What to Read in Indian Express Editorial( Topic and Syllabus wise)

Editorial 1 : Push for transparency: What Supreme Court order on Bihar SIR says

Context

The Supreme Court on Thursday issued an interim order directing the Election Commission of India (ECI) to make available online a searchable list of approximately 65 lakh voter names omitted from the draft electoral roll for Bihar, along with reasons for deletion, such as death, migration, and duplication.

Challenge to SIR

• With the state set to head to polls in November, the ECI announced the Bihar SIR late in June.
• It said that demographic changes in the last 20 years meant that current electoral rolls contained many repeated entries and the situation warranted an intensive verification drive to verify each person before enrolment as an elector.
• Soon after this announcement, multiple petitioners challenged the SIR on both substantive and procedural grounds.
• The substantive grounds included questions on the ECI’s powers to conduct such an exercise.
• The procedural grounds pertain ed to the modalities of conducting the SIR, including whether the 11 documents notified by the ECI to prove “citizenship” were valid; whether the 2003 voter list could be a valid cut-off date for inclusion; and whether Aadhaar could be excluded as a valid proof of identity for inclusion in the voters’ list.
• These issues are yet to be determined by the apex court. However, in oral observations, the SC has indicated that ECI has the power to conduct such an exercise. This can also be inferred from the fact that the SC has allowed the SIR to continue.
• The interim order pushes for greater transparency and partially addresses the contentious issue of including Aadhaar as a valid proof of identity and residence in the process.

SC’s interim order

• The ECI had, in its affidavit, told the SC that it was not required by law to publish a separate list of electors removed from the draft electoral rolls or to provide reasons for their non-inclusion.
• The ECI, in court, cited apprehensions that political parties might aggregate the data and that the publication could be a violation of the fundamental right to privacy.
• The SC has, however, pushed back on this argument, underlining a citizen’s fundamental right to know why he or she has been deleted from the voter list.
• The court has directed the ECI to publish lists in which one can search by entering the EPIC number whether a voter has been deleted, and the reasons for such deletion.
• The lists are required to be booth-wise, and also have to be displayed on the notice board of respective Panchayat Bhavans and offices of the Block Development Officer or Panchayat Officers.
• This essentially enables individuals and political parties to check if a voter from the constituency has been removed from the rolls, and whether this exclusion is justified.

Conclusion

• Therefore Election Commission must ensure full compliance with the Supreme Court’s directive by publishing a booth-wise, searchable online list of deleted voters along with reasons, while maintaining a balance between transparency and privacy.

 

Editorial 2 : Ahead of Alaska summit

Context

Trump-Putin summit in, Alaska, is reminiscent of Yalta 1945, when the leaders of the US, UK, and the Soviet Union met to decide the future of post-War Europe without Charles de Gaulle of France at the table.

The meeting and venue

• This will be the first in-person meeting between the leaders of the US and Russia since June 2021, when Putin met then President Joe Biden in Geneva. T
• Putin will be the first Russian leader to visit Alaska, which was sold to the US in 1867 for $7.2 million. He last visited the US in 2015 to attend events at the United Nations.

What Trump desires

• Trump had famously promised to end the war in 24 hours. Within a month of his inauguration, the President spoke with Putin — with whom he had claimed to have a good relationship for years — over the phone for 90 minutes.
• Trump, with his fascination with stopping wars and conflicts, wants to show the world that he has delivered in Ukraine. He aspires for the Nobel Peace Prize, and likely suspects that he is being played by Putin.

The demands of Putin

• For Putin, the meeting will be a victory from the moment he lands in Alaska. Hehas been declared an outcast by the West, and he will be on American soil at a time he has charges of war crimes against him.
• Recognition from the leader of the world’s most powerful country is proof that efforts to isolate him have failed.
• Putin has aimed high — asking for not just all the Ukrainian territories that Russia currently occupies and a ban on Ukraine’s entry into NATO, but also the removal of Zelenskyy.
• He will also be looking at an easing of the sanctions on Russia, which have affected its technology and defence industries. Russia’s budget deficit is increasing, and its income from oil and gas exports is under pressure.

The view from New Delhi

• As Trump seeks to pile pressure on Russia, he has squeezed India with a 25% “penalty” for buying Russian oil, in addition to 25% tariffs on Indian exports to the US.
• For Trump, India is the easiest target — the US has limited leverage with China, which buys the most energy from Russia.
• NATO chief Mark Rutte had earlier warned India, China, and Brazil that they could face severe economic penalties if they continued to do business with Russia. India and Brazil face 50% US tariffs, the highest in the world.
• The outcome of the Alaska summit is of much consequence for India. New Delhi hopes that if Trump comes out feeling good with a “win” in his mind, it could lead to a rethink of the 25% penalty.
• This meeting holds the promise of bringing to an end the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and opening up the prospects for peace. As Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said on several occasions, ‘this is not an era of war’,”
• Besides hoping for the removal of the penalty for buying Russian oil, India would be keen to participate in the rebuilding of Ukraine, as the post-conflict future emerges.

Conclusion

India will also be looking at how Beijing moves on the peace negotiations, and whether the US — after bringing the Ukraine war to an end — is able to refocus on the Indo-Pacific strategy to counter China.