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THE HINDU: Apple stands up to surveillance
Apple CEO Tim Cook’s revelation this week that the U.S. Federal Bureau
of Investigation wants his company to take the “unprecedented step” of hacking
into the iPhone 5 device used by terrorists in the San Bernardino, California
attack in December 2015,
highlights the complexity that the world today faces
in simultaneously pursuing two well-meaning goals: digital security and
national security. The problem is, it seems that one cannot be pursued without
jeopardising the other. Mr. Cook, who opposes the order, is clearly privileging
the former, while the FBI is interested in the latter. The CEO was quick to
explain that as a matter of policy Apple regularly complied with valid
subpoenas and search warrants, including in the San Bernardino case, in which
he said Apple had made its engineers available to advise the FBI. However, in
opposing the FBI’s order, his remarks represent the sharpest public protest by
any of the Silicon Valley tech giants against the post-Snowden U.S.
surveillance state. In this, he has also got support from tech heavyweights
such as Google and Microsoft. Their defiance is understandable. For the tech
giants, compliance with such orders can easily put at risk the value
proposition of data protection they pitch to their users, thereby putting their
businesses in peril. As more and more of our lives get played out in the digital
world, more advanced security features will inevitably become central to their
offerings in the future. Mr. Cook knows this well — his note was addressed to
the customers.
According to Mr.
Cook, the FBI has asked Apple to produce a new version of the iPhone operating
system (OS) that would circumvent critical security features such as the
automatic memory wipe that happens when the wrong login code is entered 10
times. The authorities, Mr. Cook said, intend to have this new operating system
installed on the government-owned iPhone recovered during the investigation of
the San Bernardino attack, yet there may be no guarantee that the government
would limit the use of this special OS to this device alone. Mr. Cook’s
discomfiture with complying with the FBI’s request has to do with — and rightly
so — the lurking risk that the iPhone hack programme that Apple considers “too
dangerous to create” would inevitably produce backdoor access to all iPhones.
After all, the debate stirred up by Edward Snowden resulted in an effective end
to the bulk collection of the phone records of millions of Americans. Such
progress would be undone if new surveillance weapons were built and entrusted
to the NSA. Yielding to this one ask, which the FBI proposes to enforce via the
227-year-old All Writs Act, could bring in a flood of such requests from around
the globe, including from regimes where the legal framework to constrain
cyber-snooping operations may be far from adequate with regard to protecting
the civil liberties of citizens. The argument that this is for a one-off case
is thus weak. As the technologists know, there may be little that is exclusive
or one-time about special access.
stands up to
to not be changed or damaged by something:Will the lorries stand up to the journey over rough roads?
sur·veil·lance
Close observation, especially
of a suspected spy or criminal.
un·prec·e·dent·ed
Never done or known before.
jeop·ard·ize
Put (someone or something)
into a situation in which there is a danger of loss, harm, or failure.
sub·poe·na
A writ ordering a person to
attend a court.
de·fi·ance
Open resistance; bold
disobedience.
com·pli·ance
The action or fact of
complying with a wish or command.
per·il
Serious and immediate danger.
in·ev·i·ta·bly
As is certain to happen;
unavoidably.
cir·cum·vent
Find a way around (an
obstacle).
discomfiture
Anxious embarrassment
lurk
(of a person or animal) be or
remain hidden so as to wait in ambush for someone or something
con·strain
Severely restrict the scope,
extent, or activity of.
THE
HINDU: The emperor’s new nationalism
From Hyderabad to
Jawaharlal Nehru University, from the
death of Rohith Vemula to the arrest of Kanhaiya Kumar, a clear
political agenda by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party can be discerned. At
first flush, this is a party whose top leaders — and they include members of
the Union Cabinet — are all too willing to pick fights with student leaders and
give establishment cover to the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, the Sangh’s
student wing. But to see events that have unfolded over the past week only as
the government’s battle for ideological control for India’s universities, as
real and as condemnable as the effort is, would be to miss the gravity of the
moment. In the national capital this week, the Home Minister gave currency to
parody accounts of Pakistani terrorists to build a case against JNU students
and yet remained visibly unmoved by the obstinate refusal of the city’s police
force, which comes under his charge, to arrest “nationalist” lawyers and a
party MLA who beat up students on and around court premises. BJP spokespersons
affected condemnation of the violence, but breathed outrage about the allegedly
seditious sentiments voiced at a meeting on the JNU campus to mark the death
anniversary of Afzal Guru, convicted in the 2001 Parliament attack case and
hanged in 2013. Such false equivalence has never been seen since Independence,
between a Central government virtually refusing to honour the state’s essential
compact with its citizenry to enforce the law and the right of Indians to
freely express their sentiments, that too in the especially free zone that
university campuses are meant to be. And its utterance should frame an anxiety
the Prime Minister must respond to, that “nationalism” is being adopted as a
political and executive touchstone by which Indians are sought to be divided
between those with the ruling dispensation and those not.
