Dissanayake reaches Delhi, his first foreign trip after coming to power, pacts readied

INDIA AND Sri Lanka are expected to sign four pacts, including one on cybersecurity, after President Anura Kumara Dissanayake meets Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Dissanayake, who arrived in New Delhi, is on a State visit to India from December 15 to 17. It's his first overseas visit after being elected President in September. During the visit, President Dissanayake will meet President Droupadi Murmu and hold discussions with Prime Minister Modi on "bilateral, regional and international issues of mutual interest", Jaiswal said. Dissanayake will be participating in a business event in New Delhi and will also visit Bodh Gaya.

A LIVING DOCUMENT

THE CONSTITUTION OF India is a singular document, not least because it both frames and bears the many diversities of the country. The two-day discussion on the "Glorious Journey of 75 Years of the Constitution of India" in Parliament made one thing clear: Across the political spectrum, the respect for independent India's founding document is intact and the political class - so often vilified - gave the country an edifying conversation and debate on its fundamental principles and institutions. As a document, the Constitution is the contract We, The People entered into with the state as it got constituted. 

The wage challenge

THE MOST INTERESTING parts of Reversing the Gaze, a remarkable 44-year diary of Amar Singh, are his honest reflections on the ironies of an Indian serving in the British Army. The irony of trying to raise employee wages without employer productivity encouraged by overselling of fiscal and monetary policy stands exposed because the flow of jobs since 1991 has not reduced the stock of farm employment despite government spending in- creasing from roughly Rs 1 lakh crore in 1991 to Rs 100 lakh crore. Our regulatory cholesterol vilifies, distrusts and discourages entrepreneurs. Change will create better teamwork (between the government, private sector, and civil society), enable policy risk-taking (more non-farm jobs will enable labour law reform and handing agriculture pricing and subsidies to state governments), and catalyse long-term thinking (a 25- year plan is not 25 1-year plans). Wages raise wages through the spontaneous combustion of alignment between ideas and execution. The Greek historian Thucydides believed any army with too much gap between its thinkers and doers will have its fighting done by fools and its thinking done by cowards. 

UNEQUAL RELIEF

INFLATION DATA RELEASED on Friday provided some relief for policymakers. India's inflation rate e (or the rate at which the general price level rises in a particular month as against the same month a year ago) in November came in at 5.5 per cent. While this is higher than the Reserve Bank of India's target of 4 per cent, it is a sharp improvement over the 6.2 per cent rate in October. The main reason for the softening in the headline inflation rate as compared to October was the moderation in vegetable prices. Even so, it is note- worthy that vegetable price inflation stood at close to 30 percent (year-on-year) and overall food price inflation carne in at over 9 percent. When one takes into account the situation last November-headline inflation of 5.6 per cent and food inflation of 8.7 percent - it provides a clear picture of how sustained high inflation creates a cost of living crisis.

An unravelling in Syria

THE SPEED AT which the situation in Syria has spiralled into anarchy defies all logic. With the availability of the best surveillance systems, eyes in the sky, eavesdropping capabilities and artificial intelligence, there should hardly be scope for strategic surprise in the world of military and quasi-military affairs. The issue here is the collapse of the Bashar al-Assad regime which represents the Ba'ath Party; the latter has been in power in one form or another since 1963. Syria has largely been a secular society; while promoting plurality, an Alawite (Shia) minority has ruled without any pretence of democracy 

New eastern route cuts down shipping time, costs; promises to boost India-Russia trade

MIDWAY THROUGH 2024, as India surpassed China to become the largest buyer of Russian oil, the operationalisation of a new sea route - the Eastern Maritime Corridor-is beginning to play an increasingly significant role in boosting commodity trade between the two countries, especially crude oil shipments to India. The new eastern route from Chennai to Vladivostok is translating into savings on two counts: shipment times between the two countries and thereby transportation costs. The Chennai-Vladivostok Sea route covers a distance of about 5,600 nautical miles and is estimated to have reduced the time required to transport cargo be- tween the Indian and Russian Ports of the Far East Region by up to 16 days. The time taken has come down to 24 days compared to over 40 days that it takes to transport goods to India from the west of Russia via Europe. This traditional trade route between Mumbai and St Petersburg in Russia spans a distance of 8,675 nautical miles, and the time taken for transportation is 40 days or more.

