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The Hindu Editorial Analysis
We understand the significance of reading The Hindu newspaper for enhancing reading skills, improving comprehension of passages, staying informed about current events, enhancing essay writing, and more, especially for banking aspirants who need to focus on editorials for vocabulary building. This article will explore today’s editorial points, along with practice questions and key vocabulary.
U.S. Agreement Leaves Out Sensitive Sectors: Goyal
- The trade agreement with the United States, announced late Monday night on social media by U.S. President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, will not include sensitive farm products and the dairy sector, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said on Tuesday. He added that the full details of the deal would be shared “soon”.
- Under this agreement, the United States has agreed to reduce its 25% “reciprocal” tariffs on Indian goods to 18%. It has also agreed to fully remove the extra 25% “penalty” tariffs that were earlier imposed on India because India was buying oil from Russia.
- Goyal said that the trade deal India has finalised with the U.S. is better than the deals made by India’s neighbouring countries and other competing nations.
- He said Prime Minister Modi has always protected the interests of farmers and the dairy sector and has never compromised on them. He added that even in this U.S. trade deal, India has kept agriculture and dairy completely out of the agreement.
- Apart from these assurances, Mr. Goyal did not give details about what India may have offered or agreed to as part of the deal with the United States.
- He also did not directly respond to Mr. Trump’s claims that India would stop buying Russian oil, start buying more oil from Venezuela, and increase its overall purchases from the United States.
- Goyal criticised the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, the Congress party, and its allies. He said their behaviour in Parliament on Monday forced him to explain the trade deal at a press conference instead of discussing it inside the House.
- He said that normally the government would have preferred to talk about such an important issue in Parliament. However, because of the actions of the Opposition—especially the Congress led by Rahul Gandhi and its allies like the DMK, Trinamool Congress, and Samajwadi Party—who allegedly went up to the Speaker’s chair and insulted the Speaker, he had to speak to the media outside Parliament.
- Goyal said the deal is currently in the “final stages of detailing” between Indian and American negotiating teams.
- He added that once the final agreement is signed, the joint statement is prepared, and all technical procedures are completed, the government will share the full details of the trade deal.
- In a rare admission, Goyal said that U.S. tariffs had caused harm to several Indian sectors.
- He said Indian farmers and exporters were affected by the high 50% tariffs.
- He said marine exporters were facing serious problems because of these tariffs.
- He also said the textile industry was struggling and had been asking for lower tariffs.
- Goyal said the trade deal would protect the interests of all Indians, create major opportunities for the country’s people, and safeguard sensitive sectors like agriculture and dairy.
- He said the agreement would create big opportunities for labour-intensive export industries such as textiles, clothing, plastics, home décor items, leather and footwear, gems and jewellery, organic chemicals, rubber products, machinery, and aircraft parts.
- Goyal also responded to Opposition questions about why the trade deal was first announced by Mr. Trump and not by the Indian government.
- He explained that since the tariffs were imposed by the United States and the decision to reduce them was also taken by the U.S., it was natural for the announcement to come from the American side.
- In a post on Truth Social, Mr. Trump made several claims about what Prime Minister Modi had supposedly agreed to on India’s behalf.
- One of these claims was that India would buy more than $500 billion worth of U.S. energy, technology, farm products, coal, and other goods.
- According to sources in the Indian government, this $500 billion worth of purchases would be spread over five years from the date the agreement comes into force.
- These purchases are seen as India’s intention to import equipment for data centres, expand cooperation in civil nuclear energy, and increase imports of advanced artificial intelligence chips.
Kerala to proceed with the first phase of the RRTS
- Amid claims that the Union government has ignored Kerala’s demands for high-speed travel, and statements by technocrat E. Sreedharan that he has started work on a high-speed rail project suggested by the Centre, the Kerala government has given in-principle approval for a 583-km Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) project from Thiruvananthapuram to Kasaragod.
- The State government has also decided to begin the first phase of the project, called the Travancore line, which will cover 284 km from Thiruvananthapuram to Thrissur.
- The Transport Department will now send the proposal to the Centre and begin discussions to get the required approvals.
- The total estimated cost of the project is ₹1,92,780 crore. However, the final cost will be known only after the detailed project report (DPR) is completed. This will depend on final route alignments, technical designs, signalling systems, and transit-oriented development (TOD) plans, according to an official order.
- Phase 1, which will be connected with the Thiruvananthapuram Metro and Kochi Metro, is planned to be built between 2027 and 2033.
- Phase 2 will include the Malabar Line from Thrissur to Kozhikode, along with integration with the Kozhikode Metro.
- Phase 3 will cover the Kannur Line from Kozhikode to Kannur.
- Phase 4 will include the Kasaragod Line from Kannur to Kasaragod.