Besides taking the
fight to the country’s campus that is most identified with Left politics, the
JNU development was obviously a chance for the BJP to recover from the excesses
of Hyderabad. With it, the party has reframed the ABVP’s adoption of
“nationalist” outrage from a Sangh versus Dalit binary to one in which the
identities of “anti-nationalists” are insinuated, and not overtly specified. It
is, thus, a curious overlay to agitations over the JNU incidents that all
Central universities are now required to fly the national flag. It is a
dangerous phase in this country’s history when the government at the Centre is
seen to be actively assisting in a right-wing effort to shape the discourse on
nationalism. This is why the use of Section 124-A of the Indian Penal Code on
sedition acquires greater menace than in instances in the past, when it has
mostly been used by thin-skinned politicians to fend off critiques. Its
application against JNU students and the unchecked violence against students
and activists at Delhi’s Patiala House courts have sent out a message that the
rule of law could be enforced selectively. If Prime Minister Narendra Modi
differs from this dark reading of events, he needs to speak up.
emperor’s
(emperor) the male ruler of
an empire
dis·cern
Perceive or recognize
(something
flush
Completely level or even with
another surface.
condemnable
Bringing or deserving severe
rebuke or censure
par·o·dy
An imitation of the style of
a particular writer, artist, or genre with deliberate exaggeration for comic
effect.
ob·sti·nate
Stubbornly refusing to change
one's opinion or chosen course of action, despite attempts to persuade one to
do so.
out·rage
An extremely strong reaction
of anger, shock, or indignation.
al·leg·ed·ly
Used to convey that something
is claimed to be the case or have taken place, although there is no proof.
se·di·tious
Inciting or causing people to
rebel against the authority of a state or monarch.
e·quiv·a·lence
The condition of being equal
or equivalent in value, worth, function, etc.
com·pact
Closely and neatly packed
together; dense.
ut·ter·ance
A spoken word, statement, or
vocal sound
dis·pen·sa·tion
Exemption from a rule or
usual requirement.
in·sin·u·ate
Suggest or hint (something
bad or reprehensible) in an indirect and unpleasant way.
o·vert
Done or shown openly; plainly
or readily apparent, not secret or hidden.
o·ver·lay
Cover the surface of (a
thing) with a coating.
ag·i·ta·tion
A state of anxiety or nervous
excitement.
dis·course
Written or spoken
communication or debate.
men·ace
A person or thing that is
likely to cause harm; a threat or danger.
BUSINESS STANDARD: Concerns
over IPR
The US Chamber of Commerce's Global Intellectual Property
Centre (GIPC) has ranked India second to last among the 38 countries included
in its fourth annual intellectual property rights (IPR) index. In other words,
it holds the patent protection regime in India as not being in line with the
international best practices. Among the limitations mentioned in India's IPR
environment are the absence of specific IP rights for the life sciences sector;
weak enforcement environment; lack of mechanisms to effectively combat online
piracy; flawed data protection norms; and non-participation in the
international IPR-related treaties referenced in the index. Besides, it has
cited the usual objections raised by US industry and the office of the US Trade
Representative (USTR) concerning the patent requirements and the provision for
compulsory licensing in the Indian patent law.
The GIPC's ranking uses statutory, regulatory and enforcement criteria that are, naturally, based on the IPR perceptions of the developed countries - which occupy the top positions in the ranking, too. There are complaints that small, yet significant, steps being taken by various countries to improve their IPR enforcement and grievance redressing systems are not captured in the index. It is true that India has poor enforcement mechanisms. But it has strengthened its patent office by hiring more people, and is reforming the system of seeking judicial remedies to commercial disputes. That has not been reflected in the rankings. Another possible step forward is the country's long-promised new IPR policy. Much depends upon the quality of the policy - will it allay major concerns about Indian IPR without changing the basic tenets of Indian patent law? After all, while aspects of the Indian patent law are outliers in the global discourse, they have not been challenged in the relevant international forums, and so India's claim that its law is TRIPs-compliant is difficult to counter. Certainly, both precedent and the Doha declaration protect compulsory licensing on the ground that there is a pressing public health need. It is, therefore, futile to object to the Indian patent law on this ground.
However, many genuine concerns remain to be addressed, especially in matters related to online piracy and copyright infringements in the information technology, knowledge and entertainment sectors. The patent regime must become more transparent and effective, and patent-holders who feel their intellectual property has been trespassed upon must be able to find redress in India much quicker than they do now. Once the policy is suitably reformed and such lacunae in the IPR regime are removed, it is to be hoped that India will be able to make the case that it no longer needs to be on a watch-list for IPR issues.
The GIPC's ranking uses statutory, regulatory and enforcement criteria that are, naturally, based on the IPR perceptions of the developed countries - which occupy the top positions in the ranking, too. There are complaints that small, yet significant, steps being taken by various countries to improve their IPR enforcement and grievance redressing systems are not captured in the index. It is true that India has poor enforcement mechanisms. But it has strengthened its patent office by hiring more people, and is reforming the system of seeking judicial remedies to commercial disputes. That has not been reflected in the rankings. Another possible step forward is the country's long-promised new IPR policy. Much depends upon the quality of the policy - will it allay major concerns about Indian IPR without changing the basic tenets of Indian patent law? After all, while aspects of the Indian patent law are outliers in the global discourse, they have not been challenged in the relevant international forums, and so India's claim that its law is TRIPs-compliant is difficult to counter. Certainly, both precedent and the Doha declaration protect compulsory licensing on the ground that there is a pressing public health need. It is, therefore, futile to object to the Indian patent law on this ground.