Composite licence: Only private insurers may be eligible

THE GOVERNMENT'S move to introduce composite licenses through an amendment in the Insurance Act is likely to put public sector insurers at a disadvantage vis-a-vis their private sector counterparts as only the latter will be eligible for these licenses under the proposed amendment. 

The Finance Ministry had proposed an Insurance (Amendment) Act, 2024 by amending various provisions of the Insurance Act, 1938, including raising foreign direct in- vestment (FDI) in the insurance sector to 100 per cent, reduction in paid-up capital, and provision for composite license allowing insurers to do life/general/health in single registration/insurance. 

'India should diversify IT exports to navigate Trump-led trade era'

INDIA SHOULD diversify its IT exports to mitigate risks arising from potential tariffs under US President-elect Donald Trump as a significant portion of India's IT export revenue comes from the United States, think tank Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI) said. India's total software service exports stood at $205 billion in 2023-24. The US accounted for 54 per cent of these exports, followed by Europe at 31 per cent, according to the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) annual survey on computer software and information technology-enabled services (ITES) exports. This comes as Trump is widely expected to increase scrutiny of the H-1B visa programme as he has imposed several measures to restrict immigration during his first term too. 

Does POSH Act apply to political parties? Here's what to know

THE SUPREME Court heard a PIL stating that the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 (POSH Act) should apply to political parties. The court directed the petitioner, advocate Yogamaya M G, to first approach the Election Commission of India (ECI) as they were the competent authority "to prevail upon the recognised political parties for creation of an in-house mechanism to deal with complaints of sexual harassment" in a way consistent with provisions of the POSH Act. Section 3(1) of the POSH Act states that "No woman shall be subjected to sexual harassment at any workplace". This immediately tells us how the POSH Act will apply at the workplace, and only when the aggrieved party is a woman.

ROLE OF 'SANTA ANA' WINDS, CLIMATE CHANGE IN DRIVING MALIBU WILDFIRES 

FIRE CREWS continue to battle a wildfire in the wealthy coastal town of Malibu, California. The so called Franklin Fire has charred more than 4,000 acres and affected about 22,000 people. Santa Ana winds blow when high pressure builds over the Great Basin - the area between the Rocky Mountains and Sierra Nevada (a mountain range in the Western United States) - and the pressure is low over California's coast. The difference in pressure triggers the movement of power- ful winds from the Basin's inland deserts, east and north of Southern California, over the mountains toward the Pacific Ocean. As the wind comes down the mountains, it compresses and heats up. The wind's humidity also drops, sometimes to less than 20% or even less than 10%. 

Wheat, edible oil, and inflation

RETAIL FOOD inflation eased somewhat to 9.04% year-on-year in November, from the preceding month's 10.87%. With vegetable inflation - 42.23% in October and 29.33% in November expected to soften on the back of improved winter season supplies, two main commodities of concern remain: wheat and edible oils. The inflation was even higher, at 13.28%, in vegetable oils. The department of consumer affairs' data shows the all-India modal (most-quoted) retail price of packed palm oil now at Rs 143 per kg, up from Rs 95 a year ago. Prices of other oils are also higher: Soyabean (Rs 154 versus Rs 110/kg), sun- flower (Rs 159 versus Rs 115) and mustard (Rs 176 versus Rs 135).

Locked in court battle, here is why Sanganer open jail near Jaipur is unique

A SUPREME Court appointed commissioner last week visited the Sanganer open prison, among the largest such facilities in India. This came after a dispute arose over the Rajasthan government's plan to build a hospital over some of the land being used by the jail. A Bench of Justices B R Gavai and Justice K V Vishwanathan said there has to be a balance "between the needs of having the Open Correctional Home and also a Hospital, which shall cater to the needs of the citizens residing in the vicinity". The Model Prisons and Correctional Services Act, 2023, defines an open correctional institution, as a "place for confinement of eligible prisoners on such conditions, as may be prescribed under the rules, for giving them more liberty outside a regular prison for facilitating their rehabilitation after release".