in this section, we are presenting our readers/aspirants compilation of selected editorials of national daily viz. The Hindu, The live mint,The Times of India, Hindustan Times, The Economic Times, PIB etc. This section caters the requirement of Civil Services Mains (GS + Essay) , PCS, HAS Mains (GS + Essay) & others essay writing competition.
1.Cooking oil on fire
Cooking oil is commonplace in Indian households, transcending cultural barriers that may limit consumption of other items such as protein from some sources. Therefore, when cooking oil prices shoot up, it is felt across-the-board.
In May, retail inflation of cooking oil and fats was 30.84%. To put this rate in context, the overall food inflation was 5.01%.
Inflation in cooking oil is not an isolated occurrence due to a temporary demand and supply mismatch. There is a structural problem here. India is the largest importer of edible oil and the Commission for Agricultural Costs & Prices said that India is forecast to meet 65% of its consumption needs from imports.
This makes the price movement of cooking oil vulnerable to swings in the foreign exchange market for reasons completely unrelated to agriculture. In addition, GoI has levied sizable import duties on this product. In addition to basic import duty, the agriculture and infrastructure development cess on imports of crude palm oil, soybean oil and sunflower oil is between 17.5% and 20%.
The long-term solution, which is to enhance domestic supply, hasn’t seen a satisfactory outcome. Unlike cereals, government procurement of oilseeds has a more complicated route to follow. As the seeds need to be processed for oil, a scheme such as Private Procurement & Stockist Scheme to encourage private traders to procure at MSP was introduced a few years ago. It hasn’t produced results. It’s time GoI went back to the drawing board to come up with a better designed scheme to deal with this problem which cuts into the budget of the poorest of households.
2.Nova & other vaxes: Covovax needs quick regulatory okay. And there should be official clarity on other vaccines, like J&J’s
In 150 days of vaccination in India, around 259 million doses have been administered, which is roughly 12% of the 2.1 billion doses that have been administered globally. This looks good in absolute terms. But it’s dispiriting when you consider that the biggest demography, 590 million Indians in the 18-44 age group, has received just 44.2 million doses.
So, as everyone and their unvaccinated uncle know, we need guaranteed vaccine supplies beyond Covishield and Covaxin. And here America’s quick pace of vaccination – 54.4% adults fully vaccinated – means good news for India. Comforted by quick coverage, America’s drug regulator is reluctant to offer an Emergency Use Authorisation (EUA) for new vaccines. An American vaccine that may have missed the EUA bus is the one developed by Novavax, which this week announced that its phase-3 clinical trial conducted across the US and Mexico has achieved 90.4% efficacy overall.
Novavax has a technology transfer and manufacturing agreement with Serum Institute to make 1.1 billion doses for the Covax facility. This vaccine is based on the protein subunit platform, the most popular technology platform among vaccines under clinical development. Its storage conditions are ideal for India’s supply chain. The challenge ahead is for Serum, which has initiated phase-3 clinical trials on this vaccine, calling it Covovax, to meet the Indian regulator’s requirements. Serum must process data fast and submit it to the regulator. And if safety and efficacy tests pass muster, the regulator must grant EUA with the same dispatch it showed for India’s two other vaccines.
Serum has been working with Novavax since 2020 on developing its manufacturing capacity for this vaccine. If it clears the regulatory threshold here quickly, it will be possible to bring doses into the market at a fast pace, unlike some other vaccines under development. If, as reported, 200 million shots are available in September-December, Covovax will make an appreciable difference in vaccination coverage.
We should have also got a clear picture by now of what’s happening to J&J’s single dose vaccine. The company approached DGCI for regulatory clearance a couple of months ago. There seems to be no official word on it as yet. It’s the only single-dose vaccine that’s been approved by FDA, WHO and the European Medicines Agency. It has a shelf life of two years. All of this suits India. Regulatory uncertainty is not something the country can afford right now.
3.Dissent isn’t terrorism: HC bail order for Delhi riot accused shows why misuse of laws like UAPA damages democracy
Courts are applying much-needed correctives. Supreme Court’s critique of sedition law cases has been followed by Delhi high court’s strong and just observations while granting bail to Jamia student Asif Iqbal Tanha and Pinjra Tod activists Devangana Kalita and Natasha Narwal. HC’s order puts Delhi Police’s terrorism charge against the trio in grave doubt. The court couldn’t find evidence on record to justify three key UAPA provisions – committing terrorist acts, raising funds for terror, and conspiracy – slapped on them. This is especially significant because invoking UAPA severely narrows bail options, unlike in the case of IPC provisions.