However, many genuine concerns remain to be addressed, especially in matters related to online piracy and copyright infringements in the information technology, knowledge and entertainment sectors. The patent regime must become more transparent and effective, and patent-holders who feel their intellectual property has been trespassed upon must be able to find redress in India much quicker than they do now. Once the policy is suitably reformed and such lacunae in the IPR regime are removed, it is to be hoped that India will be able to make the case that it no longer needs to be on a watch-list for IPR issues.
stat·u·to·ry
Required, permitted, or
enacted by statute.
en·force·ment
The act of compelling
observance of or compliance with a law, rule, or obligation.
griev·ance
A real or imagined wrong or
other cause for complaint or protest, especially unfair treatment.
ten·et
A principle or belief,
especially one of the main principles of a religion or philosophy.
out·li·er
A person or thing situated
away or detached from the main body or system.
prec·e·dent
An earlier event or action
that is regarded as an example or guide to be considered in subsequent similar
circumstances.
fu·tile
Incapable of producing any
useful result; pointless.
tres·pass
Enter the owner's land or
property without permission.
re·dress
Remedy or set right (an
undesirable or unfair situation).
la·cu·na
An unfilled space or
interval; a gap.
INDIAN EXPRESS: Farm solutions
Farm distress resulting from
back-to-back monsoon failures and falling price realisations in most crops has
arguably posed the biggest challenge, economically and politically, for
the BJP-led Centre. It has prompted initiatives that may not
have received official priority in the normal course — which is always the case
with agriculture. On Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled
the operational guidelines for a new crop insurance scheme, the Pradhan Mantri
Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), at a farmers’ rally in Madhya Pradesh. He also
announced the creation of a National Agriculture Market (NAM), a digital
platform for farmers to sell their produce to buyers anywhere in India, from
April 14. Whatever may be the political calculations behind their launch and
timing, both are potentially game-changing.
Currently, insurance penetration
extends to hardly a fifth of the country’s cropped area. This is only to be
expected when policy claims cannot cover even half of the value of produce in
the event of crop failure. The PMFBY not only keeps the premiums low at 1.5-2
per cent for seasonal and 5 per cent for annual horticultural crops, but also
removes any artificial capping of the sums insured that result in low claims
being paid to farmers. That makes it more attractive for farmers to take
insurance protection. True, such low premiums and allowing farmers to claim the
full value of a crop linked to its normal threshold yields and MSP could entail
additional fiscal costs. But subsidy on crop insurance is any day preferable to
that on electricity, water or fertiliser. The former encourages farmers to
invest in productivity improvements and new technologies; the latter promotes
inefficient resource use. Also, with more farmers joining in, the actuarial
premiums would come down through increased spreading of risks, thereby helping
to contain the government’s subsidy burden.
Equally welcome is the move to
expand the farmer’s universe of buyers beyond traders/ commission agents licensed
to operate in the designated mandis of his area. Giving farmers the choice to
accept the bids of local traders or those of online buyers can lead to higher
price realisations, just as a robust crop insurance system is the best way to
deal with weather and disease risks that are intrinsic to agriculture. India’s
farmers need more such long-term solutions, as opposed to populist loan waivers
and distortionary subsidies.
dis·tress
Extreme anxiety, sorrow, or
pain
pose
Present or constitute (a
problem, danger, or difficulty).
un·veil
Remove a veil or covering
from, especially uncover (a new monument or work of art) as part of a public
ceremony.
horticultural
Of or relating to the
cultivation of plants
en·tail
Involve (something) as a
necessary or inevitable part or consequence
actuarial
Of or relating to the work of
an actuary
in·trin·sic
Belonging naturally;
essential.
waiv·er
An act or instance of waiving
a right or claim.
THE
NEW YORK TIMES: To Keep America Safe, Embrace Drone Warfare
“ARE you sure they’re there?”
the decision maker asks. “They” are Qaeda operatives who have been planning
attacks against the United States.
“Yes, sir,” the intelligence
analyst replies, ticking off the human and electronic sources of information.
“We’ve got good Humint. We’ve been tracking with streaming video. Sigint’s
checking in now and confirming it’s them. They’re there.”
The decision maker asks if
there are civilians nearby.
“The family is in the main
building. The guys we want are in the big guesthouse here.”
“They’re not very far
apart.”
“Far enough.”
“Anyone in that little
building now?”
“Don’t know. Probably not.
We haven’t seen anyone since the Pred got capture of the target. But A.Q. uses
it when they pass through here, and they pass through here a lot.”
He asks the probability of
killing the targets if they use a GBU-12, a powerful 500-pound, laser-guided
bomb.
“These guys are sure dead,”
comes the reply. “We think the family’s O.K.”
“You think they’re O.K.?”
“They should be.” But the
analyst confesses it is impossible to be sure.
“What’s it look like with a
couple of Hellfires?” the decision maker asks, referring to smaller weapons
carrying 20-pound warheads.
“If we hit the right room in
the guesthouse, we’ll get the all bad guys.” But the walls of the house could
be thick. The family’s safe, but bad guys might survive.
“Use the Hellfires the way
you said,” the decision maker says.
Then a pause.
“Tell me again about these
guys.”
