Essays for IIM

To be read along with the WTO Primer in the package: India ,Bangladesh and Peru have opposed the European Union's proposal to give duty free access to Pakistani textiles as a flood relief measure . The countries have informed the World Trade Organisation (WTO) that trade concession was not the right option as it harmed interests of competitors. India fully supports EU's intention of helping Pakistan in its time of need, but assistance should be given directly in cash or kind and not by bending trade rules A decision on EU's proposal to allow duty-free import of 75 items for three years starting January 2011, amounting to almost euro 900 million in import value -- 64 of them textiles -- from Pakistan was deferred at a recent meeting of the WTO committee on trade in goods after the three countries raised objections. EU can give concessions to Pakistan only if the WTO gives it a waiver from its obligation of treating all member countries the same way , under a provision k...

To be read along with the WTO Primer in the package: ·          India may drag the United States to the World Trade Organization, or WTO, over its decision to raise professional visa fees for an extended period and impose a 2% import levy on goods and services sold to the US government.  ·          The commerce department is studying details of the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2010 which aims to increase visa fee and import taxes on supplies to government to set up a $4.3 billion fund for sharing the healthcare burden of those affected by 9/11 terror attack in New York. Issue 1: Visa Fee hike ·          The final bill, which is now with US President Barak Obama to be signed into law, spells more trouble for Indian industry than the one initially proposed as it extends the period for higher visa fees from 2014 to 2021. ·    ...

The judgment of the Chhattisgarh trial court, sentencing Binayak Sen to life imprisonment on charges of sedition and conspiracy, isn't just shocking due to the concerned judge's apparent waiver of the gaps in the prosecution's case.  In a wider context, it posits the spectre of intolerance against critics of state policy . The intent behind the law on sedition in the Indian Penal Code, as introduced by the British, was to enable the colonial state to deal with the fundamental contradiction between the illegitimacy of its rule and its attempt to try and legitimise that rule by criminalising those who sought to underline that contradiction.  That rupture between the state and the people it governs disappeared, in principle, with Independence. And so the Supreme Court in 1962 defined Section 124A (on sedition) as being applicable only when there was a clear incitement to violence or armed rebellion . Implicit in that definition is the recognition of the Constitutional righ...

This is an add-on to the "Right to Privacy" essay in the e-book. Not a necessary read though. Contrary to the prime minister's recent assurances - and despite valid concerns from corporate leaders regarding phone tapping in light of the Niira Radia tapes - it is astounding that the government has asked telecom companies to enhance their tapping capabilities. The Department of Telecommunications has asked operators to put in place systems that would enable them to tap 1 per cent of their subscribers simultaneously and make provisions for as much as 5 per cent - at least 35 million subscribers according to conservative estimates. If followed through, the directive will have the effect of turning the country into a surveillance society. Given the grave implications, increased phone-tapping powers should not be granted when reason demands a healthy balance between privacy and security concerns.  What is worse is that the directive demands that private telecom companies pro...

The New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, also called New START, signed by the US and Russia in April 2010 is on the way to becoming operational with its ratification by the American Senate last week.  The Senate vote in favour of the treaty is a big morale booster for President Barack Obama after his party suffered serious reverses in the recent Congressional elections, which threatened to derail his nuclear vision aimed at reducing the world’s stockpile of nuclear weapons.  Early this year his administration had come out with what was called the Nuclear Posture Review, which assured the global community that the US would not launch a nuclear attack on a non-nuclear country and would end nuclear tests for the production of more weapons of mass destruction. The new treaty, which had no difficulty in getting ratified by the Russian parliament because of the ruling party there having a comfortable majority, will result in the reduction of the US and Russian nuclear weapons ...

Parliament is the chief communication link between the government and the people. Close contact and an intimate rapport between the two is the quintessence of parliamentary democracy. Parliament belongs to the people and not to MPs or parties. People must have access to Parliament. Unfortunately, there is a tremendous disconnect between the two. Things get worse when both Houses do not function and are shut against the people. ·          Clearly, both the government and the Opposition are equally responsible for the ugly impasse. There was an unnecessary, illegitimate and irrational tug of war in the name of the people. But the people are nowhere in the picture. As usual, on both sides, political considerations and calculations of gain and loss have the upper hand. Perhaps, there is an unsaid long-term political concern before the government and the Opposition. Both are eyeing the 2014 general elections. The Opposition would like to drag the m...

Fares ·          A second class sleeper berth costing a mere Rs 400 for a 1600-km journey, or just 25 paise for a kilometre, Indian Railways provides perhaps the cheapest rail transport in the world! ·          This drops down to only half if one chooses to go by unreserved accommodation ·          The passenger tariff has remained so for almost the last one decade while successive Railway Ministers, in a bid to maintain a populist image, have studiously avoided any meaningful hike. However, in order to balance the budget, freight tariff has seen repeated hikes, mostly mid-season, away from the media attention associated with the Railway Budget, leading to a progressive loss of market share. ·          Currently, freight tariff for coal — which forms almost half the goods railways carry — is about three times that of US Class-...