In the Narwal and Kalita bail orders, Justices Mridul and Bhambhani observed that the state in its anxiety to suppress dissent has “blurred the line between the constitutionally guaranteed ‘right to protest’ and ‘terrorist activity’”. The judges flagged lack of “specific, particularised, factual allegations”. The larger point here is that laws like UAPA must be applied with rigorous fairness, not because non-autonomous police forces reckon that overenthusiastic use of these blunt instruments will earn them brownie points.
The Delhi HC said it clearly: “Foisting extremely grave and serious penal provisions engrafted in sections 15, 17 and 18 UAPA frivolously upon people, would undermine the intent and purpose of Parliament in enacting a law.” Courts must not condone state agencies “crying wolf”, the HC warned. Hopefully, courts everywhere and at all levels will act with this in mind. Let’s recall again that journalist Siddique Kappan has been incarcerated under UAPA since October.
As for events that led to the trio’s arrest, the northeast Delhi riots, Delhi Police should, following judicial critique of its claims on ‘conspiracies’, look seriously and fairly into who and what caused those awful days of violence and killing. Misapplication of laws is not a substitute for proper investigative work.
4.Shed fiscal policy rigidity
Inflation numbers for May — Consumer Price Index (CPI) has crossed the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) threshold of 6% and Wholesale Price Index (WPI) is at an all-time high — have under-lined the precarious nature of the ongoing economic recovery
Inflation numbers for May — Consumer Price Index (CPI) has crossed the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) threshold of 6% and Wholesale Price Index (WPI) is at an all-time high — have under-lined the precarious nature of the ongoing economic recovery. As the second wave ebbs, and restrictions are eased, economic activity is picking up. But there is a paradox here. The Nomura India Business Resumption Index (NIBRI) jumped to 76 in the week ending June 13. It posted the highest week-on-week increase of 8.1 last week. But consumer confidence continues to be low, especially among the less well-to-do. High inflation at this moment will put a squeeze on household budgets and, therefore, demand. The burden will be especially severe for the non-rich.
A spike in price of essentials hurts even in normal circumstances. These are far from normal times. Labour market conditions are weak. Employment and wage earnings have not recovered to even pre-second wave levels. A large health spending shock during the second wave has destroyed household balance sheets for millions of households. The fiscal policy response ever since the pandemic hit has been largely pro-cyclical. Provisional numbers from the ministry of finance show that gross tax revenue went up in 2020-21 despite a GDP contraction. This was made possible by a sharp increase in taxes on petrol-diesel. Fuel inflation is driving both CPI and WPI, which grew at 11.6% and 37.6%, respectively, in May. Petrol-diesel prices were not as high as they are now, even when crude oil was trading above $100 per barrel. Brent Crude closed at $73 per barrel on June 14.
5.The fracture in LJP will impact Bihar’s politics
The larger lesson is that in family-based parties, social justice often is a cover for raw ambition; and dynasts sometimes lack the political acumen of those they succeed. While age is on his side, Chirag Paswan will have to reinvent himself and go back to the roots to overcome this setback.
Eight months after Ram Vilas Paswan’s death, there has been a coup in the Lok Janashakti Party (LJP). Paswan’s successor and his son, Chirag, with what many assume to be a nod from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), decided to contest the Bihar assembly polls independently, breaking away from the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the state while backing it at the Centre. This cost the Nitish Kumar-led Janata Dal (United) seats. While extrapolation is hard, the JD(U) believes that in seats where its margin of defeat was less than the LJP’s vote-share, it would have won if the NDA was intact.
Since then, Mr Kumar has been clear that the onus was on the BJP to show that it did not have a secret understanding with the LJP, drawn a red line at Chirag Paswan’s induction into the Union council of ministers, if and when a Cabinet reshuffle occurs, and worked to weaken Mr Paswan’s hold over his party. This plan succeeded (with perhaps the BJP’s blessings) when five LJP Members of Parliament decided to elect Pashupati Kumar Paras, the late Paswan’s brother, as parliamentary party leader.
There are two immediate implications to this shift. One, Mr Kumar’s hand gets stronger in Bihar. Two, Chirag Paswan’s politics is now at the crossroads — he overreached and now doesn’t have the numbers to reverse his ouster. But he is still seen as the inheritor of his father’s legacy by the Paswan community. Whether he chooses to remain with the NDA, the prospects of which are dim since his estranged relatives appear to have tied up with the NDA firmly, or move to the Opposition by joining hands with Tejashwi Yadav or the Congress, will have to be seen. But the larger lesson is that in family-based parties, social justice often is a cover for raw ambition; and dynasts sometimes lack the political acumen of those they succeed. While age is on his side, Chirag Paswan will have to reinvent himself and go back to the roots to overcome this setback.