“Sir, big A.Q. operators.
We’ve been trying to track them forever. They’re really careful. They’ve been
hard to find. They’re the first team.”
Another pause. A long one.
“Use the GBU. And that small
building they sometimes use as a dorm …”
“Yes, sir.”
“After the GBU hits, if
military-age males come out …”
“Yes, sir?”
“Kill them.”
Less than an hour later he
is briefed again. The two targets are dead. The civilians have fled the
compound. All are alive.
TARGETED killing using
drones has become part of the American way of war. To do it legally and
effectively requires detailed and accurate intelligence. It also requires some
excruciatingly difficult decisions. The dialogue above, representative of many
such missions, shows how hard the commanders and analysts work to get it right.
The longer they have gone
on, however, the more controversial drone strikes have become. Critics assert
that a high percentage of the people killed in drone strikes are civilians — a
claim totally at odds with the intelligence I have reviewed — and that the
strikes have turned the Muslim world against the United States, fueling
terrorist recruitment. Political elites have joined in, complaining that
intelligence agencies have gone too far — until they have felt in danger, when
they have complained that the agencies did not go far enough.
The program is not perfect.
No military program is. But here is the bottom line: It works. I think it fair
to say that the targeted killing program has been the most precise and
effective application of firepower in the history of armed conflict. It
disrupted terrorist plots and reduced the original Qaeda organization along the
Afghanistan-Pakistan border to a shell of its former self. And that was well
before Osama bin Laden was killed in 2011.
Not many years before, the
targeted killings were fairly limited. But by 2008, we knew that the terrorist
threat had increased to intolerable levels, both to American forces in South
Asia and to the United States itself. From our surveillance platforms, we could
observe training camps where men leapt off motorbikes and fired on simulated
targets. Early that year, the C.I.A. and I began recommending more aggressive
action.
We were confident that the
intelligence was good enough to sustain a campaign of very precise attacks. To
be sure, it was not, is not, always error-free. In late 2006, for instance, a
strike killed a one-legged man we believed was a chieftain in the Haqqani
network, a violent and highly effective group allied with Al Qaeda and the
Taliban. It turned out that the man was indeed affiliated with the Haqqanis,
but he wasn’t the leader we wanted. With all the land mines in the region,
there were many one-legged terrorists in South Asia.
I demanded a full
explanation for the misidentification. There were no excuses. People were
thoroughly, maybe even excessively, contrite.
But even if I was convinced
that we could routinely provide high-quality intelligence to enable precision
targeting, we still had to convince policy makers in the government that they
should take advantage of it.
We had one thing going for
us. I got to talk to President George W. Bush directly every week without
filters. I briefed him every Thursday morning and began to use the sessions to
underscore Al Qaeda’s growing footprint and brazenness in the tribal region of
Pakistan. My chief analyst on this, a lanky Notre Dame graduate, met with me
almost daily and stressed that as bad as this might be for Afghanistan and our
forces there, the threat could also come to our shores.
If we had boiled our
briefings down, the essence would have been: “Knowing what we know, there will
be no explaining our inaction after the next attack.”
So the United States began
to test some limits. In early 2008, a charismatic Qaeda operations chief was
killed along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. The strike was clean and the
target so important that even regional reaction was muted. Local people knew
who he was and did not mourn his passing.
Later in the year another
senior Qaeda operative, active in planning attacks in the West, was killed
along with several lieutenants in a similar strike that resulted in a similar
reaction.
By midsummer, when Hellfire
missiles killed a senior Qaeda operator who was active in its weapons of mass
destruction program, it was clear that the United States had launched a
campaign of targeted killings in South Asia.
Publicly available sources
document nearly three dozen attacks in the last seven months of the Bush
administration, almost three times the total of the previous four years.
According to those sources, 18 senior and midlevel Taliban and Qaeda leaders
were killed.
The intelligence used for
these strikes was based on human reports, surveillance technology and the near
unblinking stare of the Predator itself. The strikes were particularly damaging
to Al Qaeda’s operational leaders, who couldn’t afford to hunker down like Bin
Laden and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, whose main contribution to the movement
was pretty much just staying alive. Those front-line operators had to move and
communicate — and that made them vulnerable.
Other attacks were intended
to disrupt known Qaeda locations and activities even when the identities of the
people present were not known. Critics said these so-called signature strikes
were indiscriminate. They were not. Intelligence for signature strikes always
had multiple threads and deep history. The data was near encyclopedic.
Many such strikes killed
high-value targets whose presence was suspected but not certain. And we made no
excuses about killing lower-ranking terrorists. The United States viewed these
attacks as legitimate acts of war against an armed enemy — and in warfare it is
regrettably necessary to kill foot soldiers, too.
The signature strikes
drastically shrank the enemy’s bench and made the leadership worry that they
had no safe havens. Almost inadvertently, these strikes also helped protect
intelligence sources and methods since the strikes seemed more random than they
actually were.
It wasn’t long before
intelligence reporting began to confirm our success. We learned there was a
widespread sense of helplessness among the Qaeda leadership. Years later,
documents proved just how anguished they were.
