IMPORTANT ARTICLES FROM OTHER NEWSPAPERS-- gstoday.

ALL AROUND NEWS UPDATES—gs-today.

ECI and Aadhaar (Business Standard)

·         What ? ECI has decided on a national campaign, encouraging voters to “voluntarily” list their UID numbers through a web portal and SMS,

·         Why ? The decision to ‘seed’ the country’s electoral rolls with Aadhaar was taken earlier this month.

·         Aim ? The intention is to clean up the registers, fraught with fakes, duplicates and erroneous entries.

Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT)(Live mint)

·         IIoT is a network of physical objects, systems, platforms and applications that contain embedded technology to communicate and share intelligence with each other, the external environment and with people.

·         The business and economic potential of IIoT on the industry and economy can be even more significant and disruptive than similar technologiesthat are being applied in the realm of consumer electronics.

·         Ex. Road transport solutions provider Michelin solutions is one such company that has built a high-tech, high-touch IIoT system to reduce fuel consumption in its clients’ truck fleets.

·          Ex. Taleris, a joint venture between Accenture and General Electric, tackles the issue of airline delays and cancellations caused by equipment failure. It uses sensors that track the performance of equipment and engines whether in flight or not.

·         These examples illustrate how IIoT has the capacity to create an outcome economy, where companies compete on their ability to deliver predictable outcomes instead of just products and services.

·         It is through the outcome-based applications that IIoT can generate new revenue streams. 

Christine Lagarde , IMF chief in India (Business Standard)

·         IMF chief Lagarde on 2-day trip to India

·         said the United States was not ratifying quota reforms in the IMF, due to which the plan to increase the voice of India and other emerging countries in the Fund were being held up. However, the IMF was working on other ways to implement the programme, she said during her lecture on ‘Seizing India’s moment’.

·          Lagarde said the country’s economic growth rate was expected to overtake China’s this year 

·         However— not quite inclusive, as the female labour force participation rate is now 33 per cent( global average of 50 per cent and  East Asia’s average of 63 per cent,+  female participation has been declining since 2005.

·         Lagarde called this a “huge missed opportunity” and urged for quick remedies

Are Modi’s Indian Ocean initiatives lacking in clarity? (Live Mint)

FACT: India’s maritime initiative on the Indian Ocean has been variously presented as “Project Mausam”, “Spice Route”, “Sagar Mala” and, Modi’s favourites, Blue Revolution (from the Ashoka chakra on the Indian flag) andSAGAR—Security and Growth for All in the Region.

Analysis : According to the author of the article this combination of phrases is giving a confused outlook especially when compared to  the simple and catchy Chinese vision of the “maritime silk route” or the US articulation of a “pivot” or “rebalancing” to the Asia-Pacific.

What has China done?

·         invested in  Gwadar (in Pakistan),

·         invested in Hambantota (in Sri Lanka),

·         invested in Chittagong (in Bangladesh)

·         invested inSittwe (in Myanmar)

·         China has offered $500 million in soft loans for infrastructure and housing projects to the Maldives

·         $700 million to Mauritius for expansion of its airport and special economic zone.

·         In Sudan, China has invested over $10 billion in infrastructure projects, including a railway line between Khartoum and the crucial Port Sudan on the Red Sea

·         financing and building a $10 billion port at Bagamoy in Tanzania.

·         Key Indian Ocean countries, like Indonesia, have also wholly bought into China’s maritime silk route project.

What has India Done?

·         India is struggling to get financing and construction of Chabahar port (in Iran) underway

·         just offered $500 million to the Maldives for infrastructure projects

·         handed over a single Indian-built coast guard vessel to Mauritius.

Conclusion:

“While India should be the primary economic and security provider in the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) countries, it is likely to be outmatched by China, which is only an observer.”

Modi in SriLanka (Indian Express)

·         The pacts signed by the two countries — mainly related to travel, tourism and trade

·         But more important was to build trust between the two countries and

·         the Tamil question loomed large over the visit.

·         The prime minister reiterated that the unity and integrity of Sri Lanka is paramount for New Delhi, while advising Colombo that diversity in a people could be a source of strength.

·         He backed the Tamil parties’ demand for devolution of powers and suggested that his favoured theme at home, of “cooperative federalism”