- The State has also proposed future extensions of the project to Coimbatore through Palakkad, to Kanyakumari from Thiruvananthapuram, and to Mangaluru from Kasaragod.
- By following this “parallel phased execution” method, the State aims to complete a full RRTS network across Kerala within 12 years.
- Taking inspiration from the Delhi RRTS, the project may follow a funding model where 20% of the cost is paid by the State, 20% by the Centre, and 60% through long-term loans from international financial institutions.
- The new RRTS proposal has been made in the background of technical objections raised by the Centre against the SilverLine project and public protests against SilverLine in some areas.
- Since the RRTS can be built mostly as an elevated structure on pillars, it can be connected easily with existing and planned metro rail projects to create a single, well-connected transport system, the order said.
- Using an elevated design will greatly reduce the need for land acquisition, avoid blocking natural water flow, and help reduce public opposition seen in some regions.
- Meanwhile, Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Tuesday that a high-speed rail project would eventually come to Kerala, but he did not share details of the Centre’s plan.
SC raises questions on personal data practices of WhatsApp and Meta
- The Supreme Court on Tuesday said it would not allow messaging app WhatsApp and its parent company Meta to violate the privacy rights of millions of “silent consumers” in India by sharing and using their personal data for business purposes.
- A three-judge Bench led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant compared the sharing of private data to a “polite way of stealing” and said that by now, companies must have already taken “millions of bytes of data”.
- Senior lawyers Mukul Rohatgi and Amit Sibal, appearing for WhatsApp and Meta, objected to these remarks. They argued that users are given the option to refuse data sharing and that user consent is the main basis of the process.
- WhatsApp told the court that messages sent on its platform are protected by end-to-end encryption.
- Chief Justice Surya Kant questioned whether a poor street vendor or a person living in a rural area could truly understand the complicated and cleverly written consent language to make a fully informed choice.
- Justice Joymalya Bagchi, who was on the Bench along with Justice Vipul M. Pancholi, said that every piece of data related to a person has some value, whether it is private or not.
- Justice Bagchi pointed out that the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act of 2023, India’s first law on digital data privacy, mainly deals with privacy issues.
- He said the law does not seem to address how the economic value of a person’s data is shared or used.
- Justice Bagchi said the DPDP Act focuses only on privacy, but the court wants to examine the idea of sharing the financial benefits earned from data, as people’s habits and behaviour can be analysed and sold.
- He said companies like Meta could use such data for online advertising.
- Chief Justice Surya Kant gave an example of someone chatting online with a doctor about medicines and then soon receiving advertisements related to medical services.
- Solicitor-General Tushar Mehta told the court that personal data is not just sold but also used for profit in different ways, adding that people are not only consumers but are also treated as products.
- The Bench added the Central government, through the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, as a party to the case.
- Justice Bagchi said the Centre would need to compare India’s DPDP Act with the European Union’s strict digital rules under the Digital Services Act.
- He said EU laws consider not only privacy but also the value of data.
- Justice Bagchi questioned whether it is right to believe that once data is shared and privacy is lost, the data no longer has any value.
- The court was hearing petitions filed by Meta and WhatsApp against a decision of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal, which last year upheld a ₹213.14-crore fine imposed by the Competition Commission of India.
- While scheduling the next hearing for interim orders on February 9, the Chief Justice said companies cannot take advantage of millions of silent consumers who have no way to speak up.
Important Questions
- Why did Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal state that sensitive sectors of agriculture and dairy were excluded from the trade deal with the United States announced by Donald Trump and Narendra Modi?
- How did the 25% reciprocal tariffs, 50% tariffs, and penalty tariffs linked to Russian oil imports affect Indian farmers, marine exporters, and the textile sector, according to Mr. Goyal?
- Why did the Kerala State government give in-principle approval to the 583-km Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) connecting Thiruvananthapuram and Kasaragod?
- How will the elevated viaduct model of the RRTS project help reduce land acquisition, protect natural water flow, and address public protests against the SilverLine project?
- Why did the Supreme Court Bench led by Chief Justice Surya Kant compare the sharing of personal data by WhatsApp and Meta to a “decent way of committing theft”?
- What concerns did Justice Joymalya Bagchi raise about the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 regarding the economic value and monetisation of consumer data?
Important Vocabulary
- Reciprocal – done in return by both sides
- Penalty – punishment or fine imposed for a reason
- Concessions – benefits or advantages given by one side
- Labour-intensive – requiring a large number of workers
- In-principle – approved in a basic or initial way
- Alignments – planned routes or positions of the project
- Viaduct – a long elevated bridge carrying a railway or road
- Multimodal – involving different types of transport systems
- Commercially exploited – used to earn money or profit
- End-to-end encryption – messages protected so only users can read them
- Jurisprudential – related to legal principles and theory
- Impleaded – officially added as a party in a court case
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