In 2015, an American
court case against a Qaeda member prompted the government to release eight
documents from the trove of Bin Laden letters captured when he was killed in
Abbottabad, Pakistan, in 2011. Bin Laden’s correspondence with his chief
lieutenants, in 2010, is remarkable in its candor.
The letters show the stress
within the organization. “I convey my condolences regarding our great brother
Sheikh Sa’id” who died “as a martyr during a spy plane attack,” read one
from June 2010.
“The strikes by the spy
planes are still going on,” it continued. A member named al-Sa’di Ihsanullah
was the “latest to become a martyr: He was killed about a week ago, also by air
raids.” It noted, “The midlevel commands and staff members are hurt by the
killings.”
Signature strikes were also
taking a toll. In November, the same Bin Laden lieutenant complained,
after 20 fighters were killed in one place on Eid al-Fitr, the Muslim feast
celebrating the end of Ramadan, that the men had “gathered for the holidays,
despite our orders.”
Al Qaeda gained a healthy
respect for American intelligence. “Based on our analysis, they are constantly
monitoring several potential or possibly confirmed targets,” the June letter
said.
The frightened underlings in
the field beseeched Bin Laden to help. “We would like your guidance,” the June
letter said. “Especially on this idea: reduce the work, meaning stopping many
of the operations so we can move around less, and be less exposed to strikes.”
“There is an idea preferred
by some brothers to avoid attrition,” it continued. “The idea is that some
brothers will travel to some ‘safe’ areas with their families, just for
protection. They would only stay for a time, until the crisis is over, maybe
one or two years.”
Two months later another Bin
Laden deputy agreed to their taking refuge and “calming down and minimizing
movement.”
All this correspondence was
from 2010, but it is consistent with the intelligence picture we were gathering
in 2008. Al Qaeda along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border was spending more time
worrying about its own survival than planning how to threaten ours.
The correspondence also
confirmed our intelligence showing that attacking Americans on American soil
was central to their plotting.
The letters are filled with
references to recruits from a host of countries, including the United States.
One correspondence emphasized that “operations inside America are some of the
most important work of the Organization, as long as they are possible, because
they affect the security and economy of the American people as a whole.”
Throughout the campaign,
civilian casualties were a constant concern. In one strike, the grandson of the
target was sleeping near him on a cot outside, trying to keep cool in the
summer heat. The Hellfire missiles were directed so that their energy and fragments
splayed away from him and toward his grandfather. They did, but not enough.
The target was hard to
locate and people were risking their lives to find him. The United States took
the shot. A child died, and we deeply regret that he did. But his grandfather
had a garage full of dangerous chemicals, and he intended to use them, perhaps
on Americans.
We tried to get better.
Carefully reviewing video of one successful strike, we could discern — as a GBU
was already hurtling toward an arms cache — a frightened woman responding to
another weapon that had just detonated. She was running with young children
square into the path of the incoming bomb, and they were killed. We realized,
once our after-action review was done, that we needed to put even more eyes on
targets as they were being struck to try to avoid any future civilian
casualties.
For my part, the United
States needs not only to maintain this capacity, but also to be willing to use
it. Radical Islamism thrives in many corners of the world — Pakistan, Somalia,
Yemen, Syria, Libya, Mali, the list goes on — where governments cannot or will
not act. In some of these instances, the United States must.
And unmanned aerial vehicles
carrying precision weapons and guided by powerful intelligence offer a proportional
and discriminating response when response is necessary. Civilians have died,
but in my firm opinion, the death toll from terrorist attacks would have been
much higher if we had not taken action.
What we need here is a dial,
not a switch.
ticking off
severe criticism because you have done
something wrong:
I gave her a real ticking-off yesterday.
HU·MINT
Covert intelligence-gathering
by agents or others.
pred
before, ago
hellfires
(hellfire) a place of eternal
fire envisaged as punishment for the damned
excruciatingly
Agonizingly: in a very
painful manner; "the progress was agonizingly slow"
as·sert
State a fact or belief
confidently and forcefully.
leapt off
to make a large jump or sudden movement,
usually from one place to another:
sim·u·lat·ed
Manufactured in imitation of
some other material.
con·trite
Feeling or expressing remorse
or penitence; affected by guilt.
brazenness
Shamelessness: behavior
marked by a bold defiance of the proprieties and lack of shame
boil
(with reference to a liquid)
reach or cause to reach the temperature at which it bubbles and turns to vapor
un·blink·ing
(of a person or their gaze or
eyes) not blinking.
pred·a·tor
An animal that naturally
preys on others.
hunker down
to make yourself comfortable in a place or situation, or to prepare to stay in a place or position for a long time,
usually in order to achieve something
or for protection
vul·ner·a·ble
Susceptible to physical or
emotional attack or harm.
in·dis·crim·i·nate
Done at random or without
careful judgment.
en·cy·clo·pe·dic
Comprehensive in terms of
information.
shrink
Become or make smaller in
size or amount; contract or cause to contract
helplessness
Powerlessness revealed by an
inability to act; "in spite of their weakness the group remains
active"
an·guished
Experiencing or expressing
severe mental or physical pain or suffering.
trove
A store of valuable or
delightful things.
can·dor
The quality of being open and
honest in expression; frankness.
un·der·ling
A person lower in status or
rank.
be·seech
Ask (someone) urgently and
fervently to do something; implore; entreat.
at·tri·tion
The action or process of
gradually reducing the strength or effectiveness of someone or something through
sustained attack or pressure.
splay
Thrust or spread (things,
especially limbs or fingers) out and apart.
det·o·nate
Explode or cause to explode.
thrive
(of a child, animal, or
plant) grow or develop well or vigorously.
un·manned
Not having or needing a crew
or staff
THE DAWN: Indian
objections to F-16 sale
The
sale of F-16 aircraft has appeared to annoy India more than it helps Pakistan’s
overall counter-insurgency efforts. It should not.
