Newspaper Editorials With English Vocab 30/3/2016

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THE HINDU: India’s case on its solar policy

The Centre is without doubt justified in saying it will contest the ruling in the World Trade Organisation against India’s policy of local sourcing of components as part of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission. The U.S.

had taken to the WTO its case against India’s policy of favouring domestic inputs in solar cells and solar modules, arguing that it amounted to a discriminatory trade practice and distorted the game. The verdict, which came last month, is a setback for India’s Solar Mission, seen as the bedrock of efforts aimed at ensuring energy security and meeting the country’s commitment to the collective global plan to limit global warming. In fact, over the last year India has scaled up its solar power ambitions, with the Narendra Modi government increasing fivefold the target set in 2009 to 100,000 MW. The WTO ruling obviously threatens the financial viability of the plan. India did offer to modify its stand on the issue, and agreed to apply the domestic content requirement only for buying solar panels used for government sector consumption. It even assured Washington that power generated from such subsidised panels would not be sold for commercial use. The U.S., however, did not agree. The challenge before the government is to sort out trade practice concerns in a manner that keeps the Solar Mission firmly on track. How it resolves the issue — and it would be well-advised to avoid standing on ego — will have repercussions not only on the country’s green energy aspirations, but also on its capacity to negotiate sectoral roadblocks to its global-level “Make in India” lobbying.

The trade rift and the WTO ruling on the solar issue have yet again brought to the fore the absurdity of seeking a level playing field in an imperfect, highly unequal world. Nations often raise protection walls in some form or the other to suit their convenience or to further their political interests. The U.S. is no exception. At least nine States in that country have programmes that provide protection to domestic manufacturers. In this inter-connected environment, the challenge really lies in balancing global trade obligations with domestic social compulsions. If the U.S. cannot have other countries engaged in practices that disadvantage American workers and American businesses, as President Barack Obama said, India too cannot wish away the job concerns of its people. By providing a ‘green angle’ to its solar power programme, India has added a new dimension to the ongoing dispute. As countries across the world race to take steps to limit climate change, concerns like these will test international organisations and rule-making to work out solutions that do not obstruct, or even delay, these efforts. The world indeed requires a spirit of accommodative co-existence for the larger global good.

dis·crim·i·na·to·ry

Making or showing an unfair or prejudicial distinction between different categories of people or things, especially on the grounds of race, age, or sex.

dis·tort·ed

Pulled or twisted out of shape; contorted

re·per·cus·sion

An unintended consequence occurring some time after an event or action, especially an unwelcome one

road·block

A barrier or barricade on a road, especially one set up by the authorities to stop and examine traffic.

lob·by

Seek to influence (a politician or public official) on an issue.

rift

A crack, split, or break in something.

ab·surd·i·ty

The quality or state of being ridiculous or wildly unreasonable.

com·pul·sion

The action or state of forcing or being forced to do something; constraint.

THE HINDU: Towards military self-reliance

The Defence Procurement Policy 2016 made public this week is a step forward in increasing the participation of India’s private sector in military manufacturing. It replaces the last DPP unveiled in 2013, and has several recommendations for improving indigenous procurement. The DPP, the governing manual for all defence procurement, was part of a set of military reforms undertaken to address the many deficiencies noticed during the 1999 Kargil war. Since the first one in 2002, the DPP has been revised periodically. The new policy places the highest preference to a newly incorporated procurement class called ‘Buy Indian-IDDM’, with IDDM denoting Indigenous Designed Developed and Manufactured. This category refers to procurement from an Indian vendor, products that are indigenously designed, developed and manufactured with a minimum of 40 per cent local content, or products having 60 per cent indigenous content if not designed and developed within the country. The policy has also liberalised the threshold for offset liabilities for foreign vendors — now the obligation to invest at least 30 per cent of the contract value in India will kick in at Rs.2,000 crore, a significant increase from the previous Rs.300-crore mark. The policy lays stress on micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), and on “Make in India”. A 10 per cent weightage has been introduced for superior technology, instead of selecting the lowest bidder only in financial terms.

