The HINDU Editorial notes for UPSC exam ,September 9,2019

 

 The HINDU Editorial Notes

 September 9,2019

 

1) Throttled at the grass roots

• It's been 25 years since the constitutional amendments (73 and 74) institutionalizing the local government were passed yet democratic decentralization is barely alive in India
• The laws provided the local bodies with wide ranging powers and responsibilities and to function as an accountable institution to the people.
• In reality,despite of the 32 lakh elected representative at the local levels and occasional meetings,local government remain ineffective and act as mere agents to do the bidding of higher level governance

 Where did it go wrong?

• Contrary to the general claim that states failed to devolve adequate powers ,14th finance commission reported that basic subjects such as water supply ,street light sanitation roads and the management of community assets has been already devolved.
• The main issue lies however in funding and they are as listed below, it resembles a scenario of giving responsibility without power

          1.Inadequate funding
          2.inflexible funds ie.,funds comes with attached conditions to be used only for Central schemes
          3.the local government are reluctant to charge their own taxes as they fear political backfire
          4.lack of staff or staff non responsible to local government

• In some cases ,even the constitutionally mandated election to local bodies after every 5 years has been violated eg.,Tamilnadu local bodies is already 2 years overdue due to this delay the state had to lose finance commission grants .
• To add further problems the Central Government's recent schemes are executed in a highly centralized technological manner and leave little scope for democratic decentralization.eg., smart cities scheme where local bodies have little say in deciding plans.
• Then there is ever present claims of corruption on Local bodies . Although there is politician contractor bureaucrat nexus at  levels of government it is just that corruption at lower levels gets exposed faster than state or central level.Actually Corruption has been proven to be reduced in decentralized democracies  

             
                 

pic credit:indianetzone.in

Way Forward:

• The solution lies only in making these bodies accountable not in circumventing them through centralized plans
• Regular association and gram sabha meetings must be made compulsory ,social media and messenger tools can play a great part in facilitating communication
• The organizational structure should be reformed such that panchayats and ULB can hold the staffs and state government accountable if there is a delay in execution of program or non transfer of funds
• Third local Government's must tax independently and carry out their works , only local taxation will make people aware of these bodies and therefore will keep these bodies accountable .
• The laws have already devolved enough powers ,now it is our turn to infuse life to the local government institution

         To read complete article ,click here
         Learn more about challenges faced by local self government in India ,click here

2) Trump Europe and the Iran effect

• The Iran crisis reflects the strains between US and Europe over the US president's Maximum pressure approach
• Although Iran has been violating certain terms of the JCPOA(Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) deal ,unlike the US which withdrew from the deal the European nations want to preserve the deal
• As the energy and economic security are significantly dependent on Persian Gulf, European nations are averse to conflating the Iran situation with any further by toeing the American rhetoric

                   

pic credit:theguardian.com

• The European nations have already devised some alternative economic model called INSTEX bypassing dollar trade to escape US sanctions
• The UK has taken a different approach than that of its European neighbors,Iran and UK has already been mired in some retaliatory seizures of tankers and hence it appears that UK may take the side of US if war breaks out
• The European nation are indeed trying to salvage the Iran nuclear deal as seen in the recent proposal by French president Macron in G7 summit
• Yet the time is running out as Iran's economy has already come down post sanctions any further delay may give Hardliners in Iran to take control of the Government which is not good for the region and the world. Iran regime has a vast network of proxy terror groups who can wreak havoc in the middle east

        To read complete article ,click here
        Learn more about US sanction on Iran and its consequences on India ,click here

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3) Italy afloat, On an unlikely ruling coalition in Italy

              

pic credit:bbc.co.uk

• The far right parties are growing rapidly in Italy in the background of populist and anti immigration rhetoric
• The Euro sceptic far right wing parties has ratcheted up the rhetoric of leaving single currency union without recognizing the fragile fiscal situation of Italy 
• Recently the Matteo Salvini led League a far right party withdrew its support to the coalition government ,the other member of coalition was the anti establishment party Five star movement
• The coalition Government however survived with the centre left democratic party providing support,this was unexpected by Matteo salvini as he wanted a fresh election who was desirous of becoming the president as polls showed his party leading across Italy
• Friction in the new coalition may provide the far right to rise again hence the respite provided by temporary coalition must be used wisely

         To read complete article ,click here
         Read more about the rise of far right parties in Europe,click here

4) So close yet so far, On Chandrayaan 2 lander

• The ISRO's chandrayaan mission might have failed in one of its objective but the Mission itself is not a failure
• On September 7 ,ISRO came close to creating history when the robotic lander vikram followed the predetermined descent trajectory and came within 2km of.lunar surface before the contact was lost
• The success rate of soft landing on planets or moon is very low , as recently an Israel private firm attempted to land Beresheet lander ended up crashing
• In recent times only China's Change lander mission has succeeded.

                 

pic credit:space.com

• Although the objectives related to vikram lander and pragyan rover might be missed if communication is not reestablished, 90-95% of mission objectives are with the lunar rover which is successfully rotating in the lunar orbit
• The payload in orbiter will help map the lunar surface , explore mineral and search for water molecules in the lunar south pole.
• Earlier chandrayaan 1 had already proved traces of water in Moon's thin atmosphere
• Now if chandrayaan 2 orbiter could confirm water molecules in the moon's south pole then this might serve as great data for future programs such as NASA attempt to land an astronaut on the Moon's south pole by 2024

      To read complete article ,click here
      Read more about Chandrayaan 2 facts for upsc exam ,click here

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