Editorial 1: Sum of Small Things
Context:
- Undoubtedly, the AAP’s elevation to national party status marks a watershed in the rise and spread of a party over 10 years. But it is also an occasion to look again at the list of India’s national parties.
NATIONAL AND STATE PARTIES
- The Election Commission registers political parties for the purpose of elections and grants them recognition as national or state parties on the basis of their poll performance. The other parties are simply declared as registered-unrecognised parties.
- The recognition granted by the Commission to the parties determines their right to certain privileges like allocation of the party symbols, provision of time for political broadcasts on the state-owned television and radio stations and access to electoral rolls.
- Every national party is allotted a symbol exclusively reserved for its use throughout the country. Similarly, every state party is allotted a symbol exclusively reserved for its use in the state or states in which it is so recognised.
Conditions for Recognition as a National Party
- If it secures six per cent of valid votes polled in any four or more states at a general election to the Lok Sabha or to the legislative assembly; and, in addition, it wins four seats in the Lok Sabha from any state or states; or
- If it wins two per cent of seats in the Lok Sabha at a general election; and these candidates are elected from three states; or
- If it is recognised as a state party in four states.
Current Scenerio
- With the NCP, TMC and CPI losing the tag, there are now six — BJP, Congress, CPI(M), AAP, BSP, and National People’s Party.
- Except the Congress and BJP, the other parties don’t exactly have a national footprint, they are regional players even though they may have fulfilled the formal requirements to be called national parties.
- It is not just that, other than the Congress, the BJP’s competitors are strong or present in limited regional geographies. It is also that, consequently, they have narrower platforms and agendas. Even its staunch rivals and critics will concede that the BJP pitches its tent wide and wider — it is a party of big ideas.
Conclusion
- India’s newest national party is evidently eyeing a bigger playground. The AAP has shown determination and a capacity to work hard. It is likely to use its successes to propel itself upward and forward.
Editorial 2: Tracking the train to Kashmir: How the Vande Bharat is set to transform commute in the Valley
Context:
- Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said last month that a Vande Bharat Express will run between Jammu and Kashmir “in December [2023] or January-February next year” after work on the 272-km Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Railway Line (USBRL) is completed.
Introduction
- The line will connect Srinagar and Baramulla in the Valley with the rest of the country by train, and will provide a reliable and cost-effective all-weather alternative to the Jammu-Srinagar national highway that is frequently shut down by landslides.
- The first railway line in the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir was built by the British in 1897 over a distance of 40-45 km between Jammu and Sialkot in the plains.
- The project got momentum after 2002, when Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee declared it a national project on account of its being among the most challenging works undertaken by the Indian Railways after Independence. The project cost has now ballooned to more than Rs 35,000 crore.
Challenges and Innovations
- The Himalayas are young, and the geologically unstable Shivalik Hills and Pir Panjal mountains lie in the seismically most active Zones IV and V. The terrain is difficult and sees heavy snow in winter, and presented serious challenges in the construction of bridges and tunnels.
- In view of the challenges in the construction of highly complex tunnels and huge bridges in unstable mountainous terrain, engineers of the Railways devised a novel Himalayan Tunneling Method (HTM), in which horseshoe-shaped tunnels were constructed instead of the usual D-shaped ones. In this method, the site comes down in a curve giving strength to the structure where the soil above it is loose.
Safety and security
- The broad-gauge railway line will have 0.5-1 per cent ruling gradient, avoiding the need for bank engines in a mountainous region. The trains will be powered by diesel locomotives for now, but there is a provision for electrification in the future. Trains can run at speeds up to 100 km/h for the entire length of the journey.
- All the major bridges, tunnels, and railway stations will be illuminated and have CCTV cameras. The track and tunnels have been designed to require as little maintenance as possible.
Development benefits
- The train will bring down the travel time between Srinagar and Jammu to between three and three-and-a-half hours from the five to six hours that it takes by road currently. According to Railway Minister Vaishnaw, the Vande Bharat trains will allow people to travel from Jammu to Srinagar and return that same evening.
- The train will benefit the people of Kashmir by facilitating hassle-free transport of goods such as apples, dry fruits, pashmina shawls, handicrafts etc., to other parts of the country in the shortest possible time and at lesser cost. The cost of transporting items of daily use to the Valley from elsewhere in the country is also expected to go down significantly.