DPP 2016, however, falls far short of the expectations raised by the Narendra Modi government’s ambitious “Make in India” push that aims to transform the country into a global manufacturing hub. India is the world’s largest importer of defence equipment, and indigenising production is key to such a plan. The DPP is noticeable for the absence of Chapter VII, titled ‘Strategic Partners and Partnerships’, which the Defence Minister said would be notified separately. Under Strategic Partnerships, select Indian private companies were to be given preferential status in major defence projects. The inability of the Centre to finalise a credible policy to radically increase indigenous military manufacturing is a sure sign that India will remain heavily dependent on defence imports. Given the country’s robust financial growth, one of its greatest leveraging points is the annual spend on procurement. India has all the necessary prerequisites for a robust military-industrial complex: a diverse private sector, a large base of engineering institutes, and a growing defence budget. The fact that India faces a combination of security threats from both state and non-state actors is an obvious reason why it needs to be self-reliant in military equipment. There is another important reason why India needs an indigenous military-industrial complex: it will significantly reduce the potential for corruption in military procurement. However, the new procurement policy does not inspire hope that domestic defence production will grow sufficiently. It may not be just an irony that the policy has been released as India hosts yet another Defexpo event, in Goa, where global vendors are hawking their war machines to a technologically famished Indian military.

pro·cure·ment

The action of obtaining or procuring something.

in·dig·e·nous

Originating or occurring naturally in a particular place; native.

in·dig·e·nize

Bring (something) under the control, dominance, or influence of the people native to an area.

lev·er·age

Use borrowed capital for (an investment), expecting the profits made to be greater than the interest payable.

pre·req·ui·site

A thing that is required as a prior condition for something else to happen or exist.

ro·bust

Strong and healthy; vigorous.

fam·ished

Extremely hungry.

INDIAN EXPRESS: A long road

As his government nears the two-year milestone, speaking at the Bloomberg India Economic Forum, Prime Minister Narendra Modi outlined its economic policies and achievements. His central message: That India is being seen as a “bright spot” in the global economic landscape is a “result of good policy, not good fortune”. The PM detailed the new policy initiatives, including the Real Estate Regulatory Act, the Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing Policy, and the Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojana. He stressed the steps taken to improve job creation — the correcting of corporate taxation, which has traditionally favoured capital expenditure as against promoting a more labour-intensive approach. The PM highlighted that India was better-placed on most macro-economic parameters if compared to the two years preceding his term in office. The PM is right, India is better-off, be it in terms of inflation or the fiscal deficit, but there is still a long way to go.

The government’s claims cannot distract attention from the fact that it has failed to push through crucial legislation. This includes a newer version of the Land Acquisition Act, the implementation of the long-pending Goods and Services Tax, and the promised radical overhaul of labour reforms. Notwithstanding India’s economic growth data — which is often questioned — the fact also is that the NDA government has not yet ushered in the structural reforms it had talked about, and which are so necessary for sustaining growth. An overhaul of the Food Corporation of India is still pending and it is the same story on banking-sector reforms, where the changes have been more cosmetic, less structural.

The fact that India has registered a better growth rate than other major economies, such as China and the US, must be seen in perspective. According to the World Bank, as of 2014, the GDP per capita (PPP terms) for India, China and the US was $5439, $12,599 and $52,118, respectively. This is not to mention the more impressive health and nutrition achievements in such countries. Given the wide difference between overall GDP levels — India’s is one-third of China’s, and one-tenth of that of the US — a percentage point increase in GDP generates widely varying amounts of actual income in the three countries. Concluding his speech at the Bloomberg India Economic Forum, the PM rightly said: “Many steps have been taken, many more have to be taken.”

dis·tract

Prevent (someone) from giving full attention to something.

o·ver·haul

Take apart (a piece of machinery or equipment) in order to examine it and repair it if necessary.

ush·er

Show or guide (someone) somewhere.

BUSINESS STANDARD: External account worries

The Reserve Bank of India has released data for India's balance of payments in the third quarter of 2015-16 - the months between October and December, 2015, inclusive. The headline news was good: that the current account deficit, or CAD, narrowed to $7.1 billion in that period, which amounts to 1.3 per cent of gross domestic product or GDP. The CAD for the equivalent quarter of 2014-15 was $7.7 billion, or 1.7 per cent of GDP. The trade deficit, at $34 billion, was $4.6 billion less than in the equivalent quarter of 2014-15 and $3.4 billion less than in the second quarter of the current financial year. A cursory examination of these numbers would suggest that India's external sector is strong, and there is no cause for worry. This conclusion would also fit with the intuition that India, as a major commodities importer, would in general benefit from the long downturn in the global prices of commodities.

However, a closer look at the numbers suggests that any such confidence might be misplaced. In fact, there are three significant weaknesses in India's external account, all of which have been highlighted by the data released by the RBI. The most obvious is the weakness in exports. Exports of goods brought in $64.9 billion in Q3, 2015-16, down by $15.2 billion from the equivalent quarter in the previous year. This is not entirely due to lower fuel prices. Exports of petroleum, oil and lubricants fell in value by only $7.6 billion. In other words, exactly half of the decline in exports was due to non-oil goods. The continuing weakness in India's non-oil exports is problematic, as it is happening in a time in which many peer countries are growing their exports, such as Bangladesh and Vietnam. The structural changes needed to render Indian exports competitive are clearly not yet in place. If export growth does not revive soon, then there is a significant weakness at the heart of India's external account.

