Title: Friends with benefits
(Special status for A.P. is important, but Mr. Naidu is also looking at the next election)
What is SCS?
The Constitution does not include any provision for categorisation of any State in India as a Special Category Status (SCS) State. But, recognising that some regions in the country were historically disadvantaged in contrast to others, Central plan assistance to SCS States has been granted in the past by the erstwhile Planning Commission body, National Development Council (NDC). The NDC granted this status based on a number of features of the States which included: hilly and difficult terrain, low population density or the presence of sizeable tribal population, strategic location along international borders, economic and infrastructural backwardness and non-viable nature of State finances.
What assistance do states with Special Category Status get?
The Centre pays 90 per cent of the funds required in a centrally-sponsored scheme to special category status category states as against 60 per cent in case of normal category states, while the remaining funds are provided by the state governments.
What is the basis of A.P.’s claim for SCS status?
Following the bifurcation of A.P., Andhra lost a large volume of its revenue due to Hyderabad remaining the capital of Telangana. In a debate in the Rajya Sabha on the A.P. Reorganisation Act on February 20, 2014, then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had said that SCS would be “extended to the successor State of Andhra Pradesh ... for a period of five years.” This oral submission by the then PM has been the basis for A.P.’s claim to the status.
- In politics, there is nothing such as friendship without benefits. Ever since it became clear that the Centre was unable to grant Andhra Pradesh “special category” status, the Telugu Desam Party was under pressure to break off ties with the Bharatiya Janata Party.
- The exit, when it happens, will be after another display of disaffection with the Centre’s attitude towards A.P.
- Clearly, the TDP is keen to demonstrate that it did everything possible in the interest of this fledgling (emergent) State before walking out of the NDA.
- Although Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley clarified that it was no longer possible to confer “special category” status on States after the Centre accepted the recommendation of the 14th Finance Commission.
- In the eyes of the TDP, the denial of special status is a political decision, deserving of a political response.
- Mr. Jaitley promised to give A.P. the monetary equivalent of the special status, this was not good enough for the TDP, which wanted it institutionally recognised.
- The Centre feared this would lead to other States such as Bihar making similar demands.
Who is a Fugitive Economic Offender?
- A fugitive economic offender is any individual against whom a warrant for arrest in relation to a schedule offence has been issued by any court of India who, either leaves or has left India to avoid criminal prosecution or refuses to return to India to face criminal prosecution.
- A scheduled offence refers to a list of economic offences contained in the schedule of the bill including cheating, forgery, fraud, corruption, insider trading and customs evasion.
Objective
The main objective of the bill is to lay down measures to deter fugitive economic offenders from evading the process of Indian law by remaining outside the jurisdiction of Indian courts.
Impact
- The Bill is expected to restore law and order, as with its implementation the fugitive economic offenders would be forced to return to India to face trial for their offences.
- The bill would also help the banks and other financial institutions to achieve higher recovery from financial defaults committed by such fugitive economic offenders and thus improving the financial health of such institutions.
Background
- The Bill was first announced in Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s 2017 Budget speech.
- India has witnessed several instances of economic offenders fleeing the country to avoid facing criminal proceedings such as industrialist Vijay Mallya and recently, billionaire jewellery designer Nirav Modi.
- Most of the cases involve non-repayment of bank loans, which is worsening the financial health of the banking sector in India.
- The existing civil and criminal provisions in law are not entirely adequate to deal with the severity of the problem.
Vocabulary words:
Adversaries (noun) = Opponent (विरोधी)
Clinging (adj) = Too dependent on someone emotionally (लगाव मानना)
Hegemony (noun) = Leadership (नेतृत्व)
Invincible (adj) = Too powerful to be defeated (अजेय)
Doomsday (noun) = A time of great danger (प्रलय का दिन)
Intercept (verb) = Stop (अवरोधन)
Reincarnation (noun) = Rebirth (पुनर्जन्म)
Anathema (noun) = Something that one dislikes or hates (अभिशाप)
Revel (verb) = Celebrate, gain pleasure from (आनंद लेना)
Toil (verb) = Work extremely hard (कड़ी मेहनत करना)
Oust (verb) = Expel (बेदख़ल)
Vehemently (adv) = In a forceful feeling (जोरदार)
Homogeneity (noun) = Uniformity, similarity (एकरूपता)
Caveat (noun) = Warning, (चेतावनी)
Relic (noun) = Artefact (अवशेष)
Leeway (noun) = Freedom, scope (स्वतंत्रता)
Idioms
• In the doghouse (idiom) = Slang in trouble with someone due to misdeeds
• Axis-of-evil (idiom)= The definition of axis of evil is a term that former United States President George W. Bush used to describe countries which he thought were involved with terrorism and weapons of mass destruction.
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