But
the very fact that it does — that New Delhi appears to feel it necessary to protest the American sale of F-16
aircraft to Pakistan —
demonstrates the extent to which the Pak-India relationship needs to be
protected from reactionaries in India.
It
may be true that the use of F-16s is not central or fundamental to the
Pakistani counter-insurgency effort in Fata. But neither are the additional
aircraft vital for Pakistan’s overall deterrence efforts against India.
What
is troubling though is that Indian authorities appear to insist that the Pak-US
relationship has some automatic implications for the Pak-India context. It does
not.
Eight
new aircraft does not change the strategic — or operational balance — anymore
than a similar addition of similar aircraft by India would.
Much
as Pakistan — and possibly India — is trying to restart dialogue between the
two countries, it appears that the old approach continues to dominate.
The
objections to the sale of F-16s to Pakistan are not the only recent Indian
intervention.
It
is fairly well established that Indian authorities attempted to — and perhaps
succeeded in— temporarily blocking the sale of JF-17 aircraft to Sri Lanka.
There
too the Indian intervention was neither bashful nor remotely principled. It was
simply a case of leveraging influence to ensure a politically desirable — if
short-sighted — outcome.
The
Pakistani state’s deterrence against armed conflict with India has neither been
shaped nor determined by US arms transfers.
Much
as Pakistan achieved deterrence capability against India while US sanctions
were in effect against Pakistan, the same logic applies today: US transfers to
Pakistan will not change the latter’s fundamental ability to protect itself
against Indian hegemony.
Perhaps
what Indian authorities ought to consider is another reality: can Pakistan
really ever defeat terror — the kinds that threaten the Pakistani state and
also regional powers — if it does not have all the necessary tools at its
disposal?
From
Indian objections to American arms transfers to Pakistan, a strange pattern can
be discerned.
India
wants to not only dictate to Pakistan what the latter’s national security
interests ought to be, but also the manner in which they ought to be fought —
and the resources with which they should be fought.
Pakistan
has every right to the F-16s and doubly so when it comes to the possibility of
using them to combat perhaps the foremost threat to regional stability.
It
does not behove India to pretend otherwise or to try and prevent Pakistan from
acquiring the weapons platforms from which it can defend itself.
What
Indian officials really ought to be directing their energies to is achieving an
immediate resumption of the bilateral dialogue. Pakistan and India deserve
better than the old approach of endless complaints and no forward movement.
an·noy
Irritate (someone); make
(someone) a little angry.
coun·ter
Speak or act in opposition
to.
insurgency
An organized rebellion aimed
at overthrowing a constituted government through the use of subversion and
armed conflict
fata
The Federally Administered
Tribal Areas are a semi-autonomous tribal region in northwestern Pakistan, bordering
Pakistan's provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan to the east and
south, and Afghanistan's provinces of Kunar, Nangarhar, Paktia, Khost and
Paktika to the west and north.
deterrence
Disincentive: a negative
motivational influence
in·ter·ven·tion
The action or process of
intervening.
bash·ful
Reluctant to draw attention
to oneself; shy.
re·mote·ly
From a distance; without
physical contact.
lev·er·age
Use borrowed capital for (an
investment), expecting the profits made to be greater than the interest
payable.
he·gem·o·ny
Leadership or dominance,
especially by one country or social group over others.
dis·cern
Perceive or recognize
(something).
be·hoove
It is a duty or
responsibility for someone to do something; it is incumbent on.
re·sump·tion
The action of beginning
something again after a pause or interruption.
THE GUARDIAN view on the Brussels summit deal:
Cameron delivers a practical package
just more
than a quarter of British voters are determined to vote to remain in the European Union, come what may,
in the referendum that is expected to be announced by David Cameron on Saturday
in London following Friday night’s deal in Brussels
On balance, that
would be the Guardian’s position too. On the other side of the UK opinion
divide, a similar proportion are equally determined to vote to leave under all
possible circumstances – some of them jumped the gun last night in a rally in
London, as they always going to do.
But
in the middle are a much larger number of voters than either of these groups –
47% of the total in a poll
earlier this month (pdf) – whose
votes are either not set in stone or who genuinely don’t know where they stand.
These are the voters at whom Mr Cameron’s midnight wrangling in Brussels with
other EU leaders was mainly aimed. And these voters are right to look at the
deal that was unveiled on Friday night, to weigh it as a practical set of
proposals and to judge whether the Europe that it codifies is one of which
Britain should remain a member.