Two other specific sectors are worthy of mention as causing concern. One is remittances from overseas Indians. The country received remittances from overseas Indians totalling $14.8 billion during October-December, 2015. This was the lowest in 18 quarters. In the corresponding months of the previous year, remittances had been $15.97 billion; in the previous quarter of 2015, remittances had been $15.9 billion. It is likely that weaker oil prices have hit the incomes of Indians in the Gulf states. This, again, moderates the positive effect that low fuel prices have had on the CAD. And then there is the deceleration in services exports, particularly software exports and business services exports, which together account for more than half of services exports. In software exports, growth is barely positive; in business services exports, there is a decline. This again indicates that the commodity downturn should not lead to complacency about India's balance of payments situation. It is true that, currently, low fuel prices and a sharp increase in foreign direct investment mean that the situation appears comfortable. But both these variables cannot be controlled by policy. If they reverse, then the comfort on this account goes away. The government must work harder to counter the decline in exports of both goods and services.

in·tu·i·tion

The ability to understand something immediately, without the need for conscious reasoning.

down·turn

A decline in economic, business, or other activity.

re·mit·tance

A sum of money sent, especially by mail, in payment for goods or services or as a gift.

com·pla·cen·cy

A feeling of smug or uncritical satisfaction with oneself or one's achievements.

THE DAWN:Lahore blast

TO the despair and horror of a nation it has become clear that not all terrorist acts are equal.

While all lives are equal and the loss of every citizen, young and old, is rightly and necessarily mourned, some terrorist acts are so grotesque and shocking that the mind struggles to comprehend them.

Terror once again struck Pakistan on Sunday, but this time it attempted to tear at the very fabric of humanity. A crowded recreational park on an Easter Sunday overflowing with families, non-Muslim and Muslim alike, was what the Jamaatul Ahrar deliberately and purposefully targeted.

As the scale of the carnage that apparently a suicide bomber left behind became obvious, it was clear that something in Pakistan had changed.

The long fight against militancy has entered an even darker and uncertain new phase. The immediate question, though, was how? With the political and military leaderships vowing week in and week out to prosecute the fight against militancy and terrorism relentlessly and everywhere, how was a suicide bomber able to operate so easily and reach the middle of a huge crowd?

Critical as that question is, past experience suggests that neither are lessons learned nor is accountability practised.

The country’s leaders simply tell us that absolutely everything will be done to keep the public safe — until nothing is done and something terrible occurs. Then the vows of action are renewed. This time perhaps the military and political leaderships of the country do mean to do something more to fight terrorism — particularly in Punjab, but across the country too. The TTP faction/splinter group Jamaatul Ahrar originated in Mohmand Agency.

It is believed to have found sanctuary along the Pak-Afghan border in eastern Afghanistan and has recruited militants from Punjab to its cause. To defeat groups like the banned TTP, a truly national action plan will be required — not the piecemeal actions that have been taken so far.

Yet, Punjab has long loomed as the biggest unaddressed problem. Fata has witnessed multiple military operations, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan have been zones of conflict for well over a decade and Karachi is undergoing a sustained anti-criminal, anti-militant operation.

Punjab — because of its size, because of the scale of the militant problem there and because the problem has largely remained unaddressed over the years — is where the war against militancy now needs to be seriously fought.

But the war will not be won if the military and civilian leadership do not learn to fight together and in complementary ways.

In the recent past, when the military has insisted rather than tried to convince the civilian leadership, the results have been uneven: the National Action Plan; Fata reforms and IDP resettlement; and the Karachi operation.

If the same happens with a new, bigger counter-terrorism phase in Punjab, the results could be devastating for Punjab — and the country. The political and military leadership must act quickly, but definitely together

de·spair

The complete loss or absence of hope.

mourn

Feel or show deep sorrow or regret for (someone or their death), typically by following conventions such as the wearing of black clothes.

gro·tesque

Comically or repulsively ugly or distorted.

car·nage

The killing of a large number of people.

pros·e·cute

Institute legal proceedings against (a person or organization).

relentlessly

In a relentless manner; "he worked relentlessly"

com·ple·men·ta·ry

Combining in such a way as to enhance or emphasize the qualities of each other or another.

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