommodating to China’s
interests, including some that seem to cut against the N.L.D.’s stated
policies, such as the importance of public buy-in in major foreign projects.
To the dismay of some
N.L.D. voters, she has said little to challenge the Myitsone project, and has
come out in support of a controversial Chinese copper mine, even after the
police cracked down on protesters opposing it. She has praised China’s “One
Belt, One Road” initiative, a centerpiece of the foreign policy and development
strategy of President Xi Jinping. Although she once pleaded with the international
community, “Please use your liberty to promote ours,” she has been noticeably
quiet about human rights issues in China, including the imprisonment of Liu
Xiaobo, a fellow Nobel Peace Prize Laureate.
The Chinese
government, meanwhile, seems to have been stirring low-level trouble along the
border in order to gain leverage and push its interests, both strategic and
economic, in Myanmar. Lately, it has increased its patronage of local ethnic
armed groups, especially the United Wa State Army and the Kokang army. Senior
Myanmar officials allege that the Kokang insurgency, also in the north, flared
up again in 2015 thanks to armament, logistical support and troops provided by
China.
The Tatmadaw is now
in an awkward position: Any improvement of relations between Beijing and
Naypyidaw under an N.L.D. government would be a double-edged sword. Myanmar’s
generals would surely welcome some respite from ethnic strife in the north, but
they hardly want to be seen as outsourcing security issues to an elected civilian
government.
Which may explain why
the Tatmadaw has recently taken to describing its fight against ethnic rebel
groups as an effort to defend the country’s integrity and sovereignty, rather
than as a simple counterinsurgency campaign. By casting local civil conflicts
in broader geopolitical terms, it hopes to establish that it is indispensable.
Several political and
military officials in Myanmar and intelligence officers in Yunnan have told me
they expect Beijing and the N.L.D. to strike some kind of arrangement after the
N.L.D. forms a new government in a few months. China would press ethnic rebel
groups to cooperate with the N.L.D. on a national cease-fire accord, handing
Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi a victory that has eluded the current government. In exchange,
the N.L.D. would yield to important Chinese interests in Myanmar, such as major
infrastructure and investment projects.
This leaves the
Tatmadaw with few cards to play. It cannot try to undermine Ms. Aung San Suu
Kyi’s legitimacy or win support from the West by stoking anti-Chinese sentiment
— at least not without also running the risk of triggering an aggressive
response from China in the northeast. (Or else it would have to go all out, and
invoke the clauses in the 2008 Constitution that entitle the military to take
power in the case of a national emergency.)
However much the
prospect of greater cooperation between the new N.L.D. government and China
irks them, Myanmar’s generals may nonetheless be willing to accept it — so long
as civilian authorities consult them first. So far Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi has
seemed willing to work with the Tatmadaw; she would do well to continue if she
hopes for further rapprochement with the Chinese. Peace between Myanmar’s Lady
and its generals runs through Beijing.
sweep
Clean (an area)
by brushing away dirt or litter.
ap·par·ent·ly
As far as one
knows or can see.
eth·nic
Of or relating
to a population subgroup (within a larger or dominant national or cultural
group) with a common national or cultural tradition.
de·ci·sive
Settling an
issue; producing a definite result.
ru·mor
A currently
circulating story or report of uncertain or doubtful truth.
swing
Move or cause
to move back and forth or from side to side while suspended or on an axis.
con·sum·mate
Make (a
marriage or relationship) complete by having sexual intercourse.
pragmatist
An adherent of
philosophical pragmatism
o·ver·ture
An introduction
to something more substantial.
rap·proche·ment
(especially in
international relations) an establishment or resumption of harmonious
relations.
un·rest
A state of
dissatisfaction, disturbance, and agitation in a group of people, typically
involving public demonstrations or disorder.
e·lite
A select part
of a group that is superior to the rest in terms of ability or qualities
ebb
(of tidewater)
move away from the land; recede.
jun·ta
A military or
political group that rules a country after taking power by force.
prompt·ly
With little or
no delay; immediately
deep·en
Make or become
deep or deeper.
fête
Honor or
entertain (someone) lavishly.
cen·ter·piece
A decorative
piece or display placed in the middle of a dining or serving table.
plead
Make an
emotional appeal.
pa·tron·age
The support
given by a patron.
insurgency
An organized
rebellion aimed at overthrowing a constituted government through the use of
subversion and armed conflict
flare
Burn with a
sudden intensity.
troop
A group of
soldiers, especially a cavalry unit commanded by a captain, or an airborne
unit.
res·pite
A short period
of rest or relief from something difficult or unpleasant.
strife
Angry or bitter
disagreement over fundamental issues; conflict.
coun·ter·in·sur·gen·cy
Military or
political action taken against the activities of guerrillas or revolutionaries.
in·dis·pen·sa·ble
Absolutely
necessary.
e·lude
Evade or escape
from (a danger, enemy, or pursuer), typically in a skillful or cunning way.
yield
Produce or
provide (a natural, agricultural, or industrial product).
stoke
Add coal or
other solid fuel to (a fire, furnace, or boiler).
irk
Irritate;
annoy.
rap·proche·ment
(especially in
international relations) an establishment or resumption of harmonious
relations.
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