Nothing
that Mr Cameron achieved in Brussels was ever likely to affect the intentions
of the first two groups. But it does not follow that the talks over the last
two days were therefore a charade or that they were somehow irrelevant to the
decision that UK voters will now take. On the contrary. The don’t-knows are
likely to care a lot about the outcome that was confirmed on Friday and are
right to do so. Their verdict will move votes one way or another. The fact that
Mr Cameron, one of the few politicians with positive ratings, is recommending
it may weigh with them too.
The
deal will need to be examined very carefully in detail. But Mr Cameron was very
clear on Friday night that its contents were substantive not superficial. Only
someone with an ideological objection to the EU as such could dismiss that
claim wholesale. The deal achieves things that can make a difference. It
exempts the UK from any political drive, admittedly these days a faltering one,
towards “ever closer union”. That may seem largely symbolic, but the symbol
matters, not least in European law, and a nation that has rightly never wanted
to be subsumed in a European superstate, albeit that this is largely a rightwing
fantasy, can rest more contended on that count.
The
deal makes clear that the internal market will be expanded to include services.
This may be an unfashionable achievement in some ways, but it means jobs and
market access for British workers and companies, and it too cannot be dismissed
as mere window-dressing. The safeguards for the non-eurozone part of the EU are
safeguards that anyone who wants to remain in the EU while not joining the
single currency – a position that a majority of UK voters support – will
broadly endorse, even if it is simultaneously good news for the unpopular
financial sector
The section on
benefits for migrant workers is the most problematic part of the package. It
was good that several EU member states made clear that they would not accept
second-class treatment for their nationals. Nor should the UK have sought such
a status for migrants who have come here to work and who are net contributors
to the UK. Nevertheless, there need to be rules on benefits for migrant workers
and the rules agreed should logically reassure British taxpayers while not
mistreating migrants who are here already or rightly entitled to come here in
future.
In retrospect, it was
probably always likely that the leaders would have to burn the midnight oil to
get Britain’s deal. With 28 national interests at stake, brinkmanship was
wholly predictable. It was also highly likely that Downing Street wanted the
summit to generate a long, tense media wait. Mr Cameron had to emerge from the
summit having gone the extra mile to get what he wanted. No one can reasonably
say he did not do that.
His readiness to do
so makes the predetermined ideological opponents of Europe — or in some cases
the opportunists — who will follow Michael Gove into the Leave campaign look
mean-spirited and disloyal. Mr Cameron did not need to take the route he has
taken on Europe in the first place. The whole renegotiation was a gambling of
Britain’s place in Europe in the cause of Tory party management.
But, having embarked on it, he has delivered a package that those who have not
made up their minds should take very seriously indeed.
Set
in stone
to
be very difficult or impossible to change
wran·gle
Have a long and complicated
dispute.
un·veil
Remove a veil or covering
from, especially uncover (a new monument or work of art) as part of a public
ceremony
cod·i·fy
Arrange (laws or rules) into
a systematic code.
cha·rade
An absurd pretense intended
to create a pleasant or respectable appearance
sub·stan·tive
Having a firm basis in
reality and therefore important, meaningful, or considerable.
su·per·fi·cial
Existing or occurring at or
on the surface.
fal·ter
Start to lose strength or
momentum.
sub·sume
Include or absorb (something)
in something else.
al·be·it
Although.
fan·ta·sy
The faculty or activity of
imagining things, especially things that are impossible or improbable.
ret·ro·spect
A survey or review of a past
course of events or period of time.
burn the midnight oil
to work late into the night
brink·man·ship
The art or practice of
pursuing a dangerous policy to the limits of safety before stopping, typically
in politics.
down
Knock or bring to the ground.
em·bark
Go on board a ship, aircraft,
or other vehicle.
THE FINANCIAL EXPRESS: Controlling the pulse of pulses
The rising and highly volatile prices of pulses are seriously affecting
the budget of households, and pose a major challenge to the government to bring
down prices and sustain them at manageable levels. In fact, the problem of high
and variable prices of pulses has become perpetual for nearly a decade. The
economics of this phenomenon is simple. The domestic production of pulses is
unable to meet the demand consistently, leading to the spiral of price
increases every year.
To fill in the
demand-supply gap, imports of pulses has indeed expanded, and in value terms
now belong to the billion-dollar club. Yet, given that few countries in the world
produce pulses and India has a very large deficit across several varieties of
the crop, the ability of imports to cool markets has been limited. India has
struggled to import required quantities at reasonable prices.
Although the share
of pulses in total value of agricultural output is only 5%, making it seem like
a fringe crop, yet their rising prices have tended to create a political storm
in the country. Since India is the biggest producer, consumer and importer of
pulses in the world, an effective pulses strategy that results in significantly
increased availability of the crop at affordable and stable prices is the need
of the hour. The upcoming Union Budget is an opportune moment to start
addressing the problems holding the pulses sector back. We propose a five-point
package that we believe can increase the production of pulses and stabilise
their prices.
One lakh pulses villages
Pulses are often
grown in rain-fed areas having low yields, and are prone to several diseases
and pests. The average yield of pulses is less than 800 kg per hectare. Due to
subsequent droughts, production from a peak of 19.27 million tonnes in 2013-14
is expected to dip to 17.2 million tonnes in 2015-16. Notwithstanding the
erratic climate pattern, raising productivity from the currently very low level
should be the first step. Farm scientists claim the availability of
high-yielding, disease-resistant and drought-escaping varieties for
cultivation. To spread the improved varieties, the 60,000 pulses village
programme may be expanded to 1 lakh villages for field-level demonstrations (at
least five in one village, at the rate of Rs 3,500 per demonstration) by
allocating a sum of Rs 175 crore.
