License Raj; Awaiting Agniveers; Coding Crimes
Opinion Watch
License Raj
The Telegraph in its Editorial has claimed that Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre has sought to undo gains of liberalization of the economy by reverting to the License Raj by unveiling move to ban imports of laptops, mobile phones and other electronic gadgets. The Kolkata-based daily underlined that Rs 1.97 trillion PLI (Production Linked Incentives) Schemes, assuring five per cent subsidies, have failed to move the elephantine feet of manufacturing stuck at 17 per cent of the GDP.
The banned items are mostly being imported from China which has stationed over 60000 armed personnel across line of actual control in eastern Ladakh, and the government has surely been quite late in the day to inflict trade bites on Beijing. Also, the nudge theory may not work always, and sticks should also come in play, for lethargic industries refuse to burn fats to be the best in the world in manufacturing.
Awaiting Agniveers
The Tribune in its Editorial has said that “out of the first batch of 18,849 Agniveers, 6,277 have not been inducted into the Army because their police verification has been delayed”. The Chandigarh-based daily argued that the “cops are verifying the antecedents of Agniveers at the leisurely pace of the pre-Agnipath-era training that lasted 9-18 months”.
Arguments for Agniveers included the need for an agile force, but induction surely lacks agility. Also, checking antecedents after imparting training sounds strange and betray impression that there is somewhat a lack of seriousness somewhere.
Coding Crimes
The Hindu in its Editorial has argued that much of the original language is retained in the three bills brought before Parliament by the government to overhaul the criminal laws, while fanning doubts that the changes are far too few. “Another potentially misusable provision is in the new Section 195 (equivalent to Section 153B IPC): it penalises making or publishing false or misleading information jeopardising the sovereignty, unity and integrity or security of India,” noted the Chennai-based daily to list out a few contentious provisions.
The Ministry of Home Affairs claims to have held substantive discussions with stakeholders even while few had winds of the bills being in the making. But the solace is that the parliamentary standing committee will weigh the changes and apply the test of several reports and recommendations of committees before giving own set of recommendations.
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