Hey,
These are the summaries of the Hindu Editorials for today, 5th November 2022. You can get access to the full Hindu e-paper in our Telegram channel and it's recommended that you go through the full article for an indepth review. Let's hope you find these useful =)
How is India planning to end child marriage?
Laws alone cannot end child marriage. There needs to be a multi-pronged approach that includes improving public infrastructure and services, raising social awareness, and providing financial independence to girls.
What is the status of remote voting for NRIs?
The article discusses the difficulties faced by non-resident Indians (NRIs) in voting in Indian elections, and the efforts of the government and the Supreme Court to facilitate remote voting for them. According to estimates, there are nearly 1.35 crore NRIs spread across the globe, and in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, only 25,606 of them were able to vote. The main obstacle to NRI voting is the condition that they have to visit the polling booth in person in order to vote. In 2017, the government introduced a Bill to amend the Representation of People Act to remove the condition of in-person voting for NRIs and enable them to vote through proxies, but the Bill was never introduced in the Upper House and eventually lapsed.
In 2020, the Election Commission of India wrote to the Law Ministry that it was "technically and administratively ready" to facilitate electronic voting for NRIs in the 2021 Assembly elections in five States but the External Affairs Ministry flagged "huge logistical challenges" relating to identity verification of voters, absence of polling agents, the burden on embassy staff etc. It is yet to be seen if any of the remote voting options materialise before the 2024 elections.
Will U.S. mid-term elections be a game changer?
The article discusses the potential outcomes of the United States' upcoming midterm elections, and how those results could impact various policy issues. Among the issues mentioned are the economy, judicial appointments, and investigations into the conduct of the Biden White House. The article also notes that the Supreme Court ruling against the constitutional right to abortion could mobilise Democratic voters across the country.
The comeback ‘king’
Benjamin Netanyahu
Netanyahu has been a controversial figure in Israeli politics for his hardline stance on security issues and Palestinian concessions. He was first elected Prime Minister in 1996 and has since been re-elected multiple times, most recently in 2021. His opponents from across the political spectrum have accused him of corruption, but he has consistently denied these allegations. Netanyahu remains a powerful influence in Israeli politics and his legacy is defined by the country's continued state of crisis.
The new Social Democrat
Mette Frederiksen
The article discusses how the Social Democrat party in Denmark, led by Mette Frederiksen, won the most recent election by a slim margin. Frederiksen had promised during her campaign to form a broadly centrist coalition, and she resigned after the election in order to do so. Her background is briefly mentioned, as well as her successes since becoming Prime Minister. The article goes on to discuss how Frederiksen's decision to mass-cull Denmark's population of minks after some were found to be infected with the coronavirus sparked nationwide outrage. This led to one of the parties supporting her minority government, the Social Liberals, threatening to bring a no-confidence motion unless she called for an early election. She did so on October 5.
Interestingly, while the Social Liberals fared poorly, not only did Frederiksen lead the Social Democrats to their best result in two decades, she also bucked the European trend of social democratic parties going into terminal decline by ceding ground to the extremists in either wing. The article concludes by saying that it would be a mistake to read this election as an indication that Denmark has somehow escaped the wave of right-wing populism sweeping across Europe, because the Social Democrats are no different from other right-wing parties
Helming UN in China, a former Indian military officer
The article is about Siddharth Chatterjee, the UN Resident Coordinator for China, and his thoughts on China's development. He says that he is impressed by China's ability to lift so many people out of poverty, and that other countries can learn from China's example. He also says that the UN needs to do more to help other countries learn from China's experience.
‘Redact sensitive portion’: SC gives a way out of sealed cover affidavits
The article discusses a recent Supreme Court ruling that suggests a way for the government to share sensitive information with petitioners without disclosing the entire contents to them. The ruling came about after the government attempted to pass on its internal files in a sealed cover to the court without sharing the contents with the media company whose security clearance was revoked. The media company argued that passing on materials in a sealed cover to the court would compel the judges to accept the state’s version, that too, in cases in which the government’s narrative is under challenge and the fundamental rights of the petitioners are at stake. The court ruled that the government must present “extenuating circumstances” before confidentially passing materials to the court without disclosing them to the petitioners.
Navy chiefs of Quad in Japan ahead of Malabar Exercise
The meeting on the naval exercise, which was started in 1992 between India and the U.S., will go on till November 9; this comes at a time when a Chinese research vessel Yuan Wang-6 has entered the Indian Ocean Region via the Sunda Strait
The navy chiefs of India, Australia, Japan and the U.S. met in Japan on Saturday to discuss enhancing interoperability in future editions of the Malabar multilateral naval exercise. Meanwhile, a Chinese research vessel, Yuan Wang-6, has entered the Indian Ocean via the Sunda Strait. The meeting in Tokyo comes ahead of a series of multilateral engagements in the next couple of weeks to be hosted by Japan. This year marks 30 years of the Malabar Exercise, which began as a bilateral exercise between India and the U.S. in 1992. While the course of the Chinese vessel is not known, officials said the Indian Navy is keeping a close tab on its movements. This comes just three months after a major diplomatic showdown between India and Sri Lanka over the docking of a similar vessel from China at the Hambantota Port in the island nation in August.
Treat nonconsensual sex with minor wife as rape: LG
The article discusses a proposal by the Delhi Lieutenant-Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena to make non-consensual sex between a man and his married wife aged between 15 and 18 punishable by rape. The L-G has recommended striking down of Exception 2 of Section 375 of the IPC which makes the act non-punishable, they added. This, sources said, would also “remove the discrepancy between the POCSO Act, which is applicable to offences against anyone up till 18 years of age, and the prevailing provisions of the IPC”.