Restructured pulses seed sector
Unlike crops such
as maize, the pulses seed sector in India is weak; it is reflected in a
strikingly low rate of seed replacement between 2% and 4%. A three-pronged
strategy is needed to pull up the pulses seed sector.
One, the rate of
innovation needs to get on a springboard by involving the private sector (conspicuous
by its absence). This could take the form of a pull system of research of the
type Kremer suggested for an HIV AIDS vaccine, albeit with much lesser value of
award in this case. Essentially, the system would work as follows. If the
traits that are desired are delivered by an innovation, the winners would get a
big reward, but transfer the intellectual property rights to the government.
The private sector, so far, has not come forward in pulses seed business due to
its tiny scale and the public-sector seed companies are also wary for exactly
the same reason. Overall, the playing field should be level between the private
and the public sectors, including the NGOs, in terms of being eligible for the
big reward if they deliver in terms of desired traits in this technology.
Two, there is an
urgent need to expand the area under existing improved varieties and also
increase the seed replacement rate. NGOs which are working at the ground level
can be incentivised to produce and market improved varieties of pulses seed. To
begin with, an allocation of Rs 400 crore may be made for producing and
marketing about 20,000 tonnes of improved seeds by engaging NGOs in selected
clusters.
Three, a system of
seed certification should be developed such that better seeds get adopted and
receive higher value, thereby encouraging innovation.
Promote farmer producer organisations
The Small Farmers’
Agribusiness Consortium (SFAC) is promoting farmer producer organisations
(FPOs) to make smallholder agriculture remunerative through “farming together,
growing together”. Commodity-specific FPOs are coming up for production,
processing, marketing, retailing and export. Although some FPOs already deal in
pulses, incentives may be given to form more and larger FPOs for production,
processing and marketing of pulses. FPOs can play an important role in
production, branding and linking with organised retail and processing.
Incentives may be given to pulses FPOs for procuring machines for sorting,
processing and packaging. A sum of Rs 5 crore may be allocated for
incentivising or subsidising FPOs for credit, machines, etc, to develop the
value chain for pulses.
Incentives to states
States may be
given incentives for producing more pulses. Pulses fix atmospheric nitrogen in
their roots. The following crop after pulses requires less of nitrogenous
fertiliser (15-20%), and can thus help in saving costs of fertiliser subsidy.
Pulses also contribute in improving carbon content of the soil and raise
productivity for the subsequent crop. Therefore, states may be incentivised for
these environmental services contributed by pulses. Any one or more states contributing,
say, 1 million tonnes or more from the base year of 2014-15 may be given an
incentive towards environmental services and saving in subsidies for
nitrogenous fertilisers. A notional amount of Rs 20 crore may be allocated for
giving incentives to two or three states.
Strategic reserves
The government may
consider having a strategic reserve for at least two pulses crops, namely gram
and tur. In the event of expected shortfall in supply and rising prices,
strategic reserves may be used to release these pulses crops in the open market
to control prices. For an efficient reserves management, it should be combined
with price monitoring and early warning systems. By design, the reserves should
be large enough to deter hoarding, but should not be excessive such that they
become a fiscal burden. It can have a cooling effect on prices till the imports
come in. In the long run, a strategic reserve of about 50,000 tonnes may be
developed, which may be replaced on a regular basis. However, to begin with, a sum
of Rs 100 crore may be provided in the Budget to build a reserve of about
10,000 tonnes for 2016-17.
A sum of Rs 700
crore will be needed to meet these proposed interventions. However, the
long-term solution will rely on increasing production. India must target
increasing production of pulses not only for domestic market, but also for
meeting the growing global demand for pulses. This crop is the future food both
for the developed world and many developing African countries. There are
projections that global pulses consumption may grow by 10% in the coming decade
and 23% by 2030. India has agro-ecology to grow different pulses crops in
different seasons, but needs incentives and institutions. A small amount of
R700 crore, which is a mere 1.3% of the total value of pulses production, will
be the most important gift to the crop’s producers and consumers in the
International Year of Pulses 2016.
Authors are with
the International Food Policy Research Institute, New Delhi
pose
Present or constitute (a
problem, danger, or difficulty).
per·pet·u·al
Never ending or changing.
fringe
An ornamental border of
threads left loose or formed into tassels or twists, used to edge clothing or
material.
op·por·tune
(of a time) well-chosen or
particularly favorable or appropriate
not·with·stand·ing
In spite of.
er·rat·ic
Not even or regular in
pattern or movement; unpredictable.
spring·board
A strong, flexible board from
which someone can jump in order to gain added impetus when performing a dive or
a gymnastic movement.
con·spic·u·ous
Standing out so as to be
clearly visible.
pro·cure
Obtain (something),
especially with care or effort.
no·tion·al
Existing only in theory or as
a suggestion or idea.
de·ter
Discourage (someone) from
doing something, typically by instilling doubt or fear of the consequences.
hoard·ing
A large board in a public
place, used to display advertisements; a billboard.
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