Today The Hindu editorials Analysis
10th june 2019
Question – Is NITI Aayog old wine in a new bottle? Critical Analyse(200 words)
प्रश्न – क्या नीति आयोग एक नई बोतल में पुरानी शराब की तरह है? आलोचनात्मक विश्लेषण करे (200 शब्द)
Question- Recently the National Register of Citizenship in Assam was in news. In this backdrop what is Assam Accord? why is NRC needed and wht are the associated concerns?( 250 words)
प्रश्न-हाल ही में असम में नागरिकता का राष्ट्रीय रजिस्टर खबरों में था। इस पृष्ठभूमि में असम समझौता क्या है? NRC की आवश्यकता क्यों है और संबंधित चिंताएं क्या हैं? (250 शब्द)
प्रश्न-हाल ही में असम में नागरिकता का राष्ट्रीय रजिस्टर खबरों में था। इस पृष्ठभूमि में असम समझौता क्या है? NRC की आवश्यकता क्यों है और संबंधित चिंताएं क्या हैं? (250 शब्द)
Context – Questions being raised on NITI Aayog as a independent institution.
Need for NITI Aayog –
● Planing Commission roughly translates to NITI Aayog.
● India is faced with several challenges like unemployment, sliding investment amd growth, poor education, health, environmental problems, rising inequalities and so on.
● But India’s problems are complex becase they are all interrelted. Soving just one part of the system alone will make the matter worse.
● The complexity of the task demands a good plan and a good strategy.
● Also the planning hs to be an inclusive one. It has to follow a through a dialogue between all stakeholders, the centre and the states and other the institutions working in this regard.
● Here comes the role of NITI Aayog.
● The Planning Commission followed a centraised approach. NITI Aayog is seen as promoting cooperative federaism.
● Hence, NITI Aayog was seen as a good starting point for a new journey in transforming the governance of Indian economy.
Limitations –
● There is a need to understand that it i not just enough to have a plan but there must also be a strategy for its cooperative implementation.
● There is a concern that NITI Aayog had lost its credibility as an independent institution and has become a mouthpiece of the government.
Way forward –
● There should be an independent evaluation officer to look at the implementation of the policies of the Aayog.
● No matter how many chnges are made to the structure of the planning body, what is needed is a transformation in the approach to planning.
● Also the traditional approach to evaluation is based on numbers, budget and controls. But wht is needed is evaluation in midst of implementation process nd changes in course if required.
● NITI Aayog has provided a new bottle but it needs to be filled with new ideas rather thn repeaing the old ones.
Context- Muhammad Sanuallah’s case in Assam and the NRC
Issue – Indegenous Assamese people are alarmed at the large scale bengali speaking outsiders, both Hindu and Muslim, immigrating in their state.
● They are afraid of loss of job opportunities and demographic changes.
● They see NRC as a means to get rid of this problem.
What is NRC?
● NRC is a roster of all those who have settled in Assam up to the midnight of 24 March, 1971.
History –
● In 1978-79, there was a rapid increase in the number of Muslims in the electoral rolls in Assam.
● This led to agitation against illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, which resulted in signing of Assam Accord.
● According to the Assam Accord individuals who entered Assam after 24 March, 1971 are illegal immigrants and must be deported.
● But the NRC was not updated for several decades.
● so the Supreme Court ordered the state government to update the NRC, that was first published after 1951, by a fixed deadline.
● The first draft of the roster was published on 30 July 2018.
Process – there are 2 parallel processes to establish citizenship- 1)the Foreigners Tribunals, which has all the powers of a civil court, to determine whether an accused is an illegal immigrant or not, operating under Foreigners Act. 2) the NRC, which is under preparation.
Concerns – If we see Mohammad Sanullah’s case, he was registered as a labourer despite serving in the army for 3 decades. this exposes the loopholes, carelessness and shocking irregularities in the present citizenship determining process.
● there are very limited number of procedural safeguards against the foreign tribunals.
● Many a times tribunals have issued notice to entire families of the accused, instead of just the suspect due to clerical errors such as spelling mistakes, inconsistency in age and so on.
● the vulnerable and marginalised have limited documentation.
● At times orders determining citizenship have been passed without even assigning reasons.
● Many are sent to detention camps without being heard.
Even the process under NRC is not beyond concern.
● The process under NRC is also opaque and the ” family tree method” is also disputed as it is very difficult to trace.
● there is also a provision that others could raise ‘objections’ against people whose names appear in draft NRC have also resulted in random filing of objections.
Way forward –
●It is to be understood that at the end of the process a lot of people will be left stateless. They will not avail any job or any public facility. This makes them vulnerable to radicalization.
● In the wake rising illegal immigrants NRC is the need of the hour but it should not be abrupt. Humanitarian aspect should also be kept in mind.
हिन्दी